Rosiemoonjumper: Bringing sunshine to The Cult!

lovebomb Interviews rosiemoonjumper

To say that Sarah is a lady is an understatement. She’s beautiful, vibrant, a total sweetheart, and overall one of the loveliest culties around. She has a flower in her hair, a teacup in her hand, and she’s sprinkled with a bit of sunshine. However, there’s more to Sarah than meets the eye, and I’ve tried to reveal some of that in this interview. Enjoy!

Some of the basics:
Name: Sarah Ryan
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Living with long term partner
Parental Status: I am not a parent, but as soon as said partner is as ready as can be I want to pop a baby out.

Let’s start this off with some favorites!

-Food, Color, Shoes, Movie, Word

Cheese

Blue

Comfy big black boots for winter. Or satin slippers for around the house.

The Labyrinth

Australopithecus

Why is "Australopithecus" your favorite word?

Well I have a BA in Anthropology, and this word reminds me of this amazing Anth lecturer I had. He took my Anth101 paper, through out the course his hair would grow more and more wild and he looked like an intellectual koala. He would make fun of people if they were late, like if they had shopping bags he'd ask what they had bought, and if they were bald he'd ask if they were out getting a hair cut. I had him for more papers and he was brilliant.

I like saying it, -Australopithecus -it sounds like some sort of Dr Suess character.

What kind of music are you most interested in?

You know, I don't know what I would call it. About 10 years it was all "alternative"- Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Hole; all of which I still like to listen to every now and then. But music tastes change. I had a bit of a dance phase, Underworld, Faithless. (Sad to say, but quite often my music tastes changed depending on what my boyfriend at the time liked.)
A couple of years ago I went to buy Damien Rice from the music shop and I had to ask where it was, know what genre it is? "Alternative Country" apparently. I don’t know what I would have called it but... there are so many music genres now, I can't say I like one particular kind.

She provides a list of some of her favorite music and it ranges from Tori Amos to The Kinks to Morcheeba to Oasis and Gwen Stefani.

Favorite book?
Do I have to choose one?
Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak is an all time favourite of mine. I remember it being read to me as a child, and I remember reading it to my little sister. I was able to read it with such passion and expression it made her sit still and concentrate for the longest time I've ever seen! I love the rhythm of the language, and the way it captures children's imaginations.
I have to add a couple of other honourable mentions for favourite books and that would be Invisible Monsters, it's a great book, when I read it, it was quite different from anything else I had read. It was my first Chuck book, and it lead me to the cult, which lead to me other great authors, oh, and you guys. <3

And, I do really like The Lord of the Rings trilogy. *geek* I had this read to me as a child, so it has sentimental value, but I also did an English Literature paper on Tolkien Literature and made me appreciate it even more. Also, New Zealand IS Middle Earth.

Okay, here are some “if” situations!

If you could spend a day with one person who has been influential to you in some way, what would you do? And how were the influential to you?

My Grandfather. He died when I was 13. I still have Terry Jones' Fairy Tales, a book he gave me for Christmas 1982, when I was only 1 year old. I tell the stories from it to the children at work, which they love and always ask for "The witch and the rainbow cat", or "The beast with a thousand teeth." every time it is my turn to read stories. I remember my Grandad reading to me, this book, and many other books. I distinctly remember being so tucked into bed it was hard to breathe, burning hot water bottle at my toes. Snuggly and warm, and cared for. And him crying "HELP HELP ITS A HORRIBLE HEFFALUMP!" and I would giggle and giggle. He would let me dismantle his sofa couch and turn it into a fort or an aeroplane. He would let me come over whenever I needed to escape from home. He let me be a child, and made my childhood so so fun!

This is how I aspire to be with the children I work with. Letting them go with their creative ideas, and allow and celebrate the fun they have. Also, reading and telling stories to inspire their imaginations, creativity and love of stories and books.

I would like to go back to being a child just once more and relive that feeling of being tucked into bed, him perched on the bed with me reading me a story.

But if I could just have a day with him and drink tea all day and chat it would be bliss too.

If you could live anywhere, no strings attached (i.e. ANYONE could come with you) where would you move, and how would you take with you?

This is really hard to say, because outside of New Zealand I have only been to Australia.

I'm sure there are so many wonderful places in the world that I haven’t seen yet that would be great places to move to.

I'd like to move somewhere with a sunny warm beach that was safe and had a friendly community. But also close to other busy cities so I could run away for a bit, and then come back and appreciate it. I really liked my holiday up North to Mount Maunganui. It has a great beach and is so pretty.

Somewhere like that could be good. I'm sorry I just can't say exactly where.

But I'd take my bloke (maybe) and cats, Rosie and Meowie. And some friends and my mum, as long as they didn't live in the same house as me!

Since ANYONE can come with me I'll take David Bowie too, and he can make me cups of tea and sing to me, and those guys from Flight of the Conchords, they would make life fun.

If you could own a country, which one would you want to own and why?

Well, as I've said it's hard to say because I haven’t been anywhere other than Aussie and NZ.

So I guess I'll just own NZ. It's lovely.

Let's play the name game!

Is there a meaning behind your username?

I suppose so. Rosie is my cat, and it's just a name that I like. At the time that I joined I was going through a phase of buying Maurice Sendak books from an NZ aution site. I had just received one that I really liked called "The Moon Jumpers". The cover of this book is my avatar at the moment, I also got another one called "The Sign on Rosie's Door." I just bunged the cat and book together because I couldn't think of anything else. I hate thinking of usernames and stuff.

Do you have any nicknames?

My parents to my horror call me Pookie. I have been called Wee, Sarah Bear, Rara, Little Sarah, Shorty, Short stuff...

(In response to "short stuff") how tall are you?

I'm not quite 5 foot. I think I'm about 147 cm.

What kinds of things are you interested in besides books and music? Any unusual ones?

I don't drive, but I like going for drives. I find it relaxing, I like going on little road trips around the country, something Bloke and I did a lot, but we haven't really since last summer. But hopefully over this summer we will get back into it I like painting, although it's another thing I haven't really done in a while.

Tell me about New Zealand! What's it like to live there?

New Zealand.

It's mild and simple and fresh.

Well, I don't have much to compare NZ to, but it's small, you can travel around it very easily. There are lots of wonderful little scenic spots. I live in Wellington, which is the capital, and second biggest city, Auckland being the largest with about a third of the population living there. (New Zealand's population is just over 4 million)

My stepdad told me the other day as we were driving to see my Grandma, and all the spring blossoms were out

"I just love New Zealand's colour. It's so much more vibrant than other countries" He has travelled overseas for work a bit, and told me that New Zealand has a disinct fresh colour to it. He is not a very poetic man, but I thought this was lovely, and helps to describe NZ.

What is your job title exactly? What are the best and worst parts?

I am an Early Childhood teacher. I work in a mixed age centre from 0-5 years old, but I mainly work with the 0-2 year olds.

I work 8 - 4, so settle children in to the day, give them bottles and food, change nappies, play with them, allow them to explore, put them to bed. Once a week we have non-contact time in which we write little learning stories about the children and put them in their own special book. Also change the environment according to interests and needs of the children.

I like working with the older children too, telling little stories and having conversations with them, their working theories and logical thinking is just wonderful.

But I really love the little ones too. It's awesome to witness first words,and first steps, all those "first" moments. Going from basically being a blob to being an alert mobile person.

There are so many best parts to my job. Cuddles. The great relationships you develop with children and their families. Knowing that something you have said or done with the child has helped them have a greater understanding and knowledge of something.
Going with a child's interest and watching their language flourish...

Worst part? Because this job is so focused on relationships it can be quite emotionally draining. The hardest thing is often working with the adults around you, not the children.

If you could be any woman in history, who would you be and why?

Mary Magdalene. She was buddies with Jesus, and if Jesus is your pal, then life would be interesting, and I'm that must be your pass to heaven, if heaven exists. I'm not really religious, but I did go to a Catholic school most of my life.

What's your house like? Do you have pictures?

It's a downstairs flat in one of the inner city suburbs. We live in a little cul-de-sac. I like it, the green belt is across the road so the cats can go exploring.

The place in not flash and modern, but it does the job. We have two bedrooms and a study. The study is full of crap and we are currently in the process of selling some of our junk on the net.

My blokes bedroom is still his bedroom, it's basically his big walk in wardrobe. Oh yes it should be said, we were flat mates before we got together.

My room is where we sleep, it's pink and I have clothes everywhere.

The lounge is home to Phil. Our enormous Philips TV. The deal was Bloke could get a big telly if I could get a kitten, so we got Meowie and Phil. If he wants to upsize this one then I get to have a baby!

Let's pretend the Cult is a school. What role would you play? Would you be a teacher or a student? What kind?

Agh! I don't know! I'd like to be a teacher, but only if the culties were sort of kindergarten age. People here are so smart, I'd be so overwhelmed to be their hightschool/college teacher. If I was their kindergarten teacher I'd be just as I am now at work.

If we are talking older, say highschool, I'd be a student. I'd be a total dork, most people wouldn't be my freind, I wouldn't be bullied, I'd be mostly liked. I'd be quiet, but every now and then I would say or do something surprising which may seem out of character. But I'd just get on with the school work and such.

Let's also pretend the Cult is a zoo! What animal are you and why?

I'm a meerkat.

They are cute.

Finally, she tells me of a memory she has when she was working with her children.

I like telling stories about the mischief I used to get up to when I was a little girl. The children just LOVE it.

One that really sticks in my memory was when I was with a small group of three and four year olds, we were looking at a book, and it was talking about how turtles lay eggs, and that they were not mammals.

So one of the children asks "What's a mammal?"

"It's an animal that gives birth to their babies like your mummies gave birth to you, rather than laying eggs, like the turtle." I say.

"But how does the baby get in their tummy?" A child asks.

(oh crap oh crap oh crap) I'm thinking..."I think that you should ask your mummies and daddies abou that" I say.

"Our mummies must eat us, thats how we get in their tummies." A little wide eyed 3 year old girl says.

"Hmmmm, but my mummy's mouth isn't big enough for her to have eaten me." 4 year old boy says very seriously.