I’ve been looking online to see what other professionals keep in their offices.  Based on a couple of blog entries I’ve found, I’m compiling a hefty list of things that I think I’ll keep in/around my desk.  Aside from the standard office artillery (staplers, pens, highlighters, scissors, etc.), here’s what [I think] I need:

• Headphones (big ‘uns!)
• Headset w/microphone (for videoconferencing and tutorial-creating)
• Lamp
• Visitor’s chair
• Fan
• Space heater (because every library office is freezing, especially in the summers)
• iPhone/iPod charger
• Shawl (’cause, honestly, I get cold after sitting still for hours at a time)
• Houseplant(s) (even though I’m awful at keeping them alive, I think it’s important to have something green in the office)
• Bulletin board & pins (or white board & markers — whichever the college provides, really)
• Toys & trinkets (for distraction purposes)
• Personal items (photos, inspirational notes, posters, etc.)

Of course, I’m also thinking of having an “emergency drawer” because I was incredibly grateful when my supervisor at my previous job had a spare pair of pantyhose for me to wear to an interview when my pantyhose ripped.  In this drawer, I will keep:

• Eating utensils:
  • Spoon / fork / knife
  • Chopsticks
  • Plate(s)
  • Bowl(s)
  • Cup(s)
• Pantyhose
• Spare clothing:
  • 1 pair of socks
  • 1 shirt
  • 1 sweater/cardigan
  • 1 pair of shoes
  • 1 pair of slacks
  • 1 skirt
  • 1 blazer/jacket
• Sewing kit
• Umbrella
• Spare sunglasses
• Mints / gum
• Lint brush
• Hair brush / comb
• Hair elastics / pins
• Mirror
• Lip balm
• Excedrin / OTC painkillers
• Band-Aids
• Cough drops
• Baby wipes
• Tissues & napkins
• Hand lotion
• Snacks:
  • Nuts
  • Dried fruit
  • Chocolate
  • CLIF bars
  • Cookies / candies
  • Tea bags
• Reusable shopping bag
• Hand sanitizer
• Tide stain pen
• Flashlight
• Toolkit (screwdrivers, pliers, etc.)
• Petty cash & change

Am I missing anything crucial?  What does an academic librarian (whose responsibilities include coordination of the e-book program and creation of instructional modules on the web, as well as reference, instruction, and collection development) keep in/on/near her desk?

I kinda hate that I’m worrying about this but it’s there and it’s real and I’m trying to deal with it the only way I know how: by making lists.  I mean, clearly, I will not be hauling boxes of this stuff with me on Wednesday (first day! eek!) but, instead, acquiring these things over the weeks and months that I’m on the job… However, it helps me to write this down so I can clear my head for the next paranoid OCD adventure :)

Dixon comes over and naps in my lap, taking up all my knitting space.  (I started a sweater vest last night that’s 15% finished already!  It’d be farther along if the purr monster kept away from my lap.  It would also help if he kept my yarn out of his mouth.)

He’s also the reason I got the apartment in Brooklyn.  When I found out that my prospective landlord rescues animals (and because she asked about him when I told her I have a cat), I sent a photo of Dixon with my rental application.  When the landlord called to say that I’m in, she said my move was “shameless, shameless!”  Then when I went to sign the lease, she again said how that was a shrewd maneuver.  I pimped out my cat to get an apartment and I’m not ashamed!  If you had a cat as lovable and huggable as Dixon, you’d do the same.

I’m incredibly excited!  However, I’m not looking forward to packing up my stuff into cardboard boxes and moving it all.  The process will be made worse by the fact that I’ll be moving during the last weekend of August… which is the weekend immediately after I begin my new job.  That’s going to be one incredibly stressful week.  In preparation for that craziness, I’m trying to pack and clean up now.  (I think everyone should move every few years to unload all of the crap they accumulate.)  I’ve already packed up three large garbage bags of clothing, shoes, wearable accessories, CDs, and small electronics to be donated.  My bookshelf produced a 30 lb. bag of recyclable paper waste.  Most of my books are already packed away in 5 boxes.  I’m anticipating at least 6 more boxes for the rest of my books, notebooks, magazines, DVDs, and various other knickknacks.  Then there’s all my knitting and sewing stuff.  My clothing will take up a bunch of boxes.  My kitchen things will also require at least half a dozen boxes…

Ugh.  Who knew one girl could accumulate so much stuff?

Aside from the cardigan, everything has been relatively small.  And, coincidentally, the cardigan turned out to be a flop because it’s too small for Alex.  It’s a real shame because I worked really hard on it and it took me so long.  The shawl, which I started after the cardigan, was a great success, though!  It’s my most impressive project to date and I’m very proud of it.

I decided to ride off that success so I’m knitting another shawl.  This one is for myself!  (The previous shawl was for my mother.)  It’ll be a celebratory gift to myself on account of the new job.  This shawl is solid and large and warm… because offices (particularly library offices) get really cold.  (When it’s 100°F outside, librarians are sitting with space heaters under their desks.)  It’ll be nice to have something to throw over my shoulders when I get shivery from sitting still for long periods of time.

The next piece will most likely be a sweater vest for myself.  It’ll be another gift to wear around the library.  (What can I say?  I’m excited!)  It’ll be knit in transit to and from work, whether I stay on Staten Island (and have 4 hours everyday to knit) or move to Brooklyn (and have 2 hours everyday to knit).  I’m really hoping it’s the latter.

I was actually finally getting used to the idea of spending time on public transportation everyday but then I went and made a schedule.  Now I get to see exactly how awful this will be.  I would be working 8 hours everyday and commuting 4 hours everyday.  My mother has been trying to convince me that it’s normal and doable but it seems unbearable to me.  However, when I went to speak with my supervisor yesterday, he pretty much told me the job is 99.9% mine.  The odds of finding another candidate with my qualifications, he said, are slim to none… so if I want the job permanently, it’s pretty much mine.  He also informed me that the library will only begin looking for a permanent person in Spring 2011, so I will have the job during that time, too.  In other words: this job is going to last me until at least May 2011.

Since my supervisor gave me the go-ahead to start my life, I am now looking for an apartment!  I have an appointment tomorrow to see an place in Crown Heights.  If all goes well, I’ll also be looking at another (cheaper!) apartment in Prospect Heights (which is where I really want to be).  I’m very excited!  I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time.

This is a substitute position. In a college setting, that means the library unexpectedly lost an employee and opened up a search to quickly fill this recently vacated position. This person, however, is not permanent. Instead, a full search (which can take months to complete) will be conducted when there is more time and resources. The person in the substitute position, of course, is eligible to apply for the full position so, in a sense, the substitute position may become permanent… but there is no guarantee of that. Unless a full-time person is found, the substitute position can last a maximum of 4 semesters (2 years) but needs to be renewed every semester. So, for the time being, I have a guaranteed 9-5 job until the end of January 2011. At this point, though, there’s no telling what will happen after that. That’s kind of exciting, right?

…Well, no, not really. Because I don’t know what will happen in 6 months, I can’t move on with my life. I can’t make plans and I can’t relax. The college where I will be working is located in a different borough forty miles from my current location. Commuting up there would take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours. And that’s just one way! Ideally, I would love to move closer to the job, cut my commute in half and live in a really hip part of NYC. (I currently live on Staten Island, the least hip place in the city. Anywhere from here would be a step up.) However, because nothing’s set in stone at this point, I can’t do that yet. What happens if I don’t get the job permanently in 6 months? And I can’t find another full-time gig in time? Do I have to come crawling back to my parents with my tail between my legs?  No way!  So I suffer in the meantime. I have to deal with a long commute from one outer borough to another. It’s also an expensive commute: $5.50 for the Express Bus into Manhattan and $2.25 for the subway to the Bronx, or $7.75 one way. That’s $15.50 each day — or $310 per month — on just the commute. If I look at it another way, that’s over 80 hours of reading and/or knitting time a month! Maybe I’d also be able to use that time to work on the article I’m trying to publish.

It’s so hard to look positively at this situation because I want so badly to move to Brooklyn. I even got into a heated discussion with my mother and sister yesterday over it. I was telling them how I was going to brazenly move to Prospect Heights, job security be damned. They, meanwhile, were trying to tell me to wait a while, build up a decent savings account (while I live rent-free on this godforsaken island) so that I’ll have financial security in the future. Near future, they stressed. I was in tears because I knew they were right but I really wanted out. (I told you I really want to move to Brooklyn!  I’m also still young so I’ve got a bit of a rebellious side that rears its head every once in a while.) It kills me that they’re right and that I have to stay on Staten Island for another 6 months.

I just have to suck it up and deal with it, I know that. And I will! I know that you have to work hard for what you want and that things aren’t always fair. I just needed to vent.

The heat is also making knitting difficult.  I’m going to get gross on you now… but I’m a sweat-er.  I sweat a lot, actually.  Handling wool yarn with moist hands is irritating and uncomfortable.  In fact, I can actually cause the fabric to felt as I work with it.  (That’s bad.)  Up until a few days ago, I managed to stay cool in my apartment without turning on the air conditioner.  However, this heat wave has forced me to break the A/C-less streak.  Unfortunately, it’s not working so well so it’s still stifling hot in my place.  One way I’ve managed to get some knitting done is by taking it outside!  Last week, I met a girl through Ravelry who actually turned out to be in my extended circle of friends (we have friends in common — small world!) and we knit together at a nearby cafe.  Coffee, pastries, knitting, friends, and air conditioning: what more could a girl ask for?  We’re trying to make it a weekly thing — establish our own knitting group, if you will — so we’ll be meeting again this week.  Yay!  (I’m calling it SSK.  In knitting, it stands for “slip slip knit,” which is a move that removes a stitch and narrows the knitting.  For me, though, it stands for “South Shore Knitters” ’cause we’re both on the lower half of Staten Island.)

In the meantime, I’m vegging on my couch (with my cat by my side) while I re-watch Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix Instant.  Bliss!

Last week, I decided that I ought to start taking my bike out early in the mornings before it gets too hot.  (The weather has been in the 90s lately, with high humidity.  This is awful for bicyclists.)  There really isn’t anywhere to go so I just head to the nearby parks.  At 8:30 in the morning, these areas are deserted and I feel so serene looking out over the water.  (The benefit of living on an island is that almost every park has ocean views.)  It’s a great way to start the day.  I also sometimes do yoga before I head out to help me wake up and feel energized.  (It’s amazing what physical activity does for the mind.)  Then I spend the ride maneuvering the streets of Staten Island in solitude, just me and my thoughts on my bike.  It’s really the best part of my day and I regret not making this part of my daily routine sooner.

However, because I eventually want to do long tours on my bike, these excursions are not just for relaxation.  I have to keep track of the rides so I can build up my tolerance.  I recently upgraded my iPhone to the 3G model specifically because it has GPS capabilities and I knew that there would be apps for runners and cyclists for just this purpose.  I downloaded RunKeeper and I’m now able to track my rides.  Thanks to this app, I know that this morning’s bike ride to the Conference House Park was 9.44 miles long and that I climbed 381 feet.  (That explains why, 7 hours later, I’m still so exhausted.)  This is longer than Friday’s ride (9.27 miles, 492-foot climb), which was longer than Thursday’s ride (8.18 miles, 352-foot climb).  I can take progressively longer rides and increase my tolerance.  Hopefully, by the end of this month, I won’t feel so tired after a 400-foot climb over 10 miles.

Of course, I know that I can’t own a yarn shop.  Opening a store is incredibly expensive and unbelievably exhausting.  It’s also not very profitable for the first few years (when it’s the hardest)… or ever, really.  But a girl can dream, right?  I have lofty ideas — ones that will turn a profit (or that’s what I’m telling myself) — for my yarn store.  I’ve done everything but draw floor plans and 3-D renderings.  I have yet to come up with a name, though.  However, I know exactly what it’s going to look like, what kinds of supplies it will carry, how the window displays will be arranged, how the website is going to be run, what activities will be offered (such as Saturday Morning Kids Club for mothers who would like to bring their kids in with them, a Teen Night once a month to get teens interested in knitting/crocheting, etc.), where it will be advertised, what kinds of sales would best draw customers in, what kind of furniture would be most conducive to creating a cozy atmosphere…  I’ve even picked out a prospective location for the store.  (It’d be on a particular boutique-y street here on Staten Island, where there is only one yarn store that isn’t a Jo-Ann, Michaels, or A.C. Moore.)  I’ve also decided that this shop would sell teas, coffees, juices, and the like — but no food.  The art on the walls would be my friends’ pieces that customers could purchase.  To prevent little kids from pawing at the yarn, there would be handmade toys (that are meant to be handled by little tykes) adorning the lower shelves of the display cases.

See, I’m crazy.  I’ve thought way too much about this imaginary yarn shop.

…Oh, but how I’d love for it to become real.

The yarn I used was too heavy (bulky weight) and the needles were too big (size US 8).  As a result, I have a huge rasta hat!  Seriously, the slouch part of this “slouched hat” is ginormous.  It’s hard to tell from the photo but this hat really would make a great rasta hat.  I’ve decided that I’m going to frog the thing and re-knit it on size US 6 needles instead.  Hopefully the new hat won’t be so big and heavy (and slide too far back on my head after wearing it for a while).