Update on need-a-break

I didn’t go to the archives this past week. I feel really bad but I did have a reasonable excuse – we are moving today and I needed the time off to organize things, clean the place, pack everything, ship some stuff to Canada… It’s a good excuse, right?

I did show up briefly at the archives on wednesday to pay my bill (I run a tab of my photocopies) and pick up some photocopies they had done for me. The security guy downstairs  waved his finger at me when I got in saying “you missed two days!! I’m putting “falta” (absent) down for you every day!” I then explained I wouldn’t be coming all week as well. He rolled his eye in what’s-this-world-coming-to kind of way. Hehehe, I have a really good relationship with the whole staff, particularly the security staff and the people working the desk. After a year working there every day, they consider me part of the staff. There was a new security guard starting a couple of weeks ago and the senior guard was taking her around to introduce to the staff. I was reading something and he brought her over to me to introduce me as well. I really felt part of the place that day ;)

I need some time off

I´m on a slump. I don´t know what´s wrong but this past week or so have been really painful. Maybe the repetitive nature of my sources is getting to me. Maybe I´m just tired. Whatever the reason, I haven´t been able to concentrate much during this past week and a half. I sometimes spend over half an hour just staring at the microfilm reader´s screen and I´ve been stuck on the same register for the past three days! Alan thinks I should just take a week off. I´m not so sure, there´s stil too much to be done. But maybe he´s right. Besides, I could use the time to browse through some libraries, do a little research on secondary literature, read Elka Klein´s book on the Jews of Barcelona… I´ll think about it over the weekend.