Because I Am Not Online Enough, Right?

O shiny new bloggity blog... oh what shall I use you for?

For BLOGGING? (Heaven forbid!)

I am always making plans and lists and dreams and only occasionally follow through. It's alright though, really, since dreaming is the fun part.

Right now I am dreaming about going to Italy next spring/summer. Why? Because I read "Brideshead Revisited" and "A Room with a View" back to back in '08 and then read "Where Angels Fear to Tread" this year. My reading list requires that I be a tourist in Italy. That I be altered by it.

I am altering already! I have been teaching myself Italian using three programs simultaneously: Hugo Italian in 3 Months, Berlitz Self-Teacher and Gimmick Italian in 32 Lessons. Each has a key strength: Hugo has CDs for listening comprehension, Berlitz has a pronunciation guide even I can understand and Gimmick... loaded with vocabulary AND puts an emphasis creating your own "style." Still in the first weeks of practicing... but maybe some future entries will be in Italian... and occasionally lapse into French. (I have taken about four years of French in school and have a third grade reading level, isn't that nice?)

My other big personal project is my ever growing LIBRARY. Yes, I actually call my collection of books a library. I have seven overflowing bookcases, I believe I have hit upon the right to call it a library. Or THEM a library... whichever. I am keeping a card catalog as well as a computer record of all my books. I have "library cards" for my friends so I can keep track of who has been lent what. I am single handedly keeping the people who make index cards in business. It's a hard job, but most everything is cataloged. The biggest task this summer is arranging my nonfiction by Deweys.

And while I am all Dewey-eyed, let me tell you about a VOLUNTEER project I have signed on for this summer: reworking my local historical society's research library card catalog. I will not only continue with the Dewey-ing, but I will be building a "key word" file for cross-referencing. Making my own job harder and everyone else's easier.

My paying gigs are also along those lines (you did not think I was living off my art, did you?) as I am a substitute librarian and a bookstore clerk. Books, books, books.... and thus my world goes round.

I will keep you all posted on how things do or do not develop! Ask me questions, I might answer!

Cheers,
C.