The Library Lady

I know I went on and on a few entries back about how much I love this town and how much I’m going to miss it. And I am … really, I am. Except maybe for one little thing.

As I’ve mentioned on this site before, I read a lot. And I read quickly. The speed of my reading ability is matched only by the speed with which my wallet snaps shut when I visit the local book store and see the prices on newly released hard-backs. I am a quick read, AND I’m cheap. Not a good combination.

To combat that, I go to the library, quite often.

Last time I was there I was browsing through the paperback section, in an “airport-fluff” sort of mood, when I heard a voice at my elbow ask me, “Do you like mysteries?”

And I turned to see a slightly older woman, short in stature, with a pleasant smile on her face. I was a little surprised, because while I’ve always found the library workers to be very helpful if needed, I’ve never had one essentially solicit me in the paperback aisle.

I smiled politely, thinking perhaps there was a newly released mystery she wanted to recommend, and said, “Actually, no, I don’t care for mysteries, thank you” and turned back to browse. She said, “You don’t like mysteries? Have you read any of {insert name of mystery author} books?” So I turned back to her and said, again, politely, “I’m sort of a wimp, and mystery books make it hard for me to sleep at night. Blood and violence and murder just isn’t my thing … but thank you for asking” in a voice that I *thought* made it clear I appreciated her concern, but didn’t need her help. Then she asked, “Well what about so-and-so?”, as if she didn’t hear me in the first place. I just sort of smiled and said, “No, really, I’m just looking for a little humor or fiction today, but thank you very much.”

Then she started mumbling to herself … “Hmmmm, you need mystery-light. Nothing too gory or creepy. Who would be good … oh! I know just who. Follow me!” she announced sprightly, and strode off. And I’m standing there, thinking, “Huh????” But because I didn’t want to seem rude, I followed her, right over to, yes, you guessed it, the mystery book aisles. Where she started pointing out all her favorite mystery authors, and telling me about each of the series, and giving me way too many details about the heroes and heroines and pulling books off the shelf and literally stacking them in my arms. And for a few brief seconds, I started looking around for the Candid Camera hidden camera, expecting Alan Funt to leap out from the periodicals, because what else could explain it?

But after a minute, I realized two things: this woman did not actually work at the library, and she thought she was being helpful. Luckily, I wasn’t in any big hurry, so I let her lead me around the mystery section for a few moments, took the books she recommended, and thanked her for her help. I then stood around in the aisle for another moment or two, peeking out of the corner of my eye, and once I saw that she had checked out and left the building, I put all the books back, then went back and got what I really wanted.

I was going to talk about it on this blog when it happened, but it seemed sort of mean-spirited to make fun of her. She really *was* just trying to help, albeit a little annoyingly. I think maybe she was lonely, and wanted to feel useful. But hey, I think her heart was in the right place. End of story.

Until today. When I went back to the library to check out one final book to hold me over while we’re in the hotel the end of this week. (Jan Karon fans, take heart -- I was finally able to get the first book in the Mitford series and I’m so excited to start it!) And as I was standing at the check out counter, library card in hand, I heard a voice behind me ----- “Do you like mysteries?”

Oh my gosh, on second thought, maybe it’s time we left Georgia, after all.

PS. Olivia, like the others have said, I’m glad you came back. I have no doubt that I drive people away from this site quite often with my boring, tedious, never-ending ramblings about absolutely nothing of importance. But I would feel genuinely bad if I drove someone off because something I wrote was careless or insensitive. LOTS of adjectives come to mind when I think of my own personality, but “purposefully hurtful” isn’t one of them.

PSS. Unfairness alert!! How about the fact they opened a brand spanking new, ginormous Kroger, complete with a Starbucks inside, just a few miles from my house, only two days before I move away? I don’t even LIKE coffee, and I feel sad about not getting to shop there, café mocha latte in hand, from now on.

PPSS. Moron alert!! (that would be me) (And geeky-computer-whining alert, as well) A few months ago, when I discovered the beauty that is iTunes and filled up my hard-drive with all sorts of music --- then had to buy a bigger hard drive, I paid to have all my software, files, and folders transferred over. The cd burning software that I had, Easy CD Creater by Roxio, for some reason, wouldn't transfer, so the kind souls at the computer shop who did the transfer gave me a free copy of another program, called Nero Smart Start. Maybe this is a perfect example of you get what you pay for, but although it was free, I can't make the dang thing work. And although I've been using it for a few months, I didn't even realize it wasn't working until today, when Kellen's soccer coach called to tell me the cd of photos I burned for him was blank. Which means all the back-up CD's of personal photos that I've been burning are probably also blank. I wouldn't know for sure, because they are packed away in a box somewhere, most likely with Brayden's dying virtual pet.

So my question, for anyone out there who can help me, is twofold: 1) If you use Nero, can you tell me what the heck am I doing wrong? After the burn I get the "successful burn" message, but apparently the discs are blank. Although when I tried to burn it *again*, it told me "not enough room on the disc." So I think the pictures are actually there, but why can't I see them when I go into my cd drive? And 2) What other cd burning programs out there can you recommend? Because I see a trip to Circuit City in my future, is all I'm saying, if I can't get this thing figured out. Gosh, I love/hate technology.