23 January 2010

MISSION: Super Saturday at the Library.

Secret Agent L was giddy with delight over Pittsburgh's weather today, and she took full advantage of that beautiful weather by completing several missions!

One thing you might not know about SAL is that she's a self-proclaimed geek. She reads like it's her job. In fact, she currently has 5 books on her nightstand, all of which she's activily reading. (Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she's that good.) And she looooves a library, folks. Like, a lot.

So she thought it'd be fun to do some missions today at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh's Hillman Library, both of which are right across the street from one another. Tres convenient, n'est ce pas?

Missions #1 and #2: Carnegie Public Library of Pittsburgh, Oakland neighborhood.

Location: In the stacks and in the ladies' restroom.

Date: Saturday, 23 January 2010.

Time: 2:08 p.m. to 2:47 p.m.

For those of you not familiar with the Carnegie Library, it's gorgeous.


It's located right in Schenley Plaza, which sits right between the Carnegie Library and Hillman Library.


It's huge:


And it even has its own dinosaur guard, lovingly named Dippy the Diplodocus:

Secret Agent L started out with some inspirational cards...


...which she left in various places in the fiction stacks...


...and the mental health stacks:

These are just a few of the cards she left. She had them in the pocket of her Secret Agent Coat and just kept pulling them out and leaving them everywhere.


Next up, Secret Agent L decided to leave a little bit of fun encouragment for an unsuspecting friend. Who doesn't love magnetic poetry?


And Secret Agent L left the giftie in her favorite of all places to leave gifties, the ladies' room:



After the Carnegie Library, Secret Agent L zipped on over to Hillman Library across the street:


MISSIONS #3 and #4: University of Pittsburgh's Hillman Library, Oakland neighborhood.

Date: Saturday, 23 January 2010.

Location: In the stacks, in the stairwell, and in the ladies' room.

Time: 2:58 p.m. to 3:35 p.m.

She made a stop in the stairwell between the third and fourth floors...



...and left a little inspiration card on the railing:


Despite the lovely weather outside, there were still a lot of students inside the library. This makes Secret Agent L happy, though, because it means they're studying and working hard. So, in order to be as sneaky as possible, she had to act fast, making quick drops within the stacks, and, of course, in the ladies' rooms.


A sweet little gift from one of Secret Agent L's favorite companies:



After that one, she had to hurry out of the ladies' room because there was only one stall, and if someone had come in, that person would've seen Secret Agent L and known that she'd left the gift! So Secret Agent L didn't even wash her hands in the sink because she had to be so sneaky and fast. Good thing she's always prepared and carries some hand sanitizer in her Secret Agent kit. Phew! Germs avoided!

A standard giftie in Secret Agent L's trunk-o-fun includes these cool notepads:


They'd be great for writing down assignments or reminders for study sessions.



Secret Agent L left a bunch of inspirational cards all over Hillman, too. Students work hard, and they get stressed, so a little bit of love from Secret Agent L couldn't hurt, right? Secret Agent L was in college and graduate school, so she gets it. Totally.

All in all, a productive afternoon filled with kindness and day-brightening. Just the way Secret Agent L likes it.

8 comments:

Brother Anthony said...

If you were caught, couldn't you just claim to be an affiliate agent?

Operation Smiley Face said...

Glad to see you back at work. As always reading about your missions has put a big smile on my face. Thanks for sharing. You are such an inspiration to me. :)

Cat Muncey said...

I LOVE that you leave things in the ladies room! I might just have to start doing that. Your site is sooo encouraging. Love it!

:) cat (from tumbling down the rabbit hole!)

Lisa said...

Oh so much fun! And such an inspiration...I love the simple cards. I often get caught up and prevent myself from distributing little gifts of kindness because of the "money-factor" - that fear that even little bits of monetary love create stress at the end of the month. Ah, but there are so many other types of love!!

Creative cards, here we come...get ready unsuspecting strangers! Thank you for the inspiration!

Anonymous said...

I go to UPitt and found one of these cards, it made my night. This is a wonderful project you have going on here, and reminded me at a time in my life when I'm feeling lost that to spread kindness and love is one of the most beautiful things we can do.

Just wanted to say thank you.

Jordan said...

Students work hard, and they get stressed, so a little bit of love from Secret Agent L couldn't hurt, right?

Aydan the Student approves of and agrees with this message!

This is such a cool thing that you do. The students at my school are often really stressed, so I want to think about doing something like this.

Megan said...

Love it! The notebooks are a good source for positive psychology. Do good, feel good. Feel happy, and you are! :)

Niccolle said...

Was thinking I needed to check in with Secret Agent L this morning when I slid through a red light this morning and this woman started SCREAMING at me in her car. I thought, "Goodness, she needs some random acts of kindness in her life!"
Inspires me to start doing something like what you're doing here in my lovely city. Funny that an act of downright cranktasticness inspires me to be better and kinder and more sharing of love. Score one for empathy. :-)