stereotypical single woman

I’m checking in from Grand Rapids today - I’m here recuperating at my parents after the whirlwind that was yesterday and waiting to have dinner for my father’s 73rd birthday (and the man still doesn’t know when he’s going to retire.)

Yesterday morning I packed up all my dirty laundry (hey, I’m going to be home for 48 hours and I’m a broke grad student), filled four bowls full of cat food, left the toilet seat up just in case the water bowl got emptied, kissed the boys goodbye, and made them promise not to have too much fun without me.

My first stop was a 9 a.m visit to a library in the Detroit suburbs for a job interview as a Library aid in their Tech Center. I think it went well, but it was the first of many interviews for only four positions, so everyone out there please send out good collective “Sara gets the library job” vibes for the next week or so. I need this more than I can even begin to explain.

Next stop was a 2 p.m. meeting at the Grand Rapids Public Library. For one of my classes I had to do a couple of library visits, sit down and talk to a librarian, and write a paper. I decided to liven things up for my professor that has to read them and visit a few on the west side of the state. The GRPL main library was redone a few years ago and it restored the outside to it’s original 1904 splendor.

Having studied the effects of library layout a few weeks ago I was really able to appreciate the inside. It’s initially large, colorful, and inviting. But there’s so many nooks and crannies to settle yourself into that you can’t help but want to stay. I wasn’t able to get many pictures before finding the librarian I had an appointment with, but this amused me to no end.

After walking around downtown for about a half an hour I then made a quick trip back to my parent’s house to visit and play with my nieces, and then I got on the 131 south and headed to the Waldo Library at WMU. (I LOVE the title of their library page “because Google can’t satisfy every search.”) I’d forgotten how much I like Kalamazoo. I really enjoyed the three years I lived there and WMU has a very soft place in my heart. There’s just something about a small midwestern college town with an economic dependence on a drug company that just gives the place a lot of quirky charm.

So much has changed in the six years since I was last on that campus. New buildings, new sculptures, and new roads have sprung up everywhere. Happily though, one place hasn’t changed a bit. Big Burrito, how I’ve missed you. It was just like old times - I had a burrito and a 60/40 Coke and Wild Cherry Slurpee from the 7 Eleven next door. However I had to drive home afterward, so I was grown up and responsible enough to not add the rum. Sometimes getting old sucks.