Sneak Peeks...

A sneak peak from the currently in-production Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...

That's a really terrible dress robe, Ron!!!

i'm a librarian and i need a life!!

Came across this article some time back and was pretty amused by it. Titled 'Librarian Dolls Defend The Nation!' by Tanya Angell Allen

"Jessamyn West, coeditor of Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out, mentioned during a recent lecture at Yale. West spoke of how librarians of the past thirty years tried to break away from lackluster librarian-stereotypes, proclaiming, “I may be a librarian, but I’m also a rock-climber!” or “I may be a librarian, but I’m also gay/black/Latino!” or “I may be a librarian, but I’m also sexy!” Now, however, West and my friends in the profession say they are seeing an attitude change among young librarians. Many Gen X and Y librarians don’t mind being seen as serious, smart, and nerdy. They don’t feel that they need to fight for a better image for themselves. They want to concentrate on doing their work, simply because it’s cool."

So what am i??

should i be defined by my job, friends, race, education??

Anyway.. given my work and school schedule, it doesn't leaves me for much.

Yes.. school is starting soon.. barely 1 month after the announcements of the previous semester's results. Pain, pain, pain.. suffer, suffer, suffer.

Anyway... it is interesting about all these debate about librarian's stereotype and image.. i know of a librarian who might be featured in an article in Shape magazine due to her choosen sport... will post the article here if it is ever published! har har har

cheers to that!!

BTW.. Do you have your new year's resolutions ready?? i make them every year. But this year, to be honest.. i don't think i kept much of mine for this year... kinda pathetic.. lots of oversight and ZERO reminders... so.. will be making my list and hopefully.. will be able to share them with my friends. (We exchange our resolutions yearly!)

Well.. i do hope for a better year for my friends and myself.. that everyone will be happy.. no regrets in the things that they do and have the freedon to choose.

OH... and latest news... HARRY POTTER and the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE will be out next year on 16th July 2005. I can't wait to get my hands on the book!! That's part of the reason why i'm looking forward to the new year!!

How you do keep yourself motivated?

hrrrmmpp.. i really wonder about it. i've been at this job for quite a number of years and honestly.. i'm starting to dread going to work.

i don't know if it is me or the environment that is slowly zapping me of enthusiasm and energy.

In an interview before i joined the library.. i was asked where i see myself in five years time. Well.. almost four years into the job.. i'm still doing what i did in the first year of my work.. and honestly. i'm getting very tired and bored with it. Ironically, i have been involved with so much more during my first years and getting involved with projects. Now.. all i get to do is to revamp a package, without the manpower and budget. ( that's another gripe)

I don't find the work challenging. At times.. i wonder if anything i do in the library is making an impact on patron's lives.

i now dread conducting programmes.. cos due to the openness of the venue... i'm constantly being interrupted by inconsiderate parents who dump their kids without consideration for the suitability of the programme or if kids needed to pay to attend the programme.

How do you do it? When you are in the middle of telling a story (at a programmes where parents pay money for their children to attend) and some other parent brought their kids into the programme and left them there? Would you... Do you stop the story to tell the parents that they have to pay?? What impact would the interruption have on the story and the children.. would you be losing their attention.. losing the build-up of the story.. losing what you have started on for the past 10-15minutes... short of re-telling the whole story... what do you do? just grit your teeth, be thick-skinned and advice the parents and continue the story?

It is things like that that is zapping me of my drive, passion and energy. What's the point in improving your skills in storytelling and entertaining the kids when you know that your session is going to be ruined anyway? Might as well do a crap job right?? Don't think that the kids themselves are enjoying it anyway.

Anyway.. i honestly don't see myself doing this for long... don't think that i'm contributing much.. and i rather be putting my energy in some other areas that i know i will enjoy doing and will be impactful and enjoyable to the recipients.

www.olkgal.com

Har har har.. guess wat? I've gotten an early X'mas present... and it's my own domain... www.olkgal.com

Ain't that cool??? har har har.. just wanna update this today.. before i forget and before it becomes old news!

Thanks Santa... you know who you are !! :)

Nerve wrecking and hair tearing session..

After a few false alarms..(they were supposed to be out on Monday, 6th Dec. However, were delayed until today), my exam results were finally released... it's been really scary for me waiting for the results.

Why, you ask?

Several reasons to be honest...

1. i overloaded myself with 3 subjects.. it's really hard having to run for classes 3 nights a week... reaching home only around 11pm. Plus the night shifts that i have to cover in the library. An average of 2 nights a week including weekends. Giving me not much time to catch up on readings and for my assignments. Forget my movies, tennis, gossip sessions... etc etc.. my social life (that's another issue).

2. You know how you are supposed to be on track with the readings that are assigned to you weekly.. i didn't read them till 1 week before my exams.. yeah.. how great is that? On the exam day itself.. i couldn't even remember which articles i have read and which ones i left out. My coursemate held out 1 article and waved it in my face..."This article is really useful." And of cos, i started freaking out... which article?.. What is it about?.. Do i even have it??

3. During my study sessions... i was watching Oprah on cable... and *gasp* bidding for stuff on ebay. It was something i did so that i could look forward to the end of the exams by having stuff delivered to my place. Oh.. the joys of receiving things in the mail. To be honest.. i spent quite a lot of money online... you know all about "retail" therapy, right? However, it backfired big time!! Why? i was so busy keeping track of my bids every second.. and with the time difference... it means that i was up till wee hours of the morning waiting for the end of the auction! My mum thought that i was so hardworking... if only she knew.

so slack.. so slack...

i worked so much harder in the previous semesters.... so of cos.. knowing the kind of effort i put inthis semester.... i don't expect my grades to be that great.. my motto since the start of the semester.. "Just Pass, Can Liao". But that doesn't eliminate the possibility of me failing 1 or more of my subjects... and the horror of having to repeat any particular modules doesn't sit well at all. Imagine.. all your time spent studying and attending classes when you are in the prime of your life??!!

By the beginning of this week... i was having a major freak out... checking the university's website every few minutes for my results. i have honestly never felt this way for a long long time. Even during my undergrad days.. i knew i would do well... and when i was younger.. i honestly couldn't be bothered about my grades at all.

The chill that went through my heart while the results were loading is not something that i want to go through again. It's too nerve wrecking. Don't think that i would be able to take it again. Once is enough. Thank you very much!

Oh.. and yes.. I cleared all my subjects. Surprise, surprise...got better grades than what i expected. In fact.. i'm jumping for joy right now... i didn't know that i could even better my undergrad results!! har har har!!

Till term starts again...and i'm not looking forward to it.. (well.. a bit.. cos this would mean end of the suffering and pain!)

Meet Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure

I did say that i would get back on this.

Nancy Pearl, a retired librarian from Washington Centre for the Book has a Librarian Action Figure modeled after herself. Seems that people can't get enough of it and it's been flying off the shelves with over 2000 sold. Ms Pearl claims that the action hero was a tribute to librarians.. and most librarians has a sense of humour. Therefore, they take it that way.

Honestly... would you get the Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure? I wouldn't. I personally think that it is hideous and will get nightmares if i look at it. It's strange how one tries to fight the stereotype of the bespectacled spinster-looking librarian.. and best feature of the action figure... push a button on her back and she'd assumed the POSE... one finger at the lips, ready to shush anyone who dares disturb the readers' peace. i hate that image ... can't wait to get out of this pose.. at least we have security guard shutting people up in the libraries here!

sigh... why can't we have a collectible Librarian Barbie, dressed in hip and happening clothes from Zara with the cutest accessories and the latest best sellers and interesting books on fact and figures for all...

Why? WHY? WHY?????

It's official... Tom Hanks as Langdon

well... it has been announced... Tom Hanks has been cast in the movie version of the best selling book, Da Vinci Code as Robert Langdon. At one point in time, several names were thrown up.. and seems that they are out now. Those names were star of 'A Beautiful Mind' Russell Crowe; Mr. Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford; Mr. Wolverine, Hugh Jackman and Mr. Big himself, Tom Hanks.

Personally I thought that Hugh Jackson was a fit.. i can just imagine him in tweed and being a code breaker and stuff.. thought that Harrison Ford was too old.. Russell Crowe was a bit too high wired... and Tom Hanks seems to be too stiff..

Oh well.. i do hope that the movie will live up to the hype of the book. It's one of the more interesting books that i have read this year.

Up and coming... Noah Wyle as The Librarian...

Hrrmmpp.. is it hip to be a librarian now?

Noah Wyle (aka Dr. Carter from ER) has a new role... as a librarian with the Metropolitan Public Library overseeing a very special collection: all the biblical, mythical and even literary treasures of the world, ranging from Pandora's box to the Ark of the Covenant to H.G. Wells' time machine.

Think Indiana Jones.. Think the mummy... hrrmmpp.. you get the picture... wonder when we'd get to see it here?