The Readiness Is All

I might be jumping the gun writing this, but I had some fun thoughts, and I'm trying to get my creative juices flowing before I write my final paper of grad school, and the air in the SLIS lab is making me wax nostalgic.

Things I learned during my time at SLIS:

• Which web addresses require "iu" and which require "iub" (for Indiana University and Indiana University Bloomington, respectively). 
• On the job experience is (shockingly) far more educational than three hours of class once a week about 90% of the time. 
• It's easier to teach yourself CSS from a book and with the help of lovely coding friends (I'm looking at you, Matt. Also Kristi, Wesley, and my fellow sufferers in IA who were helpful and offered advice) than it is to sit through a class where the teacher thinks everyone know what they're doing and just breezes through silly concepts like page organization (in a class about information architecture) so he can talk about spiffy things like the history of our coding heroes. 
• For Jill: "Digitize, digitize, digitize, digiTIZE it!" 
• I'm still terrible at focusing while I write papers (which is why I'm blogging in the SLIS lab instead of writing a paper. So much for my master plan of being more productive on campus. But I WILL be. Soon.) 
• How to make this website. 
• Sometimes, when people say " come give a presentation," they mean "let's chat." 
• Public librarians are the coolest people ever. Especially the ones over here.
• A library is not a porn parlor or a place to micturate. (Trust me. Just read the third paragraph. Thanks, Dean Cronin.) (Is it evil if I want to link that article to as many of those ridiculous words as possible so that it comes up in google?) 
• The meaning of the word micturate and its unnecessary nature.
• Them newfangled computer-thingies might be here to stay - and more people than you think don't know how to use them. 
• When someone offers you a job out of nowhere, just because someone recommended you, take it - even if you don't think you have time because you already have two jobs. (Okay, maybe that only applies when the person who recommended you and the person who hired you are two of the nicest people you've ever met. But it was a lovely three hours of my week all semester.)
• Sometimes, the library doesn't run the air conditioner for hours at a time during the summer. When this time is during your class every week and your west-facing evening class becomes a sauna of death and teaching, classroom hopping is totally acceptable, even if no one wants you in those empty, air-conditioned rooms. Stick it to the man. 
• Movie clips and origami may not be appropriate for every presentation, but they can make your presentation rock. 
• Free food from Farm + Dean Blaise Cronin in all of his Irish glory = Yes, I will come to the SLIS fancy dress reception and eat your goat cheese. Thanks for asking.
• Cataloging is an art, not a science. Unless your teacher has a power trip and wants you to catalog "as we discussed in class," by which she means, "as I mentioned once for two seconds while you were nodding off." 
• Sometimes, doing a crossword puzzle in class actually means you get more out of class. 
• Books about vampires should fall into the "intellect" category, and Sir Walter Scott belongs in the lecture about romance novels. 
• Library school is not like real grad school - or at least it isn't in Indiana. (Greg, I think your school sounds like real grad school. And I'm envious of your Nancy Pearl connections.) And yet . . . in a week I will still have a Master's degree without writing a thesis. Take that!  

There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is’t to leave betimes?

I didn't expect to be leaving Bloomington this soon, to be getting married this December, to be moving to Texas . . . ever.  But if all of this be not to come, it will be now, and I'm ready.

(So very, very ready.)

Okay friends. I've been trying to decide whether I had enough to add this year. But I can't NOT tell you about the additions, so I'll go ahead and update even though it's sparse. Additions are in bold at the bottom (if you've been following along). 

• Goodnight Socialite" by The Brobecks. This is still my favorite creepy song and still starts off the playlist. It's just awesome.
• "Shankill Butchers" by The Decemberists. I'm pretty sure this song would have absolutely terrified me when I was a child, because I still think it's pretty scary now, and I'm much less of a wimp now than I was then.
• "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (you can't give it all away at the beginning, guys. You have to work up to Thriller.)
• "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!" by Sufjan Stevens. I think the title explains everything you need to know about this one.
• "Zombie" by The Cranberries. I just found out that was what they were singing in this song. Yeah. But the music video is totally creepy and weird, so that's good enough for me, even if they clearly have a deeper meaning going on.
• "The Boogie Monster" by Gnarls Barkley. It has an evil laugh at the beginning. What else do you want?
• "Zombie Jamboree" by The Kingston Trio. Oh, my childhood. It was awesome.
• "My Body's a Zombie For You" from a CD they featured on NPR called Dead Man's Bones. I don't actually have this one, but it's awesome, so on it goes.
• "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo.
• "Wolf Like Me" by TV On the Radio. Very werewolf-y and also awesome.
• "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevron. It's ridiculous, but there's howling. You need howling.
• "Moon Over Bourbon Street" by Sting. My favorite of the vampire set I'm about to post.
• "Vampire" by Antsy Pants. Not scary, but still vampire-y.
• "Perhaps Vampire is a Bit Strong But . . ." by the Arctic Monkeys
• "The Sharpest Lives" by My Chemical Romance. More vampire references.
• "Darkshines" by Muse. I don't know why this song seems creepy and Halloweenish to me, but it really works for me. Take it or leave it.
• "Bodysnatchers" by Radiohead
• "Mr. Raven" by MC Lars. This song is ridiculous . . .ly awesome. "Who's that? Who's that rappin' on my chamber door? Mister! Mister Raven! All up in my grill sayin' "Nevermore!" Yeah. Still good.
• "Dear Songs And Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" by Wolf Parade
• "Haunted" by Evanescence. You have to have at least one of their songs, right? I mean, their whole schtick is the essence of Halloween, isn't it?
• "The Fear" by Travis
• "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave. Really, all of the Murder Ballads are appropriate here. Still.
• "Lullaby" by The Cure. Officially the creepiest song to have the title in the entire world.
• "Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps)" by David Bowie
• "Pathetique" by Andrew Bird. From the weird Music of Hair CD, this song has some major creep-town sounds going on.
• "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." Weird, creepy and beautiful song about a creepy creepy person.
• "The Long Black Veil" by Johnny Cash. This song has always creeped me out. You know what I'm talking about.
• "Ghost-Town Of My Brain" by Jim White. Very bizarre, but it totally fits the mood.
• "The Ghost of You Lingers" by Spoon. This song has some creepy sounds going on even if it isn't about Halloween. And it has "ghost" in the title.
• "I'm Afraid of Japan" by Final Fantasy. What's scarier than Japan!?! Seriously though, this song is SPOOKY.
• "Sleep" by My Chemical Romance
• "No One Lives Forever" by Oingo Boingo
• "Halloween" by Matt Pond
• "Shanty for the Arethusa" by The Decemberists. It starts off with creepy accordion and a scream. Trust me.
• "Chasing a Ghost" by The Morning Benders (because who doesn't need The Morning Benders?)
• From the new Nightmare Revisted CD: "Jack's Lament" covered by The All-American Rejects, "Sally's Song" covered by Amy Lee, and "Poor Jack" covered by The Plain White T's.
• "Dead Man" by Jars of Clay. Not that creepy, but still works.
• "The Other Father Song" by They Might Be Giants. It's from Coraline. Need I say more?
• "Lovely Creature" by Nick Cave
• "Ghostship" by Menomena
• "Halloween" by Stephen Lynch (Horrible. And very funny. Just don't play this one for your small children. And I'm totally blaming Lin for this one.)
• "This Is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas
• "What's He Building in There?" by Tom Waits
• "Dead and Lovely" by Tom Waits
• "The Curse" by Josh Ritter (because it's about a mummy)
• "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads
• "Genius Next Door" by Regina Spektor (so creepy!)
• "I Hold Your Hand in Mine" by Tom Leher
• "Attack of the Ghost Riders" by The Raveonettes
•  "Riders on the Storm" by The Doors (how was this not there yet?) 

I also recommend the album "Dead Man's Bones," which I found last year on All Songs Considered. It's really fun and creepy. I feel like this list isn't complete when I look at it, so I may add a couple more later today, but hopefully that sates your appetite for now. Enjoy!

My brother Clark and I may have just planned my Joe vs. the Volcano themed wedding.

It all started with this picture becoming my profile picture on facebook, and my friend Rayla saying it needed to be photoshopped with a canyon or something in it so that Eric's face would make sense. I said it would be better if it were a picture of us jumping into a volcano, a la Joe vs. the.

 Next thing I knew,  this popped up on facebook, compliments of my friend Jenna.


I believe the idea for the themed reception was Jill's. She suggested grass skirts for the bridesmaids.

Then Clark offered to bring the volcano he built for his ward luau. Or build a new one.

Other ideas for my reception (which will only make sense if you've seen the movie. Or possibly if you've seen the movie a couple hundred times, the way we have):

• Orange soda all around!
• Luggage-shaped seating/tables
• Ukulele music. Clark offered to learn. 
• Volcano-shaped groom's cake with a little Joe and Patricia on top being married by the chief
• An Armani tux for Eric
• A black Bentley with a chauffeur named Marshall to take us away from the reception
• Leis - particularly those made of orange soda cans
• A wedding playlist including "Sixteen Tons," "Old Man River" and "Come Go With Me." 
• Live octopus/fish to beat Eric with while he's getting ready
• Clark: "You can borrow my volcano if you need to or, heck, I'll make a new better volcano. One big enough that you can jump into. We'll even figure out a way to have it blow you out and into an adjacent pool or something. Let's make this happen."

Dear USPS:

Yes, I am annoyed that you lost the care package I sent to Texas a month ago (Priority! Why doesn't priority mail EVER work for me?) and yes, I am afraid to use your services to do some of my moving in the coming months, as was my plan. I'm not sure I want to entrust my books and DVDs to your apparently sub-par care. No, delivery confirmation doesn't make me feel better, because I am sending things to my mother and my fiance, and you said it doesn't track anything, it will just tell me when it gets there. THEY will tell me when it gets there. Yes, you are causing me stress, and yes, I'm annoyed that the only thing I can do about it is pay you more money so you'll "insure" my package. Frankly, I think if you lose it, you should just pay for it. Or, you know, find it. But I guess you're running a business. A business that loses packages.

How much more is UPS?

Love,
Megan

So over Labor Day, I went down to Houston to meet my family-to-be - who are delightful, wonderful people. I like them a lot, and felt completely comfortable with them. I think these were the only pictures taken during the weekend - at our murder mystery dinner where it turned out I was definitely a slut, and Brady and his mom were secret lovers. Eric (the dashing Frenchman behind me) turned out to be the killer, and Momma Long's unibrow won her the best costume prize.

So at least some of my engagement pictures are up on the interwebs and some of you have seen them, but I got a CD with more, and they're awesome. I highly recommend my photographer, Karina, to any of you who are in a picture-needing way. So yeah. Here are some of them.

I was thinking about this post from the beginning of the year, and was a little staggered by how much things have changed. Now, as I sit at the beginning of my final semester of school (I hope), I'm taking another.

You know, I really do TRY to blog regularly. But the problem is that now I try to think of things to post and what I'm mostly thinking about is wedding stuff, but I don't want to just post wedding stuff so then I post nothing. (Also, I've been home for a couple of weeks and it's been crazy, so it's not just that.)

Anyway, here's what's been going on, wedding and otherwise.

• Eric came to visit and meet the fam. He got a good grilling from the brothers, but I think it went quite well. We did some wedding planning and registered and took pictures and got him a suit. 
• Looking forward to meeting his family over Labor Day weekend in Houston. It looks like there is going to be both an opportunity to wear a costume AND an opportunity to do some cooking while I'm there. They've been very welcoming already, so I'm feeling more excited than nervous so far. 
• I found a wedding dress. It's beautiful. And it may have been the first one I tried on (after internet research and lots of others that I tried on afterward). I kept trying other things to see if I was crazy, but nothing was as great as that first one, I knew I was going to keep comparing everything to the first one, and it fit almost perfectly off the rack, so with very minimal alterations it will be just right
• Yesterday, Spence and Julie had a beautiful baby girl. She doesn't have a name yet (at least not as far as I know) but she's so pretty. We're excited to have her. 
• I'm making the rounds this week and going to see 1) the people I love and 2) all of the people who take my parents' insurance. I'm mixing the friend visits in with the eye doctor, dentist, and regular doctor (and the visits to the florist, reception center, etc.) If I don't see you while I'm here, I'm sorry. It's been a much crazier trip than I thought it would be. Silly me.
• I almost forgot to read my summer Thomas Hardy, but I'm now starting Far From the Madding Crowd. Hopefully a couple of plane rides will be enough to help me finish it before too long. 
• I am getting really excited about my fall internship at the MCPL. In addition to working the reference desk, I'll get to help with some computer classes and with a project to evaluate the movies and music collections in the library. It's everything I want to do. I just hope it will help me snag a job in South Texas after. (If there are jobs in South Texas after. Haha. Gulp.) 
• The new Arcade Fire is still awesome, even if it isn't $3.99 anymore. ($7.99 still good.) Also awesome - free amazon prime if you have a student email address. Rock on, Amazon. I WILL take free shipping for the next year. I will use it with the $50 gift card I got for participating in a study at SLIS. 
•  The first sneak of our engagement pictures went up today. We took this one in the library. I'm not sure it's the one we'll send out (because I love the books, but it might be too theme-y for me for the actual announcement picture), but I'm certainly pleased with the way it turned out, and I want it at the reception and on my desk if I ever have a library office. Thanks Karina! 

• We've been hosting an essay contest at the lovely blog, and it has been awesome. I love getting entries from lots of different women and I've been so pleased with the response. If you haven't checked it out already, do so. 
• Today is my oldest brother's birthday. He's swell. :) I'm listening to Tom Waits in his honor. 
• I know facebook has to advertise registries and wedding photographers to me now that I'm engaged, but must if show me wedding diets? Seriously guys - it's not going to work. I just need to stay the same size so I can fit into my dress. That's it. 

So, judging by the 48 of you who have commented on my new relationship status on facebook (and the other several comments from those of you who didn't want a zillion notifications  that other people had commented after you), word is getting around that I got engaged on Wednesday night. And I'm pretty excited about it. And now I'm going to tell the story with all of its gory details. If you don't want to read them all - hey, I'm engaged! The end. If you want everything . . . well, you asked.

Here is my fiance, (Clovis Merle) Eric Long (taken on my phone this morning, on Phil's couch):

Dear Drain Flies (if that's your real name),

I'm tired of killing you. Really, I am. But you invaded my food and then my toaster. And even after I threw away my beloved toaster (my Egg and Muffin toaster that Miri gave me for my 21st birthday!), you continued to come out night after night, perching on the ceilings, mating on the lamp above the sink, lying in wait in my closet.

My closet? There isn't even any food in there, guys.

So that's why you are now being unceremoniously smeared all over the ceiling and walls without mercy. That is why I am no longer above killing some of you with my bare hands, even though you are disgusting. You invaded my peanut butter. I had to throw away a bag of rice I hadn't even opened yet. I'm hungry, and I don't want to buy food until you are gone because I am so tired of finding your rotten children in my bags of flour and sugar.

So let's make a deal. When the pest control guy comes tomorrow (please say he's really coming tomorrow), do the right thing and die. Show the nice man your breeding grounds so he can kill your children. My cupboards are bare, my kitchen is clean, and at this point, I am not above taking Ann's creme brulee torch to you if you don't leave my house in peace from tomorrow onward.

I will get you, flies. So let's make it quick and painless. Because otherwise I am coming after you one by one. And I will destroy you.

Sincerely,

Megan

Okay, I know I've been a slacker at blogging. Soon I will try to tell you about my weekend in Palmayra and update you on the neverending maggot story. But until then, I want YOU to enter THIS CONTEST!!

There's an awesome prize (I'm going to have to buy one for myself because I love it so) and I want to have lots of contest entries to read. Lots and lots and lots. And either way, you'll get posted on our blog - you'll just get more fame and glory if you win.

Prizes (you pick one) are awesome fabric posters from annilygreen:

Part of me wishes I'd taken some pictures for this post. But that's the part of me that's trying to block the memory of what those pictures were. Ew. Ew. Ew.

So for the past couple of months, we've had some issues with moth flies/drain flies. They're pretty benign little creatures, so at first it didn't seem like a big deal. We got rid of one batch back at the beginning of the spring, and we didn't think too much of it when they came back. Or maybe it was just that we weren't home much for a little while, and we didn't realize how far things had gone.

And then they tried to take our home. And it was time to take it back.

See, here's the problem. They're been ALL OVER lately, which was a problem. But then they started mating in front of us. And then they started infiltrating our food. And friends, when they laid their little maggot friends in my pre-made chocolate pie crust, it was all over.

So tonight I threw away a bag of powdered sugar, two bags of nuts (pecans and almonds - both completely full of flies), and a bag of granulated sugar that was a little questionable, although I couldn't actually find maggots in it. A couple of weeks ago I also had to throw away a bag of rice after I cooked some rice and discovered little cooked maggot bodies after. I probably could have prevented some infestation if I'd investigated then, but really - would you want to? As far as I know, my cupboard is now clean, and my roommates will be doing similar sweeps soon, but the menace lives on.

So moth flies, this is a warning. 4th of July weekend while we're all out watching fireworks and eating barbecue chicken, you will be dying slow, painful deaths with bug bombs, Raid, fly paper, and whatever else we can find. I'm also going to buy some ammonia or bleach to put down every drain in the place even though I haven't seen you coming out of drains yet. You are dead. All of you. The second you turned my innocent pie crust into an maggot farm, as soon as you wriggled under that plastic, you signed your own death certificates. From here on out, no mercy.

Don't worry. I definitely have tickets to see The National when they come to Bloomington in the fall. Thank goodness they made it to the midwest before I leave it, because they certainly aren't making it to Utah in the near future. Please enjoy the following fantastic song from their new album. (Sorry to post two music videos in a row. It may defeat my secret wish to stop having mummies covering up my About Me.)

P.S. My favorite part of this video is how awkward Matt Berninger is in it. Do you think the awkwardness is what actually draws me to this band? I think it's entirely possible.

I might be a little bit obsessed with this music video and song - Josh Ritter's "The Curse." It's awesome. Sorry that it doesn't fit on the blog correctly. You can't go wrong with a love story between a mummy and an archeologist.

Also, playing with the new blogger design options. Sorry if it changes multiple times in the next few days.

So briefly, this is what's going on in my life right now (although probably most of you who read this know anyway). I'm dating someone. It's great. He just moved to Texas. Long distance relationshipping ensues.

I tell you this only because I wanted to right a post about coping methods/comfort habits. I've been noticing what I do to comfort myself while trying to adjust, and I've determined that I like it. So briefly, here are my comfort . . . things.


Food

Ice cream is obvious, but I definitely went out and bought myself some Spumoni. It seemed more special occasion than cookies and cream, and I got twice as much for the same price as a little thing of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia.

Peek-a-boo eggs. If you've never had these, you've missed out on one of the great joys of my life. You cut a hole in the middle of a piece of bread and stick it in a skillet, and then you crack an egg into that hole and cook it. Flip it over to cook the other side, and if you cook the whole thing in butter and add a little salt and pepper to the egg, it's much better. I always like to break the yolk too, but if you like runny yolk guts, by all means leave it. When you're done, you stick the little pieces of bread that you cut out of the middle on top of the eggs (hence the peek-a-boo aspect.) I don't know why these are better than egg sandwiches, but I love them and they're great comfort food.

The semester is over! Perhaps someday I will actually blog regularly again. Wouldn't that be nice? 

Dear Blogosphere,

Okay. So I've had a lot to write about during the last few weeks, and I haven't written about it. This is probably because a) I have to spend all of my time when I'm working or doing homework on my computer, and when I'm not doing one of those things or having important facebook conversations, I don't feel like blogging. And when I do feel like blogging, I blog for the blogject. And b) I've been busier this semester than last for various reasons, and in my spare time I've been watching Doctor Who. (See previous post.)

So here's a run down of what happened in March.

1. Jill and I went to Chicago with our fellow branchie Wesley. We met up with Katherine while we were there, and we went to the Art Institute, explored the city, stayed in a hostel, ate deep dish pizza, and of course went to see Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.

But I just started the second series (season) and I'm already in love with David Tennant, mostly because of this clip. The part I love happens about a minute in.


He quotes the Lion King! And it's brilliant!

So I'm officially over my mourning period and ready to embrace this Doctor. (Also, I hope the new one we're getting in the spring will be great so that I have something to look forward to when I get through the Tennant era. Yeah. I'm one episode in and I'm already thinking about that. People as obsessive as I am shouldn't watch TV.)
(Incidentally, Anthony Head, or Giles from Buffy, is going to be a villian in this series. I'm so excited.)

I learned about this site from a feature called "Great Job, Internet!" on the A.V. Club. I don't even know why it's funny. but it's really, really funny.