Let's GO somewhere!

OMG it's Saturday and I'm already typing up my post - look at me being productive! (aka, HOLY CRAP librarianship articles are super-dry and I have to read five and a half more in the next few weeks, please, oh, PLEASE give me something else to do!)

A lot of my bucket list involves travel. For starters, I would like to set foot in every one of the fifty states (and stopping for gas and a bathroom on my way through doesn't count). Current estimate is somewhere around half. Then, I would also like to set foot on 6 of the 7 continents, Antarctica not being particularly appealing to me. If I manage to miss them while doing the continents, I would like to be sure to go to Japan, India, New Zealand, Egypt, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia (and possibly Iceland), Northern Canada, Southern France, somewhere in the tropics, and the very tip of South America. And, of course, I would like to go to Harry Potter World, asap. I'm looking into maybe making it in the next year, I hope. Oh, and I want to go on a cruise, preferably an Alaskan one! I'd love to do a spontaneous road trip too, but I'm too much of a planner to really, you know, do it. So basically, if I ever settle down, he'd better like to travel!

Of course, I would also like to live abroad for a while, but I can see that not happening, because it will depend on the kind of job I can get, and if it doesn't happen before I meet someone, well, I can't very well ask them to pick up everything and move thousands of miles away from everyone they know just because I've always dreamed of living somewhere else.

I would like to publish something fictional, but will probably do so under a pen-name so the academic world doesn't look at me like I expressed a love for eating slugs.

I would like the six of us to all go on a vacation getaway together, because wouldn't that be fun! Especially if we went to Harry Potter World! Or a resort somewhere in the tropics!

I would like to meet a celebrity, but not in the disgusting fangirl way, in the "accidentally run into someone you really admire and be able to tell them so" way that never happens.

I would like to attend a Nerd conference, but probably not Comic-con, because that would be too many people, and not enough events that I'd like. Possibly Leaky Con or Book Expo America? Maybe that's still too big, but BEA sounds awesome, so I'd put up with it. AND I want a chance to cosplay. Katie and I were talking about how we should do Emma and Regina, because our hair is right (only mine isn't quite anymore - 8 inches came off on Thursday!)

And the boring stuff: I would like to find a job that I love, someone to settle down with, and have a little cottage with an entire room devoted to a library, in the mountains somewhere with a cat.

Bucket List

I have actually given my "Bucket List" a lot of thought.  Most people (or, the ones that like to talk about their bucket lists) put daredevil things like skydiving or hang-gliding on theirs, but given my fear of heights and general anxiety about dangerous situations, those experiences legitimately do not intrigue me.  I guess it would be cool to go parasailing over the ocean, though.

Not that there aren't *any* dangerous things on my Bucket List.  There is definitely one thing that I want to do someday that most people would (and do) look at me like I'm an escapee from an insane asylum for wanting:  I want to swim with sharks.  And not just the bottom-dwelling nurse sharks that hardly ever attack humans.  Those species are cool, but come on now, those aren't *sharks*!  I want to swim with Great Whites in their natural habitat.  I would be in one of those cages, granted, but still.  To see Great Whites in the wild is my ultimate dream.

I also want to take a couple of trips.  The first (and probably most exciting for most of you to read about) is a week-long trip to Florida to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  And yes, I want the entire week to be devoted to that single attraction.  The other parks are great, but it's WWHP that I really want to take my time through and see in its entirety, and if it takes an entire week to do it, so be it  =)

I also want to see the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in America.  I know, surprise surprise, right?

A European tour is also on my list, though it's more like an English Isles tour.  I would prefer to stay out of places that don't speak English.  Mom really wants to see Italy, so I would be more than happy to go there with her, but I am more attracted to England, Scotland, and Ireland.  In particular, I want to be sitting in a pub during and England v. New Zealand rugby game (the only sport I'll tolerate), and I want to see a particular rock formation in Ireland.  This being a public blog, however, I will keep this destination under wraps for privacy reasons.  I really just want to explore the Isles and see the pretty scenery and bustling cities.

There are also a lot of shows I want to see.  I want to see a Broadway musical, ideally Wicked or Hairspray (though I know that means actually going to New York City, which scares the living daylights out of me), I want to see a comedian live (Jeff Dunham, Ron White, Bill Engvall just to name a few), and I want to attend a metal concert of one of my favorite bands.  Ideally it would be Nightwish, but they usually only tour Europe, so that might get tricky.  Oh, and Celtic Woman.  I really want to see Celtic Woman live.

I want to be "read" by a psychic at some point too.  I know most of them are frauds, but it would be cool to see if I could find someone legit.  I believe in the skill, I just don't believe that most of the people who claim it are telling the truth.

Falling in love would be nice, too...

Most would see my Bucket List as pretty boring, but again, I'm the opposite of the daredevil type, so one isn't going to find anything overly dangerous on it (with the exception of the whole shark thing).  But that's it.  You now know some of my life goals =)

Bucket Lists

Have we done Bucket Lists yet? Let's do Bucket Lists.

Where do you want to go, what do you want to accomplish, what do you want to see before the end of your life?

I don't care either

This is me NOT CARING about anything LeBron does with his life. I have much more important things to care about. Like articles that aren't getting written because I'm caring too much about putting my characters into situations that they will be unhappy about. And the fact that August is approaching like a brick wall at the speed of light, and I'm slightly worried that I'm gonna go splat.

I Don't Care

So Anne took my post last week, so I'm taking Maggie's week this week, and Maggie can have next week, and so on.

But yes, for a topic:

I cannot possibly express how much I don't care about Lebron James and his return to Cleveland. That is all. 

Okay, first things first, JK Rowling just published MAJOR new info over on Pottermore, and we should talk about it, like, ASAP, so I can complain about how much she's screwing with my next gen headcanons, but that's not today's topic, so. Here are today's questions.

We've been doing this off and on for a whole year now!  (Okay a year and two months. Another birthday we kind of missed.)  What has changed for you in that year?  Do you like how this project is going?  Is there anything you would change?

I like how this has been going, honestly. Yes, there are weeks we all disappear, yes some of us disappear longer than others, but personally, I feel like this is a pretty low pressure project. Like, if we miss a few weeks, I don't feel like anyone takes it as an insult. We are very understanding of the idea that everyone is super busy, and sometimes blog posting falls by the wayside. 

As for how I've changed in that time, well, I finally got up my courage and moved out of Bowling Green. And I know now that I can be successful somewhere else. I have what it takes to make it. But I do miss Ohio and my family and all of you. I've learned a lot from the job I'm holding now, especially that I'm not cut out for it long-term, but also a lot about where my strengths and passions really are.




It's summer!  Woohoo!  What is your favorite summer pastime, and why?

I like to swim, and I like to travel.  

New Jobs and Swimming Pools

Option 1:  We've been doing this off and on for a whole year now!  (Okay a year and two months. Another birthday we kind of missed.)  What has changed for you in that year?  Do you like how this project is going?  Is there anything you would change?

I positively love this project.  Granted, we've all missed out on topics and postings, but overall, I think it's been pretty successful.  What I would change, however, is more contact with each other outside of the blog.  We kicked around the idea this past weekend of doing a Google chat (or whatever it's called) once a month or something, and I love that idea.  If someone shows or tells me how it would work, I am totally down for it.  Especially if we do a book club type of thing.

A lot has changed for me during the past year or so.  Loving and losing, for one, but I won't discuss that here.  Larger, more positive changes start with me getting my paralegal degree.  I truly enjoyed paralegal school at Lakeland, and I'm thinking about getting in touch with a couple of my old instructors and asking if they need someone to speak about how the program actually does work.  When I was there, there were complaints from the students that the program was essentially useless.  Thoughts on that idea?

Without that additional education, time-consuming as it was, I wouldn't be working today.  The Clerk of Courts called me out of the blue from viewing my resume online at Lakeland's website, and now I have a full-time job doing something that uses both my criminal justice and paralegal concentrations.  The job is difficult - I will probably be in training for about six months - but it has the potential to be fulfilling not only in the short run but also in the long run.

Because, let's face it, judges don't last forever.  There are only a certain number of terms that a judge can serve in Ohio before they age out.  The judge has...two?...more years of her current four-year term left, and then if she gets re-elected at the end of her term, she'll have another four years to go.  Usually, when new judges are elected, the first thing they do is throw their weight around and initiate a new regime.  Once a new judge is elected, all employees should essentially be worried about keeping their job.  However, the judge has told me before that if someone develops a good reputation in this area, finding something else shouldn't be a problem.

Option 2:  It's summer!  Woohoo!  What is your favorite summer pastime, and why?

My favorite summer pastime, hands-down, is swimming.  When my little sister and I were children, we were babysat by our grandparents every day.  We would walk to the local community pool by ourselves (only about half a block) and swim all afternoon.  I don't know what it is about being in the water, whether it's the weightlessness or the feeling of freedom, but I have always loved to swim.  It's also an awesome workout, and if there was a cheap way to do it around here, I totally would.

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I had an awesome weekend with all of you.  I love and miss you guys, and I hope everyone had / has safe travels home.

<3

Happy Birthdays!

Hey ladies! We've all been missing for almost a MONTH! Can you believe it?

Firstly, we need to get some business out of the way - we had a birthday to celebrate yesterday! Yay for Cassie! And, our country's birthday is today! WOOHOO! [enough exclamation points yet?!]

And, since it's Friday and I'm posting anyway, I'mma assign ya'll a topic. You have two options, and you can address one or both. Eventually, it'd be nice if everyone voiced an opinion on option 1, but you don't necessarily have to do it in public.

Option 1: We've been doing this off and on for a whole year now! (Okay a year and two months. Another birthday we kind of missed.) What has changed for you in that year? Do you like how this project is going? Is there anything you would change?

Option 2: It's summer! Woohoo! What is your favorite summer pastime, and why?