Serenia Lensography

4 - I have one son. He is still in elementary school - and he keeps me young.
5 - I changed my photo to show one of me in 2002 when my son was a baby. He is, of course, no longer a baby and can be seen in the My Introduction to Computers Lens.
6 - I love reading, history, art history, lensmaking, sci-fi (especially Stargate and Star Trek), 70s and 80s disco and pop music, gymnastics, antiquarian books, genealogy, geography, Carmen Sandiego, antiques, blogging. politics, current events, ephemera, and various other things.
7 - I have recently discovered my true personality type. I am a SCANNER - where I have a wide range of interests but could not choose just one area to work in. I love them all. This is why I still have not found a career and why I dont have a job. Interestingly enough I actually found Squidoo while I was doing a search for Scanner personalities.
8 - Due to this wide range of interests, I never could settle for just one course of study at University. I started various different courses of study and was never able to finish any of them because I kept losing interest. Now I have a Diploma of Business Administration, but that's all I have. I would love a job with variety - but variety preferably in the areas I enjoy.
9 - I do wish I had looked like Carmen Sandiego for real. That's her picture at top left. She was a computer character for kids to play games that helped with Maths, Geography, History and I think maybe Languages. I never got the chance to play any of the games featuring her, but I would love for someone to update those games to play on todays computers.
10 - Back in the 1990s before I came to Canada I loved watching TV. Since I have been in Canada, my TV watching has dropped to practically non-existent. Now I get all my news from online, and I have joined Netflix to watch movies online.
11 - My favourite actors include Sam Neill, Richard Dean Anderson, Jodie Foster, Anna Paquin and Charlton Heston
12 - My favourite authors include James Michener, James Rollins, Steve Berry, Clive Cussler and Helene Hanff
13 - One series of books I would recommend for pre-teenagers is the 39 Clues series. There are 10 books, and a fantastic website where you must complete quests and play games to find the clues. I own all 10 books and enjoyed them all. I finally got around to making a lens about the 39 Clues books.
14 - I had a Craniotomy operation back in 2007. What is a craniotomy you ask? Brain Surgery!!! I even wrote a lens about it - see below
15 - Regarding History - There should be an option for HERSTORY as well you know. Anyway my views on history, I like the unusual. I love James Burke's books. He is a social historian. He is well known for his TV series back in the early 1980s called Connections and Connections 2.
16 - Ever since I was a little girl, I had this connection to France. I have no idea where it came from but I think it may have something to do with a past life. Not that I beleive in reincarnation, but it might be possible. Anyway I was obsessed with France and the French culture as a kid. I begged for any books on or about France. I got a childrens french-english language picture dictionary when I was 10. Around the same time my teacher read a book to the class called A Hundred Million Francs by Paul Berna. I loved this novel. As I grew older my obsession with France began centering in the southeast - around Provence and the Languedoc. I learned about the Albigensian crusades, about the Cathars and about the mysteries and rumours of treasure that still abound in that area. When I grew up, I married a French Canadian so now my surname is French and I live in Canada where I see and hear French spoken all around me every day.
17 - Antiquarian Books - I love old books. I love reading them. I love looking at them. I have several blogs online about Antiquarian Books so I want to move my lovely pictures of books to Squidoo so you can see them.
18 - Ephemera - This is a part of Antiquarian Books. This refers to paper documents related to books, specifically biographies and memoirs. Things like ticket stubs, brochures, programs, manuscripts and so on. If they are related to one specific author, these scraps of paper can be very valuable indeed. Some books and authors are very valuable and in high demand.
19 - My favourite artists are Renoir, Nicholai Roerich, Vermeer, Canaletto, Leonardo da Vinci, Bosch, both Brughels, Van Eyck, Rubens, Titian and Rembrandt.
20 - I love reading fan fiction stories from a website called Fan Fiction dot net. Fan fiction stories which are stories created by fans about characters from their favourite TV series, Movies and Books and posted in the website. So far I have not written any fan fiction - yet.....
21 - As I said above, I love 70s and 80s disco and pop music. So I have a couple of lenses about 2 of my favourite 80s music groups - Bucks Fizz and Mel & Kim.
22 - Christchurch, New Zealand was hit by a major earthquake on February 22, 2011. Many many buildings have collapsed or been damaged including the iconic Christchurch Cathedral. The Spire has fallen down. This earthquake happened at lunchtime during a normal work day (it was a Tuesday) and a good portion of the central business district has been destroyed.
The city suffered 2 more major sharp shakes in June (Richter scales of 5 and 6). These shakes destroyed the front of the old Cathedral as well as a bringing down a entire cliff face and several houses on the coast at Sumner

23 - I love collecting trophies here on squidoo. I find these trophies to be the encouragement I need to keep making more lenses and to improve my lenses as well..
24 - I am now the Squid Angel of Blessings for the Western Europe sub-topic, category or neighbourhood. I get to check out all the new lenses for Western Europe and its various countries, and Bless the good ones. I have also made a new lensography for that too. It's called The Best of Western Europe.
25 - I have also taken on Squid Angel duties (Blessing lenses) for a few specific sub-sub topics in the Books Poetry and Writing Neighbourhood. These include Non Fiction Authors, Reference Books, Business Books, Reading Lists, Young Adult Books, Publishing Industry, Biographies & Memoirs and Science Fiction Books.
26 - I just received my first Purple Star today - February 11, 2011 - for my Kapuskasing and Timmins Lens.
27 - FIFTY, count 'em, FIFTY lenses under your belt. That's like a black belt in Squidoo or something. Feb 22, 2011.
28 - I am very pleased to announce that YES I was approved to be a Giant Squid on my first try and after only three months. Giant Squids are recognized by Squidoo HQ for creating more than 50 great lenses. April 11, 2011.
29 - Today - April 20, 2011 - I received my second Purple Star for my lens Growing Up Deaf. Congrats! You've won another purple star, for the lens: Growing Up Deaf. 04/20/2011
30 - Holy Hannah - I just won my third Purple Star today - April 24, 2011 - for My Journey through Motherhood. I wrote this lens for Mothers Day. Congrats! You've won another purple star, for the lens: My Journey Through Motherhood. 04/24/2011
31 - I am having a Great month!!! This month - April 2011 - I became a Giant Squid. And Today (April 26th, 2011) my Mothers Day lens - My Journey to Motherhood - was chosen to be Lens of the Day!!!
32 - It's now May 2011 and I have just won my 4th Purple Star!!! This was for my Debate Lens - Nuclear Free versus Nuclear Power. Congrats! You've won another purple star, for the lens: Nuclear Free versus Nuclear Weapons 05/10/2011
33 - My 5th Purple Star is for a lens I wrote in July 2011, about Bill 978 which is going through the US Congress.
34 - I just won my 6th Purple Star today - August 19, 2011. This star is for a Rocketmoms lens called 10 Books that Changed my LIfe
35 - Four days later I won another Purple Star - my 7th Purple Star. This one is for my Rocketmoms Education Lens - Great Books Education
36 - And just a few days later I won Purple Star number 8. I think that is a record for me - 3 purple stars in 8 days!!! This one was for the lens Seven Cities of Cibola which is part of the Giant Squids Niche Quest.

This will add any new trophies that I win starting in September, 2011. And the first trophy to be mentioned is for yet another Purple Star - my 9th which I won on September 1st, 2011. This was for another one of my Niche Explorer Lenses - Journey to Mecca.

I believe I have forgotten to mention that in late August I applied for and was promoted to Mammoth Giant - that is Giant 100 status. I had around 120 lenses at the time I applied. The next trophy to aim for is the Giant 250 - for which I must have 250 GREAT lenses.

In November 2011, I finally received my 500 points and the 150 lens trophy - even though I actually have 155 lens, This just means that the 5 lens I adopted or which were gifted to me are not counted in the total. A buck fifty. That's a lotta lenses. 200 lenses isn't so far away you know - 11/19/2011