Wednesday I went to see Spiderman 2 with Ione & the kids. We'd had several people assure us that it wouldn't be too scary for an 8 and a 10 year old, but boy howdy-- during the actual film... there were parts I was really freaking for them!!
It brought out two things for me....
1.) There can be a HECK of a lot of violence in a PG rated film before it has to be rated higher!!!!
and
2.) I am really used to lots of violence... dull to it really-- it was frightening for me to be watching this film and thinking "yeah yeah, just get past this already... *yawn*" and I looked over and the two kids are sat on the edge of their seats, one covering her eyes and the other transfixed with awe... oh the horror.
frightening... on so many levels!
I read this book last week that was really good-- it's a thriller by Harlan Coben (who I'd never read before!) called Just One Look and it was excellent!!
Really good page-turner, I could hardly put it down-- it really kept me interested and worried til the very end!
One of the most interesting things about it was the fact that the sleuthie in the book, a character called Grace Lawson, uses a blog to help solve the mystery!! It was really cool how Coben incorporated the blog into the story. Mind you, it wasn't a huge mention, nor was it completely central to the solution, and it wasn't like you actually got to read the blog itself, but it was cool how he used it!
it's really funny. I wish I had a quid for every time someone mentioned the above analogy today! About a month and a half ago, possibly a bit longer, the Supervisory Library Assistant at Crewe just left a note-- handed in her resignation after 30odd years working for Cheshire County Council in Libraries in a card/letter left on a desk on a Friday night, to be discovered on a Tuesday morning (it was Bank Holiday Weekend).
Apparently that same day someone wondered aloud if it would be the beginnings of a mass exodus...
and it is!!
My friend Kathryn, Public Libraries Librarian, based in Crewe Lib, gave her notice in and finished at the end of June to go on staff with the Ministry of Wycliffe Bible Translators in Uganda!
Another Library Assistant (part timer this time) gave her notice in, she's going to go off and do training to become a teacher (mad thing!)...
Then a librarian colleague told me that she's been chosen as the SureStart Librarian (to work with local groups and schools to make sure kids get the best educational start possible) and that she'll be based out of Crewe Library but not working there most days. Since that day she found out she'll actually be with the folks over at Delamere House instead! So she'll be going...
Then I gave my notice in at Crewe to be taking up a new smaller-hours post at Congleton library (and be free of David & John forever!!), with my official "last day" being the 6th of August, but my actual final day being the 14th August because they're desperate for the cover that day!
And just this past Thursday there was yet more news!! The Ref. Specialist has given in her notice, she's off to work with her husband, and my line manager/boss has just been offered a temporary maternity-leave cover job of Junior Specialist -- covering the mid-cheshire section of libraries and their junior book collections! I'm really pleased for her, she could use a break and a challenge as well!!
And any day now, this lovely Aussie library assistant will be giving in her notice to move back to Australia!! They have all their paperwork done, and the visa is official, and now they just have to get through all of the house paperwork and sale and things and then they're off!
once again.... ship.... sinking..... rats??? nahh HOORAY!!
I've been hard at work today, doing my basic enquiries and duties, but also in writing up my CILIP registration paper. This beast has been plague-ing me for ages now. I've finished with the training period and am now in the writing-up phase. The problem is that I'm not entirely convinced I should be writing it!
2 reasons:
1.) Even if I write it and it gets accepted first time and I become a CILIP Chartered Librarian in the UK.... in the US, I'll still be Kristen, Librarian without a Masters degree and not a member of the American Library Association-- henceforth I'll have to get my Masters and apply through all the hoops of the ALA...
2.) I want to start a family when we get to the States... not get back into Libraries.... so what good will being Chartered do me as a Mom? None! Even if I DID want to get into Libraries... read the above-- it still won't help me!!
but for some reason, I am still writing it... so far. I've gotten 2 of the 5 points really roughly drafted up, but my problem is I'm writing freestyle paragraphs-- no format or rhyme or reason to it... I need to type it up and send it off to Kate for some serious editing help.
which reminds me-- I'm going to ask if she'll meet up with me sometime soon to work on it with me.
Don't know why... but I'm still (for now) determined to keep writing on it...
watch this space to see if it makes it to publication...
Here in England, at the start of most videos & dvds, there is a warning about piracy that seems really over the top-- it features a smithy and a branding iron and the phrase "don't touch the hot stuff" and "copyright is cool" and talks about how piracy funds organized crime and terrorism... and it seems really un-believable, unreal.
but apparently it's not over the top-- it is portraying a real picture-- piracy of dvds has overtaken drug sales in the run for illegal money... check it out in this article.
*sigh*
makes you wonder.
I've missed out on blogging so much. I do apologize to anyone who has the misfortune to want to read this blog regularly.
the job situation...
I finally got my interview with Congleton Library. The job description is part time temporary librarian. The hours are Mondays 9-8pm and Saturdays, 3 out of 6, but not every other... 1,3, & 6 out of the 6 week rotation.
I had received a notification about the first interview date being the 17th of June and got really excited because I thought I'd be done with Crewe by the beginning couple of weeks in July. Not so. The other candidate (who I will one day have to look in the eye) was unable to make that interview date, and so they rescheduled both of us for the 1st of July. (I could have been more than halfway through working my notice period at Crewe by then!!) Anyhow, I went along on 1st July, (at 5pm!!) and had my interview. The first thing the managers said to me was that the other person had to postpone (AGAIN!) and that they wouldn't be able to tell me the results until Monday.
Talk about a major depressing thought at the beginning of an interview-- major deflation to the confidence and hope that I'd built up!!
So then they began with the questions, starting with "So, why do you want this job at Congleton....?"
At which point I gave a brief very non-descriptive answer about not wanting to commute to Crewe and back several times a week plus the fact that I am unhappy there.
The way that I phrased that I was unhappy there included the strong hints that 'I sure don't want to go into detail'!!
Unfortunately they needed the detail so they asked more about why I was unhappy.
At this point, I'd been in the hot seat for about 3 minutes, and already was feeling so down I thought I might cry!
I went into the detail they needed and tried to put it in such a light that I wouldn't be completely slagging off my colleagues & bosses, but that they would be given a true picture of what is going on there.
Then happily they moved onto other topics. Unfortunately the interview never got to that positive happy stage where I felt I had gained my confidence back.
:(
Anyhow, on the Monday, the other person was to be interviewed at 10am. About 11:30am they phoned me to give me the results.... to offer me the
Saturdays. But only the Saturdays.
You see, they had reached the conclusion that both of us were equally optimal for this job, and because I'm going off to America at some point, and I suspect this other candidate doesn't already work in Cheshire libraries, and is fresh blood, that they didn't want to let her walk away. Big dilemma. I am actually quite surprised they didn't just choose her outright, but there you go. They offered me the Saturdays.
My first answer was "thank you, but no thank you... I need to have all or nothing..." and then thought I might just hand in my notice at Crewe anyhow-- being so fed up and stressed out about working there. At which point the manager on the phone helpfully pointed out that if I was going to do that, why not just work the Saturdays and whatever casual time they could offer? Good point, but I didn't want to give in so easily. So I asked to be phoned back after they offered the Mondays to the other person. If they accepted the Mondays, I would think about taking the Saturdays, but if they didn't accept-- the managers would have to choose between us.
She accepted the Mondays!
So now I'm in a pickle. And I've been thinking about it strongly for the past 4 days... and my (our-- hubby and mine) decision is that I am going to take the Saturdays, and work on the house the rest of the time, and take any casual hours that are going.
happy days... now I get to hand in my notice at Crewe... which will be a very happy thing, and a very sad thing at the same time.... poor Sue Winters... and Emma... and Ro for that matter.
Going to tell them today that I accept! (Congleton) And that I'm quitting... :) (Crewe)
this morning I had to ring the American Embassy in London (at the fine and worthy rate of £1.20 per minute!!!) to ask some questions about our pending application for a green card...
Once I got through the automated phone voice (cha-ching) I got through to a live person, a Scottish-accented person!! How ironic eh? Phoning the American Embassy in the heart of London, and hearing a lovely broad Glaswegian accent tickling my eardrums.
anyhoo, this lovely gentleman informs me (after I briefed him of our situation) that we need to download and fill in 2 forms that weren't even mentioned in the paperwork we have received recently from the Embassy. So I have now downloaded the forms-- and now it makes sense! We fill in the I-230 and send it off, and once we have all our paperwork together, we send off the DS-2001 form to let the Embassy know they can schedule us for a visa interview.
makes so much more sense! THAT was worth £6.