Hello

I read a lot of blogs. I have 80+ in my Bloglines blogroll. How many more times can I write the word "blog"? Blog blog blog. Anyway, I decided I should start blogging. I mean, I used to have a personal livejournal, and I have a blog for our school library, but I need a space where I can write about library-related issues that aren't specifically about my library, and where I can be a regular person instead of a school person.

Here are a few things you should know about me:

1. I am almost 30. In a month, I'm marrying someone who's a few years younger than me. This makes me feel a little dirty, and very old. But I'm excited to marry him, nonetheless.

2. I am a middle and high school librarian. I love being a librarian and I love working with this age group. I also love being around little kids, and I wish that happened more often.

3. I work at a boarding school, and I live on campus, so I am also a dorm parent. This means I act more like a teenage girl than I maybe should. Sometimes I try to act like a mom, but no one can take me seriously.

4. Did I mention I look like I'm 18? I am frequently mistaken for a new senior, especially by potential parents on their campus tour. This gives me a great deal of authority. I am super intimidating. See no. 3.

5. Everyone thinks I am VERY boring. This may be because I watch a lot of TV. And I don't like, oh, going out. And I am a librarian. And I blush a lot. However, I am not boring. I am fascinating.

6. I live in a tiny zoo. My apartment is itsy-bitsy, and I share it with two cats and a dog. Here are some things you should know about my pets:

Mamie
My favorite, and she knows it. Mamie is a crazy calico who will do just about anything for attention, including flopping out to her full extended length (at least four feet) right in front of you as you're carrying a pot of ravioli to the sink to drain it. Loves cardboard. Loves paper. Will lick your entire arm from wrist to shoulder. Sticks her butt in your face when you're trying to read. Speaks, according to my finacee, with a French accent. Gets an awesome, blank look on her face when she's using the litterbox (ask me to imitate it sometime). My first pet as an adult. Named for Mamie Eisenhower....for no good reason.

Bodie
Mamie's loving and terrified companion. A big gray neutered male. Scared of everything: people walking, people talking, sudden movements of any kind, thunder, weird shadows, the air conditioner, the sound of me folding laundry/fluffing pillows, etc. HATES the dog. LOVES me. According to my fiancee, walks around thinking: "Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah." Would probably prefer to live in a small, dark room with only me. Would keep me as his slave. He and Mamie clean each other; watching this, once, I teared up. Named after a character on Dawson's Creek, not Jenna Elfman's weird husband.

Matilda
Funny little dog. According to the place where I adopted her, she's a Golden Retriever/Basset Hound mix. Everyone thinks she's a corgi. She is fat and untrained. She tried to eat a really old dead mouse the other night. She wheezes a little. My fiancee [I need to come up with a code name for him; I know it will be something related to Joyce or Faulkner if he has his way, but if I have mine it will be something slightly emasculating] calls her his Goose. Why? No one knows. Her life's dream is to capture and devour a squirrel. She weighs 45 pounds, but is a lap dog all the same.

7. One of my favorite things to do is help a kid who has sneered at me or the library before, and see their opinion change, if only a tiny bit and not around their friends.

8. I live for new Meg Cabot, Sarah Dessen, and Maureen Johnson books. As well as cancelled shows on the WB/UPN/CW (BASTARDS) and super dorky point-and-click flash games.

9. I often write in all capital letters for EMPHASIS.

Okay. That's it for today. I plan on using this blog for little mini book reviews, commentary on stuff that's happening in library land, etc. etc. Maybe no one will read this....we'll see! Bye!