tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51197388415844276542024-03-07T01:04:05.581-05:00a hundred visions and revisionsKristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-71860135740874362492010-01-07T21:01:00.002-05:002010-01-07T21:20:29.848-05:00Hello, goodbyeI know this blog has been pretty much abandoned for quite a while now, so there's probably not even anyone still reading it, but I wanted to post an update to mention that I've moved house to <a href="http://ahundredrevisions.wordpress.com/">a new blog at Wordpress</a>, where I've already got a blog for Normal Public Library teen services set up. I'm also switching gears a bit on what I'll be posting. My life is generally pretty boring, and anyone that I care about who needs to know what I'm up to can find me pretty easily on Facebook nowadays, so with this new blog, I'll mostly be discussing young adult library services and literature, as well as the occasional off-topic oddity that catches my interest. You're welcome to come and visit me at my new digs, where hopefully I'll also be a bit better at updating regularly than I have here. Thanks for reading and commenting here, and see you soon at Wordpress!Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-43933389459302673452008-12-31T23:51:00.010-05:002009-01-01T01:28:59.102-05:00I'm an auntie!<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12N26DzL5yxAbRjpM41oK5ht6QDN_TN4te11UWubuRujuXUyrMxUAS_gwI-ytTAfrgSIyxaTxIrn75ClDBssbeCBti2dzpROmzNZgBaTKTptxeHtIsa6jlncDKzh7qf74XAFcmToc9Acv/s1600-h/Adalyn+Joy-34.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12N26DzL5yxAbRjpM41oK5ht6QDN_TN4te11UWubuRujuXUyrMxUAS_gwI-ytTAfrgSIyxaTxIrn75ClDBssbeCBti2dzpROmzNZgBaTKTptxeHtIsa6jlncDKzh7qf74XAFcmToc9Acv/s320/Adalyn+Joy-34.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286184930748724834" border="0" /></a>Adalyn Joy Vail<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">Born December 31 at 8:41 pm<br />7 lbs. 4 oz., 20.5 in.<br /></div><br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIj1LQzCPzA7rwtpnCGSphljKDmn6hzOpkFSJIuQbuMiH6G2AMyIJz4uaMFJmf7iCXZQRh9FRbnTM5rWT5sdUTzF-ZjMb50VpvJINchEqB3L8YbzwzTqUs3OjqbkWXeTPlFiSasrSUJ19/s1600-h/Adalyn+Joy-21.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIj1LQzCPzA7rwtpnCGSphljKDmn6hzOpkFSJIuQbuMiH6G2AMyIJz4uaMFJmf7iCXZQRh9FRbnTM5rWT5sdUTzF-ZjMb50VpvJINchEqB3L8YbzwzTqUs3OjqbkWXeTPlFiSasrSUJ19/s320/Adalyn+Joy-21.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286185090337278898" border="0" /></a>With Mommy and Daddy<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDayVcbLr74G3mxmBETr1vRYIyzi2ZLq6JMhCWD9wZp9bW5YYi_UsZdr3LOaTrveNpFBiML_fQ9r3p8XqIHfQFzpuEg_iwUCflzzyGL2J4BN1hvFN1zBsUshaou3Qxi6fZY8tpXHXwN5ca/s1600-h/Adalyn+Joy-26.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDayVcbLr74G3mxmBETr1vRYIyzi2ZLq6JMhCWD9wZp9bW5YYi_UsZdr3LOaTrveNpFBiML_fQ9r3p8XqIHfQFzpuEg_iwUCflzzyGL2J4BN1hvFN1zBsUshaou3Qxi6fZY8tpXHXwN5ca/s320/Adalyn+Joy-26.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286185491795865458" border="0" /></a>Snuggling with Grandpa<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRiFo0MRLKyseOHzI5Q-dzOF-5Ke-g_t7lSPOXp9hlfbz5cVLJCH1xj-cx3upzyHuNUfqh4XK5dpuzlnOFZqp_VftbNxLMGm9XSLBTF6qRV1h5tXqt4QlN9LxeiiCZd7icSEycyhNCZCVl/s1600-h/Adalyn+Joy-31.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRiFo0MRLKyseOHzI5Q-dzOF-5Ke-g_t7lSPOXp9hlfbz5cVLJCH1xj-cx3upzyHuNUfqh4XK5dpuzlnOFZqp_VftbNxLMGm9XSLBTF6qRV1h5tXqt4QlN9LxeiiCZd7icSEycyhNCZCVl/s320/Adalyn+Joy-31.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286185931695300562" border="0" /></a>Opening up her eyes for Grandma<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFr93Ct68GEdX7sL7h0L93o-IR5mrT2PZecO0XMeZN4YJUKzXemkXOURJl6Y8pURjZXRd04fKy8nlsui5ASuuMijTskILRfmgdIhYDA6Ma3jvHT7Sw7AdwegK7bsyGIWsjU1uomY3QmqE0/s1600-h/Adalyn+Joy-27.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFr93Ct68GEdX7sL7h0L93o-IR5mrT2PZecO0XMeZN4YJUKzXemkXOURJl6Y8pURjZXRd04fKy8nlsui5ASuuMijTskILRfmgdIhYDA6Ma3jvHT7Sw7AdwegK7bsyGIWsjU1uomY3QmqE0/s320/Adalyn+Joy-27.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286186274021054354" border="0" /></a>If you try really hard, I bet you can get that whole fist in there, Adalyn!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUiU2uBoixe3MuJFanMqt9mzhQVuIeiT5SOl08igqcKmwvvmR1oKAgl-EScKwRdi1ulyESqnJVOXwiZjpLJfgBJbdX1H40IJZNR1LF9haWFgg3tSDzwTolEr5YCRXjn-PNH9VovfllJ2mj/s1600-h/Adalyn+Joy-16.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUiU2uBoixe3MuJFanMqt9mzhQVuIeiT5SOl08igqcKmwvvmR1oKAgl-EScKwRdi1ulyESqnJVOXwiZjpLJfgBJbdX1H40IJZNR1LF9haWFgg3tSDzwTolEr5YCRXjn-PNH9VovfllJ2mj/s320/Adalyn+Joy-16.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286186518979100210" border="0" /></a>I think she looks kind of like Yoda in this picture.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6hqIVrufdAT_dPTfEx4QjZw37kSYndEyjRcrcOohjLt9ykR8MXP_71ZohWh6l7JJLSvZcXD57wQZZm-OJsrbM-Y5WQCnJhmtbQLWBak_YI7KIIucfjholhIsLNlUCoYiBxVN11F2ECuZv/s1600-h/Adalyn+Joy-6.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6hqIVrufdAT_dPTfEx4QjZw37kSYndEyjRcrcOohjLt9ykR8MXP_71ZohWh6l7JJLSvZcXD57wQZZm-OJsrbM-Y5WQCnJhmtbQLWBak_YI7KIIucfjholhIsLNlUCoYiBxVN11F2ECuZv/s320/Adalyn+Joy-6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286187808446316450" border="0" /></a>Adalyn tells the birthing process exactly what she thinks of it.<br /><br /></div>Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-17460825773608278042008-11-02T22:26:00.002-05:002008-11-02T22:29:22.671-05:00A conversation at workThis happened a few days ago when it got really cold here. It was a slow night, so those of us working at the desk had some interesting conversations. Around 7:00, Maurice comes in saying that it's snowing outside. I run out to check and, sure enough, snow is coming down in little flurries. But Jon doesn't get outside to check until a while later, by which time it's stopped snowing. For the rest of the night, he insists that Maurice was making it all up.<br /><br />Jon: I don't believe you about anything anymore. You were lying about the snow. I think you got snow confused with stars.<br />Maurice: You just couldn't see the snow, because you didn't believe enough.<br />Me: It was falling all around you and you were blind to it. Open your mind to the snow!<br />Evan: Yeah, it's like Polar Express or something.<br />Lauren: What??<br />Evan: Uh, yeah, I don't know where I was going with that.<br />Jon: I still don't believe you guys.<br />Me: Every time you say you don't believe in snow, a snowflake dies.<br />Evan: Quick, clap your hands! Put on your gloves and clap your hands!<br />Me: I do believe in snowflakes! I do! I do!Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-21235667962746718822008-10-17T22:16:00.004-04:002008-10-17T22:41:52.382-04:00Hello again...I realize I've more or less abandoned this blog recently, for which I apologize. It's not intentional, I've just gotten busy with work and things. I kept planning on doing an update, but then I'd get caught up in something else and forget about it. Anyway, I'm not going to post much tonight either, because I'm tired and tomorrow it's my Saturday to work. I am planning to update soon with a lot more about how things are going at work, etc. I've also got some plans to do something a bit different with this blog than I have in the past, which I'll hopefully detail soon. For now, here's some Random Playlist Friday tunes:<br /><br />Bag of Hammers - Thao<br />Baby in Two - Pernice Brothers<br />I Feel Like Going Home - Yo La Tengo<br />You Drift Away - The Postmarks<br />Something To Look Forward To - Spoon<br />Where Does the Time Go? - The Innocence Mission<br />Helpless Fool for Love - Annie<br />In the Morning of the Magicians - The Flaming Lips<br />My Impure Hair - Blonde Redhead<br />Back of a Car - Big Star<br />Living in Paradise - Elvis Costello<br />I Hear You Say So – The Innocence Mission<br />Will You Love Me Tomorrow - The Shirelles<br />Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens (The kids here in Illinois get this day off school!)<br />Sea Song - Doves<br />All Neon Like - Bjork<br />Farrar, Straus, and Giroux - Destroyer<br />Don't You Want Me - The Human League (Ha!)<br />Chartsengrafs - Grandaddy<br />Any Day Now - Elbow<br /><br />(I'm sort of amazed that no Belle and Sebastian showed up on this one. I have so much B&S on iTunes that I think they've shown up at least once on every other random playlist I've made.)Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-80914949568237113952008-09-05T01:27:00.001-04:002008-09-05T01:28:54.571-04:00The Daily Show hits it out of the park...<embed flashvars="videoId=184086" src="http://www.thedailyshow.com/sitewide/video_player/view/default/swf.jhtml" quality="high" bgcolor="#cccccc" name="comedy_central_player" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="external" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" align="middle" height="316" width="332"></embed>Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-55634865833978354432008-08-25T23:44:00.003-04:002008-08-25T23:52:37.586-04:00Um, hi...Wow. *dusts off blog*<br /><br />It's been way too long since I've updated this thing. I've been busy but happy lately. I've started my new job as a young adult librarian at the Normal Public Library, and it couldn't be going better. I love my coworkers, and the teens are great. I promised Alida and the others at ACPL that there's no way that the teens anywhere else could beat them in awesomeness...well, I'm sorry, Alida, but these guys do come pretty close! I miss everybody at ACPL still, of course, but I'm starting to feel really settled in here, and I'm excited about future possibilities with this job. I'm the sole young adult librarian here, so I'm in charge of everything in the department, as well as helping out with general adult reference duties. There's a lot of stuff to learn, and sometimes I feel so inexperienced when confronted with all of these new duties, but I'm also glad to have this opportunity. Luckily all of my coworkers have been great about helping me learn the ropes. There's just a lot I'll have to learn as I go along. I'll post again soon with more details about the job, but when I realized how long it had been since I'd updated my blog, I wanted to make sure to at least post a brief message to prove I'm still alive.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-16380801657082837362008-07-22T17:53:00.005-04:002008-12-09T03:24:15.304-05:00New apartmentThis past weekend, with the help of my parents and grandparents, I moved all of my worldly goods here to Bloomington-Normal. Mom stayed over an extra day to help me get things sorted, and now I'm starting to feel somewhat settled in. I thought I'd share a few pictures of my new apartment. Don't be fooled by how put together everything looks - my closet is crammed full of boxes yet to be unpacked.<br /><br />The living room:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHfUUD02Ba5NELZwe4kUhFAcH2SynFDzye2WZ2O8RI_acZPDh17Y_jCDJoZUOrGfZYZgZTY7vEnLeEvOBQBFMHwmf_qkq5ATkgvBxygwK_8Yb51I-rEl0P2BEpUj3z9JuH1Q9NvwIhYcl/s1600-h/living1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHfUUD02Ba5NELZwe4kUhFAcH2SynFDzye2WZ2O8RI_acZPDh17Y_jCDJoZUOrGfZYZgZTY7vEnLeEvOBQBFMHwmf_qkq5ATkgvBxygwK_8Yb51I-rEl0P2BEpUj3z9JuH1Q9NvwIhYcl/s200/living1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225960764773980386" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJO71uD1hHqa4dfbWdN07INyvy61IigTaGzJZLCaMudcL8SwDLFfUZm8ESHofeI-bmiJXNyhaEfRqWZwsI3FS9LAbwFFgt-yj_nzLQfa6hjB94ZvHjidf6gdH6Uadr5TTGpqBuxreNusqn/s1600-h/living2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJO71uD1hHqa4dfbWdN07INyvy61IigTaGzJZLCaMudcL8SwDLFfUZm8ESHofeI-bmiJXNyhaEfRqWZwsI3FS9LAbwFFgt-yj_nzLQfa6hjB94ZvHjidf6gdH6Uadr5TTGpqBuxreNusqn/s200/living2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225960889633095154" /></a><br /><br />The kitchen:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHjljIOVl5ZLoezjJouRAo3HqiZvij1BwS2KPkJzep88K97dkalQPxAMdmXQbuh8-Xp_UA9ZnZWX_rNFHDQCF5rv5Czdk0zB5lcrNDAfdTaNCYQP_U_CGsGGyFesg90PI5i5jg72Y1kpK/s1600-h/kitchen1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHjljIOVl5ZLoezjJouRAo3HqiZvij1BwS2KPkJzep88K97dkalQPxAMdmXQbuh8-Xp_UA9ZnZWX_rNFHDQCF5rv5Czdk0zB5lcrNDAfdTaNCYQP_U_CGsGGyFesg90PI5i5jg72Y1kpK/s200/kitchen1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225961000735787602" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGtgLpIcZXAxqfdm7jn2z8U2eBwN-nYc6RgLujdkY8c9ewlDf0tKw0EypZx6mQQ4bgW23SwyNEhOY9Xqppsk3mYfuVbJJC9nzlY5Cq5T0A4TYU6407MMMbceLW1KMd-vnBMe_TvQqg19f/s1600-h/kitchen2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGtgLpIcZXAxqfdm7jn2z8U2eBwN-nYc6RgLujdkY8c9ewlDf0tKw0EypZx6mQQ4bgW23SwyNEhOY9Xqppsk3mYfuVbJJC9nzlY5Cq5T0A4TYU6407MMMbceLW1KMd-vnBMe_TvQqg19f/s200/kitchen2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225961088961727698" /></a><br /><br />The bedroom:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQG-eDOk4jp33c6mp3Xg6FAFr_p9dxkHCL4nBeHnlb_jhhFCkQOMMyVxfdKUK3H_NNgdZCRMV3ND7rMUjZJR58Az3WvH0Es8hKlMY2nc9TRvHySrJmEgK-9gWC7A81qHlPj5R7oNZ1JCEU/s1600-h/bedroom1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQG-eDOk4jp33c6mp3Xg6FAFr_p9dxkHCL4nBeHnlb_jhhFCkQOMMyVxfdKUK3H_NNgdZCRMV3ND7rMUjZJR58Az3WvH0Es8hKlMY2nc9TRvHySrJmEgK-9gWC7A81qHlPj5R7oNZ1JCEU/s200/bedroom1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225961207578246098" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EFhdk2BzFXp7HMUxqq87kJENM67xKU6BHpfaE3joF2JhS4-Si6s1NJRrGK2bgIH0vrhETogm1zYv9ywjwVuqSABjcvUf78TE6jQ1S01Hhb66Kh9GwS-wfiokZBy_PuQqcMUeRYmKH9Z-/s1600-h/bedroom2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EFhdk2BzFXp7HMUxqq87kJENM67xKU6BHpfaE3joF2JhS4-Si6s1NJRrGK2bgIH0vrhETogm1zYv9ywjwVuqSABjcvUf78TE6jQ1S01Hhb66Kh9GwS-wfiokZBy_PuQqcMUeRYmKH9Z-/s200/bedroom2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225961273974539154" /></a>Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-86431208434887561032008-07-17T13:28:00.004-04:002008-07-17T13:36:21.083-04:00Moving, etc.A lot of crazy stuff has been happening, so this post is going to be a jumble of sorts. First and most importantly, I'm moving tomorrow - and I still have about a million things to do before then, of course. My parents and grandparents are helping, and between us we've got two minivans, a pickup truck, and my little car, which we're hoping to be able to cram all of my stuff into. I hope it all fits. <br /><br />Yesterday was my last day at ACPL, and it was very bittersweet. I spent my time playing Euchre and Rock Band with the teens - best last day ever! But it was horrible to say goodbye to everyone there. I've loved working at ACPL, and am going to miss all of my coworkers and the teens there so much. I wish I could take them all with me.<br /><br />I've spent the past several days working hard on finishing my new furniture. A few weeks ago, I went to an unfinished furniture shop in town and picked out a new desk, dresser, TV stand, and bookcase. I did all the staining myself - I got a beautiful dark espresso stain, and it looks great on the pieces. Now I'm scrambling to finish up the polyurethane coats so that they'll be dry in time to pack them in the vans. Maybe I'll post pictures of them in use in my new place once I've settled in. Oh, and I also bought a sofa and chair - no more ugly flowered hand-me-downs from my parents, hurrah. I'm so proud of all my new grown-up furniture!Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-5162954479370562442008-07-12T01:17:00.000-04:002008-07-12T02:18:57.803-04:00My new favorite thingI can't stop watching it:<br /><br /><object height="225" width="400"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1211060&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"> <embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1211060&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="225" width="400"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/1211060?pg=embed&sec=1211060">Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/user484313?pg=embed&sec=1211060">Matthew Harding</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/?pg=embed&sec=1211060">Vimeo</a>.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-91011726218346642292008-07-01T16:39:00.005-04:002008-07-01T16:49:34.358-04:00A Normal jobSo, I guess it's about time to mention that I've been offered the job in Normal I talked about in my last post. It happened so quickly that I'm still a little shocked. We've tentatively set my start date as August 4, and last Thursday and Friday my parents came with me to Bloomington-Normal to look around at the area and hopefully find me a place to live. I wanted to live close to work, but unfortunately the vast majority of the apartments around uptown Normal are either heavily student-oriented (Illinois State University is literally right next to the library), or they're Section 8 housing, i.e. rent-controlled, and for the first time in my life, I'll be making too much money to qualify. (!!!) So I ended up looking further south in Bloomington, where apartments were quite a bit more expensive but also nicer. There was one apartment complex I really liked, but they were completely full and had a waiting list, so it didn't look like there was a chance I could get a place there before I'd need to move. But it just so happened that as I was in the leasing office, one of their residents came in saying that he wanted to do a sublease for July and August, and I pretty much jumped up and down yelling "Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!" So we talked it over and worked it out, and now I have an apartment. I'm going to try to head back this weekend to do some cleaning and hopefully move a few of my things in, and then in two or three weeks I'll move over there for good. <br /><br />It feels like everything has really fallen into place perfectly for me to have this job. I hope I like the job and the Normal area. It's not terribly far from Chicago, and there's a train that goes straight there, so that'll be nice. And it's about four hours away from my family and friends here in Fort Wayne, which makes weekend trips very possible. I'll miss ACPL and the people there a lot, but overall I'm excited about this opportunity. Now I'm just incredibly nervous and worried about doing the job well. I hope I don't disappoint!Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-61526927845939568182008-06-20T20:30:00.003-04:002008-06-20T20:35:55.971-04:00Upheaval...I haven't posted in a bit because things have gone sort of crazy for me. I've mentioned on here before that my job at ACPL is currently only part-time, and that I've been hoping for more hours for a while now. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was browsing through some library job sites and almost on a whim, decided to apply for a couple of young adult positions I found. Within a few days, I had been contacted for a phone interview by the people at the Normal Public Library in Illinois. A few days after that - this Tuesday - I went to Normal for an in-person interview. The job is a full-time young adult librarian position, and I would definitely be making quite a bit more money than I do now. The interview went well, I thought, and I liked the people at the library. It's definitely a much smaller place than ACPL, and I would be the only full-time YA librarian, with maybe a student worker to assist me. Bloomington-Normal seems like a nice area - the two cities combined have a population of around 120,000 people, it's about two hours from Chicago, and about four and a half hours from my family in Fort Wayne. I'm not sure what to hope for at this point - part of me still has a tiny hope that something full-time is going to open up at ACPL so I can stay in the area, but the rest of me realizes what a great opportunity this job could be. I probably won't find out whether or not they'll offer the job to me for a few more weeks, so meanwhile I'll be nervously waiting. Everyone wish me luck!Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-53700912925822034252008-06-09T02:08:00.006-04:002008-06-09T02:24:59.553-04:0048-Hour Book Challenge wrapupOfficially my reading time doesn't end until 7:00 tomorrow morning, but there is no way that I'm going to stay up reading that whole time, so I'm officially calling it quits. I'm actually right in the middle of <span style="font-style:italic;">The Sherwood Ring</span> by Elizabeth Marie Pope, but I need sleep. Maybe if I finish it tomorrow I'll go ahead and post a review, but for now I'll just count the pages I've read so far.<br /><br />So, here's my stats:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Books read</span>: 7 1/2<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pages read</span>: 2401<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hours spent reading</span>: About 20<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Favorite book read</span>: It's a very tough choice, because I loved several of the books, but I'd say it's a tossup between <span style="font-style:italic;">The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">The Dead and the Gone</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Least favorite</span>: Definitely <span style="font-style:italic;">Wake</span><br /><br />Some thoughts: Yay, I did better than last year! Still nowhere near the levels of some of the super readers, but as much as I love reading, I found that I couldn't just sit still hour after hour. I had to take breaks for bike rides and the Internet and a little bit of tube-gazing. Plus I took quite a bit of time writing up my reviews that I guess I could've spent reading. But oh well - I wasn't really doing this to set record numbers of pages read or anything, just as a fun way to spend a free weekend and get a lot of books read. So overall, great experience, and I'll definitely have to do this next year.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-47372203951634928482008-06-09T01:55:00.003-04:002008-12-09T03:24:15.528-05:00The Princess and the Hound - Mette Ivie Harrison<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF58Pf-WzWKQMk026acY9wNRhFABULuuPdm9ANCgIlGJllFjlc8aiP3WSBYnMm38SvJgdX315p3Y3qWB4nF7a36EjoV_8EfkACCJBhCPgGZZ0huXPIDYBJHk5hyiuQc1PhXjhL-JOwlHZ8/s1600-h/princess.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF58Pf-WzWKQMk026acY9wNRhFABULuuPdm9ANCgIlGJllFjlc8aiP3WSBYnMm38SvJgdX315p3Y3qWB4nF7a36EjoV_8EfkACCJBhCPgGZZ0huXPIDYBJHk5hyiuQc1PhXjhL-JOwlHZ8/s200/princess.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209756447814436402" /></a> Prince George of the kingdom of Kendel has always known he was different from others. As a small boy, he followed his mother to the stables and the forest and learned how to speak with the animals there. As he grows older, he comes to learn that he must never share this secret with anyone, as animal magic is banned in the kingdom and punishable by death. But when he becomes betrothed to the neighboring kingdom's Princess Beatrice, who has a strange and inseparable relationship with a mysterious wild hound, both of their secrets threaten to come out into the open. <br /><br />I'm really not sure how I felt about this one. I think it could have been much more tightly plotted, and sometimes I couldn't figure out exactly what the author was trying to do or where she wanted the story to go. Everything was told in a kind of distant, fairy-tale style, which sometimes works for me but here didn't, because it made it hard to get attached to either George or the princess. All of this is making it sound like I really hate the book, but I don't, just feel kind of meh about it.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-85058163744238897152008-06-08T22:04:00.001-04:002008-12-09T03:24:15.661-05:00My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park - Steve Kluger<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjHRQGCxFdETUhodhlBSTikVm5_T7Q6BU99AHJ3KIgFhunD2d7w0FA1rvBGzECM96rxOLashgnyTrcxoHfPxAIbqOz80pIcS6u2Dmk8etcCZYkpyIgdzlzYNOPm5vNmjJWAg30n64YZsQ/s1600-h/most+excellent.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjHRQGCxFdETUhodhlBSTikVm5_T7Q6BU99AHJ3KIgFhunD2d7w0FA1rvBGzECM96rxOLashgnyTrcxoHfPxAIbqOz80pIcS6u2Dmk8etcCZYkpyIgdzlzYNOPm5vNmjJWAg30n64YZsQ/s200/most+excellent.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209654264716224082" /></a> Three Boston high school students - T.C. Keller, Augie Hwong, and Alejandra Perez - all decide to write about ninth-grade for an English assignment on their "most excellent year." T.C. and Augie have been best friends and "brothers" since they were little, while Alejandra is a newcomer on the scene. Over the course of the year, T.C., a Red Sox fanatic, finds himself "adopted" by a six-year-old deaf boy, dramatically-inclined Augie discovers a secret about himself that seems to surprise only him, and Alejandra, afraid of not meeting the expectations that her ambassador parents have for her own diplomatic career, learns to embrace her unique talents. Meanwhile, of course, all three find themselves falling in love. <br /><br />My feelings are kind of torn about this one. The story is told not only through T.C., Augie, and Alejandra's school essays, but through IM messages, emails, and even notes between their parents and teachers, which made for a fun structure. And there's no doubt that the book is full of hilarious moments. But sometimes the funny felt a little forced. All of the characters are so clever and amusing and witty that sometimes I wanted to scream that real people aren't like this! (At least not where I'm from - maybe Boston is a whole 'nother world) And some of the subplots are so unbelievable and tied up so neatly that it jolted me out of the story. Still, there were quite a few times while reading that I literally laughed out loud, and that's fairly unusual for me. So I guess maybe I'll give it one thumb up instead of two.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-6657158041483495452008-06-08T19:47:00.001-04:002008-12-09T03:24:15.843-05:00The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E. Lockhart<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxSy0kbNMWiPTDHtBLRNnm7eEFTGPmXpN-NnaEsp1HYDifaeQ1fUXYxq-XIPkACaWJmRqrpPtwy5raeljNcNmsxLYeaCRjo-S9r2ONgR-mLtpn7zq5n0bR-fAo2waRWOanJnbhdC7rZWC/s1600-h/disreputable.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxSy0kbNMWiPTDHtBLRNnm7eEFTGPmXpN-NnaEsp1HYDifaeQ1fUXYxq-XIPkACaWJmRqrpPtwy5raeljNcNmsxLYeaCRjo-S9r2ONgR-mLtpn7zq5n0bR-fAo2waRWOanJnbhdC7rZWC/s200/disreputable.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209643282103809970" /></a> Frankie Landau-Banks, used to fading into the background at her expensive private boarding school, is more than a little surprised as she starts her sophomore year to finally be receiving attention from her crush, senior and big-man-on-campus Matthew. But despite the exhilaration of being sucked into Matthew's group of friends, sometimes she still feels like an outsider - and never more than when Matthew disappears off to the meetings of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hound, a male-only secret society and Good Old Boy training ground that has existed at the school for decades. Frustrated at being left out and underestimated, Frankie decides to take matters into her own hands, setting off a wild and rebellious prank war that will rock the school to its foundations.<br /><br />My take: Feminism, yay! I think my favorite thing about this book is the way it will hopefully get girls (and boys too, of course) thinking about their own identities, their place in society, and what they're willing to do to either fit in or stand out in a crowd. I loved the way this book tackled the subtle but still very real ways in which male privilege is encouraged even in a supposedly equal society. I loved the way it dealt with a fun, intelligent girl who wants to be accepted as an equal and as "one of the guys," and her slow realization that in the minds of these guys, her gender will always exclude her from the group - unless she's in the official position of girlfriend, and even then she's relegated to the fringes. I loved the way Frankie took what she was learning about societal rebellion and culture-jamming in her classes and applied it to her own problems at Alabaster. The only thing I didn't overwhelmingly love was the ending, which was a bit of a downer and almost seemed to negate the whole go-against-the-flow message of the rest of the book. Sure, I expected there to be consequences for Frankie's actions, but I think I would have liked a more upbeat ending. The reader is left with no doubt that Frankie will keep fighting and that she's going to end up doing some incredible things with her life, but it still feels like a setback. Anyway, overall, loved it, would recommend it to a lot of teen girls I know.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-65631814224698070162008-06-08T17:03:00.001-04:002008-12-09T03:24:15.974-05:00The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E. Pearson<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLn-4HHlS2oNAemo-i4kbrCdT1DfgUn5_EAV2YAwMUazNJBiyk8ip67STrLuIsx4sgbpZz1P0t8w6TyYbRLDcztlRa48Gajfi1UYHW_4m_PD6ioFtAPhHlFvCwzOsekU1Odg8POFUPLFE/s1600-h/adoration.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLn-4HHlS2oNAemo-i4kbrCdT1DfgUn5_EAV2YAwMUazNJBiyk8ip67STrLuIsx4sgbpZz1P0t8w6TyYbRLDcztlRa48Gajfi1UYHW_4m_PD6ioFtAPhHlFvCwzOsekU1Odg8POFUPLFE/s200/adoration.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209634867014242674" /></a> Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox has just woken up from a year-long coma after a car accident. At least, that's what her parents tell her, but she can't remember anything at all from the accident or from her life before it. And she has a lot of questions. What happened to her in the past year? Why have her parents moved all the way across the country to a remote house in California? And why does her grandmother look at her like she's a stranger? <br /><br />Whew - I picked this up on the recommendation of a library coworker, and she didn't steer me wrong. But I'm not sure how far to go with the spoilers on this one. Suffice it to say that this is set in a near-future world where a lot of new things are now medically possible, and the ethics of how far people will go to save a human life are coming into question. Right off the bat you can tell that something more is wrong than just amnesia after a long coma, but only slowly do we understand what's really happened, as Jenna pieces the clues together. Some of the medical technology seems a little far-fetched to me, even for that wonderful nebulous setting known as "the future." And the ending came a bit too quickly and left a lot of the ethical questions that were raised unresolved. Still, it was a page-turner and a thought-provoking read, I did like Jenna a lot as a character, and I thought the issues of identity that the book brought up were well-done.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-66437813441742182972008-06-08T14:01:00.001-04:002008-12-09T03:24:16.126-05:00Dairy Queen - Catherine Murdock<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnsC11VYwfiHZOg4ogCF67p5D-3j83RnvBb9AJ8xcUx7aIfkALjZlfwqPBbSSRNgK6osqtMBlA3yg8gOmM0VafMOBzvPibZXnPPJ98IgcXfdHiOGIqX49A-gJ_3sfktDSpozDD4wul-YQ/s1600-h/dairy+queen.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnsC11VYwfiHZOg4ogCF67p5D-3j83RnvBb9AJ8xcUx7aIfkALjZlfwqPBbSSRNgK6osqtMBlA3yg8gOmM0VafMOBzvPibZXnPPJ98IgcXfdHiOGIqX49A-gJ_3sfktDSpozDD4wul-YQ/s200/dairy+queen.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209598053939278946" /></a> It's the summer before her junior year, and hardworking, athletic D.J. Schwenk is pretty much singlehandedly running her parents' rural Wisconsin dairy farm after her dad is injured. Meanwhile, her two older brothers, former high school football stars, aren't talking with anyone else in the family, her dad mopes around the house, her little brother won't speak at all, and her mom is spending long hours at work to avoid all of the issues at home. On top of everything, a good family friend who happens to be the football coach at a rival high school asks D.J. to help train lazy rich kid Brian over the summer. Her family has always lived and breathed football, and D.J. is used to playing with her older brothers, so she doesn't feel like she can say no. To her surprise, as she and Brian train together and begin to talk about themselves and their lives, she finds herself falling for him. Even more surprising, she loves playing the game so much that she begins to entertain a crazy idea of playing on her own high school's football team, but she's got a long, uphill battle ahead if she's going to make that happen, one that might jeopardize her burgeoning relationship with Brian.<br /><br />GREAT book. I know absolutely nothing about football or dairy farms, so I can't say how accurate that part of the story was, but it all rang completely true for me. Besides, although there's definitely plenty of football, that's just a means to tell the story, not the story itself. The real meat of the book follows D.J.'s thoughts as she tries to come to terms with her own position in the world, as the kid sister of two brothers who cast long shadows, and as the glue that's holding her struggling family together. I loved D.J.'s voice - matter-of-fact, keenly observant, and above all, hilarious. I didn't want to leave her behind when the book ended. Luckily, it looks like there's a sequel, which I can't wait to read.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-35582832060720944412008-06-08T13:39:00.001-04:002008-12-09T03:24:16.321-05:00The Dead and the Gone - Susan Beth Pfeffer<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBX3qB4DBdsuQV-0aOWoteg_6Dd7Vp__s2XeMYWFhl0KUO-3GPsIqhaaBqrKlmo0auEwO6kqN2rzbCNNowAqowAaNl1BhxMkBGD4oktIovKiNRfkBTCY5nILemuGx4YMgNWKkOe9MAsEA/s1600-h/dead.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBX3qB4DBdsuQV-0aOWoteg_6Dd7Vp__s2XeMYWFhl0KUO-3GPsIqhaaBqrKlmo0auEwO6kqN2rzbCNNowAqowAaNl1BhxMkBGD4oktIovKiNRfkBTCY5nILemuGx4YMgNWKkOe9MAsEA/s200/dead.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209589793348396658" /></a> I read <span style="font-style:italic;">Life As We Knew It</span> last year for the Book Challenge, so it seems fitting that I read its sequel this year. This one is set in New York City, where seventeen-year-old Alex Morales lives with his parents and two younger sisters. Unlike Miranda and her family and classmates in the first book, Alex is barely aware of the predicted meteor hit and doesn't even realize what has happened until a day later. Things go from bad to worse almost immediately, however, with thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers dead, rioting in the streets, and social services completely obliterated. When Alex's parents disappear, he is forced to struggle by himself to keep his sisters alive, as food dwindles, sickness spreads, and the worst winter he can remember sets in.<br /><br />I loved this book, almost as much as <span style="font-style:italic;">Life As We Knew It</span>. Maybe "loved" isn't quite the right word, as both books make me want to either hide under the bed or run out to the grocery and stock up on canned goods, but that's because they do such an excellent job of evoking the panic and despair of facing such a disaster. There are a lot of similarities between the two books, except that in Alex's story, the disasters are much more immediate (Although for some reason, Pfeffer chooses not to tell Alex's story in diary format, as she did for Miranda, and that adds a bit of distance). In <span style="font-style:italic;">Life As We Knew It</span>, what was especially striking to me was the sense of smothering isolation as Miranda and her family holed themselves up in their house in the country. We heard about all of the disasters happening, but saw them only as they indirectly affected her family. Being set in NYC, Alex's story of course feels much less isolated, and truly life-threatening situations set in much more quickly. On top of that, Alex's family doesn't have the money or the ability to stockpile food that Miranda's did, and so his world and what he must do to survive is pretty different from Miranda's. The images of people being trampled in food riots and of searching dead bodies on the streets for valuables were especially haunting. Another difference between the two stories is the devout Catholic faith of Alex and his family, which holds strong throughout the book despite a lot of understandable questioning and anger at God. I don't remember religion playing a part at all in Miranda's story, and its inclusion here offers another vision of how people might respond to such difficult times. <br /><br />Overall, a great book. I hear that Pfeffer is writing a third one set several years after the disaster, which apparently will feature at least some of the characters from the first two books. I can't wait to find out how the world will have changed and what has happened to the two families we've followed so far.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-72015788969628644752008-06-08T13:24:00.000-04:002008-12-09T03:24:16.571-05:00Wake - Lisa McMann<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMIBrVcyeAL6vs9wXcB7Ms-uWMKVR2aVc0QKwSCDannhVuPlIcWaa06acUI6vPTVb3sV55jvOxzx33vobeioukqESQITZAEEN-T0KkL86fWb1XLwDjGxjjAk9xg6d2hV0v_Lt1djuFGb0/s1600-h/wake.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMIBrVcyeAL6vs9wXcB7Ms-uWMKVR2aVc0QKwSCDannhVuPlIcWaa06acUI6vPTVb3sV55jvOxzx33vobeioukqESQITZAEEN-T0KkL86fWb1XLwDjGxjjAk9xg6d2hV0v_Lt1djuFGb0/s200/wake.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209586438709908754" /></a> Ever since she was eight years old, Janie has been an unwilling observer of other people's dreams. Anytime anyone near her falls asleep and starts to dream, she is forced to enter their dream as well. This has made high school difficult from time to time as her fellow students fall asleep in class, and sleepovers are next to impossible, but somehow Janie's been able to muddle along for nearly ten years. Until one day she finds herself in one of her classmate's nightmares, one so horrifying that Janie finally decides that something has to be done.<br /><br />I picked this one up because the premise sounded so intriguing, but ultimately I thought it was pretty disappointing. The third-person present tense narration really got on my nerves after a while, and the story was told so choppily that I found it hard to really get involved. Not to mention the ridiculous twist towards the end (Spoiler: Her formerly-goth-loser-but-now-suddenly-hot classmate with crazy nightmares turns out to be an undercover cop pretending to be a dealer in order to bust a huge drug operation run by another classmate's father. Um, what?), and the fact that her dreams and why they happen is never really explained, beyond us being told that Janie reads a few dream books from the local library that supposedly solve everything - talk about unsatisfying. Apparently there's a sequel, and maybe it explains more about this implausible premise, but I don't think I'll be reading it.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-85524532631899647872008-06-07T15:21:00.002-04:002008-06-07T15:24:53.929-04:0048-hour Book ChallengeIt's been a while since I've updated, I know, but I'll probably have quite a few posts during the next couple of days, because I'm doing <a href="http://www.motherreader.com/2008/06/third-annual-48-hour-book-challenge.html">this</a> again this year. Luckily, I have an entirely free weekend with the house to myself this time, so hopefully I'll get a lot of reading done. I started this morning at a little after ten, with <span style="font-style:italic;">Wake</span> by Lisa McMann. I'll be updating frequently with reviews for all of the books I'm reading this time around.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-73035134142452600522008-05-10T00:23:00.003-04:002008-05-10T00:29:56.878-04:00Old timey musicThis week while I was packing up my apartment, I pulled out several albums I hadn't listened to in a long time - Wilco's Summerteeth, Radiohead's The Bends, and the Verve's Urban Hymns. It had been years since I'd listened to any of these, at least all the way through, and yet I found that I still knew the songs just as well as if I listened to them every day. It's odd how music can stick to you that way, or how a song or album can remind you so vividly of a particular time and place. All of these are CDs I bought back around the end of high school and beginning of college, and listening to them brought back those years and all I was experiencing at the time so clearly. It turned out to be great music to pack to - as I'm embarking on a completely new stage of life, it was nice to look back on old times.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-33595142416201611562008-05-04T19:26:00.003-04:002008-05-04T19:31:06.876-04:00Exciting news!So I hadn't posted about this yet because I wanted to make sure to give Amy and Rich plenty of time to tell everyone they wanted before I started blabbing about it all over the interwebz, but...<br /><br />My little sister is pregnant! They just found out about a week and a half ago, and she's not very far along yet - she thinks six or seven weeks, maybe. This was a bit of a surprise for them, since they weren't planning to start trying quite yet, but needless to say, we're all incredibly excited about it. Mom and Dad are completely on board with the idea of being grandparents, and I know Rich's parents have been longing for grandkids for a while now. And the best part is that they'll be moving back to Indiana, so we'll all be able to get our fill of baby Vail. I can't wait to be an aunt!Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-22146606795332820092008-04-29T22:31:00.002-04:002008-04-29T22:35:44.765-04:00My brain is fried.Over the past week, I have created and delivered a presentation in class, written two papers, put together an annotated bibliography of 25 articles and books, developed three sample youth services programs, written a take-home essay final, taken a practical final exam, and read countless numbers of pages. I am mentally exhausted. Of course, I have only myself and my horrifying procrastination habits to blame for this. On the plus side, I just put the finishing touches on my last paper, which means I am DONE with library school! I just have to see my independent study adviser tomorrow morning to hand in the final assignments, and I'm home free. By this weekend I will be requiring everyone to call me a library master. I will blind you all with library science!Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-71728093111511604312008-04-28T12:00:00.002-04:002008-04-28T12:03:27.054-04:00This library goes to elevenLast night I had the pleasure of introducing a student to the Wells Library. She was a junior and hadn't stepped foot in it beyond running to the computer lab to print something off. She needed a book, and when I told her she could find it on the eleventh floor in the East Tower, the look on her face was priceless - "You have ELEVEN floors here?" The best part was when I told her that you can't even take the elevators to the eleventh floor - they only go to ten, so you've got to get off and take the stairs. Incidentally, all of the library science materials are up on that floor. It's sort of our secret lair.Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5119738841584427654.post-29402446527737505262008-04-18T15:38:00.002-04:002008-04-18T15:42:02.965-04:00One of those days...So, you know when you think a cute guy is checking you out, but it turns out you just spilled something all down the front of your shirt?<br /><br />Yeah, that's not a great feeling.<br /><br />Also today: Got a flat tire and lost a filling. Wheee!Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07001883343907309590noreply@blogger.com1