Monday, June 30, 2008

Crossing Over

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if your waking and dreaming lives crossed, like they sometimes do in the movies? Here's some background to the story: In my waking life, I just finished Joshua Mowll's Operation Red Jericho and I want to read the sequel. Alas, neither library in town owns a copy.

Last night I dreamed I was back at BYU. I was a bit miffed to find out that my roommates had oodles of free time to sit at home during the day while I pursued my usual 12-hour weekdays of work and seminary.

Anyway, my brother A-1 was at also at BYU (looking nothing like his actual self). We were both pretty sure that the BYU library would have the Mowll sequel (they actually do!). And the best thing is that A-1 said BYU's library now offers "counterless checkout." Through some wonder of modern technology, you walk out the front with a book and it's automatically charged to your account with an end-of-semester due date. OK, maybe that's not the best thing if you're security or privacy minded, but it sounded like a good idea in the dream. When I last saw him, A-1 was off to borrow the book for me.

In my waking life, I'll be relying on Interlibrary Loan to find me a copy of the book. But who knows, maybe A-1 will show up with the BYU copy tonight and I can dive right in!

photo: Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc. (19 Feb 1949). [photo of circulation desk at Lamont Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts]. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, LC-G612-54563. Retrieved from Library of Congress American Memory.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Reader Quiz

Super Reader of the Week title will be awarded to the first person who can correctly identify the commonality among the following words:

SST

Ishtar

Erno

Eire

era

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

It's All About Me!

pen or pencil: pencil

shower or bath: shower

night or day: night

sour or sweet: sweet

dark or milk: depends

spicy or mild: mild

Obama or McCain: ?

snow or sand: snow

book or movie: book

Sunday, June 22, 2008

The Secret is Out

A first-time visitor to my apartment asked me today if I like books. I think the 338+ books in the living room probably gave it away.

Day Trip

My readers have really been applying the pressure. We'll see if they still want
(near) daily posts once they remember how truly uneventful my life is and how truly unimaginative a writer I am!

Saturday was the annual local Seminary Conference. I drove to Nashville, 66 miles round trip, for a day of talks, training, and trading of teaching tips. It was a long day of sitting mostly in one spot, but it was all very useful. I hope that some things will be a bit easier this year, since I'll be teaching from the very beginning (August 11!) rather than starting two months into the year. One teacher in my small group said that she is a new Seminary teacher, and has never taught teenagers before. I told her that I was in the same situation less than a year ago and am living proof that she'll survive the experience.

Lunch consisted of fruit salad, tortilla rollups, SunChips, and croissant sandwiches. Dessert was a black and white brownie concoction, baked in a piece of square parchment set in a muffin tin. I left the camera home, so I can't show you what they looked like but it was a novel presentation. They spooned what looked to be three different batters into each cup; one batter included mini chocolate chips.