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bibbetybobbetyboo
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Name: Jennifer
Gender: Female
Interests: puppetry, reading, travel, wine tasting
Expertise: human hand-and-arm and rod arm puppetry
Occupation: student
Message: message me
Member Since:
10/26/2006
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| School is finally over (for the summer at least)! It has been quite an adjustment being back in school this past year for the first time in a decade. It was a wonderful experience and I am looking forward to the fall, but I’m happy for the break. This is my favorite time of year (I must confess the lure of three months out of the year off is one reason teaching has always appealed to me!) for several reasons. I am officially a child of the summer as my birthday falls on the summer solstice and I love the sunshine and green fields and trees. I want nothing more this summer than to work my scheduled hours, read voraciously, and hang out at the coast every chance I get (even though the crabbing is not good this year L). Today I worked up the nerve to send a sample review to a book-reviewing site. Here’s hoping they like it well enough to add me to their staff. If I’m accepted, I’ll add a link to the site so you can read my reviews. Once I’m a regular reviewer for an official site, I will be able to join Reviewers International Organization (RIO), which will improve my chances of making a career out of it down the road. Signing off…. Before I go, here is a link wine lovers may find of interest. This was actually a project for one of my library classes last term. Many libraries have what are termed “vertical files” which are usually literally file folders, containing information on local attractions. Some are e-files, like mine. This is on Willamette Valley wineries. Enjoy! http://www.xanga.com/verticalfile | | |
| I have been tagged by pb49r. Each person starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write their eight things and post the rules. At the end of your blog, tag eight people and list their screen names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog. My apologies to pb49r for plagiarizing these instructions… - I grew up without a television.
- I traveled on weekends and during summer breaks in college as a puppeteer and puppeteered for a children’s television pilot a few years ago.
- I have been to Russia, Belarus, Slovakia and Poland.
- I have lived in West Palm Beach, FL; St. Louis, MO; Denver, CO; and Corvallis, Albany, and Salem, OR.
- My favorite foods are Sushi and fresh crab.
- At midnight on my 29th birthday I was at a Harry Potter party at a bookstore to get the book that came out that year….I think I was the only one there without kids!
- If I could learn to play one instrument it would be the drums.
- For those familiar with the Meiers-Briggs personality test, I am an INFJ.
I tag AmandaMistysMom, beyekind, lew829, elgan, Be_The_Rain, butshebites, DEISENBERG, and ChocolatMenier. | | |
| Ok, so I've been a little busy. For those of you who are curious, nothing terribly exciting going on, but here's what's happenin': I'm taking 13 credits this term (hence the long silence). Classes: Multiculturalism in Education, Reading Instruction, and 2 Library classes. Our friend Matt from Denver moved out here this month. It's been fun hanging out with him and Jonathan in between work and school. We took him to the coast this week. It gives you a new appreciation for all things Oregon to see it again through the eyes of someone else seeing it for the first time. In theory, I dropped to fewer hours at work so they can work around my school schedule, but in actuality I've been working more hours than ever. I'm going to take the summer off school and work full time so we can save money. I've told my boss that if a permanent full time position becomes available I would be interested. If that happens I will go to school part time. This is a pretty good job - great pay, no stress! The longer I'm taking elementary education classes the more I'm questioning if this is what I want to do. I'm not sure I have the patience for children. I'm leaning more and more toward a literary career, not as an author, but perhaps as a book reviewer and/or librarian. I recently read a book by Maureen Corrigan, the book reviewer for NPR's Fresh Air. It's called Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading! This got me thinking, "hey, I could get free books from publishers and get paid for doing my favorite thing in the world - reading!" Then last week at work someone had put printouts of a book review in the breakroom and I checked out the website it was from, and they are needing new reviewers. Reading the bios of current reviewers, it looks like the only requirement is a love of books and writing skills. Through that site I also found RIO (Reviewers International Organization), whose book award I had heard of previously through my library classes. This led me in turn to other sites who need reviewers..... So I'm going to finish out this term and then hopefully start reviewing. I'm thinking of continuing the one year program at Chemeketa for the library instructional assistant certification and perhaps changing my major to English. So by the time I have my BA in English, perhaps I will also have experience as a librarian and "street cred" as a reviewer, making my chances much better for a career in book reviewing. It's a plan, anyway.... | | |
| It has been awhile. An update on what’s going on. My husband and I finally left the group home we were managing. That was a saga I would just as soon leave in the past. If you really want to know the details, please read back over the past couple of months at nebulatravel for some highlights. So now we are staying with my sister- and brother-in-law in a new town (to me, anyway) while we save up and look for a new place. My husband has a well-paying job with the state, and I just finished a week of training at my new job as a claims technician for an auto insurance call center. It’s going to be so great – all I do is ask questions and enter the information into an accident report – I am required to not give out any information about the policy such as “this claim will not be covered because your policy has lapsed due to nonpayment” which in my previous job experience would illicit ear splitting screams and a torrent of profanity. All I do is enter their information and sweetly say, “You will be contacted by your adjuster in 2 business days. Here is your claim number. Thank you for calling.” It pays really well, and I have a part time schedule, allowing me to focus on school. I am finishing out the term at my current school, but I plan to transfer to the community college here next term. I am quickly learning the bus schedule and getting familiar with the area. I never wanted to live here before, but I’m finding it’s not so bad. So things are looking up. More to come later. TTFN – Ta Ta For Now!  | | |
| Shortly before Christmas I heard a piece on NPR about a contest being held by SMITH magazine, an online publication. The objective was to write a memoir summed up in six words. I submitted one for my brother, who is severely mentally retarded and autistic. I figured if I won, he would like the prize - an ipod - since he loves music. This weekend I received an email notifying me that I had not won the ipod, but that out of 5,000 entries mine was one of 400 that were being selected for publication by HarperCollins. They also asked for a picture of my brother and me. I think I will ask my mom to send me a picture of us together when we were little, and maybe a more recent one as well. I am not going to tell her what it is for, just that I’m working on a surprise for her. They are going to send me a free copy of the book when it is published, which I plan to present to my parents. I think they will really like it. The memoir is below. Autism. Unable to express myself. Frustration. | | |
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