Three more things

[cyphomandra]

scioscribe gave me three things to write about:

Boxes. I have moved a lot in my life - eight times over two countries as a child, and then once I left home at 18 I moved another twenty times between three countries before moving into my current house, where I’ve been for nearly seven years. Another two and it will be the longest I’ve lived anywhere. I have packed a lot of boxes and have not (yet) unpacked all of them.

Chemistry. I liked chemistry a lot, particularly solving equations, or things like gas chromatography that had a neat puzzle solving element to them - my practical chemistry was often, alas, slightly less elegant. I think I spent about a month’s of labs doing a series of experiments where the product of one became the substrate for the next, etc, basically distilling water, which was not at all what was intended.

Libraries. In books children who love reading have close and friendly relationships with their libraries and librarians, whereas mine have always been more tempestuous, mainly because I am very bad at giving books back. Although I like to think I am not naturally inclined to crime, once my childhood library started using electronic issuing I promptly worked out how to use it to avoid paying my overdue fees (if you took the book out again without returning it, your borrowing record and your fine would be wiped). Eventually they closed this glitch. I came up with another method, but it was trickier, and I was used to having vast numbers of books out, and sometime in my teens I eventually ended up blacklisted from that library for about four years. Fortunately I moved (see boxes), or at least fortunately for me, and I never got quite that bad again.

I was also a school librarian, which was great for indulging in geek pop cultural references and playing 500 with my fellow librarians and again terrible for my relationship with the actual librarian. I do like libraries, though, and my local one is great. At the moment I have only one overdue book, which is sitting between me and the door in an attempt to remind me to return it...

I think the dreamwidth zeitgeist is moving on, but if anyone wants three random things, do let me know.

Comments

[naraht]

I'll take three random things. I guess I'm old school. :)

[cyphomandra]

Sure!

Custard, iridescence, and gravity.

[skygiants]

omg, what a brilliant glitch!

(my parents would not allow me to have more than 12 book or so out at a time, which was probably wise of them but very frustrating for me)

[cyphomandra]

Oh man. Did you hunt out "collected in one volume" editions?

The glitch was great, although until I was confident it was going to work taking books out was a bit like I imagine smuggling goods through customs would be like.

[gramarye1971]

I'll take three things -- trying to get back in a posting habit. ^_^

[cyphomandra]

Sure - quarantine, nitrogen, and tweezers?

[scioscribe]

I have spent a lot of time outwitting my e-library software in order to acquire more books than I should and keep them way longer than the loan period (they still go back into the system, they just don't go off my Kindle).

And as someone else who has moved and, months later, still has some unpacked boxes around, I'm delighted to see that's not just a me problem.

[cyphomandra]

I am heroically resisting asking how you did this :D (I constantly max out my elibrary limit, which is 35 books, and that should be enough). I did manage to do this on my laptop but the top two lines of every page had a warning stamp on them, which wasn't ideal for reading.

[yhlee]

I'll take three, if you're willing, in the spirit of procrastination. XD

[cyphomandra]

I am familiar with that spirit!

Pangolin, safe-cracking, casserole.

[sovay]

lthough I like to think I am not naturally inclined to crime, once my childhood library started using electronic issuing I promptly worked out how to use it to avoid paying my overdue fees (if you took the book out again without returning it, your borrowing record and your fine would be wiped).

That is an adorable crime story.