ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!

This morning in the children's room I was helping a woman find books when she turned to me and said, "I just didn't expect that there would be so many children here at this time of day."

Really?  At 11 a.m. on a Monday?  Because most three-year-olds should have jobs, presumably.

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We saw The Hunger Games last night and I was so amped up afterwards that I couldn't sleep.  (I liked it, by the way.  Lenny Kravitz was surprisingly good and not annoying. Woody Harrelson was unsurprisingly annoying and not good, but I was able to ignore him and his equally annoying hair.)  I tried to use Jane Austen to lull me to sleep via the tranquil English countryside, but it didn't work.  Which is too bad because I'm teaching my first class tonight.  Right before class, I may have to employ a trick I learned about on a podcast I listen to:  running around in circles yelling "ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!" followed by a shot of tequila.

Or, you know.  Just the tequila.*


*I'm just kidding, I would never do a tequila shot right before a class; the students would probably smell it on me.  For professional situations, vodka shots are the only way to go.

So long stupidface

R and I got some really good financial news today.  Not winning the lottery or anything (I still haven't ever bought a ticket--I'm convinced that's the only thing holding me back from massive wealth).  Basically, we thought were going to have to pay a bunch of money for our old house, and we don't.  The bank lied to us, turns out.  I know I'm an adult and I should realize that people lie and institutions especially lie, but it still surprises me.  "The truth ain't in 'em," as my father would say.

But anyway, the point is, we are really, completely, totally broken up with that stupidface old house.  Good riddance, house.  Suck it.

And!  The new family-friendly pub/brewery is FINALLY opening in our neighborhood!  I realize for most people this would be an "oh that's nice situation," but when you live in a semi-struggling neighborhood like ours, it's huge news.  Who wants to come hang out with us there? 

And!  It's sunny, I'm off this weekend, and I'm going to a football match* my sister-in-law, who is also my close friends.  How many people are as lucky as I am?  Not too many.


*I believe you Americans refer to it as "soccer."

Grown up job stuff

So internet, did I tell you I'm teaching a class this spring?  True story.  At the university's library school.  Co-teaching, actually, starting Monday.  I am not exaggerating when I say that the hiring process at Chuck E. Cheese was more rigorous than the one for this job. The library school hired me on the strength of my friend's recommendation, a hastily thrown-together resume, and blind faith.  (Presumably they also remembered what a shining star of the program I was as a student.  I set that place on fire with my book talks, ya'll.)

Still, I'm excited.  This opportunity combines a couple of my favorite things: teaching and money.  (And young adult books, which is what we'll be teaching.)  It's been many years since I graded any papers, so I have a little bit of anxiety about that.  As I recall, the rule in library school is that everyone gets an A unless you completely fail to show up.  Then you get an A-.

What else is happening?  At the conference I just went to, I gave a presentation with a couple of coworkers who are also, luckily, friends.  In retrospect there are things I'd do differently of course, blah blah blah, but overall I think we did well.  The City Librarian came to our talk, and apparently has been talking it up to the managers as good stuff ever since he got back.  So we couldn't have sucked completely.

In only tangentially related (in a young adult books kind of way) news, are you so excited about the Hunger Games movie?  Of course you are. R and I are making it our Annual Moving Outing!  See you again at the movie pictures in 2013.

Baby monkey riding backwards on a pig

So I went to a conference for a few days, and when I came back, my kid was completely grown up. Sorry to go all doting parent on you, but let's face it, this blog isn't good for much these days so it's not like this is much of a trip downhill. 

Recent developments:

1. He knows the whole ABC song.
Okay, sure, it's not like he knows his letters.  But still.  Before I left last week he got lost somewhere around "pee-cue-are-ess . . ." and now he knows it cold.

2. He makes up stories.
A typical story:  "A monkey in a tree!  With Baby G!  And maybe D?  And S!  And maybe a lion?  And maybe a effant?  And a doggie. Woof! In a TREE." 

3. He has a lot of very specific entertainment requests.
Mostly songs he wants to hear.  But he wants to hear songs about particular animals, on demand, so if you can't think of one right away you just have to make something up. "Monkey song!  Lion song!" R had already figured out songs to match most of these requests (although his response to "monkey song!" was this, which I now have in my head at all times, waking and sleeping). 

But now Soren will request songs for whatever object he sees:  "Window song!  Stroller song!"  I'm getting better at thinking up rhymes on the spot, but it's a challenge.