Life in Black and White

Sometimes I feel like I'm experiencing things in shades

of black and white --

like life is rushing past me ...like all my hopes were just pipe dreams to nowhere,

or that maybe I went down the wrong track.

But then a strange thing can happen;

signs that I read every day,

suddenly take on a whole new meaning.

And a simple light, shining through the darkness,

can give everything a golden glow.It's all in how you look at it.

Quote of the Day

There is an old Jewish legend about the origin of praise. After God created mankind, says the legend, He asked the angels what they thought of the world He had made. "Only one thing is lacking," they said. "It is the sound of praise to the Creator." So, the story continues, "God created music, the voice of birds, the whispering wind, the murmuring ocean, and planted melody in people's hearts."

Music Lovers Quotations, edited by Helen Exley

Take a few minutes to listen to the music today, whether it's the sounds of silence, Beethoven, babbling babies, or symphony of street noises.

Ironic Commentary

What is the proper attire for having a "break-up" lunch? I'm pretty sure it wasn't this outfit.


Okay. It was Halloween mind you, and the t-shirt was under my cardigan and scarf. I took off the half-glasses and let my hair down out of the bun, but I knew that t-shirt was there under the surface.

For long-time readers, Yes. This means I broke up with the gym. It's been a good run at this particular little library, but it is time to announce that I'll be stepping down at the end of the semester so I can do other things. Like "hook," blog, sleep-in on Saturdays, and travel. You know? Have a life or something that resembles it. Why should the Shushing Librarian have all the fun?

I'll still technically be a librarian (that's why I paid so much in grad. school loans), just not a "practicing" one for a bit. I'll still use this blog to "shhhh" you lot when you get unruly and school you in proper shelving techniques.

Now, stop reading this and go out and use your library card!

Biblioburro -- A Kick-Ass Mobile Library

Acclaimed Colombian Institution Has 4,800 Books and 10 Legs

" A whimsical riff on the bookmobile, ... Biblioburro is a small institution: one man and two donkeys. ... Alfa and Beto."

Click here for the whole story from The New York Times.

Novel Reading

I just finished reading Jincy Willett’s The Writing Class, where the protagonist has a blog subtitled A Solipsist’s Commonplace Book of Lists. One of the lists that she decides to start on this blog is that of hybrid novels. If you are an avid reader, like me, these titles might amuse you.

Pages 45-46
Call of the Wild Duck
A plucky dog survives life in the frozen Klondike with the help of a symbolic duck.

Old Man Riverdance
Paul Robeson is kicked to death by stampeding robots.

The Runaway Bunny Jury
Desperate jurors avoid being profiled by ingeniously disguising themselves as birds, flowers, boats, rocks, and fish.

Page 72:
The Bell Jarhead
We are at war with terrorism, racism, and clinically depressed adolescents.

Gone With the Windows for Dummies
Starting the Civil War; Customizing Your Decimated Plantation; That Scary General Sherman.

Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot the Piano Player
A dimwitted cop meets a timid musician with a mysterious past, and together they push Estelle Getty out a window.

Page 139:
Little Women Who Run With the Wolves
…try valiantly but can’t keep up, which is probably just as well.

The Scarsdale Diet of Worms
Drastic weight loss through unrecanted heresy.

Suddenly Last Summa Theologica
The prolonged agony and hideous death of an effete young man at the hands of ravenous street urchins brilliantly sums up all that can be understood of Christian theology.

Beast in the Jungle Book
On his deathbed, Mowgli is horrified to realize that he has wasted his entire life in the damn jungle.

National Blue Velvet
Dennis Hopper does something unspeakable with Elizabeth Taylor’s ear.

Jurassic Mansfield Park
Fanny and Edmund avert their eyes while Mary and Henry Crawford are slaughtered by velociraptors.

20,000 Bottles of Beer Under the Sea
Al Gore attempts to befriend a giant squid. A struggle ensues.

Page 220:
The Martian Chronicles of Narnia
The Lion, the Witch, and Ylla K.

Gentle Ben Hur
Thrill to the heartwarming saga of a 600 lb. brown bear who befriends a lonely young boy, wins a chariot race, and witnesses the crucifixion of Christ.

I was curious, so I did some research. Apparently the author did something similar in “real life” (the link is here). Her contributors had some equally as humorous suggestions. My favorites?

Of Mighty Mice and X-Men
A retarded super-hero saves a petting zoo from alien attack.–Tom Hartley

Lord of the Rings of the Nibelung
Hobbits sing themselves to death.–Tom Hartley

Hey Jude the Obscure
Take a sad song and make it into a tale of deception, despair, and dead babies. –Stephen Meyer

Hey, what can I say? It's Friday and I'm very easily amused.

Random Comments aka Literary Nerd Humor

I was reading through more than 40 backlogged e-mail digests from the PUBLIB (a discussion list concerned with all aspects of public libraries) this weekend, and this line just amused me to no end. I wish I could remember which witty librarian wrote it.

For my initiation, I had to capitalize and punctuate
the works of e e cummings.

Shouldn't it really be this?

for my initiation i had to capitalize and punctuate
the works of e e cummings

Little Things

I have blogged before about the little things that make working at the Big J exciting; things like the construction (oy, the construction), the students, the occasional free food leftovers, and Fridays off.

Well, gang, yesterday's excitement was the installation of not one, but two shiny new vending machines. The first was a massive Pepsi machine with more than the usual five selections of Pepsi, Aquafina, and some flavored orange popdrink. Goodbye limited Pepsi choices. Hello, way too many Pepsi choices, plus Gatorade, juices, and iced coffee drinks from the EvilStirredbuks. (Good thing I'm a die-hard Diet Coke girl!)

The second shiny new vending machine replaced the old M&M vending machine. Initially we were all saddened when it disappeared. Though extremely overpriced for the size of the bag distributed, just knowing it was down the hall gave us much relief in times of extreme chocolatatist-craving-maximus.

You'd think that in a school with dancers and actors, you would replace the M&M machine with one distributing fruit, or granola, or Kashi products.

Oh no.

We have a freaking Good Humor-esque Ice Cream Bar vending machine!

That's just EVIL! Can't wait until it's filled up!

Things that made my day

Lots of cookies and leftover munchies on the office "free - Come and get 'em" area.

Finding out that a dear, dear friend from college is flying in from California and will be in the New York area over my extended weekend.

Being asked if I was over 21 when I went to the hardware store today to buy crafting supplies.

It's the little things really.