Semi-Productive
Went to Texas Tech. Good people. Nice library. Desolate landscape. Thought I did well. Came home. Rejected two weeks later. Still applying places, of course. Have phone interview with Eastern Illinois tomorrow for full-time, temporary assistant librarianship with circulation. I think they said they're only interviewing four people.
I've been talking to BL (sandykidd) out in Arizona more and more frequently. Probably because she's been calling me for a change! She's been making some of her artistic work available for sale. (Click on the hyperlinks under, "See my other stores!") I think I like the 'Wise Ass' best. She, and her now husband, also wrote a children's book.
Anyway, she told me the most astonishing story last week upon returning from LA. She said she was absolutely tripping over gentlemen while she was there. Right, left, and center, men were holding doors and chairs, graciously taking coats, and heaping compliments upon her petite, pixyish head. She was so surprised and confused she candidly asked one of her suitors about it. The gentleman, tattooed from fingertip to toenail, essentially said, 'This is Hollywood. Every woman is an aspiring actress and wants to be treated like a movie star. If you don't treat them right, you have no chance. And don't get us started, because we get competitive amongst ourselves trying to one-up each other.' So that's what has to be done to revive chivalry, liberally spike the population with the rich and famous! Include the very real possibility that a 'nobody' could be a 'somebody' the next day, and people will actually start being as courteous to each other as they should be! Good manners are very attractive to me. Probably has something to do with the Prince Charming complex, but a guy holding a door for me will be granted a second look. This is saying something coming from someone as initially superficial as I am!
Last weekend was lovely. KM (kaite13) came to visit. We went out to eat with my parents both evenings. Vegged out to The Critic, Family Guy, Daily Show repeats and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Gotta love the killer rabbit! Went to the Renaissance Festival in Harveysburg, OH with its permanent village. Saw a mud wrestling rendition of Beowulf. Captain Jack Sparrow tried to sell us artwork. She found a flower-designed puzzle ring and managed to solve it by herself by the end of the evening. I purchased a two toned circlet with a silver bat with its wings unfurled across the front. Apropos, no? :-) Sunday we went to Cox Arboretum for a walk in the sun dappled woodsiness. The contrast of fiery leaves and azure sky was breathtaking. Went to see Shaun of the Dead. V. weird. And gory. Pretty funny, though. Spent way too much time psychoanalyzing our favorite fictional FBI Special Agent and where we thought the authors were going to take him next. :-)
The upcoming nuptials of my college friend in Philly have given me a timetable to get some things done that I've been putting off for a while. For instance, I got my hair cut yesterday. I've been meaning to do it for months. It was getting horribly raggedy. No more bangs for me! (Sorry librarygal, you're on your own.) Lots of layers framing my face. My stylist seemed to have a grand time drying my hair straight and curling certain bits, cutting some more and recurling. Looked great. So great, in fact, that I did something uncharacteristically narcissistic last night. You see, I have a theory: no one can take a better picture of me than I can. I discovered this when we had to do self portraits in my undergrad photography class. So, I put on the gorgeous burgundy dress I bought at the Celtic festival, my black lace shawl, did my make-up, and took a couple of shots with my parent digital camera. I also wore the circlet I bought at the Ren Fair in a couple. I didn't disappoint myself; these are flattering pictures! I'll have to post a couple of examples once Dad shows me how to transfer them to the computer.
Actually managed to find something appropriately tasteless to send to my brother stranded overseas for Christmas while shopping at Best Buy that afternoon - a three-pack of DVDs featuring Dude, Where's My Car, Porkies, and Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. He'll probably love it. Poor boy has developed degenerative disc disease. He has a couple of hernias and tingling/numbness in one leg when the nerves are being pressed. Hopefully, his doctors will fix their own cranial-rectal inversions, get him on some good drugs for the pain, and ship him back to the States in short order if surgery looks necessary. So sad. He's so athletic. This is really putting a crimp in his style.
I had a good time making my own Christmas list while browsing the DVD and PS2 game sections. Tried on a well tailored red suit coat with black pants, a red and black silk kimono-looking shirt, and a red sweater with mock white shirt cuffs and collar at the various stores we browsed. I seem to have developed an affinity for this color scheme. It does wonders for my skin tone.
Last night stretched late, as it usually does, responding to e-mails and posts and generally puttering around on the computer. Strangely, at about three, I decided I should download all of my course work from my filemanager on the IU server onto our PC. I mean, it's been six months since I graduated. There's no telling when they'll decide to purge the system. I was still here when Mom wandered down at 7:30. :-) One more thing accomplished, though.
Today was car maintenance day. For some reason, I took it into my head to dress with a little care. I wore a white button-up shirt under a deep turquoise v-neck sweater and black jeans and boots. Looks kinda preppy, but kinda not. I like it. :-) I took my baby in for her much overdue oil change. Lucky I did, too. They discovered a nail in one of the rear tires. That would have been an unfortunate discovery on the way to Columbus to join my carpool. Dad's car picked up a nail a couple of days ago, too. Wonder where they're coming from? Compared to the unpleasant, but legitimate, surprises they usually spring on me, this one barely registered on the scale. (Once, they wandered in from the service floor to tell me I had nearly worn through my brake pads and trashed the rotors(?). (Wasn't actually paying much attention to the terminology. Just knew it would have been bad and expensive. Explained why I wasn't braking as smoothly as usual!) Then I got my biennial e-check done. She passed with flying colors, naturally. Saturns are practically synonymous with low emissions. Now I just have to renew my registration.
Goodnight.