Quantum Leap

Back when I was a youth, I watched Quantum Leap. The show where Sam Becket (played by Scott Bakula) was trapped in time. In order to get out of this time trap, he assumed the life of various people at different times and places. His mission was always to make things right, to set history straight. Some of his roles included a child, a battered wife, a physician, a boy with Down's Syndrome. Each episode would begin by him inferring or deducing and finally looking in a mirror to confirm who he was, when he was and where he was. His only assistant was Al the hologram and Ziggy, Al's a 80's sci-fi version of a PDA. Together, they would assess the situation and endeavor to set things right. Ziggy and Al would let Sam know who was who and what was what.

There are days when I feel like Sam Becket.

When I wake up and wonder, Where am I? How did I get here? I'm a Grad Student? I'm studying what? It all just seems so drastically different from the life I was leading before. My circadian rhythm is shifting from teacher time to student time. I stay up until 11:00 and sleep in until 7 or 7:30. I'm continually learning new things and everything feels like a new experience. A new bar, a new sushi place, a new friend, a new idea, a new concept, a new way to look at the world. There are some days when it feels like an out of body experience when I compare it to Denver. Like Denver was just past episode. At times though, I just wish I had a Ziggy helping me figure this all out.

In a way though, I do have a Ziggy of sorts. It is any grad student's best friend...the knowledgeable librarian. My program has it's own reference library with a rock star librarian, Anna Marie. She is constantly looking out for the grad students, helping them to connect on topics of mutual interest, to professors, to books, articles. She is a matchmaker of resources and people. There have been times I've gone in to talk to her in the morning and when I get to my office in the afternoon, she has placed a test/ survey/ article I've been looking for on my desk. Whenever I need a break and some idle conversation, she is always obliging. When I first started this program someone told me that Anna Marie was a "librarian to the stars." She has made me realize that a library science is not just a career, it is a talent.