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Oboer
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Name: Jolene
Birthday: 7/21/1983
Gender: Female
Interests: All things oboe, reading, travelling, old stuff, discovering places, hiking, star gazing, art, funny movies
Expertise: umm. no.
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  joe5yellow
Member Since:
1/20/2006
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| so this summer i let my sister borrow my library card. i warned her to bring the books back so i didn't have to pay the late fees. today i got this in the mail...
dear jolene m harrigan,
please take notice that the prompt return of the following item borrowed by you from the Potsdam Public Library is requested:
the book.
please be informed that all your borrowing privileges are suspended until this matter is settled. please take further notice that unless these materials are returned within 15 days of this notice that we will begin to pursue legal action with the local authorities in accordance with section 265 of the education law printed below.
law #265. detention. whoever willfully detains any book, newspaper, magazine, pamphlet, manuscript or other property belonging to any public or incorporated library, reading room, museum or other educational institution, for thirty days after notice in writing to return the same, given after the expiration of the time which by the rules of such institution, such article or other property may be kept, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one nor more than 25 dollars, or by imprisonment in jail not exceeding six months, and the said notice shall bear on its face a copy of this section.
so i could have to give them 25 dollars, or go to jail for 6 months? those two are comparable? what?
on a more fun note, i get to buy steel drums for school. that will be fun.
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| This is for my dear friend Janette, even though she won't come visit a certain person who's all alone in a new town. Even after school has started and she 'doesn't have anything to do.' But I understand. I haven't visited her either. I'm glad to hear she's happy at Roberts. And I hope she's found someone else to watch stupid movies with. She's probably just watching drum corps and missing her Jeep though. I miss it too. Especially off-roading trips and construction hold ups with the disguise. And drive by trumpeting. I miss the fun we used to have with Elizabeth and Brian (my FIANCE, since that somehow warrants capitalization.) I hope she's still playing chesskers too. And I hope that she's learned the similarities of a woodchuck and a ground hog. Now I have less fun because I'm working a lot and planning a WEDDING. What the hell happened?
There has officially been a week of school. It's going to be a good year, although I haven't done a whole lot yet because I'm the lesson teacher. Lessons will start next week. Hopefully. I've spent most of my time trying to make a schedule. I'm not allowed to do a straight rotation because kids aren't allowed to miss an AP class once every 9 weeks. Grrr. So it's been a long process. But it's done now, and I'll give it to the kids tomorrow to make sure it works and I haven't made some fatal error. Middle school lessons start next week too, and beginners start the week after that. So I'll have more fun after this week. It would be nice if I had Janette to give me brass pointers, since I'm not so good with those. I'm living in a hick town, not unlike Howe's Cave, where she grew up. I bet she could help with that too. I'm still playing the oboe and collecting reed thread, my family is doing well (I'm going to have a nephew pretty soon), I have only tin foiled one Jeep in my life, and I have a couch.
Lip balm?
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| So get this -
I got a letter from my grandmother the other day. She was going through some old letters and papers from my Grandfather, who passed away in July. She had told me earlier that he had lived in Ticonderoga for a while; he had a donut shop here in the '40s. Which is just cool on its own. Really, who doesn't like donuts? Anyway, she found his address...400 Lake George Avenue. My address is 178 Lake George Avenue. I mapquested it, and according to that, the two are actually in the same building. It has to be, because it's the last building on the street. There are lots of apartments and such, so the numbers are weird. I started looking into it all a bit more, and I found this archive of newspapers online going back to 1852. I know that he was here until 1949. Sadly I couldn't find his name anywhere. But I found the address and a few ads for a donut shop. No one can remember the name of the shop, but there was one at the same address! The name of the people running it in the articles has been Steen, starting in 1950. So I'm thinking they took over when my grandfather left. It was called 'The Donut Shop' by the way. Is that so hard to remember? The best I can figure, the shop was downstairs and he lived above it. Now there's a laundrymat there, which is very convenient for me. I found an article that said there was a fire, at the Steen's residence (400 Lake George Ave), in 1950. After reading that I wondered if that building was torn down and something else rebuilt, but built into the brick of this building it says 1908, so it has to be the same. Now I'm trying to find out as much as I possibly can about it all, and it has completely taken over my life for 2 days. I don't understand at all how something like this could even happen. I really wish I could talk with my grandfather about it...
On a more philosophical note - at one point I realized I was looking at newspapers, some from 150 years ago, on the internet. It almost felt wrong, somehow. Irreverent. Like these were artifacts that were too valuable to be out there in cyberspace. They should be more difficult to find, so when you do find them, you realize what you're looking at...the lives of other people, the things that were important enough for them to write down. Their births and deaths, community events, stories and pictures. I think there's a reason we bury time capsules. If you left them out in the open for everyone to see, part of their magic would be gone. The intrigue is found partly in the search, having to go back one generation at a time, talking with people who remember, putting pieces together that hadn't been assembled in years. When that is eliminated it's like you've jumped too quickly into the past, skipping too much, and it becomes difficult to find any context for the information you find. Moving from the 3 digit telephone numbers of the '40s to roadrunner sort of had that effect. There's a historical society here that has these actual newspapers, and a lot of other things. I think I'll be making my way there next weekend to pay my respects, so to speak.
Conversely, it was totally awesome to be able to find all of this information so quickly. I guess it's hard to get out of the 21st century American mindset.
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| It's almost 12:30 and I'm still awake. Why, you ask? There is a candle sitting to my left. Said candle is just about to go out. And I can't bring myself to blow the thing out before it dies on its own. So instead I'm sitting here crocheting. And I realized that I was crocheting by candle light, something that probably hasn't been done since the Civil War. I felt like an old lady, so I decided this was about the most current thing I could be doing.
...12:45...almost there
...12:52...I've never seen a candle burn so long
...1:06...this is getting ridiculous
...1:08...done. that was in no way worth staying up this late.
I'm an idiot.
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| A note from my sister...
: Congratulations!! Today is your day, you're off to great places you're off and away. You're on your own and you know what you know, and you are the guy (man, girl, woman, lady, being, person, human, individual, creature, soul, species, living thing, did I get them all?), who'll decide where to go.
LuckyParm: You'll look up and down streets look them over with care about some you will say, I don't choose to go there (drugs, alcohol, old men, rock climbing, killing students, kicking, pinching, spiting, elbowing, head butting, DANCING, and so on), with your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down any not so good street.
LuckyParm: And there may not be any you want to go down, in that case of course, you'll head straight out of town (as you did!), it's opener there in the wide open air. Out there things can happen and frequently do, to people as brainy and footsy as you.
LuckyParm: But when things start to happen, don't worry don't stew, just go right along you'll start happening too!"
There, that is the best advice one could give to another. You once gave it to me, and now I have returned the favor and given to you!
Can't wait to see you…MISS YOU TONS!!
Nice sister. And appropriate given recent events. Let's recap this week. On Tuesday Brian and I went to Ticonderoga to find me an apartment. We found a nice one and checked out the town a bit. On Wednesday we continued exploring the town, and decided on the apartment. Then we got engaged. Yeah. We got the ring in Ticonderoga and took the long way home, stopped at a random trail head and found this spot on a little lake. Then some people came to go fishing. Unforgetable moments. Anyway. We got back to Potsdam on Wednesday, packed like crazy people on Thursday, and drove half way to Maine to see Brian's family. We made it there on Friday, went kayaking in the ocean, had champagne over a campfire, went hiking in Acadia, and took off on Saturday for Ticonderoga. We made it back on Sunday, met my parents with all my stuff, moved into a new apartment, and slept like a corpse until Monday. Pretty Crazy. But now I'm in my new spot and getting ready for a school year. My, how quickly things change. | | |
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