Wednesday, March 14, 2012

My Coup

First of all, HAPPY PI DAY!

Second of all, this week, I have had what I like to refer to as "a coup".  Several, in fact.

Coup (n): when one wants to do/say/have something badly, and then they do/say/get that something.  WARNING -- it can frequently result in bouts of unexplained dancing, giggling, and fist pumping.  Otherwise known as a "hell yeah" moment.

Coup #1:  A couple of weeks ago, I was checking in some books used recently for a class.  This happens pretty regularly -- we pull a bunch of books related to the class/assignment topic, put it on a fancy-dancy library list (this involves incantations and the occasional swear word), and set it aside for the students.  Then, when they're done, we put them all back.  I was putting back a cart of books for an assignment on Hesse's Siddhartha (GO READ IT RIGHT NOW) and what was I saying?  Oh yes, I found this book -- it was BEAUTIFUL!  It was gigantic and kinda old but still had these big glossy pictures and it was a cultural atlas of India.  I loved it.  And then I just happened to notice the spine was broken!  Shame shame shame.  We can't have broken spines sitting out on our shelves!  No self-indulgent sarcasm intended.  We want to have things people would actually be interested in looking through.  Luckily for meeeeeee, I still wanted to look through that book, even though it was broken.  So I took it off the shelf and had the donations lady price it for me per our usual requirements for pricing withdrawn and donated materials.  In this tough economic time, I would like to savor this moment.  New, on Amazon, this book goes for (drum roll please): $129.71.  I got it for $1.  HELL YEAH.  P.S., this is why the library shop is amazing.  Movies for less than five bucks, kids books for twenty-five cents, popular thrillers for a dollar. . .it is SO cheap and usually we only put the nice stuff out there, too, like the stuff that's not falling apart. It is a great deal, seriously.

Coup #2:  So we're doing this project at work right now for fun about repurposed and upcycled libraries/books.  Make cool things out of your old books, basically.  It is seriously very cool.  Some people make art out of books.  Today I saw a portrait of Obama somebody had made out of carving books.  Yeah, that's pretty legit.  So anyways, I'm going through the books that get delivered to our library twice a day, and what do I spy with my little eye?  A new repurposed library book -- and it's brand spanking new and smells so good and the cover crackles and the crafts look so easy and so cool and it is mine mine mine mine mine!  Okay, I'll share next week, but in the meantime I am going to make a vase out of books.  AND THEN PUT FLOWERS IN IT.  HELL YEAH.

Coup #3:  I am what's known as a book hawk.  And no, I did not make that term up right here on the spot.  I made it up ten minutes ago on the drive home.  I am one of those people who wants a book, then waits patiently for it to arrive, then swoops on it as soon as it arrives and checks it out.  I have booksense and the eyes of an eagle.  Oh yes.  Our staff library database particularly helps if I want to expand to the other branches.  With spies stationed at at least two other branches, I cover 3/5 of the system.  That's not bad, especially considering the other two locations are the two biggest and busiest.  Also known as thanks for the help, mom and dad.  Anyway, there's this new biography of Catherine the Great, by Robert Massie.  It's supposed to be fantastic.  My boss recommended it to me, and she and I have very similar interests and reading tastes, but I was like, no, it's a doorstop, I'll never have time to get to it.  Then, Monday night, I was watching my favorite Russian movie, Russian Ark.  And Catherine gets a little cameo.  And I thought, "Well why not?"  Two days later, my book hawk skills pay off and I have successfully scarpered off with one!  I checked our catalogue every half an hour until someone returned a copy and then I called my spies and they nabbed it for me, the book none the wiser.  HELL YEAH.

HAVE A FREAKIN' AWESOME PI DAY, BECAUSE I SURE WILL!

No comments:

Post a Comment