Boring Day

written: March 04

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My very nice lithium quartz point that arrived today. I do not know why, but I decided to immediately rub it on my forehead. ::smiles:: It is soothing to say the least. It is supposed to be good for sleep, so it will be going on my bedside altar soon.

It was a rather boring day at the F. Library. I finished up weeding the picture books today. Thank god for that. I am so over doing that crap. But then I was only scheduled as “available for desk coverage” after that. And I was not needed for desk coverage. So yeah. Long, boring ass day.

But I get it. They have plenty of librarians that are on salary that they want to use to their fullest potential. And I am basically a volunteer. So of course they are going to give me the “special projects” that nobody else wants. And I also know that some work days are just going to be boring and suck. But damn. It just really sucks that I am giving up my mornings to do this shit, paying for the tolls and whatnot, to be there for FREE and doing boring ass shit. Not to mention the money I have had to spend to upgrade my wardrobe (which had to be done anyways at some point), just to be able to do these free hours.

Do not mind me. I am just being a whiny little brat at the moment. I am tired and burnt out and just really ready for it to be Spring Break already. I am ready for some of this craziness to be put on pause. This semester is just insane. Just nine more weeks and it will all be done. Then I get four weeks of break before I do a week of the End of Program exam. And then I am DONE. I can then start planning my celebration luncheon that will happen once I hear back officially that I’ve been awarded my degree. Then begins the fun of looking for a full time job. It would seriously be nice if I could just slide right in to a full time gig at the F. Library.

Missed That One

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A tumbled piece of GREEN goldstone. Normally, I do not really care for green, but this stone is just gorgeous. I hate that the green is not showing up properly. Maybe if the sun ever reappears, I can get a shot of it in natural light and hopefully show off the green.

So yeah. Today was the Bone Divination class. I checked my GPS last night and it said it would take me 25 minutes to get there. I get ready to leave today 30 minutes before class, and the GPS says it will take me 45 minutes! What the fuck???? Yeah, I ended up 20 minutes late to the class and there was nowhere to sit and they were well into the class information at that point. So I said fuck it and did some shopping at the Store instead. Because there is no way I drove 45 minutes to a Pagan store and going to return home empty handed.

And honestly, from the bits and pieces I heard of the class, it sounded more like a trinket reading than a bone reading. Little trinkets and charm bracelet pieces, with a few bones thrown in here and there. I was hoping for more bones. ::chuckles:: I will probably still take the class the next time it is offered though. And I have already noted how long it takes me to get to the Store, so for the upcoming candle magick class, I should arrive with plenty of time.

I already got my grade back on Big Paper #2 – 100%. Woohoo! That brings my grade for the class up to a 92. Thank goodness. I even tried to be a good student and start lesson 3 today…but the professor does not have it available yet. ::sighs:: Hopefully it will be open tomorrow and I can get a jump start on that.

I did get a bit of cleaning done up in my room. Changed the sheets on my bed and vacuumed the room. I did a tiny bit of cleaning on the art table – tossing obvious trash. But there is just so much there that you cannot even tell I touched it. Baby steps, so I do not get completely overwhelmed and just ignore it for another year.

I am down to just two pen pal letters at this point that need replying to. I am rather proud of myself on that. Though I am sure that as soon as I finish and mail those out, I will get a flood of letters to bury me again. ::chuckles:: I do need to start working in Ali’s journal as well. I might even bust out some paints for this one. Well, I will have to first go through and toss all the paints that have dried out. Then I can choose from what I have left. ::chuckles::

So all in all, a good, busy, but productive weekend that did not completely exhaust me. That is quite rare for me at times, especially considering the amount of people I was around most of the weekend.

Not According to Plan

written: March 02

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Um yeah, I totally forgot I was reheating my pizza in the oven. It got a tad charred. Surprisingly, most of it was still perfectly fine to eat. Just had to sacrifice the crust, which is my favorite part of the pizza.

Tea with Hazel Nut didn’t go quite according to plan. The place was PACKED. So we ended up sitting at the bar. And then the guy beside us was eavesdropping before finally joining in our conversation. ::sighs:: Which, he wasn’t impolite or anything. But dude, I wasn’t there to hang out and chat with him. I was there to hang out and chat with my friend that it’s been MONTHS since I’ve seen. So yeah, he pirated most of the hour we were there. Needless to say, we did not get nearly enough chatting done. We know next time, if it’s packed like that again, we will go elsewhere.

I came home and banged out my Big Paper #2. I’m actually surprised at how easy it was to write and fill in all the parts. Like, almost worried that I was missing a key point or something. But nope. I went over it twice just to make sure I had covered everything completely and correctly. Nineteen full pages. And I went ahead and submitted it. Yay! So glad to have that off my plate. And I went ahead and submitted my Practicum hours spread sheet for the month of February as well. No major assignments due at this point until the end of the month. But I seriously am going to try my damnedest to stay on top of the readings and assignments this month and not just wait to the last second (like I have thus far). I just end up completely and utterly stressed the fuck out and I only have myself to blame.

Ug, I am NOT enjoying the cold at all right now. I just want to curl up in bed and not move. ::chuckles:: I found another pixel art app and I’m completely addicted. It’s the No. Art app and I’m loving it. It has a lot of super detailed pictures to do, which I love. Sucks that it has ads from time to time, but not enough for me not to use it. ::chuckles::

Welcome March

written:  March 01

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BEAUTIFUL wolf postcard I received today from Lithuania via Postcrossing. Just gorgeous.

My new aide, Kaitlyn, started today. She is a high schooler and pretty quiet. Then again, the kiddos have been utterly insane this entire week, and all of the staff is just dragging major ass, so I do not blame her for just watching and learning. ::chuckles:: I told her today was just about survival. I will train her beginning Monday. Which, I also need to retrain Christina on how to use ProCare and get her to start doing that part of check in.

And talking to Kaitlyn, she’s planning to stay local once she graduates high school and go to one of the community colleges to get her basics out of the way. So I am a bit more motivated to really train her well as she could be back on my campus next year. That would be so nice, to have three aides return next year. Still not sure if Jess will be, and I won’t know about myself until I graduate and start applying for Library jobs.

Yesterday was the end of LetterMo 2019. I sent out 74 individual pieces of snail mail – letters, postcards, and packages. And I still have people on my list that I haven’t written yet. I want to get everyone written by the end of March (not counting the replies to letters I receive). But I think, considering everything I have going on currently, I did a damn good job this go around. Typing up a standardized introduction letter was friggin’ genius for this. I will certainly keep it for future use – updating it as required. And it would make a good update letter for pen pals that I keep throughout the year.

Crappy, cold weather here right now. So hubs and I decided to order pizza so we did not have to go out in said crappy, cold weather. That seems to be our tradition – if the weather is shitty, we opt to have Dominos delivered. ::chuckles:: We rented Lady Bloodsport on Vudu. Honestly, I didn’t have high hopes for it, but it ended up being pretty good. Not good enough that we will buy the movie, but good enough that we didn’t regret renting it. ::chuckles::

I got started on my Big Paper #2 for the Resource Management class. It shouldn’t be that hard to actually write it. I just don’t WANT to write it. ::chuckles:: It is over a Needs Assessment for a Library and creating one of those. And let me tell you, it is just as exciting as it sounds. Which is to say…not exciting at all. Luckily, I got to sit in on a monthly staff meeting for the F. Library yesterday and got to see their circulation report for all the various sections of the library. So I got photos of that to help with this paper, so that was a major score. Yay for me!

Speaking of the Staff Meeting…holy crap. It seriously was awesome. I got to meet the Assistant Director of the Library and she was just as happy and welcoming and genuine as all of the staff I have met. I seriously wish my After School Program Management team could sit in on one of these staff meetings and learn what it is to create a GOOD culture for your company. AND how to have a productive, non-boring, non-STUPID staff meeting. Because, let me tell you, the monthly staff meetings I have to go to for the after school program? Yeah they suck so bad. Soooooooo bad. And most of the time, aren’t even useful.

Crafts: Witch & Otherwise

written:  February 28

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Sleepy Josey with her “security bone”. ::chuckles:: She has to pick just the right bone to bring with her to nap in my lap at night. ::laughs:: I love that silly ass dog.

So I ended up doing 7 hours at the F. Library today. The class that was at the last part of the shift I meant to do, ran late, and I stayed to help John A. put away the laptops and mice used for the class, so I was there until 9 pm. BUT, that means I am closing out February with 40% of my Practicum hours completed. Woohoo! Now I just need to update my spreadsheet and send it to my Practicum Professor.

The class I stayed for was on how to use the laser cutter and milling machine at the Library. Sooooooo friggin’ cool! I really want to make some sigils in wood to use in my Craft. And they would make cool gifts for my Pagan friends as well. Just gotta find the right designs and the wood that I want to use. From there, the rest is pretty easy. I will try both the laser engraver and the milling machine to see which look I like better. After that, man, the sky is the limit!

And I had a brilliant idea. The Local Library has an embroidery machine as well as a sewing machine. I want to make a red cloth pouch to put the Red Fast Luck Oil in while it is charging. And I could embroider various money, prosperity, and luck symbols on the pouch in gold thread. How cool would that be? And I would not mind making a pouch/wrap for my wand and my athame. Though I get the feeling that the wand wrap needs to be made of leather, and I am not sure yet if the Local Library’s sewing machines can handle leather. If not, then that will have to be done the old fashion way of needle and thread. Talk about a labor of love there.

I received my email today from the High Priestess. My first class is March 17th at 5 pm. And we are also doing an Ostara/Full Moon ritual after class. And I am expected to have “ritual wear” of some sort that is not street clothing. Eek! For my rituals, I typically wear a black skirt and the black spaghetti top. Which, I mean, eventually this coven does practice certain rituals sky-clad (aka, in the nude), so I guess I should start getting used to being a bit more “exposed” than I usually am. I will probably take my black cardigan just in case I get cold. Though, the top I wear for ritual is not exactly built for a girl as top heavy as I am and the straps really dig into my shoulders. I will probably hit Old Navy and see if I can find another top that will work better and won’t hurt as much. ::chuckles:: I am so excited though.

Feathers & Zombies

written: February 27

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A close up shot of a gorgeous Kookaburra feather Loree (family) sent me from Australia. Unfortunately, the cockatoo feathers and the rainbow lorikeet feathers were seized by US. Fish & Wildlife. Apparently, they are classified as endangered species and can’t be mailed to the US with a CITES license. Oops! I didn’t even think about them being protected as we can have them as pets here in the US. I just hope it doesn’t get Loree into any trouble. And I’m totally bummed they seized the cockatoo feathers because she had a GORGEOUS, perfect wing feather in there that was massive. It would be have soooooo pretty to put in a frame and hang (which is what I’m planning to do with the other feathers). But apparently kookaburra feathers are just fine, so hopefully I get a few more of those.

I completely forgot that today is the International Polar Bear day. All day I was thinking it was tomorrow. I swear, I barely know if I’m coming or going these days. Needless to say, I did not get the altar set up or do anything ritual yet. Maybe this weekend. ::chuckles:: Seems to be the story of my life.

I did get asked by Kayla (librarian) to help out on a project she’s doing for the teens this summer – a live action choose your own adventure thing centered around the Zombie Apocalypse. I will be reaching out to my LARPer buddies and see if they have any ideas to share. I should definitely ask Kayla when they are doing this (I know it’s sometime late June), because I will certainly love to come help and see how it plays out with the teens. My Practicum hours will be over then – hell, I might even have my degree by that point. But I definitely want to see how it all plays out in the end. And it is certainly something that would be cool to add to my resume to really make it stand out from the crowd.

Better

written: February 26

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A beautiful card from Cassie W. (Australian pen pal). I just loved all the details, from the emblossing to the colors to the washi tape as well.

I am doing a lot better today than I was yesterday. Honestly, I probably should have taken yesterday off and just slept the day away. I was barely running on fumes. I did not sleep well for most of the weekend and it took a serious toll on me. But I headed to bed early last night and did not even last the entire CD I usually listen to while I do my pixel coloring before I turn in to go to sleep. And I slept most of the night rather soundly. So hopefully that will fix a lot of the issues I was struggling with yesterday.

I updated my Practicum spread sheet. I need to sit down and rework my schedule (again) to make sure I can get all my hours in before the end of the semester. And I would like to schedule a few more 2 pm – 8 pm shifts just to get the hours done faster (and pay less toll fees).

I need to set up my altar for Polar Bear Day ritual. That is on Thursday, so it is swiftly approaching. I have quite a bit of cash in the box that needs to be blessed and charmed before I deposit that into my savings account. And I should figure out how much of each paycheck I need to deposit into savings to be able to hit the Savings Goal I have set for this year. And I am really feeling the pull for some good ritual time. And the Polar Bear one is one of my personal favorite holy days that is solely mine.

Maybe that is what I need more of. More personally meaningful holy days and less of the “mainstream” ones that do not really mean much (if anything) to me. Honestly, I think if I were to do a massive decluttering and maybe some rearranging, my rituals will be better. The “art” table is completely buried in stuff and trash. And I think that stagnant energy is slowly enveloping my entire room. Maybe this summer, I can get that done.