Its snowing, the first snow of the year. The day started really cold and wet for me. I had an interview for an internship, and I had to walk there (about 19 blocks) because there isn't really a train that goes that way. As I left I was carrying my purse, and small umbrella, and it was cold but not raining. halfway there however it began to start a heavy drizzle, and then the wind picked up and I had to wrangle my umbrella and try to keep from blowing away. I showed up soaked, but had about a two hour interview. left and made it slowly to my lunch spot, ordered a sandwich, battled with my umbrella threw said umbrella in the trash made a slow trek home holding my dinner under my coat with icy rain hitting my face. I came home settled in, and a breaking news update comes on announcing swirling snow in central park..I look outside and its crazy snowing outside!! I called my dad..he laughed..I watched the snow fall the last few hours. I go outside to take pictures and go to kmart, and the snow is so heavy and crazy it pelted me in the face and eyes, not a light fluffy snow but a icy deadly snow...I made it into kmart, then made it back with 2 inches of slush on the ground, and icy blistering snow across my face...nice first snow I can hear it icing up my windows and swirling outside..

Hoping to take this class!! hopefully it won't fill up before I can get in... LIS 689: Special Collections Institute Instructors: Kyle Triplett and Charles Carter Monday, 3:30-5:50 pm An overview to gain an understanding of issues related to reference, cataloging, exhibitions, acquisitions and conservation in a special collections library. Of particular interest will be the special collections at NYPL including the Rare Book Division and the Pforzheimer Collection. Planned visits include The Grolier Club and non-traditional special collections such as ephemera and music libraries. When possible, this course will include handling of cultural objects and viewing books. It will serve as an integral part of the special collections concentration and can be taken before or with Introduction to Archives and will serve as prerequisite or companion to the Rare Books class.

its been a while

Its been a while since I have posted. I have been moving along quickly with my classes, it seems like the weeks are flying by. I can't believe its already October next week. I am working in a team on a final group project for my References class. We are making podcasts about NYC called miNY stories. If anyone wants to check out the ones from last semester here is the link: basically my team mates and I make two podcasts having to do with NYC. We chose the Harlem Renaissance and we need to make one podcast for the arts and humanities, and one for more scientific data. We each are choosing one person to focus on in the Harlem Renaissance and also focusing on statistics and migration data. Should be a pretty straight forward project, and fun to do. Its difficult to balance this project with the other two assignments we have for the class, both worth 25% of our grades, and to balance this class with assignments due for other classes, and some serious papers I need to write for each class. I have two 10 page papers to write as final projects, a website to publish for one class, and these miny stories for the other. Time management has been key..I need to write three articles for my Theories of Information class and I haven't even started. I know time is going to fly by and I need to get started.I also need to do a 3 hour job observation. I am bummed that most of the activities I want to participate in fall on a thursday night when I have class. I am finding that networking is becoming difficult in that manner. This weekend I am going to Ellis Island. I am staying at Liberty State Park, and taking a ferry Sunday to the island and museum. This should be a nice break from work, but on Monday I have to hop back into readings, and my second assignment due for my Information Technologies class. So much to do So little time. To add to the stress, I still haven't gotten my financial aide check. I am living on credit, and in desperate need of cash! None of my classmates have gotten their checks either and its been over a month since classes started...apparently this school is very slow with money...

moving along

Tomorrow I will be here for four weeks and I will be starting my third week at school. Its been a bit stressful, there isn't a lot of work its just a lot of reading. And by a lot I mean 600 to 700 pages a week. Most of it is really redundant, like 5 articles that basically say the same thing in different terms...sometimes the same terms. I finished my first assignment which was to write two html/css web pages and turn them in online. Its due Thursday but I turned it in Saturday. Also I started my reference assignment 1 and I am about a fourth done, due October 2nd. Wednesday I will start my knowledge organization assignment which is due next tuesday and is just a website comparison..shouldn't be too hard. I just like to get things out of the way as soon as I can. Friday I get to go on a tour of the Conde Naste archives, they are the publication house that makes such fine magazines as Vogue..should be fun. Then Saturday I am going to a Special Library Association meeting at this place called Poets House near the 9/11 memorial and the river. They will do a tour of the building, give out free mimosas and pastries and have former graduates speak about getting internships, jobs and having careers..should be informative and interesting, I will write a recap of Friday and Saturday events. I plan on joining the SLA today or tomorrow, just to have some contacts, and meet new people. Also I want to go to some of their happy hour gatherings. Time is really flying by, I knew it would, I enjoy my classes some more than others, but this year is going to go so quickly..which is good and bad.

Oh and did I mention I have two assignments and about 500 pages to read before next week.

Today

I am super unhappy today. I miss my bed, I miss my room, my tv. I just want to curl up in my ikea chair and watch syfy all day. I can watch syfy here, but its not the same. I don't mind the constant noise I have gotten used to it, the weekends are worse around here than weekdays because I live on "tourist ave". I wish I had taken some time when I was first accepted to this school to find a place. it was hard though because all of the sublets were for immediate use, and its really difficult to find a furnished inclusive place. This place would be fine if it weren't for the construction. Two things about this piss me off to no end, 1. this renovation and construction was not disclosed to me on any forms and the one paper I signed does not mention any of it. After speaking to a family member who is a lawyer, the NY state right to quiet enjoyment is clearly being violated here, and I may need to take these people to court if they cannot remedy this situation. 2. the other thing that pisses me off is when I am awoken at 8am on the dot by hammering and drilling directly under my feet, and I am forced to wake up and get my coffee and zombie my way through the day, and then at 9am all sounds stop. There hasn't been any noise from the construction since 9am..thats it, just between 8am and 9am loud horrible hammering from multiple people in several areas of the ceiling below me for an hour, and then silence..assholes, I am starting to wonder if they are doing this on purpose. Like someone told them that I complained so now they go directly under my room at 8am and start banging on the ceiling just to spite me! I wish I had known, but obviously this company did not want anyone to know about this until we had moved in, paid them over 13,000 dollars and had nowhere else to go. I just wish I could have waited. I wish I had money to lightly furnish an apartment...I wish I could find something in Chelsea or the Meatpacking district with a more neighborhoody feel. This place is too touristy, it doesn't feel like home. The neighborhood where my school is, well its more like a neighborhood with cool markets, bars, restaurants, farmers markets..kinda reminds me of west hollywood...which I miss badly..I am starting to wonder if I can live like this. Maybe I am just sad right now. I miss my friends, even though I barely saw anyone anyway. I miss my mom, my family. I have met some cool people but I am lonely.99% of the people that live in this dorm are 10 to 14 years younger than me. The cool people I have met at school so far who are my age don't live around here. They all live in Brooklyn. The plumbers are here. My toilet has been pouring water out of the top since Monday flooding the floor. I have to move my mat every time I flush. Its Friday and after my harassment for the last few days they have finally come to fix it.

first day of class

I started my classes today. The first one, a class about references was good, I learned that I did not have to carry the huge book around and that we would be doing more hands on and project based works. There are about 15 or 16 people in the class ranging in ages. My instructor informed us that for the first year every 1/3 of the incoming student body is coming straight off their undergrad degree. My instructor is very funny, very jewish new york she reminds me of my great aunt who left Brooklyn as a teenager. I had a break between classes and sat in the lobby. There was a pretty burly looking guy sitting next to me with tattoos and who was totally punk rock, reading Pretty Little Liars...he quickly explained that he is taking a Tween reading class...It was a funny sight to see. My next class was the Knowledge Organization class. I was nervous about this one, but it turns out because of the 110 class I took last semester I know more than everyone in my class! I was the only one who got the answer correct when the instructor asked why we organize things or what is to organize..I was the only one after 10 answers who said to retrieve it. I was right! I actually had a girl who is a new friend Elizabeth ask if I could tutor her in the class. She also has Captain America as her comic crush so we bonded immediately. Another girl I met, who is also a new friend Sarah, did an internship at Marvel. She said it wasn't as exciting as it sounds, but she said they have potential to have a full time Librarian there because they have so many archives...so cool. I also met a lady named Linda who helped me navigate onto the train home..wasn't so bad. the funny thing is the top three questions I got when I told people I am from California are 1. do you have a good coat? 2. do you have good boots? and 3. do you have long underwear? ha ha its going to be a long winter... So things are settling in here, I am feeling more comfortable and more at ease, but I still miss California and my friends and stuff. I am apply to as many jobs on the west coast as I can... Oh I was also popular once I mentioned that I was a makeup artist in Beverly Hills..ha ha

first week of adventure..

Well, its been a crazy few days. It started with a long and stressful day at the airport on tuesday. Despite my efforts we had to pay $75 extra on top of the $20 bucks for checking in our overweight bags. I knew one was overweight but the other was 5 pounds over and unfortunately we were unable to redistribute items to get around the charge. after checking our bags, we struggled through the airport with our super heavy carry on bags. The biggest challenge for me was traveling with my large bubble umbrella and trying not to peg anyone in the face with it walking down the aisle. After a long day of travel and waiting at the airport for our driver, we finally arrived at our hotel. Our driver flat our lied to me after I told him I paid the tip online, telling me that the tip goes to the company and that he doesn't get it (I found out he was lying after calling his supervisor who in turn told me he does get the tip we paid). Upon arrival at the hotel, I struggled getting the bags into the lobby since the doorman was too busy talking to the desk people to help me. After freshening up my mom and I decided to walk to Shake Shack and get burgers. This was my mothers first trip to NYC and it was a culture shock for her. It was hot and muggy even at night, and we walked down 42nd into Times Square. I think that the amount of people and craziness was too much for her....we argued the whole way. We got to Shake Shack and the line wasn't too bad only about 10 mins, but there was no where to sit. We didn't want to stand around in the aisle eating our food or take it home so we left. We then found ourselves at Dallas BBQ, which was cheap and pretty good with a direct view of Times Square. We got a cupcake from Crumbs which was ok, I've had them in Beverly Hills. The next day was another long day. Top of the Rock, then walking through Central Park lunch at the Boathouse more walking through the park, walking up 5th ave, going into Tiffany, going into FAO, window shopping. Then we ended up at Serendipity III shared a so so super overpriced dinner, and shared a frozen hot chocolate which was super delicious, after waiting an hour to get into the place. The next day we went to Macys and walked around, my feet were killing me because of walking the previous day and a huge blister on my toe. Macys was madness we browsed for about an hour or two and then walked from the front of my living residence to my school 20 blocks south. The walk isn't so bad and takes me down through Chelsea which by far is my favorite neighborhood in Manhattan. It totally reminded me of West Hollywood and felt very homey. We went over to the Chelsea Market, got a Peoples Pop..well I did, it was Cantaloupe Tarragon, super good! and then walked up to High Line, which is this cool park that they made where train tracks used to be..it overlooks the water and parts of the city, it was just cool and green and really reminded me of Venice or Santa Monica. Of course my favorite part was the Alexander McQueen store. We had lunch at the Lobster place which was ok, and then headed over to my school. It was a little strange having my mom with me but there was no where for her to go. I was even made fun of by the security guard, but whatever.I entered the upstairs area to check in and get my id. There were about 20 people in line already even though we were early. I checked in got my tote bag filled with goodies and headed up to financial aide. After that meeting, I got back into line and waited to get my id. I met one girl from Louisiana who went to school in Maryland. I noticed that most everyone was younger than I which is a little discouraging.I got my id went into the main room where the presentations were going on and noticed a huge amount of people in the room and realized that there are about 120 people in the program. We listened to info about all the services and about our program, and our instructors spoke a bit. One of my instructors is a former student/graduate who is the youngest person hired to teach there, and she is younger than me. I am a bit nervous about everything, especially since the decided this year to start a new thing where every graduate has to present a digital portfolio at the end of the year. After the orientation, and signing up for the SLA my mom and I walked to the subway for the first time, and we were super confused once we got down in the tunnel. There were 57 signs saying 27 different things, and we had to ask this lady for advice and she was nice and helped us out and we ended up in Times Square. We stopped to grab some food at the local weigh in market and my mom got mad because it was so expensive which caused a huge fight. The next day she apologized and we went to the 9/11 museum.It was a productive morning with some questioning we managed to make it on the subway and back I hope I get the hang of that before Tuesday. We came back took a nap, went to the Diner across the street and then packed up my bags. Before going to bed I asked the Doorman a different guy (who was super hot and looked just like Timothy Olyphant) about getting the driver for Saturday. He was super nice and said he would help us out. This morning we checked out and the super hot doorman helped us load our bags and was really cool, and the driver took us to my residence. $40 bucks later we were here. I checked in amongst chaos and got into my room. My mom and I went to Kmart down the street and bought most of what I need. My mom then left for her flight, which was sad but she will be back in a couple months, and I spent the afternoon setting things up. Now I am more settled trying to figure out what else I need, (blackout curtains) and buying more books online..7 books so far..and trying to read all the info about everything that I need to read and then read my homework before Tuesday. And I didn't mention that I have gotten sick and I am in the runny nose stage. Trying to take a ton of Vitamin C and Echinecea and rest and drink a ton of water to flush it our before I start class Tuesday since its my first day and its going to possibly rain..great I hope I can get used to things pretty quickly...thats it for now..more to come..

once more with feeling

Bought another 2 books for school. At least one of them came in a kindle edition and I was able to download it. I just wish my instructors could wait until the first week of class to verify the books because packing them is really weighing down my suitcases (I had to pack my recreational books to be shipped, just too heavy). I have now, to read 5 chapters from 2 different books, and an entire novel before classes start, and that is just for 2 classes, the other 2 haven't even posted anything yet.....guess I should get busy, but I can't seem to drag myself away from the slots game I downloaded to my iPad!! One more week..its getting close..

Almost there

Yesterday I bought my first books for school. I was surprised that one of them is in the same vein as most of the textbooks we used last year in our classes. Same publishing company and looks the same. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, having read the syllabus for one of my classes. It makes sense that these courses should be intense since they meet only once a week, and are cramming tons of Masters level knowledge into only a few weeks. I just have this fear of failure and not because I think I will, but because I am spending more money than I ever have in my entire life on this, and if I fail I am failing myself for years to come (since I have to pay it back whether I pass the classes or not). I am sure it will be fine, I am just nervous. Its been a long difficult summer dealing with housing people and flight changes and suitcase issues...its very difficult to pack a years worth of clothing and home goods makeup and shoes into three small suitcases, and that doesn't even count my boots or winter clothing. I mean as a makeup artist its impossible to sort through my makeup collection and decide what I need and what I don't. I still have a drawer full of makeup and most of it is packed! In a week and a half I will be landing with my mom and hopefully having a bit of a vacation with her before she leaves. We do have to attend my orientation, but other than that I plan on enjoying my time with her, relaxing and sightseeing before classes start. My mom has never been to NYC, even though our family is from there. My grandma and her siblings were born there and grew up in Brooklyn and Manhattan. I will be studying so much this semester that I may not even get to see the city I will be living in until December, so I am going to make the best of the week I have with my mother there, and then hunker down for the studying ahead....