“I’m sorry I have to pee.”
On Friday the train ride down was semi-nice. It was sort of crowded, and unfortunately I got stuck with a snotty seatmate, ie, when I had to get by her to go to the bathroom – very politely saying, “Excuse me” – she stared at me like it was a huge inconvenience. Hey, you pick an outside seat next to someone, that’s the risk you’re gonna take.
Still, I was afraid to go to the bathroom again. I waited till my bladder was near-bursting, then did gymnastics to get over her without her having to move.
SG picked me up at Union Station, and after dropping off my stuff, we had a delicious dinner of of wood fire pizza at Ella’s Pizza. I had the four-cheese one – sometimes I feel like I can eat cheese all day long – and we ended up getting free dessert.
The manager had very kindly asked if we could move tables so that he could put two two-persons one together to make one four. It wasn’t a big deal since there was an empty two-person right behind us. Plus chocolate pudding on the house! Woohoo!
That’s a damned good breakfast roll.
I told SG the one thing I wanted to do was to visit the Amish market we went to last time. It was funny because she had been thinking she needed to go there but that I wouldn’t want to.
Saturday mornings, the place gets pretty crowded, but the food is oh so very good. I had a vanilla latte and this bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast roll. Let me make this clear: it was no ordinary breakfast roll. The outside was made out of this pretzel dough that is at once salty and sweet, not to mention buttery, and the ingredients were all good and fresh and the perfect melted-ness and temperature. I wish I had one right now.
Getting crafty
Later that afternoon we went to SG’s friend’s T-shirt stenciling party. I haven’t done arts and crafts since junior high when I made a pillow in the shape of a surf board (don’t ask) so I was a bit nervous.
When we walked in, everyone was already hard at work, heads bent over stenciling like they were taking the SATs. Someone very quickly explained the how-to’s, which to us sounded like, “Blah blah blah, exacto knife, yadda yadda yadda, iron, etc etc, paint.”
I realized the print out I brought was way too complicated, and opted for a very simple graphic instead. SG finished hers first, and seeing the stencil in action, I finally got it.
It was pretty fun. In three short hours, I made one shirt with an octopus that kind of looks like an alien, and another with a row of penguins. I want to add to the octopus shirt – perhaps other sea creatures as one of the more experienced T-shirt makers suggested – and fix the penguins with another coat of paint.
Please excuse me while my mouth burns down.
Saturday night we went to this Korean restaurant that SG has been wanting to try. Overall the food was excellent. SG got bibimbap, while I had a spicy beef soup. While for some reason I could handle the soup, the seafood pancake we shared was almost unbearably hot. The pajeans I’ve had are usually mild.
A funny thing happened on the way to the library.
While we were driving around on Saturday, I told SG my possible plans for a career change, among them getting a degree in library science.
At one point we drove past the convention center and saw these sort of nerdy looking folks still wearing their nametags on the street (which I do at conventions as well, then wonder how complete strangers know my name).
The next morning SG found out that it was the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. Weird!
Now before anyone protests about librarians and nerdiness, I have one thing to say: evening wear and birkenstocks.
Yeah.
Are you serious? … about the degree in library science. I recommend therapy before making such a decision :-)
i *am* serious actually, at least about gathering more information. what are the drawbacks?
Good question. The major one might be pay, and this has to do with the fact that the profession is female-dominated. It has been called the “pink collar ghetto.” Of course, most senior admin jobs are held by men. Pay varies depending on sector, with academic and corporate librarians making the most. Public and school librarians, from what I know, are not well paid at all.
There are lots of good things about the job, but I have only worked in Special Libraries (health sciences) and academic libraries, so my knowledge of other sectors is not that extensive.
The degree is not that onerous, and perhaps a bit weak academically. But, in my job, we can wear whatever we want, have complete academic freedom, and tons of autonomy. That rocks.
Do you know any librarians? They have the knowledge.
thanks for the great info, zydeco! i had an idea that the pay wouldn’t be great, but i like the idea of more freedom and being in a non-corporate environment. (i imagine a corporate library would be less “corporate” then the rest of the corporation.)
i don’t know any librarians, but i think one or two of my friends do. also, i’ll be going to an open house in august and will ask lots of questions.
I love being around books, so I can definitely relate to your thoughts about going into library science (I’ve often thought about it myself). Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
my sister is a librarian and LOVES it. i don’t know how well she is paid, but i think it depends on whether you work corporate, city, county, etc.
the only drawback i see is that you work weekends, the times off are a bit different than what the rest of the world has, but then again, that could be a plus. EVERY SINGLE HOLIDAY OFF!
zerodoll: thanks for that bit of info too. i don’t think i’d mind having odd days off – i kind of like being off while everyone else is at work. and you’re right, there would be advantages to this.
having all holidays off would be sweet too.
I soooooo remember those pillows! Made from felt? I made one shaped like a boombox.
I wonder if kids still make those in home ec?
sitcomgirl: that’s so funny you did the same thing. a book box, how ’80s.
The food descriptions on this blog always makes me droll.
There weren’t any tuxedos and Birkenstocks were there?