Whoah! (part 1)

Where to even start? My most recent adventure feels so big that it is almost too much to try and wrap my mind around.

Wednesday the 16th (two weeks ago!?!) was the first day of the Region 5 RID conference in Salt Lake City. I go to as many conferences as I can, not only to attend all the incredible workshops and collect CEU's - but also as a chance to mingle with professional colleagues, something I don't get to do a lot in a small farm town.

So even though I am currently flat broke - I scraped my pennies together and covered the registration fee. I found a few quarters in my search under the cushions, but not enough to cover a hotel room - so I spent a few nights at a friends house, and another few nights with my sister at the camp where she works. That meant I got to spend an extra hour and a half riding Trax the first few days, but I also didn't have to pay for parking :) A very good thing.

I got to go to some amazing workshops - on everything from interpreting in oncology settings to a discussion on the Code of Professional Conduct and Social Media. But far and away, my favorite was an evening workshop discussing a documentary on Deaf Poetry called The Heart of the Hydrogen Jukebox. W.O.W! I will be buying this one as soon as I get the chance!

These conferences are also the best places to do some networking - I got more job tips for decent places to work and recommendations for places to interview there than I have found in my last few months of job hunting on the internet. Also, I happened to run into the Interpreting Coordinator from BYU while I was there - and as luck would have it, I had just applied for a position there only a week or so before. My name came up in a conversation, and she recognized it - so we decided to have an interview during one of the breaks. We had a great chat - she got the chance to observe my interpreting skills, I learned more about the job and was so sad to find out that the position was just a 3/4 time one, without benefits. So unless EVERYTHING else falls through, I won't be moving to Provo.

I also had a great chance to meet up with some old friends - my favorite professor from ISU "Queen E" and Gayle, my mentor from my internship in Alaska. So much fun to run into people like that. Even more exciting, we found out that the next Region 5 conference in 2012 will be held in Hawaii... I am already making plans to be there, even though odds are good that I won't technically be a Region 5 person anymore. Anyone want to come with?

I didn't sleep much during at all during the week - 5 hours a night max. Even so, it felt like it ended all too soon. The last workshop ended about 12:30 Sunday afternoon, just in time for me to dash off to church with my sister. And then to dinner with a friend of hers. Over all a I had a great week, and I had just enough down time on Sunday to pack and get mentally prepped for the next set of adventures looming before me.

(Picture on the left is from the Camp my sister is working at (beautiful!) and on the right, just to show you how generous my sister is, she slept on the floor and gave me her bed. Could I be any luckier? I think not. At least until she sees the pic... hehe!)