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Bento Bounty
Feb. 10th, 2018 07:31 pmI had a seven-hour shift at New Brighton library today. It was... well, there were a couple of things that made it a little rough around the edges. One, the library shares its space with the Eagle's Nest, an indoor play place. Saturdays are especially busy because a lot of parents book it for birthday parties, and when there's overflow the staff at the play place helpfully suggest that parents and their squirrel-y children could go "hang out" in the library. I think that this is, on paper, a good idea. There are a lot of people who go to this community center who would not otherwise think to stop at the library. But this is functionally a bad idea because the kids really want to play, they don't want to sit and read, they want to be at the Eagle's Nest RUNNING AROUND AND SCREAMING THEIR HEADS OFF.
So, that made work... entertaining. I was told that I needed to clean up the children's room more often than normal because the kids tend to destroy it. Though, to be fair, not ALWAYS. Once, when I went in to clean, there was a dad with a small boy in the room. The place had clearly been, let's say, fully explored. I stopped in my tracks, because there's no point cleaning up when someone is actively playing. That makes people feel like they have to leave. So, I just smiled and probably muttered, "Oh, you're still at it; I'll come back and clean everything up later." When I came back, five minutes later, they had done it for me. That was nice.
The other thing that was rough? I worked seven hours with two other people who were... particular. A lot of librarians/circulation staff are. Being a little OCD is considered a feature, not a bug in the library business. Normally, I have no problem rolling with it, but normally I'm only there for half a day. A full seven hours with people who neaten your neatening is a little demoralizing. At one point I was told to go stack some weeded books on a table. I did that. Stacking books is not a difficult job, I figured. You pile them up in an orderly fashion so that none of them will fall and that's a job well done, right? I came back to the backroom for something and my pile had been rearranged. Nothing makes a person feel more incompetent to find something they just did, redone.
But that's over now, and I have resolved never to work there for a full 8 hours again. I will happily take short shifts, but now I know that any longer and I might murder my co-workers.
In happier news, Shawn bought herself a bento box. I like to tell her it's the best thing she ever bought for herself that's clearly actually FOR ME. I have been having a tremendous amount of fun packing her lunch and making it "kawaii." (The overused by otaku, Japanese word for cute.)
Traditionally, bento boxes are wrapped in cloth that can serve as a napkin/tablecloth. So, this is the box wrapped in one of our checked napkins:
Then, just to show you the box:
This particular brand of bento box came with a wooden spoon and a fork, which aren't pictured. The elastic strap holds the two sections together and you can tuck the silverware underneath it on the top.
Here's the first lunch I made her:
(The top part is furthest from us in the picture.) You see the top part with the little dividers (bought separately, alas) with cheese and baby carrots. The circle is a turkey sandwich cut with a cookie cutter. The lower tray has candy hearts, a star shaped turkey sandwich and girl scout thin mint cookies. A thoroughly American adaptation of a Japanese tradition. :-)
I have never had so much fun making someone else's lunch.
On Friday night the whole family went over to my friend Sean Murphy's house to watch the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. That was a lot of fun. I have one take-away: Tongan athletes are HOT and should be required to compete half-naked as well. Otherwise, it was fun to try to listen for the one phrase I remember from Korean (our martial arts was Korean, so we counted and said a few phrases in Korean) which is "thank you very much."
Okay, it's early, but I might go to bed soon. I was hoping to write a few letters to my pen pals. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep my eyes open long enough, however. Work really took a lot out of me.
So, that made work... entertaining. I was told that I needed to clean up the children's room more often than normal because the kids tend to destroy it. Though, to be fair, not ALWAYS. Once, when I went in to clean, there was a dad with a small boy in the room. The place had clearly been, let's say, fully explored. I stopped in my tracks, because there's no point cleaning up when someone is actively playing. That makes people feel like they have to leave. So, I just smiled and probably muttered, "Oh, you're still at it; I'll come back and clean everything up later." When I came back, five minutes later, they had done it for me. That was nice.
The other thing that was rough? I worked seven hours with two other people who were... particular. A lot of librarians/circulation staff are. Being a little OCD is considered a feature, not a bug in the library business. Normally, I have no problem rolling with it, but normally I'm only there for half a day. A full seven hours with people who neaten your neatening is a little demoralizing. At one point I was told to go stack some weeded books on a table. I did that. Stacking books is not a difficult job, I figured. You pile them up in an orderly fashion so that none of them will fall and that's a job well done, right? I came back to the backroom for something and my pile had been rearranged. Nothing makes a person feel more incompetent to find something they just did, redone.
But that's over now, and I have resolved never to work there for a full 8 hours again. I will happily take short shifts, but now I know that any longer and I might murder my co-workers.
In happier news, Shawn bought herself a bento box. I like to tell her it's the best thing she ever bought for herself that's clearly actually FOR ME. I have been having a tremendous amount of fun packing her lunch and making it "kawaii." (The overused by otaku, Japanese word for cute.)
Traditionally, bento boxes are wrapped in cloth that can serve as a napkin/tablecloth. So, this is the box wrapped in one of our checked napkins:
Then, just to show you the box:
This particular brand of bento box came with a wooden spoon and a fork, which aren't pictured. The elastic strap holds the two sections together and you can tuck the silverware underneath it on the top.
Here's the first lunch I made her:
(The top part is furthest from us in the picture.) You see the top part with the little dividers (bought separately, alas) with cheese and baby carrots. The circle is a turkey sandwich cut with a cookie cutter. The lower tray has candy hearts, a star shaped turkey sandwich and girl scout thin mint cookies. A thoroughly American adaptation of a Japanese tradition. :-)
I have never had so much fun making someone else's lunch.
On Friday night the whole family went over to my friend Sean Murphy's house to watch the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. That was a lot of fun. I have one take-away: Tongan athletes are HOT and should be required to compete half-naked as well. Otherwise, it was fun to try to listen for the one phrase I remember from Korean (our martial arts was Korean, so we counted and said a few phrases in Korean) which is "thank you very much."
Okay, it's early, but I might go to bed soon. I was hoping to write a few letters to my pen pals. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep my eyes open long enough, however. Work really took a lot out of me.
