Fun fact about me: when I was in middle school I submitted an essay about space for a contest whose winners would get to “live” (spend the day) inside a “simulated space shuttle” (tent with shuttle decals) and practice doing the real work and activities that astronauts did. I was picked along with two other kids, and despite the fact that there was gravity and no freeze dried ice cream, I had a great time. I entered it because my dad is a giant geek who not only technically IS a rocket scientist (he has some engineering degree I can’t spell from FIT) but he worked for NASA when I was a kid, and used to do all kinds of fun science things with me up until I reached the age where I discovered the mall and no longer had an interest in model rockets.
Much like leggings, autotune, and the 3D movies of my eighties childhood are making a comeback, so is my interest in science (and entering contests.) I stumbled upon
this contest where the winner would get to live, for a month, inside the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and I am currently as excited about it as I was the time my dad put a live lizard into one of our rockets so we could have a “manned flight” (he didn’t survive.)
This contest is one of those things that seems so perfect for me that I can’t help but be irrationally hopeful I’ll get picked. They are looking for someone with 1) excellent writing skills (see links to the right) 2) An outgoing personality (no one’s ever used the word “shy” to describe me. Ever.) 3) The ability to blog, Tweet, and handle tech savvy stuff (I live to shamelessly promote myself.) and 4) no fear or hesitation with making public appearances, sometimes speaking. Even though it’s supposedly more feared by people than death, I have always loved speaking in front of a crowd. I used to think I should be an actress, until I realized I liked food too much to starve professionally. And talk shows never interested me.
It’s not even the fact that if I get picked and complete the month I’d get $10,000, although that’s pretty freaking sweet, or the fact that I would have endless upon endless material on which to write, but the thing that most excites me is how cool it would be to actually live inside a museum for a month, and get to see things alone, at night, and in a way that very few people will ever get to do. And yes, I totally included a link to my blog in the admissions forms, so I wrote this knowing the people might read it, but that doesn’t make any of it any less true. Don’t judge me.
OK, and I’ll admit, I have thought about how awesome it would be if everything came alive at night and I could play fetch with a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex, like in “Night at the Museum”, but let’s be real, this is a science museum, the stuff wouldn’t come to life, it’d just start blinking and beeping. Much safer, but still cool. Here’s hoping.
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