More good stuff

[rabid1st]

Long time readers of this journal...and those who wait patiently (somewhat patiently...uhm...not completely IMPATIENTLY) for more Disheveled or Minotaur...know that I've suffered for several years with a chronic neurological condition. Well, it finally impacted my job and I've transfered away from my beloved little library. As of today, I am no longer Branch Library Head but will instead be nothing more than a cog in the greater library machine of a much, much bigger library.

This means...no more cleaning the men's room after "accidents"...no more being called a stupid, ugly cow for insisting someone to pay for the CD they took out five years ago and failed to ever return because the guy they lived with ran off with another stupid, ugly cow and they had to move and how is THAT their fault...no more patient nodding of my head while some wacky guy who smells quite strongly of peaches explains how the government is controlling us through the internet and he'd like to hand out a few homemade brochures and talk to his fellow patrons about it so we can save a few lives...no more kerfuffles about gay penguins and godliness. No more fights to break up...no more cars to have towed...no more raucous kids to toss out...no more skateboarders running over old ladies...no more fine print to read in the maintainance agreements.

One less bell to answer. One less egg to fry. One less man (who leaves each section of the newspaper on a separate chair) to pick up after.

No more little library to nurture along and love.

:SNIFF:

It's rather like empty nest syndrome, this.

But I'll tell you what...

You know what makes empty nest syndrome a whole lot easier to handle? PRESENTS!

Seriously, we should do that for everyone when their last kid leaves home...PAR-TAY. My wonderful crew...threw me a wonderful party today and I mean WON-DER-FUL.

Most of my favorite patrons attended...and there was a cake that not only had chocolate fudge mousse inside...but also...DAVID TENNANT on it. And ME...in the place where Rose usually would be.* Yep, it was one of those laser printed cakes with a manip of me and the Doctor that my lovely crew had to go to loads of trouble to get by as the Doctor is trademarked and the cakemakers refused to use his image. They finally had to remove the DW logo and pass DT off as my boyfriend. <<---COOL! And oddly enough...a person who had only met Jan a few times at library functions thought it WAS Jan. "WOOT!"**

I also got a beautiful desktop fountain...a hand-crafted wine stopper (for my wine...me and Jeramiah...always have the mighty fine wine)...a stuffed jaguar...and the one thing I have always lusted after and never really had the audacity (and funding) to buy for myself...one of those full body chair-size massagers. And OMG! Is it fantastic! I am sitting here...right now...listening to trickling, relaxing water, sipping wine, looking at a picture of DT and me...and being gently pummelled by setting 16: Heat and a Swedish Guy Named Sven.

AH! No more stress.

Rae
*One thing...you know that photo someone took of you at an office party that is just so awful you can't bear it? The one that makes you look like a prize-fighting gerbil who has gone to seed and run to gut after a long battle with booze and steroid abuse? The one you stuffed in a drawer at the office, thinking no way can you take it home? Destroy it now before it ends up on a cake.
**And yet...someone thought I could score David Tennant! "Woot!"

Comments

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Yay for less stress!!! And yay for David Tennant on a cake. :) (I don't think I'd ever be able to eat it - I'd have to get it professionally preserved.)

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Luckily, they gave me an 8X10 of the manip...which is what I am looking at...but it is disconcerting as that picture from the office is really bad. Seriously, who knew they would put THAT on a cake?

Still...I'm hoping less stress means more fic production. I think it might mean that...as each task was handed over to my successor...I felt a little lighter...a little less pressure in my chest. So, even though I'm a bundle of mixed reactions...I'm not really upset.

Rae

[tsukara.livejournal.com]

I am sorry you're having to transfer libraries, however it sounds like it'll be alright. You're very lucky to have co-workers who would go to so much trouble for you. (Such cool presents! And that cake! Ha!) I'm glad you had a good party.

Good luck as a cog in the vast machine that is a modern-day library. (And enjoy that chair!)

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the good wishes. Yes, it's a mixed bag of emotions...very like empty nest, I imagine. I sort of feel at loose ends. What will I do all day when I no longer have to worry about this ENTITY...? It will be like a son off at college...out there...doing its own thing while I fret over it. But I think I will just start living for myself, yeah?

And being a cog could be mighty restful. Also...massage chair!

And, oh, yes, I am aware of how special my crew is...they worked as a seamless machine and we were churning out the customer satisfaction these last few months. We got so much done and we all got along well. What a shame to break us up...but there you go...change is part of life. One thing I never knew though was how sneaky they all were...like a few days ago one of them casually brings up her family coming into town...and asks where I take mine when they visit. I tell her a few places...one of the The Olive Garden...and she's all..."You like Italian? What's good there?" <<--then they had the Olive Garden cater the party. SO sneaky!

Rae

[tsukara.livejournal.com]

Yes, I leave for college this fall (hoping to get work-study in the library, incidentally), and am definately seeing previews of the sort of mixed feelings it's going to bring. Changes are hard! But not necessarily bad.

Ooo, they are good!

Anne

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

That's how I started work-study in the library. I'd planned to be a Veterinarian...but was sidetracked by having a boatload of animal allergies.

Library work is good for work-study...pays well and isn't the grind that food-services is...also flexible hours...and if you are in the college library you do get some time to study in some of the jobs. Of course, at my little library I worked the students to death. No, not really...but we are very busy so they don't get any study time. And I didn't either, when I was in college, because I worked in the public sector. Instead, I got a job after college...and worked my way up...to Branch Head. Not that you should worry that happens to everyone... :grin:

Rae

[tsukara.livejournal.com]

I started much earlier than this. I've only been working in my high school library for three years straight. And the education I've been flirting with for years is going to DU or someplace and getting my Master's in Library Science. Though things may change.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Also...throw your folks a party before you go off to college...it's really nice to get presents. They will throw you one...and then...you can throw one right back...invite their friends over...get them something to occupy their time...dance lessons or something.

Rae

[jlrpuck.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a bit of a bittersweet day; congratulations on the freedom of leaving your huge swath of responsibility, but condolences (not the right word, but my brain is reeling from re-watching Rose) on leaving your little library. It sounds like you had a heck of a sendoff, though!

Best of luck.

Bittersweet about sums it up

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

But I'm sure I'll adjust to the whole thing...once I get used to the idea that nobody really needs me to solve a crisis every two minutes anymore. Maybe I could volunteer in Emergency Service to get my adrenaline rush.

Thanks for the best wishes.

Rae

[maypanic.livejournal.com]

That is quite a send off! How long were you there?
I hope the reduced stress of the new position helps you find an improved measure of health. Dealing with chronic illness is bad enough, it's just not fair that stress can exacerbate the symptoms, is it?

I used to have one of those massage chair mats for my car, it was heavenly after a long day at work. Sadly, falling asleep in traffic is generally not a good idea, so I had to give it up. Mine, however, did not have a setting 16.

I may have exaggerated just a bit...

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

...about setting 16. :-> But it is still very cool...and yes, puts me into zoned out lalaland...so definitely wouldn't want to operate heavy machinary just now. I've been at that library for eight years. Or...as one of my patrons put it today...as long as we can remember. They kept quizzing me with library trivia...and I have let it all go...so I wasn't much good to them. How long as this library been here? I don't know...some time in the early 1900's. Who were the librarians before you? Who knows...Mary Somebody or Other.

Yes...it is sad how stress takes a toll. My doctors have been doing all they can to keep me functional...but I hope this makes the difference. It could...it all depends on what I'm going to be doing in the new "changing environment of librarianship." <<---that's an ominous bit of buearacratic phrasing for you, huh?

Rae

Re: I may have exaggerated just a bit...

[maypanic.livejournal.com]

Exaggerate away, it's a lovely mental image. ;-)
That is a long time to be at one job these days. Been at mine 7 years next month, which means I've been there longer than all but one of the VP's and assorted other upper management.

Stress... and then of course one stresses about how the stress is making you ill, which compounds the stress and makes it even worse, etc.

That is a rather ominously ambiguous phrase. Of course, the first rule of bureaucratic wording is "never say with three small words what can be said with ten large ones."

[dettiot.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that you've had to leave the little library that you loved, but at least some of the stuff that you had to do, and that is not exactly what you look forward to doing, is now stuff you won't be doing. And seriously, your crew rocks! Manipping you and DT together? That would be, like, the best thing EVER. [goes all giddy for a moment]

I hope you enjoy your new place!

[fishsanwitt]

Aw. Those presents sound *awesome* and I had to laugh at the list about your little library :)

::hugs::

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

Bittersweet ... but it's got to be nice that everyone put such a lovely display on. It sounds like this is the right move for you!

[omega85.livejournal.com]

YAY!!!! I am so happy for you, hun! :D *HUGGERS*

[gobi-rex.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you have the best kind of sneakiest co-workers (if there's such a thing). I'm glad you had a wonderful going-away party, even though it's bittersweet.

Good luck at the new library, Rae.

P.S. May I ask why a stuffed jaguar?

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

Congrats, I love libraries, but don't think I could run one. Sigh..teenagers and their skate boards. And they never seem to fall down, though they will run into cars.

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

**And yet...someone thought I could score David Tennant! "Woot!"

Clearly otters and gerbils are made for each other.

And I'm glad you had such a party - it shows that your co-workers and regulars appreciate you, even if your manager doesn't. And I hope the cog-in-the-machine thing works out for you.

*admires your cake*

[bluevolvic.livejournal.com]

the cake sounds Cool :D how does DT taste ? :P

Goodluck in the new Library ;)

[chicklet73.livejournal.com]

You had a Tennant cake! That is utterly fantastic!

I hope the new job is far less stressful... *hugs*

p.s.

[chicklet73.livejournal.com]

*waiting patiently for more Disheveled*

[padawanpooh.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Yay for a fresh start and less stress ;-)

[webeh.livejournal.com]

They finally had to remove the DW logo and pass DT off as my boyfriend.

You must be living outside of the UK. Because, I think there's no way they would have been able to pull that off in the UK. Well, unless the cake-maker was a hermit. ;)

I hope you get much love from your new library. My mom's a librarian assistant (damn that Masters requirement!!), so I do have some idea of how stupid some people can be in the library environment.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your job move - may it all go well!

The party sounds terrific and I want David Tennant on my cake, too.

LOL

[ladyof-leisure.livejournal.com]

..."prize-fighting gerbil"...


?


(is dead on floor from laughing too hard).