socializing geeks

I'm a geek.

Trivial Pursuit champ. Play on the computer. Read books. Wheeze when I run. Have a favorite Star Trek episode ("Wolf in the Fold"). Know titles of Star Trek episodes.

                                                     Yet, I am not geeky enough.

You see, I don't really understand social computing.

My family thinks I do, because I can open my email, and I have a Facebook page, and a Twitter page, and I write two blogs. They don't know I also use Google Reader, because they don't know what Google Reader is.

Yet I know that I don't actually know what I am doing.

I think I get Facebook. Say what you're doing, try to be funny. Comment on other people's statuses. Link to pictures of funny cat faces. Panic when see "friend request," feel bad when hit ignore. Take quizzes and bore friends with results. Got it.

Twitter? Well... I started by following Barack Obama, Sockington, and Rachel Maddow. Almost all of the people I follow are "famous." I've since added fellow librarians via 100 Best Twitter Feeds for Librarians of the Future (Hey! That's me!). But my tweets? As of this moment, I've done 41! What the heck do I say? No one cares what I think, that's what Meghan McCain's for. So I type things like, "Yea! My turn at the public library to read the latest Sookie Stackhouse!" Woo, who cares. And then there was all the media coverage about how people in Iran were tweeting out and people who saw the plane crash into the Hudson were tweeting out and I don't know how people see all this. There's @ and # and $%&!&#?!, and when people refer to them with words instead of the symbols themselves, I don't know what they mean. Isn't # "the number sign"? But I think people call it a hash mark. When did they learn this, and where was I? It makes me feel like a big buffoon. The media continually says that social computing is a huge part of how news is disseminated. But not to me, because I don't get it! And I feel like I should. I hope other people are faking it, too.

Blogs. Blogs are great for people like me who like to write and like to tinker with HTML. However, there's such a narcissistic component to it that my friends kind of curls up their nose whenever I mention it. Blogs are vaguely embarrassing, yet here I am. And I also feel as though there's something ethereal about blogs, something just out of my grasp. Am I doing them right? Does anybody read them? Do I want them to? If so, why?

I love Google Reader. I find myself ignoring the sites I should read to stay current, like Paul Krugman and Mashable!, and heading right for I Can Has Cheezburger. I love those cats.

As a librarian... OF THE FUTURE!!!, I feel as though I should understand social computing in and out, as opposed to hovering around at the sides and chipping away at it. But that's what geeks do, I guess. Keep at it. 

                                                              Live long and prosper.

getting started

Well, my former colleagues, middle school teachers, are busy attending mandatory meetings and getting their classrooms ready, and I find myself almost giddy that I'm not with them. I do wish I were still around my colleagues more - it'd be nice to miniaturize them and tote them around like Polly Pockets. They are some of the best people I've ever known. But... right about now, if I were still teaching, I'd be in full-on panic mode. I would have started having the dreams where the kids come, and I have nothing prepared, so they become unruly and start throwing desks around. I'd have a vague uneasiness about the kids I've been warned to "keep a special eye on." I'd have a crushing sense of imprisonment, knowing near all my waking hours would be consumed with planning or grading papers or worrying about kids who hate me and the class and what could I do to make it all better?

Don't get me wrong, I always did right by the kids. But I did start to really really hate my job. When one student raised his hand and said, "I don't get it," I thought "So what?". Of course I helped him, he was counting on me, but I knew teaching was over for me. All teachers think So What sometimes (right???), but it sort of became a theme for me, at least in my head.

So I quit, and I said goodbye to my wonderful colleagues, and now here I am in library school. I've never earned a Master's Degree before, and I don't know what to expect as far as difficulty and time commitment. I'm a little antsy about it, but in a good way. I haven't had any nightmares yet, except the one where I forgot to pay my tuition, but I just did that an hour ago, so all is good (except that now I don't have any money). The thing is, I'm excited about the possibilities. It's new and fresh and exciting for me. I don't even know what I want to specialize in, though I plan to do work with digital collections, and I like museums (anthro undergrad), and I like the idea of cataloging. So... yeah. All I really know is, I don't think I want to work with the public anymore. I'm through with people!!

And I hope it's a long, long time before think so what about librarianship.