– in common with some of the most popular answers, I went on a sunset boat cruise in Kelowna about ten years ago. They were promoting “Classic Rock” but they played stuff from the 1980’s instead of the 1960’s like I expected (may have been the first “wow, am I old now?” moment I can remember.)
– my eye doctor is someone I used to babysit.
– I went for a haircut and the stylist asked if I “wanted my eyebrows touched up too” since they were apparently a little scraggly!
– was at a public event at work and a young regular asked if my kids were my grandkids!
– when I watch a music awards show, I barely recognize any of the artists. They also usually give the “Lifetime Achievement Award” to somebody who’s probably a decade or more younger than me – Britney Spears or Justin Bieber or whoever.
– Yes, I have been asked if I qualify for a senior’s discount.
– I think our house is almost completely LED lights and I still run around telling everybody to turn them off.
– I’ve started (occasionally) drinking low alcohol beer.
Those are a few off the top of my head. Unfortunately, I’m sure there are a lot more examples. 🙁
(And honestly, I picked one random example but there are dozens if not hundreds of examples from across North America and around the world where religious leaders are playing a role in making the pandemic worse by giving bad advice to their congregants.)
What’s the sad joke?
Christian in ICU bed dying of Covid: “God, you were supposed to protect me!”
God: “I sent you a vaccine – what else did you want?”
I know lottery tickets are a waste of money but I buy them for a few reasons:
1) Lottery money helps fund a lot of great organizations including many of the non-profits I used to work for/with/volunteer for.
2. As a colleague once said, “sure, you’re not going to win but what you’re actually buying is permission to dream about what life would be like if you did.”
3) I’m fairly restrained in my purchases, only buying a single ticket at a time and not even for every draw – only if jackpots get huge and/or coinciding with when I’m at a gas station or convenience store or a similar place where I might have occasion to buy one. (It always pains me if I’m buying tickets and somebody else buys like $100 worth of tickets at a shot.)
At any rate, posting this pic makes me feel like my aunt who goes to the casino and always tells you how much she won but never how much she spent to win that jackpot. But since I rarely win more than a free ticket or $10, this was a pleasant surprise the other morning.
This is a scan of a print (remember those where you’d get 24 photos in a roll of film for a camera?) of me coming out of the main doors of Regina Public Library,
What I love about this picture is, at a time when every photo was fairly precious and you didn’t waste film taking pictures of every single thing like you can now with 256 GB of storage in a smartphone you have on you at all times, whoever took it (my parents?) recognized that this was something that was significant enough in my life that it was worth taking a candid photo of me at this very special place.
Cameras in this era didn’t have zoom lens (unless you were a pro!). so it’s pretty far away and I’m not sure how old I am in this photo – late teens? Early 20’s? – but again, that’s what makes this photo special – obviously libraries have played a large part in my life for a really long time before library school was something I knew existed, let along considered.
But I sort of wish I could go back in time and whisper to that young kid that he’d take a fairly circuitous route to get there but would eventually be working at that same library system including five years in that very building!
Today marks 13 years since I started at Regina Public Library on September 8, 2008 (and I got to celebrate by taking a rare opportunity to exercise some front-line librarian muscles by reading a couple stories to a grade 3/4 class that visited our branch today!)
If I had a traditional 30-year career, I’d be nearing the halfway point of that tenure.
But because I took five years to complete my four year degree then spent nearly a decade in the non-profit sector plus a couple years in a regional system before being hired by RPL, I’m actually closer to the end of my career than the halfway point.
I turned 48 this summer which means I’m eligible for early retirement in seven short years when I turn 55.
It’s hard to say how long I’ll work – until I’m 55? 60? 65? (which is the only way I would end up having a traditional 30 year career – even as a relative latecomer to libraryland.)
I don’t know how long I might work but I do know what I want for my retirement party!
Some may have photos of memorable moments or tributes from former coworkers or a cake party with the presentation of a retirement gift.
Whatever combination of the above I may have, I’ve decided one thing I absolutely want is a Powerpoint presentation playing in the background of my retirement party with the titles of various Incident Reports I’ve been involved with! 🙂
How many of these things did you learn about in library school???
“Kid tries to start library on fire”
“Passed out man wakes up swearing”
“Two patrons scream at each other at the photocopier.”
“Report of someone smoking marijuana in washroom.”
“Child asks for bandaid for wasp sting.”
“Stolen Bike.”
“Stolen iPhone.”
“Stolen purse”
“Stolen iPhone”
“Stolen sunglasses.”
“Stolen iPhone”
“Altercation in parking lot”
“Empty liquor bottle found in toilet.”
“Man throws brick at window.”
“Woman screams obscenities at boyfriend.”
“Poop found in children’s area.”
“Baby left in library at closing by new dad” (this is a legendary story at RPL that occurred before I worked there so I’m claiming it!) 😉
