Thanksgiving Fun

So here I am, finally with a day off. Or was it?

Having been reprogrammed to get up early, I was awake at 7.30. Hey, it's better than 6.30 am. Up at 8 to catch up on e-mail, finally reading all those things that "I'll save and look at later" and printing the things I don't want to forget about.

Then off to work on my campaign statement for LSO. I am running for the Distance Student Liaison position, and my major project goal is to create/update, in a team effort, the SIRLS student guide which is not well-advertised nor comprehensive.

I'm listening to Old School Rap, Tribe Called Quest's album The Low End Theory. I recently found two sites where I can download some Bollywood music. Bollywood's kind of fun.

Haruka and I plan to venture out to find something for Thanksgiving dinner. Boston Market is open, and they offer a turkey dinner of sorts. We'll run around a bit and decide what we want.

Washing my clothes, as my bag was overflowing.

No, I'm not a bit lonely on the holiday. In fact, it's nice to stay home for a day with absolutely nowhere I have to be.

Weekend Warrior

Today was the last day for my IRLS 588 class. This was the one called "Native American Perspective in Museums". I had a great time this semester, and met some wonderful people. Some people weren't even SIRLS students, but were taking the class because it sounded great.

As part of our final project, we had to build a webpage for ourselves. The work was just for us, and wasn't being published on the Internet, but our group used Geocities. So you can go look at our work--just follow the link. http://www.geocities.com/kingfan666

Tomorrow I'm going to Sells, Arizona, with the visiting Japanese librarian. In preparation, I made some business cards. No, they're not the absolute best, but they're not bad. I found a box of business card sheets in the SIRLS building today, just sitting there unattended in a pile as though they weren't too important, so I borrowed a couple of sheets to make cards. Now, before you lecture me about taking things that don't belong to me, I can argue that they *do*. After all, I've paid a King's Ransom to the college thus far, and didn't see the need to purchase a box of 100 sheets for $16 when I only needed a few cards for now and forgot to look at Walmart for a smaller box when I was there last, so there...

Yes, I know, it's sort of basic, and not the most professional of cards, and usually cards have more contact information. But it's more useful in case my contact information should change, so that's why I only included an e-mail address. At the conference, I saw two other students who had made their own business cards, and they were like this too. Only Tracy used a book, which makes sense since we're librarians, but I wanted to step away from the norm. I liked the pagoda because then people might remember me a little more easily. And it's just something different.

AzLA Conference

I just returned from a two-day conference in Mesa, Arizona. It was the 2006 Arizona Library Association (AzLA) annual conference. This was my first professional-level conference for my chosen field (well, maybe my first professional conference in general, as I'm not sure that I would consider all of the JET stuff I had to do professional).

I stayed in Phoenix with my friends Tracy and Chuck, and I was treated like absolute royalty. The level of hospitality was definitely 5-star in my book! Tuesday we went out for sushi and beer to this wonderful place called Moto http://mrmotorising.com/ . Then Wednesday we drug ourselves back to Phoenix to find the welcoming smells of homemade chili eminating from the kitchen courtesy of Chef Chuck. I don't normally eat chili, but this was so delicious I had two bowls full, and had to force myself to stop eating! Kudos!

The keynote speaker this year was Mr. Ridley Pearson. He has written a number of "scary" books, but he has recently wandered into children's fiction (yes, I know, quite a change). His popular books are a recent collaboration with Dave Barry (the newspaper guy) which tell how Peter Pan became Peter Pan. The keynote speech he gave was hilarious, and his later talk on literacy was very inspiring. Ridley plays in an author rock band called the Rock Bottom Remainders http://www.rockbottomremainders.com/ ,which tours to raise money for literacy causes. You find that authors are some of the biggest advocates for literacy, and many share Ridley's attitude: it doesn't matter whether a person reads their books or not, it's just wonderful that they are reading at all.

While I'm not too familiar with Arizona authors, quite a few were at the conference for signings and presentations.

I attended some wonderful presentations on topics including manga (Japanese comics), literacy, technology in libraries, Myanmar and Palestinian librarianship, finding a job, and creating displays.

And, of course, I met a lot of nice librarians and networked a bit.

Naturally I splurged and purchased a couple of books to be signed. One was the first book in the Peter Pan series, and the other is a book by James Rollins called Map of Bones. I had never heard of Rollins, but he intrigued me because the program described him as an outdoor adventurist and certified scuba diver. It was fun to talk to him about diving.

I had a great time, but the next few days are busy. I currently have 45 e-mails to process from my Arizona account alone regarding college business, and other things like that. I'm working all day tomorrow, then I have class this weekend. Monday I have another business trip, as I'm accompanying the visiting Japanese librarian to see two libraries in Sells (no, don't really know where it is, but I know it's Southwest of Tucson. In the desert somewhere, I guess.). Then I'm working all day Tuesday, I'll have Kendo, then working all day Wednesday too. I *might* take Thanksgiving off, but Friday will be project work, then I'm working Saturday and Sunday to make up the days I'll miss because the library is closed on Thursday and Friday.

The semester is over soon...

Bushisms

I enjoyed a few Bushisms today, including my favorite one "Fool Me Once"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5794981655673893019

Butter Chicken

In more of my cooking expeditions, I made one of my favorite Indian dishes tonight--Butter Chicken. The sauce actually came from a mix I got at the Asian food store last week, and you add onion, butter, tomato paste, and water. Normally you'd have a dish like this with naan, but I didn't get dough mixed up while the day was warm so it wouldn't have raised. So I had it with rice instead. The package mix was lovely--just the right mix of tomato and butter to suit me. Although next time I make it I'll add more yogurt, as the tomato became overpowering by the end of the bowl.

Japanese Culture Week

I've been asked by one of my former students if I can eat Japanese food in the States. The answer, quite happily, is Yes! I can! In fact, some foods are made here in the States. For instance, Japanese rice is grown in California. I bought some miso that was made in California too. It was pretty good.
I made a proper meal--Pork Miso Soup, rice, and tea.




Is anyone else watching 14 sai no haha? Haruka told me about the series, so i went to Youtube and spent Saturday night watching the first 4 episodes. I'm glad we have things like Internet, so I can keep up with culture. I'm looking for three other shows-- Kazoku, Boku no aruku michi, and dari yori mo mama o aisu.


I also like the theme song from 14 sai no haha, Mr. Children's Shirushi. I've got it on mp3. If anyone wants it, e-mail me.

I got e-mails from my friends Kyoko Chan and Marui Chan. I was really happy to hear from them, as I hadn't heard from them since I left Japan. Everyone sounds well.

On American notes, November is a busy month here. I am going to conference next week in Mesa. I'm also working on a paper, and preparing two presentations. On Wednesday I will finish the First Aid course I started the last weekend in October.

There's only about a month and a half until I'm off to Cozumel. Yay!!!

Saturday Fun

Today my roomie Haruka and I took a field trip. First we went to the 17th Street market, at http://www.treasureshidden.com/, and stocked up on some nice Asian foods. I was reminded of my friend Lee Sean's journey into the deep dark corners of New York, where he found Pad Thai and a whole damn block of nice foods. For a podunk place of Tucson's size, the selection at 17th Street was spectacular. I found daikon!

Then we ventured to two bookshops, where I found a few things to buy, and to White Trash Mart... oops, I meant K-Mart fall-apart, where I bought a frying pan. Yeah, I know. Great life.

I discovered a lovely Japanese restaurant close to my house, in this forgettable strip mall, called Yamato. We had a kendo party there last Tuesday, where I enjoyed a Sapporo and katsudon.

The end of the semester is coming up really fast, and I'm spending my time wondering how the hell to get everything done...