I get feisty

I love Fiona and I love this video.

(and I love that she's singing with her sister! (Maude Maggart!) )

mermaids to australia

this month is zooming by.  Right now it is a FULL JULY MOON (thunder moon! or buck moon! or some other nature name that also sounds like a special edition Axe body spray for camping.)  It's right out my window so I went outside to look at it with the binoculars and it's so bright and beautiful - less like singing cheese and more like science when it's right in my eyeballs. RECOMMENDED if you have a view of the moon (full or not) and binoculars. and eyeballs.

Now that you know what's up with the moon out my window, here's the latest on work and mermaids

WORK: good! I've had 2 full weeks of my schedule now plus a partial week and I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I'm faster than I was, which feels better because I was sloooooow before. Being familiar with the branch and the staff has been a huge boon, but it also led me to think I should know what I was doing immediately. This is ridiculous and I would never hold another human to it, but I did it to myself anyway. So frustrating until I caught on.  (no surprise to anyone but me: I did not, and in many cases still do not know what I am doing! But I'm finding out, which has been rewarding.)

MERMAIDS: I sent 3 mermaids sailing across the sea (in an airplane) to Australia today. I am a very neglectful etsy shopkeeper, so it's always a surprise to me when I get an order from Idaho, let alone an order from Australia. My shop has been like a long, slow internet course in keeping an etsy shop. (Lesson 1: have mermaids available at all times because they are popular.)  Every order brings new knowledge and I can tweak things in a better direction - this time I realized that my international shipping prices were not updated on every item, so my Australian friend got a good deal on shipping which I certainly do not begrudge her.

Now it's late and I have to go to bed before my eyeballs turn into miniature cheese thunder moons.

sexy high speed car chase crimes (for the greater good)

(I was just trawling around my own photostream and found this picture from the Grand Coulee Dam, not that you can tell it's from there.)

WORK: Despite working at this location for a long time as a sub, I've found that being a permanent employee is very different - I have to pay attention in a whole new way. (I say after noticing a my-fault mistake on a paycheck.) I'm sure I'll get used to things soon enough. Right? Right???

TV:  Orphan Black!!!! Is anyone watching this? I'm not quite done with it so don't tell me the end but I can hardly stand it, it's so good. (and suspenseful.)

BOOKS: just finished Neil Gaiman's latest and am still mulling it over. It's easily read in one sitting which I think is the right way to read it, but it's not easily condensed to a single thought bubble so I am STILL THINKING. (it was good, though.)

I think just three categories tonight. Until next time, please enjoy this new Franz Ferdinand video. I saw it this morning and fell down the Franz Ferdinand youtube rabbit hole shortly thereafter. Despite this song being called Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action their songs make me want to commit sexy high speed car chase crimes. INTERNATIONAL SEXY HIGH SPEED CAR CHASE CRIMES! Okay, this one makes me want to commit sexy high speed SCIENCE CRIMES (robin hood/ greater good variety). Like, Franz Ferdinand and I will get this bee problem sorted out!




Who gives a damn about the profits of Tesco? 


I've never seen most of these videos before today and this is NOT what I have in mind when I hear the song, but it does fit the bratty persona of the character in the song.



This is the "band version" of the video for this song, which is lo-fi silliness but preferable to the weird official version.

but not too bold

I finished my non-fiction book  - Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary - and it was very good! The beginning sped by for me, but once it started getting hot and the book entered the nation-state era, I found it harder to pay full attention. (I blame the heat, not the writing. It's a very accessibly history and I fully recommend it!)

but what to read next...

Fortunately, my two weeks ago self acted immediately on a Kelly Link tweet and put Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi on hold at the library.  My three days ago self picked it up and my lunchtime today self started reading it. PLEASING! I'm not very far, but I'm glad to see that she has written more.

Here's a little glimpse of an epistolary section. I do like how Mary Foxe is direct and to the point.

july july july ONE

JULY is nuts already, people. Or maybe I'm just hot and tired. (probably just hot and tired.)

The first week of July (this week!) is when I start my new library job. Woo Hoo! Friday Saturday this week before I settle into my regular Thursday Friday Saturday schedule. I love that my days are grouped together to I can still work on-call or just have 4 days off.

I have erased 50 different beginnings to this next part.

Maybe I'll just bullet it.

• everyone has been lovely. LOVELY. Encouraging and happy for me and all that jazz. The Best. 
• I'm eager to just start doing my job and stop talking about how long it's been, etc. Time to move forward. It's a weird time, that's for sure. 
• Lots of other transitions, which makes me uneasy. Not like seasick, but like when the possibility of being seasick first enters the mind. Not because of anything specific, but just because it (work)  was good before and now it will necessarily change which I know is a constant in the universe, and so on, but I am up to my eyeballs in change and I just sort of want to lie down for a while. It will be good again!  Or remain good. Whatever. You can't step in the same river twice, etc. (sigh. I am hot and tired and DRAMATIC.) 
• I've been getting very little sleep, which has caused me to say things that I immediately wish unsaid. Note to self: develop time machine. 
• Note to others: the words Time Machine remind me of a preview I saw before The Heat - it's for a Richard Curtis (I think...) movie called About Time and it looked charming and slightly messed up. (it is cheating to go back in time over and over to perfect a moment, correct? does it matter? am I overly concerned with fairness right now? Maybe. )
• Will I ever finish the non-fiction book I'm reading and catch up on my reading challenge? YES. It will happen, so help me. 

ION, This song kept going through my head today for no good reason: 

until I became a small hill

Shit, I thought, as I stared up at the cloudless blue sky and then blocked out the bright sun with my hand. I couldn't face anything, especially not a balmy April day, not right now. Shit shit shit shit shit. Until that moment I'd never considered how useful the word "shit" was; if I could just keep repeating "shit" for the rest of my life, as a single run-on sentence, I'd be fine. I'd be safe. I'd just lie on the ground and get covered by the seasons, by the rotting leaves and the frozen drifts and the year-round grit, until I became a small hill, a part of the landscape which only the occasional drunken vagrant would overhear mumbling "Shit shit shit shit shit...." 

from Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick, which I loved.

More on this SHORTLY. In an attempt to get myself back to this blog, I think I might post a little quote from each book as I finish it. (going forward, anyway.)

three from today

bumblebee checks out rose

SLUGS. Somehow they don't bug me as much when they're down on the ground doing their thing. When they're up on a flower, though... 

All up in foxglove business!

greetings blog, june, etc.

You guys, I am THE WORST this year with blog stuff.  My excuse is the usual excuse, which is life has been busy (good way) and when there has been a moment of not busy I've been staring into the middle distance and letting my brain knit itself back together (or rotting it completely - it's a matter of perspective I guess).

Case in point:  I just watched all of the only season of Scandal on netflix and I am pining away. Why isn't there more on netflix? Why is it 200000 years until the DVDs come out (september)? Why wasn't I watching it sooner? (answer: I burned out hard on Grey's Anatomy.) But this! This show is in the Revenge plot twist/ turn/ burn it all to the ground mode and I cannot get enough. But the first season is only 7 episodes! Sigh.

More soon - I've got to run as is the way of Summer 2013.

(photo above: the view from Cape Perpetua)

compare contrast, then kitty cat

Photo taken on my phone, processed with the new flickr app for Android / iguana filter. I like it! I like the bowed white border - which you can't really see here because of the white background - and the sort of hazy Perfume Ad atmosphere.  These roses are CRAZY BEAUTIFUL and I love the vase that they're in. Roses and peonies had to be picked because it has been dumping down rain for a week.  This meant bouquets everywhere! Which is awesome, but usually doesn't get done because I always feel guilty cutting a flower. (obviously a personal problem I need to get over.)

Same picture with instagram / mayfair filter. I like Mayfair because it has a skinny border (which sets things off when you've got a white background) and that the color is fairly bright without looking too goosed up. This is close to the color of the actual flowers and vase, although there's a sort of white bomb in the middle of the filter that disrupts things a bit.



OTIS. My sister took the picture with my phone while I was holding him. He's pretty dang cute. (this is the instagram lo-fi filter.)

I saw the sign

OLD SIGN

NEW SIGN

In case you were wondering what the elevation of MT Shasta is, or in case you were wondering what the old elevation sign looked like compared to the new elevation sign. Also: MOUNTAIN! (We were talking about active volcanoes at work yesterday. Of all west coast cities, I think Seattle and the greater metropolitan Sea-Tac corridor has the most to worry about, although none of us are exempt.)

 Personally, I understand the need for a new sign but I liked the old-school parks service look of the previous one.

signed (ha ha), Acquainting Herself With New Flickr and Finding BURIED TREASURE, or as I autograph birthday cards, Jen

p.s. I have been big into the garden lately and have revived my long-dormant garden blog. It's here, if you like that sort of thing.

who made you the center of the universe?

This video is a delight to me: the song is so catchy, the video so stylish. Before this morning I'd read about Laura Mvula but hadn't heard her nor clapped eyes on her. (clapping eyes! What is the etymology of that, I wonder? I will have to keep wondering because I need to leave for work in one minute as in 60 seconds as in I need to stop typing.)

LAURA MVULA! I'm investigating further when I get home.  Until then, there's this.

when all logic grows cold and all thinking is done

love this song!  I only have 7 XTC songs on my computer and none on my ipod - how did this happen???  I guess it's time to go digging for CDs and make it right. I love them in the spring/summer (but also in the fall/winter). They are an all-season band!  but I associate them mostly with green, lush summer.

high five, internet!

Guess what? Nevermind, you don't have to guess because I am going to TELL YOU.

After many years of applying and trying and wishing and incantations to the moon, I've got a regular status permanent position at the library! Woooooo!!!!

I found out about a week ago and have been making the face in the picture above since then.  Some info:

• the job is a category below the job I've been doing on-call all this time. I am quite honestly THRILLED nevertheless. 
• It's 1/2 time, which means I can still sub in my current classification.
• even though it's 1/2 time, I get benefits. Health insurance, here I come! 
• BEST PART: I was able to get in at my favorite location, which is within walking distance of my house! 
• it starts July 1

I know all of this will sound ridiculous to some - a lot of excitement over not much. First of all, it's not not much to me because I freaking love the library and believe in it as a cultural institution, and secondly a job at the library - no matter the position - is very competitive! Not only against many other qualified candidates, but also against the byzantine kaleidoscope of county hiring practices. I was prepared for battle before every interview (the battle of being as maximum awesome as I could muster) but before I could even do that, my name had to essentially be pulled out of a hat. 

ANYWAY. This is the thing that I've been hinting at for a while now. I applied in October, but thought I'd try (for once) not talking about it outright until I found out one way or the other. 

yaaaaaaaaaaay! 

tips and tricks

I have no tricks, but I do have a tip: SPRING SALE SPRING SALE SPRING SALE for Crafty Wonderland. I've gone to almost every one of these spring/ winter sales and last winter's sale almost DID ME IN. I met a friend who'd never been before and we happened to get there at the busiest time and it was a long sad shamble pressed between too much humanity to even get close to tables until the crowd thinned out. Saturday's spring sale, on the other hand, was lovely. Yes, there were fewer vendors, but there was AIR and I could breathe and walk freely. (I bought things for all my birthdays between now and december.) (not all MY birthdays - I only have one and it's in July. I bought things for all the birthdays that are not mine that I buy things for between now and december.)

Winter sale tip: don't go when they open. Go about 3 hours later and the first thing crowd will be gone. There's still lots of good stuff left, don't you worry.

ANYWAY - in news unrelated to tips, tricks, or sales the weather has turned rainy after a few amazing weeks of THE SUN. I love the sun, but I've got to tell you I'm glad to see the rain. It makes it so much easier to sleep! I'm also pleased because I got my tomatoes in and established when we were in the sunny realm of 80 degrees and I believe it might even be possible to get ACTUAL RIPE TOMATOES this summer and I'm so excited I can't even tell you. Even with the rain! they had so much good sun that I believe they're capable of anything, like going to harvard and becoming a quality pasta sauce.

there's more to impart (no more Mama Rose-style tomato ambition, don't worry), but I think I will save it for tomorrow!

the booty don't lie

I LOVE Janelle Monae and the android sci-fi time travel wondaland funky dream world she's creating. Also love: those mod dresses and wigs, the record player, "dangerous accomplice" Badoula Oblongata, "is it peculiar that she twerked in the mirror," color scheme, everything.

see also: TIGHTROPE