Musings on the Commute

I have to wonder if this is a bit strange, I'm not sure...  My subway line travels under...actually I'm not sure if it is under anymore...anyway, under Ground Zero.  I can see some of the work through the windows of the subway as I gain glimpses between the plywood sheeting they put up while they are building the memorial.  I feel as if I need to have a moment of silence every time I fly past.  I am essentially riding through a graveyard and it pierces my heart each time.  Maybe it will fade after the hundredth time I travel through.  I wasn't even here when it happened...I was 3000 miles away, but the thought of being there...the idea that if time were different, if my life had moved at a different pace it could have been me on that horrible day.  I am moved that I am traveling on what seems to be sacred ground and I get slightly emotional.  Is that strange?

Trains, Ferries and Subways--Part 4

I'm often surprised at the conversations I hear float around me...not to mention some of the behavior that goes on.

I listened to two people talk about their jobs as funeral directors and how they have "stitched" certain relatives..."oh I stitched my husband, my mother and my cousin...who died."  Really? they died?  Gosh I hope so considering you stitched them!  Mmmk

And then there were the business men who were talking about all the female sales reps in their work place. Not only were all of them incompetent, but for these men it was exactly how they expected it to be and had the male chauvenistic tone of "it is what it is...I mean really what can you do...they are female...who can expect them to do any better".  I have to wonder if they are as good at their jobs as they think they are...I doubt not.  Now I don't really consider myself a feminist but I bristle when I hear stuff like this.  Grrr

Couples really really making out on the ferry seems to be pretty normal.

Lots of singing while listening to ipods, some good, some really bad.

People who think they can beat the closing doors on the subway and get stuck between the two doors...that one actually kinda freaks me out...cuz what happens if the driver doesn't notice?  Shudder....

Funniest thing though was the kid wearing the low riders whose pants actually fell down.  Haha...snort!

So why is it that public transportation seems to encourage people to behave as if they are walking around in "the cone of silence" from Get Smart?  Is it the idea that the more people are surrounding you the more privacy you have because there is such a flood...a sensory overload of people?  I'm not sure...but it makes the 3 hours goes by pretty quickly.

Facial Structure??

Tell me if this isn't the best pick up line ever....even though by the end of the conversation you'll know it really wasn't.

Its been a loooong day!  I've traveled into Manhattan twice, which if you've read previous posts you'll realize it's a 3 hour commute for me.  All I have eaten all day is a piece of pizza and a peppermint patty.  I'm tired and I have the beginning of a really huge headache.  Thursday I take a cab home because it is close to 10pm when I finally get off the ferry.  Sometimes I have to wait a while for a cab, but tonight thank goodness there's one that can take me right away.  I hop in the front seat since there is a couple in the back.  I hop in and tell the driver (who oddly enough is a young and quite good looking young man wearing a fedora....odd because of the good looking part...usually it's old very strange men or just very strange looking men...anywhooo) I tell the driver where to take me.  He looks at me and asks, "By any chance, are you a librarian?" 

I'm sure I looked like a deer caught in the headlights, I'm thinking what the....how the....where did that come from?  Considering I am a librarian I think this is the best pick up line ever, even though I know it's not.  This is some talent he has and I'm sure he puts it to good use.  :P  I say "Well, actually I am."  He laughs and I can almost see him do a fist pump except he's driving and he says "I knew it!"  Conversation goes as follows:

--Do you work at the 42nd branch?

--No, I used to be a librarian I'm going to school to become a real librarian.

(pause) ....ummm but working at that branch would be awesome!  (it's the schwartzman building downtown...gorgeous research branch of NYPL with the lions out front...here's a pic)

--It would be like ghostbusters!

--Haha...mmm yeah...(yes I freely admit I suck at flirting, this being single is a complicated thing I haven't had to deal with for a while)

--So why did you think I was a librarian? (I probably shouldn't have asked this)

--You seem quiet, timid almost (I'm thinking but didn't say...and you got that from me giving you the cross streets of my address??)

--Oh I thought maybe it was the glasses, haha

--Well and the clothes you are wearing (I have a long grey winter coat on...all he can see are my jeans and pink converse sneakers)...oh and your facial structure, (...my facial structure...what does that mean???)...definitely a librarian. (my brain is going over time...should I tell him I'm not quite sure that's a compliment, what do I say to that I have no idea what he means...I'm not timid...am I? maybe I am...hmmm how do I show I'm not timid...I'm going into full on critique mode instead of flirting back or at least trying to assess if he is insulting me or not...my facial structure??? It's my nose isn't it?)

Conversation flowed pretty well after that, I told him my theory on Kindles after he asked what I thought about them, he asked if I had any weird experiences being a librarian...sadly I had to tell him I worked out in a small town and can't remember any weird experiences...although I'm sure it would be different here.  We chatted about the fact he has a huge box of Twinkies in the car...I asked if they were there to keep him awake...yup he works until 5am he likes being up late.  He even offered me one...but I declined.  Unfortunately this is when I showed up at my door and had to get out.  Which is what I did...I actually wouldn't mind continuing the conversation if only to find out what the facial structure comment meant...is that like saying she has a nice personality??  I'm just super curious.  I wish I had at least gotten his name, so I don't have to think of him as the-good-looking-cab-driver-in-a-fedora.  But I don't think well on my feet, I guess I am a timid librarian...hopefully a little better than Mary in her non George world in It's a Wonderful Life.  I look forward to more conversational practice though I obviously need it.  

Rex Libris :)

Ahhh I love being a librarian...if only it could be this cool. :)

My review of Rex Libris (Graphic Novel)

I have a Goodreads site and I wrote this when I was still the librarian of Rockwell Charter High School.  I bought the book because I knew it would appeal to the boys at the school and really wanted to encourage them to come to the library.  It worked!  Not to mention that one of my TA's told all the other TA's that it was required reading and convinced all of the kids that wanted to be TA's in the future that they had to read it too.  It flew off the shelves.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  I only wish I could buy a copy of the library bound edition for my personal library.

As a librarian I endorse this book wholeheartedly, it is intelligent, funny, interesting and oh-how-i-wish-i-could-get -overdue-books-back-like-Rex-fantastic. Rex and his band of librarians protect the world from evil and will do anything to retrieve an overdue book and fine. What a great story! This hardcover version covers Comics 1-5 and the rest of the remaining 7 comics are included in the book Sea of Monsters if you want to see if Rex ever gets the Principia Mathematic from the now destroyed Vaglox. There are lots of add-ons in the book like messages from Barry Horst the "publisher" of the comic, he "pops" into the story-line occassionally, extra Rex comics from various artists, and an ad for toy librarians. I want those, especially the one of Hypatia "Kicking Evil Ass"!! This comic is so intelligently written I have to wonder if James Turner is a fan of Jasper Fforde. Of course I couldn't resist James Turner's description of librarians for his small expose at the back of the book on the Ordo Biblitheca. That is me to a T. (I wish) Rex, Simon-the-megalomaniac-cursed-to-be-a-sparrow-for-4,000-years (telekinetic semi-sidekick), Hypatia (fellow femme fatale librarian agent and possible love interest for Rex) and Circe (former evil goddess turned cookie baking librarian...she also cursed simon and sometimes turns irritating patrons into pigs, but she's mended her evil ways....hmmm we'll see about that) are all terrific characters. Not to mention the bad guys with overdue books and fines that must be tracked down. I cannot say enough how intelligently this comic is written, you might need to arm yourself with a dictionary to figure out what Rex and his fellow librarians or ever Barry are saying, but isn't that what we should have with us when we read all good literature. Enjoy! 

I bought this book not knowing anything about it, solely for the fact it was about a librarian "superhero" and for the fantastic cover art, for the High School at which I am the librarian. It is a terrific find. My 2 sons ages 12 and 14 LOVED it and are anxious for me to get the rest of the comics so that they can see what happens. My 12 year old's favorite part is the fact that Rex constantly has a book with him and uses the knowledge he gets from within his books to defeat the bad guys.


Cool things to see :)


http://www.jtillustration.com/rex/dewey_secrets.html