Of jobs, dreams, and ice cream

My research week is coming to a close, not surprisingly with very little research having been accomplished. I am rather annoyed with myself about this, but really the mental health break was likely just as useful as getting tons of work done. But wow, with only 5 weeks left it's going to be hard to keep my focus.

I've been hearing word from library school buddies that people are slowly yet surely starting to get jobs, so there does seem to be hope. Travels to see all of them will hopefully be ensuing on my part (Chicago, Labrador...Vaughan) I've now officially applied for jobs in North Carolina and at Cornell U. -aaaahhh- and this week to Virginia and Massachusetts. Scary and wonderful all at the same time. Weird to think that I have no idea where I will be at this time next year.

After hallowee'n celebrations I did actually do school work on Wednesday. Our group traveled to the Elgin County Archives for whom we are creating a digital exhibit. We went to The Wayside for a lunch break, which is apparently a St. Thomas institution and had their $8 buffet. There seemed to be some speculation at the archives that we had attended happy hour since the lunch ended up lasting 2 hours. oops. Great group of people I'm working with for this class. If I haven't said it once I'll say it again, library school has been made by the amazing people that I've met here.

Thursday was Waterloo day with Meg. So fun! Our Meg/Suse time doesn't happen as often as it used to when I lived in the city, so this week was a real treat. I also attended a dream interpretation workshop that night which was exceedingly interesting. I got to share a dream with the group, and then it was "analyzed", though I learned you are not supposed to think of it as analysis but rather interpretation. Tomato tomato. I went through a whole period (a good 8 months'ish) of not remembering my dreams at all which was strange given that I've always had really vivid dreams that I consistently remember. But I learned that Jungian dream interpreation holds that when you are under excessive stress your ego revolts and won't listen to your subconscious in dreams, because your everyday self isn't ready or willing to hear the truth of a situation. Very very interesting. Anyway, there were a lot of associations in my dream that I hadn't even picked up on and I thought I was fairly good at that sort of thing. (The dream itself was pretty whacked - I was trying to get to a prison archives, but ended up trapped in the prison instead and none of the prisoners would talk to me!)

Yesterday, Becca and I went for a November treat at The Marble Slab, a newish ice cream shop on Richmond Street. You pick your base flavour, in my case vanilla, and then you choose the ingredients you want in the icecream. Various types of chocolate bars, fruit, gummy bears, graham crackers, etc. etc. They mash it all up on a marble slab and it was divine. Kate - you would absolutely love this place! We then spent a long time next door at an optical store, trying on the most amazing glasses I have ever seen. Of course the pair I liked most were something like $650 without lenses (this is Richmond Row, after all:) but it was certainly fun to try them all on. I think new glasses will be added to my increasingly lengthy list of things I want to purchase when I get a job. Becca found an amazing pair that were more affordable so I'm hoping that at least one of us will be sporting some sexy librarian wear in the near future!

For your listening pleasure, you might want to check out The Biltmores from Rhode Island. I need to track down their actual album somehow, gotta love prices to ship to Canada. I see they will be playing in Boston at the beginning of December. Would it not be perfect if I could somehow wrangle an interview there at the same time?

~S