Working Stiff

Yikes, it's been a long time, hasn't it? Sorry!!! First of all, thank you guys so much for all of the kind comments and putting up with my whining and worrying. You guys made me feel much better about everything and I definitely survived the move and first few days because of it.

Now, regarding my life in this new city. Basically my life can be separated into two categories: Work and Not Work. Let's start with work.

So far, so good. I know that's vague but it's the best way to describe it. At this point, I really like my job. I like most of my patrons and my coworkers are great... at least 15-20 years older than me, but great. And I feel like I'm doing a good job at my job. When I was talking to my mom after my first week and I told her that so far, everything was fine, she said, "I'm shocked that you're not miserable... you're supposed to be miserable and overwhelmed for the first few months." Here's the thing, there isn't any programs going on and I haven't learned anything about selecting, ordering or budgeting. But here's what happens in the next three months: School lets out this Friday and the average number of people in the children's room will increase by leaps and bounds. Registration starts for the summer reading program this Saturday. We'll have programs every Wednesday and then massive crowds in the children's room. Then, in July, I have four storytimes for 3-5 year olds and I need to prepare those and also prepare crafts-50 for each week. And I'm the one who gets to cut out all of the pieces for said crafts. Then, in August, I get to host picnics every Wednesday with stories for all ages and games. So, right now, my job is great. As I told my mom, talk to me in July and see how I'm feeling.

But, like I was saying before, right now, I'm great. I'm having a ton of fun getting to know all my little ones and today I did my very first school visit. It was an exhausting blast. I did a summer reading program presentation for an elementary school in town. The theme of the summer reading program is "Get a Clue @ your library" (unfortunately not @ your library, bitches :)) so I wore a trench coat (borrowed from the assistant director's husband) and a ridiculous Sherlock Holmes-esque hat and I carried a little flip top notebook. And of course, the kids got to help me solve "mysteries" i.e. "How do you keep a skunk from smelling?" (Plug his nose :)). And I had a powerpoint presentation to tell them the ins and outs of the program and then I did booktalks. Again, exhausting but a total blast. My favorite part of the day was with the 2nd and 3rd graders. They were the biggest group and yet they were the best listeners. They had just received their yearbooks and after my presentation, they were all going to gym (which was next door) to have their teachers sign their yearbooks. And, get this! They wanted me to sign their yearbooks!!!! It was SO COOL. So I was signing things like "Reading Rocks! Miss Katie" "Keep Reading! Miss Katie" and the classic "Have a great summer... @ the library! Miss Katie" Soooooo fun :) It's really hard not to love your job when little kids are asking for you autograph :)

In other work related news, I now understand why people drink coffee when they go to work. For my first five days of work, I stayed away from all things caffeine but then I slept like crap on Tuesday night and stopped at Starbucks on Wednesday morning (and the barista was so cute!). Then I busted out my coffee machine Thursday and made myself what I think was probably a pretty strong cup o' joe. And since then, I've had some form of caffeine every morning. Holy shit it's amazing how much more I get done! I'm sitting at my desk, all perky, ready to work and even though my attention span is about two seconds long, it is so much easier making it through the morning! I'm doing that peppy, cheery, children's librarian thing--if you threw a apple themed jumper on me, I'd be your stereotypical kiddie librarian!

Now, onto the not work section of this entry (which is getting quite long... are you guys asleep yet?)

I love my apartment. I really do. I'm slowly but surely getting settled (just ignore the seven or so unpacked boxes in my spare room). I've got curtains up in my living room and coordinating pillows. It's great--I promise I'll post pictures soon. I feel at home there and And it's a good thing because I never leave it. As expected, my social life is desolate. To quote one of my co-workers, "So, you don't know anyone here? Well, good luck meeting anyone." She speaks the truth. I have no idea how to meet anyone.

Actually, I've met quite a few people--they're just middle aged. Now, I like middle aged people. As an only child who spent most of her time hanging out with grownups, I like middle aged people but these people are not middle aged in a fun way. They're middle aged in a "Oh my daughter, she's so liberal. They're all liberal when they go to college" way. This afternoon, I met a woman who lives in my apartment complex and she was talking about how horrible our apartment complex was and how nothing ever got fixed and at first I was worried and then I realized that she has never lived in Madison so our standards are a bit different (my apartment is beautiful, pristine even.) Then she told me that there was a librarian named Dan who lived upstairs in her building. First thought "A manbrarian!" Second thought: "Ugh, a manbrarian." But, she did tell me about the Cultural Center... which has events like "Backyard Bijou" where they show movies like Pillow Talk, Viva Las Vegas and Charade in the backyard of a historic house in town. I will definitely be attending Backyard Bijou events. Living in this uppity little city (I speak the truth.) has its advantages.