Tonight I ordered deluxe librarian action figures sets for me and my friend Tracy. These are definitely cooler than cool, as the plain sets just have the shushing librarian. Tracy's ubercool, though. She has the library jacket, which has 'library' stamped on the back kinda like the FBI has jackets with 'FBI' stamped on the back in big official yellow letters.
But with action figures like these (every U of A librarian I've seen has one of these on their desk, I'm not kidding, but only the 'plain ' ones), Tracy and I are bound to get on the social pipeline. We don't have to be ringers at Barnes and Noble book discussion groups anymore. Well, we don't even go there. The one time we went out, we went for sushi. Good times. The second time was for a nice inexpensive breakfast at the B-Line.
I'm taking 12 credits, and will graduate in May. It means a lot to my parents to see me walk, so I'm bound and determined to do it for them. I was kind of sad, though. At Christmas my Dad remarked that I sure turned out well, considering I came from a family of 'losers' with mere high school diplomas. That was the word he used. But that's not quite right.
It isn't about diplomas or certifications. It's how hard a person is willing to work, and how hard a person is willing to push themselves to meet a goal. Hard work goes a long way. I learned this from my parents, and I learned this in Japan too. My senseis (I consider the English teachers I worked with my senseis, although they would probably be shocked to discover I learned something from them) worked hard too, and didn't give up. This is a big thing in Japan, the principal of 'ganbare' (perservere). The concept of 'gaman', or 'endure' is also a big thing. Even when things, in the American lingo, suck, you keep at it.
So don't fret. 12 credits is doable. English lit. was my undergraduate concentration, and that was a lesson in time management. I learned that to be successful meant to stay one step ahead. I'm already roughly 3 class periods ahead on the reading.
Which brings me to my next point. My Japanese Literature professor is somewhat famous. His name is J. Philip Gabriel, and he's translated a lot of well-known works. I finally put 2 and 2 together, and was pleased to do so.
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. 
