Library of Congress Archiving Tweets?!?

April 14th, 2010 by pladd

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For real real!! There is a CNN article about it and everything. Apparently they will have every public tweet ever tweeted since Twitter’s creation in 2006! They cite the need to save important tweets as well as uses for the data to study human interactions in an increasingly digital world.

More importantly, it means that I have to add a new job to my Possible Job Ideas list:
Twitter Librarian of Congress

How awesome would that be? I will be watching for that job posting and will apply by tweet to seem authentic.

Posted in archivery |

Nostalgic Lists

February 12th, 2010 by pladd

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I recently uncovered a notebook I kept I think sophomore through junior year of random lists. I feel a little bit like an Egyptologist since the handwriting is tricky to decipher and half the time I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Made up Positions I’ve Given Myself
Wiess Resident Expert in Speculative Zoology
Wiess Breakfast Rep
Wiess Mr. Potato Head Rep
Co-comics Rep
Resident Witch Doctor
Wiess Librarian
Interior Decorator to the Presidential Suite (after we wallpapered Hiren’s room with water colors, mostly of him being eaten by monsters)
Hairologist
Apprentice Mad Scientist
Wiess Zombie Attack Consultant
Awkward Breakfast Conversation Rep (I still am this)
Wiess Astrologer
Chief Phallic Symbol Recognizer
Wiess Soothsayer
Official BFF to James K. Polk
Noted April Fool’s Day Victim
Noted “the crazy” of the sophomore class by Doward
Wiess Pieologist
Inventor of the Snake Warmer
Wiess Egg Salad Rep
Official BFF to Stephen Hawking

I did so much for Wiess. No wonder I got that award.

Things I’ve Done Instead of Going to Class (first semester)
Homework for that class
Homework for another class
Sleep
Crossword puzzles
Watch movies
Talk to Michael Curtis
Eat lunch
Stare at people from 2nd Floor Fondren
Read
Buy interesting hats
Watch the rain
Have a dance party
Listen to Rocky Horror Picture Show and sing loudly
Leave anonymous love notes for Steven Wiggins
Look up lame pick up lines online
Have consumption
Flirt outrageously

I assume this was first semester sophomore year, since first semester freshman Patricia was MAD conscientious. Also, Steven Wiggins was IN my class, so it would’ve been hard to leave secret love notes. These notes, by the way, would always say things like “If I said you had a corpus bellus would you hold it against me?” He would usually just correct my Latin.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in archivery |

National Novel Writing Month 2009: Epic Win!

November 29th, 2009 by pladd

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This graphic, the only semi-tangible prize, was SO WORTH IT.

This graphic, the only semi-tangible prize, was SO WORTH IT.

Granted, my main memories of Thanksgiving are of writing 17,000 words in two days, but still! Look at this picture I won!!! In case you were wondering, the novel ends with the three different Patricias plus random historical/alternate time line characters teaming up to USE THEIR IMAGINATIONS to defeat the Plutonians. Apparently illogical thought processes are their one weakness, making Middle School Patricia the ultimate contender.

I can’t be bothered to post the entire novel on here, but here is the wordle art version of it:
Wordle: NaNoWriMo 2009

I like how PATRICIA dominates. Just like always. Click for larger image (i.e. to read any words that aren’t PATRICIA)

Posted in Times I Have Almost Died, archivery |

National Novel Writing Month 2009: A Timeline

November 24th, 2009 by pladd

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I thought it was over forever last year. But then in October this happened:

2009
October
Start receiving “reminder” emails from the NaNoWriMo website. Roll my eyes.

October 24th
Read over “novel” from last year while procrastinating writing a paper. Feel bad about the lack of coherency.

October 26th
Decide to do National Novel Writing Month again, this time attempting not to fall back on random free association to meet word limit. I CAN write a 50,000 word novel that sticks to one plot. For varying definitions of “one plot”. And “sticks”. And “novel”.

October 30th
Convince James Fox to write one too in exchange for making him a character in my novel.

November 1st–10pm
Suddenly remember that it’s the first day of National Novel Writing Month. Stay up to begin novel. Decide it should be about Middle School Patricia traveling to the future by accident to meet me now. It can be deep and full of meaning and reveal things about my life and stuff.

November 2nd
Decide to occasionally write from Middle School Patricia’s Point of View to use up more words. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Times I Have Almost Died, archivery |

National Novel Writing Month 2008: A Timeline

November 24th, 2009 by pladd

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2008

March
See a class called “How To Write a Novel In a Month” while registering. Decide this is the class for me because 1) I like writing novels, 2) I like having no time to revise, and 3) I only needed one more credit hour.

August–First Week of Class
Discover this is a Martel Student Taught Course. Half the people signed up are Serious English Major Novelists, the other half seem to make up Rice’s Anime Club.

August–Second Week of Class
Discover the Serious English Major Novelists have dropped the class en masse. Learn about: how writing is a serious mystical art that puts your mind in tune with the gods; anime.

September–Third Week of Class
Begin bringing laptop and playing Mah Jong during class, which this week consists of watching a youtube fan video about Halo 2 or something. And always the constant hum of Anime in the background.

September–Fourth Week of Class
Listen to a girl’s novel idea about puppies that, when they lick you, they change your gender.

Rest of September
Skip class. See above.

October
Try to think of ideas for 50,000 word novels that I could write way fast. Decide to just write about my summer job at the library in third person, artfully changing everyone’s name. Figure that will give me AT LEAST 50,000 words of ridic stories.

November 1st
Start novel. Decide this is going to be easy.

November 5th
Already 1000 words behind.

November 10th
3000 words behind. Introduce library trolls for variety.

November 12th
Library trolls aren’t working out. Change plot entirely so that it is now Me (Summer Intern) and the elderly assistant director against a horde of zombies and other book characters that have come alive and are attacking the library in the night.

November 13th
We team up with Napoleon. Excerpt:
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Times I Have Almost Died, archivery |

Goodbye Rice email address

November 20th, 2009 by pladd

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Supposedly today is the day Rice finally deletes my old email address, although I have gotten three things from the TFW list serv today so this may be a lie. Still, in preparation for the impending severing of my last link with Rice University (besides my ongoing frenemy relationship with World’s Most Powerful Cyborg, William Marsh Rice [more on that later]), I went through and saved any old emails I thought would be pertinent to archive for posterity. Because I’m just that much of a librarian. Here are the best bits from the last year (I got bored after July 2008). I arranged them in such a way that, I think, they tell a kind of story about my time at Rice:

July 2008
“If I can’t fuel my car with them, what am I supposed to do with all these cans of creamed corn?”

September 2008
Dear James Fox,
The narrative force behind my dream last night was rescuing you from the Amish. I’m not sure why they wanted you in the first place, but it would explain your fear of modern things like shaving and haircuts. If you are actually being held hostage by the Amish, I will of course rush to your aid. Although I suppose I would hear about it by carrier pigeon or through the Amish Underground Railroad, not email. It will be just like my dream except Rob will not be there complaining the whole time and I may actually do something useful instead of running away from haunted trees. Apparently Amish country is full of them. In conclusion, sorry I didn’t rescue you from the Amish. I promise to try harder next time/in real life.
Patricia”

October 2008
“Rachel says you are only allowed to cheat on your boyfriend if you are in another country (where it doesn’t count), with a foreign exchange student (like being in another country), or with someone who has the same name as your boyfriend (comes with the good excuse: “Well… he said his name was Steven… I thought it was you”. Understandable mistake.)”

December 2008
“I am not saving you from zombies. You took the class; you fend for yourself. That’s the deal. Besides I’ll have other stuff to worry about, like looting and making sure I’m the second hottest person in my Zombie Fighting Team (one hot person always dies so that you know it’s serious). Just fyi. It’s good to be ready for any eventuality”
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in archivery, transcripts |

Happy Emo Friday!

September 4th, 2009 by pladd

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While archiving my old journals, I have come across two stellar premiers that have heretofore gone strangely unnoticed by the artistic and literary communities.

The first: my invention of emo comics in 2006, after a coworker at the library invited me to join the “Spinster Librarian Club”. Here was the comic response I drew in my journal of myself exiting the “Interstate de vie” (“writen in French b/c it’s classier”) onto Rural Route Spinster Librarian on the way to Scenic Alonesville. You can see my two library coworkers already ahead of me on the road:
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in archivery |

Things I Have Seen on Unerased Whiteboards in the Library Science Building

September 4th, 2009 by pladd

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In a Sylvia Plath kind of sense, all books are really dying slowly.
—
1. articulate need
2. seek informational resource
3. find and interpret data
4. refine search if necessary
5. go have a hamburger
—
Manning Hall thinks it lives in a pre-Copernican universe, but everything does not revolve around us.
—
[drawing of a stick figure man on top of a book pyramid]

Posted in archivery |

An Art Apology

August 28th, 2009 by pladd

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It’s been a long week. So here’s some art I did by way of a wedding card!

It's supposed to be a kite

It's supposed to be a kite

And then inside…

There was a check inside

There was a check inside

I’m thinking about starting a greeting card company if this librarian thing doesn’t work out.

Posted in archivery |

Things Written In the Margins of My Notes

August 25th, 2009 by pladd

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First Prof of the day on being a babyboomer: “Since I was born in 1947, I’m at the cutting edge of ruining your futures. Do well in my class so that I can continue to live like this: (picture of himself drinking wine)” I love it when people use powerpoint unprofessionally.

My new hobby: counting how many times I hear the word “metadata”. I already got sick of it during orientation so I figured I would masochistically track exactly how many times it’s said this semester by people who are only trying to sound pretentious. Luckily, I am now a graduate student, and not to be intimidated by buzzwords. Neo-classical post-colonial paradigm! Come on, guys, I was an English major. That’s like all we do.
Current “Metadata” count: 17

My tutoring group, asking me about myself to avoid working: “Why do you want to be a librarian when you’re so good at math?” I haven’t been told I was good at math since the ninth grade. Maybe I too could have been an SE with some POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT.

A giant snail with a flashlight in its mouth chasing a stick figure man over the Intro to Cataloging. No one said margin doodles had to make sense.

Number of people I’ve met so far who have heard of Rice before: 2. Way to go, “Who Knew?” Campaign. Way to go.

Posted in archivery |

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