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Smatterings
06.27.04 (7:27 pm)   [edit]
[i][b]Bits and bobs, bits and bobs:[/b][/i]

[i][b]Fungus gnats[/b][/i]
[i][b]So I’ve been fighting[/b][/i] [url=http://www.ext.vt.edu/departm...]fungus gnats[/url]. I did everything you’re supposed to do for my indoor herb containers, absolutely textbook, but they’ve pestered me for almost two months now, and have effectively killed two batches of herbs--one I grew from seeds, and one replacement planting when the first ones fell victim.

The latest victims:
[image]Sulkbrarian_140257 2240.jpg[/image]

[i][b]Now,[/b][/i] all my outdoor herbs are fine, as are all my outdoor flowers and plants. Thriving, beautiful, and free of pests and disease. Of course this is because I examine them daily and treat them if there is even a tiny sign of trouble. I’ve been in contact with two Master Gardeners for their input on what I should do, and have followed their instructions to a T, but am still plagued. I think this is the end of my lovely indoor herbs. What a shame…the only thing I’d be able to do now is move off all organic solutions and onto more harmful chemicals, and I’m not willing to do that. The battle rages on. Any ideas? :(

[i][b]The Robinsons[/b][/i]
[i][b]The Robinsons came to stay[/b][/i] across from my kitchen window this spring. I got to watch them from birth to test flights, and eventually, Moving Day. Mrs. Robinson had herself four fine babies:

[image]Sulkbrarian_120529 9306.jpg[/image]

[i][b]They were [/b][/i]such nice neighbors. Clean; quiet. I sure miss 'em. Wonder who's gonna move in now? :)

[i][b]New boyfriend![/b][/i]
[i][b]This is S.[/b][/i] He is my new boyfriend. Well, this is him when he was a boy. I thought I'd clear that up. :)

[image]Sulkbrarian_429125 622.jpg[/image]

[i][b]He is involved [/b][/i]with two prog-rock bands, and has an audio/video production company. He is funny, smart, sweet, kind, and most interesting all around. I like him just a whole bunch. He says hi. I told him you all were very nice and would be happy to see him. :)

[i][b]Family reunion[/b][/i]
[i][b]This was a fairly[/b][/i] unremarkable event as regards culling embarrassing stories. Generally someone does or says something unforgivably dorky or inappropriate, and that someone is occasionally me, but this time? Nope. We were on our best behavior, for some unknown reason. I got to meet many folks I never had before, we celebrated a cousin's 99th birthday (he was completely sugared up on cake; big mistake, whoops), was introduced to many new infant cousins, yacked about librarianship with my librarian cousin Martha, yacked about teenage boy things with my favorite cousin Zach, and so on and further. After, we visited the [url=http://new-madrid.mo.us/higge...]one-room schoolhouse[/url] my grandfather's side of the family started, up near the Mississippi levee. The night before the reunion, there's a benefit fish fry for the school, and that's way cool as well.

Cousins Taylor, Matthew, and Summer. Note the covered dishes. Hi, welcome to the Midwest. May we take your order?
[image]Sulkbrarian_115695 2384.jpg[/image]

[i][b]Dessert-wise,[/b][/ i] this reunion always rocks. I ate some good homemade strawberry pie, made by cousins unknown, a slice of Aunt Ruby's excellent pecan pie (I think she musta sold her soul to the devil to make something this pedestrian this uniquely delicious), and some of my own rhubarb pie (which I will put up against [url=http://store.mpr.org/PHC/cata...]Bebop-A-Reebop[/url] any ol’ day):

[i][b]Sulky's 'Barb Pie[/b][/i]

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 1/3 cups white sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter
1 recipe pastry for a 9-inch double-crust pie

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 of it over pastry in pie plate. Heap rhubarb over this mixture. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and flour. Dot with small pieces of butter. Cover with top crust.
3. Place pie on lowest rack in oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Weee!

[i][b]Yep,[/b][/i] there's plenty to be said for strawberry-rhubarb pie (if it's a good ratio of fruit and not too sweet), and even for those rhubarb custard confections people seem to be so fond of. But for me, this is the real deal. No tapioca, no orange zest, no brown sugar. Simple and good. If you give it a whirl, lemme know how it turns out. :)

[i][b]New fanzine![/b][/i]
[i][b]My friend [url=http://www.strenturgent.com]Jeremy[/url][/b][/i] and I are starting a fanzine! (Just what the world needs! But hey. We're bored.) The premise of it is: your favorite groundbreaking artists and albums that changed your perspective in some way. We’re soliciting essays from friends, and each issue will feature about twenty essays, all about one particular artist or album. For our debut issue, we’re asking y'all what your favorite Velvet Underground release is, why, and what impact it had on your lives.

[i][b]We’re calling it [/b][/i]“Letter to a Fanzine”, after the Great Plains song of the same name:

[i]Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls?
Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls?
Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls?
Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls!

Isn't my haircut really intense?
Isn't Nick Cave a genius in a sense?
You didn't print my last letter - what's better? drugs or sex?
Isn't my haircut really intense?

We like everything that comes out on 4AD.
We like everything that comes out on SST.
We like almost everything that comes out on Homestead.
I like everything I get in the mail for free! (How 'bout that?)

Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls?
Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls?
Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls?
Why do punk rock guys go out with new wave girls! [/i]

[i][b]Yeah.[/b][/i] :)

[i][b]In another blog entry,[/b][/i] I'll put up our opening statements, so you can better see where we're coming from, and the (ever-growing) list of artists and albums we'll be concentrating on in future issues. We'll be including our own essays in every issue. Essays should be about 250 words long, and if you wish to include a photo of you holding your favorite VU rekkid, we'll slap that in the zine too. Please send photos as .jpg attachments.

[i][b]Hopefully[/b][/i] (eventually) this will be a monthly zine. If you should enjoy writing for us, you’d be more than welcome to do it again sometime. Let us know if you’d like to see the list of artists and albums we’re going to concentrate on for future issues!

[i][b]Although we’re [/b][/i]in the fledgling development stages of thinking about art and graphics, and still playing around with layout ideas and additional content, we plan to distribute LTAF locally--at record stores and clubs and wherever else we can think of. We hope to make the zine CD-sized (that way, it won’t take up much shelf/rack space, and will be nice and portable). Jeremy lives in Wisconsin, and I in Missouri. If you’d be interested in distributing in your own town, once we get goin' here, well, how sweet would that be!

[i][b]Why, yes![/b][/i] This is indeed a real fanboy/fangirl project, to be sure, but we’re also hoping to gather good music criticism of our featured artists and albums. Whatever stories you have to tell, memories you’d like to recount, favorite lyrics you’d like to recite--we want to hear from you. Please email me at [i][b][u]xploding_poprock s@excite.com [/u][/b][/i]with your ramblings! Thankee kindly!

[i][b]xoxo S.[/b]
 
EUNOYM! E! U! O! N! Y! M! EUONYM!
06.26.04 (11:55 am)   [edit]
[i][b]Remember [url=http://www.grrl.com/spellingg...]Rebecca Sealfon[/url]? [/b][/i]You might not be as fervent a fan of the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee as I am, but I bet you remember her. She was the rail-thin, excitable young lady who won the 1997 Bee with the word “euonym”, which she spelled exuberantly, shrieking each letter with her fists clenched above her head in triumph. See, she [u][i][b]knew[/b][/i][/u] that word. She knew it before she started to spell it. She knew it even better as she was spelling it, and before she got to the end of it, she realized: I am about to win. I know this word, and it is going to let me win here today. Watching Rebecca revel in her moment, balancing her trophy on her head and squealing with laughter, crying tears of joy and relief, was one of the more breathtaking moments I’ve known. It was a fantastic moment for geeky girls everywhere. I promptly sat down and wrote her a letter, telling her never to lose that exuberance, and not to listen to asshats who couldn't see past the geekiness to the intelligence and joy within. I never got a response, but while I was in graduate school, I got a third-hand report from a friend at Princeton that she was much the same girl as on that lovely day in 1997. That did my heart good.

[i][b]She’s been on my mind [/b][/i]a lot lately. I think it’s because I am yearning for intellectual excitement and a feeling of utter joy that comes from doing something, and doing it well. I've not felt at all like blogging, because it's just the same old thing all the time around here: Sulky doesn't have a job, Sulky's looking for a job, Sulky's hoping to get a job. So much so, in fact, that I managed to stumble on another blog where someone mentions my state of chronic unemployment. I despise having to look at myself not as a librarian, but as an out-of-work librarian. My job hunt of late has taken me nowhere. My part-time job search locally is fruitless, too. I've become a complete outsider to the world of work. This is unlike me in the extreme, and if you knew me (some of you do), you'd know how much this distresses me.

[i][b]So I was thinking of Rebecca [/b][/i]and hoping her life has turned out well. That she has been able to get everything she wanted, and that she is doing it all with wild abandon. My situation is taking a toll on me, and I’m not sure how much longer I can go without really starting to feel permanently useless and unwanted. It’s happening in fits and starts now, and I am doing my best to keep my spirits up (and you all help me, and other friends, but it’s awfully challenging these days). I just want someone to want me for my skills and my creativity and my intellect and my achievement and my ideas. It’s taking far too long to get into a position that will satisfy me and let me put to use everything I am and have and have done and know how to do.

[i][b]Something has to give soon [/b][/i]or I am going to lose my shit. I've got my fingers crossed for Rebecca. :)

[i][b]xoxo S.[/b][/i]
 
Fam'ly 'union
06.11.04 (7:00 am)   [edit]
[i][b]Well, craptastic.[/b][/i] Here I'm wanting to tote m'laptop wif me as I toddle down to my family reunion this weekend (embarrassing photos later), but it is "acting up", as we say. So I might not get to post till Tuesday...although you're thinking, yeah? What's unusual about that? Nuttin' 'cept I was actually planning on posting this weekend! :( Sigh...well, y'all have a good one. I gotta git these rhubarb pies all wrapped up. Later, kids! :)

[i][b]xoxo Sulky [/b][/i]
 
At the zoo
06.10.04 (1:59 pm)   [edit]
[i][b]From the world of IM:[/b][/i]

Sulky says:
ungh
Sulky says:
summer cold. how are you?
E. says:
ungh? what the hell is ungh?
S.:
snuffle ungh
E.:
aahh
S.:
can't breathe
E.:
many sympathies. did I tell you about the house in florida?
S.:
no!
E.:
it sold
S.:
whew. congrats! finally!! yay!!!
E.:
and then we made an offer on one in STL
S.:
oh yeah? wow!!
E.:
then the deal fell through this weekend on the florida house. and we lost the stl house.
S.:
f*ck it. just live in a yurt.
E.:
and then a goat stepped on lisa while we were at the zoo
S.:
wait, i'm sorry. what?
E.:
not even kidding
S.:
LMAO! is she hurt?
E.:
damn goats are aggressive
S.:
petting zoo incident?
E.:
yep. bruised her ankle. she still hobbles around a bit
S.:
owieeeeeeeeeee
S.:
sigh. he just wanted to tap dat ass
S.:
shrug
E.:
right! the goats were getting frisky and she got in their way
S.:
LMAO
E.:
never come between a goat and another goat, i guess
S.:
wow. good advice. actually, that sounds like something that would happen to me.
E.:
no, you would get horned in the ass
S.:
right. so right!
E.:
and have a big bruise on your thigh
S.:
and have stitches
E.:
and break your glasses
S.:
and fall on my head
E.:
and the zoo people would be all indignant like it was your fault
S.:
it's an attractive picture. but highly accurate, sadly
S.:
oh yes, i'd be totally sued!
E.:
so we're at the zoo..
S.:
yeah
E.:
and this guy is in the parakeet cage with his 2 year old daughter
S.:
right, i gotcha, i'm there, go on
E.:
it's a place where you buy this nectar for $1 and feed the birds
S.:
right, i feel you, i've been there, i see it
E.:
so he has 2 of them on his head and the daughter is thinking this is great
S.:
heehee
S.:
shit city?
E.:
nope. you'd think that, but you'd be wrong. the birds are eating out of the little syrup cup that she is holding
S.:
so cute, so darling
E.:
and one of them pecks her
S.:
oh f*ck
E.:
she puts her hands up in a defensive motion and spills the honey-like nectar mix all over her hair
S.:
completely awesome. are you sure she wasn't my kid?
E.:
she starts screaming, the birds start flapping and diggin' ttheir claws into this guy's head
S.:
LMAO
S.:
HAHAHHAHAHAHA omg that's priceless
E.:
and the wife of this guy starts yelling at him because the kid spilled syrup on her new little dress.
S.:
oh no she diiiiiiiiiiiiiiint
S.:
like this is the major concern of the moment?!
E.:
and the dude is like (rightly so i might add) " Hey, do you mind helping me instead of yelling at me?"
S.:
hells yeah, right on! amen! it's called an accident, hello
E.:
right. yet somehow, it was his fault that the kid spilled this stuff, and he got clawed in the head.
E.:
so i saw the guy a few minutes later, standing off to the side....
S.:
(and now it is revealed that this dude is a relative of mine) haha
E.:
snort. so i went over to him and said " man, your life sucks, what's the problem with your wife, you were totally right back there"
S.:
rock on my brotha!!
E.:
he and I are now best friends. i'll probably never see him again, and i don't know his name. but he loves me. i can tell
S.:
you stood up for his ass
S.:
let's throw her in the monkey cage!!
S.:
i love it. good story.
E.:
well, i didn't say it in front of his wife. i'm not crazy.
S.:
no. she's clearly psychotic
E.:
oh, she was super mean
S.:
wow
S.:
that's a good one, all right.
E.:
I'm shocked I didn't marry her
S.:
LMAO
E.:
boss - hold please
S.:
aight g

[i][later][/i]

E.:
ok i'm back
S.:
sigh. i'm still back at the zoo.
E.:
how is the new boyfriend
S.:
wonderful. ty. having a fine time!
E.:
did ya hear that ray charles died?
S.:
oh, no! today?
E.:
yeah. he never saw it coming, i bet
S.:
oh, i think i lost that in the reagan circus
S.:
that was horrible! shame on you.
E.:
sorry. but isn't this reagan thing ridiculous
E.:
some congressmen are trying to get him on the $10 bill now
S.:
hello. i'm sorry hes dead. im sorry he was sick. but could we please manage to have a funeral without rewriting history? thanks, everyone
S.:
i know. nauseating.
E.:
trickle down my ass
S.:
LMAO
S.:
wait, not what i meant
S.:
i gotcher trickle down right here bub
S.:
right. right. right.
E.:
but still funny
S.:
it was! yes!
E.:
thanks.
S.:
np
E.:
hey, i need to cruise back to work. touch me tomorrow
E.:
touch base with me tomorrow
S.:
heehee. oh, i'll just be doing the latter. have a good one!
E.:
freud, party of 2
S.:
LMAO
S.:
later tater
E.:
later babe
E.:
later dud
E.:
dude
E.:
or dud, your choice
S.:
either way.
E.:
bye
S.:
(paging dan quayl)
S.:
byeeee!

[i][b]P.S. Hey everyone, I have a new boyfriend! Film at eleven. :D xoxo Sulky[/b][/i]
 

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