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Writer's Block: Book review [Nov. 18th, 2009|04:27 pm]
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What (if any) books would you ban from a high school library? Are there certain subjects that you feel are inappropriate for teenagers regardless of literary merit?


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NO, No, No, No, No.

Librarians are not here to censor. I work in a public library but we do come across this occasionally. We recently had an email from a high-up manager informing us to remove "Doing It" by Melvin Burgess from our teenage sections, (i.e. move it to the adult section) after a complaint by a parent, whose 13 year old had borrowed it. I refused, and my line manager supported me. It's up to parents to monitor what their kids are consuming and discuss it, and it's up to us, as librarians and library workers, to offer as broad a choice as possible - including contentious works.

(Though if you offered me the chance to ban <i>Twilight</i>, I may be a little bit tempted.....)

(Kidding!)
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Writer's Block: Job search [Oct. 8th, 2009|08:17 pm]
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[mood | tired]

Are you happy at your current job? Do you think there's such a thing as a dream job? What do you hope to be doing five or ten years from now? Are you working towards that goal?


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ZOMG YES! I loooooove my job, I just get frustrated by decisions made On High that we can't do much about, and the usual problems of having no staff and no money (literally, we do not have any cash nowadays. We are not allowed to charge for anything and keep it ourselves, so if we want new craft materials, it gets Very Interesting.)

In five or ten years I'd hope to be a children's or school librarian. I've just started my MA in Library + Information Management, so in two years' time, I'll be qualified. I do love my current job and workplace, and I love the relative freedom I have in my work, but I think I need to move on within a few years. I'd like to get out of this County Council and into a different public library system for the experience, and maybe into schools at some point.
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Writer's Block: Airplane reading [Oct. 7th, 2009|09:40 pm]
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[Current Location |United Kingdom, Glasgow]

I'll usually take something from work, most often a children's/YA novel, though I'm always nervous of leaving it on the plane!

Other than that I'll just pick up a magazine or newspaper at the airport, depends where I'm flying to/from. I always used to pick up Blender in the US but I believe it's now ceased publication. Sob.
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Writer's Block: Finders keepers? [Sep. 9th, 2009|12:02 pm]
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[mood | bored]

If you found a $100 at the library, would you pocket it or turn it in? What about at a diner or pub? Confess!


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I had to answer this just because it specified "Library". ;)

If we find money, or any valuables really, they alway go into the safe. If it wasn't claimed after about 6 months we'd probably put it towards next year's book fund, or buy new craft supplies, as we don't get a budget for that. (We do have mobile phones that have been in there for ages though...)

When I worked in a bar, we had an unofficial policy for people working the floor - "Finders keepers". If you found notes you were supposed to hand them to the managers, who kept them for 2 weeks and then, almost always, pocketed them. Consequently, we thought they should fuck off. (By the way, it wasn't a nice, quiet bar where you'd have nice customers; it was a large chain and it was basically a nightclub/beer farm in the evenings. Which was when I worked there, because of my day job.)

If I was out as a patron, and there was no wallet/ form of ID attached, I'd want to keep it, partly from the above experience of managers and partly because I'm not that nice.
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Writer's Block: Doh! [Aug. 29th, 2009|04:44 pm]
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[mood | aggravated]

What is the dumbest thing you've ever done?


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Y hallo thar, timely question!

I <strike>chucked myself off</strike> fell down the stairs at a train station three weeks ago, because I was rushing to catch a connection and not watching where I was going.

I only missed the bottom 3 or 4 steps but I landed really badly on my left ankle, which bore the brunt of the fall and got trapped under my whole body, and is now, to put it medically, fucked. I had to be taken to A&E in an ambulance (how exciting!) and X-rayed to make sure I hadn't broken it. (I hadn't.) They then drugged me up to the eyeballs, gave me crutches, and sent me on my merry way, back to the train station and home more than 2 hours late. When I woke up the next day, the goose-egg-sized lump on my ankle had vanished, and my foot was <i>twice the size it's supposed to be</i>.

I've been to the GP twice since then, and had a second X-ray just to make sure the foot wasn't fractured. (It isn't). The GP, however, thinks I may have a hairline fracture in my fibula, which they can't actually cast or anything. All I can do is keep it at home, elevated above hip height.

All because I wasn't watching where I was flippin' well going on the steps!
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Writer's Block: Birthday Shout-out [Aug. 1st, 2009|07:48 am]
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[mood | amused]

Happy birthday, J.K. Rowling! Which of her seven Harry Potter novels do you think is the most satisfying read?


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Well, I couldn't really [i]not[/i] answer this, so I'll be sentimental and say [i]Order of the Phoenix[/i], which was the one that got me very firmly hooked.
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Just for fun... [Jul. 27th, 2009|06:04 pm]
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[mood | amused]

In honour of me finding an ollllllld diary from being 13/14, please indulge me:

What were you like when you were 14?
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Miscellany. [Jul. 17th, 2009|09:43 pm]
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[mood | anxious]

1) I came out of Half-Blood Prince on Wednesday feeling really disappointed. Even underwhelmed. Balls. I'm still nto over it.

2) Tomorrow we launch the kids' summer reading challenge at work. (Yaaay!)

3) Because of 2, I'll be at the movie theatre in town, with a stall, trying to get kids to sign up for the challenge. Awesomesauce.

4) Because of 3, I will also be dressed as Ginny Weasley, which means that this evening I have straightened my poor hair to within an inch of its life. Oh for naturally straight hair! (Yes, I knitted a Pygmy Puff. No, I have not yet attatched it to my costume.)
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Torchwood. [Jul. 10th, 2009|10:07 pm]
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[mood | distressed]

Jesus CHRIST on a pogo stick.

( DAMN YOU RUSSELL T DAVIES, I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO CARE ABOUT TORCHWOOD! )

Talk about your fucking downer ending. JESUS.
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Meme-tastic [Jun. 15th, 2009|11:01 pm]
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[mood | excited]

Found at [info]shinyopals journal and shamelessly filched.

Online journals are little filters that we each see every one else's lives through, the parts others choose to share with us. That said, we all think we are close, but really we seldom know *a lot* about each other. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you...
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FRANCES YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS (AND ALSO COSSIE) [Jun. 8th, 2009|02:20 pm]
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[mood | blah]

Look! It's NPH!

Oh he is so amazing.

(Using fluff to cover up my misery at the BNP winning two seats in the European Elections, one of which was from my home region. They only won with 8% of the vote, but still - Nice work, guys. There are not enough eyerolls in the world.)
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I'm home! [Mar. 29th, 2009|11:03 pm]
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[mood | sleepy]

After a ridiculously exciting and fun week, I'm back home in Durham.

......CAN I GO BACK PLEASE?

(p.s. why is "hungover" not an option under "mood"?)
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Erm. [Mar. 20th, 2009|09:13 pm]
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[mood | chipper]

It's Friday night, I'm in the prime of my youth, and I am... sitting at home, looking up publishers' email addresses, so I can scrounge freebies off them, for the library.

I suspect I need to get out more. ;)

In better news, on Monday I am FLYING TO GERMANY to hang out at [info]pluckyyounggirl's place. SUPERMEGAULTRASQUEE!!!
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I am sick and miserable. [Mar. 14th, 2009|07:55 pm]
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[mood | sick]

And yet the BBC offers me David Tennant, coming out of a TARDIS with Graham Norton, Catherine Tate, and Alan Carr. God bless you, BBC. Never again will I whinge about paying you £144 a year. (Well...maybe.)

That said, I will whinge about how sick I am. MY THROAT HURTS. MY HEAD HURTS. MY EYES HURT. I HAVE BEEN PUKING MY OWN SNOT. (Okay, perhaps the last bit was TMI.) I am feeling like crap and I would like my throat to STOP HURTING, primarily, and to stop tasting like I've been swallowing cotton fluff.
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Writer's Block: What a Way to Make a Living [Mar. 11th, 2009|09:27 pm]
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[mood | amused]

What's the worst job you've ever had?


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THE BAR JOB, DEAR GOD.

I hated the job, I hated the customers, but mostly I hated that I was consistently working 20 hour days, combined. Pub work + day job = WRONG. I lived for a year on about 4 hours' sleep a night; I barely had time to eat or shower.

Yes, I also had some of the most fun times going out with my fellow bar workers. But it's not a lifestyle that you can continue for a long time, especially with a day job as well. (FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS WERE THE WORST. Sunday was the day I'd sleep for 14+ hours.)


On the plus side, at least I have an idea of what it's like to have a newborn baby, which I suppose will be helpful in the future.
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By the way... [Feb. 18th, 2009|05:57 pm]
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The next time I decide to take Meg out for a 2-and-a-half hour walk up through the woods and down boggy fields and generally a long way, please can you all remind me to take some food with me, yeah? I was ok until I started getting slightly wobbly about a mile from home.

Oops.
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OH EM GEE, YOU GUYS [Feb. 8th, 2009|07:51 pm]
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[mood | excited]

JUST WATCH THIS!

Without any proper Who this year, and with no more Doctor/Rose, this makes me very happy indeed.

...Damn, I really need a Cap'n Jack icon!
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SO TIRED. [Feb. 5th, 2009|08:07 pm]
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[mood | tired]

I got up at 7 this morning to walk Meg (briefly) before work. Then I worked a 9-hour day, about half of which I spent on my feet. Inbetween, I walked home for lunch to let her out to pee, as Matt's been in London all day.

I have been home for about 40 minutes and had two biscuits and a cup of tea. There's nothing much in, so I will have to go to the shops. I could drive to Sainsbury's, but then I'll still need to cook when I return and walk Meg. I could walk Meg to Tesco up the road, but I hate Tesco, and I'm scared she'll get dognapped. (Gilesgate is not a nice area!)

Why can't I just order a takeaway instead? *whine*
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Hey Opal! [Jan. 29th, 2009|03:52 pm]
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[mood | amused]

Have you been on FandomSecrets, missy?!

Because if not, I'm very amused that someone else shares your crazy theory. ;-p
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Love and Monsters and The Stone Rose (CD) [Jan. 21st, 2009|11:11 pm]
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[mood | sleepy]

So, having been told to skip Love and Monsters when I did my mad Doctor Who catchup marathon before the end of season 4, tonight I finally got around to watching it.

It was okay. A nice, relatively mindless, entertaining 40-odd minutes of TV.
On the opening, my first thought was "Holy crap, where have I seen this guy before?" and then I realised it was Mr Teatime. GYAH. (That's 'Teh-a-TIM-eh' to you, by the way.)

Anwyay! A fun episode, if lower than the usual standard. The trouble with a Doctor-light (I AM NOT SPELLING IT THE OTHER WAY I DID AN ENGLISH DEGREE) episode is that, well, it's Doctor-light. And this one was also, very sadly, Rose-light as well, which meant that two of my favourite things about this show were barely in it. That said, RTD has always been good at drawing characters, and I really was starting to care about the LINDA lot when Peter-Kay-being-a-green-version-of-Fat-Bastard decided to absorb them all. For me, Peter Kay has what we call the "Julia Roberts factor", i.e. it doesn't matter what the role is, you always look at the screen and go "huh, Julia Roberts." It was slightly easier to play along when he was in his human disguise, mostly because of the accent, but as soon as dropped into Boltonian, I just couldn't. I know, I know, plenty of planets have a north and all, but... Bolton?! Come on! And the running around was just atrocious. There's no way something that round should have been able to run like that and oh my god, I just turned into Comic Book Guy, didn't I?

However, things I did like:
- Ten luring a beast away with a pork chop, and Rose/Ten bickering about the buckets. BWEE.
- MOANING MYRTLE! :-D I actually rather liked her character, and was very very sad when she was absorbed.
- A "Bad Wolf virus", indeed. HEE.
- LINDA having their baking, and music, and stories. It's just lovely. Typical RTD, too. ;)
- Jackie Tyler being a secret agent's dream, hahaha.
- Rose - "YOU UPSET MY MUM!" Angry Rose is Awesome. And the Doctor just stands there and lets her go for it, which amused me even more.
- "We even have a love life.. of sorts" RUSSELL T DAVIES YOU ARE A BAD MAN. *gigglesnort*

Things that made me go "meh"
- Three words: Alien Fat Bastard. :-/ I mean, I know the design was a Blue Peter competition winnerand all, but the way he played it just left me rather cold.
- The Hannah-Barbera-esque running through doors, with the camera fixed in the middle of the hallway. Very Scooby-Doo but just kind of made me cringe - though I suppose, if the point is that you're seeing it the story from Elton's perspective, it could be a slight mickey-take out of the show's "running around a lot" convention. (Interesting shades of the Buffy episode Storyteller too, if the whole narrative is framed from Elton's POV.) Also, still better than the cringeworthy "Son-tar-HA!" thing from season 4 which I NEVER need to hear again.

Which brings me onto Things that I never wish to see again:
- JACKIE TYLER IN A MINISKIRT. I CANNOT UNSEE IT! (and you just know she pinched it from Rose's wardrobe, too.) This isn't a comment on Camille Coduri - but it's Jackie. Ew!

So overall, it was pleasant and fun, but needs more Doctor and Rose.

Also, I got the audiobook version of The Stone Rose, because I wanted fluff.
Things I loved:
- DT's voices for Jackie, Mickey and the GENIE, in particular.
- HE RIDES A BEAR YOU GUYS. IN THE COLOSSEUM.
- The bum thing! Hee.
- Rose-as-Cher-one-the-vocoder: "Thanks!" SQUEE.
- The interview at the end was pretty interesting, too.

Things I loved less
-DT's voice for Vanessa made her sound much more wishy-washy and irritating than the voice in my head when I read it. But I guess he needed to distingush her from Rose.


Anyway!
I did The Christmas Invasion yesterday because (again) I needed fluff, but I'm (re)watching episodes in no particular order - what should I see next, y'all?

(Also I am off to bed now because I am working tomorrow.)
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