Boost your vocabulary

THAUMATURGY
n : the performance of miracles; specifically : magic


NIDUS
n 1: a nest or breeding place 2: a place where something originates or develops


PULCHRITUDE
n : physical comeliness : beauty


APPOSITE
adj : highly pertinent or appropriate : apt

Dry cleaning doldrums

Today I went to the dry cleaner and that is something I just hate doing! It seems like such a waste of money to me and, to make it worse, I never have any idea how much it will cost until the bill is given to me. Is it too much to ask for a dry cleaner to have a price list hanging near the register so I have some idea what to expect? I picture a price board like one that is found at a fast-food restaurant as ideal for a dry cleaning establishment also. I brought a coupon for 25% off but the order still totaled like $26. This was for five items: 1 skirt, 1 blouse, 1 pant, 1 shirt and 1 sweater. In the past, I have tried to call to gauge the costs but it never seems to be what they tell me over the phone. I guess it all depends on the material of the item? Since I know nothing about the dry cleaning process, I feel like I'm at an extreme disadvantage. I'm not even sure what questions to ask. I'm not even convinced that dry cleaning is all that essential for most of the items that say 'Dry Clean Only' but I'm too chicken to test it on most of my clothing!

Anyway, just a rant...

Ten things I do not miss about Syracuse

In no particular order...

1.) The weather
2.) My apparently hard-of-hearing downstairs neighbor who took to talking on the phone so loudly that I could hear her through the floor and also played music and watched television at similarly loud decibels
3.) Taking online courses with professors/instructors whose classes are approximately 450th on their list of priorities (although technically I have two more classes to take and that might not be over for me)
4.) All the plumbing in my apartment, from the leaky kitchen faucet to the corroded bathtub faucet to the occasionally running toilet
5.) The Library & Information Science program in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University
6.) The Library & Information Science program faculty (save a select couple of professors)
7.) The job market
8.) Bad drivers, as my car was hit three times in two years (in other words, three times more than it had ever been hit before moving to Syracuse)
9.) The stress and tension of having to write papers, read all the assignments and keep up with classes as a full-time student
10.) Paying a deposit on bottles and cans and then ultimately trying to get the deposit back via recycling

It was much easier to come up with things I don't miss, although I still struggled coming up with ten. Plus, I'll admit that some of them are definitely not unique to Syracuse and could happen anywhere. They were, however, reminiscent of my Syracuse experience!

Ten things I miss about Syracuse

1.) Brian
2.) Catherine
3.) Curtis
4.) John
5.) Mark
6.) Hanging out at Taps with my friends (many of the above-mentioned ones)
7.) The fact that you can pretty much drive anywhere in the city in less than twenty minutes
8.) The I-Lab (well, I spent a LOT of time there and I suspect I will never have two monitor screens at once like that ever again)
9.) Carousel Center (even though I rarely went there, it is a NICE mall!)
10.) How you can get $5 pizzas just about everywhere

Yep, that's about it. Not even three weeks removed and these are the things that come to mind. It's not a particularly compelling list, is it? Two years of my life and that's the best I can come up with? I tried to think of something regarding S.U. and the school, but the best I could do was #8, which is on campus. I also had 'My friends' as an item grouped together at first and then realized that I needed to give each of them a number in order to get to ten items. Yikes. And, not to say that I only had five friends there, but I would say that those five were definitely my closest friends. Plus Dan, but since he told me he was only my friend and only hung out with me (just the two of us alone sometimes) due to "social obligation," I would pretty much say that he successfully extracted himself from the list of things I miss as well as put himself at the top of the list of "Ass Holes I Know" during one five-minute conversation.

Besides them, Megan gets an honorable mention because although she was my good friend and I do miss her a lot, she's been gone since December so at this time, I am more used to missing her. If that makes sense.

Words-of-the-day

Yes, I'm still collecting words-of-the-day, despite not posting them on here. I'll post some as I get around to it. Today, here are a few:

BIBELOT
(pronounced like: bee-bi-low)
n : a small household ornament or decorative object : trinket


PASQUINADE
n : 1: a lampoon posted in a public place 2: satirical writing : satire


MEGILLAH
n, slang : a long involved story or account


Perhaps when I am on vacation, I will write a short story or novella, turning one of my many megillahs into a pasquinade?

With my parents, I get lazy

So I've moved back to Cleveland temporarily while I job search, to save money and to see my family and friends, who I haven't really seen much of the last two years. It's been nice staying with my parents, although it's also kind of difficult because I miss having my own space and my doing things the way I want to do them. Not to mention that my Internet access is kind of limited. I am getting fairly laptop-proficient, however, which is a plus, I guess. Although it just makes me want one more and well, that's just one other thing I can't afford right now.

Anyway, my plan for now is to go on vacation to Hilton Head, SC, with my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and nephew next week and when I get back, go full-steam ahead with the plan to move to Washington, DC.

I think.

I REALLY need to send out some more resumes/cover letters because I've pretty much burned the bridge at IPS, where I'd already had a couple of interviews and where they seemed to really want me. Call me crazy but I get really turned off by my future employer constantly calling me 'Cindy,' even when I correct her. But that was just a small problem among the many reasons why I feel less than confident that it is the place for me.

Dilemma of the week

My current quandry involves whether or not I should participate in graduation activities this weekend. On the 'no' side: Well, I already have my diploma. It costs like $60 to rent the required cap & gown get-up. Umm, I pretty much hate every faculty & staff member at this school by now and have zero desire to hear any of them speak, let alone have one of them presumably butcher the pronunciation of my name. On the 'yes' side: I have some good friends here that I will never see together in one place ever again probably and this would be a last opportunity for good-byes and pictures and all that. And that's about it, I guess.

You know how graduation ceremonies go... family is there and you really don't have a whole lot of time to spend with friends. It could very well make me feel even lonelier when the crowds part and I'm left there alone. I guess I do wonder if I would regret not participating if I choose not to... There is an in-between option that involves attending the ceremony and seeing my friends but not actually participating.

Whatever I decide, I have to basically do so by tomorrow at 5pm, I think, which is when they stop passing out the caps & gowns.

My weekend

I have done absolutely nothing today except bake some cookies, sleep and watch a few Lost episodes. I'm way behind on that show and decided to start watching all the eps from this season a few days ago. Umm, that's kind of a big mistake considering I still have a huge assignment due and that show is mega addictive. Anyway, today I didn't feel that well and haven't entirely had a day off in weeks so I felt I was due. Plus, it's not really a total day off since I'm finishing up all the assignments for my one class. Each student had to post on the class (677) blog seven times during the semester, picking out and critiquing a digitization project each time. I had one left to go and had put it off, put it off, put it off. But I finally just did it. That blog is kind of interesting and a good time waster if you are interested at all in seeing digitized collections of things from all over the world, although I would say the majority of them are from museums and universities. My recommendation, also, is to just click on the links and not read all the garbage that my classmates write on the blog. As has happened with all my classes this semester, students seem to not know when to shut up. My other online class (631) has had nearly 2,500 posts on its bulletin board. That's a lot.

Now I have to post the bulletin board for the 677 class one final time and then all I will have left to do is this one final project. The presentation part of it is due tomorrow but I really want to get the presentation and the paper parts done by Monday so I can start focusing on other things (like graduation and moving!). I already got the grade for my third class (676), which wrapped up on Monday.

In other news, I now supposedly have that interview this coming Tuesday. We'll see if the phone call comes this time. Also, go Cavs!

But the phone didn't ring...

I got a call last week for a job interview (woo hoo!) at this grad school in the Washington, DC, area and was supposed to have a phone interview today at 2pm. Well, by 4:30pm when the phone still hadn't rung, I decided it definitely wasn't going to happen and hightailed it out of my apartment to try to salvage the day and get some work done on campus. As it turns out, the call didn't come until about 6pm. The woman apologized but basically admitted that she had forgotten about me in the midst of "emergencies." So she wants to reschedule. And I will. BUT, it makes me even less eager to consider this position... and believe me, I already was regrettting sending my resume.

See, some of my fellow students and I have been talking about the 'just send your resume out to anything' tack vs. the 'only send your resume to the jobs you really, really want' tack. Jobs in our field, particularly entry-level ones, are hard to come by so if we really want to get a job, we really can't afford to be too selective. On the other hand, who wants to apply for a job that really doesn't sound the least bit like anything you would want to do, right? Anyway, there's really no solution, but this job that I was supposed to have the interview for, it was borderline the former category.

Enough words for a small dictionary...

I have a whole slew of words to post from April's word-a-day emails... not that I have ever referred back to any of the other ones I've posted. But you never know, one day I might want to use one of them.

USUFRUCT
n. : 1. the legal right of using and enjoying the fruits or profits of something belonging to another; 2. the right to use or enjoy something

SACERDOTAL
adj. : of or relating to priests or a priesthood: priestly

DILUVIAL
adj. : of, relating to, or brought about by a flood

PAROXYSM
n. : 1. a fit, attack or sudden increase or recurrence of symptoms: convulsion; 2. a sudden violent emotion or action: outburst

MUFTI
n. : civilian clothes

IMPUISSANT
adj. : weak, powerless

CHOUSE
v. : to cheat, trick

What celebrity do you look like?

My friend Mark pointed out this Web site to me - MyHeritage.com - which is ideally a genealogy Web site but which features face recognition technology. I think the idea behind it is if people upload pictures of themselves, they can find long-lost relatives based on the face recognition technology. What the site also offers, though, is an ability to scan a person's face from a photograph and then tell that person what celebrities they look like. It's pretty cool. So, of course, I went crazy with it one day.

The first picture I uploaded of myself indicated I look like Pierce Brosnan and Anna Kournikova. Another picture of me with a friend indicated I look like Eva Mendes. Now, I'm not going to complain about any of those comparisons as they are all attractive people, but I'm not sure that they are true! I guess it's not so much that you might look like these celebrities but that you have matching facial features. Anyway, it was fun!

A new way to blog

Maybe from now on I will just post my horoscope for the day and talk about how close or how far off it was... ha ha. It's just that the one for today couldn't have been closer to the truth:

Today your creative impulses could seem totally blocked, dear Cancer. You might be trying to reach a deadline, whether it's one of your own or one imposed by someone else. You feel the need to get some work done, but your muse seems to have gone on vacation. If your deadline is official, phone whoever's in charge and ask for an extension. If you force yourself to work today, you won't be happy with the results.

That was so true. I struggled to get some homework done, barely got anything accomplished so my muse was definitely gone. If it's ever around in the first place, that is. Luckily, my deadlines were self-imposed so I have some time to get things done next week. Instead of being productive, I watched the Cavs win (yay!) and also watched Walk the Line. Enjoyable, both of them!

Today's horoscope

So I love reading my horoscope but today's is really awesome. Here is what it says - via Yahoo! Astrology:

Today is a good day to slow down a little. Take a long hard look at what you've accomplished lately. Count everything, not just the big things. Have you made your bed most days? Point for you! Have you brushed twice a day, and flossed at least once? Big points! Have you, in the last week or so, told at least one person you're close to that you appreciate them? Really gargantuan big point! What does your list of accomplishments look like?

Now, how can I not like a horoscope that tells me that making my bed and brushing my teeth twice a day is quite an accomplishment!! Especially since I have many, many days lately where I feel like I get nothing accomplished at all despite every effort, it's nice for the astrological guides to tell me that I am wrong!!

Silent Bob Speaks

I've been reading Kevin Smith's chronicle of the life of his buddy, Jason Mewes. Perhaps they are better known as Jay & Silent Bob from the Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back movies... and the upcoming Clerks II.

Anyway, over the last few weeks, Kevin has been chronicling Jason's long battle with drug addiction on his blog. He's up to eight parts and is still going. This is the link to the first part. It's an interesting read. To get to the subsequent parts of the story, the best way is probably to use the calendar and go by date, since the 'Daily Posts' only total seven. He posted part 1 on March 28, part 2 on March 29, part 3 on March 30 and then the rest have been in April.

Test your '80s Music Lyric Knowledge

This quiz asks you to fill in the blanks from all kinds of songs that were hits in the eighties. It's a good quiz, but long. There are 103 questions total (including a couple bonus ones) and I found it hard to stay focused after about the 40th question. Plus, I suck at remembering lyrics out of context like that. And the scoring is bunk. It seems like half of the ones I got right only earned me a 1/2 point because they were "too easy." Yet, I also earned 4 pts. per question for at least two. Where's the consistency, dude? Also, they are strict about spelling, which wouldn't usually be a problem but, here's a hint: It's Jessie's Girl, not Jesse's Girl.

Oh, I got a 50, which I have to say is better than I thought I would get.

I'm such a sap

I cry so easily at movies. Not intense sobbing or wailing or anything, more just tearing up... but there I was yesterday watching The Iron Giant, an animated movie from 1999 and I frigging started to cry! Not only is it animated, but it's about a gigantic robot made of steel that needs to munch on steel in order to survive and is presumably from outer space - so you really can't get as far away from reality as that - and yet, I still got sucked in... I'm so pathetic :-)

Library news

First of all, I suppose I should comment on the new U.S. News & World Report Graduate School rankings, which lists Syracuse's Library & Information Science program as third best - the same ranking it's been for years. Also, the Digital Librarianship program - which is technically what I am in now - ranks second. Here's the school's press release about it. As if that was all I needed to help me get a job. It is probably good timing, though.

Secondly, I found this Web site that lists the "favorite" books by celebrities. This librarian in Maine compiles a list every year. The celebrities are browseable by name so theoretically, a person could find their favorite famous person and read the books they choose! It's kind of a neat idea.

No aqua

I woke up yesterday with the plan to go to campus and get some reading done in the morning before having to leave for the field trip to the Rochester Public Library at 1:30 but when I got up, our apartment had no water! Ugh. That makes showering a little difficult. So I waited a bit, had some breakfast, waited a bit, checked my email, waited a bit... I kept waiting because I could hear someone (the landlord?) working on the situation so I thought it would possibly be resolved soon. By about 11:30am, I had figured out how to brush my teeth and wash my face with bottled water. I also decided that I should just go without a shower, but I really didn't think I could go without washing my hair. I get horrible bedhead and it really isn't salvagable without water. So I pulled more bottled water out of my refrigerator, grabbed the tub that I wash hand-washables in and set to work drenching my head with freezing cold water. Washing my hair that way was surprisingly successful.

Of course, by the time I left for school, the water was back working.

I've got personality...

In class on Monday night, our professor had us take this personality test. It's an offshoot of the Myers-Briggs test and it was called the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. I guess the idea is that you take this, are given a personality type and then can help choose the best career path for your type. So, I scored as an INFJ. She had small blurbs for us to read about ourselves in class but I was not that impressed that it fit me. So, yesterday I poked around on the Internet a little and found another, very similar test that I took and, what do you know, tested as an INFJ again. Okay, so I'm an INFJ. From there, I found a site that explains that type in much greater detail and I think it is really me! What I liked best is that the INFJ type is apparently quite rare, with less than 2% of the population fitting into this category.

My "True Love" zodiac match

This has been sitting as a 'draft' in here for a few days. I don't know why I didn't post it at the time (probably absent-mindedness) but I'm going to post it now. Elizabeth sent me this link to find out my true love match zodiac sign... so I took the test and scored Taurus. Yeah. Sure. I think the one Taurus in particular that I know now would disagree with that. And I think the part about my "honesty and direct approach" is exactly what scares the hell out of him. But, it's fun to take those tests!

Your True Love Is a Taurus

Why you'll love a Taurus: Romantic and sentimental, a Taurus can provide you with the security you need. And you both share a fondness for the finest things, from great food to luxury vacations. Why a Taurus will love you: You have the honesty and direct approach that down to earth Taurus desires. And enough elegance to show a Taurus a few new decadent delights!

What Sign Is Your True Love?