In the space of time since I last wrote, I had a job interview and have been at that new job since mid-June. Needless to say, I've been busy. I have now moved out and away from the museum to an office (so, yes, cubicle woes for yours truly). I'm still planning out biggest event of the season, since my job was just posted last week, but I now have the awesome and thrilling task of planning and assisting with the audience development and visitor experience for the three sister museums! Yay! In the spirit of celebration, I thought I'd share something that's been floating around my mind for a few weeks.
When I go to the cottage, I try to get away. I usually pick up a trashy book on the way down there, but the other week I picked up Neil Pasricha's The Book of AWESOME! instead. It's really my kind of book, for many reasons. Firstly, because I have the incessant habit of saying that things and people are "awesome!", secondly, because it's such an upbeat and optimistic look on life; I mean, I love thinking about the "cool side of the pillow", "when people give you a little wave when you let them pass you in traffic" and "popping bubble wrap".
Pasricha's book has inspired me to think up some museums/heritage things that are awesome. Some are silly, some are personal, some might be downright weird, but I'm hoping that all with give you a little smile. Without further ado, I give you:
The Post of Museum AWESOME!
- People Who Ask Questions On Your Tour
- I know some guides and interpreters who might disagree with this, but I can't think of anything better than when people ask questions on a tour I'm giving. It means that they're interested, invested, engaged! Even better if it stops being a tour altogether and becomes a conversation that we're just having in a museum. AWESOME!
- Sock Feet in the Historic House
- I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I walk around the museum with no shoes on. I've done that at several of the historic sites I have worked at and it's always an unplanned and euphoric thing. Like a harkening back to my childhood. You're sitting in your office, working long hours when the museum is closed. You take off your shoes to get comfortable. Then you want some coffee. But it's in the lunchroom. There's no one there. Who's going to tell? So you walk down the hall to get your coffee. But you can't do it without taking a detour; it's impossible. Something about stocking feet rejuvenates the human spirit. There's a spring in your step as you skip around and a small part of you thinks: "It's just like I live here!" So you pad around the rooms, feeling a sense of freedom and joy that can only come from having such a privilege. AWESOME!
- Perfectly Applied Tiny Accession Numbers
- Ah, haven't done it in a while, but there's nothing so satisfying as writing perfectly legible accession numbers with a pigma pen on newly dried B72. Tiny, perfect, more legible than your predecessor's. AWESOME!
- Hugs/Gifts from Young Visitors
- Children at the museum are great! Some are so happy to be there and occasionally share their innocent unconditional love with you. The best: colouring pages they present to you out of the blue, the leg hugs when you finish preschool outreach, the fact that they remember you from their last visit even when their parents don't. Sometimes awkward, but always AWESOME!
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