I had to work yesterday afternoon, but as soon as I was done trooped over to 826 for a write-a-thon!

They had this crazy event that was essentially 5 hours of writing (cumulative, as there were breaks) and sadly I only was there for the last write sprint.  I went old school and hand wrote it ^_^ 

Workshops with the older kids are cool because the best way to facilitate them is to participate. Write along with them and engage in conversations about the work.  But it is a hard line to find, facilitator and friend.  At last week's workshop there was a girl who's rather vocal and crazy, and I'm not so good and calming her down and pushing forward the critiques we are there to give. When you talk to these kids as a like minded individual, as a friendly mentor of a sort, how do you go about switching to the authoritative figure that's in charge?  It's a balance I need to learn.

As a result, at the write-a-thon I spent a good deal of time talking to the students at my table, with the other workers did things like set up for sharing and make certificates for them.  I like hanging out with these kids, and I totally wanted in on the dA account exchange but couldn't becuase of 826 policy.

The workshop was headed by two local YA authors, one of whom is at a book signing shin-dig at the local independent bookstore Friday with 3 other female writers.  It'd be nice to go, just to network.  Apparently she also knows people in my critique group.

I think the best part was how the last hour of the workshop was break dancing.  The students were supposed to be taught, but no one was willing to try it so Pree gave it a whirl.  And then when we realized it wasn't that hard, the rest of the facilitators joined in.  Yes, even me in my sarong. I fell on my bum.

Post workshop, Pree, Ani, and I went to dinner at a noodle bar. It was interesting, I'm so into anime and manga but the only Japanese food I've had is sushi and pocky.  Well, not any more!  I had pho ramen, which had a bit more of a spice than I thought.  It reminded me of the ramen packets I got in New Zealand rather than the ones you buy here in the states.  Ani and I also went through a bottle of sake, and 400ml was a lot more than I thought it would be.  Browsing through Borders when tipsy was certainly entertaining. And ate up a lot more time than I thought it would.

Borders is closing, so of course I had to buys books ^_^

2/5 of my purchases were for friends, b-day gifts and all, so that's all cool.  But I'm for sure going to have to go back later during the sale.  I mean, part of the amazingness that is a book store is to browse the shelves, find something you've never heard of, buy it, read it, and love it.  That process is much better down in a book store, and I'm sad to see Borders leave.  The independent book store in town in a 30 min bus ride away! 

But yeah, once the sale increases a bit more (books being discounted even more), I'm sure to pick up some really, really good deals on random books.  Which you know, will be a gold mind for my blog Out of Mind Media. 

For me, I finally bought a Miyazaki film (Kiki's) and I'm so psyched I even own one of his films now (though I wan Howl the most) and I bought the Infernal Devices.  It's supposed to be the first true Steampunk story ever and is a true mixture of SF and Fantasy.  It has King Arthur, a time machine, and Morlocks.  Yes, Morlock.  Twas written to be a sequel of sorts to the Time Machine and the fact that King Arthur is involved is just blinding!  (Sorry, just read a story set in the 80s and now I have slang stuck in my head.  Though it's probably all wrong as the author is younger than me and I was born at the end of that decade)

So yes, excited to be reading it.  Once I actually get around to finish this monster of a book that I've been making my way through for over a year and finish up this story that's due at the end of July.  Yup, busy busy!