September 23, 2017

 This morning I woke up with enough time that I could ready at a leisurely pace and get everything packed up for the faire. And then I headed out.

I got there a little early, just in case parking sucked, but it didn't, so I hung out in my car for a little while. The head of youth services ended up parking a couple spots over, which worked out nicely because she was able to help carry all the crap I had.

We got things set up and then rearranged things because the laptop was in the sun and you couldn't see the screen. Throughout the day we had to repeatedly move the canopy and the tables to keep ourselves in the shade. We also had to occasionally hold onto the canopy when the wind picked up so it didn't take the canopy with it. There were a couple times when it was pretty close.

As for the faire itself, I think it went pretty well. There was a bigger rush of people in the morning but things tapered off in the afternoon, mostly likely because it was really hot today. For the Makey Makey I ended up staying mostly with the whack-a-mole game because it was simple to learn and everyone from little kids to seniors enjoyed it. I also stuck with the potatoes because the kids really got into it and the two bananas we put out there got destroyed pretty quickly. I originally put up the piano but switched over before the faire actually started because I didn't think it would be as fun. I also let a couple kids try Pac-Man but they were getting frustrated by it because it wasn't as responsive as they wanted and the controller I made could have been better. The clips kept touching on the back of it which messed things up. But whack-a-mole was good.

The bracelets also went over pretty well. One of the other librarians came up with a bracelet design that was much faster and easier for kids to do. I don't think the bracelets were as cool, but I'm biased. That design made the bracelets more accessible so in the end it was a good thing. Except when it came to all of the instructions I printed out. Very few people took them because they weren't making that design so they had no need for them. That is unfortunate.

I was kind of forced to take a lunch break so I went to Jimmy John's. I only got a sandwich and water because I didn't want a cookie and I didn't think eating salty chips was a good choice for standing outside all day. And with only having a sandwich, it was really hard killing half an hour. But I managed it.

Throughout the day I talked to the principal at the school I used to work at and one of the second grade teachers, who I haven't seen since I left the school. I also talked to a couple of the university librarians, including my conference partner, who stopped by with muffins. She said they were from a barn-warming party she had just come from. She didn't make them but it is the second time she has run into public library people and brought us baked goods, the first time being when we came to the university library to sign people up for library cards. She said she doesn't always bring people baked goods but right now she's two for two, so we'll see. There was also a lady who recognized me from the magazine article. That is the first time someone I don't know has mentioned it, so that was kind of cool.

At four o'clock we tore everything down and I ate a complimentary doughnut, which was good but also very messy in the hot sun. We ended up not having to go back to the library to unload stuff, which was nice, mostly because it meant I wasn't going to have to figure out how to make that time back. As it was, we got done by 4:15PM. We were scheduled until 4:30PM but unloading would have taken us longer than that. And, it took me about fifteen minutes at the grocery store to pick up the bananas and potatoes, so now I'm even.

It was one of those slow/fast days. Time passed by pretty quickly but it also felt like it was dragging. But I survived. The top of my head got a little red from being in the sun too long even though I wasn't directly in it for too long. I can kind of feel it throbbing now, but that might not be related to redness. I probably should have worn a hat. It would have been nice if I could put sunscreen on the top of my head but I've still got some hair up there so I can't quite do that yet. If I do it again next year I'll probably say screw it and wear a hat, if the hair is still an issue.

On my way home I stopped at Sonic and got a Route 44 diet cherry limeade. I haven't gotten that size in years but it was needed after today. I drank water throughout the faire but not nearly enough. And it was amazing to drink large amounts of a cold liquid after a long day in the hot sun.

When I got home I watched some YouTube videos and then ended up taking a short nap on my couch. After that I continued watching YouTube videos and looked into mods for Terraria. The last time I got into the game was when the Yogscast guys did a series on it. And now they have started up another series and I once again got the urge to play. Turns out mods are super simple for Terraria, at least a lot of them are, because you just need to download a mod loader and put in the game folder. Then when you open the game you can browse all of the mods currently available and install them from within the game. It is super handy not having to got all over the place to find different mods. One mod that I want to try that isn't a part of the mod loader is one that turns Terraria into an RPG, with new NPCs and quests and buildings and things. It looks pretty good.

I watched Baby Driver tonight. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I don't think Ansel Elgort was the right fit. I haven't seen his previous movies but I don't think he pulled off the lead in this. I also didn't like how quickly the romance happened between him and the waitress. Or at least how quickly it appeared to happen. It was hard to get a sense for the passage of time in the movie. The animosity Jon Bernthal and Jamie Foxx seemed forced. I also didn't like the story arc of John Hamm and his lady. I would have liked them to be the nice criminal couple that road off into the sunset. But it was an alright movie, if not a little awkward because of Ansel. I did think it was cool how in the coffee scene after the first car chase, that lyrics from the song appeared as graffiti throughout the scene.

It is now far too late, so I'm going to record my audio journal and go to bed. Tomorrow I unfortunately have to do laundry, so I can't veg out at my house all day.