I'm waiting for Colin, Andy, and some unspecified recent law school graduate/former child prodigy friend of theirs to show up. Colin assures me that the recent law school graduate/former child prodigy is not an asshole, which is a good thing, because there's a no assholes ban in effect in this fine apartment. Colin has introduced me to an asshole or two in his time, and I'm not having any more of it.

Tonight's plan probably involves drinking, either here or at one of the many fine bars that Champaign has to offer. Underage undergrads! The stink of cheap, shitty beer! Sticky floors! Yay!...or maybe not. Perhaps drinking at home would be a better option.

I already told Greg about this, and now I'm going to tell everyone else: New episodes of Space Ghost and the Brak Show start on Sunday, along with a new show called Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Shit yeah, that's cool. Space Ghost is probably second only to my beloved Mr. Show when it comes to favorite television programs. Oh, and I need this desperately. I even have a place to hang it up. Sadly, it doesn't feature Tansut, who is a favorite character of mine, but the mere sight of Brak never fails to make me laugh.

Where are those bastards? I hope they didn't get lost like everyone else who comes over to visit...

  ¶ 8/31/2001 08:06:00 PM

  After an hour and a half worth of serious toil in the Reference Room of the main library, I answered all nine of my Reference and Information Services homework questions. I'll have you know that there are eleven--count 'em, eleven--journals about stamp collecting published in France. As for the difference between IUR and IUr, well, some things should just stay under wraps.

There was a creepy guy in the Reference Room. He was kind of big and sloppily-dressed, and he was wearing a Tasmanian Devil bandanna (actually, it might have been a pillowcase) under his baseball cap, sort of like a veil. Frrrrreaky. He was also listening to music on a Walkman, only his music was loud enough that everyone within about a ten-foot radius could hear it, and he'd pound on the computer table along with his music every so often. Keep in mind this is a room full of people trying to do research and study, a room that is supposed to be quiet, so the pounding sound carried to the other side of the room. Every so often, he would emit this weird, creepy, snickery laugh. At one point when I was sitting next to him, I glared at him for making so much damn noise, and he made a huge production of turning his monitor away from me, presumably so I couldn't see that he was signing up for some sort of Disney Kids Club. About fifteen seconds later, I noticed that one of the computers on the other side of the reference desk was free, so I got away from Mr. Freaky.

That, my friends, is why I don't ever want to work with the public. My freak tolerance is extremely low. The reference librarian just ignored him, but she probably had better things to do than try to kick freaks out of the reference room. He looked like the sort of person who would raise a stink if she had told him to turn down his Walkman or stop drumming on the computer table. Either that, or he's just the regular reference room freak, and she's used to him and just tunes him out.

  ¶ 8/30/2001 07:00:00 PM

  Slowly but surely, I'm continuing to get used to life down here. Every so often I come to the realization that this really is my home now, whether I like it or not. Usually it happens when I hear people talking in that flat, sort of hick central Illinois accent I came to dislike when I was living in Decatur. Ugh, Decatur. I haven't gone out there since I moved here--actually, I haven't been out there since that weird, fucked-up St. Patrick's Day weekend I spent out there--but I'm sure I'll be headed in that direction sooner or later. I don't know why I'm still avoiding it. It's not like I'm going to be dealing with some drunk guy yammering about how much he loooooooves me ever again. (Long story, and not necessarily one worth telling, but true.)

I've had all my classes now, and I'm still of the opinion that the work isn't going to be particularly taxing. I'll have to work at a higher level here--I'm no longer attending (to borrow the immortal words of Quinn's professor) Mickey Mouse University--but I can handle it. I think I'm actually going to enjoy my reference class, which I wasn't expecting, and I'm already really excited about cataloguing and classification. There's some part of me that really loves memorizing and using all those little rules and styles.

I'm volunteering at the LRL computer lab right now--sitting at the lab monitor computer until 3 PM. After that, I'm headed over to the Main Library (my favorite place on campus!) to do my research homework, which involves combing through various reference books (this week, it's bibliographies, catalogs, and indexes) to find answers to really bizarre, arcane questions. Stuff like "What journals are published in France about stamp collecting?" and "What is IUR? Is it different from IUr?"

Colin might come out to visit me on Friday. Hopefully, he'll come through and actually show up. I'm also hoping to see Matty at some point. I didn't get to the corn maze last weekend, but I'm going to do that eventually. Really.

I might write something at ancillary later. We'll see.

  ¶ 8/30/2001 02:19:00 PM