Guide to writing

1. Write
2. Edit
3. Don't give up
4. Don't be afraid

number of these that I am doing: zero

ALA Annual in cell phone pictures

I attended the American Library Association's Annual Conference this year in Las Vegas. It was such a great experience. I have these pictures in my phone that have been sitting there for months so I thought I'd post them even though this happened ages ago. Procrastination blog '14

This is a list of all the events, panels and speakers I wanted to go to or thought sounded interesting. Let's pause to give a mighty guffaw at my naivete. Oh you sweet summer child.

 

This is the other side of the paper: a list of the exhibits I wanted to visit. I did see most of them.

 

There is so much free stuff at ALA Annual, you guys. I took this aqua backpack that folds up into a little bag "just in case" and I definitely used it. In this pic I'm carrying the backpack (which has rolled-up posters stuck into the mesh water bottle holder pockets), my "trust me, I'm a librarian" tote because duh, and a tote from a vendor. I think I picked up at least one more before ALA Annual ended. I must have been carrying like 30 pounds. This picture is especially blurry because I took it in the mirrored walls of the Bally's hotel elevator and the door opened right as I took this picture and I thought someone was coming in. You can't really tell but I looked super cute that day. Also pictured: the free pins I got on my nametag lanyard.

 

 

I got so many free Advanced Reader's Copy books the strap of my (admittedly cheap) official ALAAC messenger bag I got upon registration ripped right out. I was able to trade it in for a new one, thankfully.

 

 

In the exhibits hall were booths of vendors, some of which had displays and furniture to try to tempt librarians into making purchases. I fell in love with this awesome-looking chair: 

 

Look at it!! It's plush grey and red quilted felt, super comfy to sit in, swiveled, its design made you feel enveloped in your own cozy private little space, and the tube roof allowed natural light in!!! Perfect for reading.

 

I love you, chair. I will never forget you. 

This is one of the many rad temporary tattoos I got from the 2015 Summer Reading Program preview. I love it. It has sadly worn off long ago, although I got another one I can put on at any time.

 

Anyway Las Vegas is beyond, you guys. This Vatican-esque ridiculousness was taken in the lobby of a mall. Really.

 

In fact it was this mall that had an amazing rare books store. I saw first American editions of some of the Chronicles of Narnia books.

My mom took more pictures (including ones of me in the Hershey's and M&M's stores), but that may or may not be a post for another time. 

Happy 4th of July

My mom came in my room after working this morning, took one look at me and said, "You look like you've accomplished a lot today." I was like YEAH I DID. Here is a list of today's accomplishments:

1. I slept in until after 10 am. I have to get up at 7:30 for work so this is a BOON.
2. I finished the book I was reading (this will probly be written about in a separate post as there are actually several [well, 3] books I was reading at one time).  
3. I wrote about it in my reading journal.
4. I got dressed. (A sundress and a sports bra totally count as getting dressed.)
5. I bought The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet with Barnes & Noble's 20% off coupon for this holiday weekend. So psyched to read it.
6. I downloaded today's Nook Free Fridays selection.
7. I checked my email.
8. I Facebooked and read some articles on the Internet.
9. I entered for some Disney giveaway.
10. I bought this purple P&P shirt I've been eyeing forever from Out of Print since they're having a sitewide 30% off sale right now!
11. I haven't yet but I'm going to download the free ebook of Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, which I got from Open Road at ALA Annual last weekend.

The World Cup: guidelines of this non-sports fan

I am not a sports person but I make an exception for the World Cup, because futbol. By this I mean I actually pay attention to the game if I'm near someone who has the TV turned to it, and I check online to see who's won. These guidelines, for lack of a better word, are how I follow the World Cup.

I only care about Mexico. And the US. If these two ever play each other I will root for Mexico, because futbol is way more important to Mexicans than soccer is to Americans.
If two countries who are not these two are playing, I root for the Latino/Hispanic team. If they're both Latino, I root for the one I have the closest ties to. For instance, in the Spain/Chile game I was slightly pleased to see Chile won because I have some cousins who are half-Chilean.
If neither country is Hispanic I root for the country I have the closest ties to. In Japan/Greece, I wanted Greece to win because I have an aunt by marriage who is Greek.

At the end of the day I don't lose much sleep over who wins. Like I said, I only care about Mexico. And the US.

Life update: new job!

I haven't posted anything in a while, but this time it's for a good reason: I got a new job! I'm now the librarian of a health sciences university. I've been working here since May and I really like it. Here are a couple random things I like about my new job:

Lego Librarian

aka me in Lego form:

I don't have a patterned sweater-vest like that though (yet). My mom bought me this off Amazon. I love it and of course changed all my social media profile pics to it.

A typical Sunday breakfast with my dad

My dad wants to eat a bolillo so he gets me one too, disregarding what I say. I cut up the half he gives me and put half the Big Frank and cheese omelet he made me into it, adding a prosage sausage patty and some homemade guacamole to make a sort of vegetarian Egg McMuffin. "Wow," my dad says judgmentally, spooning more guacamole onto his spinach/mushroom/cheese/onion/Big Frank omelet. Then he makes me split a banana with him.

Roadtrip Reading

My parents and I drove up to the Bay area to see my brother for his birthday this last weekend, and I was able to get some reading in since my parents don't trust my driving and would rather do it themselves. I read:

-Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke: I had actually started this back in like October but stopped reading it because of reasons (length and laziness, mainly. It's the size of a latter Potter). JS&MN is an alternate history of England where magic is possible. It's a story of a prophecy and two magicians and their friends/acquaintances and disagreements and such, all told in the style of Jane Austen (genteel and excellently shade-throwing). It has tons of magical history and stories and footnotes (one of my favorite things in books) and I adored it. 4.99999/5 stars, only because one villain didn't get a harsh enough comeuppance and also one major enchantment should have dissolved when its caster died but whatever. They're going to do a miniseries of it and I can't wait.

-Diary of a Wimpy Kid: After JS&MN I wanted something completely different in tone, plus I had downloaded this from the iBookstore because it was free. It was funny and I can see why it's a kids bestseller. I'd read a later one that was my younger cousin's and found it hilarious, and if this series had come out when my younger brother was a kid he would have eaten them up. 3.5/5 stars, because of character meanness.

-Leave No Stone Unturned (Lexie Starr Series #1) by Jeanne Glidewell: This was the weakest of the bunch. It was a Nook blog Free Fridays pick and the protagonist works in a library, so I downloaded it to my Nook app. Firstly, I was under the impression she was a librarian, and she's not. A part-time library volunteer is not the same thing as a librarian (not knocking them. Library volunteers rock and anyway I used to be one myself). Apart from a key piece of information being discovered while Lexie Starr was helping a patron do research on microfilm of newspapers (do library volunteers even do that?), the library thing was pretty much nonexistent. Deliver on your hook! I was disappointed. Secondly, the writing was just... not good. Tons of telling and little showing, so much clunkiness, Mary Sue-ness, too-perfect and/or too-quirky characters that never really felt like real people, unnecessary details in a misguided attempt to flesh out characters and scenes, et cetera and so on. I would have forgiven the lack of librariana if the writing hadn't been so No. If I'm getting distracted from your story by your ham-fisted writing, you're not doing it right. And the stupid and weird romance thing! I can't even get into it because I could write a whole ranty blog post about it (I'll spare you), but it was just weird and unbelievable and it happened way too fast. The love interest was just too perfect to be true. Also, there was something just really off to me about having one of the main baddies/suspects be a gay tattooed, pierced, drug addicted male stripper with daddy issues. And as half Native American, he was the only person of color in the book! Very negative. Oh yeah, and Lexie immediately starts impersonating officers and exterminators and stuff to get info, and her love interest immediately and without reservations starts doing it with her too! The whole time I'm reading this I'm thinking "this woman is a published author. WHY." And then I felt simultaneously motivated (if she gets published with that kind of writing then I def should be able to) and disillusioned (she sucks and got published and I probably suck less but can't find the nerve to write :/). The mystery was semi-passable, I guess. 1/5 stars.