"Can Fiction Ever Be Real?"

I was off the clock! I don't even need this head-trip after I am off the freaking clock!

Let me back it up a minute:
So, for all you blogspotters out there who aren't down with the times, I work at a chain bookstore. It isn't the most glamorous gig on the planet, but I get to be around books all day long, which I like, and I get a discount, which I also like. But I am clearly pretty overqualified for this job. Case in point:

I was already clocked out and on my way to the bathroom before going out to get my party on, when a customer recognized me as an employee even sans nametag. I think it is because he's a regular and he's seen me there before. He's browsing the end of fiction, and he says he just has a quick question, and since I like answering fiction-related questions because I've read a lot of fiction I can actually sometimes offer a relevant opinion. So I say, okay... what is it?

And he says, "Can fiction ever be real?"
Pause.
"What?" I ask.
"I mean, is it ever true? If it's fiction, does that always mean it isn't real... I mean, true?"

I blinked at him for a few seconds because it was simply BLOWING MY MIND. Because all of the sudden my brain is like a vortex spinning with all these flashbacks of discussion groups and papers and me sitting in the library staring at the wall thinking and my whole academic study of litearature in a humanities-driven education that continuously danced and played with and engaged and challenged and questioned the nature of truth and reality in literature and art ALL THE TIME. It was like a faucet of incoherent analytical academic gobbledegook of jargon was all of the sudden turned on in my head, and I was trying to string it together into meaningful thought. Ah, there again the problem of language as a medium, constantly being the means of expression yet also a barrier to get to the actual MEANING of the thing. But that's a different problem all together.

And I heard different replies formulating in my head. What does it mean for something to be true or real? Do you mean "true" in the way that books are often somewhat based in life? Even if they aren't based in life, if our response to it is true, does that make it true? How much does context matter? Insofar as the book exists as an idea in someone's head, does that make it "real"?... and on and on and on. They came so fast they were like a giant thought pile-up in my head.

But I knew that wasn't what he was actually asking. What he wanted to know was whether or not the crime thriller/ lawyer mass-market mystery in his hand was based in this dimension, human, "real-life" Fact with a capital F. So I said:

"No. It's fiction... None of it is true. It's all fake."

But that isn't what I wanted to say. And I feel like because the words are out there, in an invisible word bubble floating through the air, somewhere the gods of art literature are throwing up their hands and lamenting the loss of a seeker of truth and meaning in fiction... so I just wanted to alleviate their dissappointment. I am still a seeker.

I just wanted to get to the party.

Uh, Didn't You See This on Facebook?

I donated my hair! No one who doesn't know this already really reads this, but I wanted to post about it because I really want to tell the world about my haircut. And maybe my blog will show up on Google somehow. Bonus! Here are some search terms that might be relevant:
hair donation
pantene beautiful lengths
free haircut
New York City salon
cute short cut for hair donation

So here's the story, of a gal named Casey, who really wanted to donate her hair and get a sweet haircut but didn't want to pay a fortune. Cause it is a recession, ya heard?

Before:



After:


I decided awhile ago I wanted to donate my hair, and decided on Pantene Beautiful Lengths as the place I wanted to donate, mainly because their length requirement is a minimum of 8 inches. I got a lotta hair cause it is thick, but it isn't super long. So this is something I could swing. I actually did some searching then, to see if I could find a place that would do free or reduced priced haircuts when you are donating. I didn't have to look too far... I found out about the Mark Garrison Salon on the Pantene blog. Hahaha! I made an appointment for a wednesday (because that is the only day it is free, every other day you pay half. Weird. Why Wednesday? Is it because it is in the middle of the week?) and went in and got a seriously awesome $200 haircut for nothing. But I tipped the stylist and the shampoo lady, so really it was less than 1/4 of the price it could have been. And now I have a sweet new 'do for the month of August. Hooray!

This is When I Get a Little Meta...

I've been going to a few different library-related networking/ job-hunting type things in the past couple of weeks, and they all really like to talk about Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter, and blogging as things that are important to be proficient at, as well as how to utilize those websites when you're looking for a job. (An example of the infamous Web 2.0 people are always talking about. Turns out they really just mean the participatory internet.) However, there hasn't been a whole lot of suggestion about the kind of content to include in these online versions of yourself, other than it's just important to have one. Or several, as the case may be.

I get that with social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, you can limit your profile's privacy settings so potential employers can't see pictures of you taking tequila shots on your birthday, but your friends can. And I like the idea of LinkedIn, because that is supposed to be specifically for professional networking and recruiting, so theoretically one doesn't run into those sorts of issues. But what about Flickr, or Blogger? What kind of blog does a potential employer want to see that you have? It seems like perhaps it wouldn't necessarily be about the written content, but more about the layout, or the hyperlinking, or that it simply exists. But am I missing something? Do I need to be blogging about libraries to get a library job?

I started writing this blog because I moved to a new place (Brooklyn) and it felt like a good idea. Also to have a place to write where I feel like maybe someone is reading it... so I get some practice writing for someone other than me. But in terms of content, I thought it could just be about stuff that I'm interested in in a really immediate in-the-moment kind of way, because that's what blogging is.

I am interested in libraries, but I'm also thinking about work I could do in lots of other fields, like doing some environmental thing, or journalism, or something in the non-profit sector. Or being a scuba- dive instructor. Plus, in a more personal way, I think about fashion, media consumption, living in New York City, navigating post-grad life/ my "quarter life crisis," and a whole myriad of other crap. In the future, I can think of other things I might want to blog about, like dating, or child-rearing, or gardening, or whatever. I can wait until I work for a library, or at least am in graduate school to blog about librarianship. Also, I want to have a life and interests outside my work. But for some people nowadays, the blog can become their work (see Julie and Julia). It's the beauty of independent publication in an instant, easily consumable form. Anyone can be the next hot thing online.

But is it okay to have a blog that's kind of about everything? Or do I have to have a focus? It's the difference between the online me and the real-life me... and how much I want the professional me to be a part of the online me. Maybe it would be better to have a topic...

I don't like it when I get this meta.