Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Bad Julie

Yes, I am a bad blogger. Ever since that whole mess up with Blogger, I have had trouble getting back into it. I will try to be better.

The first thing I should blog about is the amazing experience I had at the National Alliance on Mental Illness Ken Book Awards in New York City. Matt and I had such a lovely time, and everyone was so kind and encouraging. I felt a little out of place- as I always do among grown-ups- and I was particularly worried about my acceptance speech. I rewrote it about a hundred times, and when I finally went up there, I said that I was used to speaking to thirteen and fourteen year-olds, so I was definitely out of my comfort zone. People were super receptive and sweet. I was amazed at the company—-a Nobel prize winner was the keynote speaker! (I will admit that I heard very little of what he was saying, due to the fact that I was so nervous I was literally SHAKING. I was freaked!). And I must mention the very tasty dinner we had the night before the awards breakfast at Solera. The generous folks at NAMI entertained us, and the restaurant was so accommodating to Matt and my vegetarian needs—-they made us our own paella!

I am trying to decide now if I should send thank you notes to those in NAMI who gave the award, because it was such a fantastic experience. What is the etiquette on this? I do like writing thank you notes. I think I shall. I hope they don’t think I’m a goober.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you're back and congratulations on the award!

Colleen

Anonymous said...

dont worry about being nervous. I had to give my shadow project and almost fainted. I feel for you, i am sure you did i great job, but i think that i could not have done it!! i can barely carry a conversation with only one person, much less a whole crowd!! seriously, they put me on medicine for it which is kind of sad.