All Ages What to Do NYE

A few weeks ago I took my son to see a show put on by the Vera Project. The line up was Eux Autres, Boat, The Lonely Forest and Math and Physics Club. The Boy's favorite band was The Lonely Forest and mine was Math and Physics Club. Funnily enough, a former co-worker is the wife of the guitarist and she was at the show. The whole show was great, although we had to use earplugs during The Lonely Forest. I don't think they were used to playing in a small space. Megan Seling recently wrote a review of them in the Stranger that was very flattering.

It was fun to watch my son change his attitude about live music. He lives out in the sticks with his father and thought that going to a show would be "gay." (I hate that word and am trying to break him of it--he doesn't seem to be using it as a hate word, but all of his friends use it to mean "lame." Still not good.) Seeing a band that he really liked without knowing who they were previously gave him a taste of the russian roulette that is the Seattle music scene. Sometimes it rocks and sometimes it doesn't, but if you don't take a chance you will miss out on something cool.

There is a show at the Crocodile on New Years Eve with Harvey Danger and Mon Frere that is all ages and I would love to take him to it. I don't know how it will fit in with my other New Year's plans, but I am hoping...

Sunday December 31 4:00pm Harvey Danger's First Annual Last Show Ever:Harvey Danger, Mon Frere, Awesome $5, All AgesAt Crocodile Cafe located at 2200 2nd Ave.

So Vera is holding court over at the Crocodile Cafe for an early all ages New Year's Eve bonanza! And since it'll be over by 9pm (Doors are at 4pm) we're celebrating New Years in Brazil! That puts the countdown at 6pm so don't miss it! It's a carnival(as in Rio) theme so bring the masquerade masks, feather boas, and general party outfits!

There is always the dilemma of what to do on New Years Eve, what with all the parties and shows
going on. This year, your problem is solved because Harvey Danger, Mon Frere, and Awesome are playing an early all-ages show at the Crocodile that will have you dancing in seconds flat, and pumped up for the rest of your night.

Harvey Danger are the musical rescue you’ve been looking for, with a pop sensitivity that (with their powers combined) has even the cynics singing along. They just can’t help it. And Mon Frere is always an ear-pleaser, what with their uncanny ability to get the room shaking and all. The night’s
openers, Awesome, are perhaps the most aptly
named band around. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to hear the alphabet sung in a round, Awesome has your answer, and if you’ve
ever wondered what it means to be Awesome, well, come see it live. You really don’t have a choice, because for five dollars you cannot beat this show, and by the time it’s over you’ll still have the whole night ahead of you to get your New Years groove on.

The Aftermath

So many quirks are related (probably) to the power outage. It seems strange that all the things going wrong with electrical equipment don't have anything to do with the wind storm last night, so it is my theory that everything is interrelated and even though Ballard has power, the electricity gods are angry and are wreaking havoc with little things as well as the big things.

I am working at BAL today because the power was out at QNA most of the day. It came back on around 3:30 but it was too late to go back and open the branch.

One of the front doors won't open from the outside. It is just not communicating with the "network." Now library online, horizon and the online catalog have all stopped working. IT is trying to get things back up, but it has been about an hour now and the public computers won't let people log on. A few hopefuls are still hanging out trying to wait out the computers, but at this point I don't think they will come back up. I am trying to do reader's advisory with only online.

Someone just tried one of the emergency doors and set off the alarm. It was a young man who immediately told me that he did it. There was a language barrier, so I didn't give him a hard time but pointed out that it said "emergency exit only" and he said he understood. I wonder what he was trying to do.

On the other hand, I have met some really interesting people today. Bill is a cross country ski instructor at Snoqulamie, a very nice older gentleman that was looking for information on a french opera that was playing in New York. A kid that was looking for a good book--I finally found him one he liked...that took a long time, but I have it to kill at the moment.

There was a homeless man sleeping in the back of the library and it took 3 of us shaking him and telling him he had to leave to get him moving. I think it was only the threat of a call to the police that did it. He smelled as if he had drank a whole keg of schlitz.

I have an interview tomorrow for NHY. I should spend tonight brushing up for it, but instead I will be helping install a new radiator in my car. Thank goodness for fathers or what would a girl do? I will spend a little time at work tomorrow and I have been asking for advice all over the place from different adult librarians.

QNA is closing on Saturday. Patrons are having a hard time with it. A few are still showing surprise and dismay at the "news" even though it has been planned since 1998. We have had signs up and been telling people about it for months. I guess a few have slipped through the cracks.

I am making sure that all of my graphic novels, comics and manga are correctly catagorized and as I check them, I am appalled to see that only about 1/4 of them are in the computer right. That's ok, though, that is why I am checking. I hope there is enough room when the library reopens to move them back into the teen collection.

I had an interesting day today. The TSL meeting went well. Our Core group met and talked about our programs and about ideas for promoting the online homework help. My friend Daemond came to talk about Teen Link. He is really amazing with all that he does for that organization. He gives classes on suicide awareness and prevention in school classrooms and manages the Teen Link hotline. I really admire his work. He is also a talented and enigmatic poet, a bit self conscious, but very engaging.

After the meeting I met with J about the position at NHY. She gave me insight on all the ins and outs of the position, as well as some tips for interviewing. It sounds like a challenging post, but one I feel confident I can fill well and happily.

Snow and Openings

The snow has (mostly) melted and things are getting back to normal. There was an interesting couple of days of "wintery mix" as the Pop Culture diva noted, with lots of slipping and sliding on the part of cars, trucks and SUV's. Luckily, I didn't have to work through the bad part on Monday and Tuesday and Wedenesday was easy-peasy. That night the snow was beautiful though--but only lasted a couple of hours before it rained a bit.

I made it in fine to work on Wednesday, but it was slooow that day. There were a lot of homework questions and reader's advisory with parents for their kids.

Yesterday I sent in a resume and cover letter for a position at NHY. It would be nice to have almost full time and a permanent position and it sounds like it would be challenging over there, which is something I am ready for. I would feel bad leaving my community contacts in the lurch, but I am sure they will carry on without me.

I tried to go to the Isabelle Allende author reading at Town Hall last night, but I didn't get off until 8pm so they were full when we got there. I haven't been to a reading for a long time so I was dissappointed to miss it. Maybe next time.