Born, like other comic book characters, out of an otherwise trivial but life-changing animal bite, the Rabid Librarian seeks out strange, useless facts, raves about real and perceived injustices, and seeks to meet her greatest challenge of all--her own life.
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Friday, October 03, 2025
I haven't followed this too closely, but...
Okay, I can't imagine liking his music, even though I must admit I haven't heard it, so I can't say that for sure (I'm not much into rap, except maybe if you count Linkin Park-style, where you've got some nice melody intertwined with the rhythm, and I've been told that's not rap, in which case I like it very much), but Puerto Rico is American, and people who say otherwise are idiots. Many non-US acts have also performed at the Super Bowl.
It's just a music act anyway. Not some reason that has to get all political and crazy. It's just a musical act at a football game, meant to be fun. Really, folks, this is why we can't have nice things. If people would stop losing their shit over the small things and just be a little kinder to one another, the world would be a better place.
Thursday, August 07, 2025
Up
So here I am, my light alarm clock just coming on. I should probably get on the bike. But no, that is not happening this early.
Before I went to bed, I made my first actual to-do list since my surgery. It goes something like this:
- do morning PT exercises
- brush teeth/clean up
- get dressed
- take morning meds
- do internet jigsaw puzzle #1 in morning [https://www.jigsawexplorer.com/]
- listen to music
- return a text from a friend in Cicero, Illinois
- ride ROMTech bike #1 (8:00 am)
- read from book about public libraries
- get my friend to take my hamper of dirty clothes out to the washer
- do my laundry
- blog, including back entries where I never mentioned doing this surgery [I am so behind; I haven''t posted since June. I have kept this blog since October of 2001.]
- ice!
- stay ahead of the pain
- remember to use the knee brace on the non-operant (right) knee since I keep forgetting
- ride ROMTech bike #2 (10:30 am)
- set up bill pay to pay rent/grocery fund
- ride ROMTech #3 (1:00 pm)
- do puzzle #2 for the afternoon
- eat lunch
- do midday PT exercises
- return a missed phone call from yesterday
- have friend bring me the clean clothes in a hamper
- fold the clean clothes [these include the linens for Sabbath dinner tomorrow]
- ride ROMTech # 4 (3:30pm)
- do puzzle #3 for the evening
- ride ROMTech # 5 (6:00 pm)
- eat dinner
- watch episodes 1 and 2 of season 2 of 'Desperate Housewives'
- take evening meds
- do nightly PT exercises
Okay, it's 6:30 am. I'm not sure if I'm sleepy or no.t. Maybe I should start my day with a little music. Have a lovely morning.
Saturday, August 31, 2024
I tend to listen to one singer's or band's music over and over for awhile before moving on
- Sia 'This is Acting'
- Cian Ducrot 'Victory'
- Rag'n'Bone Man 'Human'
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
How could I have never seen this before????!!!!
Wednesday, May 08, 2024
A bluesey-Bluegrass version of the classic
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Saturday, May 06, 2023
I'm glad he took a stand, and won
Ed Sheeran’s court victory reveals the paradox of putting creativity on trial | Alexis Petridis
Beyond merely being an interesting copyright case, the lawsuit alleging infringement by Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' of Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' threatened artistic creativity and sought to tarnish the singer-songwriter's professional reputation. This was a big case, and Sheeran's taking a stand (and winning) was good for musicians everywhere. Outright theft is one thing. And I'm no expert--I can't even read music, although as a librarian I know a bit about copyright and licensing. Still, even I can figure out you've got eight notes to our music scale and about 338 commonly used guitar chords [possible ones are much greater, but most popular songs use a limited amount of chords, or so a quick Internet search tells me. Like I said, I'm not versed in music.] My point is, when songs are in the same key, there can be some overlap. You know what I do know about music? I listen to it, and a lot of it. I hear similarities all the time, usually fleeting. That doesn't mean the other song was ripped off in any way. This opinion piece outlines the effects of music copyright cases--and their arbitrary nature--has potentially on music creativity. Give it a look.
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Love this song
Here's a version by the Brigham Young University women's a capella group, Noteworthy, that is beautiful. And I love what they did with the shirts.
Friday, October 28, 2022
Saturday, July 17, 2021
Not your typical Friday night
Our plans were put on hold tonight so I listened to music, trying out some new headphones I have, and for whatever reason, I started listening to a lot of older Linkin Park, mainly the albums Metora and Hybrid Theory. I remembered that Chester Bennington's death had been around this time of the year, and I checked, it was the 20th of July 2017. Hard to believe it's been four years. It's a shame; he was very talented, and had a beautiful voice (when he was singing, as opposed to the occasional screaming, but you could never say he didn't put emotion into his work). That's what first appealed to me about them--Mike Shinoda's speaking and Chester Bennington singing, their voices intertwining. I think it was 'In the End' that I first heard them. There's a dark aspect to their music, emotional, raw, and full of depression and hurt. I spent so much of my early life feeling exactly those things--I was clinically depressed from much of my childhood and teens all through my 30s. I felt trapped in circumstances in my early life, then wound up going from that to an emotionally abusive marriage where I walked on eggshells for a six-year relationship that culminated in my wedding and then finally getting my voice and leaving six months into the fiasco that was. Then there were years of trying to rebuild my life, or rather build it, because I'd always been a mirror of what people wanted me to be, rather than my own person. And once I stopped doing that, I was much happier. So you can see why their music appeals. (It's also why I like Simon & Garfunkel and Ed Sheeran, who often sing songs that are beautiful and light musically, but really quite depressive if you look at the lyrics. Simon & Garfunkel have suicide through several songs, and Ed Sheeran sings about drugs, prostitution, miscarriages, and all sorts of 'negative' things, but in a way that makes him sound happy.) Somehow I get all those. Linkin Park is a rawer kind of music, where the music itself expresses the pain, not just the lyrics.
I don't know why, even though I'm not in that place any more, I still feel comfort in this sort of music. Most people feel depressed listening to that sort of music. I feel more alive. It reminds me of the demons I've conquered. There are plenty I'm still working on, as it's a daily struggle with my brain to keep on an even keel. Thankfully I have a good support system, a friend of over 30 years (the same one who helped me get out of that awful marriage) who still asks me hard questions I can't dodge that cuts down on lies I might tell myself, and then I can't tell you how different my life is with the right medicine. My brain chemistry hates me, and while I sometimes wish that wasn't so, I know I need help, and there's no shame in that. My roommate is very astute at sensing changes in my mood, and helping with my anxiety, which without medication would be crippling.
I know that's a fairly heavy post. Sorry about that, I didn't mean to go all dark on you. It's one reason I try to keep things upbeat here, because of that tendency. I'm feeling actually pretty decent tonight. It was a good week, I got a lot done, I feel good about myself. But it did make me reflect on how far I've come. If you told me at age 20 that I'd have connexions to so many people who make my life better, I'd think you were crazy. I was so alone for so long. Thanks for being there. You know who you all are.
Friday, May 29, 2020
Better
Wednesday, April 01, 2020
Day One
I tried to get up at a reasonably early time for someone who had really nothing to do today, although I did reset my alarm so it wouldn't start at 5 am. I tried for 7 am but instead wound up getting up about 9:30. I got ready and went out to Kroger for a prescription I had waiting for me and finally managed to score a package of paper towels while I was at it, then came home and since then I have mostly been looking at the news, or Facebook, or listening to music, or downloading audiobooks and looking at books to read. So today is my preparatory day for the rest of the week.
So far I haven't been very bored, although both the food in the refrigerator and my bed are calling to me, so maybe a little. I have discovered that my roommate binge-watches 'Dark Shadows' on Hulu at the moment to wake up and meet the day.
Last night the kitten was inconsolable because his toys were all missing except a ball with a bell in it that really held no interest for him. I had the intuition to move a marble-top washstand in the living room and voilà ! we found his hoard of toys, including the butterfly with the crinkly leaves he adores but I had never actually seen because he hid it the day he got it. Now I've got both cats on my bed and I'm listening to Bastille in my room facing the window with the orchids and a blooming redbud tree outside.
I put a little laundry away, but today was about relaxing after working a week and a half out in the world while most people have been off or working from home. Our hospital is screening everyone with a temperature check before they come into the building--patient, visitor, staff--and distributing homemade masks that are primarily to help you remember not to touch your face and keep out any droplets. It won't protect from the virus such as the ones the first responders and ERs have (the lucky ones, anyway), but it'll keep us from pulling any from other places that may need them more. Our team approach is reducing exposure. I haven't been able to eat with my lunch bunch all week--my boss directed us to eat lunch in our offices and keep the doors shut. The only time I go to any other place in the hospital is to go to the bathroom, get a drink, check the mail in the mailroom, check my offsite folder (which I can see through our department door, so I don't have to go in unless there is one) or, in yesterday's case, I filled in at the sign-in desk for a half an hour so someone could go to lunch. I had to stamp passes the parents had for parking, so I was very cognizant not to touch my face and then washed my hands really well when I was done. I also wiped down the whole office with disinfectant before I left for the day, as someone else from upstairs might use it while I'm gone. Of course, when I come back next week I'll do that all again.
I think I will lie down just a bit. Governor Beshear is going to give his update at 5 pm, so I want to be up by then. The updates have become known outside of Kentucky, and people are creating memes and videos of him. There's a fund set up to help with the COVID-19 fallout in Kentucky and someone created quotes on t-shirts with 100% of proceeds going to that fund.
This evening I may go for a walk (by myself). I have some new shoes that (unlike the walking shoes and Mary Janes I had) are completely level and not worn down from my natural walk, which is on the outside of my feet. My Mary Janes, which were three years old, were so worn down they were at a 0-45 degree angle and my foot was rolling over every time I walked, so I had to throw them away. They were in such bad shape there was no reason to try to donate them. The walking shoes were getting there, too, as they're five years old. So it was beyond time. I only have a pair of sandals (which also need replacing) and a pair of house shoes, as I'm pretty utilitarian when it comes to shoes and keep them to a bare minimum. So these are work shoes but look like a sneaker. They are from New Balance, and they come in an extra-wide size and don't press badly on my feet (which is bad when you have diabetes), but they also have a steel toe, anti-static protection, and skid-resistant shoes, which probably isn't bad since I'm accident-prone. So I'm trying to break them in before I go back to work. I wore them to the pharmacy today, and like I said, may go for a walk in a little while. They're a little heavier than normal due to the steel toe, so I had to be careful not to put the accelerator down too far when driving. Talk about a lead foot. :)
Okay, that's all for now. Hope you are having a wonderful socially-distant week. Hopefully, you are staying at home unless you're an essential worker or needing to go out for supplies.
Monday, January 27, 2020
This is such a powerful song, full of raw emotion and pain
Demi Lovato Makes a Powerful Confession at the Grammys: The pop star’s first new song since a near-fatal overdose offers no comfort other than the mere fact of its existence.
At the Grammy's...so much emotion. I don't watch these sorts of shows, but I heard about this on the radio, and had to watch this clip, and I was blown away.
The lyric video...
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Had a productive day today
Work went well. I got all the things I needed finished. After work, I did the following once I got home:
1. Started some bread in the bread maker.
2. Went to the store for shallots, leeks, and half and half.
3. Unloaded the dishwasher.
4. Washed the dirty dishes by hand, as we're out of Cascade pods.
5. Fed the animals and let the dogs out and back in.
6. Put my laundry away.
7. Spent some time with a friend who's having a really rough day.
8. Emptied my travel sharps container and put the pen needles in a regular one. I use a large prescription medicine bottle as a sharps container when I'm away from home, but I have to empty it every other day or so into one of those red ones that are larger.
9. Got out some more insulin from the refrigerator to take in my bag.
10. Ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich (we're out of spreadable fruit).
11. Took the bread out to cool, then put it away once it did so.
12. Listened to some music.
13. Dried the dishes that were on a mat by the coffee maker so they'd be out of the way for tomorrow.
14. Cuddled with the cat.
Now I'm listening to more music before bed--Of Monsters and Men. The cat is on my belly, purring. The plan is to go to bed early. I need to do that before midnight, anyway, as I've had trouble getting enough sleep lately and I've been dragging in the morning as a result. I have a dental cleaning appointment tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well. Then Friday I have an early-morning appointment with my psychiatrist.
My fifty-first birthday is Monday. I don't know why, but it's bothering me more than the last one, which was the big 5-0. I guess with closing the library and the lay off, etc., last year, I was just too busy and distracted to freak out. :)
Okay, I'm going to bed. Good night!
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
It was nice to be back to work today
So, with the bread making, I swept the floor in the kitchen and mopped it. Of course, it's going to start raining soon, and it's supposed to rain for most of the week. On Thursday I think the high is supposed to be 62. In Lexington, we tend to have localised flooding, but up in the hilly areas to the east of us, schools have been closed and the flooding has been pretty bad. So I wish we had a drier forecast, for their sakes, and for the sake of the kitchen floor. But that's okay.
I am working this weekend for about four hours to help make up for the lost time, as well as Monday, which, as it is Presidents' Day, we are technically closed, but a few of us have permission to work on rescheduling the grids. That way I won't have to use my very low personal time off. My boss said she was able to use some of the extended illness bank for yesterday and part of Friday, so only part of Thursday wasn't covered. But working will help offset the loss of personal time off, anyway.
After work today, I took a co-worker somewhere and she gave me a little money for gas, which was great, because I was on my gas light, and this should get me through to payday.
Now I'm listening to some music. I may lie down on the heating pad for a little while. It was great being back at work, but I am a little tired and my back is still hurting. I think after that, I'll watch Netflix, maybe the next episode of 'Sherlock', because YKWIA is studying and reading tonight. I think he was very happy to have me at work today. :)
Saturday, January 20, 2018
So I'm home with just the dogs and cat tonight
- Called Brenda to see whether we're playing. She is doing better but still coughing, so the game master ruled it best to get some rest. There is the potential that when we resume, every character Brenda has could pop like soap bubbles, so he'd like her at her best.
- Take YKWIA to an appointment.
- Gone to the credit union.
- Taken YKWIA to a pet store for a special cat food.
- Taken him to the vet for special condroitin chewies for the older dog.
- Stopped by the Rusty Scabbard, a local gaming store.
- Done a Kroger run at two Krogers (Tates Creek is consistently out of Land O'Lakes half-and-half, a staple in our household).
- Gone to the library and gave him some instruction in filing via the Dewey Decimal System, the use of cutter numbers, and orienting him to how the library sections off its various genres.
- Come home and while I didn't take a nap, I laid down for a little bit to recover.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
No game today
I've also requested some seed catalogues, one from Burpee's (a staple), but most from heirloom, sustainable, non-Monsanto sources (and that's harder to do these days). Most of them are available in PDF form, so I just downloaded those rather than have them send me a paper one in the mail.
Now I'm doing one super-mega-large load of laundry, and was rewarded for doing so by $12 falling out of my trouser pockets as I was going through them. I've been out twice this weekend on the roads after the snow, once to go to the grocery for soda, and then today to take YKWIA to meet with someone over lunch, and then to stop by the gaming store The Rusty Scabbard and to get a few things at the store that weren't there yesterday post-rush. The produce section yesterday looked like Armageddon was on its way, all for about 1-2 inches of snow, but they were resupplied today.
Tomorrow I work, as we do not get off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The University of Kentucky does, however, and so the parking shuttles aren't running, so we've been told that we can park in the adjoining parking garage, although they wouldn't guarantee we wouldn't be charged. So that $12 might come in handy. Seriously, though, I suspect the gates will be up tomorrow.
Now I'm listening to some music. I was listening to Blue October's Home album, but it's made it past that on Windows Media Player and so it's Bonnie Tyler's 'I Need a Hero' right now. Have you ever seen the music video for that? I will not post it here. It is...terribly creepy and inappropriate, running right across the boundary of sick and wrong, to be honest. It's set in a young men's school (as in teenagers) and she plays a teacher. Enough said. How did we not see that back in the 80s? I still love the song, though.
Okay, I'm going to sign off here for awhile. YKWIA is taking a nap, all is quiet, save for the music. It's still about an hour-and-a-half till the animals need to be fed (although one is right by me, hoping to be). The laundry is drying. I am considering lying down for a bit while that tumbles.
Ooh, we've made it to The Box Tops' 'The Letter'. :)
Monday, January 01, 2018
I got the book review finished
I've packed a lunch (vegetarian chilli and applesauce--I know, it's getting a bit low, though; I think YKWIA will probably cook tomorrow, which is good, as we have quite a few fresh vegetables, but not a lot of ready-made stuff. Although come to think of it, we do have veggie burgers and some other frozen food, which will be good for lunches this week. I don't get paid until Thursday, and I'm afraid my finances are rather bleak at the moment for the first time in awhile. That $5 an hour pay cut really hurt. But I'm glad I have insurance.)
I took a shower just now so my hair will be dry in the cold of the morning. I'm listening to a station on Amazon Music for Portugal. The Man, which has been very entertaining.
I've got the dogs at my feet. I fed them earlier, then brought them in after only about 10 minutes due to the cold. Unfortunately, I forgot to gate them so when they came in one ate the cat's remaining food. So I had to give him a little more after gating them. He's allergic to just about everything and is on a special hypo-allergenic food without grain or chicken. I figured he was pretty hungry; he threw up this morning. But as the vet said, a weekly hack up is better than daily, and in general, this food is working pretty well, although it's a $20 small bag. So I'm sorry I accidentally let one of the dogs to get a treat.
YKWIA is reading again in his room. He usually calls a friend on Monday nights, so I'm going to finish this up pretty quickly. I'm just waiting for my hair to dry, really. Once that happens, I can go on to bed. The lack of caffeine is one thing, but all I've done is one and a half loads of laundry, so I'm not sure why I'm so tired.
The house is looking good. My stuff is all in order. I temporarily 'lost' the book I was reviewing, which was amazing, as I have books in and on top of the bed's bookcase, but nowhere else, but I found it, thankfully. It was pretty interesting; it was on makerspaces. I made a discovery in the course of writing it: Google's definitions that they display whenever you put in 'define [word]) come from the Oxford Pocket Dictionary. So I was able to go to Oxford's website to get a good citation for the definition. Merriam-Webster failed me, I'm afraid. I guess the term is too new.
I finished the night at 1134 calories, which is 306 under what I should be for dieting. I might have something else later, like some applesauce, but I'm really not hungry right now. I only walked about 2,800 steps, but I never left the house beyond taking the recyclables to the containers outside.
I was on the Internet yesterday and found something about a prequel to His Dark Materials by Philip Pulman. It's called La Belle Sauvage, the first of The Book of Dust trilogy. I don't know how I missed it. I've put it on hold at the Library, along with A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. I always said I'd read that series when she finished the alphabet. Sadly, it looks like it will end at Y, but still.
Okay, I'm going to transfer some new music to my phone, and then I'll go ahead and head into my room and listen to some more music for a while, then go to sleep. Hope you had a restful and happy new year.
