Everybody's Irish sometimes

Even though my name is Shannan, I'm not Irish. I don't identify as 'Irish-Canadian' or 'Irish-American' in any way. I've never been to Ireland either. I'd like to go there someday though. I've seen pictures and talked with people who've been or are from Ireland and it seems lovely.

I'm North American - the sum of all my parts and ancestors. Until very recently, I didn't know much at all really about any of those ancestors any further back than my grandparents. I did know all of my grandparents to some degree, but only ever met one great-grandparent - all of whom were North American. But thanks to Ancestry-dot-com (as offered by many libraries, including my own local library until a year or so ago when the subscription system unfortunately had to drop it) as well as a couple of genealogy classes offered free by my local library I got curious and in the last year I've been spending a lot of spare time researching.

Me, both of my parents, all four of my grandparents, and 5 of my 8 great-grandparents were born in North America. All in and around the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence. On my dad's side, all of my great-grandparents immigrated to Canada from the UK. On my mom's side, it turns out some of my ancestors have been in Canada for at least 200 years! I say at least, because I haven't yet found information about the parents of the ancestor I know was born in Ontario in 1812. I was utterly amazed when I found this out! Until I started searching, I had no idea that I had ancestors who had been here that long!

Like many North Americans, when I say I'm the sum of my ancestors, I mean the sum of a variety of folks. Of the ones I've found so far, my ancestors aren't worldwide diverse by any stretch, but a few different places - including, I found out, Ireland!

My great-great-great grandma Ann was born in Ireland in around 1815! I'm not sure how or why she came to Canada, but when she was 19 she married my great-great-great grandfather who was a farmer born and living in central Ontario!

Of the rest of my ancestors I've been tracing, there are folks from England, Scotland, and France for a start -- well, I'm not 100% sure about France. I am sure about ancestors who were French-Canadian and so the usual progression would likely go back at some point to France, but as of yet, I haven't found solid enough information about the parents of my great-great-grandmother who I know was francophone and born in "Canada - French" as the census says to be absolutely sure.

Searching for ancestors and finding all sorts of folks who might be the right Ann or George or Julia or Robert and having to do the research to try to make sure you've got the right one is something I've been finding really quite fun! It's frustrating too sometimes when I can't find corroborating information and so can't be sure. Part of the challenge too is the propensity I'm finding of folks to lie on old census forms, or in family histories whether to hide something considered "shameful" at the time, or to just make things easier in the "climate" of the time. The same people are sometimes listed as being French Canadian, sometimes not; sometimes Irish, sometimes not...

So, it turns out I am, if only a little bit, Irish. So, Beannachtam na Feile Padraig! To one and all!

Facilitate your dreams

I know, the expression is usually more like "follow your dreams", but the truth is, to make your dreams come true, you have to work - and work hard to make them happen.

In his book "Outliers" (from 2008 - but one of my favourite reads of 2012), Malcolm Gladwell writes about the 10,000 hour rule - that basically, talent only gets you so far. It seems that no matter how "innately" talented you may or may not be at anything, it's those who put in the effort who succeed. The magic number of hours of effort that seems to turn up every time you look at especially successful people? 10, 000 hours.

Talent helps and opportunity helps, but all the talent and opportunity in the world mean nothing if you don't put the hours in.

Right. Off to put in a few hours before bed and then back to work in the morning!

Fear is the little death...

Today I wrote down all the fears I think are holding me back. I was brutally honest with myself.

I wrote them out in full sentences, starting each one with "I am afraid..."

I then took that piece of paper (I filled one side of an entire page), folded it up, sealed it in a zip-lock bag and put it away.

Being brave doesn't mean not having fear. Being brave means being afraid, and doing things anyway.

"I will face my fear. And when it has gone past... Only I will remain."

*(Quote & post title from Dune by Frank Herbert - the bene gesserit litany against fear)

New Year's Resolutions

For several years now I've been busy creating websites and blogs and various other social media setups for places I've worked and places I volunteer for. In that time though, I've been neglecting my own public blogs and media to the point that folks have become a bit too curious.

No more!

Many people have been telling me for years now that I focus too much on work and things I volunteer for and not enough on myself. I've kept doing what I've been doing though because that's the personality I am and I love my profession.

I truly am passionate about books and information and the need for information to be accessible to all. It may sound corny, but I honestly believe that the right to access information is essential to a functioning free society. I also believe that leisure reading is an important part of maintaining good mental health and flexibility.

My New Year's resolution is to take some time to allow myself these rights and needs more often. Get back to public blogging instead of just private journalling. Spread the good joy of reading, writing, publishing, librarianship, and information as myself instead of just as other groups.

I'm going to read more books just for fun. I deserve it, and so do you.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

I am enjoying a week off of work wherein I am enjoying some feasting, some quiet time, some reading, and writing!

May your holidays be bright and merry and all your dreams come true.

"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'It will be happier'." Tennyson.

Hello from... well, here.

Thinking of starting back up writing here.

I'm thinking about that scene in the movie "The Mummy" when Evelyn says that she's proud of what she is and when asked exactly what that is she declares "I am a librarian".

So am I Evelyn. So am I. I'm a librarian and I'm proud of that fact.

 I was a kid who had no expectation of being able to go to university at all. On either side of my family, I, and one cousin were the first to ever go to university. Later I also went to grad school and became a librarian.

None of it was easy. University and grad school were hard in and of themselves, but on top of that, there were the challenges of having no frame of reference and so having no idea what I was doing; having fibromyalgia, so being in pain and tired every single day of my life; having a sleep disorder that wasn't diagnosed until ~5 years after finishing my master's and so never having a restful night's sleep; and working ~20 hours per week on top of school full time where for grad school I was also commuting a little over an hour every day.

So, it was unlikely to happen at all, but working really hard, it did happen. And hate me if you must, world, but I'm a little bit proud of what I've accomplished.

Maybe I'll start talking here about the profession I'm proud of even if no one is reading. Peace and read a good book.

Did something stupid

Looked at a picture of myself about a month before I got bronchitis... healthy and more fit than I'd been in a while.

Then just for morbid curiosity's sake, I brought up a picture of myself from a couple of months after I had to take steroids to deal with the lung complications that came after the bronchitis. Bad idea.

Very BAD Idea.

Lazy weekend...

Mostly. I did disassemble the stove to clean under the stovetop *YUCK* and I'm doing laundry right now. Other than that I've mostly been sitting around eating junk food and reading crap online.

*sigh*

Oh, well.

Plus, it snowed all day and last night. Hello! Mother Nature, it's SPRING! Make with the warm weather and flowers already! Not SNOW! There's been quite enough of that already thank you.

Spring has sprung!

It was 8C here today!! I can see a few spots where the snow has melted enough that I can see tufts of grass even! I busted out my spring jacket, and really it was a little chilly still for that, but I felt happy to be out in something other than down. The only problem really was that when I switched coats this morning, I forgot that my wallet was in the winter coat's pocket and didn't remember until *after* I'd had my sub made at Subway... Oh well, at least I don't live too far so I was able to zip home and get it and still get my lunch!

Interesting day at work... due to staff shortages (vacation and sickness), I spent most of the day working on the front desk! It's been a while =D I had to just let go of the fact that I have about a zillion things I need to be doing other than this, but still, *this* (the patrons signing out books and asking questions) this is what I do the rest for so it's all good.

Tired though! Man do I suck! Just one day spent on the front desk and running around and I'm beat! Am I that old? Or is it still the move induced flare still wearing me out... Hmm, either way, I'm glad it's Friday and I can sleep in tomorrow!



Secret of the day...



I miss Friday Harbor more than I thought I would. Not work so much (mostly because as awesome as a couple of people were - and the kids, a couple of other people were crappy enough to make it miserable for me.

But the fun and friends and beautiful scenery... those I definitely do miss.



And this has nothing to do with how I feel here. I love it here. I still feel weirdly foreign sometimes, but comfortable too and sometimes more natural than I have in 7.5 years... I'm not sure there's anyplace in the world where I'd fit in completely, and I'm not sure there's anything wrong with that.



=D