Day 69: Not Going To Say Anything... I Am Matuer.

Swave and deboner too!

.... Jokes that only really work when spoken. Ignore me.

Anyways... Today was my last first class of the semester. And because it's basically How To Be In Charge 101, we did an activity I've done quite a few times before, it's kind of a thing in Scouts.

It's a NASA activity in which you've crashed on the moon and your survival depends on reaching the mothership over 200 miles away. You have 15 items, and in order to succeed must rank them by importance.

Now it's an easy activity if you know Maslow's hierarchy of needs, or even if you just know what you need to survive. Priorities include not running out of air to breathe, having enough water to make sure you don't dehydrate before you get there and food to make sure you don't starve. 200 miles could take you 3 days if you go without stopping for sleep or anything, or over a week if you actually rest or are injured etc.

Lesson 65: Things are never as easy as you think they should be. Or alternatively: Being fully grown and well-educated does not mean you understand space.

Some people in my group had assumed that we weren't on the moon as it currently exists, but one on which we did not require breathing apparatuses (apparati?). They couldn't fathom that NASA would have given us things that wouldn't have been useful in this exact situation, therefore the fact we had matches proved that we could breathe on the moon. One guy wanted us to leave the oxygen behind entirely...

Matches, the raft, the compass, they were on the shuttle for if we crashed in the water... On Earth.

And yet, the whole group got derailed because of this.

Things are never as easy as you think they should be.

I'm Batman. And I can breathe in space.

Day 68: Reference Interviews 101

One single class today, and it didn't start at 8:35! That was nice... Less of a bleary rush to school...

Lesson 64: You're never too old for attendance.

This is a Masters program. Masters! And yet, at least 2 of my classes this term are actually taking attendance, and will be throughout the course as a metric to contribute to the final grade. Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset because it's taking away my ability to miss class with relative impunity, I don't intend to be missing enough classes for it to matter. It just seems silly that we are all mature students, we are all ostensibly paying our own ways, but attendance is necessary.

I thought we passed that after first year of undergrad....

Day 66: Guess Who's Back, Back Again!

First day back! What a great break!

To summarize: I saw all my scouting friends and we went up to the cottage for an awesome New Years (though Jon had to work). I made double chocolate beer and mulled wine marshmallows and hung out with my family. I had an amazing Christmas and gave some pretty amazing gifts if I do say so myself (including the aforementioned beer and wine marshmallows). I received some amazing ones too (skates, Munchkins, and crockpots! Oh my!). I also spent so much time with my fiancé, even if we couldn't go to any parties together.

But now, time to roll up my sleeves and get back to learning!

So what did I learn today? Well, we've had a lot of "the history of books, libraries and archives" lectures, but today's had some new, interesting tidbits that I hadn't seen yet. Here are my favourites...

Lesson 62: The Printing Press not only increased literacy and the dissemination of ideas, but also allowed for the rise in use of local languages and drastically reduced the use of Latin as the written lingua franca to exchange ideas.

So in that way, my brain has decided, the Printing Press is basically the Tower of Babel.

Lesson 63: The Atwater Public Library was started by the Montreal Mechanics Institute in 1828 to "Make A Man A Better Mechanic, and The Mechanic A Better Man."

Hooray! New year, new lessons!

Now, this semester, I yet again have Tuesdays and Fridays off, so my posting will be sporadic on those days. I also had Thursday off, but decided I'd rather play it safe with the prof I know and give up my four day weekend, than take the risk with the poorly-reviewed unknown quantity and keep my four day weekend.

On the other hand, this means that you get more days of me posting consistently! So... Yay?

Day 10: and I can finally buy my books!

The last first of the semester: my first Bibliographic and Factual Sources class. Because our year started on a Thursday, and the intervening Monday was labour day, we're in our third week of classes, and just now starting one of our classes. Today's lesson is one I had already learned in undergrad, but that really proved its importance today.

Lesson 12: Never buy your textbooks for a course until you've had at least one class. You never know when the edition switch will make a world of difference. For instance, the latest edition of our primary book for Bibliographic and Factual Sources was basically a complete revamp; a nasty situation for everyone who already bought the previous edition!

Also, buying textbooks should be preceded, or followed, by a stiff drink. You need something to soften the blow of that price tag... yikes!

Day 1: I'm a Master(s Student) Now?

Wow, it's really real, isn't it! I am actually attending the prestigious school I've wanted to attend since I was 12, and if I survive, I'll come out with a Masters! A bonafide MLIS! I am on my way to be a MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE... er... Master of Library and Information Studies that is. What's the difference really? The Universe is essentially made of data. On a quantum level, everything is just bits, switched on or off. But I digress; you came for the lessons!

Since today was my very first day of (very early) orientation (preceded by an even earlier job interview), I'll leave you with two lessons.

Lesson 1) it doesn't feel real until you're deathly I'll the night before and are at risk of missing your first day. Alternatively, when you're sitting awkwardly surrounded by strangers in a lecture hall considering how soon you'll be friends with them, and terrified that won't actually happen.
Lesson 2) I can do film related work in any of the three MLIS streams: librarianship, archival studies or knowledge management.