The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind 
Tired and hungry
Off work for Presidents' Day and spent my morning going to and from an appointment on the bus. Left at 8:15 am and it's almost noon now. I should get home about 12:30 or so. While at the transit centre, I snapped this picture of the Lincoln mural. I never noticed his leg has pink triangles on the side near The Bar (a gay bar that's been around for a long time). I don't know if it was on purpose, but I approve. (I had a better picture lined up, but the bus pulled up, and I'm on it now, waiting to pull out.)
Depending on how well off they are socioeconomically [ignore the title's problem in English for now, as well as the thumbnail below, as it has little to nothing to do with anything in t the video].
It was inevitable, of course
What a day. I woke up late and just made it to my appointment, the day got better as we ran errands until I hit a pothole I didn't see on Landsdowne, of course on the side the doughnut tyre was, with an emphasis on 'was'.Sigh. That was at 1:20. The car was towed at 3 pm. There was only room for one of us in the tow truck and I offered to take the bus. I got home at 4:15 or so.I'm going to eat and then take a nap. Maybe it will be better when I get up. But at least we're home--no one was hurt, the car is fine, and I'll probably be able to get new tyres next weekend. I'm off Monday from work, but I have to go into UK for an appointment. So it's the bus for the next week. Thank goodness, I had a couple of dollars tucked in my purse as an emergency fund in case I needed to get home. :)
Brenda told us about this Oscar-nominated short tonight...and it'll tear at your heartstrings
Well, I screwed up
Apparently, I really thought I'd transcribed the notes from the last Cthulhu game, and that we didn't actually play last Sunday when we did. I guess it's understandable as we've been sick and Brenda had to go out of state one weekend, but really! And we were at a point we could have maybe finished the Elizabethan adventure we're in right now. Oh, well. Instead, we're watching 'The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' and 'Perfect Harmony'. I'll get the notes back on track, but needless to say, I'm embarrassed, although with my memory I'm surprised I didn't do this earlier. I was telling the gamemaster that I didn't have to do the notes, and he didn't say anything, mainly because I tend to get annoyed at him for reminding me of my bad memory. Sigh. Okay, he's on a phone call but it sounds like he'll be back in a moment, and we'll continue watching, so I should go. Just wanted to check in and vent about my lapse.
Lovely
So we had Sabbath dinner and the two challah loaves I made in the bread machine over the last couple of days exceeded my expectations immensely. It is rich and buttery, needing no spread but I'm sure it would go well with jam. My roommate said it was much better than what we've been getting at the bakery for $5 a loaf, special ordered. If I can keep this up he won't have to remember to order it on Thursdays, or go out on the bus on Fridays (it takes about 2-3 hours), and it'll save $40 a month. The bread flour is less than $4-5 a bag, and will make four or more loaves. So, I guess I know what I'll be doing weekly. The recipe came from a book called Electric Bread. Here is the recipe, should you want to try it, for a large loaf [they call it that; they're smaller than a regular white bread loaf, and I thought they'd be denser, but they were incredibly fluffy]: 3/4 of a cup of water3 cups bread flour2 tablespoons sugar1 1/2 teaspoons salt1 half stick of butter [1/4 of a cup]2 eggs1 egg yolk1 1/2 teaspoons rapid-rise powdered yeast [my machine has a separate bin for the yeast that puts it in at the right time].
I lament
Worked through a chapter in two cognitive behavioural therapy workbooks and read a chapter in a library book on orchids (the latter while I was at Tire Discounters). So that's three chapters of reading in one day, more than I've done in a while. Tomorrow I pick up a book from the library on soil amendments. I've got several psychology and gardening books out right now, and some CDs. My roommate insists I'm holding books hostage, but I do pretty well with the non-fiction. Unfortunately, fiction has been a struggle of late. I think my attention span has shrunk, and maybe my introvertism is not so strong as it once is. It's hard for me to choose to do things alone, like read, or watch something. I listen to music pretty readily, but that doesn't require much investment of effort. It's been like this for several years. They talk about writer's block, but I've heard of others who say they have reader's block. That's what it feels like. Even when it's a good story, I struggle. It's so bad for a librarian to struggle with reading. I feel strange because of it. I'm going to try to set a little time each night for reading, even if it's for half an hour, and maybe do some studying as well. My languages, for example, are so rusty, and I brought my Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and Ancient Greek books with me when I moved here. The Spanish and German may have to be something I work on with Duolingo or some such; those books are in storage. I think the best description I've ever seen of what I'm going to can be found in the Stages of a Reader cartoon you may have seen on the Internet.
So it's Saturday
And so far I've taken a shower, gotten ready, gotten gas for my car, stopped and got a couple of breakfast sandwiches, gone through a therapy session, and I'm at Tire Discounters right now getting an oil change. They've also checked my tyres, which I'm hoping to replace at the end of the month, and let's just say a few prayers that they hold up in the meantime would be appreciated.
This is such a powerful song, full of raw emotion and pain
Written and recorded shortly before a near-fatal overdose, written at rock bottom, a cry for help, and showing how complicated those feelings can be, when nothing takes away the pain. Demi Lovato has been publically candid with her history of depression, bipolar disorder, bulimia, and chemical dependence/addiction. The Grammy's were her first performance publically since that time. It is so good to see her back. I know there are many people, myself included, this song will call to. Demi Lovato Makes a Powerful Confession at the Grammys: The pop star’s first new song since a near-fatal overdose offers no comfort other than the mere fact of its existence.At the Grammy's...so much emotion. I don't watch these sorts of shows, but I heard about this on the radio, and had to watch this clip, and I was blown away. The lyric video...
I guess my new year's resolution is helping
I've already posted a number of posts, and not just stupid ones, in January equal to a third of what I did entirely last year. Go me! Another new year's resolution was to post three Facebook posts for every sad or negative one I do (I admit it, I'm drawn to the sad and macabre, and I tend to share that with others, who just find it horrifying). I'm doing well there, too. :)
I've learned this as I've gotten older
Why Procrastination Is about Emotions, not TimeI used to be horrible at procrastination, and I still struggle with it, but a lot of times it's about changing your mood rather than 'just managing your time better'.
No one knows how they taste yet
Baking Cookies in Space Takes Surprisingly Long Time: First space food baked from raw ingredients took 2 hours
This is good
Truckers fighting human trafficking are trained to be alert to late-night knocksBecause traffickers often exploit the transportation system to move their victims, truckers are at an advantage to spot signs and make reports. Other truck drivers sometimes call him an everyday hero, in part because he drives a Kenworth rig known as the “Everyday Heroes” T680, but also because of his involvement with Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT). The Colorado-based nonprofit trains truck drivers and various other members of the transportation industry to recognize human trafficking and alert authorities to potential victims. Since its creation in 2009, TAT says they have trained about 845,000 people in the transportation industry, over 700,000 of whom are truck drivers. That’s out of the total 3.5 million truck drivers who are employed in the U.S., according to the American Trucking Association.
Even Ed Sheeran has his crunchy granola moments
I love this song for that. We can change the world, together.
Interesting article
What do Chinese opera masks and spiders have in common? A lot, as it turns out.