Goal: I wanna be the Voice of the Light Rail

I think I could do it. I'd be great I'm sure. "Mind the Gap", "Next stop, International Station" and "The doors will open on the left".
Alas, it's probably already done by someone. So I did the next best thing...I read the Sound Transit article on Wikipedia. There's a new project up there for spoken articles. I've been playing around with it. I've learned to use some new software too (I love new software). It's called Audacity and it's a sound editing program. Up until this point, I've been using Camtasia Studio only.
I've also learned that if I want to silence the fan on my laptop--I must put an ice pack under it. Something to remember for sure.
Oh, the first Spoken Wikipedia article I read was kimono but the sound quality was bad. So, I wouldn't want to excite your anticipation. I must redo it without the fan noise some time.

Polymathic Mandy: Mardi Gras Party

In a fabulous display of her diverse skills, my sister gave her annual Mardi-gras party. I’d heard stories of this party and her bread making skills she employs for the king cake. It has to be kneaded and let rise twice, rolled into a ring, baked and decorated. I was rather happy at this picture of her mid-sprinkle:

I dressed her up in my purple 7th Sea LARP costume. She looked great in the purple…much better than me. I wore the blue one, which I think is the better of the two colors for me.

There were about a dozen people in attendance and we didn’t do much besides eat, drink and be merry. I took pictures, of course. So did Dylan, but he had to borrow my camera to do it…he forgot his.
Why is Mandy a polymath? Check out her kumihimo:

And her scrapbook pages:

A Piggy Idea

Some people know that in addition to the various other things I'm up to, I also volunteer for Big Brother Big Sisters in the school based program. My little sister, CS is a 2nd grader at Highland Park Elementary school in White Center Seattle. I've done many things with her over our year and 2 months we've spent together. A second grader is just beginning and she has no idea what hobby or pursuit will become hers in the future. Luckily I have more than a few to share. I've taught her to play the Ancient Chinese game of Go...and she surprised me by being naturally good at it. We've tried recorders...not her fave. We've done origami, which she seems to like as well. We've done friendship bracelets as well as other games. Also, she really seemed to enjoy the times we've done photography together. I got her a starter kids camera for Christmas and she was pretty pleased with it.
Both of our two school years we've been hanging out, she has had the same teacher...a Ms. Norris in what they call a looping program. Ms Norris is a diminutive teacher who is forever smiling and happy. Her students seem to adore her and I, myself, think very highly of her. So when she asked me to teach her class to do Papier-mache, I said "Of course".
But she didn't want to teach them puppets...she wanted pigs. Why pigs? Because the next field trip is to the great Pike Place Market which is famous for the large piggy bank located in the center. So to fit the theme...we are going to make piggy banks. I've never made such a thing before so I sat down with Dad and we put our heads together. I love to brainstorm with Dad. So here's the idea so far...water balloon base:

Because I did try a large balloon but I wasn't happy with the shape. Also, this little guy has got to hold heavy pennies. Even with my special rock hard recipe for papier-mache--paper can never measure up to ceramics as far as strength goes. So smaller means stronger as well as lower capacity for heavy pennies. I did plan to use toilet paper tubes for the legs , but with the smaller size comes the need of reducing the tube size...that might be a tricky step--so will covering them with paper. But Ms. Norris thought it might be okay when I ran it by her.
When I added paint, wiggle eyes, a pipe cleaner tail and some fun-foam ears and nose, here's what I ended up with:

Kinda cute, huh? Plus it's a chance to clear out some serious over stock I have of wiggle eyes and fun foam. Don't ask where I got so many wiggle eyes, because I don't remember myself.

Why Polymathic?

I've often referred to myself as a 'Jill of all Hobbies, Master of One'. So I thought I should name this general blog of "what I'm up to these days" something like that. But when I read the Wikipedia page of 'Jack of all Trades, Master of None', I came across a word: Polymath.
It's an all-together better name for this blog...why? Because it is a goal to work towards.
"Jill of all hobbies" describes my hopping from one pursuit to another quite well. But in certain light, it is a put-down. A Polymath is a person who is good at more than a few subjects--which arguable I am now--but I am no Franklin or Edison yet! It's something to work towards.
I have tried an exhaustive number of activities. Every year I go through three or four hobbies. Of course, only Puppetry sticks with me...and I do loop back to ones that I've enjoyed in the past.
Currently, I'm knitting a new scarf for Frank because he felted the last one. I'm once again doing Contra-Dancing:

I'm also dabbling in Photography and Photo-shopping. My current musical instrument is a Native American Flute. I'm in the middle of planning my summer season for puppetry which looks like it'll be May to September. I've made several Yahoo Videos for Dad's website...speaking of websites...In addition to Dad's, I'm working on two others. One for the Puppeteers of Puget Sound and I'm consulting on Greenwood as well.
Add to this the fact that my doctor says I'm not getting enough exercise, which means I must start another activity, and you get a pretty tired Elly and one who is definitely on the path to becoming a Polymath!