{Not} Living Vicariously

Quality V. Quantity

I know I'm not alone in this, but other than my family, I don't have life-long friends. Several of my friends have children about the same age and they've played together all their (short) lives and are about to be separated. The parents are trying to figure out how to explain that the closest playmate their child has is about to move several hours away. I thought about how tough it will be on the kids, but I had nothing to add as this is an experience I don't have. Then the conversation turned to them talking about the friends they've had since birth or thereabouts. Which would be another experience I don't have. So then I started to think about who has known me the longest, that I'm still in touch with. Ironically enough, it is his birthday today. Happy birthday Matt! Tell Janae and Claire to give you a hug from me.

My parents moved our family to California in the middle of my 8th grade year. I started school after winter break and the school did it's best to match me up with both classes and electives based on what I'd been doing at my school in Florida. I had been working in the library as one of my electives in Florida, but that wasn't an option in California, so I became an office aide instead. They introduced me to the other office aide they had that period, and that was Matt. Then it was off to the next class and there was Matt, and the next one and there was Matt, and by the end of the day -- 6 classes later -- Matt was in every single one of them. If I remember correctly, we were often not in the same P.E. group, but we were there the same hour. Poor Matt, he's put up with knowing me for many many years.

I do also have to mention the person who takes 2nd honors in this category, as I met her the same day as I met Matt, just a little later in the day. Her name is Stacy and she has a wonderful husband and three beautiful daughters that I never get to see because I moved away from California. But if I remember correctly, she was wearing pink polka dots that day and she was a P.E. aide? or had P.E. at the same time as I did because that is my first memory of her. Blonde hair, pink polka dots, P.E. She has been a really good friend over the years as well.

I feel I need to mention one more person here. I didn't meet Katrina until high school. She was very different to me. Exciting in many ways, more grown-up, and brilliant. She has so many great talents that were already obvious then. Her way with words, design, fashion. They all made me think about things just a little different. Plus she is the one who inspired me to start my own blog.

So while I may not have friends who've known me from birth, I have some pretty great people in my life that I'm thrilled to say are my friends. (I feel like I should make some cheesy comment here like Go Patriots!) Anyway, to those three from my high school days, I love you all very much. And to those friends I've made later in life, just think how special you get to be as well since I have to emphasize my quality relatiohships.

Have a great week y'all!

And the Chatter Goes On . . .

I love going to the Nashville Symphony. I really enjoy the Pops series as they have wonderful guest conductors, fabulous guest performers, and extremely fun themes for each concert. Last night I went to a concert with the name And the Beat Goes On which was a tribute to the music of the 60s. A lively musical decade. Everything on stage was up to the usual standards of excellence. Great music, funny conductor, beautiful costuming for the very talented singers. My problem? The four people behind me who felt the need to chatter through most of the performance. Now, when the conductor leads a medley of television theme songs, I can understand guests trying to guess which one is playing now. I may not like it, but I understand it. So I don't get too cranky. Especially when they mention one that is bugging me and I can give a sigh of relief, oh that is what that is. But when they feel the need to verbally communicate with each other, discussing something that has absolutely nothing to do with the music, I wonder: Why are you here??? Why can't you be quiet? Why are you decreasing my enjoyment in this evening? I know I'm not going to solve anything by asking these questions, I'm not going to solve anything by being rude to others in turn. But in my ideal world, I would be allowed to enjoy the fantastic Nashville Symphony in an environment where the only noise is what comes from the stage.

An Open Love Letter to Bruce, Dan and the Full Cast Audio crew

There are several styles of audiobook narration. One way that I particularly enjoy involves having a full cast of narrators, usually called multi-voice performance, to portray each character in a book. Think old time radio drama, without all the sound effects. Not many companies are willing to invest the time and money it must take to create an audio production such as this, at least not in the areas I like to listen. But many years ago, there was a dream (to read the story of that dream, check out www.fullcastaudio.com), the dream became a reality, and the world became a better place. At least I think so. I have been lucky enough to hang out with Bruce, Dan, and some of their voice talents at various events in the library world. Becoming wrapped up in their enthusiasm and passion has made me even more of an audiobook addict. It helps that many of their titles are in the fantasy genre that I already love. However, I freely admit to listening to books in which I have no other interest, except for the fact that they loved it enough to produce it. I also like that they only record books that are "family friendly". For the definition of that, see the FAQ on their website, or read Kliatt’s wonderful interview with Bruce, also linked from their website. My one sadness is that, as a small company, they have a limited list of books they can produce each year.

Kids need books

I am often asked by friends, family, and random strangers what books they should buy, borrow, be aware of for their children. This is a difficult question to answer as there are so many factors involved. How old is your child? Do they like to read? What interests do they have? Do you like to read? Will you be reading this to your child? There are also many wonderful books published every year, along with some pretty awful ones. However, for the parents who have repeatedly asked for my opinion, as well as the friends who are too nice to harass me, I would want my child to be exposed to these 50 classic picture books. The list is in alphabetical order by author, of course.

Allard: Miss Nelson is Missing / Aylesworth: Old Black Fly / Bang: Ten Nine Eight / Bemelmans: Madeline / Briggs: Snowman / Brown: Goodnight Moon / Burningham: Mr Gumpy's Outing / Burton: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel / Carle: Very Hungry Caterpillar / Crews: Freight Train / Cronin: Click Clack Moo Cows That Type / De Paola: Strega Nona / Emberley: Go Away Big Green Monster / Falconer: Olivia / Freeman: Corduroy / Gag: Millions of Cats / Henkes: Kitten's First Full Moon / Hoban: Bread and Jam for Frances / Johnson: Harold and the Purple Crayon / Keats: Snowy Day / Kraus: Leo the Late Bloomer / Krauss: Carrot Seed / Leaf: Story of Ferdinand / Lester: John Henry / Lionni: Swimmy / London: Froggy Gets Dressed / Marshall: George and Martha / Martin: Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See / Martin: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom / McCloskey: Make Way for Ducklings / Numeroff: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie / Potter: Tale of Peter Rabbit / Rathmann: Good Night Gorilla / Rey: Curious George / Scieszka: True Story of the 3 Little Pigs / Sendak: Where the Wild Things Are / Shannon: No David / Simmons: Come Along Daisy / Simont: Stray Dog / Slobodkina: Caps for Sale / Steig: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble / Taback: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly / Van Allsburg: Polar Express / Viorst: Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day / Wiesner: Tuesday / Willems: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus / Williams: Chair for My Mother / Wood: Napping House / Yolen: How do Dinosaurs Say Good Night / Zion: Harry the Dirty Dog

Would I buy every one of these books? Of course not, that is what a public library is for! Is this my complete list? Definitely not! But these titles are by wonderful authors and illustrators, many of whom have other wonderful titles that are also on my list. Please enjoy, and if any of you think I've missed an absolutely wonderful title or included a horrible title, please let me know. I'm always looking for books to add to my list. Also, if you would like a copy of my list in a cleaner format, just let me know and I'll email it to you. I was trying to keep this post from being 12 pages long <grin>.

PS - Don't forget to check out the Caldecott award winners and honors books. Always a great place to start!

Swimming Lessons?

I have a basenji mix, which is a breed that originally comes from the desert areas of Africa. I met a doctor once who used to breed basenjis and he described them to me as a perpetual toddler in the throes of terrible twos. My dog is stubborn enough to meet this requirement without a doubt. She definitely enjoys the sun, and isn’t that fond of being wet. She will tolerate a bath without too much fuss, but is not the type to go frolicking in the water. We went for a walk yesterday after it stopped raining by the creek near to our house. Imagine my surprise yesterday when she waded into the creek to get a drink. Imagine her surprise when the bottom dropped off and she found herself dog paddling towards a rock. Since she was on her leash I wasn’t too worried. She made it to the rock and took a breather as she looked around. Then I called her to come back to the shore and she swam back to me. Luckily we had another mile to walk so she was mostly dry by the time we got back to the car. Unluckily she had just had a bath last weekend and now she doesn’t smell quite so pretty. I don’t have the heart to give her another one quite so soon. So I’ll just let her be . . . she doesn't smell too bad.

How I became an audiobook fan

Many years ago when I was in library school I was interning for the Los Angeles Public Library. While shopping in their bookstore one day, I picked up a complete works of Winnie the Pooh on cassette. This took Milne’s four books (Winnie the Pooh, House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Young, and Now We Are Six) and mixed and matched them on nine cassettes so I had stories and poems interspersed. From that time forward, for me the voice of A. A. Milne has to be Peter Dennis. His vocalizations are perfect; I can’t imagine any other. I played those tapes over and over and over until I was scared I was going to break them. Yes I am an adult but these were genius. I actually tried to track down the company on the box to see if I could buy a new copy, but couldn’t find them. Then one day not too many years ago I discovered that Blackstone Audio had the rights and were re-releasing them on cassette, compact disc and mp3, although as separate books. I was thrilled! I recommend them to all of my friends, with children or interest in children’s books. And that is how I became an audiobook fan.

I just don’t understand why Peter Dennis hasn’t done more work in that field.

 

Scoundrels on the Screen OR Like Mother Like Daughter

I’m like my father in many ways. And I’m like my mother in many others. One of the things I share with my mother is a fondness for the scoundrel Han Solo. I came to the Star Wars universe late in life. Apparently I was taken to see Episode 4 when it came out, but I fell asleep midway through the movie and never saw the end. For years I was convinced the bar scene in Mos Eisley was at the end of the movie. I didn’t see Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi in the theaters at all. Then my mother discovered the movies and for many years would watch all three on New Year’s Eve. I still refused to watch them, didn’t think I cared. However, in college I discovered the movies myself, a guy I was dating insisted I watch them. And I fell in love, with the movies but not the guy. Episodes 1, 2, and 3 are okay, but I don’t bother watching them that often. I do like to start off each year with 4, 5, and 6 though, not necessarily on NYE. It makes for a nice start to the year. Other scoundrels that I like? Indiana Jones immediately comes to mind; I can’t forget Mal on Firefly either. Funny, my mother is also a fan on them. What can I say, like mother like daughter.

Airports - LAX/BNA

Normally I love to hang out while waiting for a flight. The people watching opportunities are wonderful, I always have several reading options, and it is fun to eat (although expensive) at places that I might not have in my local area. So I don't mind getting to an airport 2+ hours before a flight. No worries about making it through security, time to go to the bathroom, wander around a bit to stretch the legs, and get something to eat before I have to sit on a plane for several hours. Yesterday was not my favorite day in an airport though. My flight from LAX to home was delayed by about 3 hours, which I did not find out until after I'd been at the airport for over an hour. Not only that, but the gate changed 3 times, making it difficult to stake out a good spot. In fact, I was worried about not being near my gate . . . just in case it changed again at the last moment. And the people weren't interesting, or maybe it was my mood. But it seemed like everyone was just as dragged out as I was. Also, LAX seems to be getting more difficult to navigate. With additional security measures in place I had to stand in 4 lines yesterday, just to get in to the terminal. There was the check-in line, the have my bags weighed line, the hand my bags over to TSA line, and then the line to go through security myself. My local airport (BNA) is much easier to deal with and by the time I finally landed last night, I was so glad of how efficient they are at getting the bags out to the claim area. What took 45 minutes at LAX when I arrived there Christmas Eve, took about 10 minutes at BNA on New Year's Eve. Which is typical for getting home.

And boy am I glad to be home. I've spent most of today dealing with being gone for a week (mail, laundry, groceries), taking the dog for a really long walk, and watching football games. That was the good part of today. I've also spent more time than I like on the phone with my internet provider. Something went wonky while I was gone and my wireless connection no longer works wirelessly. In order to be online or do email today, I had to connect the modem to the computer. Which stinks with a laptop as that is keeping me in the room which has the "equipment" in it. Which is not the room I want to be in right now. I'd rather be catching up on all my computer stuff lazing on the couch with more television watching . . . such is not my case.

Anyway, I hope y'all had a great new year's day and that 2007 treats you well! And that it treats me better than it did this weekend <grin>.