obliviousally | and when we go crashing down, we come back every time

yesterday was staff development day for work - which is TECHNICALLY work, but doesn't REALLY feel like it b/c all the buildings are closed and we meet up at main for some presentations and breakout sessions and stuff. so it's all real casual and we get to catch up with folks from other branches and people we don't see on the regular

i like it, some folks don't, but even with having to wake up a half hour early (we get out early, as well), it's kinda fun lol. i also bullied myself into getting up early enough to get a coffee treat from chameleon cafe (pumpkin chai) and a bagel (with honey pecan cream cheese - very tasty). the weather was nice, too, which definitely helped the situation

mostly!!!! because of the 'book and crannies' breakout, where we get to explore all the unseen/usually inaccessible areas of the library. like the roof!

first three are from the roof, overlooking the city buildings (and the big library sign). the fourth one is mezzanine on the third floor near the admin offices (originally done as break areas for staff, but folks discovered the city noise and the geese that like to nest there made it not ideal for that lol)

the selling point of this breakout session, though, is THE GARGOYLES (grotesques, actually, they're not water spouts). they were on the old schumacher/quaker oats factory downtown and were gifted to the library when the building was demolished in the 30's in hopes they could be displayed somehow, one day. so far, no dice. the library has a post about them here on fb

also, the sub-basement reminds me of 'home' (the basement at the ksu library lol)

also! there's an artesian spring under the building! there's a room in the sub-basement where you can actually look down into it - it's crystal clear~

after work, friend sam and i went to ✨𝓔𝓡𝓐𝓢 𝓣𝓞𝓤𝓡 𝓜𝓞𝓥𝓘𝓔✨

sam is the catalyst for me ending up this way about taylor swift lol - she got tickets for the rep tour and chris (her husband) had to work, so she asked if i wanted to go and i'm ALWAYS up for a concert, even if i'm not INTO whoever is playing and i'd been liking what she was putting out for 'reputation', so hell fuckin yeah

we waffled between two theaters and figured we'd get more of a concert-ish experience in one with some more folks in it (kent's theater had a whole row reserved, but was otherwise empty) - and while we were down below/closer to the screen, the seats at the theater in cuy falls were SO NICE and reclined a decent bit, so it wasn't too bad

i think we DID NOT anticipate (or remember lol) that there's a LOT of preteens/teens who're taylor fans (most fans we know are, of course, adults lolol) and had to remind myself 'i remember what it was like being 12-14' repeatedly b/c LORDY some of the energy there was firmly concert energy and not 'friday evening at the cinemark' energy, even with it being a ~concert film~

i know my mom wants to see it, so when i go to see it with her i think we'll be a little more strategic lol

but i went in MOSTLY blind to the setlist. i didn't look it up beforehand, i know she was opening the tour with 'cruel summer' (fuck yeah), and knew/expected some of the tracks she was absolutely gonna do (obv the long version of 'all too well'). sam was like 'you have far more self control than i do' lol, but she also went to the detroit show a few months ago, so she already knew the main setlist

I DIDN'T EXPECT 'TOLERATE IT'. fuck u, taylor

(i've barely listened to most of 'evermore' b/c, when it came out, i was having a Bad Time and some of the tracks Were Not Helping)

but the performance of 'tolerate it' was PEAK. A+ NO NOTES

the whole thing was great, tho. it's nice to be able to focus on OTHER stuff going on with her sets, as well! i love watching her dancers and backup singers (also holy shit the diversity!!!). it gives you the opportunity to really appreciate the production value and the choices made for the tour and the visuals and stuff that you aren't able to as well at an actual concert where everything is HAPPENING (and isn't filmed in HD lol)

now, i'm home alone! tony went out to a local comic con with friend jeff, so i'm doing some tidying around the house and trying to clean the porch a bit since the weather is so nice this weekend and the sun is out!! i also need to pull the garden up at some point, as well, since it SNOWED earlier in the week, so that's about the end of it now

and when we go crashing down, we come back every time

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