Hi, you've found my journal. It's locked because of the nature of my job for a large archive, and because I am a total books-of-all-kinds fangirl and tend to ramble on about RPGS and computer games that no one else cares about.

Occasionally, there are public posts here, usually regarding WoW or Guild Wars availability since the majority of my guildmates don't have their own LJ accounts. Most other stuff is locked just because I don't like spouting stuff all over the internet.

Well, okay, I do, but I don't want to make uninterested people read it.

Comments to this post are screened, and just drop a note here to be added. Odds are I'll let you in. :)

In grade school, starting in first grade, I had to leave when everyone else in the class had to do the reading unit.  Not because I was disruptive - although I was - but that I was disruptive because I was bored and the teacher didn't have the heart to keep tossing me into detention.  We weren't a big enough school to have a program set-up where I could go do a lesson with a group closer to my reading level, and she wanted to encourage me instead of punish.  Instead, it was suggested I go tutor reading for the special ed department, and the teacher and her assistant gladly agreed. 

It was not easy at first.  I was frustrated at the 'baby' books my classmates were reading, and acutely aware that I was already 'different' enough and that singling me out from the herd was just going to make things harder on me with my peers.  I was already taunted for being small and non-athletic, and for being gone so often to go to the doctor.  So it was with a snarl and a grudge that I trudged up a flight of stairs and down the hall to special ed, stopping only long enough to stick my head in our school library and plead with our librarian to ask my teacher to let me help her instead.  

No dice.  Off I was marched, with our librarian standing with her arms crossed in her doorway, to make sure I went the rest of the way down the hall and didn't ditch out. 

I'll admit, I was terrified.  I'd never even seen these kids.  What if they hated me?  It was an utterly terrifying prospect for a weetiny girl who already butted heads with bullies.

It is possibly one of the best things that ever happened to me. 

That's where I met Rose.  It's where I met the people who showed me what unconditional acceptance could be, and gained one of my best friends.  Rose has Downs, as did many of the kids in that group, although a few had fetal alcohol-poisoning.  And they were the finally, finally, kids that took school as seriously as I did, and enjoyed learning.  It was heaven.  They didn't care that I was short, or that I liked books better than people, and I loved the passion with which they tossed themselves into things.  I've always loved the bright people, the brilliant people, the ones who devote themselves completely to whatever it is they do, and that's where I finally found people who liked me for me.

I continued working in that classroom all the way through 6th grade, and when we all moved to junior high I was annoyed that I actually had to - you know - go to class instead of tutor.  By this time, everyone knew I was a 'freak.'  I read science fiction books for fun, did ballet for hours a night with a pre-professional company, and sucked at sports.  I wasn't interested in boys or make-up, or clothes, and I just plain did not fit in.  My parents kept saying it would get better, that the other kids would grow up, but it was hard to take them seriously when the other girls did things like tape bloody tampons to my locker or try and cut my hair during class.  I had a small and loyal group of friends, but the fact of the matter was that most of them were a grade above me, and the ones in my class were picked on even more than I was, because people had learned early that if you physically got in my face I put your face in the concrete, despite my tiny size.  I had learned how to bite back.

I wanted to go back to grade school; I wanted my friends back, whom I was not allowed to visit during school anymore.  I didn't understand WHY I suddenly wasn't good enough to be allowed to work in their class anymore.  I did cut school a few times to tag along on their field trips, but on one ever told on me.  Not even the teachers.

So no, I don't think the 'R-word' is okay, that it doesn't mean anything anymore, or that people are being too PC.  I think that if you're using that word, then you're the one with below-average intelligence and a sub-par vocabulary.  I think that Rose still goes out to lunch with my mother a few times a month, and if you're stupid enough to insult one of my mother's friends, well, you deserve whatever you get. 

So, that's a long way of saying it's "Spread the Word to End the 'R Word' Day," and you should.  Bullying is wrong, period, and that's what that word stands for:  institutionalized bullying.  And I won't stand for it.  Neither should you.

So, I haven't posted a lot since August.  Well, really, I haven't posted an original entry since August.  Oops. 

This mostly has to do with work, stress levels, shifting medication levels and depression, but that's not stuff you come here to read. 

No, it's all about the madcap adventures around these parts.  So gather 'round, boys, girls, and other quasi-sentient species.  It's time to play "Dear & Fluffy Spaghetti Monster, Who Let Her Have Sugar?" 

ONE - My boss retired.  YAY!  However, they don't have a replacement for her yet, and since I am but the lowly minion, I know nothing about when they're planning on replacing her beyond 'eventually.'  BOO.  Well, that's not true.  They're making noise about starting interviews 'soonish.' 

ONEPOINTTWO - It should be noted that these are the same people who said they were going to replace the rest of my department 'eventually.'  I am still being four different full-time staff. 

TWO - I bought a house.  Who the hell let me be a responsible adult?  I object!

THREE - Requests for special classes led by me have increased since October, when I presented on Barbara Gordon as a character in the collections, and acceptable imagines of the feminine in popular culture.  I even got to have a special Friends of the Library class!  Wheeee!  I also curated an exhibit on holidays in children's literature,

FOUR - I have -mostly- stuck to my DC boycott.  I got the first issues of Justice League Dark, Demon Knights, Batwoman, Wonder Woman, and Static Shock, to try and be fair.  I got the second issues of all but JLD (they hadn't ordered any since demand was so low).  Now, I'm down to Batwoman & Wonder Woman.  I liked JLD and Demon Knights just fine, mostly, but not enough to keep spending my very limited entertainment budget on. 

FOURPOINTTWO - Don't get me started on DC and their idiocy.  Just don't. 

FIVE - I have Kate Kane hair.  Fear me. 

SIX - Marvel cancelled my beloved X-23.  I might start picking up Avengers Academy, but my only other title with them is Ultimate Comics: Spider-man right now.  I love Miles to bits. 

SEVEN - if you aren't reading Rachel Rising, I don't know you.

SEVENPOINTTWO - Pick up The Lions of Valletta by Ursula Murray Husted.  You won't regret it.  I also highly recommend the Binky the Space Cat titles, and the adventures of Chico Bon Bon, a Monkey with a Tool Belt.

EIGHT - I have SWTOR.  I possibly have too much fun as a bounty hunter with a flamethrower.  Don't judge me. 

NINE - I hooked Lad on Portal & Portal2, and it gives me an excuse to go around quoting GLaDOS.  You are welcome.

TEN - I skipped the Skyrim fad, and pre-ordered Mass Effect 3 instead.  Hard sci-fi game with female protagonist?  FUCK YEAH. 

Since I am in DESPERATE need of a vacation (have not had one since last August & am maxed out on earning vacation time), I'm heading to Chicago in April for C2E2.  I'm coming down via Amtrak, and will be at the Chicago South Loop Hotel from the 12th-16th.  At which point, I head back to Minneapolis.  I did NOT submit a panel this year, because my brain currently resembles a fried chow mien noodle, and this is vacation. 

Anyone who wants to crash with me/hang out/invade Chinatown/run around Downtown Chicago like a maniac is invited to join me!  I love Chicago, have been running around it unsupervised since I was twelve, and can take you to the best damn food in Greektown with my eyes closed. 

Of course, there's also MCBA SpringCon May 19 & 20, which is also me being a dorkus.  Anyone coming out for that is free to crash at my pad, which is 10 min from the Fairgrounds.  There is CONvergence, in which I join the OpsTeam (dammit) as well as most likely signing up for panels.  I'm skipping Wizard World Chicago and DragonCon in favor of saving my pennies for Chicon7 IF I can scrounge up the money for it.  This is probably my only chance to do a WorldCon, unless they come to Minneapolis, so I'm hoping to make it work.

And that is what is currently in my brainz.  It actually took me four days to write this post, since I did it on my 10 min breaks at work, but that's okay.  Better to get something out rather than let my brain continue to stutter in place. 

Originally posted by electricdruid at The fiasco continues

My Holiday Wish List is that Livejournal scraps the idea to do away with subject lines for comments (previous entry). If it ain't broke, kittens, don't fix it.

Also I want world peace, and a winning lottery ticket so I can pay off my house and go to grad school. The end.

Originally posted by heeroluva at Livejournal to do away with subject line in comments



This is going to make a mess of fic & love memes, if you can't do subject lines, not to mention the LJ RP groups, or anyone who carries on multi-thread discussions in their journal.  So I'm asking people to write in to igrick's journal & join beta, even if you aren't normally interested, to tell LJ that this is just plain silly and unnecessary. 

Seriously, LiveJournal.  IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT.

GUYS. GUYS GUYS GUYS. GUESS WHO JUST SPENT FOUR HOURS EMPTYING OUT OLD CARD CATALOGS? YOU KNOW, THE OLD-SKOOL BIG WOODEN ONES THAT ARE FIVE FEET TALL AND YOU USED TO THUMB THROUGH THEM BY SUBJECT AS A KID TO FIND BOOKS YOU MIGHT ENJOY? ONCE UPON A TIME, WHEN THE LIBRARIAN WOULD PUT A STAMP INSIDE THE BOOK TO TELL YOU WHEN IT WAS DUE?

THAT'S RIGHT! THIS GIRL RIGHT HERE! I RECYCLED FIVE BINS WORTH OF OLD BOOK CARDS, AND IT WAS BLOODY FANTASTIC.

*BOOGIES*

From an email that I got this morning from the Big Boss of Special Collections:

Please be aware that convicted fraudster and thief John Gilkey is operating once again, and a comic book dealer in New York state is his latest victim. Besides defrauding book dealers, Gilkey has stolen materials in the print, stamp, and comics trades.

If you see him in your local used book store or comic shop? TELL THE OWNER AND/OR CALL THE COPS. He works internationally, sometimes with accomplices, and there is an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Again.

All I have to say is this:

WE ARE ALL BATGIRL



(I'm a Cass Cain girl, she's a Stephanie Brown fan.)