I shouldn’t bother with the updates, but I’ll try.

I never got back to everyone on how the rest of my work placement went; it went great, but that was almost a year ago. In the mean time I finished my first year of classes, got my old job back, worked my tight butt off for the summer, started classes again (resented it), moved out of my parents house, had another work placement (this thime in a private girls’ school!), and am juuuust finishing up classes for my first semester of my last year.

Holy!

I need time off! I’m seriously going bonkers over here. I thought maybe blogging again might be a good way to get some of the stress off my chest. It’s always helped in the past. I feel like I should be keeping a little brown leather covered notebook for a diary though, just to get me in the proper mood.

I’ve never been a… dedicated writer though. I’m not very good with the updates. I’ve kept art journals in the past though. It’s easier for my to express my moods with shapes though.

Speaking of art…

I stumbled upon that little gem earlier today, and was most pleased to be inspired. I want to paint again! It’s been so long. After I graduate I’m going to take some painting classes; it’s been too long since I’ve had any sort of artistic formal instruction.

But, this is supposed to be a school blog, right? I’ll keep it library related: special, just for you.

School is going juuuuuuuuuuuuuust fine. I don’t need to remind anyone how much I dislike being a student. You’ve probably been hearing me whine about it for the past three months. Don’t get me wrong, lifelong learning and all that good stuff that goes with it is great. I get bored if I stop learning, I just hate being a full time student. I still wake up some mornings in a blind panic because I think I should be late or some other garbage.

And the assignments! So many! Always due! I can’t even take a mental holiday! It’s the catholic in me; I just feel guilty for not doing homework at every waking moment.

“What? Mia’s having a relaxing bath? Shouldn’t she be researching her reference questions?”

“What? She’s shoveling? The snow will still be there after you finish this write-up.”

“Knitting? Who does she think she is? Someone who has spare time?!”

But, I just need to keep reminding myself that I’m that much closer to my goal.

Two more weeks of classes (Look tabitha, I spelled out the number! I keep getting that as a comment on my reviews in canlit and I’m determined not to screw it up for this next one) and then freedom. Two weeks, 2 more question sets, 2 more cataloguing assignments, 1 more book review, one group project for Gov, one article review, one final exam, one home page, one radio ad, one interview assignment and one career writing test and I’ll be finished!

I’ll have the extra time to work that second job I need to pay for next semester.

It’s depressing how legitimately sincere I am.

I mean, can we even talk about this any more? This topic has been done to death, but I hate feeling like I’m wasting my time and money. I actually don’t even want to talk about it anymore.

So, howabout them work placements?

Mine was at the University of Winnipeg, which worked out just fabulously for me. While I was there I actually spent some time in the reference section, making first hand notes on gazetteers for my part in this group presentation (which is tomorrow!). Haha Bopp and Smith! In your face!

Though, I did have to look in a lot of gazetteers, and I’m still not 100% sure what that Hungarian genealogical gazetteer was all about.

Anyway, that place was totally sweet. They gave me a lock and ‘high-security dollar store lock’ on the first day, and after a tour basically dumped me in circulation. I learned that I like circulation. My first impression was that most people who worked there were a bunch of fuddy duddies, slightly standoffish, you know. But I decided that it was my godgiven duty to bring some cheer to that desk!

I’m pretty sure I scared 90% of the students I said good morning too. You could see their thoughts on their faces: “What… why is…? Huh!? Why are you talking to me?”

I also hit on so many boys. I had a ton of fun doing that. But seriously, circulation was awesome. They gave me a brief look at the system and the next person that came up was my ‘guinea pig’. This was great, because I learn by doing and making mistakes. Usually there was someone with me to correct me, so it was totally cool. I work well in high pressure situations too, so I picked it up pretty fast. Sink or swim, and I totally swam.

I think I mostly liked circulation for the fact that I’m a waitress. Totally customer service oriented, and I got to see all the crazies come through.

I also learned that no one really checks the clock there, which I must confess, I took advantage of later in the weeks. At first I was very prompt about coming back from lunch (Having the new man, one of my best friends, and several acquaintances/friends go to school there, I kept a pretty full lunch date schedule), but then someone made the mistake of telling me that coffee breaks actually lasted 30 minutes, if you went with your supervisor.

They also accommodated Tae Kwon Do superbly: I would start at 8 on tuesdays and thursdays. Since the place I was scheduled to be in generally didn’t have a supervisor until 9, I just hung out at the circ desk and helped out where I could.

Ah well… that’s enough of Day 1. I’ll be back with more about…. dun dun DUN CATALOGING!

So, while delayed, here I am!

First off, we have a new reference instructor. Her arrival has thrown my schedule into conniptions, and almost pushed me to quit my job. I stuck it out though, despite the fact that I can no longer work my monday evening short shift (which, if you’d heard me complaining, was the only shift I was getting per week). I talked to Bruce about my horrible flexibility, and he has graciously accommodated me, by ‘creating’ a sunday short shift for me. You should be aware that a Sunday short shift doesn’t exist for a reason, in the way that there is not enough work for three servers on sunday nights.

There go my tips and half my income. We’ll see if I can work through it and make it to summer, when I can get a real job.

Speaking of which, I applied for that cataloguing job in Alberta. I spent five minutes with my mouse hovering over the send button before I was able to click it. It was quite nerve wracking. But now that I haven’t heard anything back, I’m beginning to think my worry was useless. I probably won’t get the job, and just go back to Smith Carter this year. Not that Smith Carter is a bad thing. I loved it there, fantastic environment, and hopefully I’ll move up in the workplace and either get a raise, or be doing part time secretarial work.

I’ve procrastinated something awful on the big projects, but I’m not behind on any of the small ones. So I’ve only been half stressing about school. I just have to remember to breathe, and that if I work hard, I’ll get it done.

I’m so glad I was at U of W for my work placement though. I got to research gazetteers every day there, in the way that I’d pull them off shelves and try and make first hand research notes about them. I learned so much, everyone there was so nice, and I was called a ‘quick learner’ (by Kim in course reserves), and one of the circulation staff said I was a breath of fresh air. I noticed that quite a few of the staff were pretty stereotypical librarians; standoffish, if you know what I mean. I tried to be as friendly as possible, and I think I made a few friends.

I also learned ridiculous amounts. I may have changed my mind about working in a school library. Academic is the way to go! But, I suppose I should get through my other work placements before I make up my mind. Maybe I’ll apply to be a part time circ. staff helper person type thing at U of W?

Book talks are coming up. Well, they’ve already started, but mine isn’t scheduled until april 1 (right before pathfinders are due and right after my reference presentation…). All the ones I’ve seen so far will be hard to live up to, but hopefully I’ll find a way. I have a local author for my book. Laura’s uncle, to be exact. I read the manuscript for his book when I was about 13, and I bought it to support him. It’s totally an autographed copy.

Anyway, this Nathan Town guy is pretty funny, and you should check out his website.

E-pub isn’t toooo terrible, in the way that it’s easy and I can probably score a decent mark to pull up my gpa after that non-print disaster last semester.

I actually really enjoy the content of children’s lit, even if I’m having troubles with her teaching style. Reader’s advisory is the coolest part of this job, as far as I’m concerned.

Intro to reference is going well so far, clearly a part of being a library tech. Slightly intimidated by that project but… I’m sure I can scrape by.

The cataloging was giving me problems at first, but I think I’ve got a better handle on it now. Now that we’ve moved away from the theory and history, and down to the practical and actually doing it, I’m enjoying it.

Collection development is important too, and it’s more interesting than I thought it would be. I suppose I can’t complain.

Plus, I’m super psyched for a work placement this semester!

Well, I’ll see you all next year.

This woke up my dad ALSO in a blind panic, because he thought someone had died.

After a rushed explanation, he agreed to get me to school, and that I should get ready. As I was brushing my teeth frantically, wondering if I should put on pants before running out the door, I caught sight of a clock. I had exactly 7 minutes to get to school. On a good day, it takes 20 minutes by car to get downtown. And armed with the knowledge that I wouldn’t be admitted if I were late, I gave up. I emailed Sherri, explained things, and bawled until she emailed me back. I have never cried over school in my entire life, so you can imagine that this was… strange. I was convinced I would be kicked out of the program and have to be a career waitress until my body quit, and then turn tricks behind the seven-eleven.

Anyway, Sherri got back to me with good news, which calmed me right down (along with the advice to keep breathing, which got rid of my histeria). I was still gonna pass.

A week or so later, I’ve got my marks in all my classes except business computing. I did quite well, except where I missed the class, but I still passed. I suppose as long as I walk away from this with a lesson, it wasn’t a total loss.

And that lesson is, do not rely on only 3 alarm clocks, buy 6 more.

Be there or be square.

Don’t ask, just keep reading. Today when we were done classes, and maybe more yesterday when I handed in the last assignment, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I didn’t realize how much school has been weighing on my mind, and how bad a mood assignments hanging over my head has put me in. Basically, I feel awesome. I didn’t even worry about money too much, not even when I got a look at my phone bill!

Go me!

So, in a crazy drunken (well, not really) celebration, I chopped off all my hair.

See you monday, if you recognize me.