. . .you’ve heard.
Personally I’m not sure I have anything against prostitution, if it’s between two consenting adults, but I mean duh as a public figure, you’d think you’d stay away from something like that. And on top of that, to be a guy known for shutting down two sex rings himself – “hypocrisy” is indeed an understatement.
But I feel worst for his wife. We don’t know what was going on with their marriage – maybe she’s known about it for a while, maybe they had an agreement – but if not, then it’s cheating. Cheating is cheating, and on the day before Valentine’s Day too. Oy.
rant and/or rave
11
Mar 08
No doubt. . .
04
Mar 08
No motivation around here
So half the team seems energized about their new positions; the other half, including me, seems to spend a lot of time milling about.
No big announcement at last night’s 5 o’clock meeting. My boss ended up calling in, and he indeed sounded very sick. I guess that was why he barely said two words when usually you can’t shut him up. Also the senior VP, my boss’ boss’ boss, kept saying, “I’ll just chime in for you, Lame Boss,” and would speak for him. Hmmm.
We didn’t get any clarity about what’s happening, but it was clear where priorities are, ie, not with my half of the team. Oh well.
I don’t really care. I’ve never been emotionally invested. But I feel even less motivation than usual to do a damned thing except look for a new job. Oh yeah, and blog.
In better news, I got an A on my Andrew Carnegie paper. Yay! I enjoyed writing it but there’s always that panic of opening to the back page and seeing a big fat D. On Thursday I have my Knowledge Organization midterm. Boo hiss!
I’m somewhat worried about it. The test will be 10 questions, 1 that’s doing a MARC record with access to the MARC codes and other online stuff. No biggie. But the other 9 questions have to do with the concepts of all the different standards and encoding and other junk that’s out there. AACR, Dublin Core, EAD, blah blah blah. The teacher was nice enough to type up her notes and put them up on the online learning system. Hopefully reviewing those will be enough.
Running42K commented that he doesn’t read about my running anymore. That’s cuz I’m lucky if I get two runs in during the week. Partly it’s because it’s winter, partly it’s school, and partly it’s hanging out with MB on the weekends. But there’s still the work gym, which I must must must get down to today.
I’ll leave you with an Overhead on the Lower East Side:
Clueless white guy: I didn’t know there was a a deragatory term for Koreans. What is it?
Stupid Korean girl with too much eye makeup: It’s gook.
Clueless white guy: Oh, I thought that was just for Guatamalens.
What? That’s so wrong on so many different levels.
I acutally didn’t hear it myself. MB did and looked at with an expression that made me spit out half my ramen.
Ah idiots.
29
Feb 08
Rumble on the Lower East Side
Sometimes I’m just flabbergasted by people’s behavior.
Last night I was on my way to MB’s from class, minding my own beeswax, when a couple of stops before his, these three little teeny boppers got on.
I have no idea how old they were. Coulda been 16, couldba been 21. Either way all three, two girls and a guy, were wearing those obnoxious skinny hipster jeans, while both girls had giant Marc Jacobs bags.
So I already hated them, and even more so when one of the girls pulled a frigging flask out of said Marc Jacobs bag. What is this, 1929?
Then flask girl asked the other girl, “Is this just like Chicago?” to which Chicago girl answered, “Oh yeah, this train is definitely like Chicago,” then pointed at random things, saying how they were like Chicago.
Then the next thing I knew, she was pointing AT ME and saying, “Well except for her. . .” then mumbled something and snickered.
Are you fucking kidding me?
In the past I might have just looked away and not said anything. Or if I were sitting next to someone, we might have exchanged incredulous glances, and that would have been the end of it. But I wasn’t next to someone. I was by myself and not in the mood to take shit from some little pissant.
So I started staring at her. I stared and stared, and she got all squirmy and uncomfortable. Then I stared at the other two, who wouldn’t even catch my eye. For the rest of the train ride, I’d look away, then stare at that girl again.
When it was time for me to get off, I stood and kept looking at her with a quizzical expression. At that point, she tried to smile at me and make nice, but I just kept staring. Finally I turned to get ready to get off the train, and I heard them snickering again and making comments.
Is this frigging junior high or what?
I got off the train but was so pissed off, I went back, and standing in the open doorway, gave Chicago girl the finger and told her to fuck off. Her reaction was priceless:
Ah, the trials and tribulations of riding the subway.
~~~
In other news, there’s been a big shake up here at work. My team, which had 10 people, now has 5. Five, as of Monday, have new jobs and report to a new boss, the lucky stiffs. We all found this out yesterday.
You’d think the five who are moving over would be dancing in the streets, but they are pretty shocked and feel bad about those of left behind with our awful, micromanaging boss. Also, they don’t really know what their new jobs look like.
I’m glad for the shake up. Things couldn’t have continued as they were. My boss’ vision was muddled and unmanageable. Yes, my workload will increase for some time, but whatever. I’ve been through so many changes with this team. The others feel bad though, I think. Although the way the five were picked was sort of random, those left behind feel overlooked I think.
Keeping my fingers crossed re: new job prospects.
30
Jan 08
Jam-packed catch-up
I’ve been pretty lame about keeping up in here. Between work, school, and hanging with MB, I keep losing track of time, though in a good way.
I’m enjoying school so far. One class is pretty boring, but the other is quite engaging. Still, both are a nice escape from work. It’s a relief to hear stuff that actually makes sense (ie, not my boss) and not have artificial urgency associated with what I need to do.
But of course there are dumbasses who annoy me. One, the old bat who last time said she “doesn’t read much” and seemed to be hearing about the internet for the first time ever, and two, this girl – she can’t be more than 22 – who works in a library now and can’t shut the fuck up about it.
And the stuff she says is totally mundane – “Yeah, we have people fill out a form for that,” “Yeah, we automatically tell people that’s on hold,” “Yeah, we interrupt the teacher every two seconds to talk about stupid junk.”
The professor is very patient, more patient than I could ever hope to be, but after a while even she was like, “Just a second,” so that she could finish a fricking point.
Meanwhile, the old bat derailed a discussion about technology and how it – or the lack of it – affects equal accessibility (eg, the lack of broadband in rural areas) by suddenly talking about cell phones.
Y’all, I’m paying good money for this class, so put a sock in it!
As for work, it’s as bad as ever. I recently learned that the whole team is actively disengaging from our boss. Everyone mostly sits down this one hallway (except for me and another woman, who sit perpendicular to that hallway), and lately I’ve noticed that everyone’s doors are always shut. I kept thinking, Is everyone on a conference call? Is everyone out?
Then one of my coworkers told me how everyone avoids our boss like crazy. I thought it was just me and that I was being immature. For instance, I dread our one-on-one meetings, and do everything in my power to avoid them. But people have been blatantly canceling their one-on-ones left and right.
Besides the fact that talking to our boss is just plain painful, he talks to everybody several times a week. Last night he “dropped by” at 5 and we argued for about 45 minutes. I basically don’t agree with a lot of what he calls strategy, which makes no sense. Bunch of bullshit is more like it.
Aside from work, things are good. Over the weekend MB and I rented Time, this Korean flick. The premise was promising, but it sort of fell apart at the end. Also the woman comes off as so psycho, it was hard to take it seriously.
We’ve been thinking about signing up for Netflix. Usually we go to this Blockbuster, but it totally sucks. Here’s why:
1) While there are a million copies of The Game Plan, there are just a few independent movies.
2) The DVDs are sort of in alphabetical order, but not really. H, I, J – um, H again, now G, now J!
3) Scattered throughout are these horrible-looking, straight to DVD horror/scifi/soft core porn movies with titles like Ice Spiders, She Likes Girls, and my fave, Killer Drag Queens on Dope, starring Alexis Arquette, of the Rosanna/Patricia/David Arquette family fame.
God, I might just have to rent that one out of curiosity.
15
Jan 08
Too cool for school
Last night was my first day of library school.
The classes I’m taking this semester are Introduction to Information Professions and Knowledge Organization. Last night was the Information Professions class, which will be an overview of the different professions available in library and information sciences, ethics and core values, as well as background on the way different libraries and info centers work. All of that is excellent for me as I have zero knowledge about this.
There’s lots of reading, a few papers, some field observation (which is esentially going to a library or info center and noting what works and what doesn’t work), and two presentations. Not bad, I guess.
One of our assignments is to find a library blog or wiki or listserv, monitor its activity for six weeks, and for each of those six weeks, post an article or whatever on the class blog. Luckily through my blog buds is just how I got the idea of pursuing library science so finding a library blog should be no problem. The only challenge is finding one that’s right for me.
As with every class, there are a few dumbasses. For instance there’s this old bat whom I first saw when waiting in line to get my student ID over the weekend. Someone was saying that a Barnes & Noble is closing in Chelsea. The old bat said, “Is it reopening?”
“No, it’s closing down completely.”
The old bat: “Well, what will we do? Where will we go?”
“Well, there’s another Barnes & Noble in Union Square.”
Yeah, and on every other frigging block.
As an ice breaker for class, we went around the room, said our names, and the last good book we read. The old bat’s response?
“I’m not such a big reader. Not of books anyway.”
Um, you understand this is library school? You know, the library? The place where they keep all the BOOKS?
The only book yours truly could think of was Baise-Moi. If you know French and/or the book/movie, you know exactly what I’m talking about, and why it probably wasn’t a good idea to cite that book the very first time I opened my mouth to the class. Of course afterwards I realized I’ve read like three books since that one.
So far I like the professor. She’s very knowledgeable in both the traditional library sense, as well as technology-wise. She didn’t hand out any syllabi or copies of her presentation. Instead she pointed as to a website she made, where we can download everything.
The old bat had a very hard time grasping this concept. “You mean I can get all of this out of a computer?” Then she thought it was just the computer in the classroom, till the professor very patiently explained that you see, there’s this thing called the Internet?
Yikes.
Knowledge Organization is on Thursday.
As for the weekend, it was good. Saturday was my orientation/registration, which was fine. I was a bit nervous because I had turned in my immunization papers so late, but my account was clear.
Afterwards I met up with MB. He needed something for his guitar while I wanted to check out a different size for a fancy schmancy dress I bought for the fancy schmancy dinner we were having that night, which was sort of part of his annual bonus.
The dinner was very nice. It was fun to get all dressed up, though MB did get mistaken for a waiter, and the food was very good, especially the dessert, a chocolate souffle with three kinds of gelato. But P*ong was actually better overall. More unusual bang for the buck.
Sunday we had lunch with SB and Ellie. Ellie was very well-behaved. No tantrums in the diner. I think this was partly cuz MB was giving her lots of attention, helping her play with this puzzle she had brought along.
Over the weekend, we also rented a couple of movies, Casshern and The Host. Casshern was gorgeous to look at though extremely trippy, even more so since I was half asleep. The Host was very good, both funnier and more serious than I expected.
Our team meeting was canceled today! Woohoo! Now I have just two meetings, which should be relatively painless.
03
Jan 08
LIGAS
It’s my new business model.
Like I Give A Shit
I can’t take credit for it though. It’s my coworker’s brainstorm.
Now if we could only get T-shirts made.
12
Dec 07
Behind in the weekend catch-up
MB and I hung out a bunch. We saw a couple of movies, The Golden Compass and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, both of which were good in different ways. Wel also walked around Central Park, and on Sunday night, he cooked dinner, grilled salmon with a bunch of veggies and tiny potatoes. Yum!
Last night was my team’s holiday party. At first I was excited because it’s been a few years since we’ve had anything like that, what with all the budget cuts, but then the day before we got the following email from the director of operations:
You may have heard the term “elevator pitch” before, but it could similarly be termed “cocktail party pitch”. The concept is that if you have 30 seconds to explain to someone what you do…what would you say?
Drafting an elevator pitch was an exercise done at a recent team offsite, and I found it quite useful not only to help me frame for myself what it is that I do, but also to help me concisely communicate that to others. At the offsite, members were asked to complete the following template and then practice it with each other as they mingled around the room. It may sound a little quirky at first, but you might just find it helpful tomorrow night!
“Hi, my name is (insert name), and I work for the (insert team name) team in (blah blah unit). We’re the group that focuses on (insert brief description of your group mission). The role I play is to (insert what you specifically do to further that mission)”
As an example, here is the modified one that I put together for myself. “Hi, my name is Condescending Asshole. I work for the Blah Blah Unit. We’re the Unit that focuses on some sorta bullshit. The role I play is to be really condescending, and to make adults with years of working experience and degrees up the wazoo feel like three-year olds.”
My tip is to practice it a few times at home, try it out at the party, and then make any necessary refinements as you read people’s responses. It just might prove useful as you continue to explain to your colleagues and friends what it is that you do.
Are you fucking kidding me? I mean, FOR REAL?!?
Obviously on that second paragaph, I took some creative license.
I almost decided not to go to the party, just in protest of that email. I heard from one of my coworkers that some folks did just that. But in the end I decided to go, for observational purposes.
Turned out to be fine. Very cazh. There was an open bar but MINISCULE food. I ate about four hors d’oeuvres and so was starving afterwards.
Cuz of the booze I had a craving for something fried and salty, so MB suggested A Salt and Battery. Fish and chips! Woohoo! Totally hit the spot. The couple next to us were sharing a deep fried Mars bar, which sounded disgusting last night but right now actually sounds kind of good.
My last writing class tonight, and and perhaps the last one in a while, at least till I finish my MLS program. Orientation on January 12. Yay!
I’m so not in the mood to be at work today. Am I ever?
07
Dec 07
Too many meetings
So I’m on this task force, or steering committee, or whatever they hell you want to call it. We have painful 2-hour meetings sometimes twice a week. So far I’ve had no active role. Thus, I’ve started skipping them like crazy.
But that doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty about it. This morning I was totally going to go to the one from 10 to 11:30, but then I got an updated invite that said 4 PM – on a Friday! I reluctantly accepted.
Turns out that was for a DIFFERENT meeting. Same task force, different meeting. Turns out the 10 to 11:30 hadn’t changed, but by the time I realized, it was about 10:45.
So I guess I could have gone for the last 45 minutes. Then I checked my calendar for next week and there are three – count ’em, THREE – on this same topic. One on Tuesday for 2 hours, one on Thursday for 2 hours (can’t go to that one), and one on Friday at 4 (the one I thought was today).
Are you freaking kidding me?
Library school, library school, library school.
My memoir is coming along as well. Lately folks from my last class have been finding me on Facebook, MySpace, and LinkdIn, as well as good old-fashioned email. It’s funny cuz I’m used to being the one in the background, the one people don’t notice, and don’t remember later on. But I guess when you’re in smallish class and spilling your guts out on paper every couple fo weeks, you create an impression.
Maybe if I get back in touch with enough people, we can form a little online writing group or something, which would be conducive to next year while I’m busy with MLS classes.
11:15 and I’m hungry already.
14
Nov 07
Pot, kettle – nice to meetcha
I’ve no problem with interracial dating – I mean, obviously. All the guys I’ve dated since my divorce have been white. But I do have a problem with unequal dating, and especially – call me small-minded if you must – unequal, interracial dating.
Case in point:
Last night on the train, on my way to see my, um, white boyfriend, I saw the quintessential icky couple: old old, unattractive white guy + super young Asian female.
How old and unattractive? Like almost 50, gray mullet (yes: MULLET), gray trucker moustache, really short and scrawny.
How super young and Asian? Mid to late 20s, accent, loud, slightly crazy FOBish clothes. I just wanted to grab her and say, “You could do so much better! Put up on an online ad and you’ll have many many choices! TRUST ME.”
I guess it could be love though. Or a green card.
25
Oct 07
Another boring post about writing
Writing class was good last night.
There were just four of us and the teacher since a couple of people couldn’t make it, but it was still worth it. We spent some time talking about the writing process, and two of my classmates talked about how hard it was to write for a living, and then go home and try to write for themselves.
I was actually kind of glad to hear of that. As you know, I’ve been back and forth, wondering if I should go to j-school or pursue freelance writing more diligently. My job is boring as hell, but that leaves me lots of energy to write. For instance yesterday I spend the bulk of the afternoon working on the piece I workshopped last night.
And my marketing job probably pays better than something artsier or non-profit. But I still definitely don’t want to stay in it for too much longer.
I’m excited about my book. I’m finishing up the China/cousin part, and will begin to intersperse through the already written marriage/divorce part. Maybe the cousin parts will sort of be the thread that the rest is tied to. She and I have had such parallel lives, it almost seems like it would have to be thread. But I won’t know for sure till I actually start revising.
The teacher teased me for being so adamant about at first not wanting to mix the marriage/divorce and China/cousin parts. “When I suggested it,” she told everyone, “she was like, ‘Um, no.'” I really like her. We’re the same age, and she tells it like it is but at the same time is sensitive about her critiques (unlike my professor in grad school who was a complete asshole). Plus she had a good sense of humor.
Next week people may or may not show up because it’s Halloween. I can’t remember the last time I actually did anything.
~ ~ ~
On two other notes, 1) it’s freezing today! Yay! But I wish I had worn a scarf. 2) Something’s wrong with the lock on the first outside door of my apartment building. My key doesn’t fit it in it, though it fit in the day before, and it fits in the second outside door, and the door to the basement.
Last night I was panicking as I tried to get in. Finally, I buzzed a neighbor on my floor and they were kind enough to buzz me in.
I think it’s a lock rather a key problem since the door was propped open this morning. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.