Half-way

I'm halfway through my semester now! I'm liking my classes, even though it's a lot of work, with another blitz of assignments coming up soon. I had one hell week, but I got through just fine. Now I'm struggling to find motivation to do my homework-- big surprise that I'm procrastinating again.

I just finished Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey for class, and now I really need to get going on my cataloging homework for tomorrow....

Gearing up for classes to start!

Classes start next week and I am getting ready for them ahead of time. I'm so proud of myself! I've already started reading for one class and planning for the others.

I'm taking four classes this semester:

• Children's Literature


• Fantasy Literature and Media for Youth


• Youth Services Librarianship


• Cataloging and Classification

I'm excited for each one, even though I know Cataloging will be challenging and difficult. I think I'm up to being OCD and detail-oriented when cataloging. I think I'll learn the most in Youth Services; that class is going to teach me how to be a children's librarian! I'm really looking forward to Children's Lit and Fantasy Lit. For Fantasy Lit I even changed the number of credit hours I'm taking it for just so I can do the final project. That might have been a crazy decision, but when else will I get to analyze fantasy for a grade?

I should get back to my reading now. At least the weather is cool and breezy so we have the windows open. But it's also pretty dark with the cloud cover so I feel like I should be napping. Have to snap out of that mode! Time for more reading (for class only!) and then lunch.

Finally a new post...

Wow, I am finally updating this long-dormant blog! Where to start?

I have a dog of my own, his name is Toby and that is his picture on the left-hand side of the screen. He is the most adorable little dog ever. Sometimes I look at him and can't believe just how cute he is. I like my sister's nicknames for him: Toby Two-Tone has stuck, but I also enjoy Pint-sized Pooch.

I am currently a graduate student at University of Illinois in Library and Information Science. I started in January 2009 and am really loving it. Who wouldn't, for some of my classes I get to read young adult and children's literature and get a grade for doing what I already love to do! My goal is to become a children's librarian in a public library so I can keep reading the books I love and basically get paid to do it.

Those are the two biggest changes in my life since I last posted. I worked at Barnes and Noble by my house for a year and a half, most of that time as the Children's Department Lead. I loved working there but was ready for a change. I finally figured out for myself what my mom had been saying for ages, that I should be a librarian. So I made that happen and here I am.

Next up on my reading list is The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I have a signed copy (yay) and I've been meaning to read it since March. After that, I think I'll read The Mysterious Benedict Society because that's one I've been meaning to read too. And I'll have to read it for class this fall anyway and I need to get a head-start on those long lists of books.

I promise to be better about updating now that I've broken the avoidance pattern. :)

Graduation

I have been quite remiss in updating this. Sorry. Lots of things have happened since March 23: in a frantic push at the end of the semester, I somehow managed to finish up all my classes. April flew by, and so has May. I graduated from Illinois Wesleyan on May 6, 2007. The ceremony was nice, the keynote speaker was interesting, and the weather was decent, so all in all, a great outdoor graduation. I got an aisle seat :), which meant I smiled at friends passing by during the announcement of diplomas.

Yay for diplomas!

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I thought I wasn't ready to graduate, but it turns out I was. Obviously, I didn't want to go to class anymore or write another paper, but up until graduation day, I did not feel ready to leave college.

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But the day of graduation, I was ready. It felt right and good and perfect. I'm done with my undergraduate career. The hardest part has been saying goodbye to roommates and friends.

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What I am not ready for is the real world and a real job. I will be. Eventually.

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Right now I'm reading several books at once. At the beginning of the semester, I read half of The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai before I had to shelve it in favor of school reading, but to be honest, it was somewhat slow going anyway. Then once classes ended, I picked up Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children and got through over a third of the book before I got distracted with re-reads. I was genuinely angry at myself when I spilled water on part of the book and proceeded to carefully place paper towels in between pages to prevent the words from bleeding. After all, I haven't gotten to the end yet and need those words to be completely intact. Damage to a book that I caused, even by accident, makes me a little sick. Most recently, I started reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. It makes me want to know the history of comic books and I am thoroughly enjoying the novel so far. I want the next book to be an easy summer read, something breezing and engaging. I'm on the look-out, despite the fact that I have three books-in-progress!

HDM

For that large senior seminar capstone paper, I bought a lovely set of His Dark Materials trilogy in paperback. There is no way I can bring myself to write in my hardcover editions, particularly as The Golden Compass was a gift :) When I went to the bookstore (yes, it is one of those dreaded chain stores, but I can't help that we don't have lovely little options close to home), I was surprised to discover that the books were definitely not in the teen/young adult section. So I had to ask for help, which I rarely ever do in a store or otherwise, and found that the trilogy was located in the children's section as well as the adult science fiction section. Slightly odd locations in my opinion, since they weren't also in the middle YA shelves. And because I am a nerd, I was very interested in the different editions: the kids' books had the original US cover illustrations, but in the adult section there were two main options: mass market paperback (they had boring cover desings and I shunned these books for the small, smearable print and the tiny margins) and my final choice of the nicer, cleaner, crisper paperback. After doing a bit of reading on Pullman's website, the selling point for me was that this new edition had all the original British-edition illustrations and epitaphs. Although, now the dilemma is that I won't want to write in these books either :)

Wednesday

I have been woefully neglectful of this blog. But that's because I overcommitted myself this semester and it has been flying by.

For my English senior seminar class, we are currently reading all of Dante's Divine Comedy. And we have to come up with topics for our final papers, which I might actually be excited about if my idea works out. I've been talking to my professor about writing on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass). This would enable me to do something substantial with my interest in children's literature. I'm just worried that I won't be able to write a 25-30 page paper on it. Considering this as my final paper topic was a good excuse to buy a book of critical essays on the trilogy that I've been eyeing for a while now: His Dark Materials Illuminated.

This semester is also exciting because I am presenting papers and chairing sessions at two conferences. The first one is at St. Francis University in the Chicago area March 16-17. But the most exciting conference is the Sigma Tau Delta (English honor society) International Convention in Pittsburgh, March 28-31. It should be an amazing experience, especially since Illinois Wesleyan's chapter of Sigma Tau Delta was named an Outstanding Chapter (a big award). The preliminary program is 37 pages long! Which means that there will be tons of people there and an impossible amount of things to do. :) www.english.org

I can't believe tomorrow is already March; it seems like just yesterday that it was the beginning of February, even January. I'm at the point where if I don't write down what I have to do, there is absolutely no way I will remember it later. So now is the time for a bzillion lists. Crossing off what I have completed is the best part. On to the list, or perhaps something fun like watching The Office.

Knitting

I just recently started knitting (thanks to the encouragement from wonderful aunties), and I have two scarves to my name. The first one was really for practice and it's not long enough to wear, but I love the colors. The second scarf I used big needles, bulky yarn, and so it's big and warm. I've been wearing it everyday in this bitter cold weather.

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detail of my first-ever scarf

My next project is with Debbie Bliss orange alpaca silk that really is blissfully soft. I started making a k2 p2 scarf, but it's not very wide. So I think I might make a mistake rib scarf (and possibly a matching hat) once I frog what I have and decide how many stitches to cast on. I'm not sure how wide I want it and I don't know how many stitches I'll need to achieve that desired (and elusive) width.

I should really get to reading before class tonight, but W.J.T. Mitchell's Iconology just isn't calling out to me to read it. In fact, I think he prefers to confuse his readers to prove his own astounding intellect surpasses theirs. I need to get off this computer before it sucks away my entire day.