Wednesday, April 14, 2004

I just started reading a new book today. It's called The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. I haven't finished it yet, but I took a little quiz included in it that makes me think that I'm a maximizer. Being a maximizer means that I want to maximize my choices, and am not always happy with the decisions I make. I believe this very true. I do often think back to choices that I have made and regretted them. Some examples would be where I went to graduate school and coming out to Baltimore. It's hard not to fall into the cycle of reanalyzing the decisions I've made and thinking about how they would have been better had I made different ones. That whole "woulda, coulda, shoulda" cycle that I so often fall into. I think that's what has been bothering me lately. A sense of unsatisfaction with my job -- which isn't always true. I truely enjoy being a librarian....just maybe not in Baltimore.

I was talking to a co-worker today -- he's the new assistant manager of the department. He actually got the job that I applied for. (Sometimes I wonder if he ever thinks about the fact that he beat out two people from the department to get the job. Not that I expected to get it, but still, I would imagine that would be a little awkward.) He's from Ohio, and moved to the Baltimore area around eleven years ago. And he likes Baltimore. He really seems to enjoy the city. And then there's me. I'm not so keen on Baltimore. I miss the midwest (the entire theme of this blog) and my family. And yet I manage to assist people in finding their Maryland-related information needs. I guess I feel like I might be more interested -- feel more personally involved -- in a job less related to geographic area that I don't have anything really invested in.

But who am I kidding? I've got a job, and I'm doing my best to be satisfied with it. Yes, I'm looking for a job elsewhere, but I am satisfied with my job so far. After all, it is just my first job. And I'm getting some really good experience out of it. My department is practically a special library with its specific subject matter. But yet broad enought that I could spin it in an interview as being an overview of the whole library, with concepts that are applicable to all situations.

Well, enough about that.

I bought two movies this week, mostly because I was bored on Monday night and there is nothing good on network TV. So I went to Best Buy in search of Annie Get Your Gun. I got that from the Towson branch of the Baltimore County Public Library over the weekend and I really, really enjoyed it. Howard Keel is adorable, although incredibly chauvanistic, and Betty Hutton is spunky and energetic as Annie Oakley. The only part I absolutely hated was the end -- Annie throws the shooting contest so she can win her man. What a message! But the duet "Anything Thing You Can Do" is fantastic. I'd never heard it before except for that stupid bleach commercial, and it is great.

But Best Buy didn't have it. So I got For Me and My Gal, Gene Kelly's debut musical with Judy Garland. I'd never seen it before, and it was cute. I really enjoyed Kelly and Garland is always a treat. The big plot is that Kelly's character intentionally hurts his hand to get an extra extension from the draft for World War I. Goodness, I cringed when he was trying to slam his hand in the trunk. I'm such a wuss. But the World War I stuff is a little dated -- I guess we'll have to wait for a revival of the WWI stuff after the big popularity of WWII to really appreciate that part of the film. If I had to do it again -- I probably wouldn't. But I did, and I think it's a musical I will watch again.

The other film -- His Girl Friday -- a fantastic film. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell at top speed in the newspaper publishing business. I love Grant and Russell is a great balance for him. This is one of the best screwball comedies I've seen -- not that I've seen all of them, but I think this one is Grant's best. Even better than Bringing Up Baby, and I really, really like Katherine Hepburn.

Good grief, this is a massive post. I haven't taken the time to update while at work -- although that might be construed as a good thing, but I don't always tend to update at home.

Two short things:

I've figured out (finally!) what to do my presentation for the Senior Program at work on. I'm planning to do Spies from Maryland. I was originally going to do the Maryland Homefront in WWII, but while researching it, I found some info on Virignia Hall. She was a spy for the OSS during WWII -- from Baltimore, natch -- and had a wooden leg. (The wooden leg is the best part of her story -- check this link out for a funny anecdote.)

Also, what is up with Bob Dylan in the Victoria Secret's ads? He looks like a leering old man with those scantily clad lingerie models. The best explanation I've been able to find is from a Slate article titled "Tangled Up in Boobs." The most plausible explanation that the writer was able to com eup with: "I also wouldn't totally discount the idea that he's playing a sly, decades-in-the-making practical joke. Newspaper reports have noted that in 1965, when asked what might tempt him to sell out, Dylan said, 'Ladies undergarments.'"

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