It turned into a strange day today. Mid-morning, I was chopping up my papers, my big task for the week, and I heard someone behind me say hello. I turned around and it was the former head librarian -- he who is known by me as The Horrible Mean Man -- and his wife. Ding, ding, ding, surreal time!
They were visiting in the area and stopped in to say goodbye to the library. (And hello to us, of course.) They stayed and chatted for an hour or so. Got in some shop talk. He said something about being the librarian who worked here the longest, and I said Oh no, you are quite mistaken. He was here 21 years, and this is my 30th. It was a pleasant visit, though. Old age and not working here has softened him somewhat.
A few people also remarked to us today that they won't know where to go when the library closes, they've spent so much time here, etc. So we -- and by this I really mean the SCM and the Colleague, while I was at lunch -- said we should go out with a bang next Friday and not just fade away. I took this ball and ran with it, and now, next Friday will officially be "Say Goodbye to the Library" day at Bizarro Town High School. We will host morning coffee and bagels for the staff, but in the library instead of in the main office, and we'll have donuts and cookies for kids, too. (Eating in the library? Why the hell not?)
I made a series of signs to hang around the room that day, too, to lighten the mood a bit. Answers to FAQ, in a manner of speaking. These include:
- About 100 books from the library's original collection are still here.
- Mrs. Chai joined the library staff in 1977.
- Mrs. Colleague joined the staff in 1984.
- This is the high school's original library, opened in September 1943.
- The card catalog is not coming with us to the new library.
- The library's current collection contains about 16,000 books.
- The first computer in the library was a TRS-80, in 1989.
- There will be no games in the computer lab either.
- Mr. SCM joined the library staff in 1991.
- More books were borrowed this year than in each of the previous five years.
R and I are still emailing over this week's Lost, something I know summer-gale relates to! What was so compelling about this episode? It's not as if there was some single huge revelation that made our jaws drop. Just a lot to digest, I guess. My friend's baby grand-daughter, the one who was born so prematurely and was touch-and-go for some time, is 2 years old today, cute as a button and bright and conversational. So, sometimes the unexpected things that life throws out you turn out to be good. Just saying. I've assigned myself the project of changing my closet over tomorrow, which means packing up my sweaters and digging out my short-sleeved shirts. I may need to send out an S.O.S. mid-afternoon; it's a horrible project and I hate doing it. We have two closets in the bedroom, one for each of us, and his, of course, is neat and has all this airspace in it, whereas mine is completely occupied, every square inch, stuff crammed in and stacked on top of each other. This is not a neatness thing, it's a man thing. Why would he need more clothes? The ones he has are fine. (His favorite t-shirt, which he puts on to relax and watch TV when he comes home, is from a Junior class trip I took kids on, Class of 1992.) I suppose there is an advantage to this mindset; i.e., you can get stuff in and out of your closet, but honestly, I need all the clothes I have. Don't I? Speaking of which, the gorgeous weather today (again) reminded me that it is, indeed, spring, and guess what? That winter project we set ourselves of cleaning out the basement? Uh .....
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I'm watching Ellen
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Sweet Sorrow - 06.12.2007
So ... - 12.19.2006
Christmastime Is Near - 12.18.2006
Fifteen Years - 12.17.2006
A Message From Our Sponsor - 12.16.2006
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