Getting Started

     Getting started can be weird. Take this blog for instance. My first blog was solely about video games, movies, and all around geekery. While I wrote once or twice about my displays at the library, it wasn't really about me. Now, I've never taken a class on blogging, but writing from experience seems to be the point. Although, I have to say, I have no intent to stop writing about Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter or anything Joss Whedon does.
     Anyways, finding out that I wanted to be a librarian was never a clear idea to me. I didn't have my "aha!" moment until this past February. Growing up, I knew two things. I liked animals and books were cool. When you're in elementary school, no one thinks about that kind of thing. You're too busy playing on the swings and avoiding cooties. In elementary school I remember my mum reading to me each night before bed. She'd recite Dr. Seuss and other easy reads. For elementary and middle school, I purchased a great many Scholastic magazine finds.  In truth, it was usually because of the bracelet or some trinkets that came with it. But I almost always read them anyways. Almost.
     Middle school is where the first seeds of career focus are planted. We struggle with the idea that our teachers have lives outside of school, develop "unique" styles of dress, and attend a great many functions. Band concerts, teacher/parent nights, high school plays starring the 'big kids.' Career fairs count too. On one such fair, I remember having to decide what lectures I wanted to shadow. My father, a rather unhelpful person in these kinds of matters simply stated "You like animals. Why don't you be a veterinarian." My younger self thought that was a pretty good idea. Sitting in the lecture, I was shown various pictures of pets in exam rooms. They were cute and you'd be able to handle all of them. And then the lecturer started discussing the not so great parts of a vet. Like putting an animal to sleep or cleaning their messes. I didn't like doing that chore at home and I could never hurt someone else's pet. I remember someone asking how long the Dr. had gone to school for and she promptly answered "Eight years or so." Eight years was too long, I thought to myself, and I quickly crossed it off the list.
     When I was in middle school my mum subbed at various levels of my school. Eventually she landed a job as an ed-tech and was much happier. For a while, it seemed, my parents didn't fight over paychecks. Teaching, I mused, might be an option. This I would ponder more over high school.