Ghosts
I'm pretty sure there is a ghost in the Church History Library (being my place of work). "But, Whitney," you might be saying, "how can there be a ghost in a building that's only about 6 years old?" Well, here's my theory. We've got a lot of books and documents, some of which are very old. So, my theory is that the ghost (or even multiple ghosts) came in with these very old documents, a la Tom Riddle and his diary. You're probably wondering why I have been thinking that there is a ghost at my place of work. Let me tell you. Over the past year and a few months that I have worked at the library, strange things have occurred.
One, the bathroom. Now, I'm not saying that Moaning Myrtle lives in the ladies' toilet, but someone does and who else would live in a bathroom? The automatic toilets are a little too enthusiastic about their job of flushing--unnervingly so. Also, there's this one stall that always looks like there is someone in it until you push open the unlocked door and there's no one there! Eerie.
Other evidence of at least one ghost is the strange things happening to my cubicle. I think a new ghost has moved in the past couple of months because twice in the past two months, my monitors have been moved around and generally put into a shambles, and this week my chair had been messed with! You just don't mess with a person's chair! It takes much too long to get everything back where it's supposed to be. The only thing I can think of is that it's a pranking poltergeist. And then there is the curious squeaking noise . . . but I guess that the book carts explain that one. But it's creepy!
Anyway, that's why I think there is at least one ghost in the CHL.
Geekiness
Simon Pegg once said, "Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It's basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating."
I realized how much a geek I am about three or four years ago, and I wholeheartedly embraced it. What is geekiness anyway except being passionate about something and sharing that passion? So, in that definition, aren't we all geeks? Sport geeks, math geeks, fashion geeks, food geeks.
When I started thinking about it, I saw that I liked a lot of things considered geeky--"Star Trek," Star Wars (I'm a purist), "Doctor Who," etc. But I'm also really geeky about books, music, movies, Disney, trivia, and education. I'm not the kind of geek who plays video games (I just can't get into them. Or play them. I usually ending either running around aimlessly or killing myself my accidentally throwing myself off a ledge), and I know next to nothing about technology, science, and math. But I'm passionate, and I'm not afraid of sharing my passions--though sometimes I'm a bit more quiet about my passions than others.
Procrastination stuff
Here are some things to keep you busy when you are supposed to be busy doing something else!
The "Stuff You Should Know" Podcast. With my love of knowing random facts, this is an awesome podcast. I've linked to it before, but it's worth linking to again, because it's awesome. Just this week I learned about Barbie, Bigfoot, and Christmas traditions. I've also learned about black holes, lobotomies, the muppets, vampires, why leaves change colors, and Stockholm syndrome. Seriously interesting.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. This is a new web series by Hank Green which updates Pride and Prejudice. My roommate and I love it! There is a new video every Monday and Thursday, and they are about 4 minutes long. There are also a few videos done by Lydia Bennet, and Maria Lu. The really cool thing about this series is not only is it a great exploration of a relatively new form of media, but it also uses other social media to make a complete story! Each character has a twitter account, and a facebook. I went on Darcy's twitter, and his sister's GiGi's, yesterday and it was fun to get a different view of them. Even though I don't get twitter. Seriously, when it comes to twitter I'm like your 80-year-old grandma trying to figure out how to turn on an iPad. Can you really only see one side of a conversation when looking through someone's twitter account? That seems annoying. But I digress. Check out The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
Vlogbrothers. This is the vlogs of brothers John Green and the aforementioned Hank. John Green is a YA novelist that I discovered last year when I read his amazing book The Fault in Our Stars. Then I read Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines. All are fun, interesting, thought provoking books, with scenes that make you laugh out loud. And that is what these vlogs are like too. There are over a thousand videos going as far back as 2007. At first I just jumped around watching random videos, but then I realized that the videos tell more of a story than anything else, so I started watching at the beginning of 2010. I have as yet to get out of 2010, but I am having loads of fun watching them. Also, John probably has the most ADORABLE baby ever. Oh, and these guys make me feel vastly untalented. Hank writes music, writes and directs LBD, organizes VidCon, rides horses, edits videos, is a biologist, and talks very fast. John writes novels (Printz awards! New York Times bestseller!), also edits videos, knows a lot about conjoined twins, and is a deep thinker. Plus, they have created a community (Nerdfighters) and have been encourage this community to help change lives. That's amazing! I've always said that if I could just change one life for the better, my life would be better for it. So, go on John and Hank!
And . . . I think that's enough to keep you busy for a little while at least.
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