I'm a slayer, ask me how.

I haven't been doing a great job of keeping up with posts since the library opened. I'm not sure why, we haven't been particularly busy, but perhaps that is the problem? Somehow it is exhausting to keep yourself working for 7.5 hours when there is nothing to do.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad people are staying home and those that we do see are wearing masks, dashing in for books and then leaving. We do have our three computer regulars come in, use the PCs and then leave. But otherwise it is VERY quiet. TOO quiet. Even for a library. We can't really do any programs in the branch and only one staff member seems interested in trying out online programming. The rest of my team really wants to get back out into the world and keeps thinking of ways to help those trapped on the other side of the digital divide...but there is a lot to think about that. We are waiting to hear what the schools decide to do and maybe then we can brainstorm ways to support the teachers and students.

Gave ourselves a long weekend to have some alone time while the stepdaughter was out of town with her Mom. I know we just had two months "off" with the Stay Home order but there's something about being told to stay home versus taking a little staycation.

I managed to find the Ring Fit Adventure game for Switch yesterday! I did the first workout "zone" this morning, and OMG I am worried about how I am going to feel tomorrow. I was so tired afterwards, sweating like crazy. I am really bad at squatting correctly. My goal is to try to do it most days after work, before dinner (except for Wednesdays, when I don't get home until 7:30 and will be STARVING...).

Still playing Animal Crossing because that game is crack and it taps into my need to collect ALL THE THINGS.

The news is terrifying and I have gone from just being angry and frustrated to downright scared. Especially with what is going in Portland and other cities with these Federal agents being sent in for what purpose I don't know. Talk about millions of dollars being WASTED. How about throwing that money at the schools and helping unemployed people not get evicted? Blah.

We watched the first episode of 'Cursed' and I immediately put the book on hold at the library. I remember when it came in, had a very cool cover. I'm really surprised all the copies weren't check out! Give it time. Tim wasn't into the show very much, but he said he would watch one more episode. Pilot episodes are always hard, so much to plot and explain.

Not that I have been able to find time/make time to read. I am in charge of the library book club this month and I hate book clubs because assigned reading is my krpytonite. EVEN when I am the one that picked the book!!!! But I'm trying to re-read the book as quickly as I can prior to next Tuesday. Then I will be FREE to read what I want without that looming over me and hopefully I can find something I like. Note to self, from now on, only pick graphic novels for book club. Much easier to re-read.

Did I mention that I have started playing D&D with an online group of people I met during "Stay Home" ? We've had 4 games now, I think, and I have been having a great time. Though I think what is true of dreams is probably also true of D&D sessions - no one wants to hear about them unless they are in them OR there is sex in them.

It's 10pm now so I think I will try to solve a few murders on 'Return of the Obra Dinn' and then probably try to get to bed at a decent hour since I stayed up a bit late this weekend.

I will try to be better at keeping up with posts!!

I am so behind on entries, this was a long week. Everything actually went well, but we were all anxious the whole time, waiting for things to not go well. Honestly, I'm a little suspicious of how well things went at my branch...but I think I saw most of our regulars and they were all masked up so hopefully that means they will stay that way.

My apologies for not catching up on posts this weekend like I usually do. I started to read and then Tim asked to play a game together and then there was also maybe some wine and it was a good weekend but most of the things on my "I'll do that over the weekend" list didn't happen because my brain just needed to not worry about stuff in general.

And now it is bedtime because I am exhausted even though I slept really well last night, I ended up staying up too late because the D&D session with my online group went longer than it was supposed to. But we had fun and that is what counts. :)

Goodnight!

I haven't done a real post in awhile! I've been trying to get back into the work groove and it has not been easy. But everything will change on Monday when we open the doors to the patrons. Ugh.

ANYWAY - here is June in 30 seconds :)

First week of work went really well. It is hard wearing the mask all day but we all found time to kind of sneak away and breath. We're a small group so it wasn't too hard to social distance and we were all wearing masks so even if we did get a bit closer than we should have, we weren't breathing on each other.

The good news is that we are not opening to the public until July 6th (initially it was June 15). We are starting curbside and phone service tomorrow. Curbside is a BRAND NEW service so we have no idea what to expect from our patrons. We have SO MANY BOOKS on the hold shelf right now, hopefully they do not all show up tomorrow LOL.

The world is on fire and I have swung back and forth all week, looking at the news, then hiding from it. I've donated money to several organizations and I can't really think of what else to do besides social media support, emailing representatives etc. I am not brave enough to go to a protest. Just looking at the images of all the people gives me anxiety and you all know I dealt with crowds at PAX and what not. But I will try my best to be better, do better.

So, yeah, still playing Animal Crossing every day for a moment of mindless fun. My crokinole board arrived last week also and I LOVE it. I wish Tim liked it LOL. He just doesn't like games he can't win? I still love him though...I guess. :P Sylvia played with me and she enjoyed it. I'm thinking about visiting my parents, maybe wearing our masks and playing outside, if it is a nice day. That would probably be safest.

I'm wondering if I could visit them before July 6th. We've been pretty safe, and I feel like my staff has also been following the rules so I doubt any of us have the virus. But once we start working with patrons, all bets will be off. So maybe...I dunno. It's a thing in my brain.

I also did a bit of retail therapy and ordered some tabletop games from a local store to support them. And I had a coupon for an online store so I ordered some more miniatures to paint. Of course no one will play with me right now but whatever. I also backed a few games on Kickstarter because I HAVE A PROBLEM! But those won't show up any time soon.

Okay, need to get to bed and read for a bit. I started Accused! The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys: Lies, Prejudice and the Fourteenth amendment because I had it in my pile at work and this felt like the right time. The saddest part is, if I tweeted the headlines in this book, you wouldn't be able to tell they were from 1931...you'd think they were from yesterday. And people don't believe there is a problem.

Everyone stay safe, stay healthy, and support change. We won't fix things by tomorrow, but we can get things moving in the right direction.

Today was my first day back to the library since March 13. I was so anxious in the morning, I had to make myself eat breakfast because I didn't feel hungry at all. I think it is the most nervous I have been in a long time.

But it all went well. We were all so happy to be around other people. My voice is hoarse from talking all day. Wearing a mask got annoying by the end, but honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

We got most of the things set up for curbside service next week and my crack scheduling team planned out how we would cover all the services with the limited staff we have.

So I left feeling a lot less nervous about things. Obviously when we do open to the public, that will change things, but I am really hoping that gets put off until July. There's just a lot to figure out and many of the supplies we ordered to help create social distancing and make safe spaces have not arrived yet.

But, yeah, I'm feeling ok about going back tomorrow.

And I've already decided on Wednesday we are taking an extended lunch and all going to the ice cream shop down the road because I am the manager and I can do that. We all need a treat this week.

...it was also kind of good to be away from the news for the day, even though seeing everything right now as I get ready for bed is not helpful for sleep but being caught up in getting the library up and running was a welcome distraction.

Poor America. I'm not sure what will come of any of this...at this point, I've seen too many mass shootings with protests and police brutality with protests where nothing changed...it is hard to believe things will change, especially with this asshat sitting in the white house.

Going to sleep now. Stay safe.

I feel like I might need to do a friends cut. With everything going on, I'm still not making time to read every entry on here and I feel bad about that. I recently went through my twitter and tumblr and made my following list smaller and more manageable and it has been more fun to check in there and leave.

I always feel weird posting about it, but I know some people get very upset when someone unfriends/unfollows them without any kind of warning.

If I unfriend you, it's because I feel like I'm not being a very good online friend to you if I have unfollowed you, because I'm not engaging with your posts etc. and it feels unfair.

Stay safe.

Actually did it this time!

So much YouTube...

1. What was the last book you read completely?
Layoverland by Gabby Noone

2. How often do you read?
I try to read every day, usually at bedtime to help me unplug. This doesn’t always happen…especially right now with my sleep schedule being total garbage.

3. What is your favourite genre to read?
I’m usually pretty open to things as long as they are well written? I do like a good thriller with a bit of sci-fi thrown in though ala Michael Crichton.

4. What is your favourite book of all time?
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams still holds a special place in my heart.

5. What is your least favourite book of all time?
If I don’t like a book, I stop reading it, so one that I was FORCED to read but didn’t want to means it was a school book..still pretty upset about ‘Where the Red Fern Grows’. I can’t take any animal abuse.

6. Who is your favourite author?
Michael Crichton, Douglas Adams, Neal Shusterman…it’s too hard to pick just one!

7. What author is overhyped?
I don’t know, I’ve never been able to get through a Patterson but lots of people like his style so to each their own.

8. Do you prefer audio, physical, or an e-reader?
I like to read in bed, listen in the car. I havent’ bothered with an e-reader. I use books as a way to unplug and I feel like having a device in my hand would just lead to getting distracted.

9. Hardback or paperback?
Hardback just for text size and comfort of reading. I don’t have anything against paperbacks.

10. Bookmarks or dogears?
BOOKMARKS! I have so many bits of paper I have collected over the years that became “bookmarks”. Many an action figure box was trimmed carefully to create a bookmark.

11. Where is your favourite place to read?
In bed or at the breakroom lunch table.

12. Do you wish you were an author?
Do I wish I could write or wish I was an author LOL (throwing some shade there). It would be nice to have the focus and dedication to sit and write a complete story. I’m easily distracted.

13. How do you arrange your books on your shelves?
They are by topic/author. If it is a series, they are in release order.

14. What is the longest book you ever read?
No idea, probably the last Harry Potter book LOL. That thing was huge.

15. How many books do you want to read in 2020?
Well, I wanted to read 100 but that is not happening. World events have thrown off my groove.

16. How many books have you read so far in 2020?
12, but one of them was a Mo Willems easy reader so…

Come take part in a lovely livestream with Luke Westaway. These have been the highlight of my quarantine, I've spent the last several Thursday and Sunday afternoons "hanging out" with Luke and the #SpicySadSquad in chat.

If you like chill, lo-fi music, join us!

Thursday 4/23 7pm UK/2pm EST

originally posted to my Wordpress blog at www.orangerful.com

Hello everyone, how is your quarantine, stay-at-home (unless you’re an essential worker than many blessings upon you and I’m sorry people are assholes) going?

I am one of the lucky ones, at home but still getting paid. The biggest stress for me is just being motivated to do anything. You don’t realize how much structure the work week brings to you until it doesn’t exist.



At first I was like “I’ll just get up like any other day.” which slid into “well, maybe I’ll just sleep in a bit” and that quickly became “whatever, I’m up when I’m up.” – which wouldn’t really have mattered so much if my body didn’t feel like absolute rubbish after two days of this behavior. I found that the mornings I had to wake up for Teams meetings for work were the days I usually felt the most like myself. But that was just twice a week, what was worth getting out of bed for otherwise?

Two words – Live Stream.

I watch three YouTube channels pretty faithfully – OutsideXbox, OutsideXtra and Dicebreaker. They are located in the UK so their live shows would happen when I was at work and I couldn’t join in the fun. A couple months ago, Dicebreaker started their D&D sessions and premiered the videos on Saturday mornings, and I was finally able to watch live while the YouTube chat scrolled by. It felt amazing to watch along with other fans, chatting with them and the Dicebreaker team about the game. Extra laughs, inside jokes and just a great community experience.

Then the virus hit and we were told to stay home. And bless them, OutsideXbox, OutsideXtra and Dicebreaker not only took their gear home with them, they upped their livestream game, creating content for most days of the week. And since they were on UK time, their afternoon streams became my reason to set my alarm for the morning.



In addition to all of that, Luke Westaway, part of the OutsideXtra team, who has been dabbling in music making for the past couple years, started doing personal live streams of him making music. A small but mighty group joined in his chat, some with actual music theory advice and some just enjoying seeing the process live, but all of us happy to escape reality. A few of us even started a side Discord channel, giving us a place to keep talking and keep interacting when the streams weren’t happening.

I’m not home alone either, but the other two people in my family are more introverted than me and are just doing their own thing. I miss having people around. I usually work in a public library, where people are always chatting, laughing, and I really miss it. Its been nice to hear other voices, random giggles and smiling faces. Sometimes, I’ll just put the videos on in the background to feel like I’m just somewhere else. And I know I can count on this group to keep it fun.

It is a weird time, and as I settle in for another stream of D&D played live, I start to think about when I used to watch live TV and the fandom community and while I love my on-demand life now, it makes me realize how much I miss that part of being into a show, needing to watch it at a certain date and time and then talking about it with everyone. But that’s a post for another time.

So yes, thank you to these channels and thank you to the awesome fans who have such a fun time in chat, throwing around puns and banter.

What little things are you doing to give your day structure? Or are you just taking it one day at a time? What comforting things are you watching, reading, or listening to?