Whoa, puppy, it's been awhile! Library school is kicking my ass, but I've also been going hard at the job. Follow along with one of my many Tumblrs to see disjointed thoughts in action....

Magpie
a random assortment of shiny things

Gems
Books, weird bookish things, library stuff, etc.

fuckyeahtroposphere
a collaborative curation of earth's most snuggly 'sphere, by me and DDV.

an open letter to magazine editors/publishers

dear magazine editors/publishers,
please consider always dating your issues, including volume and issue numbers, and placing them in easy-to-find locations. like your masthead, for example. it would certainly cut down on my copy-cataloging time and leave me more for my other chores. while i do love perusing your magazine and/or website frantically searching for publication information, trawling the depths of subscription databases, or digging through back issues for clues, i really don't have the time. (i did have time, however, to write this because SOME publications include all their information.)

thank you very much.

sincerely,
serenity ibsen
librarian-in-training

the pill

I dreamed that I had a weird bump behind my tonsil. I could feel it protruding from my neck near my lymph nodes. Super disturbing. After poking it around a bit, I reached inside my mouth to pull it out and it turned out to be a pill that had gotten stuck.

Cauchemars!

I'd like to start a series of drawings, etc. that are illustrations of dreams or elements thereof. I know, that's like sooooo cliché, but I do have really weird dreams.

Stay tuned for last night's drawing of "Pill stuck in the tonsil" dream.

the master cleanse

Warning: the following blogs will probably contain references to bodily functions.

Yesterday was Day One of biannual cleanse. Bill began on thursday. Thursday I celebrated the beginning of spring break by eating a juicy cheeseburger and drinking a fewish beers. Not the best way to prepare oneself for a cleanse, but there you have it. Friday morning began with a low-level headache that persisted in varying intensity throughout the day.

My volunteer gig as a reader for SMART went smoothly until the girl I read with asked, "did the dinosaurs all die because they didn't listen to Jesus?" How does one answer a question like that? My instinct was, "well, the dinosaurs all lived before Jesus." But I was experiencing a distinct tightness behind my eyes and couldn't think well on the fly.

Here's the concoction I'm cleansing with, including our variations at the end:
Stanley Burroughs' Master Cleanser
(from Staying Healthy with the Seasons, by Elton Haas, M.D.)

2 tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice or lime juice
1-2 tbs pure maple syrup
1/10 tsp cayenne pepper
8 oz spring water

Bill likes it less sweet, so he puts in less maple syrup. We use grade B because we read somewhere that it has more nutrients than grade A due it being less refined. Also, in the efforts of full disclosure, we don't use fresh squeezed lemon. Instead we use Santa Cruz Organic lemon juice. It's 100 % pure, not from concentrate and costs less than buying lemons. With lemons between 79 and 89-cents each, it would cost at least $13 for as many lemons (16). Cayenne is to taste.

Last night I had some laxative tea. I made one from scratch with senna, a little ginkgo for brain power, and some chamomile for flavor and relaxation.

2 tsp senna
2 tsp chamomile
1 tsp gingko

Steeped for about 10-15 minutes. I also took one dosage of Super Colon Cleanse. I'm not sure which was the impetus for my "elimination" but it worked.

Saturday, day two
I woke up with a headache and decided to go straight to an internal salt water bath/intestinal cleanse. This is one of the most disgusting things ever. You'd think that during a cleanse a little salt would be a treat. At first it's like a salty warm broth, but after about 24 ounces and more to go, it's soooo gross. I didn't make it through all 32 ounces because the headache is already making me feel nauseous. I am now waiting for the effects of the "bath". NOte: don't leave the house for about an hour after drinking the salt water. Unless you're near a toilet and you're super comfortable there.

2 tsp sea salt
1 quart (32 oz) lukewarm water
drink it all in one sitting, first thing in the morning.

As soon as the elimination process is over, I'll drink some (very welcome) lemonade concoction and watch some more x files. There's a certain point when I do this cleanse where the headaches, irritability, food thoughts, and grumpiness go away and the euphoria sets in. I can't wait for that part. Until then, I'm going to hole up and watch dvds.

will it so

oh presidents' day. i would like to thank you for free parking because i was too late this morning to ride my bike.

in the spirit of asking the universe for what you want, i'm going to put it out there that i'd really love a maple bar. perhaps this is one i'll have to make happen myself, but sometimes when i wish for things, they happen.

for example:
i had my nails done by a student in the glorious hue of Gold Get 'Em by Revlon. she said that this particular shade was really hard to find and she was nearing the end of the bottle. meredith had been painting her friends' nails this color to bring about some manicure mojo and decided to extend her magic to PNCA. i took her up on the offer and while getting gilded we had a really interesting conversation about documentation. (and that's a whole other entry with thoughts on oral traditions, archives, crafts, etc.)

anyway, the day after this i was out running errands by bike and sunshine. i was using the atm when i noticed that there was a walgreen's across the street. generally i'm a lazy one-stop-shopper and get all my cosmetics, lady things, and groceries from fred meyer, but i decided to go into the walgreen's to see if they had a specific item. right inside the door was a wall of cosmetics. i could see a bottle of gold nail polish as i approached but i thought, "surely not Gold Get 'Em..." well, it was. and it was the last one. i have yet to give it to meredith, but hopefully i will soon.

last friday i attended a conference with my boss, a colleague from another library, and my coworker. during lunch we were anticipating the announcement of door-prizes. i turned to sara, my coworker, and said, "you're going to win a door-prize. represent!" well, she did win a prize. and then i won a prize. honestly, my reasons were a bit malicious, but in the end, we were both really happy with our prizes.

so, maple bar.... maple bar... maybe it only works when it's not a selfish thing.

what's your favorite animal?

penguin! no, unicorn!

et voila... penguicorn, by darya farhoodi

dracaena, breakfast panini, macramé

this is the secret of happiness.

i so desperately wanted a bagel and cream cheese this morning -- like i usually do -- but didn't want to trek that entire two blocks to the urban grind to procure one. instead i went to the daily (.5 blocks away) and got a breakfast panini. there's really nothing much tastier than bacon, cheese, eggs and bread.

yesterday joan and i decided that my little "lucky bamboo" plant was always in the way. i've knocked it over myself a bunch of times and since it's a hydrocultured baby the water gets everywhere. probably not the best thing right in front of your computer or the phone. anyhow, we decided that suspending it in its little jar from a pipe would be fun. my plant was a gift from maeve and it's the only flora to survive the lightless library. i care for it deeply.

(aside: lucky bamboo isn't actually bamboo. it's a dracaena sanderiana. more of a shrub.)


anyway, here's a picture of the plant in its new home: my first macramé hanger! i raided the internet for some inspiration. and it was so easy. okay, so it's not as pretty as an owl with wooden bead eyes, but hey! i did it all from materials at work.