Change Of Seasons

Brrrrr! It went from about 70-some degrees this morning to the lower 60s by the time I got out of counseling around 3PM. I was in cullottes, a short-sleeved blouse, socks, and sneakers, and I was FREEZING! Thank goodness I had no more running around planned for after counseling. The weather was iffy all day too, damp and cloudy and windy. It was a welcome change after the intense, unseasonal heat of the last week or so, but it's not great biking weather.

Today was library volunteering day. It went well. I organized as many of the health and diet books as I could do in two hours, and as Pat (who is in charge of volunteers) pointed out, they REALLY needed it! What a mess! You can tell health and fitness is a popular topic. It took me two hours to do four shelves. I did take out two books on health and diets, though, a general book on nutrition and The Dish On Eating Healthy and Looking Fabulous!, which seems to be a health and diet guide to single women and busy moms on the go. The call it "a guide for glamor girls," but the advice is sensible enough for any woman, even those put off by the very girly purple cover and graphics within. (I also picked up some Calvin and Hobbes I hadn't read. You can't go wrong with those two. It's like living with my sisters again. Yes, they were both THAT crazy.)

I was thinking of having lunch at that great pizzeria in Haddon Township again, but the weather looked so bad by the time I got out of the library, I decided to just ride over to Collingswood and eat there instead. I opted for the Primo Hoagies store in the fancy new apartment development a few blocks down from Genesis Counseling. They were exactly what I had in mind, no-frills and not a bad price for reletively upscale Collingswood. I had a "Healthy Choice" Ham and low-fat swiss cheese hoagie with the basic onions-tomatoes-lettuce on the smallest roll they had and a Diet Pepsi.

Counseling went fairly well. Scott recommends I look into other career options at college in addition to library sciences, just in case I can't find a job in library sciences.

I thought he'd be so happy I'd found a job idea I could stick to. I don't really know if there's much else I can do. I haven't really done much else. I've worked in a media center in college, and I had summer jobs in the Cape May County Special Services Schools Media Center and in my high school's transportation office (and a disastrous two-month stint at McDonald's in North Cape May - I STILL don't know why I was fired from that job), and the Acme. I have no idea if there is anything else I can do. If no one wants me to be a librarian or a writer...what DO they want?

The rest of the day was spent finishing this month's cleaning, doing the dusting and the vacuuming and the windows. I'll put up the Halloween decorations tomorrow morning before I get my paycheck.

Hum While You Work

(...Because I can't whistle!)

I finally began this month's cleaning. The bathroom needed to be done badly, and I got the kitchen done, too. I want to get the Halloween decorations up, and I can't do that until I dust, and I can't dust and vacuum until everything ELSE is done. I'll need to do the windows and sweep the porch, too. The leaves haven't fully turned colors yet, and my porch is still covered!

Speaking of work, that was pin-drop quiet today and soooooo looooooonnnnnggggg. It picked up a little around dinner time and was just slowing down again when I left. As of right now, I'm off for the next two days. I have counseling tomorrow and I want to do my library volunteering. Friday's more open. I want to get my paycheck and put it in the bank, but the weather sounds iffy for that day and may cancel any other running around.

The Rain, The Thunder, And Other Things

Oh, geez. Talk about be careful what you wish for! As I write this, lighting is flashing and thunder is growling and it's pouring like crazy out there! We really need the rain, though. We were close to drought conditions. This should help a little.

Ironically, my internet connection is working far better tonight than it did last night, storm and all! I had a few problems when I tried to look something up this afternoon, but none tonight. Go figure.

Fairly quiet day today. Bruce finally got home today, though I didn't see much of him or Uncle Ken this morning while I did laundry; I think they both had errands to run. I spent most of the time watching TCM. Their theme of the month is "biographies," and I caught the last 10 minutes and first half-hour of two largely fictional but not-bad biopics of stars of the silent screen, The Perils Of Pauline and Valentino, about serial queen Pearl White and exotic Latin lover Rudolph Valentino respectively. It actually took me a few minutes to figure out what the latter was; I thought it might have been Interrupted Melody, but boisterous Betty Hutton isn't the fairly delicate Eleanor Parker, who, interestingly, WAS in Valentino. Neither movie is at all accurate, with tacked-on love interests and soap-opera melodrama, but I found both at least somewhat enjoyable, with nice details of old Hollywood (particularly in Pauline). Neither are on DVD and I don't think Valentino is even on video, so it's nice to be able to catch them at all.

Work was steady, busy somewhat early on, dead later as the storm closed in, with no problems or missing personnel.

Tangled In The World-Wide Web

I don't know what's wrong with my internet tonight. It's been acting so weird, I'm going to keep this brief. Not that I did much today, anyway. I was supposed to work 11 to 4, but yet another kid got sick, so I stayed two extra (much-needed) hours, which means I got nothing done today.

Second, Happy Columbus Day to those lucky devils who actually didn't have to work on it. Some people do, and some don't.

I don't know what's going on with my internet connection. Netscape's been screwy for two hours. It'll run really, REALLY slow...and then it won't run at all and will disconnect or time out. Netscape doesn't usually do this. I don't know why it is tonight. There's no reason it should. I cleared my unnecessary files and defragmented everything. The computer itself is fine. It shouldn't be doing this. I don't see any thunder or lighting out there, or even rain. (And, to be honest, we need the rain - it's still ungodly hot out there.)

Indian Summer

Whew, it's been hot the past few days, hot and humid! I actually have the air conditioner on right now. Today was supposed to be the worst of the high temperatures. Sounds like it's supposed to be gone by the middle of the week, thank goodness because I'll be having my days off by then and I'll have a lot to do.

Work was on-and-off busy today. It wasn't too bad earlier this afternoon, but got worse as the day went on. It was still pretty busy when I had to pick up some milk, eggs, and part-skim mozzarella cheese after work. I went to Wal-Mart briefly to see if they had any more inner tubes, but they were out of the size I needed, of course. I'll go back there later in the week.

And the Phillies were swept right out of the playoffs by the Colorado Rockies, ending their season. At least they made it to the playoffs this year, something they haven't done since 1993. Lauren's beloved Red Sox are still in; I wish the Rockies and the Sox luck!

Do It Again

Another day spent mostly working. I did get to the bank this morning to deposit my paycheck, but I didn't have the time for the farm market. (I will next Saturday, though.) Work was mostly on-and-off steady, busy enough to mostly keep me from getting bored, but not as crazy as one would expect on a holiday weekend. I guess it's because the Phillies game is late (just started a little over an hour ago) and the Eagles have a bye week.

As of right now, I plan on spending most of next week cleaning, putting up Halloween decorations, and catching up on things I had to put off this week because I ended up being busy. I suspect I may end up getting a few more extra hours in; mono is not a little bug that goes away in a day or two.

These Are The Days

Didn't have a chance to get a whole lot done today - I slept in and worked from 1:30PM to 9:30PM. I did write a very short vignette, filling in a little bit of one of the longer stories at our Monkees Dream World role play, Restless. I posted it this morning - enjoy!

Work was steady-to-dead, especially later. The worst problems we had was, once again, a lack of help. We've had a lot of call outs this week. Today alone, we had someone who had to go to a funeral and two college boys out with mono. It's not easy to explain to your customers why there are backed-up lines at 8:30 and you can only take 15 items or less because your register is the express line.

That's What Neighbors Are For

First of all, this year's spooky Halloween Monkees role-play story is up at the Dream World site, and a couple more short stories, too! Enjoy!

I did finally get the bike fixed today. I saw one of my next-door neighbors fixing something in his garage this morning and asked him if he could do it. He not only put the inner tube on the tire, he also checked the pressure on both tires, pumped the fixed one, and gave it some oil. He even offered to do my other bike when I can get an inner tube for it. I'll see what I can do this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, I'm going to have a very busy one. Half the store must be out sick, because I keep getting more hours. They asked me to stay three extra hours tomorrow, which I agreed to because, once again, I need the money. I won't make it to the farm market Saturday, but I should make the bank.

Oh, and I'm getting sooo much better on the bike! What was a twenty-minute bike ride to work over the Black Horse Pike in April has been cut to as little as ten when the wind's right, the traffic's right, and I have the energy. It feels so good to be able to fly down hills and not have to struggle to hike back up them. I'm getting better at yoga and especially pilates, too.

The Bare Necessities Of Fall

Lauren and I finished this year's Halloween Monkees Dream World story tonight...and hoo boy, it's a weird one. Look for it within the next few days!

Despite the near-90 degree temperatures, it feels a bit more like October here in South Jersey. More homes are sporting pumpkins and mums in their yards; some even have big, spooky Halloween displays with monsters and guillotines and gallons of fake blood, though most of my neighbors save the major displays for Christmas. The trees are just starting to turn colors; within a few weeks, they'll be blazing, with hues brighter than an MGM musical of the 50s. The days are getting shorter, which I constantly forget. I've grown accustomed to the longer hours and can't seem to remember we'll be having less and less daylight to run around in soon.

And no, Uncle Ken wasn't really able to help me with the bike. Dad's bike turned out to have flat tires, too, and he isn't up to fixing either or taking my bike to the shop on the White Horse Pike. I did buy an inner tube from Wal-Mart, though.

I also grabbed copies of The Care Bears Nutcracker (no 80s girl should be without the Care Bears) and the new Disney Jungle Book 2-Disc Platinum Edition. This now makes the only Platinum Editions I'm missing Peter Pan and Snow White. I'm not a big fan of either, and Snow White is out of print and expensive used even at FYE. (Not to mention I've heard it's to be re-released on DVD within the next couple of years anyway.) There are a few other non-Platinum Disney films I want as well, notably Robin Hood, Mulan, and my very favorite, The Rescuers.

Work wasn't busy and, other than annoying beginning-of-the-month people, not really a problem. We shouldn't be really busy on the weekdays until November. Columbus Day and Halloween are not big food holidays. (Halloween day is usually dead as a doornail.)

Reach Out Of The Darkness

Today is (now) my only day off this week. I did the laundry in the morning, as usual Caught some enjoyable Nick Jr shows. Today's Blue's Clues was one of Steve's episodes, and involved the things some of the characters love to collect. For once, Miss Blue and her stripes-loving human pal actually had me stumped until the last clue!

Dora and Diego both had interesting and fairly unusual episodes that dealt with memories and remembering. Someone at Nick must have read my blog entry from last Tuesday that complained about the sameness in Dora's episodes, because there was a mild format change this week. Dora recalls at a big family dinner how she first became an explorer and met her animal buddies Boots, Isa, Tico, Benny, the Fiesta Trio, and the infamous Swiper The Fox. I believe this is also the first (and only?) time the music-playing bugs and frog known as the Fiesta Trio, who normally herald the end of a game sequence, are in the spotlight. Also, Map and Backpack only make cameo appearances; Dora herself announces the game locations. (And given I find Map's voice to be annoying, I kinda like this better.)

Diego was once again at a beach, this time helping his whole family (including his rarely-seen parents) clean up garbage in preparation for a group of leatherback turtles to lay their eggs. Diego himself recalled how he'd once helped one of the mother turtles when she was young and helped her again when she and her friends became caught in a net, while Alicia and their folks stopped the careless Bobo Brothers from redistributing the trash. Another episode I can relate to. I've lived by the beach for most of my life, and many elementary school and junior high school kids clean up trash on the Jersey Shore for not only the same reasons as Diego and his family, but because they're the lifeblood of South Jersey - they're ecosystems, they provide seafood for locals, tourists, and fish-lovers around the world, and they attract millions of tourists a year.

I stuck around after the laundry was done for The Backyardigans. Superheroes and action films were the affectionate parody of the day. The mambo tunes were so infectious, I found myself dancing along as weather-controlling Uniqua and master builder Austin chased mad scientist shrinker Tyrone and goo-creator Pablo as they raced to the Tower Of Power, which held the Key To Rule The World! I especially loved how the kids' powers were, frankly, a lot more sensible than many real-life superheroic creations...and I REALLY loved Uniqua saving Austin and the key in the end. (And they must know Edna Mode - only Pablo had a cape.)

I did make it to the Camden County Library later in the afternoon for this week's volunteering session. Worked on the world and US history sections, which were a mess and took me the majority of the two hours I was there, then spent another hour looking for books on job hunting and college graduate degrees. Didn't see anything I liked about the former, but I did find a book about adults going to back to college that may be helpful. I also picked up a book of Weight Watchers recipes, a couple of Walt Disney Comic Books (I do love me some Donald Duck), and a Calvin and Hobbes comic book I haven't read yet.

I've had bike trouble for the past few days. The back tire keeps deflating, no matter how often I pump it. It was so deflated when I came out of the library, I had to walk it home. (I peeked at AC Moore for about 10 minutes, but while they had lots of fabric, they had no books or patterns for clothes for 18 inch dolls like Samantha, and only books on knitting clothes for fashion dolls, not sewing them.) The small bike shop on the White Horse Pike where I had my pedals replaced twice last year on the old bike was closed on "Teus" (the exact wording on the sign) and mostly seemed to be opened at the proprietors' convenience...which, of course, is in the afternoon and evening later in the week, when I usually work.

Sigh. I'll go to Uncle Ken tomorrow and borrow his or Bruce's bike until I can get an inner tube and get to the shop to have it fixed.

Early Autumn

I spent most of this morning hanging out and doing various beginning-of-the-month things on and off my computer (like making out the rent check for my landlady). Did some yoga, too, and watched Return of the Jedi. It's a mandatory, unspoken rule in my family that if you watch one movie in the trilogy (original or 90s), you have to watch the other two.

Work was a real pain today. It was crazy-busy as it always is on Mondays, made worse by a distinct lack of help. It would seem I'm not the only person coming down with a nasty cold. We were missing several people today, one out for the whole week! I ended up with an extra half-hour tonight and picked up a 1PM to 5PM shift on Saturday, both of which are fine by me, since my hours dropped this week and I could use the extra money.

I also took a look at two potential library sciences colleges tonight, Drexel University in Philadelphia and Rutgers, New Jersey's state college. Though Drexel's Library Sciences program is top-rated, Rutgers has the edge - not only is it's School Media graduate program online (unlike Drexel), but I really don't want to work in Pennsylvania. I'll look at Rowan and Temple tomorrow; right now, all I want is a shower!