The Aviary

Tonight, during our break at choir, I was reading on my kindle. And then I had the following conversation with a fellow singer with whom I often chat at break:

Her: So what depressing thing are you reading tonight?

Me: It's actually not depressing today! I'm reading Doctor Who fanfic and no one is dead at all!

Her: Doctor Who, really? My son would be really jealous.

I was rereading For Gallifrey and the Lady President*. Her is son is maybe 12.

I think he would probably not be jealous of my reading material.

I did, however, let her know that there are a lot of professionally published Doctor Who novels and that some of them are available at the library and would might be appropriate for her son.






*A) Calling it Doctor Who fanfic is both basically correct and also kinda wrong, I know. It's easier than trying to explain the Gallifrey series to people who aren't fans, though.
B) I don't actually ship Romana and Narvin, per se, when I'm listening to the show, but Narvin is my favorite and that fanfic series is excellent.

How slow is it tonight at the library?

Slow enough that I am teaching myself to write in Circular Gallifreyan.

(I find myself...oddly frustrated by the vowels. Like, it's basically a fancy looking substitution code and it's really cool, but there's this part of my brain that keeps going "Surely the Time Lords have more than five vowels!" Because I am ridiculous.)

As I was reading the sad news about Lis Sladen, one of the patrons that I know is also a Doctor Who fan walked in with her friend. She's one of the patrons who likes to chat with us and was checking out some Doctor Who so, because I wanted to talk to someone about it, I told her.

And we talked about our favorite Sarah Jane episode, and then we had to explain Doctor Who to her friend, who'd never heard of it. I think that we, in our enthusiasm, may have convinced the friend to check out the show.

I'm terribly sad that Ms Sladen is gone and I hope that she and Nicholas Courtney are even now reminiscing happily somewhere. But I'm glad that I still have, and will always have, Sarah Jane. Thank you, Ms Sladen.

Things thus far today:

- Today, I am confronted by a rash of people who don't know the passwords that came with their library cards. Now, we tell you when you sign up for a card that you need a four-digit PIN and that, with that PIN and the barcode number on your card, you can log in to any of our computers or to your library account on our website from home.

I have seriously had five people already today ask me, not what their PIN is, which would be understandable. No, they have asked me how to set up a thing that they set up and had explained to them when they got their cards. And we haven't even been open half an hour.


- Also, there was a patron who was trying to get to her webmail account by typing her email address into the google search box. "It works at home," she tells me. No, ma'am. No, it does not.


- Chorale concert tonight. Call is at 6:30, which gives me an hour and a half to get home from Kingston, change, brush my teeth and hair, and drive to Bainbridge. Possibly I should eat something in there as well. Possibly in my car.

I think the concert's going to go well, though. We finally got the Sanctus movement of the Missa Kenya correct for the first time ever last night, so that's hopeful. I am crossing my fingers that we can do it again tonight. (If we miss it on Sunday, it will suck but not so much. My family's coming tonight and we're recording as well. I'd like us to get things right for posterity.)


- Why do people come in to the library and say things like, "You're missing a beautiful day outside"? Do they think that is helpful in some way? Are they just horrible spiteful people? Possibly, they think we are going to close the library on account of beautiful weather somehow. Alas, it doesn't work that way.


- Oh, I almost forgot! So, I drifted away from Doctor Who in the middle of season 4 and didn't come back for the specials. But now everyone is talking about the new Doctor and their squee is terribly infectious and I am excited about Doctor Who again, you guys! So I will be downloading episodes when I get home tonight. Hurrah!