My Big Weekend of Awesome and Worst Firsts

I had a lot of big "firsts" this weekend. First time I worked all weekend. First time I worked a crazy Saturday with four shows.

First "first" of note was my first time receiving and using comp tickets! The best thing about working at the KY Center is that you can almost always get comps for just about anything. I was so excited to see my comp request in my mailbox with my tickets for the Louisville Ballet's performance of Giselle. The seats were awesome to boot--orchestra row L, seat 41 and 42 (dead center)!

I had my first encounter with major drama. One of the lead dancers in the ballet had comp tickets through the Louisville Ballet. He wanted to exchange them for two tickets seated together. I wasn't able to do so because his tickets came directly from the Louisville Ballet not the KY Center. I told him he could come back at 1:00 when the ballet rep would be at the box office. The dancer became very huffy and self-important. He got really mad and announced, "I can't come back at 1:00! I'm in the show! I'm dancing the lead in the show! This is ridiculous!" Mr. Diva Dancer Man with Ratty Hair stormed out the center, in the words of one of my co-workers, like a psycho lumberjack going out into the woods to kill somebody. He came back at 1:00, was nice to the ballet rep, got his tickets exchanged, and seemed in a better mood afterward. He never apologized, so he's still a jerk in my book.

Later that evening, Dustin and I ate sushi at a local sushi bar called Oishii--first time going there. It was AMAZING! The sushi was great and the portions very generous. Prices were what you'd expect for sushi, and there was a ton of variety! We got a Louisville Roll (spicy crab, avocado, with seared Salmon and eel sauce on top) and a 2-in-1 roll (cooked spicy tuna roll deep fried, wrapped inside a spicy crab roll with avocado).

Following dinner, we went home, I change and picked up my friend Matt (who willingly replaced Dustin as my date) to go see the ballet. Neither of us had ever been to see an actual ballet. Well technically, I have been to the ballet, but the show was actually an opera turned into a ballet performance. The opera singers were present, but in the pit. If there are singers involved, I don't count it as ballet. I was worried I would be a little bored because there was no dialouge or singing. I was absolutely wowed by the show. My friend Matt was too. He told me, "I went in prepared to hate the show. I only wanted to go, so I could say I'd been to a ballet. But it was really cool! I don't if it's the gayness in me or what, but I really like it!" I'll post a more in depth review later.

I had three awesome "first" experiences and one bad "first," since there needs to be balance, the universe couldn't leave the score at that. Today, I got pulled over for the first time and my first speeding ticket! The cop was a major jerk and who was obviously using me to fill his quota. I was late to work, and everyone speeds on I-65--no goes 55 mph!!! The primary reason I got pulled over was because I passed him (in an undercover cop car)! I was going 74-77, but think how fast he had to be going for me to pass him (at least 65!)!!! He turned on the lights and sirens, and so my first instinct was to stop and pull over to the left emergency lane. Only there wasn't a left emergency lane. Then I saw the cop pull over the right emergency lane; for half a minute I thought about just going on past. However, I didn't think it would be a good idea since he could probably get license plate number and would probably pursue me. Then I'd be in bigger trouble if I got caught or even more late to work trying to lose him. I pulled over to the side, the cop proceeds to say in a rude tone, "Have you ever been pulled over before?!" I answered no. He took my license and insurance. He ran my license plate number, and had to come back to ask what state my car was from. I told him SC, he thought NC, and walked off and though I kept repeating SC--he obviously didn't hear. He came back cited me for speeding and CARELESS DRIVING! Because I almost STOPPED! He told me I wasn't supposed to stop because I was in the left lane; I would be allowed to get over to the right, and next time to do so. I have to go to traffic court now on Oct. 11! Another first!

I'm so exhausted from the weekend. I ended up feeling sick today on top of everything. I'm looking forward to a tame week--until Rachel's wedding shower this weekend. Another first! First time being a bridesmaid! I don't think it's possible to ever run out of "firsts."

Hello, I Left My Brain in Faerie World

So last Wednesday I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite writers, Holly Black. Dustin and I drove to Lexington to Jospeh-Beth Bookstore which was huge, gorgeous, and AH-MAY-ZING! I had one of the best moments of my life and one of the most embarassing. The book talk started at 7:00 PM, and we arrived a little late. I was surprised to see another person talking and standing next to Holly. I didn't know she was touring with another author. I originally thought it might be her agent or a PR person, but I quickly realized she was another writer of urban fantasy. Holly and the other writer began talking about their books and read excerpts from one of their books.

I went over to Dustin and quietly asked him to look up on his phone (he has the internet) who the second writer was. He looked it up and told me it was Cassandra Clare. I was a little puzzled because the book being talked about by the second writer didn't seem like any of the books published by Clare; Dustin mentioned she had said something about writing a prequel. So, I thought "Okay, maybe it's really new, and it's not on her site yet."I was kind of excited because I've been meaning to read Clare's books.

My attention went back to the talk, and when the time came for questions, I asked Holly Black, "Did you ever consider an alternate setting for Tithe because your faeries are very Old World, mysterious, violent, merciless as opposed to the modern, kind of 19th century faeries which are kind, benevolent and beautiful?" She responded, "No. I chose New Jersey because I lived there and it has these old, beautiful, rundown buildings in midst of this new, modern city. My mom and I actually broke into one of these old buildings. We found these beautiful, old carousel horses in one; my mom was a painter and wanted to take photographs of them so she could paint them. I liked the idea of these old creatures living in these rundown buildings in this city. So it made it more real, like you could actually spot them out of the corner of your eye." Some other cool info I learned, is that Tithe took five years to write; it was her first novel, and she struggled writing it and learned a lot. Tithe has also been picked up for a movie--though, I'm uncertain what to expect; crossing my fingers.

Eventually, everyone got the chance to meet and greet the authors and have books signed. I brought with me Tithe and purchased, Holly's new book, White Cat. I gave them to her to sign and talked with her. I told her, "I remember when Tithe first came out, and I loved it. I waited so long for Ironside [the sequel]." She was like, "I bet." There were five years in between the two: 2002-2007.  I meant to get a photograph; Dustin had my camera and everything, but I completely forgot.

I was going to pick up a book out of the second author's series on the table, entitled The Demon's Lexicon and ask the second writer to sign it. However, thinking it was Cassandra Clare, I had told Dustin before we got to the table, I'd like to have the older books (like I said earlier, I thought these were a prequel), such as City of Bones. Then I changed my mind and was going to get one of the books on the table signed, but Dustin was insistent I get City of Bones--he went and found it. So I tell the second writer hello, and say she's been on my to-read list for a while. And Dustin puts the book on the table, she looked puzzled, and nicely said, "That's great, but um, I didn't write that book." I thought, "OH NO! I just made a total idiot of myself, she probably hates me now because I don't know who she is." I profusely apologized, and she just smiled, laughed, and said it was no big deal.

I played it off well though, shifting the blame to Dustin. I said he had told me Cassandra Clare was touring with Holly. And Holly said, yeah the online site had said that, and they were originally, but something changed. I talked to the second writer, who's name was Sarah Rees Brennan, about YA fiction. I said, "I think YA fiction has some of the best stories. I'm 24, and kind of used to be embarrassed because I love YA fiction. However, reading more and talking to people (on book blogs), I realized so many other older people read these books." Sarah agreed with me. Holly added that she believed 90 percent of their readers were adults. We talked a little bit more about Zombies--relating to the current war among writers: Zombies VS. Unicorns; Sarah was Team Zombie (as was Dustin) and Holly and I were Team Unicorn. There's a book called Zombies VS. Unicorns coming out which Holly Black and several other writers duke it out in the form of short stories.

I left feeling exhilarated and embarrassed. I thought about getting the correct book and asking Sarah to sign afterward, but then I felt like, "Nah. I'll get it later, read it, and then twitter her saying 'Hey, I'm the girl who brought you the wrong book to sign, but I read your book now and loved it.'" I'm quite sure I will enjoy her books. As we were leaving the book signing area and going up the escalator, we turned around and saw a big banner that said "Welcome Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan." Felt like a big doofus. I met Holly Black and discovered a YA urban fantasy author, and that's the important part.

Printer FAIL!

I'm all out of ink due to the fact that within the past couple of weeks, I've had to print over 200 pages of reading for class. I hate reading for prolonged periods of time on a screen and can't make notes, highlight or underline important quotes/ideas in the text when the text is digital. My notes generally don't make sense when they're separated from the reading. Furthermore, I can't print a black and white PDF file in blue ink.

I go out, fight my super paranoia and anxiety, and make the semi-lengthy drive to Meijer at 1:30 AM to buy some ink. I remembered that the number on the cartridge was 54 although the picture on the printer ink cartridge cover thing had the numbers 54 and 21 (in reference to the black ink cartridge). I look at all the ink cartridges there's no 54. Only 56, 57 and every other number BUT 54. I start to think I'm wrong and doubt myself. I then look at the conveniently located book of printers and their compatible ink cartridges. I find the picture of my printer and look at the ink cartridge numbers listed. Guess what, 54 isn't listed but 21 is. So, coupling this information with the memory of seeing the number 21 on my printer I buy the cartridge.

I come home, pull out my old cartridge which says 54. I check the box with the new ink cartridge one more time, it says compatible with HP F4180; my printer says HP F4180. I attempt to fit the new ink cartridge inside the printer. It refuses to snap in place. I take it out, examine and compare it to the old one. They're both about the same size, however the little flat thingy that I guess snaps in the printer are different lengths. That makes me very irate and frustrated.

Now, I'm stuck reading a bunch of pages on a screen. No, I do not want to wait until later today to start reading 60+ pages left of my theory reading plus more for my other classes. The whole point of going out was to get ink, print my theory reading, write my response, and leave time Tuesday and Wednesday for an even splitting of my other class readings. I was going to take another proactive step towards becoming the girl who no longer procrastinates. Geez, why does the world hate me?

At least, I got printer paper and a pair of cheap shorts for my Luke Triton (from the Professor Layton games) costume. Still very angry though! Now, I have to go to Meijer again today and return the ink. Then go down the road to BestBuy where hopefully, I will find the correct size ink cartridge. What a pain!

A World Without Books is No World At All

My friend Alyssa, who is in a library studies program and going to be one of the most wonderful children's librarians ever, just posted a link to an article about how one school is moving to get rid of all its books. The school is some snarky, private high school where apparently no one reads and or checks out books from the library. So the administrators have decided to discard all their books because they believe the future only holds room digital media. They headmaster is quoted as saying, "When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books. This isn’t Fahrenheit 451. We’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology.’’ To make things worse, two of the students they interviewed really didn't care about there being no books. Granted, I'm sure their views do not reflect the entire school population. 

 This absolutely breaks my heart! I'm an English major, an academic, and above all else a passionate, devoted lover of books! It's shocking for me to think that people don't care about books. Books are an important cultural staple and sources of learning. The headmaster's comment about books being outdated really bothered me. Scrolls weren't seen as worthless since the invention of the printing press. Why else would people have gone through such means to preserve them? Why did people get so excited when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found? They might be an outdated form of compiling information, nonetheless they should be preserved and cared for, not discarded.

The same goes for books. Not everything in books is digital and can be found and downloaded via the internet. Books are important not just for the stories and ideas, but the physical contents, the ink, the pages, the binding. Those can all tell us about culture. Different editions of books are important, they reflect changes made by the authors and give us new ways of interpreting a text. For me as a medievalist, early books are especially important for the artwork contained in the pages, the notes in the margins, words crossed out and replaced, the type of lettering. They are all markers of a culture and the writer(s). 


What would it be like to walk into a library and see no books, only computers? That'd be horrible. It wouldn't be a library! There would be no browsing in the stacks, stumbling across an interesting looking book, picking it up, and reading it. You can't browse via a computer and the net! You can type in genre and search and have referral tools. I think it's more complicated and irritating to find a book that way. I'm drawn to a book because of cover art, other times it's the title, and sometimes it's the actual look of the book. Plus, it's not going to hurt your eyes reading a book for a long period of time (unless you have poor lighting). Furthermore, in a digital text, you can't make notes or bend down or tag important pages. And books are durable as opposed to a kindle! Fire and water are about the only things truly detrimental to books, although in small amounts water won't destroy a book. 

Books were once considered a great commodity and a luxury. I think this school is also being really wasteful in discarding these books. I think the administrators are making a grave oversight and too radical move. It's a shame they don't see a value in books. I think it'll be a large gap in the students' education. 

I'm all for digitizing texts, especially since it makes archival work a lot easier. However, I don't believe books are a waste of space, outdated, and unnecessary. Moreover, books are far less expensive than electronic texts. I'm glad to see in the comments on the article, most of the people do not agree with the administrators' decision. What do you guys think?