Scratching at the surface...

The other book I have just finished was Jenna Wogiarich(of Cold Antler Farm fame)'s Made from scratch: discovering the pleasure of a handmade life. I loved it, it's such a gorgeous little book. It made me very jealous! she's living this wonderful simple life at home, contrasting that with being a 9-5er. Most of the practical info was not really relevant to me as it was very U.S. based, but the stories were lovely. It was kind of weird reading about going sledding with her snow dogs when it's supposed to get up to 43 degrees here for the second day in a row!!! (the poor veggies are not coping!) And I don't think there is a risk of a bear getting into the Beehive if we ever have one! I want to move back to the country and be a hippy with some chooks and a cow, and the older I get, the more appealing it is. In fact I would go and do it now If I didn't love my job so much!!! Curse being happy at work!

Pornstars... and Reality?

Recently I have read two very different memoir's written by two very different Porn Stars.

The hardest (working) man in show business by Ron Jeremy, and Ordeal by Linda Lovelace.

Ron's book was your "I have the best life in the world and here's a few funny stories from along the way" type of story that I expected, I was after a fun trashy read and I got it.

Linda's book on the other hand was much more of a depressing read. She goes into a lot of detail about her sick relationship with Chuck Trainor, full of torture and manipulation. But it's hard to know whats real here. as later in her life she talked about how the anti-porn feminists she became involved with around the time of writing this book used her just as much or more than the porn industry ever did. It's a sad story whatever the truth, but one I think I need to do a little more research into... my Librarian antenna are tingling at the thought of all that research!

Sneaky Peek...

Here's a sneaky peek of the second series of the ABC comedy The Librarians being filmed at the Newport branch last week!!!! How Exciting!

She's Mine!

I treated myself... isn't she lovely!

Judy... and J-A

I finishes My Judy Garland life by Suzie Boyt last night. Its a strange book, the author describes it as "one part memoir, two parts hero-worship and three parts biography with a dash of sequin studded self help thrown in." And that pretty much sums it up, it's really a tribute to Fandom and that aspect of it got me thinking about how my friend J-A would love it, not necessarily the Judy Garland part, but that's doesn't matter.

Ive know J-A for about 8 or 9 years, and she would have to be the most passionate individual I know. We hit it off instantly and it was great to find someone who not only knew about these women I admires, but loved them too!

J-A has a love of little details, and there are a couple in this book she will love; the concept of having 'Judy-friends' (and her Judy-best friend Marc with whom she gets to spend an hour with when the Judy Garland museum is closed with full access to the displays because he had donated a lot of them, he also encourages her to steal a blue eyeshadow from Judy's make up case even though that's not one of the things he owns!). The other bit which was just gorgeous is when she's talking about being a good or a bad fan and she says "I am a good fan. Of course I am, but there is a little part of me that's bad" - written just like that with the "little part" bit written in little writing. It's just a gorgeous little touch.

I did enjoy the book but every now and then I felt it could have been a little better edited. I get the feeling I was reading it journal style even though it wasnt meant that way and it jumped around a little too much for my liking, but i'd still reccomend you give it a go!

I have come to the end of the Webolution... or is it just the beginning?

For the last of the learning activities I had to complete (remember I skipped ahead to some) Ive been playing with some of the web 2.0 applications mentioned in the awards list.
I found some great stuff, even it was very US based, (there are a lot of Australian things that are just as good e.g. realestate.com.au etc,) And I was also surprised by how many of these things I was already familiar with/use in my everyday life, I just had never put two and web 2.o together!

Here are some of the new things I discovered;

comiqs - where you can make up your own comic... watch this space for that one!

Hairmixer - where you can see what you would look like with different hairstyles.

Vufind - a bit like libraries Australia, kind of searches library catalogues all over the US.

Biblio.com - for searching secondhand and out of print books, also has an Aus/NZ setting and will alert you if a book your searching for comes onto their database.

Lulu - for self publishing, maybe I should get onto that book!

I'm sure there is or soon will be a sort of Yellowpages type of directory of all these types of web 2.0 applications to make it nice and easy to find them!

Well that's the end... or just the start of my webolutionary journey, it's been great! I have learned a lot and also got around to doing a lot of things I have been meaning to do for ages, and the best bit is, I have found it's not all that hard!

Thanks Katie D for putting the program together. Bring on the Party!!!

R is for...

Roller Skating!



I had a dream the other night about joining a Roller Derby team, (turned out I was a natural!!!) and it inspired me to get my skates on... Literally. I'm a bit out of practice but I love it! My skates are about one size too small but I don't care!

My love of Roller Skating started when I was about 4 (I think) and my older brother got a pair of those skates that you can adjust and just strap onto your shoes. He was not overly interested in them or no good or whatever, I can't remember. I asked my Mum if I could have a go and she said "No, your too little" or something to that effect. I took them over to my Dad and he adjusted them for me ands the next thing my Mum saw, I was up and skating around!

I don't get a lot of chance for skating these days, and the Boy keeps threatening to throw them out but I wont let him.

Maybe I should tell the story of how I came to have this pair of skates... this will really embarrass my Mum! It involves the Summernats which Clarkie knows all about now! So we're at the car event which was being held at a complex in Canberra which also had a Roller Skating rink. It was during the super cruise and my Dad decided he was going to pull one of his stunts... He wanted to borrow a pair of Roller Skates and be pulled along behind the car by a rope, as if he was water skiing... in his undies... He's a strange man! (And he didn't realise it till we pointed it out to him later that his undies had holes in them!!). But the rink wouldn't let him borrow a pair to take off the premises so he just bought them! And lucky me who had the same size foot as my dad, once he'd had his fun, the skates were mine!

By the way... don't ever mention the words Roller Blading to me... I will not stand for such blasphemy!!

zoho

Well would you looky here! I am currently writing this in Zoho writer, a fabulous online file/documenty thing that i wish all of our library patrons knew about. Imagine, no more "can I save this to the desktop of a public PC" or "I didn't know I had to put the USB in before logging in even though it says it everywhere" or "what do you mean I've lost all my work, I didn't know I had to bring my own thing to save it coz I'm a bit dumb!". they could just save it to their own web based account and access it form anywhere! I love it!!!

Meet the (bay)beasts...

I am loving exploring the world of blogging, Ive added another to my bloglist; BayBeasts. It's the blog of a woman I used to work with at the big scary bookstore! I haven't seen her for years but found her on facebook. I saw that she and her partner have had two kids, I was interested in the logistics of the situation given that they are both lovely ladies, but didn't think it was a politically correct question to ask an old acquaintance, no matter how cool she may be!

She listed one of her hobbies as blogging so I used my superior librarian-y skills to have bit of an explore. Turns out there is a lot more to the story than I first realised, they struggled for a long time with infertility and had to resort to IVF on top of the drama's of the whole having a donor sperm situation. I've been reading the blog backwards (for a blog, which actually means I'm reading it chronologically!). I'm finding the whole story fascinating, I think they should write a book about their experiences.

I hope everyone will continue with their blogs after the webolution is over, I know I will, I'm finding the experience really rewarding, thanks for the push Miss Katie D!

Veggie garden update...

We got to eat the first tomato from the veggie garden the other night, it was quite palatable... and I don't even like tomato's!

Check out those zucchini flowers!

Not bad considering we didn't think anything would grow in our crappy soil and I only put a few things in as an experiment!!

What a novel idea...

I think I have been reading a few too many dark memoirs about drug addiction, mental illness, prostitution and the like recently. I think I was getting myself down with it and felt the need to read, what for it... a NOVEL!

I have been reading Peter Goldworthy's Everything I knew. Peter is the author of one of my favourite fiction books the hilarious Honk if you are Jesus (think Da Vinci code theories mixed with Dolly the sheep!) and the very touching and sad Jesus wants me for a sunbeam (not all of his books have Jesus in the title, just these two!).

Everything I knew is reminding me a little of another of my favourite ever books, Grahame Aiken's 50 ways of saying fabulous. I get the feeling both these books are maybe a little semi-autobiographical, written from the perspective of a young teenage boy. I'm about a two-thirds of the way through the book and I am enjoying it, I love Miss Peach, the Radical, tight pants wearing, Vespa riding new teacher in town who is the object of Robbie's affections. She is a lovely mix of intelligence and vulnerability. I also love her two gossipy lesbian housemates!!

Next on my list is Michael Witheford's Buzzed (just coz I liked the title!!)

Teen angst...

I read this great book last week. Dear Diary by Lesley Arfin. It was lots of teen angst and drug taking, but it wasn't so much the context as the way it was constructed that I enjoyed. The book was composed of her diary entries from childhood onwards, with updates from now as well as interviews with some of the main people from her past that she managed to track down for this project. I like a memoir that moves away from the usual 'then I did this, then I did that'...
It got me thinking a lot about my own teenage years, which really for me consisted of a lot of frustration, I felt mature enough to do lots of stuff but really didn't have the freedom, money or opportunity to get up to much! I think my 'teen' rebellious phase occurred in my early twenties, well the stuff that teenagers in the movies and American TV shows got up to anyway! Well I enjoyed the book anyway, though I think its more aimed at people of my generation or a little younger looking back, rather than aimed at a teen audience.

J is for...

Jobs...


Here is a list of Jobs I have held in my time;

Ice cream server

Life model

Simulated patient (For Nursing students)

Sales assistant

Apple Picker

Bridal registry attendant

Photographer

Photographer's assistant

Cleaner

Photography teacher

Kitchen hand (I hated it so much I only lasted two shifts and told a lie as to why I wasn't coming back!)

Office clerk

Office manager

Graphic designer

High and Low ropes instructor

Make up artist

Assistant manager

Cash office manager

Barmaid

Christmas elf

Usher

Cloakroom attendant

Box office attendant

Waiter

Gallery assistant

Pool cleaner

Spa attendant

Biscuit baker

Judge (not in the legal sense, in the competition sense!)

Barrister (Again, not in the legal sense butt he Coffee sense this time!)

Librarian

Branch Team Leader (Yay!)

HotRodLibrarian's list of goals for 2009

* Keep in better touch with friends
* Get back into painting (already started!), Knitting and other creative pursuits
* Eat well and get in better shape
* Writing - including this blog, letters and other things that have been swimming around in my mind lately
* Have another baby
* Read a book a week (actually that's slowing down on my current pace!)
* Stay strong and don't let the boy get the better of me!