Friday 1/8/14 - Happy Birthday Mr. Jagger!, Industry Placement Begins & This Week's Wristwatches.

- Friday 8:15pm AEST - 

Last Weekend

       We're all still caught in the various grips of this 'flu. I've coughed a little bit here and there, my wife has achey joints and a higher than normal temperature, and my son has spent the nights coughing in the wee small hours. Is this some particularly nasty and resilient strain of influenza that's going around?

And to top things off, I went to my local DVD library to get a movie for Lolly Nite. This library was reduced in size about a year ago when a supermarket chain commandeered 75% of the place. Well, all that has changed. They were having a Movie Sale. I walked in, took a look at the shelves and turned to the guy behind the counter; "So that's it? No more rentals?"

"Yep, that's right", he responded. 

Could'a killed him. I suspected that his plan all along was to convert the place into a supermarket anyway. But I'm ticked off because I borrowed a movie about three weeks ago and he didn't mention anything about closing down the DVD rentals. 

I don't (and never will) have cable TV. I don't download movies so that I can watch them on my phone or laptop. That's not my idea of how to watch a movie. 

Anyway, Saturday the 26th was also Sir Michael Phillip Jagger's 71st Birthday!

Have a drink, Mick!

Photo taken 1972 by Jim Marshall.

Of course, it ain't 1972 anymore and this is how he looked on-stage back in March. In all fairness, his partner, L'Wren Scott had died earlier that month. I commend his show-must-go-on sensibility. 

Much has been said about The Rolling Stones in recent years and how they should just retire, etc. 

I hope they go on forever. 

But that's another post. About the Greatest Rock & Roll band in the world.

I wore the Omega Seamaster 300 all weekend;

Monday

       Day one of my 100 hours of Industry Placement. I arrived at a library that is located about half an hour from home. The staff are all pleasant and the patrons are too. I got straight into shelving some Fiction titles to get myself into the swing of things and noticed that not many people approached the Circulation Desk. There are three automated check-out machines in this library and people seem to be comfortable with using these instead of checking books out at the desk. Interesting to know. 

And, after being out of the work-force for so long, it was a relief to dress a little more casually for a job. While I did like wearing a suit in my last job, it could be a hassle some days, especially when somebody would mess with the air conditioning.

Still had the Seamaster 300 on my wrist;

      

Tuesday

       Still finding my way around the library, getting to know where things are displayed. Tidied up the DVD selection in an attempt to bring a little more order to it. Of course, the patrons had other ideas. No matter. It looked tidy for about fifteen minutes. 

Got home that night to find a package had arrived. I switched over to the Omega Seamaster AquaTerra because I needed a watch with a date. I'm required to keep a Logbook of my time on the job and I was already beginning to forget what I did on which days.

The package contained a Franklin Mystery Library hardcover edition of Farewell, My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler. I already have a couple of copies in paperback, but since I have the Franklin editions of The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Day of The Jackal, I figured that this copy of the classic Marlowe story would be a welcomed addition to the bookshelf. When I get all my books out of storage, that is. And it was a chilly evening, so it seemed like a good reason for a drink.

Wednesday

       It was a shorter work day because I had to go to Admin to see how this library service operates behind the scenes. By the time I got back to the library, it was 1:30pm. I sat at the Enquiries Desk  and fielded a couple of questions from patrons. One lady was trying to get her fifteen year-old son interested in reading. I suggested the Skullduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, which is aimed at a slightly younger reader, but if this fifteen year-old doesn't read much, then I figured it was better to ease him into the wonderful world of books. The other title I suggested was Gone by Michael Grant. This book revolves around a not-too-distant future world without adults. Isn't that what every teenager craves?

Thursday

       I was shown the library's database and given a walkthrough. While this was going on, a couple of people approached wanting to join the library. So I had a stab at joining them up. One more thing I can cross off the checklist. I had changed over to the circa 1969 Omega Seamaster Chronometer that morning;

Today

       Spent a bit of time getting returned items out of the 'Returns' bin and scanning them back into the system, ready to be borrowed, placed on hold, or transferred to other libraries if necessary. Earlier, I spent a good hour or so putting items on the 'Holds' shelves in alphabetical order according to patron's surnames. Anyone who is waiting for a particular item will get an automated e-mail or SMS message on their phone to let them know that the item has arrived and is currently awaiting their collection. It all works quite smoothly. 

Shelved some non-fiction books later on. I find this to be a little distracting whenever some book of interest catches my eye. Of course, if I were a member here, then all I'd have to do is borrow the book. Like my wife does at her library. Maybe I'll just wait until I'm actually working in a library in a paid capacity.

Got home about three hours ago and am about to sit down to watch episode one, season one of "Fringe" with the kids. Might just make this a regular Friday night thing. Considering that the commercial stations screen a lot of crap. One station is showing the Steve Carell version of "Get Smart" tomorrow night. They screened it only about two months ago. This is happening quite a lot. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a pretty funny film. Carell is a joy to watch and I wish they'd make a sequel. But I don't want to watch it after having seen it only two months ago. Although, I'd rather watch this film seven nights in a row than sit through stuff like American Pickers, Pawn Stars or the dreaded "Blokes World" (absolute drivel).

At any rate, my most pressing problem will be to figure out where to hire DVDs from now on. The local Safeway supermarket has a DVD vending machine. 

Man, is this what it's come to?

I got seven more shifts to do at the library, however, they'll be spread over the next three weeks or so. I've opted to go in on Mondays and Fridays in an effort to get through it sooner rather than later. Reason being that whatever I learn will stay fresh in my head for longer. 

The next step will be to offer my services on a voluntary basis to some library closer to home in order to hone my skills while I look for actual employment in a library.

In the meantime, I think we'll all just sit still this weekend and try to get over this 'flu. 

That's the plan, anyway.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!