Here’s a photo of my three kids at the Blizzard Halloween party this year in the traditional photo spot in front of the orc statue. I shot this photo at 1/15s on my Fujifilm X-T5 handheld and I’m really impressed with how it turned out. There’s some motion blur where my son is flapping his Ender Dragon “wings”, but besides that it’s quite sharp. The lens used was the Sigma 18-50mm 2.8 if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
This weekend was the dance recital for my daughter, Guinevere. Guinevere is now thirteen and has been dancing since she was three. Guinevere has been en pointe in ballet for almost two years, and this recital was her first performance en pointe.
When I got to the theater and an usher handed me a program, I was surprised and delighted to see that it had a picture of her on the back from 2015 when she was four!
The picture from the Alice in Wonderland recital she performed in was there to promote this winter’s recital for the younger dancers, which is the Alice in Wonderland theme again. I was so excited when I saw her picture that I immediately told the usher “That’s my daughter when she was little! Now she’s big and en pointe!” I also told pretty much anyone that was standing nearby. I started to tear up a bit, thinking about how much she’s grown in nine years. When I got to my seat, I told the person sitting next to me all about it. When you put your three year old in a dance class, you don’t know how long they’ll want to dance. Sometimes they love dance, try lots of styles, work hard for ten years, and start doing ballet en pointe. If you want to see how far she’s come, here’s the video of her pre-ballet Alice in Wonderland dance at age four.
Nine years later, this is her pointe duet to the Pink Panther theme.
I still have this photo of four-year-old Guinevere from her Alice in Wonderland recital hanging on my wall.
Look at her now.
After the show, I was careful to take a picture of her with the program. I told a few more bystanders about it too.
This year, I went to yallwest for the first time. That’s a Young Adult book festival in Santa Monica. I went by myself and had a great time meeting people and attending panels.
I brought two books to get signed, and both authors had lines that required wristbands. I was excited to get wristbands for both lines.
The first was Tracy Deonn. I brought my copy of Bloodmarked for her to sign. I was excited to receive art prints while I waited in line!
And here I am telling Tracy Deonn about my list of books with the word cariad in them while she signs my book.
My second signing line was Tahereh Mafi, whose current series, This Woven Kingdom, I read for the first time in March. I brought my copy of These Infinite Threads for her to sign.
I then rushed to catch the end of an audiobook narrator workshop, which was a fun time for me.
I also got to meet Kamilah Cole, whose debut novel, So Let Them Burn, I was currently reading and near the end of. I was actually listening to the audiobook in the car on the way to the festival!
Kamilah was a delight to talk to. I told her that I was 80-90% through her book and really enjoying it, and she said “Oh, I’m so sorry!” and I think that was the first time I’ve had an author personally apologize for their book’s ending before I’ve read it.
I didn’t have a physical book, but she signed one of the blank bookmarks that I brought, and we took a selfie.
Here are the panels I attended.
OPENING KEYNOTE: JASON REYNOLDS & STEPHANIE GARBER
BIG FANTASY ON THE BIG STAGE Moderated by Ransom Riggs with Tracy Deonn, Adalyn Grace, Marie Lu, Namina Forna, Angie Thomas, and Adam Silvera
AFTERNOON SPOTLIGHT with Tahereh Mafi, Aiden Thomas, Ava Reid, Adam Silvera, and Hafsah Faizal
THE STORY OF THE NEVERENDING STORY Reinventing the Series Moderated by Amélie Wen Zhao with Lauren Roberts, Zoe Hana Mikuta, Kamilah Cole, Alex Aster, and Hamish Steele
YALLWEST SMACKDOWN Hosted by Ryan La Sala and Angela Montoya This all-star jam brings our cast of featured authors on stage as they play games and undertake shenanigans, all for your entertainment.