HA!
Why didn't anyone remind me that I'm me??? Thanks a lot, guys.
So...my last post was in February. Which means I have, oh, nine months to cover. Right-o, then, here we go.
In April I attended the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi. I was selected as a Graduate Student Ambassador, which meant that my conference registration fees and hotel stay were covered, and in exchange for 12 hours of volunteer work keeping everything running smoothly (the operative word being running), I could participate in breakout sessions, listen to keynote speakers, and rub elbows with some wonderful authors, illustrators and experts in the field of children's literature.
One really awesome extra activity that the GSAs got to do (warning: geek alert!) was visit the university's de Grummond collection, which comprises stacks and stacks and stacks of children's books (including many first editions). I thought I'd died and gone to heaven:
An entire other expansive room was devoted to author and illustrator memorabilia - letters, sketches, first drafts, paintings, and other such artifacts. Maurice Sendak, Kate Greenaway, Crockett Johnson (of the Harold and the Purple Crayon books) and many, many others were represented. I got to hold, in my very own hand, woodblocks used to print the book The Diverting History of John Gilpin illustrated by Randolph Caldecott:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11979/11979-h/11979-h.htm
If you scroll down to the 11th picture in the Project Gutenberg page, you'll see the inspiration for the Caldecott medal. The woodblocks I got to look at up close were for the pictures that are 7th and 12th on the page:
Seriously, I felt like I had reached the mountaintop.
After the conference, I took a side-trip to Seattle to spend the weekend with Eamon for his birthday; that little visit almost got shortened from three days to two because our plane coming in was delayed, but rather than changing flights or even airlines, I stuck with my original itinerary and after some nail-biting, made it to Seattle as planned.
The semester ended shortly thereafter, and with it my tenure as executive board member of two student organizations. I really enjoyed the leadership opportunities and even learned some event-planning, but I was very happy to pass the torch!
My first big trip this summer was to Australia, which most of you have heard all about so I won't gush for too long ;-) It was basically a summer study abroad program, but it was open to graduate students as well as undergraduates, and it didn't matter what your major field of study was - in fact, the original e-mail I got said you didn't have to be a student at all, you just had to apply for UH Hilo's summer session. It was an incredible trip. I learned so much and certainly got my money's worth - I mean, traveling with a student group means you're getting all kinds of discounts on accommodations and flights. I could never have put together such an informative, in-depth trip if I were just planning on my own, and it probably would have cost about twice as much. There are way too many pictures (which, if I'm being honest with myself and with you, I still need to finish editing down) so I will just say that some day I will share all of the hightlights in some form or another - whether a Picasa page or here on my blog - but I want to move on to the rest of the update! So I will just post this one, which is not the best picture I took, but it captures my most memorable moment. I was on my second scuba dive of the trip (also the second in my life...the first had been the day before!) and our guide pointed to two manta rays coming toward us from about 20 feet away. They got a bit spooked and headed off in another direction, but not before I snapped this:
Pretty awesome, huh?? I'll admit I had a brief "Holy crap!!" moment just reacting to the sheer size of these creatures, but they really are gentle giants.
About a week after returning from Australia, I flew to LA to stay with my mom for a little while, and Eamon had been able to swing a week's leave, so he joined me there. It was great getting to see him, and I checked off a bucket-list item when we went to a live taping of "The Price is Right." Like so many people my age, I used to watch the show whenever I was sick or had a day off from school, and I can't help it, it's a guilty pleasure and I love Drew Carey as host. So Eamon and I trooped over to CBS studio at the ungodly hour of 5:00 AM, stood and sat and waited in lines for about seven hours, and then were finally ushered into the studio for the show. And you know what?? That studio is TINY!!! The magic of television, man. It was wild and loud and crazy and neither of us got called to "Come on Down," but I had a blast. Drew was hilarious and the banter between him and the announcer, George Gray, was really funny too. And as we were filing out after the show, I called over to one of the models, Gwendolyn, and she came to say hi and shake my hand! I told her she was my favorite and I love her accent (she's from Bath, England) :-) Those models work their perfectly-toned patooties off, and in four-inch heels!!
In late July, I went to Northern California with my mom, her sweetie John and my brother David to spend a week at Packer Lake, our idyllic little retreat in the Sierra Nevadas. I hadn't been back in a few years and it was lovely to spend some time there again. We lazed, we played Scrabble, we hiked (and almost got totally lost trying to find a lake we've hiked to, I dunno, twenty times??) and I went fishing a few times and successfully caught our dinner. I found out recently that the man who owned the lodge and cabins died earlier this month, which is really sad because not only was he an institution and always part of the experience (despite his rough exterior and gruffness, he had to love doing what he did), but there's no knowing what will happen to the real estate now. I sure hope we'll be able to keep going back to Packer for a good long time, but it depends on who buys the property and whether or not they want to keep it available to its loyal visitors.
Another thing I did this past summer was work on costumes for a children's musical theater production of "The Wizard of Oz." It was put on by Ohana Arts, an organization started here in Hawai'i by my dear friend since high school, Laurie Rubin, and her partner Jenny Taira. The kids were adorable, I was very proud of the costumes I made, and the production was really impressive! They had a live orchestra and fully staged song and dance numbers, and even a real dog to play Toto (Laurie and Jenny's miniature poodle). It was a great experience all around!
When fall came around I began my final semester of the library science Master's program at UH. This was technically an "extra" semester because there was a certain class I really wanted to take that's offered very rarely. It's called Traditional Literature and Oral Narration, and I actually had decided not to take it my very first semester because I had recently finished the children's literature program at Simmons, and had taken a whole class on folk and fairy tales. Well, no one pointed out to me that the class at UH was really a workshop in the art of storytelling, and that it was being taught by a world-renowned professional storyteller and that I'd be an idiot not to take it! And yes, it was totally worth it to stay one more semester to take this class. I also had a core requirement left to take, so I signed up for those two classes and also audited a course in the Hawaiian Studies department to learn more about the place I've called home for the past two years.
Overall it was a pretty laid-back semester academically, but of course I like to complicate things, so I also worked part-time at the UH library reference desk, got a job as an assistant librarian at a middle school, and continued to sing in the church choir. Oh, and did I mention I also auditioned for a community theater production of "Cinderella"? Yeah, I got a part in the ensemble, so the past few weeks have been a juggling act! The show has been so much fun and I am loving performing again, but I will be relieved when we wrap up production!
In other big news, I applied for the children's services librarian position at a public library in Washington state, about half an hour from the base where Eamon is stationed. I'd been trolling the American Library Association jobs site as well as public and private school employment pages for months, and nothing was coming up that was the type of job I wanted to do AND geographically desirable, so of course I jumped on this one! My phone interview went really well, and I will find out early this coming week whether they want me to come in person for a second interview. This would really be the perfect position and perfect timing, so I'm really hoping everything falls into place!
Whew...I think I've finally brought myself up to date! Lots of love and a happy holiday season to all :-)
-Sarah
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