When I Look At You

So, I just got back from visiting Egypt. Yes, Egypt. Amazing, non? I promise to talk about it soon, but in the meantime, you can check my Twitter page, or the blog of the friends I was staying with for preliminary details.

But first, a little issue I'm dealing with related to my trip. We took a LOT of pictures. Nancy, Andrew, I, and even their 2-year-old Rachel had cameras. Of course, one of us was carrying a pink, plastic toy camera, so there aren't actually photos floating around from it. Those of us with real cameras took pictures of everything we were seeing and of each other.

And, lately, I really don't like pictures of myself. I'm not 100% comfortable with the weight I've gained since college, and, as they say, cameras add 10 additional pounds. Sure, with proper lighting, angles, etc., I can look fantastic in pictures, but it's not usually the case in candid shots.

So between my own photos, the photos the Heisses have taken, and even Eilonwy's wedding graduate post on a nationally popular wedding blog, I've seen a lot of pictures of me lately.

In order to not get totally depressed about it all, I've asked myself a few questions.

Are you still relatively healthy?

Yes.

Are you working out and eating healthy and trying to do something to change what you're not happy about?

Yes.

Are you a supermodel or a movie star who only has to look fabulous for however long their shot is and has an army of photographers/makeup artists/personal trainers/lighting designers/etc. whose sole purpose is to make them look awesome and then have Photoshop artists to fix things that aren't perfect?

No.

Are you wearing loose, somewhat unflattering clothing in order to maintain modesty standards of two major religions AND not die in the Egyptian sun? Also, no makeup because it would have melted off anyway?

Yes.

Do you think you're pretty?

Yes, but with the right makeup and clothes I

Uh-uh. Try again. Do you think you're pretty?

Yes, yes I do.

Did a guy hit on you at Five Guys just yesterday?

Yes.

Do other people say you look good?

Sometimes.

Does anyone say anything about your weight?

No.

So other people probably think you're pretty too, right?

Well, yes.

So you're being ridiculous?

Yes.

Good.

Good.

And then I feel better. Except for the part where I seem to be kind of sick (and very tired) since I returned from my trip, so you may have to wait another day or two before I started posting about it.

So, my trip to Egypt, coming soon to a computer near you!

And you? You're pretty/handsome too. Seriously.

You say goodbye, I say hello

Oh hi there!

It's been awhile.

Sad, I know.

Sorry about that.

I've just been busying adventuring and working and not blogging about any of it. I'm also job hunting, so after spending my few evenings at home editing cover letters and resumes all about myself, I feel like I've done enough "Look at me! Look at me!" for the day.

Fortunately, I have been taking pictures of some of my goings on.

I finally saw the cherry blossoms.


I even had company!
We also saw the terra cotta warriors at the National Geographic museum.


I spent Easter and Conference Weekend with one of the coolest families I know.


These kids are just precious.



I learned how to do my hair and make-up pin-up/rockabilly style.


Then showed it off at the DC Lindy Exchange with Miss Apple.



I've played really great moves on Words With Friends.


I dyed part of my hair black cherry.


And I love my life!

You live, you learn

I mentioned awhile ago that I'd been offered a spot on a Career Advisory Service. I'm pleased to announce that the site is now live and I'm an advisor for the Music Library Association's Career Advisory Service. They have great resources for those pursuing careers in music librarianship, and now this gives people a chance to ask real people directly about their experience in the field in a message board format. I wrote up the following for my introductory post and thought it would be appropriate to share with you! (I'm fully aware that I'm not nearly as anonymous as I might pretend I am, but I have edited out some specifics.)

I'm the Fine Arts Librarian for [my local school district]. I have a BA in Theatre Arts Studies from Brigham Young University and a MLIS from the University of South Carolina. The library I manage holds mostly choral, orchestral, and band sheet music, but also other resources for general music, art, and theater, which is accessible to all fine arts teacher in the school district. I've now been part of [this district] for four years, and my focus here has been directing a retrospective conversion of all library records from a Filemaker list of accession numbers to a fully searchable catalog compliant with MARC and AACR2 standards and the district's union catalog. I'm not aware of any other central music library in any other school district, and I'm truly excited to be part of such an original and interesting challenge.

So, how did I get here? Truthfully, this was never my plan. As I mentioned, my bachelor's is in theatre, a degree I was planning since high school. But, as I was working on that, a friend of mine recommended I look into working at the campus Music and Dance library, so I did. The hours were flexible, the subject matter related to my own field of study, and I was involved in interesting projects and challenging reference queries. As an avid life-long learner, I love being able to teach and share with other people how to find answers to their own questions, but I never wanted to teach in a formal setting like a classroom (library instruction classes notwithstanding). Working in a fine arts library setting allows me to employ both of these passions - teaching/learning and arts/creativity. In my two years at the BYU library, I worked primarily on reference/circulation, original cataloging of sheet music, and editing/maintaining a finding aid for the musical theatre holdings.

That experience, my own background in the performing arts, and a promise to earn a Masters landed me my current position. I didn't know exactly how to go about a retrospective conversion (or even that was what it's called), but in my first year at [this district] I took a mental inventory of the policies and practices of the Fine Arts Library, improved a few immediately (like doing away with carbon copy checkout forms in favor of Word documents), and asked a LOT of questions. I'm actually a solo librarian, but I'm blessed to work in connection with highly supportive fine arts teachers/administrators and those in the district's central library support services. I started my own MLIS after starting the conversion, and was able to apply what I was learning there to my work immediately.

I don't work directly with the students, but the materials in the library have to be appropriate for them, with the system/circulation/instruction appropriate for the teachers. It's an interesting mix.

Like any good librarian, if I don't know the answer to any question, I know how to find it, and I'm happy to help any way I can!

And with that, happy National Library Week!

Genealogy, I am doing it

A secret little interest of mine is family history research. It appeals to two of my great loves - family and research. I honestly haven't done just about anything with it in recent years, but it does fascinate me. When I was working as a family history consultant (and a web salesperson, but I tend to repress that part) at Myfamily.com/Ancestry.com, I loved the certification process and learning how to better approach the research. At some point, the dozen or so family history reference books I have on my shelves as a result will come in handy again.

Because of my love for family history, I am totally geeked about the 2010 census. I haven't filled mine out yet, but I'm going to, joyfully. You should too. Immediately, it will help the government to be more aware of who all of us are so that we can get accurate representation. In 72 years, the general public will have access to it for personal and family research (1940 is released in 2 years!). You can read more about it here. Please fill it out and send it back! It was a thrill to find my paternal grandfather's name in the 1930 Census, just to see he was there.

Another thing I'm geeked about right now is the series "Who Do You Think You Are?" Sponsored by Ancestry.com, they're profiling the family history discoveries of various celebrities. You can watch it here. I'm all in favor of people learning more about their families, and for getting more people excited about it. (Ancestry.com insiders report ten times the amount of hits during the first episode.) Continuing my geekiness, I found David Tennant's (of Doctor Who and Harry Potter fame) episode from the British version of the show.

Family history. It rocks.

Johnny Be Good

I love Family Home Evening. I can't say that I've loved every single FHE I've ever been part of, but I definitely have a testimony of it's importance in strengthening family relationships. My parents made it a priority in our home, and I'm grateful for that. When I spent a month with my grandparents, I orchestrated FHEs with the three of us, which they admitted they hadn't done for awhile. The format changed over the years, naturally, and it wasn't always on Monday, the traditional FHE night, but we always had it.

I've continued to make it a priority even out of my parent's home. I only have vague memories of attending in my BYU wards, both freshman year and the year after I graduated, but I know I attended when I could. I've made more of an effort here in DC, attending as often as I can, fully participating, and actually getting to know the members of my group. I don't attend every week, sometimes because there is a conflict and sometimes because I just don't feel like it (one of the perks of it not being a real family just yet), but I generally enjoy it when I do.

Socially, it's just my speed. A small group (instead of large), a lesson, and an activity, usually with treats. Being an FHE co-chair was a fun calling, even if surprisingly stressful sometimes. And post-FHE activities were good times - going out to dinner, playing video games, or watching "Heroes" (and, for awhile, watching "Heroes" whilst surreptitiously holding hands with a guy from my group who then wouldn't call me again until 7:17 on Friday night to get together to watch a movie, and since being low on someone else's priority list really isn't my style, this only lasted about a month).

Unfortunately, I've had a hard time wanting to attend lately. We don't have the most well-organized group, which doesn't seem to be planned very far in advance, and if I don't know what it is I'm driving upwards of 30 minutes to do after a long day, I'm not always keen to go.

I'm glad I went tonight though. The boundaries for my FHE group are on the far west side of the ward, but we were meeting at the bishop's home, on the far east end. It was a bit of a drive, but I was looking forward to it.

Apparently, I was the only one. Somehow, it was just me, the bishop, and his wife. And, it was lovely. They offered me dinner, which I happily accepted, having not been home yet, and we sat around the kitchen table chatting as I munched on a chicken sandwich, chips, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Bishop did make sure I had a lesson - "Be good."

I think I can handle that.

The rest of my group really missed out on getting to know this lovely couple better.

What about you? If you have Family Home Evening, what do you do to make it an enjoyable part of your week?

I'm cleanin' out my closet

What my office used to look like:












What it looks like now:






Happy.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Well, alright, okay, you win

Today's wins:

Hello, it's Friday.

Being offered a spot on a Career Advisory Service for a national professional organization (once it's official, I'll tell you which one)

Winning a ticket to tomorrow's Georgetown Hoyas game

Helping Fran with a job application

Adding more music to my library's new collection

Dinner tonight is with the "nephew" and parents

I'm wearing my favorite flip-flops even though it's still a little cold because my toes just wanted to be free. I'll real shoes again tomorrow.

Today's not so much wins:

Still job hunting for myself

It's just one ticket to the game, and before I found that out, I offered the extra ticket to someone who was very excited to go. I'll probably just let him take the one, since he'd have a better time overall than I would (though I would have fun). Alas.

Overall? Not bad. Not bad at all.

Papa-paparazzi

Blogstalking. Blogsurfing. We all do it. Following the links on a blog's sidebar, whether or not we like the person. Sometimes we even discover a new blog to follow, whether or not we know the blogger. I know I have a few readers I don't actually know (hi guys!), but we read each other's blogs and feel like we know each other, and relatively well at that.

Fortunately, it's totally acceptable! Even welcome! Some bloggers even feel like they've made it when someone comes up to them in public and says "Hey! I know you from your blog!"

Well, folks, I am one step closer to that.

One of the blogs I follow but don't actually know the writer is Cicada Song. I knew her parents live in the area, and I actually saw them once at a fireside Mormon Choir was singing for. I even talked to her dad that night, because he was part of Brotherface's mission presidency, and he had just gone home. I don't think I mentioned that I read his daughter's blog, but I was definitely thinking it.

Last night, I was with Bluebell and her family at their ward sock hop (which was quite fun, I might add), and who should walk in but Cicada's parents? I told Bluebell how I "know" them and she introduced me to Cicada's mom. We talked for a few minutes and remarked that Cicada loves it when her readers talk to her, and I asked her to tell her that Amanda Stretch says hi.

"Oh! AmandaStretch! I recognize you from your comments! Whenever I read a comment that's particularly interesting or funny, I'll follow their links and check out their blog! I DO know you are!"

Awesome.

The ice is thin come on dive in

So. Olympics. I'm a total junkie. Winter or summer, it doesn't matter. I've seen three different torch relays (Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Athens). I watch as many events as I can, though I do have my favorites. As I told Eilonwy, it doesn't matter who is competing for what, I will get tense watching events and competitors I wouldn't care about any other time of the year. I love hearing stories about the athletes, watching them express their joy with their success, and am sad for them when it doesn't quite go their way.

This Olympics, I have discovered two sports I hadn't really watched previously - curling and ice dancing. I even understand curling now, thanks to watching a few matches, reading some articles, and playing bocce ball (the scoring is somewhat similar), which helps me enjoy it even more.

Now, I don't really understand the scoring of ice dancing, but I do enjoy watching it and I've finally figured out what a twizzle is. Except for compulsory dance. That's really boring. Things don't really get interesting until original dance and free dance. There are some really creative moves - the lifts are my favorite (typical). Tonight there was even a lift where the woman lifted the man, which was neat. Here are my other thoughts from tonight, and a few rather "priceless" commentator notes:

When the first Russian pair come on the ice, I thought to myself, because of her costume, "Hmm. I hope they're dancing to 'The Firebird'."

I was right.

From the commentators: "Ice dancing is often about 'here's the top; let's go over it.' "

I was also right that another pair was dancing about immigrants, because of their costumes. Their piece was apparently called "The Immigrants".

Ben Agosto has sparkly chest hair!

And finally, the one and only Bob Costas: "One has a penalty box. One has a kiss and cry area. Both are Olympic sports."

Thanks Bob, for pointing that out.

Finally, I'm always pleased when the Olympians sing and are otherwise properly respectful of their national anthems. The winners of tonight's ice dancing were appropriately enthusiastic. Congratulations!

We are the world

Eilonwy declared today Random Blogging Day, and I am nothing if not random. So here goes:

Things I do not like about the Olympics:

Subway commercials

Plushenko's hair

Staying up too late every night

Things I do like:

VISA commercials. Well, Morgan Freeman

That I'm usually watching them on TiVo, and I can skip the commercials

Shaun White's hair

Figure skating to Yann Tiersen compositions

Glittery argyle

Watching them with Eilonwy (tonight, simultaneously, thanks TiVo)

Commentators - except when they're being unnecessarily snobby, their comments are always fun

Joyful athletes, regardless of their outcomes