Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

That being said, I’ll admit I’m still having some time management issues on the job hunt: I haven’t managed to give myself as much time for it as I should be. I did get some applications out during the past week, though, and I’ve got an interview lined up! The Field Library (public) in Peekskill, NY, wants to interview me for an entry-level Adult/YA Services position. I like what I’ve seen of their website so far and my grandpa grew up in Peekskill, so I’m looking forward to going up there for the interview. I still need to search for more jobs tonight, if I can rouse myself from the expected turkey-induced stupor, because I’m not the only person being interviewed for that job and I shouldn’t hold my breath for it because I’d turn blue and fall over. That’s beside the point, which is that an interview does not guarantee acceptance for a position, as I’ve found out.

I did, however, send an application to my dream employer: the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. I’m a huge Shakespeare nerd, and I have been since 8th grade when I realized that the bad guy in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was quoting The Bard and jumped straight from my VHS copy of that movie to Kenneth Branagh’s glorious 4-hour movie of Hamlet which was in theaters at the time. I made my mom take me to see it 3 more times IN THEATERS after she and Dad took me the first time, and I now own the DVD. Since deciding to become a librarian, it’s been my dream to work for the Folger because it’s one of, if not the, biggest Shakespeare collections around, and it would honestly be a big rush for me to even work in the same building as some of the Holy Relics (copies of the First Folio), much less all of the other Shakespeare-related materials. One of my friends from grad school, who knows about my love for Shakespeare, found a posting for a Circulation Assistant at the Folger and e-mailed it to me. I’m probably over-qualified for the position, but I applied for it anyway because it would rock my geeky little world to be able to start my career there. BA in Tech Theatre + MS in Library Science = ?

Anyway, have a great Turkey Day y’all, and enjoy the rest of the season no matter what other holiday(s) you celebrate. Here’s to enjoying good company and good eats.

I hope I’m ready …

I’ll admit I’ve been slacking a bit with the job hunt again this week. I have found and applied for a couple, but not as many as I should’ve. At this point, I’ve been pretty busy for various reasons for about 2 weeks straight. As you might be able to guess, it’s wearing me down.

The biggest thing that happened for me since my last post is that my grandma died in her sleep this past Friday night. RIP Natalie Lerner – I’m going to miss her a lot. I remember making hamantashen (triangle-shaped jam-filled cookies) with her almost every year while I was growing up. I tried making them without her twice while I was in grad school, but they didn’t come out right either time. The first time I know it was because I used a butter-cookie recipe instead of sugar and they fell flat. The second time, I did find a sugar cookie recipe, but it wasn’t the right kind. I think Nana was the secret ingredient or something, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to make them again even though I found a cookbook from 12 years ago that I think has the correct cookie recipe. Again, RIP Nana.

In other news, I did finish reading Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Maybe it’s because I’m a product of the ’80s, was a teenager in the ’90s and started college in the early ’00s, but I don’t quite get what the big deal was that got the book banned. Yes, I recognize that Holden was kicked out of school for the I’m-not-sure-how-many’th time for not doing his work and was drinking, smoking, bumming around NYC and thinking about getting laid, but I still don’t get it. Like I said, it might be because I grew up when I did. Also, technical theatre (my undergraduate major and still a big interest) is one of those professions where you can just be talking shop and it sounds all sorts of dirty because of the professional lingo.

Anyway, it’s time for me to go. At the moment I’m pretty much a functionally brain-dead zombie with books and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s new album “Night Castle” floating around what passes for my mind.

Two weeks to Turkey Day…

It’s been a long week already, and it’s only Thursday. I have applied for a few more library jobs, both academic and government, though I’l admit this has been another week where I let myself get distracted a bit and didn’t do as much search-and-apply as I should have. I think I heard recently that the economy’s starting to bounce back a little, but it’s still in a place where libraries are either having hiring freezes or are being extremely picky about who they interview. I’m just hoping something comes through soon.

In other news, I’ve been getting (back) into reading sci-fi and fantasy. I finally read Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land last week. I don’t grok the fullness, but I’ve heard it takes a few readings to do so. I’ve also started reading J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye for the first time. It’s a classic banned book, and I don’t know why I’ve waited until now to read it. It was never assigned for any of my English classes – I don’t know if it was because my schools banned it, the teachers I had didn’t think it appropriate for their curriculi/lesson plans, or what. I’m a bit over halfway through, and I don’t quite get why there was such a fuss over it, unless it was over Holden’s cussing, drinking, smoking, and talking/thinking about getting laid. Maybe I’ve just been desensitized to that kind of stuff because I read a lot of Clive Cussler, John Ringo and Shakespeare before getting to Catcher in the Rye.

The search continues.

It’s been a long week already, and it’s only Thursday morning! On the library job-search front, I’ve gotten a few more rejection letters/e-mails since my last post, along with one or two You’ll Hear From Us notes and the usual “Thank you for applying” responses to applications I submitted online. I’ve done some volunteering at my local public library, but I forgot to inform them of my other work schedule for this week in time to get some hours in. Maybe next week. I applied for a few jobs so far this morning, and I’ve got some printed-out information for a couple others that require application by snail-mail. I’m going to do some more searching and applying this afternoon. Here’s hoping, both for myself and my fellow job-hunting librarians and archivists, that the economy gets better very soon and that the job market opens up.

On the seasonal job front, I’ve been working my lovely retail job in the calendar shop. The mall is very classy, but they’ve got two commercials they keep playing over and over again, and the music is getting on my nerves. It’s not as bad as the music they played at my first retail job 8 years ago, but one of the audio bytes this mall plays would actually be enjoyable if it could be played all the way through without being attached to the commercial, and not every 5-10 minutes or so. I’ve got cool co-workers, though, and we have some pretty amusing discussions in between selling our products. Topics range from a certain evil cartoon rabbit to a popular vampires-and-shapeshifters book series that has its second movie coming out soon to military sci-fi and the possibilities for one book in particular being made into a movie.

I’ll be checking back in next week, hopefully with some good news on the job front. My grudging congratulations to the Yankees on winning the Series, but I’d been hoping the Phillies could pull two in a row. What? I’m from Boston! Anyway, for all you fellow sci-fi and book nerds out there, let’s say this together: Oh, John Ringo, n0!