An update from Michelle:

AIEEEE.

I'm ready to blog now. I had to survive finals first. They are over. I am giddy now.

So, Nina already blogged. Nina, you are PRO. And you are funny. Like, ACTUALLY, you are.

Okay. I'd never, ever thought I'd go to Texas. But I did. W00t! Or, fo' schiz! Let's get the
cheese out of the way: Thank you Rick. You are hip and cool and a smart, brilliant, super-duper librarian. Thank you Alene. Chaperoning is hard work. (I can only imagine). You have so much spirit and cheer and humor, you made San Antonio that much more fun for us. Thank you Friends of the Shoreline Library for the opportunity. It was absolutely amazing. I mean, just thinking about the fact that only us four and a few Cali kids (I choose not to count the local Texans) participated in the teen forum portion of BBYA is mind-boggling. And we are lucky x 100000000 for being able to see and CONTRIBUTE to something like this. It really opened my eyes to the full scope of the library/book/literary world and it showed me how much there was to it. And Thank you Angie (for talking up the publishers and taking us around town). I can see why you are so popular ;).

YUP. So, San Antonio was fun. The tourist spots weren't particularly exciting (i.e. the Alamo). But it was refreshing to be in a city that was NOT Seattle. The landscaping was very different.*gasp* No towering, lush, evergreen trees? There was also a larger Latino & African American population. But getting to stay at a hotel, going to the conference (wearing the spiffy ALA badge, which we dubbed "library bling"), getting loads and loads and loads of SWAG, getting to know fellow STABies, taking "pretty" pictures, hearing about Rick's life story, dressing up for the fancy reception, talking about books, so on and so forth..THAT was FUN.

I have about 40+ books sitting by my bed, waiting to be read. Like Nina, I also have no shelf space. This is a problem. I might have to buy another bookshelf. The posters were also useful. I gave the baby Einstein poster to my chem teacher and the Presidents of the US poster to my former APUSH teacher. Bwahahaha. xD

And I have been using my Got Books/Got Libraries bag every day since I've back. I *heart* this bag. Ahh, the rewards of reading. I'm going to be on my school newspaper, the Kolus, starting next semester. I ought to write an editorial advocating teen reading. Something like: "EVERYONE SHOULD READ! You might find yourself attending a STAB/STABBYA meeting. Then, you might find yourself reading a load of books and reviewing them. THEN, you might even land yourself a fully-paid trip to a national conference where you get to meet cool people and get free stuff and learn a whole bunch. Doesn't that sound good? Start reading!"

Anyway. Books are swell. Yes, they are.