Life in Denim and Flip Flops

It had been so warm this week. Had, is apparently the key word in that sentence. Today was not so warm, and the wind picked up. My time on the riverwalk this morning was slightly less pleasant than I was hoping for. Windchill was just 32 degrees. Sadly I didn't think to check this out until after  my walk. Oops. Thankfully temps will be a bit warmer tomorrow when I have strawberry shortcake to make. :)

I have spent a large chunk of my evening troubleshooting audio issues for recording and streaming video games over Skype. It has been interesting. And frustrating. But it made me think about the first world problems of it all. I've been in communication with my friend in so many different ways tonight. Texting, tweeting, text via Skype, video chat, audio via Skype, and even screen sharing. At one point I was even using basic sign language over video when he couldn't hear me, while in the opposite situation I was reading his typing while he shared his screen with me before I saw it show up on my end of the chat program. I remember as a kid trying to build or fix things without directions with my dad. We started that way tonight. Then to understanding the basic strategies. And then progressed to text tutorials.  And now we're just trying to recreate exactly what someone has done on YouTube. We haven't found a solution. Despite me on my phone and my laptop simitaneously,...

What is it about April that drives me to start new projects? Or resurrect old ones. I honestly think it has a lot to do with the weather. Anything seems possible when you finally feel like you can be outside for more than a few minutes without a coat or 3 scarves. Maybe that's just me. I'm not an outdoorsy person by any means, but I love  being  outdoors. I can spend hours at a park reading or writing or playing on the swings. (Sidenote: I love swing sets. Like  love  them.) In the winter I go stir crazy being indoors all the time. I want to go on walks or sit at the park and read a book outside. Or write. I don't know that I've ever really considered myself a writer, per se, but I've done a lot of writing in my day. And oddly enough, a good chunk of that writing has taken place outside. This has definitely been aided by the fact I love to write long hand. Don't get me started on all the 8,000 journals and notebooks half (or barely filled) with random musings, o...

Today at church the opening hymn was You Are Mine one of my favorites. I haven't been to church in a while so getting to sing that today was a bit like coming home. I spent a lot of time growing up singing in church choirs or cantoring for service. Certain songs, composers, or arrangements bring me right back to my home church or my choir in Madison. It was just what I needed this morning. If you don't know the song I've posted it (and another of my favorites) below. You Are Mine Deep Within

Figuring it out. Today I spent some time evaluating things and starting anew. Most of my day was spent in various coffee shops across the city. I contemplated what I needed to do to get back where I need to be. I wrote lists. I adjusted schedules. I made plans. And then I wrote. I have a story I've been working on, writing, picking away at for a while. I sat down with it again today and finally pushed it over the 6,000 word mark. It's a random and arbitrary number, but it felt good to see an indication of forward motion. And I forgot how much I love those characters and the set up and the energy and catharsis it brings me to write again. After the internal and emotional issues got the once over, it was time to get to the outward and physical, staring with a haircut. It had been way too long since I'd cut my hair. I got complacent and lazy, so I went in and cut it off and colored it today. I needed the change. It looks like forward motion. It is forward mot...

I'm not sure how I got here, but somehow I'm a bit lost. Emotionally drained and frustrated. Not having bad days, just not really having good days. I need to figure out how to find myself again. I have routines, but I'm not in my own routines. I need to intentionally put myself back into the mix. I've spun out a bit and need to push myself back in the right direction. I will get there. This is just step one.

Five years ago I was sitting in a graduate school classroom listening to professors introduce guest speakers. Tonight I was that guest speaker. I never imagined I would be asked to talk in a library school course. Much less after just five years in the field. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that idea that tenure and previous experience do not make one an "expert" or an "experienced or seasoned" professional. I have always tied length of time to expertise somehow. I am just now learning that those don't have to be mutually exclusive. In addition to speaking to a reader's advisory class about YA lit for adults (and some of my programming hits and misses), I also co-lead a 2-hour workshop discussion about instruction yesterday. Afterwards a colleague from another librarian came up to tell me that I did a good job. I thanked him for the compliment and didn't think twice about it. It's what you say after something like that. It's not t...