This week, the Jolly Librarian found herself in the position of being jealous. Jealous of her colleagues’ life lists. Both the lists and the execution of them. Yes, I’m jealous of Pam’s organized list that takes into account all aspects of her life. I’m jealous of Allison’s ability to complete items. I’m jealous of Sally’s focus. And I’m jealous of Emily’s total nonchalance about the whole thing. So I’m going to spend some time refining my list so jealousy’s ugly head won’t rise again.
Now for this week:
Emily:
Learn French: I know I don’t have the self-discipline to learn a language without being in a classroom setting (or without the reward of a free trip to France).
SPOILER ALERT:
Acquire and watch Mad Men Season 4 (preferably, at the same time as MFJ in order to facilitate more meaningful show analysis): MFJ selflessly let me borrow her disc one of Mad Men Season 4 after my Netflix snafu. However, we have yet to do any analysis of the downward trajectory of Don Draper’s life.
Grow vegetable garden and herb garden: Pam donated some cabbage to my cause.
Allison:
an excellent (flute) performance at my little brother’s wedding in May My friend’s grandmother died last week, so we didn’t rehearse Thursday night. We’re going to take some time to work individually, then get together next Monday evening.
translate the book of Esther
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work toward solving the problem of homelessness in Nashville
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write some things I’m proud of
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become more fluent in Spanish
Listened to some Michel Thomas during a long drive. Signed up for a weekly Spanish lesson to be delivered to my inbox (Thanks, Terry Sellars!). Had a lovely conversation, mostly in Spanish, with a Spanish-speaking lady named Linda.
give my best to the ESL classes I help teach I put together a game for our last class, but it did not go as well as I’d hoped.
Jolly Librarian:
Socialize more: Went to Happy Hour on Friday and had a good time. But was so exhausted by the experience I didn’t talk to another person for the rest of the weekend.
Read more: Started poetry month on campus, one of my favorite activities because it allows me to scour poetry books for selections. Also read two other books this week.
Have something to read at Writing Group each meeting: We didn’t meet last week but have something ready to read for tonight.
Learn French: This has been on a back burner for a while. But then Emily put it on her list and Noelline, one of our student workers speaks it fluently. So now I want to practice again. I’ve started listening to tapes and talking in simple sentences to Noelline who then corrects me.
Less whining about problem more solving them: There is a t-shirt that proclaims: What doesn’t kill you makes you whinier. That’s how I felt this week. Enough said.
Pam
PERFORMING
- Booked 3 gigs so far:
Gig went well at Commodore. It’s always great to get out and perform original music for new folks.
Upcoming gigs include May 15th- Country Music Hall of Fame / solo – History of Banjo demonstration.
WALKING
- Have committed to Planning to walk at least 30 mins. a day. I am determined to shed some added lbs. Worked for 10 hours outside on Sunday planting small garden plots. Absolutely sore as a tick. The joys of middle age!
READING
- Am still listening to Bill Bryson’s At Home– with 2 cds left. Just LOVE this guy. Gave up on Mrs. Raisin (but then missed her the very night I tossed her into the floor and brought her back to the NSCC library. Have brought her back home. My 2 new reads for this month are Bill Bryson’s A Brief History of Everything, and I have started The Disappearing Spoon.
Reach 128 weight
- Bought a new personal blender and am doing yogurt/fruit shakes everyday. Love it and find I truly no longer crave sugar. New rule: I can only have sugar if I have already had 4 fruits within a day! It’s working! No sugar yet 😉
Write 1 letter per week – Ashamed. I let the week go by with no real, handwritten letter. Several cards were sent. I must make time.
Keep house cleaned weekly
- Doing real good on this. Cleaned this morning for an hour and a half to try to pick up my bedroom and kitchen. Trying, trying
COOK NEW RECIPE each week
New fruit blends will be this week’s accomplishment.
Other thoughts:
- Learn to Scuba Dive
- Visit Greece
- Take a Caribbean Cruise
Sally:
- My leg continues to get stronger. I walked a 5K last Saturday in Mt. Juliet. It was a lot of fun and the weather was great! My leg was tired but I felt ok afterwards. I am riding my bike part way to work. It’s the traffic that makes me nervous!
- Here are some new interesting things that I have learned:
The bird pictured on the official flag and seal of Atlanta, Georgia—home of pro sports teams named the Falcons, the Hawks, and the Thrashers – is the phoenix. The bird is shown rising from its ashes, symbolizing the city’s rebirth after it was devastated by fire in 1864.
The famous Swiss spaghetti hoax perpetrated in England on BBC on April Fool’s Day in 1957 was a bogus news report that showed a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees while a respected newscaster explained that Switzerland had a bumper crop of pasta thanks to a mild winter and the “virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil.
Twain Harte, California, a resort village in the central Sierra Nevada, was named in 1924 by Keturah Wood for her and husband Alonzo’s favorite writers, Mark Twain and Bret Harte.
An atom is being held aloft by the winged woman depicted in the Emmy Award statuette. According to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the statuette’s wings represent the muse of art and the atom represents the electron of science.
A porcupette is a baby porcupine.
Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei are the three countries share the southeast Asian island of Borneo. Borneo is the third-largest island in the world.
- During the storm warning on Monday when everyone was out in the hallway I told students with mobile devices about TEL and Gale’s app called “Access My Library”. (No, I did not plan this storm.) I also continue to tell students about MERLOT and Content Builder. One good use of Content Builder by students is for online resumes or e-portfolios. There are some already in MERLOT: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=536539
JollyLibrarian 