I share.
Just like I share the posts from this blog--a sort of diary of how I'm working towards my goals--I want to share who I am. Is it vain? Oh sure. Pretentious? I've heard that. But my love of sharing doesn't come from an egotistical point of view.
I sincerely love someone else learning something new. I sincerely love the reciprocity of experiencing something wonderful together. This can be a movie that I love and now someone else loves so now we celebrate it and bond over it. This can be food, where we test what we ordered and try something new and lovely.
That's why I'm a librarian in my day, a fact I don't often share on this blog. I write about my travels and my film life, which are crucial elements of my goals and life's to-do list.
I'm a librarian, though. When I created the 30's list I added that I was to get a Master's. That Master's is in Library & Information Science. That Master's decision was a wonderful decision, a process I wrote about here.
So let me brief you on what I do. In nutshell what I do can be summed up in two words: service and projects.
Here's a list of what I principally do:
1) I serve on the reference desk. This means if someone wants to find a book I help them find that book. If someone needs help formatting a resume, I help format that resume. If someone needs help, I help.
2) I'm the assistant branch manager. If there are any escalated issues, which cannot be resolved or should not be resolved by staff, I step in.
3) I create programs! This is my favorite part and to me an essential part of the new face of libraries. A lot of people think being a librarian means reading books all the time. I do research in books and online, but I create and teach programs targeting adults and seniors. These are arts & crafts programs such as a painting program where we talk about colors, strokes, and I then help everyone paint their own piece. These are technology programs such as an android class for seniors where we start from how to turn the phone on and off to how to log into wifi.
4) I help create and tackle projects. Sometimes these are branch-specific projects, such as deselection (or weeding) reference materials no longer useful to patrons. Sometimes these are committee-specific projects such as the creation of an updated page on personal finance or the creation of a list of homeless shelters in Metro Atlanta.
That is what I principally do. Of course I still do the basics of librarianship: shelving, picking holds off, counting money, etc.
Do I love it? Yes. I quite love what I do. It is a job that enables good benefits, a stable future, allows me to work on film projects on my off-hours, but more importantly it's fulfilling.
I get to create a program from scratch and watch someone learn something new. I had an elderly woman come in my painting program and later share with me that it was her birthday and she wanted to treat herself. I hold book-a-librarian one-on-one sessions with patrons who want more intimate help. This has led to individuals learning how to type using the QWERTY keypad and even to individuals passing GED subject tests.
I get to help people learning new information. That's an important task. Every community needs a learning space and access to a diversity of information. Information is not just in books or the internet. Information is sometimes a landscape painting you create or drinking different world recipes of coffee. This is a type of information that creates breadth in your experience, whether it sharpens your focus or concentration (painting) or enables you to have a broader worldview of something familiar (coffee).
This is what I do. I share all the information I can get my hands on.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Being Dean Rooney: On Not Going With the Flow
I like orders, plans, and routines because I'm a square.
We have this tendency to celebrate characters who embrace chaos and uncertainty, who make actions without plans, who go with the flow. If you say "well, not necessarily" then hink about the movies where someone who values order or routine is the antagonist whether it's Dean Wormer in Animal House or Margaret Hoolihan in MASH. Think about how many times you've read the phrase "go with the flow" or "laid back" under someone's self-summary on his or her online dating profile. No one says "I'm intense" or "I only drink soda on the weekends."
Well I'm intense. I don't go with the flow. I only drink soda on the weekends.
I'm not aggressive, but if I'm into something I don't just go with the flow with it. Take movies: I write and direct short films, I see 20+ movies in theaters per year not including what I see at film festivals (I also go to film festivals), I have access to Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Netflix, and my library's catalog of classic films, and I even read film history books.
"Whoa, back up you say." Fair enough. But I exist and there's nothing wrong with someone who's into something. There's nothing wrong with having an intense interest in something benign or having routines.
If I "went with the flow" or was "laid back" I would've never made any films because I would say "Nah, I don't feel like it" because writing and directing requires work. You don't just "action" if you're a director. You create a shotlist, communicate with actors and crew, among so much other things. And you don't just jump into paid productions without either paying dues or proving yourself on films where you aren't earning much or doing it for free (like I have).
It's intense. It's also giving a shit. I like giving a shit. It makes everything better. When I finish a cut of my short film and I enjoy it -- knowing that I wrote and directed it -- it's a lovely high.
It's the same reward in my routine of eating. I have a dietary routine. I'm a human being and like most people I like fried chicken and soda. I was also morbidly obese -- 200 lbs in 7th grade, peak fatness at 260 lbs in 11th grade. Because of my routine -- having Coca-Cola only 1-2 days per week, eating a fruit or non-potato vegetable with every lunch and dinner, and walking 1-2 miles every day -- I'm able to remain consistently at a weight lower than what I was in 7th grade as a 28 year old man. Having a routine helped me.
That routine is important to me. I value the long-term result and a life of stability. Of course life isn't always stable. There's lows. Having a recipe for all this helps, however. I have something to fall back on. I don't want to be unhealthy or morbidly obese again. I've seen the health risks in my family. I want to be able to hike into my old age.
So I need this routine.
So instead of Tyler Durden, I want to be Atticus Finch or Leslie Knope. Instead of Ferris Bueller, I am Dean Rooney. I'm ok with that. "Leisure rules" as a lifestyle is toxic. Getting shit done rules and relaxing afterward rules.
We have this tendency to celebrate characters who embrace chaos and uncertainty, who make actions without plans, who go with the flow. If you say "well, not necessarily" then hink about the movies where someone who values order or routine is the antagonist whether it's Dean Wormer in Animal House or Margaret Hoolihan in MASH. Think about how many times you've read the phrase "go with the flow" or "laid back" under someone's self-summary on his or her online dating profile. No one says "I'm intense" or "I only drink soda on the weekends."
Well I'm intense. I don't go with the flow. I only drink soda on the weekends.
I'm not aggressive, but if I'm into something I don't just go with the flow with it. Take movies: I write and direct short films, I see 20+ movies in theaters per year not including what I see at film festivals (I also go to film festivals), I have access to Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Netflix, and my library's catalog of classic films, and I even read film history books.
"Whoa, back up you say." Fair enough. But I exist and there's nothing wrong with someone who's into something. There's nothing wrong with having an intense interest in something benign or having routines.
If I "went with the flow" or was "laid back" I would've never made any films because I would say "Nah, I don't feel like it" because writing and directing requires work. You don't just "action" if you're a director. You create a shotlist, communicate with actors and crew, among so much other things. And you don't just jump into paid productions without either paying dues or proving yourself on films where you aren't earning much or doing it for free (like I have).
It's intense. It's also giving a shit. I like giving a shit. It makes everything better. When I finish a cut of my short film and I enjoy it -- knowing that I wrote and directed it -- it's a lovely high.
It's the same reward in my routine of eating. I have a dietary routine. I'm a human being and like most people I like fried chicken and soda. I was also morbidly obese -- 200 lbs in 7th grade, peak fatness at 260 lbs in 11th grade. Because of my routine -- having Coca-Cola only 1-2 days per week, eating a fruit or non-potato vegetable with every lunch and dinner, and walking 1-2 miles every day -- I'm able to remain consistently at a weight lower than what I was in 7th grade as a 28 year old man. Having a routine helped me.
That routine is important to me. I value the long-term result and a life of stability. Of course life isn't always stable. There's lows. Having a recipe for all this helps, however. I have something to fall back on. I don't want to be unhealthy or morbidly obese again. I've seen the health risks in my family. I want to be able to hike into my old age.
So I need this routine.
So instead of Tyler Durden, I want to be Atticus Finch or Leslie Knope. Instead of Ferris Bueller, I am Dean Rooney. I'm ok with that. "Leisure rules" as a lifestyle is toxic. Getting shit done rules and relaxing afterward rules.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)