Books vs. Computers

To commemorate my continuing progress in the road to gaining my Librarian Technical Assistant (LTA) certificate, I want to write about a topic that’s been in pretty much all the classes I’ve taken thus far on this journey.  Books vs. Computers: Who Will Win the Ultimate Battle?  By computers I mostly mean those fancy thing-a-ma-bobs, Kindles or Nooks or any other kind of digital device that allows you to download books for a much cheaper price then buying a paper book.  There are many arguments supporting both sides, some will say that Kindles are smaller, easier to carry around, easier to hold when lying in bed, cheaper to buy reading materials, they save trees.  *That’s a whole ‘nother environmentalist debate with pro’s and con’s on both sides, which I won’t get into today.  Perhaps…..another time*    Some people would say that paper books are on the way out, that they’ll be a thing of the past, that soon technology will be able to hold the infinite knowledge of any book ever written, rendering the originals obsolete.  I say Fah-Que! *that’s only funny if you picture it said in the voice of Peter Griffin. So just…try picturing that…ok?*

Then there are many like me who know that the hard copy paper books will never go away.  Those of us that prefer the “real” thing do so because we treasure the books.  If you’re a bookworm like me, you have a few books that are your absolute favorites, you’ve read them 20 times already, and you’ll read ‘em 20 more times before long.  These favorite books stay with you forever, you grab that copy from the shelf and hold it in your hands and remember all the times you’ve read it, and the different stages you’ve gone through in your life up until that point.  And you get this reaction so strong sometimes you can feel the energy tingling in your fingers slowly moving up your arm with each touch of the page.  Those tinglings are memories of who you were, who you knew, what you were feeling, even those of anyone else who have held that very book, even if it was just for a second.  It can be very personal unlike one little pad with a screen, who’s probably been with every book out there, downloading one book after another, then tossing it aside without another thought.  Oh and what if they download a virus along with its latest conquest?  Paper books don’t get viruses.  They…uhm…might get a little mold from time to time, but that’s nothing a good ointment can’t fix!

So I think by now you all should know that I’m a Buffy fan, and more importantly a huge Giles fan.  I mean come on, for a middle aged British Librarian turned Magic Shop owner, he’s pretty damn hot. Which I think his performance on guitar whilst singing ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ and ‘Free Bird’ will hush any doubters of my claim to his sexiness. Check this link for 'Behind Blue Eyes', well worth the watch http://tinyurl.com/6g38amx <video provided by You Tube> Anyway the reason I bring up Giles is because he shares the same affection for the hard copy Paper Book as I do, and he’s got a lot to say on the subject…and not afraid to say it.  So I’m gonna leave you with the best Giles quotes regarding his love of books and hatred towards “idiot boxes” because this is my blog page and that’s what I want to do, and on this site it’s only what I want that matters! ; P  

*Plus maybe I’ll convert back some paper book turncoats.

Deep Thoughts by Rupert Giles

Sn1 Ep6 – I Robot, You Jane

*Note for those who don’t know the show, Jenny Calendar is Sunnydales H.S.’s computer teacher and self proclaimed Techno-Pagan.

Jenny Calendar – “Well, I think you’ll be very happy here with your musty old books.”

Giles – “These musty old books have a great deal more to say then any of your fabulous web pages!”

….later that day,

JC – “Honestly, what is it about them (computers) that bother you so much?”

Giles – “The smell”

JC – “Computers don’t smell Rupert.”

Giles – “I know.  Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is.  A certain flower or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten.  Books smell musty and rich.  The knowledge gained from a computer is….it has no texture.  No context.  It’s there and then it’s gone.  If it’s to last then the getting of knowledge should be tangible.  It should be uhm…smelly.”

Sn3 Ep11 Gingerbread

*Note, in this scene, Giles books have been confiscated leaving him to <gasp> resort to using a computer to research this episodes “Big Bad”

….Giles gets frustrated

Giles <typing loudly> “Session interrupted!? Who said you could interrupt you stupid, useless fad?! <Giles glares at the screen> I said fad! And I’ll say it again.”

….Xander and Oz walk in

Xander <watching Giles> “And at that point I will become frightened.  Take heart, we found your books.”

……Giles looks up with love in his eyes

Xander- "You can put your heart back.  We can’t get them; they’re locked up in City Hall."

……Giles looks like he is about to cry <annnnd …..Scene!>

Sn5 Ep11 Triangle

*Note Buffy and Giles are discussing whether it is worth asking the Watchers Council for help against this seasons “Big Bad”

Giles – “The resources that the watchers council have at its disposal……<Giles looks off, lost in his book fantasy land> I mean, the central library alone is…”<Buffy cuts him off>

Buffy – “Don’t talk about the books again! You get all……and sometimes you drool”

Fin

Finding My Strengths

So for the class I’m taking right now, 21^st Century Library Work Skills, thank you for asking, we are exploring our individual strengths.  It’s kinda like the different parts of our personalities that make us good at certain things.  The basis for learning this is to grow on what you are good at instead of focusing on your weaker aspects.  You can go so much further honing you strengths then trying to get your weaknesses to grow just as strong.  You’ll never get your weaknesses to grow past a certain point because talent in a certain area will help or prohibit this.  It’s like you can practice basketball till the cows come home, but if you don’t have the natural talent, you’ll never make it into the NBA.  Get it?  So for this week’s assignment we had to go on Strength Finders 2.0 and take a 30-minute test to determine what our top five strengths are.  Since I found this really interesting (and because I want to brag about myself) I decided to share this with you nice people who actually take the time to read my blogs.  After taking the Strength Finder Test, I was happy to find what my top five strengths are.  In ranking order they are Empathy, Intellection, Adaptability, Connectedness, and Learner.  That’s right bitches!  Intellection and Learner, and you all thought I was stupid. :P   I’m also actually really humble, but it didn’t pick that for me, so I feel I need to state that right now. Anywho’s here is a brief description of each area.

Empathy – With empathy, you basically try to put yourself in other people’s shoes to see how a situation affects them.  You can tune into other peoples emotions very easily and can sometimes even feel what they are feeling.  It is very centered around emotions and is not just about feeling bad for someone when they are down, you actually feel how they are feeling and can describe what they are going through as they go through it.  There is no judging in empathy, you can feel what someone is feeling and completely disagree with why they are feeling that way.  To me it’s kind of a respect thing; it goes back to the old adage “treat those as you would like to be treated”.  If you can truly live by those words, empathy will come easily to you.

Intellection – You would think that intellection is about being book smart, but that’s not exactly the best way to describe this strength.  Intellections like to think.  They are perfectly happy and content being alone with their thoughts.  Taking tests, polls, or solving problems for an intellection type personality is akin to exercises and training that athletes do to stay in shape and strengthen their skills.  It’s about pushing boundaries within yourself to see where your mind can take you.

Adaptability – Adaptability is about living in the moment.  You may think about the future, but planning for the future is not really your thing.  You take life one-step at a time and base your plans on what is going on at that moment.  You can understand that any plans you do make could and will change at any time and you are comfortable with that and expect it to happen.  You don’t necessarily make a list of goals for yourself because you prefer to focus on one thing at a time and then move on from there.  We do know that plans will change and we are pretty much ok with that.

Connectedness – With connectedness you are able to relate with all types of personalities.  You know that what you do can affect others and vice versa.  You have a belief in something spiritual that you know connects every living thing together on this earth into a whole.  It can, but doesn’t have to be a religious belief, that all depends on how you were raised.  You just know that you are a tiny little ant in the big scheme of things and there are things out there bigger then you, and you embrace that.  Connectedness is similar to empathy; they share some similar traits, such as being able to feel what others are feeling.  This helps bring people together and closes the gap that usually turns people away from getting to know other types of personalities.  You can usually get along with just about anybody because you are easily able to find ways to relate to other people.

Learner – A learner loves the process of getting to know as much information as possible about a subject that interests them.  We like to read and do research to expand our knowledge.  For a learner seeking knowledge is not about gain, we do it for ourselves because it makes us happy to learn new things.  Knowing nothing on a particular subject, to knowing everything there is to know on it, is a force that drives us.  It’s like if you were to go berry picking, the process of picking the berries and filling our basket is more exciting then the end result of having a basket full of berries.

I recommend taking the Strength Finder Test for anyone who is interested in this.  You do find out a lot about yourself that you never really took the time to discover before.  If anybody else has taken this, I’d be interested to know what results you got and if you agree with them.  Feel free to post a comment, I love a good debate! Now that I’m done patting myself on the back, I’m off to go watch some more 30 Rock. Laters!

My Theory on what Really Happened to Ms. Kitty Fantastico

As you all know (if your Buffy fans) Ms. Kitty Fantastico seems to have disappeared part way through season 5, not unlike the famous Tiger from the Brady Bunch.  There have been many speculations as to what happened to our feline friend, and this would be my theory. Ms. Kitty Fantastico did not meet her fate impaled by a stray crossbow bolt like Dawn would have you believe.  In fact, the only reason Dawn believes this to be the case is because Willow in a fit of anger put one of her famous memory charms on Dawn making her think she’d left a crossbow lying around and that this crossbow was what did in poor little Ms. Kitty.  Why would Willow do that you ask?  It was revenge! For Dawn had taken a pair of Willows clogs without asking and had lost them then lied about having them in the first place.  You can’t lie to a witch, and you definitely shouldn’t piss one off!  Anyway, my story begins that fateful day when Glory busted into Tara ’s dorm room searching for “The Key”.   Buffy, Dawn, Willow, and the newly lobotomized Tara were about to have some lunch when Glory came upon them and the four girls were forced to abandoned the decimated room in order to keep the youngest Summers girls safe, and that is where Ms. Kitty’s life took a turn in a different direction….

It was dark out by the time Ms. Kitty Fantastico woke up from her Tuna Sandwich induced slumber. She’d been hiding under the bed since all the commotion earlier in the day.  She decided to make her move, she didn’t want to be there in case that strange woman, Glory, came back with her minions again.  She took a deep breath and made a mad dash for the missing wall that lead to the courtyard outside the building.  She stayed to the shadow, slinking as close as possible to the cement wall that made up the dorm she had once lived in as a sneaky cat.  She had no idea where she was gonna go or what she was gonna do.  Should she try to find Tara and Willow?  Should she try to find food and shelter first?  Should she try to make her dream of becoming a talking cat Disney cartoon character come true?  While she was slowly pondering her options, Spike came along and made her decision for her.  See Spike was feeling restless that night and wanted to fight or drink, or both.  When he saw Ms. Kitty Fantastico, he saw the opportunity to be included in Clem’s weekly poker game in the back room of Willy’s Place.  As you know, the only way to play poker at Willy’s was by betting with kittens instead of money.  He snatched up Ms. Kitty and hustled away into the night.  But Spike didn’t make it to Clem’s poker game.  Buffy caught him on his way; she had been searching for him.  Not wanting Buffy to ask unwanted questions about why he was smuggling a cat in his duster, he hastily let Ms. Kitty drop from his grasp where she immediately ran for the nearest alley to hide.

After finding a not so warm and dry corner to hide in, she stayed and slept until morning when the light would be up to guide her on her way.  She awoke to an old fat tabby named Bonkers staring at her.  He was twice her age, and as mean as he was ugly, but he ended up taking care of her and making sure her belly and pouch of catnip was full every day.  Ms. Kitty Fantastcio grew up pretty quick living in the Alley with Bonkers, with his help she turned into her alter-ego Trixie, and she quickly built up a strong clientele of ‘johns’ or I guess you would call them ‘toms’ since they were cats.   One day though Bonkers went out to hunt mice and never returned.  This was the second time in her life she’d been abandoned and she was starting to feel a bit self-conscious.  Why did no one want to stay with her?  What is she doing to push everyone away?  Was it the clumps of crap stuck in her fur because she lacked the resource of toilet paper?  She became utterly depressed and plunged her soul into her work, for where else would she find the happiness and acceptance she so desperately craved.   

 

Then one-day fortune fell at Ms. Kitty Fantastico’s paws.  One of her ‘toms’ happened to be a photographer for Play Kitty magazine and offered her a full picture spread….in exchange for free “service”.  She jumped on that opportunity….in more ways then one, and fast became a modeling sensation.

Ms. Kitty Fantastico's PlayKitty debut

Photo courtesy of PlayKitty

Photo courtesy of PlayKitty

As her career as a model took off and took her to many new places, so did her catnip problem, until one day she found out she was expecting a litter of kittens (three girls one boy).  It was at that point she decided to clean up her life so her babies wouldn’t be forced to follow the same path she lead.  She moved out of the Sunnydale/L.A. area to remove herself for the places and people that had helped enable her addiction.  She eventually married the father of her brood, although some speculate that there is more then one father for her litter.  She is now living happily off the fortune she made from her Play Kitty days.  She returned to Sunnydale once since she had left to try to find her old humans Tara and Willow, but unfortunately all she found was a large gash in the earth where the Hellmouth-y town once stood.   She was left wondering what happened to her old humans since her trail to find them ended so abruptly.  She has not tried to search for them since. 

Ms. Kitty with two of her daughters, Perfecto(left) and Joan(right)

These days Ms. Kitty Fantastico currently resides in Tijuana with her husband and four children, Magnifico, Perfecto, Supersticioso, and Joan.  Her life may have had it hardships and cat-astrophes, but Ms. Kitty finally found the home and companionship she so desperately craved since day one.

Thus ends the “real” story of Ms. Kitty Fantastico.

Writings from a Teenage me

Yeah I know, I’m suppose to be posting the last post in the trilogy of my youth-ly thoughts and deeds, but I’m just not feeling it right now.  I get distracted easily and in the words of Vamp Willow “Bored now” (If you don’t get that reference, I am so sorry that you have missed out on 7 seasons of awesomeness, if you do get that reference, then put that in your marzipan and smoke it bingo!) Anyway, I’ve decided to post something else that was written by the 17 year old me.  I was recently cleaning out one of my bookshelves and came across some old spiral notebooks that I used to write and draw in when I was a teen. Now I turn 33 tomorrow, so there have been quite a few years since these were written, and it’s been years since I last took a look at some of this stuff.  It’s funny that now a lot of the “dark despair” feelings I wrote about kinda make me laugh. Was I really that self-absorbed where I thought I was the only kid going through the whole “no one gets me, I’m so alone, poor me” phase? Apparently.  Oh well, at least I can laugh about it now.  Without further ado, here is a short story entitled ‘Silent Stalker’ I actually kinda like this one, it was one of my better-written stories…..which really isn’t saying much.  So from the pen of 17 year old me, here is ‘Silent Stalker’.

                                                Silent Stalker

Prowling the wasted badlands that were once a magnificent city forgotten, he stepped into the dark alleyway.  The smell of fear.  Darkness surrounded what little light the luminescent sky provided.  He is a predator, the silent stalker, takeing lives to complete his own. 

The dark figure of a man slithered from a passageway that seemed to disappear just as fast as it had appeared, creating the perfect illusion.  Blood dripped from his powder-incrusted nose.  The predator saw this, smelled it, felt it on his lips.  A grin appeared half cocked in the corner of his mouth.  He watched, waited silently for the dark figures next move.  He liked playing games, tonight it would be Chess.  This game he liked in particular, the thrill and anticipation of watching his opponent positioning himself just right for a surprise attack.  The dark figure began to move, he stumbled blindly over old cardboard boxes that had once housed vagrant souls.  

Standing in his attack position, sweat dripped from the predators’ brow. Waiting was torture.  Just a few…more…steps. Checkmate! Blood dripped from the predators’ mouth as he watched the dark figure’s lifeless body hit the ground for the last time.  He had life again and he was still the silent stalker.

Here are a couple more good ones.  Here I’m trying to be more artsy and less fartsy, I have to say, I was really deep as a teen, lol.  Very emo.

                        Behind Green Eyes

Oh what a twisted web we weave, when at first we practice to deceive

With tangled webs of hope and despair, clinging to you gently without a care

With raindrop oceans of the blackest sewage, killing you quickly with hatred and power

Gnawing at your brain leads the old man home, without a care to whom he knows

Female eyes of green decay, shine fourth golden light from the darkest night

The stars up in heaven and the fires down in hell created a child, the earth raised her well.

                                         Tears like Jewels

A thousand eyes sneak down upon you, beneath you lies I think I’ve found you

Tears like jewels run from my eyes, the world you gave me was all a lie

With your witchy words and your demon heart, the Devils Knell will tare you apart

Like deer in a headlight you’ve frozen me, then struck me down in your misery

Tears like jewels run down my cheek, all my life have I been this weak?

This next one is my interpretation of one of the very few nightmares I’ve had in my life.  This one I remember cause it was on New Years eve/Day of 1999 going into 2000.

I had a nightmare last night 

Great way to start the New Year

Why they didn't kill me i don't know 

I thought I was safe

I was in my house

I looked in the bathroom

Blood everywhere

He thought we were playing a joke on him

My family is downstairs

I thought it was over

Then they came for me

They came closer to my house

They were going to kill my family

I had no way to stop them

I shouted

Then it was just black

Ok, ok I won’t torture you guys anymore.  I just find my teen self very amusing and thought you all might too.  If I don’t post again for a while, have a great summer folks!