Bibliomama

 Did you guys see Shawna's comment on my last post?: " So this is weird: I followed a link here from Swistle... only to read your description of the Covid protocols your school is following, leading me to think "huh, that sounds like the same protocols we'd have to follow", leading me to click on your profile and find out we live in the same Ottawa suburb!"  I LOVE when shit like this happens. I had a really good friend in grad school and one day in the library I asked her when her birthday was and she said "June. Fifteenth." Then she looked at my face and said "wait, is that your birthday too? So right now you're thinking, like 'I didn't ASK you MY birthday. I asked you YOUR birthday. You don't even KNOW my birthday so why are you saying it to me?'" and we were doing all this while whisper-laughing hysterically.  I also want to thank everyone who didn't chime in "oh yeah, you're always allowed to park for...

 I have been covering the school office quite a bit over the past month because they've been down a person and Covid means everything that was simple is now much less so. It's very different from working in the library, especially right now when I don't have classes coming in. I really like having the human contact, getting to know more of the students, problem-solving and the fast pace. I also find it utterly draining. Yesterday was almost comically crazy - the office administrator was out sick so it was just two of us dealing with everything - parents coming to pick up their kids, parents calling because they couldn't access their kids' report cards, four bumped heads, one bleeding mouth and one bleeding nose of mythical proportions, and no fewer than eight stomach complaints - which under Covid means the student has to go into an isolation room, any siblings have to be pulled out of class, and they all have to be picked up and can't come back until after a ne...

 It's always hard to get the first post out after the book posts. It's like I can't remember what else I do here. My boring life? Who wants to hear about that?  Oh! I have kind of a funny boring story. So I work at one school this year - I was at two but I got surplussed out due to lower enrollment, which was a bummer because I really loved the other school and being the librarian for the autism unit. But when I was at two schools there were parking issues for both, which was slightly annoyingly ironic because I was really excited when I got permanent positions meaning I could park in the parking lot without fear. I soon learned that the parking lot at one school is slightly too small so I could never be sure of getting a spot, especially if there was a lot of snow, cutting off the last few spots. At the other place I learned after I'd been hired that they block off the parking lot entrance for a good half hour every morning because students walk through the parking lot...

I'm feeling slightly better. I spent a little less time online yesterday and today and argued with maybe 60% fewer assholes, and didn't swear at any of them (I usually know it's time to take a break from Twitter when the word 'fuck' overtakes a certain percentage of the other 280 characters. Either that or Twitter puts me in a time out for 'possible abusive behaviour' and instead of being incensed I think "yeah, that's probably fair". My hands and wrists are less throbby, although the rest of me still feels like it has a headache. It's Eve's birthday tomorrow and I'm sad she can't get together with her friends today, but last year Jody and I took them to the Van Gogh exhibit in Montreal and had a blast, so at least we have that, and next year she'll be 19, so we can have a giant party and she can... watch all her friends get drunk, probably, because she doesn't enjoy alcohol.  I'm reading a lot right now and enjoying...

Yes, I am slightly ashamed that I am still working on book review posts from last year and it's already February, but on the other hand I read a LOT OF BOOKS, OKAY? This would have been out earlier but I've picked up a few office shifts at the school on non-library days and I just don't feel that physically well at the moment. I've been having dry eye issues for a couple of years, but they are extra-bad right now, which means wearing contacts is difficult and I have to wear contacts for work because otherwise my glasses are fogging and I can't read or type, which is a big part of the job. I can get through the day, but even with reading glasses it's an effort, which means my already-borderline-migrainyness (which I think is weather-related) is even worse. Plus what I think is a fibro-flare, so all things considered I'm just not loving my time in this body right now. And our Covid cases are down and the kids are back to school, which is good, but we're al...