For My Records . . .

Here are the books I actually finished in 2009 (although there are a few that slopped over into 2010 that I'm leaving on the new sidebar tracker.

• The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan 
• The Way the Crow Flies, Ann-Marie MacDonald 
• Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut 
• The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler 
• The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls 
• American Lightning, Howard Blum 
• Coraline, Neil Gaiman 
• A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini 
• Slam, Nick Hornby 
• The Real Inspector Hound, Tom Stoppard
• After Magritte, Tom Stoppard 
• The Human Factor, Graham Greene 
• Little Brother, Cory Doctorow 
• Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson 
• 1984, George Orwell 
• The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx 
• Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath 
• The Secret History, Donna Tartt 
• Run, Anne Patchett 
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling 
• High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
• Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy 
• River Secrets, Shannon Hale 
• Life of Pi, Yann Martel 
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Scffer and Annie Barrows
• The Dip, Seth Godin 
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer 
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley 
• Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons 
• 4:50 from Paddington, Agatha Christie

Not a very impressive list this year now that I see it all written out, but hey - I was in grad school for part of it. Working on a new goal with Miri and Lin over at Reading Loons if you haven't seen it already, but this semester has been crazy so far, so we'll see how far I get. Either way, I just finished Anna Karenina, so I'm feeling good about myself. :)

Studies, Cookies.

8 studies about library usage, users, circulation, social scientists, whale books, etc. in the last two days. I actually feel like a student again.

(Sighs, pushes aside the last 90 pages of Anna Karenina for more studies.)

Also - I am a culinary genius! (Okay, not really. My mom is and I listened. I'm a listening genius.) Did you read this post on the blogject? Well friends, problem solved. The trick to cookies that aren't flat: shortening instead of butter. Yay for a mom who taught me that sometimes you don't follow the recipe, because sometimes recipes are stupid and give you flat cookies. (I'm wondering whether this is an elevation thing or a desert thing or something. Does butter work in cookies in some areas of the world?) I'm glad it wasn't actually a cookie curse and that Melissa can now be praised for her cookie-making abilities among her many other talents. :)

In which I discard a dreary post from last week in favor of a happier post for this week.

I started a post last Sunday, but I was feeling a little down then, and since I never finished it, I'm not going to post it.
Things that were happy this week:

• Going to Indy to see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus with Jill. It was crazy, but I loved it. 
• Institute choir is singing this gorgeous version of "The Lord is My Shepherd," which I know from the year Bryn Terfel sang at the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. It is seriously beautiful. I wish I could give you that version here, but it was also the theme for this show:
• Ice skating in Indy this weekend - I didn't fall down and there was only minor bruising. The same cannot be said for Ann, whose first experience with skates wasn't as positive as we'd all like.
• Planning my parents' trip out here for Spring Break. It's going to be awesome. 
• I love it when I forget about bands and then remember about them and get really excited all over. I forgot about Noah and the Whale after the flights back here and remembered when Greg asked me to recommend more of their songs, and this weekend I revisited Travis. I haven't listened to them forever. I still like them.  
• Branch potluck today = breakfast foods. I made buttermilk syrup, and it was awesome. I forgot how good that stuff is. Everyone else brought lots of eggs and sausages and juice - so good. 

Here goes another week!

Welcome Back

Flight #1: Salt Lake City to Chicago. Delayed for 55 minutes. Layover in Chicago supposed to be an hour. Ticket counter assures us that they will hold the flight for us and that we're going to land in the gate next to our connecting flight.
Flight #2: Chicago to Indianapolis: Land five minutes after connecting flight is supposed to depart, sit on runway for half an hour. Finally get to the gate around 6:40. Flight to Indy still there, we hand over tickets. Ticket guy asks if we'd be willing to stay in Chicago for the night for $200 and the price of the one-way ticket. In a moment of uncharacteristic recklessness, I agree to stay with Jill. They say they've removed our bags. We wait at the ticket counter for an hour for our hotel voucher and money voucher, and by the time we get to the baggage area, there is no sign of our luggage. Baggage claim people tell us we are crazy and that no one would ever, EVER pull luggage with an Indianapolis tag, so it's surely in Indianapolis, but if we're going to be really crazy about it we can stop by before we leave in the morning. Bright side: don't have to check luggage in the morning. Go to our hotel, eat at the TGI Friday's across the parking lot (too cold to try to explore for pizza, and Midway doesn't seem to be in a great pizza area of town) (Jill pays because she feels bad that I'm having anxiety about the whole thing and she's awesome.)  Watch Dollhouse. Sleep.
Flight #3: Chicago to Denver: Become break room gossip when the customer service rep can't believe they're sending us to Indianapolis via Denver. (Indy is about a 45 minute flight from Chicago, and a three-ish hour drive.) Boarding is uneventful, minus the fact that we're going almost back to where we came from to get to a place a 45 minute flight away. Supposed to have a 10 minute window, end up with a 30 minute one. Sweet.
Flight #4: Denver to Indianapolis: Also uneventful minus a peanut allergy on the flight that meant we didn't get peanuts.
Arrive in Indianapolis: Approx. 19 hours later than expected. Pages of Anna Karenina read: 130. One of Jill's bags made it. The rest: Chicago, apparently. I commence being really grumpy about the whole thing and blaming Jill. (Sorry, Jill. You get grumpy when you're hungry - I get grumpy when I'm anxious. I don't really blame you.)
Commence cheering up with Sarah's protein pancakes (similar to crepes) and a hilarious book called Overdue. Have to stop watching the CES fireside when they make too many references to airplanes.
11 pm: Airport calls and has bags. Do we want them delivered tonight? As opposed to 3 pm tomorrow? Yes. What I don't tell the delivery man: "If you don't bring them tonight, I will have no makeup or clean underwear with which to start classes."

So - should be getting them sometime in the middle of the night. All's well that ends well. Stella even starts after a month in the cold, and some of the snow melted off before I got back. Supposed to snow tomorrow, but should be warmer later this week (and rumors of an FHE snowball fight/fort-making night are flying). Missing the fambly - glad the bags will be here to make the transition to Bloomington life easier.

Don't be that guy.

xkcd strikes again.

Beginning of the Year Inventory

Year: 2010

Age: 23 (for another month)

Relationship status: Single, but happily so.

Hair length: just past the shoulder. Trimming this week, then seeing if my lack of proximity to Sami will allow me to finally grow my hair out a little bit. Currently not dyed, but considering trying something exciting with Jill in the near future - as long as it will fade out before the roots look gross.

Current church calling: Visiting teaching coordinator, book club . . . leader?

Current employment: OverstockDrugstore.com - marketing assistant; Herman B Wells library - IA

Current resident of: Bloomington, IN

Activities: Obtaining an MLS, working on the blogject, cooking a lot more than I used to even if I only have to make dinner once every two weeks, preparing to watch all of the Oscar winners for Best Picture with Jill, with a few possible substitutions. (Anthony Hopkins, I love you, but I'll probably skip Silence of the Lambs. Sorry.)

Currently reading: Anna Karenina in earnest, The Enchantress of Florence on the side. Excited to read the biography of William Wilberforce that I got for Christmas, and seeking a copy of The New York Mormon Regional Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker. It sounds hilarious.

Currently listening to: Noah and the Whale, Django Reinhardt, Fanfarlo, and still lots of The National, Bob Dylan and Andrew Bird. This American Life; Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me; The Moth; All Songs Considered; PRI Selected Shorts. Opera in various forms.

Currently watching: Dollhouse (only three more episodes!), House, V, Glee. Anticipating the final season of Lost. 

Recently seen: Sherlock Holmes, Invictus, An Education, Me and Orson Welles. Going to see The Young Victoria with Kellie on Monday.

Recently acquired: Blue boots, a Dr. Horrible calendar, a $70 black skirt that was on sale for $23.50, a librarian action figure complete with book truck, a rockin' book bag made by Lindsey, a new cook book and garlic press, penguin pajamas, a cooler copy of Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Significant accomplishments of the last year: three awesome Halloween costumes; acceptance to graduate schools; an awesome Thanksgiving dinner, including a turkey and five pies; introducing my roommate Amanda to her now-husband James.

Goals for the new year: Will be posted on the blogject on Monday. At least the ones that I care to share with anyone. :)

So this is the New Year . . .

Ta da! A playlist to start off your new year, composed mostly of songs from 2009 (or songs I listened to a lot in 2009). Enjoy.

• "Blue Skies" by Noah and the Whale (see previous post for a video). I was tempted to put their "2 Atoms in a Molecule" here, but I feel like this song is perfect for the new year. It's a song about starting over and being positive about starting over - even if you don't actually want to start over. This whole album was very much a breakup aftermath album, but I think you can apply it even if you aren't in post-breakup mode. 
• "First Train Home" by Imogen Heap. I listened to this song many times this fall. It's awesome. 
• "24-25" by Kings of Convenience. Seems appropriate for me at least - I'll be 24 this year (one month from today!)
• "Feeling the Pull" by The Swell Season. This is by far my favorite song from the new CD, and I think it's a good beginning of the year song because it's just bubbling with excitement. "I'm feeling the pull dragging me off again - and I'm feeling so small against the big sky tonight." 
• "Hey, Snow White" by The New Pornographers. "Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright . . . when the company goes public you've got to learn to love what you are." 
• "Teeth" by Lisa Hannigan. Yes. Start the year with your teeth bared for battle. 
• "Vagabond" by Wolfmother. I discovered this song while watching (500) Days of Summer, just like a lot of other people. I think this band sometimes sounds a little too much like Led Zeppelin for their own good (no offense to Led Zeppelin, of course) but I think this song is brilliant. 
• "Good Gone Girl" by Mika. Because it's fun. 
• "Masterswarm" by Andrew Bird. Although I listened to some of the other songs on Andrew Birds latest album more, I have a deep love for this song, largely because of this little section that goes like this: "So they took me to the hospital; they put my body through a scan. What they saw there would impress them all, 'cause inside me grows a man. He speaks with perfect diction as he orders my eviction - as he acts with more conviction than I." However, if you're not into sprawling 6-minute songs, I recommend "Oh No," "Fitz and Dizzyspells" or "The Privateers" here.
• "Shake Some Action" by the Flamin' Groovies. "Shake, some action's what I need, to make me bust out at full speed, to make it all right!"  (Okay, this song was release in 1976, not 2009. But I didn't hear it until 2009, and how can this not be a great way to enter the new year?) 
• "Be Calm" by fun. 
• "The Walls Are Coming Down" by Fanfarlo. 
• "Major Tom" covered by Shiny Toy Guns.  No explanation required. 
• "Looking Out" by Brandi Carlile. This whole album is awesome, but I identify with this one (inexplicably). 
• "Don't Forget Me" sung by Neko Case. I'd never heard this song until it popped up on Neko's new album this year, but then it showed up everywhere. I really love it, especially as my life continues to change and the circle of people I know and knew changes with it. 
• "Wilco (the song)" by Wilco (the band). 
• "Song Away" by Hockey. 
• "So Far Around the Bend" by The National. 

Happy New Year.