Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bunny Boy returns...

I took a little break - but Bunny Boy hasn't!!!


Monday, October 20, 2008

Sunday, October 19, 2008

No rest on Sunday...

Bunny Boy, episode 8!





Bunny Boy?  Is that you?

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Friday, October 17, 2008

Bunny Boy returns!!!

Just as he will for quite a few nights into the future...








wearedoomed666@gmail.com

Still Friday!

The only difference is, I'm now off work for two days! Woohoo! I'm really looking forward to some relaxation time. Funny thing is, I spend an awful lot of time still thinking about work, even when I'm not there. It didn't used to be that way, when I worked in circulation. But not that I do reference and programming, I am constantly thinking about it! Especially now, since we have a Halloween party coming up.

I promised photos of the display, here it is. I have to say though, it is really tough to take photos through the glass glare. Oh well. I'm wanting to upload my photos to Flickr, but they are having some major problems today. Going though a big update, and the servers are sketchy. Or something. Anyhow, here are two pics of the display. Very hard to really capture it well!!!




I'm tired.

The kid is sick today - stayed home at his dad's house. He's here now, but just laying in bed reading. Some sort of feverish thing. I always feel so badly when he's sick, I just want to wave a wand and make him better! But I think only lots of rest will do that this time around. Phooey.

Now that he's not feeling well, I'm not sure now the weekend will turn out. We will be visiting with my parents for a while on Sunday. That should be interesting. My mother seems to be having some major memory issues - I'm going to have to talk to my dad about it. We are not exactly a family of good communicators, but the signs are just too big to ignore now.

But if we're lucky, she'll forget she planned to cook her new dish --> a can of apple pie mix on the bottom, pork chops next, the stove top stuffing on top. Hmmmm....

Whatever. I can't type too well. I'm going now.

Bye!

Friday - ahhhhhhhhhhhh...


I'm glad it's almost the weekend. Should be an interesting one, to say the least. I do love my job, so going to work isn't a drag. But I am always happy to have time off, too.

Yesterday at work I spent over two hours putting together a display in the lobby display case. It turned out very good! I'll be taking some pictures today. The display is for Teen Read Month, the theme of which is Books With Bite. That could mean a lot of things, but of course I had to go with a spooky vampire/zombie/werewolf kind of thing. It was a lot of fun putting it together. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, but of course I really had no idea how it would all turn out. Pictures soon!

Well shoot. Time to get ready for work. Oh well...

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Ooops! Forgot Bunny Boy last night...

That means you'll get two tonight.

Episode 4 ~






Episode 5 ~


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Monday, October 13, 2008

Working with teens and the full moon...

Mr. Bob and Ninja Monkey



Today was another of my regular Monday afternoon programs with the teens. This week, the plan was to make Gocks - goth sock puppets.

But when you get a group of mostly teen boys together, you never know what the outcome might be. For whatever reason, my usual group on Monday afternoon is boys. At this point some of them just show up, no matter what we're doing. Today it was a crafty theme that might have been more appealing to girls. But since there weren't any there (aside from myself, and the one that wandered through for about five minutes), I believe the boys felt more comfortable being creative and just jumping in to the activity.

Their reaction at first was a little cool, but I started making one. As you might imagine, they like to visit, so before they knew it they were sifting through the various things I had available and putting together sock puppets too. A couple of the boys just hung out and talked with each other (major topic - video games), but several got into the creative groove.

They didn't stop at the sock puppets - once the creative dam broke they just sort of went with the flow and made whatever they felt like. I had quite a lot of donated/miscellaneous fabric, yarn, pipe cleaners, etc. for the kids to make use of. They came up with all sorts of interesting things. The funniest by far though, had to be the two boys who made capes. At one point I felt like a dressmaker, as I helped them staple things on to the fabric to make clasps for the capes.

I love the combination of "little kid" and teenager that surfaces in 6th graders. They still haven't quite given up all the things they did when they were little, but they like to act more grown up as well.

Two of the older boys are in the process of making a skeleton out of neon pipe cleaners. It isn't quite finished, but it is more than amazing! I'll have photos for sure when it is finished...

-------------------------------------------------

Working with teens is incredibly rewarding. When I started library school, I thought I wanted to be a children's librarian. It didn't take long for me to decide that was the LAST thing I wanted to do - I can't imagine having to think like a toddler or preschooler for the next however many years. And frankly, there are plenty of people that want to work with the little kids - but teens? You have to really WANT to be doing what you're doing. They are such a vibrant part of society - yet most people think of them only as troublemakers or worse, don't think of them at all. And really, all they need is validation - somebody to listen to them, and provide a safe place where they can be themselves without judgement.

Well - some of them are a little weird, or maybe a lot weird - but that's okay. They can come to my programs any time.

Of course, the full moon is brining out the, um... different people this week.

Working at the library is NEVER dull!


Looking forward to Halloween as well! I have a group of girls that are helping plan an after hours party - it's going to be fun! I think we'll have a pretty good group showing up. Lots of fun!


Halloween treat pumpkins


More Bunny Boy - One per day...

Episode 2...


Saturday, October 11, 2008

Strange things...


Could you pass by a place called the Lucky Dumpster? Me either. Yesterday Michael and I headed out for a lovely drive to the north to enjoy the beautiful sunny day. Hmmmm, lovely and beautiful. Well, yes - it was! Anyhow, as we drove through this little town of Edison I spied the sign for the shop, and decided it was time to stop and take a look. I had never, in all these years of driving through Edison, stopped to poke around. The Lucky Dumpster was a funky little shop, with an interesting mix of old oddities and new artistic bits. I just tried to find a good website for them, but their Flickr site and blogspot haven't been updated in a while. Too bad - they had a lot of really cool stuff!

And then there was this guy...



After a short look-around in town (it's small), we hopped back in the car and continued on to the next stop - another antique/junk shop. I'm not even sure what it's called! Anyhow, it's always a good stop, jam-packed with interesting things. Outside there are shelves and bins and bins and shelves of various metal implements and electrical cords and wires and dirt covered coffee mugs. Really fantastic if you're into metal. Inside is much the same, at least as far as the general feeling of chaos is concerned. There is barely an open spot on any of the shelves, and as you wander down the aisles you never know what you will find. Lots of little tiny things to look at. I'm particularly fond of little figurines - such expressive faces!

I thought that this jar was rather interesting. I've been spending a bit of time over at the Sociological Images blog, and it really helps tune my eyes to some interesting things out there. Take this little spice jar for instance - what is up with this businessman in a stereotypical Mexican sombero putting oregano on his taco...? Huh?


I also loved this old Halloween costume - reminds me of the costumes people bought when we were kids. So garish!!! And more strange packaging - flame retarded?



If you've stuck with me this far and want to see the rest of the photos from this outing, click HERE. Definitely some good stuff!


Nortec Collective - Tijuana Bass

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Fall...


Well folks, there's no going back. Summer is winding down and autumn is here to stay for a bit. Today was really lovely though. The sun came out for a while this afternoon, and I took some time to just sit in the yard and enjoy a book. I figured it could be a while before I can do that again. Maybe we'll get another nice day when I'm not working, but the chances grow smaller and smaller every day.

The sky was full of crows and starlings flying here and there, calling and twittering. Twice a large flock of starlings flew over, the only sound the swish of their wings. Very cool.

I'm reading several books right now. Some for work, and some just for pleasure.


First up, Ratner's Star by Don DeLillo, recommended to me by Michael (who so far has hit the nail on the head with his suggestions). It's the story of a 14 year old math genius, who is brought to a surreal scientific compound to help figure out what is certainly a message from a distant planet orbiting Ratner's star. The characters are strange, and though they talk to each other it seems as if nobody really listens to what each other is saying. As I'm getting into the book, the people and conversations just seem to get stranger, and stranger...



Next up, Sunshine, by Robin McKinley. Yet another in a long, endless line of vampire books for teens. I've read the entire Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan, and those were good. I liked his take on vampirism - there are two types (those that feast on humans, and those that don't) - and the battles between them, between good and evil. I was really pleased at how the series ended, and yes, I even cried a bit at the end of it all. More recently I read Twilight, and not even half of the second book, New Moon, by Stephanie Meyer. I realize not everyone will know that these books are huge - right up there with the Harry Potter books. The hype and excitement over the series is massive. Teenage girls just looooooove Bella and Edward (though some of us prefer Jacob, the werewolf - I am team Jacob all the way, if I must pick a team). I should read the whole series, but I just don't know if I'll be able to stomach them. Bella goes on and on about how beautiful Edward is, and I want to slap her on just about every page. It is more than this girl can take! I've never been one for the mush. Anyhow. On to Sunshine - which I picked up because some of my fellow librarians liked it. Not to mention I figured I should be at least somewhere versed in vampire literature for teens! Ha. Just a mere 75 pages in, I can say I like it MUCH BETTER than Twilight. Did I say I like it MUCH BETTER?!! Just wanted you to understand that point. It is better written, the main character isn't a twit, and it's a little tough to tell where the story is going. I'm so glad I'll have something good to recommend to the teens!


Sticking with our seasonal theme of vampires, we have Sundays With Vlad, by Paul Bibeau. After a near marriage ruining honeymoon in which he takes his wife to visit the real castle of Vlad Tepish (which turns out to be nothing more than a pile of rubble up a very steep trail outside of a very dicey Romanian town), he decides to investigate the myth that has become the Dracula we know and love today. Bibeau's writing is hysterical, and I find myself laughing on every page. Oh yeah - this is definitely non-fiction. Though the stories Bibeau uncovers, and the people he encounters along the way are probably stranger than anything your imagination might come up with.



Right then - just a glimpse at my current reading list. Honestly, I wish I had an extra head and pair of arms, just for reading. There are so many books to read, and so many I should be reading for work. How on earth am I supposed to keep up?!!!

In other news, I am completely reloading the music into my iTunes. It had become a dreadful mess, and somewhere along the way it lost the pathway to a bunch of songs. I suppose it didn't help that I had my music spread between umpteen folders on two hard drives... Anyhow, I bit the bullet this morning and cleared iTunes. Now I'm loading everything back in, slowly but surely. It will be a chore, yes - but I will be able to decide what I really want in there and what I want to delete. And once it is done it won't be so messy. Much better.

Have a good one!

We Call Upon the Author - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Oh lovely, lovely velvet...



When I was a kid, my cat was named Velvet. Very clever, eh? Of course, we ended up just calling her Kitty. Does anybody every realistically call their cat anything but Kitty?

That's her, over there. Well, her tail anyhow. And that's me, and my brother Chris. Enjoying Halloween festivities...


I like Halloween. Can't help it - there's just something about the combination of autumn and a holiday that features skeletons and gravestones. Sure, things are starting to get more and more commercial, just like all the other holidays. Go to any store, and it's full of the same tacky costumes and decorations. But they still hold that appeal. I suppose it has something to do with memories of childhood. Carving pumpkins, going door to door trick-or-treating (begging for sweets, really), dressing up in silly costumes...

Well, it's getting late and I'm just sort of blathering along here. Time to go to bed. The wind was blustery all day, and there's nothing better than getting cozy in bed with the one you love. So go get in bed! I'm getting in bed with the one I love very soon!!!


Saturday, October 4, 2008

Observation through the lens of a camera

Perhaps if you visit my blog often (and my other blog as well), you might notice I like to take a lot of photos.

I like to observe the world around me. At first, I was a little timid about taking photos of strangers. But after I attended a talk by Alice Wheeler (close friend of Kurt Cobain and EXCELLENT phtotographer), I tossed aside my misgivings and went for it. Now, I think that some of my best photos are those that I take of people in public places - just out there, doing their thing. I like the candid nature of it. When people don't know I'm taking a photo of them, they don't pose and I'm able to catch them in a perfect moment.

Some people would say it isn't fair to take photos of people when they don't give permission - I disagree. We are constantly photographed as we go about our daily lives. Don't get me wrong - I am not in favor of general surveillance for the purpose of keeping tabs on what the population does.

You're being watched everywhere you go - does it bother you?


How can I justify what I do then? I like to think of it as social commentary - just an observation of what I see on any given day. Sometimes I take pictures of people, sometimes just of things I see. This world we live in can be such a crazy place, and it has to be documented!

How can you argue with this?!!!!!

Smoking girl 2

I've got numchuck skills, computer hacking skills...

Too much fun

This is what happens when I just point my camera randomly behind and take a photo...


The last one especially is one of my favorites. I wasn't even looking when I took the photo - I just pointed my camera behind me and clicked. I'm amazed when things like that turn out well.

Anyhow, just a bit of my photography philosophy. I'll stage a photo now and then, but really, the best photos are those taken on the fly. I can't tell you how many photos I delete (lots!), but the ones that turn out are so worth the effort.

Interestingly, the other side of taking photos of people is that I've gained a greater appreciation for the diversity of humanity. I grew up in a very white bread community, with not a lot of variation in population. Now I look at people a little bit differently - I'm still judgmental as all get out, but at the same time I think I've really grown more compassionate towards humanity as a whole.

I know, I'm contradicting myself with every other breath here. I don't care. I just hope you like my photos. I take them for myself, but don't want them to live in a vacuum, either...


Little girl on the prairie

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Goooood yaaaah...


Mission of Burma = good noise...

Ears are ringing, but it's a happy sound.

Long day, long drive, but so worth it!! It's 180 miles roundtrip to Seattle from home. Plus, I've driven a total of 800+ miles since last Thursday, and by the time Friday is over I'll push past 1,000. My goodness! Too many hours in the car, but it must be done.

The good news - I get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow!