meliscellaneous

(I need to blog more!)

Last night was our Spring Fling and I bonded with Clifford for a storytime at the book fair (I am slowly getting over my half-fear of people in costumes I guess, This is my 4th time reading with a high schooler dressed as Clifford sitting next to me, haha.) We also had table raffles, and the school budget vote.

Working the Book Fair is always interesting, and last night was no exception. My kids are always asking for Disney-type books, which I can’t really buy for the Library, as they aren’t something that fit in the curriculum, and don’t have a long shelf life (in 10 years will anyone know who Zac and Cody are?) so this gives them a chance to find the books I lack in my library. I won’t knock the disney books, I’m sure I have a FULL HOUSE book from my own childhood somewhere, maybe even a NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK book.

Which takes me another theme I have noticed, the 80’s come back. I’ve seen the toys, but it seems like much of my childhood was on display at the book fair too…my little pony, strawberry shortcake, transformers…will Thunder Cats be next? During a lesson today I referenced the sesame street Street “One of these things is not like the others…” song, and my students were very confused, but they do know the names of every Care Bear.

In my own reading life I am enjoying some YA lit I picked up at the Scholastic Warehouse sale last week, and what I picked up at the book fair yesterday.

 BOOK FAIR:

BOOK FAIR WAREHOUSE SALE:

<div id=”ShelfariWidget11768″><a href=’http://www.shelfari.com/’>Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog</a><script src=”http://www.shelfari.com/ws/11768/widget.js” type=”text/javascript” language=”javascript”></script></div>

(the last three listed I bought at a previous warehouse sale)

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“…I was proud, really proud of my mom not being afraid of failure. i am. I’d sooner not try than fail They might think i’m stupid, but I’m not. Knowing I’m not stupid is enough for me, I’m enough for me.”

-Page 12

Has Esme Raji Codell been reading my secret journals, because that could have came straight from my brain.

We had an Ice day in New York. I am in the process of reading “The Time Traveler’s Wife” (Yes, I am behind the times) but I grabbed the copy of “Sahara Special” off my  kitchen table instead.

As an educator, I’ve been enjoying Esme’s Raji Codell’s books, because of how true they are, I can relate to the classroom antics…I often wish I could get up the nerve to be her when I finally grow up

But this book was different, I didn’t read it as a teacher, I read it as the little girl whose 6th grade teacher would toss the contents of her messy desk into the hallway, who would get sick to her stomach every math class, who was given extra time in college to take tests, but never used it out of fear of people she didn’t even know thinking she was stupid…. the girl who would pretend to be invisible in class, who would think the answers but never say them aloud…I understood exactly how it feels to have your wrist twitch, wanting to raise your hand, but failing. I am still that girl, now at 25, but I am trying to be more..or maybe not more, but to see that the more is already there.

“I am a writer.”
“A writer writes.”

I need to start living up to that advice

http://www.planetesme.com/

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This post is brought to you by the letters: A P P L and E
Christmas came early this year:

Well, Hello here Mr. Macbook Pro. I’ve been a PC user for…well forever,  other than my time setting up my brother’s powerbook, and going to the mac labs to shut down the computers when I worked at the Help Desk in college, so this Mac thing is all new to me…but so far I’m having quite a bit  of fun….after learning how to right click of course.

I can’t wait to play with garage band. I just did some podcasting training, and have some fun ideas for podcasts that I can hardly wait. Back when I was a kid, my best friend and I would record our voices on cassette tapes pretending we were Radio DJs. If we were kids now I suppose we could actually be.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade my smurfs, ninja turtles, Voltron Force, Zoobley Zoo and Raffi for anything, but being a child now with all this technology would be pretty darn exciting as well.

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I decided, since I paid for this domain, I should use it, so I’ll work on posting more…especially book related posts, reviews, recommendations and just anything book or library related

 I had to give back my copy of ”Eclipse” to the library without reading it due to time issues. But I am far from book-less at the moment. My most recent read was :
 
Which was as wonderful as I expected. The writing was beautiful, even when dealing with gritty specifics of sucide. It was reflective, and lyrical, and made me actually want to start reading adult contempory fiction again. I have been on a YA kick for so long, all my adult books are gathering dust.

Over the break I plan to read:

all of which I have really been looking forward to reading.

 …Speaking of looking forward to!

The Sweet Far Thing drops in December, so soon…
And only 2 more days until Meg Cabot’s New Heather Mills Mystery.

I mean no offense to Miss Cabot when I say this, but never did I think I would be this excited for a chick lit book. Until this summer I really turned my nose up at anything “chick lit” or “fluff”.  Book Snob I know, I’ve learned my lesson…fluff has it’s imporant place in the world. Most people who know me personally are probably shocked it took me so long to give in to fluff, as I am the type to wear princess tiara’s around the house, and buy pink cell phones (though my latest is baby blue) And of course I watch my fair share of fluff on TV.

Speaking of TV, over break, my other big plan is to finish watching Doctor Who Season 2 on DVD as the Office Season 3. Then onward to more TV on DVD, because I am obsessed. I don’t have nice hobbies like normal people…I watch TV and read. This *would* make me boring, if not for the princess tiaras…

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I was about to start reading the latest book by Stephanie Meyer, “Eclipse”.” Back in Albany I nearly picked up “Twilight” back in the little book store I loved, but I never did. Then it became the next big thing. My friend, and fellow card holding librarian, and english teacher, Lauren pushed me into reading the series this summer. It’s an interesting read, but I haven’t been able to “get into it” as much as some other people (everyone) Maybe it’s because it is so popular. I pushed away harry Potter the first few years, and I ignore anything with the Oprah stamp on it. I love getting book recommendations from friends, and using Amazon and Shelfari to get book recommendations, so I really can’t explain why, when something is super popular I sometimes avoid it for a year or so, and then read it. As a librarian I should be reading all the new popular stuff, I’ll work on that.

Well, if you haven’t heard of this series yet, it’s a nice mix of supernatural and romance, and while I wasn’t as invested in it as other things (lately “The Mediator” series by Meg Cabot is my YA guilty pleasure of choice) I find myself wanting to see what will happen.

Of course I didn’t have a chance to read it, and I can’re renew because it has holds at the Public Library, so I get to go back on the waiting list.

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I’m wearing purple princess shoes and I know you are jealous. I fiqure as long as I still look 15 I can still do wonderfully random things like wear purple princess shoes, and try on prom dresses in department stores.  I mean seriously here folks, why act my age when no one believes I am my age. I often start to regress more around my birthday

You should have seen the librarian’s face down at the new Valley Library when I went to request a new card. She asked me my age, I informed her, and she stared at me like I had three heads and each head was performing a different mologue from Shakespeare. Then to add to the fun, my mother says “Oooh Ooh Tell her what you do for a living..my daughter is a LIBRARIAN!” There we go, now we have blown the poor woman’s mind.

I’ve often thought, that this age thing probably hindered me in the job hunt…I did think I would be safe in Elementary Education…but of course not. I started my college career as SECONDARY EDUCATION ENGLISH, but quickly realized my mistake…do I want to be pushed down the hall by high schoolers my whole life? As an Elementary Media Specialist I have only been mistaken for a fourth grader about 5 times, that’s pretty good I think.

I’ve learned many things from my first year of teaching…most I’m sure are very wise and philsophical and what not…but the thing that stands out most is that I am: the same size as a third grader…dun dun dun. The 4th and 5th graders are bigger, the second graders, thank goodness, are mostly smaller….but third grade is right on the money, we even have the same size hands. This could be why teaching 4th and 5th was more challenging for me.

 I think maybe I should trade in my purple princess shoes for stilts.

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I consider my self the Anti- Ponce de Leon. Not that I am looking for a fountain of oldness, I just think my life would be easier if I looked my age. I don’t want to look “older” I just want to not shock people when they learn I am NOT 12…makes things hard when you work with kids and people keep thinking you’re one of them.

 Today I had a random, and cute set of comments from my Kindergarten class.

Out of the blue one little girl raises her hand:

Girl: Miss C, Miss C!

Me: Yes?

Girl: Mrs. (insert classroom teacher here) says you’re gonna get married!

Me: She did, did she? (*thinking* huh?? Does she know when? I’d like a date…oh and a name. Is she a member of Psychic friends?)

Boy: Nuh uh!

Girl: Ah huh!

Boy: Big people get married, she’s not getting married, she’s not a big person yet! you have to be all grownup!

Okay even 6 year olds think that I’m 12, though I know for a fact I am the same age as some of their mothers. I suppose I could sit under a tanning machine and kill my skin, but then I’d just look like a red faced 12 year old with peeling.

While meandering online you can find lots of HOW TO LOOK OLDER advice articles, some of which are actually helpful, and some of them…are just a riot.

Take for an example this “site” (ahhh wiki’s, you are amusing)
http://www.wikihow.com/Look-Older-Than-You-Really-Are
which gives a boat load of…uh advice like:

-First of all, you’re going to need to look taller, so a pair of high-heels is a must. If you don’t like high heels, go with wedge heels, unless you’re really short. (I guess really short people have no chance at looking older, lucky for me I’m 7 feet tall…ah hem)

-Let your hair fall down in front of your face at the sides, so they can’t see your eyes very well.  (So I can walk into walls? Messy looking and klutzy equals older?)

-Wear big hoop earrings. Even clips will do.  Wear dark, tight jeans.  (Classy!)

-Wear bug eye sunglasses like Mary Kate and Ashley. (Can I even comment on this? Do I really need to…)

And my favorite:
-don’t be mistaken as a hooker!

 I also like where it tells me I need money and a cell phone to look older, because my 4th and 5th graders have cell phones.  I guess I should steer clear of any advice articles written by 14 year olds.

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