randomosity

- I was at a meeting from 9-12 this morning, previewing our new OPAC possibilities. About halfway through I remembered one of the biggest reasons I was so happy to be done school: I hate morning lectures. It took everything I had not to fall asleep (which, I'm sure I did a couple of times). And while it was really interesting, it was also pretty defeating to watch the demonstration of a product I know our IT people will refuse to allow us.

- Did you know that Asperger's Syndrome can go virtually undetected for years? Reading up on it (after an illuminating lunch time convo), I was shocked to see how many of the symptoms may be linked to other issues (depression, angst, lisps, etc.). Equally shocking: this syndrome is in the same family as Autism, with almost none of the physical symptoms; in fact, people with Asperger's are usually highly intelligent, highly capable and very high-functioning. They're just not very good with people. Sheds a whole new light on what I like to term "social dysfunction"

- Reading someone's status about baby socks in bulk on Facebook made someone else jump to a conclusion involving preggers. What floors me? Why anyone would even think that a Facebook status would be a good place to announce the birth of your first child before telling people about it in real life. Facebook is only as evil as you make it, people.

-It's amazing to me how people view someone at the Reference Desk as a confidant. Today I had two questions followed by life stories: patron one had been wrongfully diagnosed for 5 years, given schizophrenia medication for what turned out to be a food allergy (!!) - she needed books on malpractice and medical errors; patron two told me all about her problems with her husband's infidelity and his newest mistress while asking for passages on love and faithfulness in the bible. It's days like these that I think to myself: honey, no matter how weird or awful life may get, it can always always get worse.

- Just because you shouldn't be in a relationship with someone doesn't mean you don't want to be. JC once told me (a long long time ago) that feelings are not a tap: you can't just turn them on and off at your leisure. Watching this woman scour through the Bible online for words of wisdom to help her husband come back to her, I was struck by just how sad the whole situation was; there she is, trying to save the soul of a man who doesn't really care about her when she should be finding a way to help herself get over the bastard and walk away. If she had any good friends, they would tell her she deserves better. Then, one day, she'd realise that while she never did turn off the tap, it had since run dry. Who knows who long that will take? In the meantime, I slipped a couple of self-help books in with her marriage counseling stuff... hey, I'm a librarian, not a robot.

- I love Book Club.