Break Update

Since being home on my two week long Thanksgiving Break (brought on by the wedding of my best friend this past Saturday), a good number of things have happened that I keep WANTING to blog about, but haven't had the time/energy to do so yet.  So I figured I would undertake a quick update post, and hopefully get to elaborate on the subjects in subsequent posts.

• I finalized my class schedule for next semester, including Collection Development, Music Librarianship, Gender and Computerization, and my first Music Library Internship.
• I was in my best friend's wedding and caught the flying squirrel (her equivalent to the bouquet tossing) which I named Ekorn, the Norwegian word for "squirrel" which literally means "oak kitten."  So cute.
• My paper on Geisserlieder (flagellant songs) from the Medieval era was accepted for the 2012 Vagantes Conference to be held in March at Indiana University Bloomington.
• I found out that I was elected to Vice President and Social Chair of the Student Music Librarian Group at IU.
• A short article (on BLOGGING of all things) of mine is going to be published in the American Library Association Student Chapter at IU's newsletter. 
• I am in the process of applying for a summer internship at Interlochen Center for the Arts summer camp program, which would allow me to do a library internship (focusing in Music) as either an Ensemble Library Assistant or a Music Reference Assistant whilst working at a camp.  I see no downfall here.
• I got to visit both my undergrad, Allegheny College, and the school where I achieved my last Master's degree, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, in one week.  Getting to see Professors and former employers was wonderful, and it reminds me how much support I actually have in the academic world.
• Went to the Doctor's and found out I've officially lost 45 lbs.  They printed a graph of my weight since I've been there.  It is now hanging on my mirror.  Awesome. 

Other than that, I've been home in my sleepy little town, enjoying the break from school.  I've gotten to read a lot more, which has been great -- and I started using the Amazon Prime Book Borrowing (so think online library) program, but I'm sure I'll write a blog post about that soon.  Mostly, I can't wait to get back to school and finish what I started.

Airports

I have an intense love/hate relationship with airports.

Airports are stressful, dirty, distrustful places where everyone looks at you like you could be up to no good.  I got eyed by the security man because I put my scarf in the same bin as my laptop -- as if this would somehow conceal something diabolical?!  No, I think not.  I am an unassuming, 5'1" mousy little Librarian-type.  I'm not capable of that.  Then, once that entire show is over, I make my way past vastly overpriced food and drink stations to sit at my gate for about an hour.

This is where the good part of airports kicks in: the people watching.

I /love/ people watching.  It's like a sport for my terribly observant and organized mind.  As I write this, the woman beside me is charging her iPod, chatting to someone on her iPhone about how they should buy six bottles of some liquid because then they'll get 15% off.  Across the way is a shoe shine station, where a lone African American man is currently shining an old white man's shoes.  I see that racism is still alive and well in America when the older gentleman calls the younger man 'boy'.  What a show.

Not only is this my first stint in the Indianapolis International Airport, but this will be my first flight with a layover.  When I leave here, I am flying to Chicago (Midwest) where I have an approximately two hour layover providing me both with more stress and more people watching opportunities.  So until then, I'm going to work on summer internship applications.  Because that's what you do.. right?

Right.

Organized Chaos

As an unfortunate Type-A Library student (as my lovely colleague Brianna Marshall outlines in her blog Not So Stern Librarian) my life has been somewhat insanely busy as of late.  Between working at the Archives of Traditional Music, volunteering at the Black Film Center/Archive, taking countless UITS instructor-lead classes, and taking four for credit classes, I fully admit to coming home and literally crashing into my bed.  It is from there that I have been working on my homework and accessing my various incredibly nerdy side-projects (like MU*ing).  When actually present in my small school-owned apartment, I'll admit there is not much room for me to do anything else, save for sit at my desk.  My room is situated at the corner of my building, and while having a lovely wrap-around window which lets in natural light, is oddly shaped, and thus does not leave much room for me to spread out.  Thus, after a week or two of hectic 12-hour+ days, my room starts to resemble the natural habitat of a certain potbellied farm animal.  However, I can tell you where EVERYTHING IS.

Welcome to organized chaos.

Organized chaos, I feel to an extent, is at the core of my being.  I am an incredibly organized person.  I have a planner which never leaves my side, and is literally the only way I can keep track of life.  There are few things I truly need to function, and a planner is one of them.  I have resisted, so far, the call of an electronic calendar, but I feel like it is an innate possibility for the future - especially next semester, when I will be taking four classes on top of both a job and internship.

I believe my ability to accept chaos stems from my transition from a somewhat absentminded adolescent to my Type-A adulthood.  I may now have the need to incessantly count calories, separate M&Ms into specific colors, and arrange my books in my backpack according to size, but there was a time when I was so lackadaisical it would drive my mother insane.  Having, I assume, evolved into a more enlightened state of organization and preparation from my continued work in academia, I can thus accept and even embrace that line from the Serenity prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.

In the fast paced Library Science education world, I have much more important fish to fry than making sure the cardboard box graveyard at the foot of my bed stays in a neat pile to be recycled.  I would much rather spend my time reading up on Music Libraries or working on potential conference proposals.  Besides, when I do become a Librarian, organized chaos will often be the name of the game.  Good thing we're already bosom friends.