This has been a very draining 24 hours, both emotionally and physically. Found out about 2 engagements, had a long day of classes, pondered god and existence and such while doing my religion class reading, stressed about my future, and comforted/helped a friend whose grandfather died today. The last one, on top of everything else, led me to sort of go into confessional/emotional purging mode, which was probably good for me... But also -- (Note: This posting was interrupted by yet another deep emotional talk. I am now freshly drained of tears) -- very, very exhausting. Which is why I really need to go to bed now.

Too many people from my high school are getting or have gotten married. It's starting to freak me out - it seems like every time I log into Facebook there are new wedding pictures.

On a pleasanter and unrelated note, I am officially done with my work for the semester, so now winter break can begin in earnest. Yay!

My last radio show of the semester (and the main reason I actually bothered to get out of bed today):

Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
* Jens Lekman - Jens Lekman’s Farewell Song to Rocky Dennis
* Beirut - Rhineland (Heartland)
Beulah - Calm Go the Wild Seas
* Cat Power - Could We
* The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
* M. Ward - Requiem
TV on the Radio - Hours
* The Gothic Archies - Dreary, Dreary
Wolf Parade - It’s a Curse
Belle & Sebastian - The Blues are Still Blue
John Vanderslice - Coming and Going on Easy Terms
Voxtrot - Rise Up in the Dird
* Built to Spill - Traces
* Boy Least Likely To - Monsters
Mates of State - Think Long
Sigur Ros - Saeglopur
My Brightest Diamond - Something of an End
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Parade
The Dresden Dolls - Shores of California
* Exit Clov - MK Ultra
The New Pornographers - Use It
* The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
* The Futureheads - Skip to the End
Junior Boys - In the Morning
The Go Find - Igloo
* The Music Lovers - A Hell of a Kid
* Yo La Tengo - Black Flowers
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Weezer - Only in Dreams

Tonight on WSRN there will be a special 2 hour Tuesday edition of my radio show! Phrasing it that way makes it sound much more special than it is, of course - my show is today because we're on a Tuesday=Thursday class schedule to make up for Thanksgiving, and I have 2 hours because the people with the show after mine can't make it. But still!

Anyway, it's my last show of the semester; it starts at 5 pm EST.

I'm 22. It doesn't feel very different.

This week's playlist:

Wolf Parade - We Built Another World
Of Montreal - Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games
The Go Find - City Dreamer
The Cardigans - Fine
Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
Sufjan Stevens - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
Sufjan Stevens - Angels We Have Heard On High
Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!
The Muppet Show - Mahna Mahna
Thurl Ravenscroft - You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
* The Shins - Phantom Limb
Beulah - A Good Man is Easy to Kill
* ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Naked Sun
Dandy Warhols - I Am Over It
* Califone - Spiders House
* The Futureheads - Worry About It Later
*Klaxons - Gravity’s Rainbow
* Exit Clov - DIY

I have one more radio show this semester; due to weird class schedules to make up for Thanksgiving break, it will be on Tuesday. Still 5-6 pm, though. So you should listen. Yes, you.

Quiz time:











And now I sleep.

This week's playlist, brought to you before the end of the show thanks to advance planning (ooh!):

* Joanna Newsom - Monkey & Bear
My Brightest Diamond - Dragonfly
Neko Case - Margaret vs. Pauline
* The Gothic Archies - This Abyss
Jens Lekman - The Wrong Hands
* Yo La Tengo - The Weakest Part
Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
* Beirut - Rhineland (Heartland)
Bright Eyes - The Calendar Hung Itself
Broken Social Scene - Fire Eye’d Boy
* Cat Power - I Don’t Blame You
Beth Orton - Couldn’t Cause Me Harm
Pedro the Lion - Bad Diary Days
Elliott Smith - Pictures of Me
* The Mountain Goats - New Monster Avenue

I think next week is my last show of the semester, but 5 (6 when this show gets put up) of my shows are up on the WSRN website in podcast form. Spiffy, huh?

I don't think I've ever been so happy to hear the clanging and gurgling of the pipes before. Still no actual heat, but it sounds promising.

It's cold outside. My radiator is also cold, meaning that I too am cold. For some reason, the heat is on the fritz, and I am not pleased. I'm huddled up in a sweatshirt, fleecy pants, thick socks, hand warmers (I finally finished knitting them!), and a blanket. And still, I am cold. Grr. And brr.

Good news: Vanya is over, and a received compliments on the costumes. Yay. Bad news: Now I get to write the papers I've been putting off. At least I have a firm thesis and decent outline for the Shakespeare one... It makes things slightly less bad.

Playlist:

Sigur Ros - Saeglopur
* The Gothic Archies - Dreary, Dreary
Bright Eyes - Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh
Wilco - How to Fight Loneliness
Low - Broadway (So Many People)
John Vanderslice - Trance Manual
Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead
Tori Amos - Cloud My Tongue
Sufjan Stevens - All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands
* The Mountain Goats - Wild Sage
Iron and Wine - Cinder and Smoke
* M. Ward - Requiem
* Neko Case - Dirty Knife

Vanya costumes are done! I no longer have to live in the costume shop! I'll need to go back for some visits (I know there's a hem I need to fix, and socks to find), but the major work is complete, so there will be no more long hours and late nights in the shop. Whee!

I think I'm running solely on adrenaline and sugar right now. I have work to do, but I don't think I could actually focus on anything. I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that I'm not sewing, and it's harder than you might think.

This week's playlist:

* Neko Case - The Needle Has Landed
Belle & Sebastian - Judy and the Dream of Horses
* The Gothic Archies - Smile! No One Cares How You Feel
Cat Power - Speak For Me
Broken Social Scene - It’s All Gonna Break
John Vanderslice - Promising Actress
Low - Just Stand Back
The New Pornographers - The Body Says No
* The Futureheads - Skip to the End
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Parade
TV on the Radio - Dirtywhirl
* The Music Lovers - Alan Lake
* The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
The Unicorns - 2014
* Built to Spill - Goin’ Against Your Mind

The Gothic Archies include Stephin Merritt (the guy from Magnetic Fields) and Lemony Snicket (the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events). The album is actually based around the books, and apparently some of the songs are on the audio books. You have no idea how much this delights me. :)

I was in Target this evening, shopping with Allison, when we came across this: the FurReal Pony. It's kind of terrifying. It's over 3 feet tall, moves its tail and head (in a rather twitchy manner), and makes noise. In some ways, it's ingenious - lots of little girls ask for ponies, and this is significantly cheaper than buying, feeding, and boarding a real horse. At the same time, it's also very disturbing.

I went to the FurReal website and was looking at their other products, which include a variety of "newborn" animals - chimps, lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), puppies, kittens, and bunnies. By the way, what the heck are "baby bunny sounds"? Because apparently these bunnies make them, but the only noises I've heard out of any baby bunnies are squeaks of pain/fear when Katie finds a nest. And I highly doubt that those are the kind of noises they're talking about - otherwise, there are going to be a lot of little traumatized kids.

On a somewhat related note: I was watching cartoons on Saturday (Which, btw, are not as cool as the cartoons I remember as a kid - a sign of lower standards on the entertainment companies' part, or the beginnings of nostalgic longings on my part? You decide.), and a Barbie commercial played a few times. Featured in this commercial was the coolest version of the Barbie Dream House that I've seen in quite a while - 3 stories with a winding staircase, and spiffy furnishings.

Finally, as this post demonstrates, I am apparently dealing with my impending graduation by regressing back to childhood. Ah well.

This week's playlist:

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Number
My Brightest Diamond - The Robin’s Jar
John Vanderslice - Pale Horse
* Built to Spill - Wherever You Go
Spoon - No You’re Not
OK Go - It’s a Disaster
* Pas/Cal - Little Red Radio
Sufjan Stevens - Super Sexy Woman
* Yo La Tengo - Mr. Tough
Mates of State - Think Long
The New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno
Broken Social Scene - Windsurfing Nation
Primal Scream - Rocks
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
* His Name Is Alive - Seven Minutes
Enon - Disposable Parts
* The Music Lovers - A Hell of a Kid
* Gertie Fox - Modern Love

Play list for this week:

TV on the Radio - Hours
My Brightest Diamond - Disappear
The Wrens - Boys, You Won’t
The Arcade Fire - Headlights
* The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New
* Broken Social Scene - Handjobs for the Holidays
Mates of State - Running Out
* Boy Least Likely To - Monsters
Beulah - Hello Resolven
* Built to Spill - Liar
* Jens Lekman - Jens Lekman’s Farewell Song to Rocky Dennis
Sufjan Stevens - Vito’s Ordination Song (Acoustic)
* M. Ward - Post-War
* Yo La Tengo - Black Flowers

The world would be a much better place if papers wrote themselves.

Instead of doing my work, I'm busy being productive in other ways. Like poking around the internet for useful information on cool libraries and possible publishing jobs for me and/or a friend.

Among the things I've discovered is Ugly Duckling Presse, a tiny, volunteer-run publisher that works with poetry and artist books, among other things. I now desperately want to volunteer there, because, well, they sound damn cool. Sure, there's no money to be made in it, but it would be an interesting experience and teach me a lot more about artist books (they of the sometimes strange design and high cost, and generally of extreme awesomeness). Actually, the UDP artist books are pretty cheap - the limited facsimile edition of one book is only $250. Granted, that's with 100 copies available, but still: compare it with one of the artist books at Granary Books - 35 pages, 45 copies available... $2,500 each. (Of course, the Granary book sounds pretty impressive - accordion-style, so it can be unfolded and turned into more traditional art to be hung on the wall; each has 15 bits of archival material from the artist's studio, etc.)

Anyways, my point is that I'm much more interested in digging up this relatively random information than working on a paper for theatre class. Maybe I would make a good reference librarian after all.

The chances that I'll be moving to NYC after I graduate have just gone up. See, I want to work with pretty books. Rare books. Special collections. The cool things that are usually kept in rooms with special temperature control. Art books that are so strange you're not even sure they should be classified as books.

But where does one go to learn about working with such books? Library school? Yes, but apparently not just any library school. I've now browsed through the websites of most of the ALA-accredited library schools. If I wanted to be a school media specialist and deal with kids, I could go just about anywhere. If I wanted to be an archivist and file away old letters, I would have many options. And most of the schools offer classes on rare books or in preservation. But if I want to actually specialize in rare books/special collections, my best options are in the New York area.

Option 1: School of Information and Library Science at the Pratt Institute. They offer a concentration called Art and Humanities Library Services/Cultural Informatics. It's a mouthful, but "Career opportunities in this area include research and academic libraries, museums and library research, archives and special collections, art and performing arts librarianship, digital libraries and archives." In other words, my sort of thing.

Option 2: Palmer School of Library and Information Science at Long Island University. They actual offer a concentration in Rare Books and Special Collections. And: "Students will develop proficiency in rare book curatorship, archival techniques, the history of the book, rare book cataloging, preservation, and exhibition planning. They will become acquainted with major collections through field trips and internships, and will have opportunity to meet experts in this area." Also, a lot of the classes for the concentration (though probably not for the core requirements) are offered in Manhattan. And they're associated with the University of Virginia's Rare Book School, which is nifty. (The Rare Book School offers 5-day, non-credit classes in various cities on cool topics like Book Illustration Processes to 1900 (Woodcuts! Lithography! General prettiness!) and Introduction to Illuminated Manuscripts.)

Happily, NYC has lots of libraries and bookstores where I can work while working on my degree. Because eating is helpful, and I don't actually want to live in a cardboard box.

No DC this weekend after all - last night I cancelled my reservations after realizing what I had left to do (Shakespeare midterm, packing, etc), how tired I was, and how early I would have to get up. Maybe next weekend, assuming I get things done this week.

This week's playlist:

My Brightest Diamond - Something of an End
The Dresden Dolls - Shores of California
Sneaker Pimps - Lightning Field
* Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s - Vampires in Blue Dresses
Sufjan Stevens - Joy! Joy! Joy!
Junior Boys - In the Morning
The Go Find - Igloo
The New Pornographers - Use It
* The Hold Steady - Massive Nights
* Yo La Tengo - The Room Got Heavy
* Beirut - Brandenburg
* Built to Spill - Traces
Stars - What I’m Trying to Say
* Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Metric - Monster Hospital

This post is brought to you by my inner geek and my intense need to procrastinate:

Stikfas are some of the coolest toys ever. My brother got me the red dragon and warrior woman combo last year, and it's fantastic. And the other sets they have are also great. Beta Female Demoness? Very cool. Mechana Segmented Robot (in the yellow and blue, of course)? Adorable - the robot has a little bear friend! So cute! Explorer and jungle cat? Nifty. The phantom? So versatile! The scythe for the Grim Reaper, the pumpkin for the headless horseman, chains for the stereotypical ghost, see-through body for the Invisible Man, and a crown for a Stikfas recreation of the beginning of Hamlet! Because these toys call out the need to be used in stop animation videos, and people have done so - skateboarding, fight scenes, even a bit of Star Wars.

Which brings me to some other nifty toys, courtesy of =http://www.thinkgeek.com/">ThinkGeek. I had already come across Darth Tater, a Mr. Potatohead version of Vader, but there's apparently also a Spud Trooper and Artoo Patatoo (complete with a little Princess Tater 'hologram'!). And then there's the plush Yoda backpack, made to look like you're giving Yoda a piggyback ride, a la Luke's training in The Empire Strikes Back. So geeky, but so very neat.

Okay. Time to sleep. Shakespeare midterm in about 8 hours, whee!