Recently, I've been thinking about my career. More specifically, about what I would do if I decided to no longer be a rare book cataloger. Now, don't get me wrong. I really like my job, and I have no intention of leaving the profession any time soon. I do have some fears, I guess, about the longevity of rare book cataloging, though, and I think often about that most dreaded of interview questions: Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
Someone, during an interview actually, gave me a great answer to that question recently: "In 5-10 years, I hope to be the best cataloger I can be." The lip-service answer, of course, is something about moving up into administration, being the head of a department, supervision, blah blah blah. That's just ... so not me. Realistically, I sort of imagine I will end up in that kind of role someday, but it's not what I'd want. I actually want to be one of those crusty old types who just catalogs the books. Knows everything. Follows orders. That would make me happy.
But. What would I do if I weren't a cataloger? I have no idea. I really can't come up with anything, mostly because I'm lazy, and until someone is going to pay me to sit around and read books, or exercise, or watch movies, I don't have any brilliant ideas. Teacher? Critic? Editor? That last is perhaps the most reasonable, but the publishing industry is scrambling these days, and besides. My grasp of grammar isn't really that great. Some type of journalism? I dunno. I need to write a lot more, and a lot more regularly, before I really get the sense that anyone would want to read what I write. And what would I write about?
Not so long ago, I pondered what I might go back to school for, if not my dream MA in English lit. I came up with linguistics. I like languages and learning about languages, and how we use language ...
Basically, I think I have skills, interests, and inclinations in things that aren't terrifically lucrative, or even conducive to "real" jobs.
Something to continue pondering, I suppose...hopefully, the world will still need catalogers for a little while longer.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Still here!
I guess it says something sad about the fact that I haven't really blogged here since starting the movie blog, huh? That is, I think, going quite swimmingly ... at least I'm enjoying myself. My current schedule doesn't allow me to watch quite as many movies as I'd like, but I'm still managing to find things to blog about there.
And here? Well, let's see. Summer in CT has been ridiculously hot so far. Work is work - I enjoy it but don't like the logistics of it. We made a week-long trip to MN back in June to see friends get married, and friends get ordained, visit w/family and friends, and see a Twins game at shiny new Target Field. We also made a trip down to NYC to see the Twins v. the Mets at Citi Field. They won both games, so we're 2-2 this year. Yay! We also traveled to Vermont over the 4th of July weekend. Neither of us had ever been there, so we wanted to visit, and since we have friends who live in Montpelier (more or less) and Burlington, we had good excuses. Good food was had, good conversation, and an excellent hike. And now, we stay put for a while. Last weekend actually featured some fun activities, though - CAKE was playing in Danbury, on Andrew's birthday, no less, so we caught their excellent show. They played all of my favorites, because, of course they did! We also saw Inception (excellent!) and went to Shakespeare in the Grove for an al fresco performance of As You Like It (because really, is there any other way to see it?) Hoping to get to a Rockcats game (local triple-A team, Twins affiliate) this weekend, perhaps.
Otherwise, all is well.
Oh, and uh ... the elephant in the room? For those who may not know, we are expecting the debut of "Rock Star Klein" in December. All going swimmingly so far. Recommend keeping a look-out on Facebook for more information, as blogs are not the most private things ever. Or shoot me a message if you'd like to be included in any emailings that happen. :)
So yeah. How are you?
And here? Well, let's see. Summer in CT has been ridiculously hot so far. Work is work - I enjoy it but don't like the logistics of it. We made a week-long trip to MN back in June to see friends get married, and friends get ordained, visit w/family and friends, and see a Twins game at shiny new Target Field. We also made a trip down to NYC to see the Twins v. the Mets at Citi Field. They won both games, so we're 2-2 this year. Yay! We also traveled to Vermont over the 4th of July weekend. Neither of us had ever been there, so we wanted to visit, and since we have friends who live in Montpelier (more or less) and Burlington, we had good excuses. Good food was had, good conversation, and an excellent hike. And now, we stay put for a while. Last weekend actually featured some fun activities, though - CAKE was playing in Danbury, on Andrew's birthday, no less, so we caught their excellent show. They played all of my favorites, because, of course they did! We also saw Inception (excellent!) and went to Shakespeare in the Grove for an al fresco performance of As You Like It (because really, is there any other way to see it?) Hoping to get to a Rockcats game (local triple-A team, Twins affiliate) this weekend, perhaps.
Otherwise, all is well.
Oh, and uh ... the elephant in the room? For those who may not know, we are expecting the debut of "Rock Star Klein" in December. All going swimmingly so far. Recommend keeping a look-out on Facebook for more information, as blogs are not the most private things ever. Or shoot me a message if you'd like to be included in any emailings that happen. :)
So yeah. How are you?
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