Thursday, August 18, 2005

Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, PR, & market research, society is suspicious of those who value silence.

OK here it is noon, and I feel like I am holding it together pretty well today, for me, considering the following (again taking into consideration the source…):

I woke up this morning with Jude in my bed (feet in my face) and Si sleeping on my floor. WTF? Would it be just wrong to lock my bedroom door?

The duplex next door to us is for sale. The owner had a good offer on it but during the inspection they found a rusted support beam. The buyer withdrew his offer. We were seriously bummed, as the ideal situation (for us the neighbors) would be to have the owner living in one side while renting the other, which was the buyer-to-be’s plan. So the owner, instead of funneling a ton of cash into fixing the real problem, the deal-breaking problem, is apparently fixing that by propping it up and instead spending thousands on landscaping. Yessirree, who cares if your house is falling down if you have green grass and pretty shrubs? The guys who are doing the work have been running the chainsaw and rototiller nonstop since eight this morning. I am going nuts. My Zoloft dose is just not high enough to cope with this constant assault on my ears.

We went to story time at the local library today. I find their children’s librarian a tad cloying and patronizing, but the kids seem to like her and I give her credit just for being a children’s librarian. (There’s good reason why I actively sought out collegiate surroundings for my library career…) At any rate we read a few stories, sang a few songs – well, “we” might be a misstatement. All the other children did this. My boys stubbornly sat on the floor while the others shook their sillies out, yawned their sleepies out, clapped their crazies out (I wonder if that would work for me?). Simon threw a fit during the Marching Around the Alphabet song and sulked in a chair while the rest of us pointed out letters and marched in circles. I don’t really know why I care – Si was actively participating in the story reading and question-and-answers; he just didn’t want to dance and sing. (And really, who does?) But I felt very self-conscious that my kids were the only ones not participating – and it made me feel like I had to haul my ass up off the floor where I was very comfortable, thank you very much, and participate, to try to convince them to do so. Otherwise I’d happily have sat and read my book. But noooooo…..

We picked up yet more library books – mostly Arthur Lobel, Mouse Soup in particular. At the visit to the ped yesterday, Si discovered this book and fell in love. He tried to convince me to go to the bookstore to buy it, “so I can have it forever,” but I held him off for a library copy. I have to have something to buy the kid for Christmas, for Pete’s sake. I also tried to find Kage Baker’s In the Garden of Iden but the library copy appears to have disappeared.

I am a third of the way through The Sparrow and I like it. It’s sci-fi without being so sci-fi as to be off-putting; the characters are intriguing, the plot is curious, and I like the set-up of the timeline of the book. (David, I think you would really enjoy it. If my opinion changes after I finish it, I’ll let you know. )

We had to go to the ped because Si’s, ahem, member hurts. I think it is due to all the pulling and tugging the thing’s undergoing lately, but Dan was worrying and once again second-guessing the circumcision decision, so I obligingly hauled him (Si, not Dan) off to the doc. (Although that second option appeals for many reasons as well.) Fret not, everything is fine. Trying to get a four-year-old to give a decent urine specimen might just have been the highlight of my day. The ped’s diagnosis, and I quote: it “could be sore due to all the yanking around.” I do the best I can but how many times a day do I really have to repeat, “Si, get your hands out of your pants.” It’s replaced boogey-mining as the favored hand activity. Last winter Dan worried himself sick about the chin-licking (don’t ask); this summer it’s penis-pulling and nose-picking. We would definitely have a gold medal contender in the Disgusting Bodily Habits Olympics, were such a thing to exist.

I feel as if I should comment on Rock Star INXS, but with the only singer left that I simply hate being Swiss Miss, what’s the point? Who wants to comment if you can’t be snarky? Although I will say this: she appears older every week. That saggy-boobed dress on Tuesday clinched the age thing for me: she’s got to be close to fifty by now.

14 comments:

Caro said...

You made me laugh out loud. What is it with guys and their penis? SJ yanks on his so hard, it makes ME hurt. I'm not sure what you meant by second guessing the circumcision. Maybe you didn't? We didn't get SJ done, and he hasn't had any problems. (despite the dire predictions of all the disapproving family members.)
The library thing made me laugh too. Stubborn kids - you love them for their spirit, but sometimes want to kill them when they are refusing to listen. We just have to hope all that tenaciousness pays off in school.

BabelBabe said...

neither of my boys are circumcised. I did not care one way or the other but my husband was adamantly against it. but as usual, he second-guesses everything. as if i am going to consider circumcising them now??

Gina said...

I'd love to buy that duplex next door, but I just don't have the cojones to deal with real estate/being a landlord now. Someday, someday, when Teddy's older and I'm out of school, and have a decent job . . .

BabelBabe said...

and i would ADORE having you next door. or even within walking distance. because you know, that three miles is so far to drive : )

Kathy said...

I would have to give the children's librarian credit just for being a children's librarian too. When I was asked what kind of librarian I wanted to be, I said, "Anything but a children's librarian." I interviewed for an assistant branch manager position once where they didn't tell me that the position was also the children's librarian. When I found that out, I said, "If I'd known that I wouldn't have wasted either your time or mine."

Caro said...

What's the matter with a children's librarian vs. a regular librarian. Is it because the little boogers never put the books back correctly or is there more than that?

Kathy said...

Carolyn: It's my personality, actually. Other people's kids make me very uncomfortable until I get to know them well and it's simply not possible to know every child well. I also don't have much of an imagination so I'd be really bad at the kind of projects children's librarians need to be good at.

Caro said...

Oh. That imagination thing would get me too! I can't even think of crafts to make with MY kids around the house!

BabelBabe said...

most kids annoy the living daylights out of me, especially en masse. all the noise, and the ruckus. i revel in quiet.

there's also a level of reference skills that I enjoy that I would not get to exercise as a children's librarian. I dig researching medical issues and such; you don't get that in the children's section. I also think alot of kids lit out there is pure dreck, so that would make me Ms. Sarcastic Children's Librarian - not good! as i said, i give them much credit but it's not for me!

Gina said...

I'm thinking of going the kids' route--I'm seriously considering getting the certification for school libraries.

I'd always thought of teaching, but the notion of being trapped in one room with a bunch of kids all day kind of freaked me out. Being a school librarian would give me the chance to do *some* teaching, and it would allow me the respite of seeing different kids all the time.

Plus, who *doesn't* want to be the first person to turn a kid on to Jane Eyre or Watership Down?

Caro said...

I worked with a children's librarian at a school once as her assistant. It was fun, plus most of the time the kids weren't there so she got to catch up on her to do list. You ought to go for it.

Sarah Louise said...

As a Children's Librarian, I'll say 2 things: whoever wrote the song, summertime and living is easy was not a children's librarian. Summer in the kid's dept is like retail Christmas. It's a love/hate proposition. I think I'd like to be a special interest librarian (you know, like at a museum.) I am not your typical loves the kids all the time Children's Librarian, but I do like being with all the books I know and love. BTW, Mouse soup is great...get the book and tape set b/c the audio is amazing!! Also, being a children's librarian gets you a certain level of respect b/c so few folks want to do the job.

Kathy said...

I know it certainly gets you respect from me because it's a job I simply could not do. I couldn't even do the school librarian thing, even with the time off in the summer, and I badly wanted the summer off. I just couldn't do it. I'm like babelbabe in that I like the level of reference I get to do at a university. Although, I'd love to have a split job -- half reference and half cataloging.

Joke said...

BabelBabe,

[TMI]I was circumcised at 13.[/TMI] Therefore both the boys were shortly at birth. No problems reported yet.

-Joke