Tonight I went over to Kate's house for a barbecue, with her roommate Kirsten, Kirsten's boyfriend Jeff, who manned the grill, and fellow SLIS student Terra and her fiance Jesse. Terra and Jesse brought along their new puppy, an awesome little Scottish terrier named Dexter. He was SO excited to see all of the new people, and we had a blast playing with him. I can't imagine trying to take care of a dog with so much HAIR, though. At one point he got into a bush with little burrs, and you can imagine how much fun it was to try to get all of the stickers out of his fur. His little mustache is adorable, though.
Classes start tomorrow! This semester I'm taking three courses: Public Library Management, Computerization and Society, and Representation and Organization of Knowledge and Information. For that last class, we're required to read this article before we first meet: "When essence becomes function: post-structuralist implications for an ecological theory of organisational classification systems." That'll be fun bedtime reading.
I'm also going to be keeping up my job at the reference desk in the Information Commons. In addition, I've signed up to be a library instruction assistant, which means that when instructors bring their classes to the library for a session on research skills, I'll be one of the ones who will teach the classes. I'm pretty nervous about this job - I am NOT a natural teacher. But library instruction is something that will probably come up in any future job I have, so I think it's important for me to get some practice in and develop a skill that I'm not so good at right now. But oh, I'm so freaked out about teaching undergrads!
It's after 10 pm. I just walked about a quarter-mile down to the laundry facilities to change my loads over. I am now absolutely dripping with sweat. That's no exaggeration - the sweat is literally running in rivulets all over my body. I think I'm going to move to Nunavut.
Oh, did I mention yet that I really, really hate move-in day? It was impossible to get anywhere on campus today - my usual ten-minute bus ride home took about forty. Plus all the new students swarming about means we get the same questions over and over again at the reference desk.
Ugh, I sound like such a grump. Must be the heat.
A question we got at the reference desk the other night:
"I need help finding all the information you can about Kenyan companies who manufacture the equipment used for making fruit juice."
Um...? I have to say, I'm really curious now about what kind of project this guy was working on. I'd never had reason to consider Kenyan fruit-juice-making machine manufacturers before. So thanks, random student, for proving that there IS something new under the sun. At least for me.
It's time for an utterly pointless Kids in the Hall sketch! Enjoy:
I'm at work right now, at the undergraduate reference desk. I'm stuck here until ten o'clock and it is sloooow. Which is actually kind of nice, considering what the rest of the day has been like. Before I came on here at work, I had my internship presentation earlier this afternoon. Around one o'clock, I decided I'd head on over to the library, grab something to eat, and spend a little more time preparing. Since I knew I'd be here until ten, and parking in the Jordan garage is free in the evenings right now, I decided I'd drive to campus and walk to the library. Well, that was my first mistake. It is HOT out there, folks - right now the heat index is hovering around 110. Not a good day to take a hike.
So, I arrive at the library, absolutely dripping with sweat, and on my way in, I manage to step in a huge wad of bubblegum someone thoughtfully left on the sidewalk. I'm wearing one of my favorite pair of shoes, which happen to be suede, and they're covered in sticky bubblegum - it really made a mess of my shoe. On top of that, I'm hot, sweaty, and miserable. I run to the bathroom, where I fail spectacularly at cleaning up my bubblegum shoe. I give up on that and run back outside to scuff my shoes in the dirt for a while, thinking to at least take the stickiness off. That works, but when I get back inside and run down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat, I discover that they've decided to close early today, so I'm reduced to getting a drink and a bag of pretzels from the vending machines. Mmmm.
Anyway, so after all that, my internship presentation ended up going well. It was interesting to hear about what everyone else has been doing this summer, too, although at that point I was so tired and hot and sticky that it was sometimes hard to stay awake and on task. One of the guys presenting, Khaled, was delivering a valuable and informative talk about his experience tracking journal citations for math faculty at various universities. However, his accent made the word "faculty" come out sounding like, well, "fuckity", and unfortunately, he seemed to use the word about five times a minute. Also unfortunately, I am apparently immature and small-minded enough that this amused and distracted me. I'll just chalk it up to my aforementioned tiredness and hotness.
So now my internship is officially over. Two and a half more weeks of filling in for people at the ref desk, and then the fall semester and my regular employment will officially start. I'm ready for it - it's been pretty boring lately, waiting for people to get back into town. I'll miss all the time at the pool, though.
More pictures:
Some of our most creative costumes.
Popping "crystal balls" for fortunes.
The House-Elf Clothing Drive, sponsored by S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare).
Costumed party-goers wait outside for the doors to open.
Checking the book out at midnight!
Yep, still talking about it! The library has put all of its pictures from the night of the HP party up on Flickr, and I thought I'd share a few here:
Ebonee, Kirsten and I working at Ollivander's wand shop.
The wand chooses the wizard!
I demonstrate the superior magical capabilities of an Ollivander's wand.
All of our Harry Potter characters posing before the night begins.
The great hall, transformed into Diagon Alley.