find, find, find the secret

maura @ 11:57 am

Well hello, internets, how’ve you been? In my house we have been BUSY. Like you couldn’t have guessed that taking a class and working and spending time with Gus and all the usual chores wouldn’t keep me running constantly, but I must have been in denial because it totally took me by surprise. Busy, busy, busy. Too busy to blog. There could be a Dead Kennedys joke in that, but I’m too tired to make it.

Through the magic of time-lapse I am once again speaking to you from the past! Right now it is Friday and we three are on Amtrak train 56, “The Vermonter”, en route to visit my dad + stepmom in northern Vermont. How long does the trip on Amtrak’s majestic Vermonter take, you may ask? Eight and one-half (8 1/2) hours, I respond. We’re nearly at hour 3 and Gus has just passed right the hell out on Jonathan’s lap. He spent the time thus far looking out the window, providing a running commentary on whatever he sees. We take the subway nearly every day, but this is his first time on a big train and it’s kind of an understatement to say that he is very excited. Let’s hope we’re all holding up this well by hour 8, and that 2 days is enough time between 8.5 hr train trips because we do it all again to come home on Monday.

I’ve just finished my second week of classes and so far library school is a blast! I mean, probably it is not for normal people, but for me it is a party. I’ve done all kinds of super nerdy things in the past two weeks, like get a NYPL card (I only had a BPL card) and join the ALA and memorize acronyms (kidding) and spend hours browsing online library catalogs and databases and read TWENTY WHOLE PAGES about dictionaries, then another 20 on encyclopedias. Yippee!!!

It’s just about naptime for me too, but before I go I have to be an awful bragging mommy for just one minute: Gus is starting to read! It’s completely taken us by surprise, because of course like everything since birth he won’t do it if we suggest it. But the other weekend we were down at my mom’s and we heard him sounding words out to her, and picked up some bubbles and read “bubble fun” on the label like it was nothing at all. Now of course the challenge is to encourage him casually, so he’ll still want to do it because he’ll think it’s his idea. Which is hard when I’m so excited I want to get the t-shirts printed up that say MY KID CAN READ!!!

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don’t you look beautiful

maura @ 9:17 pm

The cat’s been out of the bag for nearly two weeks now and I’m not quite sure why I haven’t told you about this sooner, o internets. So I’ll tell you now. One of my Top Secret Projects has resulted in a Big Decision: tomorrow night is my first class at Pratt’s School of Library and Information Science. I’ve decided to get my MLIS so I can become an academic librarian (and finally put that PhD to good use).

I’m going to take 2 classes over the summer while still working my standard 25 hrs/wk and having Gus a few afternoons a week (and hopefully not succumbing to the ravenous dust bunnies as I clearly will not have time to clean the house at all). And then at the end of August I will stop working altogether so I can go full-time to school for the fall and spring. At that pace I’ll have the degree in hand and be on the job market this time next year.

Yes, my head is spinning too!

I’m really, really excited. I’m also a little bit nervous, as is to be expected. I did lots of research and I think I will lurve being a librarian: the ultimate nerd (is that a video game? maybe a very dull one! watch as she shelves books and teaches undergrads how to do research!). I’ve been sort of treading water at my job for a while now and it’s good to have a plan. I’ve enjoyed my time working for corporate internets, but I miss academia and am ready to go back.

I feel lighter for having these goals and for having told everyone at work about it already (har, only the OCD-ridden give 4 months notice!). But I’ll miss my coworkers terribly. I’ve never worked in a place with so many great people. I’m not one for crying at work, but I can already tell that my last day will be sniffly. Luckily one of my fall classes is at the NYPL, only a block from my job, so I can go visit often (esp. when there are cupcakes, see below).

We had a fridge full of weird leftovers last night, the result of which is that today I had a total Uncle Buck lunch (”would you like to talk about a possible lunch trade?”). I packed my standard trail mix (peanuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins and dried apricots) for mid-morning snack, but beyond that the normalcy ends. Braised purple cabbage and carrots, cut up pieces of roasted pork shoulder (the latter was left cold and mixed into the warmed cabbage), strawberries and a half a peanut butter sandwich. Luckily our (now former) intern graduated last week so there were cupcakes at the dept. meeting, since that nearly carb-free lunch left me totally starving. How so those crazy Atkins folks do it?

Ack, I have to go now, I have a ton to read and won’t have any time to do so after classes start tomorrow. Bye!

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