Yes, it's been a long time and I've had enough people griping about how I have not approached this blog or any of the other blogs in my arsenal. All I can say is that the past month has been one of the most hectic times in my life for reasons I will not get into here. Rather than update you all, I'm just going to throw out some random vignettes. Enjoy.
This past Saturday was a reminder to me about how blessed I am with the people who I have in my life. I got to spend time with a number of my favourite people all in one day, family and friends included. As I went from gathering to gathering, both small groups and large, I found myself reflecting on how amazing my loved ones are, how much joy they bring me, and how often they make me laugh, a tonic on which you can put no price. It was really an eye-opener and I realized how often I take those in my life for granted.
NOTE: If you didn't see me on Saturday, it doesn't mean that you aren't a favourite person of mine. Andy, I realize that you could be particularly sensitive about this.
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The following is an almost word-for-word transcription of a reference transaction I had last week:
Scenario: A young man walks up to me and he's walking really funnily, swinging his leg out to the side and twitching. I stop my typing, roll my chair away from my computer and prepare to engage him because I have this feeling it's going to be a very 'special' transaction.
Young Man: "Hey man, I was hoping that you could help me. I have these numbers to find some books, but I don't know where to look."
Renegade Librarian: "Well, let's see the numbers and I'll see what I can do for you"
YM: (digs in his pockets and finally pulls out crumpled piece of paper with call numbers on it, hands it to me) "Here you go, man. I REALLY need these books badly." (one of the call numbers ends with the letters SEX).
RL: "Oh yeah?"
YM: "Yeah." (he then leans over and whispers conspiratorially) "A lady friend gave me a gift that I can't take back!"
RL: (stifling full-belly laughter) "I see. What you're looking for is upstairs on the second floor"
The young man then walked off upstairs where I directed him to go and as he did, he shot his leg out to the side and gave his 'business' a little scratch. Awesome. And that's just one reason I love being a public librarian--so many interesting people.
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I admit that I have some real struggles with how much the Olympics are costing British Columbia's taxpayers and how much debt the province is willing to incur. The kind of borrowing the government has had to do seems a bit ludicrous to me. However, as many people know, the Olympics is a bit of a sore point with me, so I won't go any further than that.
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I recently read a very interesting article on the carbon cost of googling. Highly informative and a bit humourous at the same time.
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Last week I attended the British Columbia Library Association's Leadership workshop with Canadian Library Association President Ken Roberts. It was a great day of learning and it gave me so much to ponder. Anyway, before attending the day-long workshop we had to fill out a long questionnaire intended to assess our leadership strengths (according to this survey, of the 24 strengths they assigned to me my number one was Gratitude). Some of the questions were constantly repeated with different wording while others were just plain stupid. However, one question really stuck out to me and it said "you see life as a playground rather than a battlefield", to which you had to answer either "very like me", "like me" etc. Immediately I thought to myself that if you see life as a playground rather than a battlefield, then you are either delusional or you live life selfishly, solely to please yourself. I cannot see how anyone can see life as a playground--there is so much hurt, brokenness, disappointment and pain, plus, it is so messy. There is beauty in life as well and I see it everyday, but as blessed as I am, I do not daily traipse through life without a care in the world!
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Thanks to my stepfather, I just tried Nature's Path "Oaty Bites" and dang, where they were good! I am definitely an "Oaty Bites" convert for life. Nutritious and delicious! Yum!
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I just had a milestone birthday recently and it was fun to celebrate it with a trip to Seattle as well as a gathering of some of my inner circle. Aging is a strange thing--I feel the same, in many ways, as I did 15 years ago, yet I have changed immensely in my outlooks, what I truly value, and even my behaviour. It's also a bit funny to think that I'm now a husband and a professional. What happened to my misspent youth?
Also, I ache a lot more and it takes a lot longer to heal from injuries.
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As unpopular as the following opinion probably is, especially amongst my friends who are fanatical followers of American politics, I'm glad that the Obama hype has receded ever so slightly now that he's President. Sure, he's still everywhere, but it's not like it was in the days leading up to the election. Now we can finally all get on with "change is here", "yes, we can", blah blah blah. How much do I actually believe that there's going to be massive change? Well, you know me...
That's all for now folks. I'll try to be a bit more diligent about updating as life has quieted down ever-so-slightly for me.
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6 comments:
Finally!! I've been checking this thing daily waiting for my Matty fix. Thanks for giving it to me. I thought someone had locked me into rehab without me knowing it!!
As for your adventurous Saturday, I am sensitive about it. I even went through my day wondering when I hooked up with you. When I realized I hadn't, I read on. Your follow-up comment provided little healing for my broken soul. In fact, I'd say it was like hydrogen peroxide on a wound, it may help in the long-run, but it still burns like **ll.
The gift I can't give back? Hilarious! Awesome!
The playground... hmmm. I'll have to think of that longer. I may be a playground type of guy. But then again, you've called me delusional many a time before.
And that's all you get for now. Write some more and you'll get more. Or is that why you haven't been writing? To avoid my comments? Ah dang, that burn is coming back...
even a playground can sometimes be a messy, dangerous place, with opportunities for hurt, brokenness, disappointment and pain... less so than a battlefield for sure, but not exactly safe.(you can ask your wife about the incident with the slide and her chin for an example of this...)
i guess my interpretation of that question would have been more about how i approach my life (or would like to, at least) than how i view the way things are out there in the rest of the world... just a thought. :)
Not to be contentious (he says falsely), I think you should re-title this post "25 random things" and admit that your contention with the facebook 25 random things lies not in the fact that no-one cares about them, but in the fact that everyone is doing it so you don't want to.
I also suspect that you are offended by the limit of 25 random things. Let's face it, you have a limitless supply of random things to share.
I'm with Beth. Good thoughts.
That Renton is way too touchy!
been seeing a lot of those 'no olympics on stolen land' flyers downtown lately...
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