High Praise Indeed

Today at work I got one of the nicest compliments from one of my library kids. One of our regulars, we’ll call him AA-E, told me I do a lot for them and if I ever needed a reference from a patron he’d help me out.

Booklist

As of 11/14/2009:

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer. season eight. vol. 3, Wolves at the Gate by Drew Goddard. Buffy experiments, Dracula makes an appearance. All together satisfying.
• Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon. My favorite Dark Hunter novel, this was a re-read
• Hot gimmick. Vol. 12 by Miki Aihara. Manga.
• Love com. 1 by Aya Nakahara. Manga.
• Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read By Scott McNulty. Highly recommended if you have anything to do with WordPress. I had it on hold for a long time before I got it. Apparently so did someone else because I couldn’t renew it. So I kept it and paid the late fee. It was worth it. It gets into the mechanics of WordPress rather than the best ways to write and publish your blog. I hope to find it electronically to add to my collection.
• A Touch of Dead: Sookie Stackhouse: the Complete Stories by Charlaine Harris
• The Dark-Hunters. Volume 1 by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Graphic novel. I had to put it on hold. It tells the beginning of Kyrian and Amanda’s story which I’ve not read in novel form. Now I don’t have to except I doubt the graphic novel will turn x-rated like the books do. Alas.
• Remember Me to Harold Square by Paula Danziger. I love this author. I read The Pistachio Prescription when I was in junior high. I love this author.
• Picket Fences by Kimberly Cates. Maudlin.
• The Disciples of Trotsky by Cevin Soling. Graphic novel. I found it shoved behind other graphic novels when shelving one day. I don’t think it circulates and will get weeded which is a shame. It should probably not go in Teen, despite its cartoonish style. I found it delightful and subversive.
• Chasing the Bear: a Young Spenser Novel by Robert B. Parker
• The Boxer and the Spy by by Robert B. Parker
• My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent. Teen book. Well plotted, not too contrived for a book about banshees (spelled bean sidhe in the book). Kaylee was a cool teen I’d want in my library.
• Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. I didn’t like it as much as The Sugar Queen. Garden Spells was her first book. It’s a good thing I didn’t read them in order or I may not have made it to The Sugar Queen which I did like.
• The Jungle by Peter Kuper. Graphic novelization of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The artwork was really excellent. It really communicated the despair, hopelessness and filth.

Ass Spray

Er, I mean Aspray. Pronounced A-spray. Not ass-spray as I originally assumed. I stand corrected. Even though that’s essentially what it’s for. Pay special attention to the guy 1:15 in. He’ll provide you with a quote you’ll want to remember.

Meniere’s Disease

I mentioned a few posts ago that I have been diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease. For my 12 readers I thought I’d post what it actually is. Meniere’s is a fancy-pants name for a wildly inconvenient inner ear disorder. It’s named for a French doctor, Propser Ménière. The four classic symptoms are: tinnitus, hearing loss (mostly in one ear but some unlucky individuals lose hearing in both), ear fullness, and last but not least, vertigo. Ah, yes, vertigo. How I loathe you. We’re not talking being wobbly at heights. No, no, no. Your eyes won’t focus and the world spins violently so immediately you can’t walk without resembling the worst drunk. All you can do is lie down and sleep it off. Except you can’t sleep because of the heart racing, mind spinning and vomitting. At least that’s how it is for me. It occurs with no warning. I’ve had it last anywhere from 2-6 hours. Sometimes months will go by with no vertigo attack and then I get it once per week. Thankfully only once at work. That was embarrassing.

The causes are unknown and there is no cure. Probably because it won’t kill you although you will want to die a little bit while you’re in the midst of a vertigo attack. To further complicate matters, my Menieres might have different causes and triggers than anyone elses. Although there is enough commonality to diagnose it, what works for me may or may not work for someone else. And there’s a lot of trial and error involved.

Right now I’m trying a regimen I found after much research. It’s all herbal/homeopathic. I ran it by my doctor and she gave me the OK to try it. She also perscribed Valium for when an attack is imminent. I hoard those since they are prescription. I also take Dramamine a lot. I really like it, actually. My dreams are really mellow and I sleep well. I avoid the Less Drowsy Dramamine because it makes me loggy the next day. Dr. L has also recommended vestibular rehabilitation which I will try next. She thinks it will work and so do I. I find that if I lay without a pillow I can feel the world tilting. This tells me that some exercises to help balance my ear goo will help. Basically, there’s not much I won’t do to avoid the vertigo.

Now Here’s Something Interesting

According to this New York Times Interactive whatever-it-is, white, women, aged 24-44, college educated have an unemployment rate of 3.6% compared to 8.6% for all people. I wonder how accurate these numbers are as my library goes into yet another round of cuts, 30% to be exact, rather than the previously identified 7.5%.

My Life as a Johnny Cash Song

I love the Man in Black. I just never thought my life would be one of his songs. I have been trying to pinpoint when things started to go south. My guess is 2007. I had the prospect of a trip to Africa to keep me distracted but I did start to notice in 2008. It wasn’t until I returned that the slide into a JC song got real. That’s when the shit approached the fan, pardon my French. Here’s why. After months of stress, layoff rumors and multiple interviews with no offers, I did get laid off, managing to keep my job only because people I liked and respected left for greener pastures. My business fell off a cliff. I had financial woes. I was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease. I decided to sell my house. My dad died. My dog died. My house sold and now I have <shudder> to move. And I ain’t got no man. OK, that last part is the last thing on my mind right now but, hey, that’s life in a JC song. At least I never picked cotton or shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

Farewell to My Pal

My pal DOG is gone. He did, in fact, have his opposite-of-birthday one week ago. I haven’t been able to think about posting anything sooner. It’s been a tough week since. Not only because I miss him but I’ve had an upswing in vertigo attacks (yet another post) that have kept me from doing anything but the essentials.

I bought him a t-bone steak the night before and cooked it for him rare with butter. He really enjoyed it and the bone, too. I had to lock Ruby out of the room while he ate. I caught her once chewing on the bone which she’d stolen from him. “Ruby, did you steal DOG’s last meal?” I saved a small bit for him for the morning. Then I held him on the couch while I sipped my coffee and cried.

I took him to Christown Animal Hospital. They were very compassionate but matter-of-fact. I needed them to be that way. I was holding together by a thread as it was. They let me stay with him. I won’t describe it except to say it was over quickly and I wouldn’t have missed one minute of it.

I made a short video of him using Animoto. I’m not done with it. I hope to get more photos from my brother and sister. I also have some video to add. You’ll have to forgive me for making the maudlin choice of “Amazing Grace” for the soundtrack. I really love that song. Plus, it’s sad anyway so why not go for it?

My sister and I agreed that he would be creamated. At first she wanted me to bring him home to Idaho for burial but we nixed that idea pretty quick. I just couldn’t see driving 14 hours with a dead DOG in the trunk. Too weird. I will pick up his ashes next week.

The dog was a gift and I miss him.

DOG’s Opposite-of-Birthday

DOG’s opposite-of-birthday is tomorrow morning. That’s all I can bear to call it, the opposite of his birthday. We don’t actually know when his birthday is. His age is hovering around 17. As near as my sister and I figure, he adopted her in 1995. It might even have been 1994 and he wasn’t a puppy then. G. figures he was about five years old but if that’s true he’s older than my calculation. In the end it doesn’t make a difference. He’s failing, confused, unable to sit or walk well and poops in the house nearly exclusively. This last bit is proof that he’s not in there anymore. Still, making the appointment was one of the strangest things I’ve ever had to do. I’ve known this decision was coming for a while and I’ve been unable to make the call until now. I’m planning to make a memorial video so if anyone has pictures of him, send them my way.

Hands Off in the Library

Today on the desk, DW caught a masterbator. Sort of. The kid on the PC next to the monkey spanker actually noticed first. The kid convinced a friend to go get one of us (DW was the lucky one and I am so jealous). He didn’t say anything, didn’t even look up. Just said he needed help and pointed to a Word document where he had typed, “That guy is jacking off.” DW was confused. Everything was spelled right. Maybe the kid had stepped away from his PC without locking it and one of his friends typed up an inappropriate message. Finally the kid typed an arrow next to the sentence and said, “Now do you see the problem?” Finally DW caught the drift and called the guards. The chicken choker CLAIMED he was itching his leg. I love this job.

Vampire Reading Room

There’s a funny sign floating around in library circles that says something like, “Welcome to the vampire reading room, formerly the teen area.” It seems like every third patron (teen or otherwise) comes in looking for Twilight (funny review of the series, just so you don’t have to read any of those peices of crap). But every fourth patron, behind the second wanting manga and the first wanting books from a reading list, asks for fantasy.