Chaika (Translate it yourself)

Periods of not-particularly insignificant procrastination followed by imaginably mortal struggles with technology and where am I? Literally? (At a computer.) Figuratively? ([insert something clever here].) Spiritually? (Content.) Existentially? (Does it matter?) In the standings? (6th.) I can report success. I picked up the FileMaker gauntlet yesterday. I poked and prodded, prayed and cajoled, clicked, double-clicked, dragged, suffered and sweated, and finally succeeded in creating a template for cataloging the map collection that I am hiring myself out to do. Freelance cartographic materials cataloging. Mercenary metadata creation. Chills and tingles. Anyhooooo. The template has a space for a nice-sized image at the top. Centered (of course!) And I done did figure out how to create as many text fields as my little heart desires. I showed it to a faculty cataloger this morning and he described it as a "good metadata schema." Here's where I had a synaptic incongruity. As I walked back to my cave I thought of Treplev from The Sea Gull by A. P. Chekhov. There was a quote from the play I needed to read. I knew Chekhov would be found at PG3450-something or other. (PG3455-3458 as it turned out.) I just scanned through the shelves until I found the book. Here's where it got weird. I opened the book, randomly, to page 50. There at the top of the page was the dialogue between Treplev and Nina I sought. I had turned right to it. Him: "I was low enough to kill this sea gull. I lay it at your feet." Her: "What's the matter with you?" To H-E-Double-hockey-sticks with him! What's the matter with me?! As I started to return the book to its spot on the shelf, my eye caught a glimpse of the spine, and the rest of the call number: PG3456.S4Y6. That couldn't be right. I headed to the schedules. Russian literature, blah, blah, Chekhov, blah, blah, translations, English, separate works, by Russian title. And then subarrange by translator or editor. I fixed the record in our catalog (PG3456.C5|bY6 1939) and sent it on its way to get re-marked. Now, I should get back to verifying the forms of first-time author headings, while I listen to Not So Quiet on the Western Front. It's a collection of late-seventies/early eighties fringe stuff. My favorite is "Fun with acid" by Fang, but I can't get "Dan with the mellow hair" by Naked Lady Wrestlers out of my mind. Help! (Lennon-McCartney) it wont stop. The brakes are gone.