Obsession with reading

Reading has been a lifelong obsession, for both myself and my sister. When we were teenagers Dad was concerned that we spent far too much time on reading, and I can remember him making a rule during summer months, that we had to spend a certain amount of time out of doors. Happily, books are portable! There was also the rule about not reading while we were eating, so the backs of cereal boxes became reading fare, although a poor substitute, to say the least.

But how wonderful is the world of reading. I can be totally transported to another place and time, made to laugh or cry, made to think about things outside my everyday life. Reading can be a companion, if no suitable human one is available, and is a great way to spend the tram ride to the city. However, these days it's hard to tune out the morons who loudly carry on their most private conversations in public places such as trams, via the scourge of the 21st century, the mobile phone. But let's not get started on that...

And then there is bedtime reading. When we bought our current house more than 10 years ago, we were going to dismantle the built-in bedside drawer units so that we could fit our own bedroom suite in. We ran out of time to do that before we moved in and never got around to it since, and how glad I am. Because at the ends of the units, next to the bed, there are two open shelves, so we each have a mini bookcase. This is ideal for keeping a collection of books I've got out from the university library as well as the local library. I also keep there my collection of bookmarks. My favorites are the set of exquisite cut out paper bookmarks I got in Hong Kong, one for each sign of the Chinese zodiac.

When I was younger, I used to read a book to the end, whether I was enjoying it or not, which I've since realised is silly. There are so many good books to read, and life is too short. Speaking of which, there is a book that seems to reflect this feeling of life being too short to read all the books you'd like to......

About an hour has passed since I last wrote that because I needed to look in all my bookshop catalogues and newspaper clippings of books to read, for the title. And of course I got sidetracked with many other titles which I then had to search for in library catalogues... Anyway, the title is "So many books, so little time" by Sara Nelson. I've tracked it down but will now have to wait for the local libraries to re-open.

I guess I'd better do something else for a while, like bake a cake.

The Easter break is here!

The library was even more chaotic yesterday, the last day before the Easter break. What with Easter being early this year, and lots of essays due right after the break, students were stressing. This easily transmits to librarians! It's good to have this breathing space (Good Friday through to Easter Tuesday), but there will be no let up in teaching as in years where Easter falls a bit later. The week of April 4th I've got library sessions for cinema studies postgrads, plus tours and lectures for undergrads, and then just for a change of subject, 3 sessions for 20th century Australian literature and one for students studying deaf history. Weeks after that are also busy, but for now, I'm trying not to look in my diary or log onto my work e-mail.

I am now in Slipper Day mode (explained in a post back in December), along with Ben. Mel is having a much needed tidy up of his office (next door to my office, so I have closed my door to drown out the noise of the vacuum cleaner - but hey! who's complaining?). Toby has already been out for a run, and gone off to replenish the milk supply and return books to the library. Yep, the library's closed but he just had that urge to return some books. Hmm, maybe some of my librarian-ness has rubbed off. Although my major concern before leaving the library yesterday was that I had enough books at home to keep me going. I've got the last in the series "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" out, plus a few others that will keep me going for a few days. What would life be without reading?

But that's the subject of another post.

Carlton rules!

The Blues are winners and grinners!

What a fantastic game last night. And the huge crowd went wild, especially after the supergoal kicked by Prenda (from outside the 50 metre arc).

Now let's take the next step...

Carlton Blues into the Wizard Cup Grand Final!

Ok, let's take this one step at a time, but getting this far has been a giant step forward. The Blues won last night by 50+ points, and next Saturday night will be the Grand Final against the West Coast Eagles.

As always, my hero is Matthew Lappin who can play in defence as well as kick freakish goals. Always gives 110%.

Matty Lappin

"In Pagan we trust" (Denis Pagan, that is, coach of the Carlton Blues)

How time flies

The four week holiday is receding into the distant past, but again this year it seems to have set me up for a calm relaxed start to the academic year. As usual we are inundated with lots of students with logging in problems, giving tours of the library and classes on using the catalogue, as well as sessions on how to do library research. However, it always adds a bit of excitement to the place when hordes of students arrive on campus after the somnolent quiet of the summer break.

Ben has started at university, and has a 9 o'clock class every morning which means he has to be at the bus stop at 7.40! This has meant a big change for him, as during the summer he got up late every day. But in typical Ben-fashion, he has adjusted. Toby is starting his second year, and also he now has set shifts working in the library.

Mel is almost finished building a Japanese-inspired garden house - stay tuned for some photos when it's ready.

Finally, we are fast approaching the football season here, and the Carlton Blues have done well in the pre season. If they win tonight, they will be in the pre season Grand Final. One step at a time...