today, one of my toddler storytimes had 41 people in attendance. normally, there’s about half that. the good morning/welcome song which we sing to each child took foreeeeeever! i was a little nervous about having a group that large (and i hope some people switch to a different time slot!), but it was actually ok. i didn’t feel like i “lost” the group at any point and it was almost exhilarating.

doing a successful storytime is like surfing a wave. wait. i’ve never surfed, so that might not be completely accurate. let’s see… doing a successful storytime is like trying to corral hungry howler monkeys into a cage. nope. never done that either. ok. one more try. doing a successful storytime is like…oh screw it. here’s an imaginary thing it’s like that i’ll be no one has ever done, so no one can contradict me. doing a successful storytime is like trying to manipulate four marionette puppets all at once, except that all of the puppets have a mind of their own, like pinocchio. crap. that sounds scary and manipulative, which is not what i’m trying to portray. what i’m trying to say here is that there is a real push/pull element in the timing of a good storytime. after you’ve done it for awhile, you get a feel for how much farther you can push the kids. do you stop at the first serious signs of antsy-ness and risk disappointing the kids who are still paying attention? do you push them just past their attention span in the hopes that it will grow just a little longer the next week? or could the group be pulled back together with a quick round of “ring-around-the-rosy”? i don’t know exactly how to explain to a novice the crowd cues that i use to make those judgement calls, but i know what works for me and that people keep coming back means i must be doing something right. it feels great to be really good at something.

do you have special skills that you are proud of? (if you take issue with my having a preposition at the end of that sentence, read this.)

today is talk like a pirate day. i chose to host a pirate party at the library to celebrate the occasion. i had no idea it would be quite this popular. the registration list was full after only a few days and we had to start a waiting list and start referring people to other library branches that were having similar programs.

this afternoon, i opened the door to the party to welcome everyone and in addition to a large crowd of pirate-costumed party-goers, there was also a local news reporter and her cameraperson! turns out, the reporter had been checking our library’s online calendar to check for fun activities for her moms group when she saw the blurb about the pirate party. this was about a half-hour before the program she said, so she must have booked it to get to the party just as it was starting (but i guess reporters are used to last minute coverage!). they got a bunch of pirate-y quotes from kids and then asked if i would give them one adult quote. put on the spot, all i could come up with was, “arrgh matey! come to the library and read good books!” ah me, a true library promoter at all times. at least i looked pretty cute.

(in case you’re curious, i was wearing a bandanna on my head and had a paper “parrot” clipped to my shoulder.)

anyway, the pirate party was a rousing success–everyone raved about how much fun they had (and really, it wasn’t that hard to put together! i didn’t even decorate!) and said i should do this party more often. i don’t know about thaaaaat, but at least i know that people honestly enjoyed themselves. there’s just something about pirates.

in the past two days i’ve seen about 5 people from my old library’s community. some of them i’ve just waved to, some of them i’ve chatted with for way too long (“erm, i’m doing reader’s advisory for these patrons! and they needed me to hold their baby so they could carry more books!”) and some of them i’ve actually been able to chat with and give them book recommendations. it is such a lovely surprise to see these old friends again–to see how their kids have grown and how life moves at such a crazy pace (i can’t believe i’ve been at my new job for nine months already! women that were barely pregnant when i left now have kids!) and to be able to talk to them about the place i worked at for 4 years and realize that although i was happy there, i actually enjoy my new job even more.

a woman came in today whom i had known very well when i worked at my last library. she was a regular patron but also a passionate community supporter of the library. when i worked there, i was able to identify her voice immediately on the telephone after only one or two words. today, when she walked up to the reference desk, i recognized her immediately, but could not, for the life of me, recall her name! after we had chatted for about five minutes, her first name floated out of the fog and teased the edges of my brain until i finally was able to grasp it, but i wasn’t yet brave enough to drop it in conversation. another five minutes passed until finally her name, first and last together, finally popped into focus. i say “focus” because for me this was really quite visual. in my head, i saw her name spelled out. once i had both names together, i was sure that i had the right name and could relax for the rest of the conversation, occasionally dropping her first name at the end of sentences as though i had known it all along. isn’t it funny how our brains store information? if i don’t use a piece of information for just a few months, it gets buried deeeeep within the folds of my brain. if i don’t use a piece of information for a year or more it will take prompting for me to remember it. and then, occasionally, some random little bit that i had no idea that i even had ever remembered will appear, full-fledged and ready for duty (or… maybe with only partial alterations)! (like songs from electric company or the phrase “forgetful jones”)

does anyone else dredge up old information visually? anyone do it aurally? tactile-ly??