MBMPL

Learning Goes Virtual Charlotte Observer Feburary 10, 2007
Eiseldora Weissenburger my alter ego on Teen Second Life is mentioned in this article for my instructional classes. I have over 15 unique classes that I’ve been transfering to podcasts at http://feeds.feedburner.com/SecondLifeLibraryPodcasts

Being strong isn’t about having a certain amount of muscles or the ability to lift heavy objects. Its about the willingness to get back up after you’ve fallen, and to keep going even when it seems that there is no hope. I used to think that I was a strong person, I’d overcome challenges alone, and I never quit fighting. I did however hope that a day would come when there wouldn’t need to be a fight anymore. I realized that it isn’t human to not fight. Everyone, everywhere has struggles, challenges that they overcome. Some have to grow up fast, taking the role of an adult to care for themselves or someone they love. Others have the world protecting them, and in order to feel like they have control go looking for trouble, and it always finds them. Everyone wants so much to do the right thing, but when it gets really hard the real truth is that we all look to save ourselves. I know I did. I do that often. For rare moments I can see the whole picture and how important it is to be truly selfless, to go against the grain and instead put the needs of everyone else around me first.

The only truth is the best person I can ever be is a person who lifts up those around me. I have been scared to be this person, to be judged by everyone who would want to see all my imperfections. I don’t want to have all my cracks dragged through the mud, but I know now that I will never be good. I will never be whole, so its pointless to hide in the shadows afraid to inspire people to be great.

I may fail, I probably will, but I will forever get back up and try. Right now I’ve fallen very hard, not because of something anyone else has done, but because of the choices I’ve made and the things I’ve done to the ones I should have supported. I can’t fix what I did, and I’ve already tried to say I’m sorry so many times. What I can do is be strong. I can be different the next time. Change isn’t easy. I know that. I takes determination and steadfastness, but I hope that by the end I will do more good than bad. Who knows what the world brings? What ever it is, I’ll fight. With love, knowledge, faith, and strength. I hope you will be at my side.

In preperation for ALA Midwinter, I”m tweeking my site. I’ve also finally got a place to review video games. I’m trying to use a blog with catagories for the sortable elements. Paul has fixed the tabletop reviews site to be easily understandable. Now I worry if I have too much variety in my pages, since I have a new design for each page: A Large Web Design no no.

I’ve been having an odd time watching music videos of Weird Al at YouTube There there is a video for Do I creep you out at Jib Jab.

It all started when I was looking at a libraries myspace page who had the song Don’t Download This Song, playing on their profile. I was intrigued, and started looking on Youtube. Paul is a fan of Weird Al, and I’ll admit the only album I could stand before Lynnwood was Poodle Hat. One thing I noticed on Youtube is that many people are using Weird Al’s songs to overlay with the music video that Al’s song is parodying. This started me thinking about copyright, and then I realized that the song is a perfect introduction to copyright issues that teens just might get. I’d love to see if this discussion is picked up at any libraries.

Many people keep assuming my site is just a blog. For a long time I couldn’t think what to put up for the first page that shows up when people first go to the url so I tried to put a wordpress blog to point people to the newest updated information. It didn’t work out so well, so now I have a new index page and I’ve been fine tuning many of the pages to be accessible in multiple browsers and also meet the W3 standards. I’m not sure how much I’ll get done before I stop all together again, but I hope this helps me when applying for jobs.

I have been working on adding more tabletop reviews to the site. Here is one example: Tikal.

I now officially contribute to the WireTap blog: Here is my first post about libraries.

This weeks featured review is at the Library Goddess DVD Blog: Fruits Basket the Anime

Earlier this week I received in the mail the state library journal. In it was my first article. (I wrote it in June). In my opinion it was horribly written and I should have had more people read it to make sure that it was coherent, but its a first article. I know I have plenty of room to grow. For a long time I thought that having my name printed in a journal would mean something. Possibly gain people’s respect, or even open more doors when it comes to jobs and other writing/presenting opportunities. I don’t think its about that though. In many way it is immortalizing my ideas, my experiences, and sharing them with not only current readers, but people in the future.

As time has moved so quickly this past year I see how much I’ve changed. A year ago I was a student, eager to learn and be molded. I had attended a few conferences, but was preparing to go to Gaming in Libraries in Chicago. Now I feel as if I’m on the other side. November 19th-25th I hosted National Games Week at the Second Life Library. (Audio was recorded and is available at http://feeds.feedburner.com/SecondLifeLibraryPodcasts).

Well ttyl. I’ll try not be be sporadic in publishing updates.

(right now my current project is writing reviews of tabletop games and movies, blogging for YALSA, Wiretap, Libgaming, and Second Life, preparing for ALA midwinter, creating instructional podcasts, and deciding what to I want to do with the rest of my life.)

This weeks featured review is at Amazon.com: The History of Webcomics by T. Campbell