Random follow #293 - @LadyNgaire and @BookieMonsterNZ

Book worms, book people, book lovers.  These are the people that keep the mind inspired, the ideas flowing and unleash creativity and knowledge where there is a void of ignorance.  @LadyNgaire is the brains and personality behind the ever increasingly popular twitter account of @BookieMonsterNZ.  Its nice that she has two accounts because sometimes you really, really, really want to tweet something but you just don't have the right medium to do so.  These two accounts allows Ngaire to do just that.

So what are the different appeals to these accounts?

Lady Ngaire.  Fun, easy going, new to twitter.  This account is hot off the twitter account making machine and I am betting a dollar or two that over time it will become something of an institution in the social media world.  So for this account it is very much - watch this space and follow now so that you can claim to be an early follower when she becomes really famous.

Bookie Monster.  This account is actually well on its way to be legendary.  With so many followers and tweets posted this account is fantastic.  This has the ultimate blend of books, cats along with a whole lot of bits and bobs about absolutely anything and everything under the sun.

Here are a few things I know -

1. Ngaire is really nice.  Like REALLY nice --> "Public transporting it home. The driver on the 22 bus is lovely."
2. The tension, the suspense --> "#12daysofWake Day 7. I finished. Parsing. Quite sad. Review to come..."
3. She is really amusing --> "Those four magic words every facial hair lover wants to read: "willie apiata is following you"
4. As much as she likes to real she also likes to write --> "Have got two great blog ideas and three ok ones. Career path sorted then"

One terrific lady from Te Aroha.  Two terrific twitter accounts.  Its not so much a choice as to which one to follow.  The choice is more when will you follow them?

Random follow #257 - @katjnz

Fun loving, smart and full of great advice.  That is @katjnz in a nutshell.  This young lady hails from the great Metropolis of Auckland and happily shares little bits and pieces of what's going on in her world.  From everyday musings and opinions through to funny interactions with people - this is @katjnz.

Kat is one of those person who (metaphorically) can wander into a cafe or bar and hold a conversation with pretty much anyone about almost anything.  Thats her twitter personality too.  She is happy and willing to engage with people on sorts of topics.  I can imagine that in real life she is a very interesting person.

It takes a special sort of someone to see the potential in someone else's ideas too.  To get behind someone and give them the funding they need to get their project started and happening takes sacrifice, a gamble and also a spirit of generosity.  Kat is exactly one of those people.  She looks for the good and the potential in others and then shares what she has to make it happen.

Like every tweeter that is worth following Kat does some things really well -

"Newmarket peeps: if you have a craving for dumplings, Yummy Palace on Crowhurst St is HIGHLY recommended."   <-- if you find something good then SHARE IT!

"*refresh* *refresh* *refresh* oooh... no... *refresh* refresh* *refresh* *refresh* *refresh* oooh! no... *refresh* #buyingGlastonburytickets"  <-- she is also going to Laneway!  *swoon*

"Current topic of discussion in our living room: the mating habits of muppets." <-- flatmates for the BEST twitter material.

@katjnz is a really neat tweeter who manages not to take herself or social media too seriously.  She can have a laugh, hold a conversation, maintain her own individual sense of self and personality while kicking it with the cool kids all at the same time.  If you would like to learn some more about kat she shares some of her current projects at her fabulous website - http://www.kat.geek.nz/.

I quite like her.  A lot.  As a tweeter she's really cool.  Two thumbs up from me!

Random follow #252 - @MsBeeton

There truly are some very lovely people on twitter.  The thing I have found is that to find these lovely people its all about who you know and who they know.  The lovely people don't make a big song and dance or tweet in such a way as to draw an audience.  Rather they go about their twitter business in such a way as to offer encouragement, share stories and light up other peoples days.

@msbeeton is one of the truly lovely people who grace us with their presence on twitter in New Zealand.  Maybe its just me or is it that lots of lovely people have interests in two things L?  Libraries and Literature.  These two things go hand in hand.  Add in a third - lovely - and that is the perfect description for Andrea.


Not every day is a winner for her.  Some days are just plain rubbish to be honest.  But Andrea has a significant level of resilience and an ability to overcome where others crumble.

Having employment in a library opens her up to some interesting experiences and interactions with people which every so often she chooses to share with us.  Such as -

"Met a kid called Otherwise this morning. Yup."

She also has the perfect recipe for fixing political issues of the day - 

"Government shut downs, privileged people having tanties?
Just stay home and have a cup of tea and some cake loves #gbbolifelessons"

This amazing lady is a wife, a mum and a keep the house in order coordinator.  Although it appears not everyone got the memo - 

"It has just occurred to my husband that it is the school holidays and his previously stay at home wife 

now has job. Ruh roh spaghettio"

She also has a knack for making what can be banal or plain into something quite cool - 

"Somehow I've turned my essay on King Solomon's mines 

into a discussion about how ace Tomb Raider is."

Being a full time mum, full time wife and full time librarian is not an easy balance to maintain.  But somehow @msbeeton seems to make it look easy.  With her tweets at least anyway.  How do I describe her in 10 words or less?  Like this - lovely lady, librarian, literature lover, wife, mum, refreshing, engaging, hilarious. 

The last comment in todays post goes to the wonderful lady herself.  Who lights up my timeline with thoughts and observations like these - 

"Rose made lemon slice for afternoon tea, perfect studying snack, except now my keyboard is all sticky"

Random follow #243 - @feddabonn

I love finding random tweeters.  I love it even more when I go to their twitter page and the first thing I do is get a massive smile all over my face.  I could stop right there and not tell you any more about @feddabonn cos thats just how awesome her is - but I won't.  :-p

Baruk is yet another librarian who is totally setting twitter on fire.  He has a very interesting background and also some very interesting likes and hobbies.

His background = he is a migrant from tribal India
His hobbies = a comics fanatic
His other hobby = a student of post literacy (post literacy is all about continuing education for adults) 

His drink of choice = he is a connoisseur of tequila.

What's even cooler about @feddabonn is his flexibility and adaptiveness as a person. He is an outspoken, fiercely intelligent man who is unafraid to speak truth to power...or to dress up as a superhero for a children's comic book day.  (Its that exact photo that makes me smile from ear to ear.)

His unique perspective on Aotearoa - and willingness to share it on Twitter - make him, for my money, one of the most interesting New Zealanders you can find online.

So what sort of tweets exactly will you see if you follow this one of a kind guy?

"There is personal. There is generic. 'Personalisation' is trying to make the generic look personal. Ain't nobody got time for that!"  <-- incredible insight laced with humor tweets.

"So anyone reading #LostGirls in Banned Books Week? Oh hang on...is there Books Not Banned Yet but Might Potentially Be Week?" <-- literature tweets.

"so british people immigrated+colonised 3.5 continents, but are now upset that peeps are returning the favour? anyone else amused?" <-- call it for what it is tweets.

@feddabonn is one of the people of twitter that make it all worthwhile.  Worthwhile engaging with social media and meeting new people.  Go on - SPICE UP YOUR LIFE! and follow him.  I have.

Again a big thanks to @booksadventures for giving me the low down and good oil on Baruk!

Random follow #190 - @genebrarian

@genebrarian is a tweeter whose life is dedicated to the sharing of knowledge via the written word.  And that dedication is to more than your average book but it extends to genealogy as well.  Seonaid helps connect the links and lines across family lines that have either faded or may even have been lost over time.

Librarians make really neat tweeters.  Why?  Because they have so much exposure to resources, articles and items of knowledge that many of us in our day to day lives don't have the opportunity to see.  So as you scroll through your timeline it can be like a second hand bookstore.  You never know what gems or nuggets of gold may appear that have been filed away and gathered dust and all they needed was a polish and a dust to reveal their real worth and value.

This is a very eclectic twitter account.  There are a whole range of tweets, topics and themes that flow through from her very interesting brain, through the website, across the interwebz and into your timeline.  I really enjoy seeing them come through.  Lets have a look at what some of them look like - 

There are lessons in anatomy and physiology -->

"News that my "right-hand woman" has actually broken her foot, rather than just sprained an ankle, does not fill me with confidence :-("

She gets to hang out with some amazing people thanks to amazing opportunities - 

"I have an invite - to the British Consul on Wednesday night. YAY! Socialise with Dr Jo Appleby keynote presenter at http://www.nzfamilyhistoryfair.org.nz "

And she also shares some real words of wisdom - 

"Youth are unpredictable. Give them opportunities to try - they’ll go back to experiences they enjoy. Let them have their space invite you in"

@genebrarian on its own is a really neat twitter name.  And if you haven't figured out how it works after my explanation above try taking another look.  So what he have really is a fantastic mix of skills, career, lifes passion and genuine intellect.  If you are looking to change up your timeline, interact with someone who is genuine and will keep you on your toes then @genebrarian is just the lady for you.

Random follow #154 - @booksadventures

It takes some serious commitment and drive to work your way through 12 years of school and then follow that up with at least another 6 years at University.  But that's what you need to do if you if you want to earn your PhD.  Well that and then some but we won't go too much into the details.

But having a few letters behind your name doesn't make you who you are.  What it does is tell everyone else that you have a passion in a particular area, you know more than most other people do about that subject and you have the skills and abilities to both teach about it as well as teach others.

That is exactly what @booksadventures does.  He is both a writer of books as well as a reader of them.  And he is also a teacher.

Matt is a really genuine guy who comes armed with a great sense of humor.  It appears that in real life he is just as witty as he is online -

"Really? I'm so proud. RT @catatonichic New word I learned from @booksadventures: sassmonger", and

"Now THERE's a Facebook status update. "Bleakish.""

And he is pretty good with his volume of tweets produced too.  Just be warned that he tweets.  A lot.  In a good way of course.  Matt also has a knack of seeking out and RTing some really good tweets too.  So this is in no way a boring account - quite the opposite.  There is light, laughter and love in this timeline.  And libraries.  Lots and lots of libraries.  And included in a large number of those library tweets are the truly legendary @corinh.  

He is pretty good at encouraging people to engage both with reading as well events that surround the library scene as well.  Matt gives you some insight into what books and materials he is using to teach different classes so you can sort of read along if you like.  He gives credit where credit is due which is a trait not often exercised - 

"That reminds me - coffee with Jo of @UnityBooks inspired & revived me this lunchtime. Great booksellers make such a difference to city life."

So if you are looking for a tweeter who is highly engaging, very energetic and entertaining to boot then @booksadventures is just the person you are looking for .  So there you go.

Random follow #59 - @corinh

Since I started writing these Random Kiwi Tweeters blog posts I have been lucky enough to both write about and engage with some really amazing people.  Today's random tweeter is an absolute delight to write about.

@corinh is quite possible the most coolest librarian you will ever meet.  Not cool in a hip or modern fashion kind of way (which he may actually be) but more in a a way that he doesn't come across all geeky.  He tweets really cool tweets and challenges you the reader from time to time as well.

What is the appeal with @corinh?  He is a man of many talents, interests and various other pursuits.  About the only interest that he doesn't have listed in his list of interests is a passion for fancy sports cars.  Such as a MG or a classic Jaguar.

Corin is a man of reflection and deep thought.  He strikes me as someone who has the ability to both reflect on those things that have happened in the past yet can find a balance whereby he lives in the present and in the moment at the same time.  Such a talent is a rare gift in a person.  And what is great is that his tweets don't give him\s internal thinking and musings away entirely.

I once saw an exhibit at Te Papa and the artist created a full life size replica of his fathers outdoor shed.  The thing was though that the door was always locked.  And the only way of viewing the contents of the shed was to peer through the keyhole.  I get that same sense and feeling from some of Corins tweets.  He is happy for you to peer in the key hole and see some of the memories, memento's and articles of interest he has accumulated along the way.  But at the same time (like any good social media user) he keeps his true inner workings safely tucked away out of sight.  He will every so often give you the observer a bone to chew on like this one "I bought a ticket to the world... But now I've come back again...." and yet even though you think you may know someone of the man - you actually don't.  (Editors note - mysterious tweeters and tweets are appealing).

If you combine his deep thinking with some random moments and you will discover that his funny bone is alive and swinging  "Senior moment at sushi store. Forgot the name for Miso".

And I hear he may be looking for a new job too "Do we have a new Pope yet? They haven't returned my calls asking when the interviews are...."

Corin is also an interviewer of people.  With a really nice website and two different podcasts - "Library Chat" and "In My Chair" he is a very busy chap.  Interviewing people is not as easy as it sounds.  It takes a lot of time, preperation and skill to be able to draw out of people their story.  I remember someone once asked Larry King what his secret was to conducting a good interview and he had one answer "Keep asking why".  And with interviewing often times the person who gains much value from the discussion and conversation.

I could keep going on and on and on and on...  much like a Pixie Caramel but you get what I am trying to say.  If you choose to follow @corinh then you will without a doubt be adding value to your twitter life.

Corin is the epitome of that classic saying "You sir, are a scholar and a gentleman".  And his tweet here absolutely sums up the man himself nicely - "Census done!! It's a bit short. I wanted to tell them so much more!!!!"

Random follow #45 - #thedp, @tdpfirst, @tdpsecond

You can imagine my surprise when about a month ago I was suddenly followed by two ladies with mustaches.  Real ladies but not with real mustaches.  My head spun for a couple of minutes as I tried to make sense of just what the heck was going on!  Anyway it turns out that two very smart, sassy and creative tweeters among us had devised a plan to take over the whole world - one tweet at a time!

But seriously what these two ladies came up with is a fantastic idea that is part of the Auckland Fringe Festival.  Proudly known by their twitter names @tdpfirst and @tdpsecond these two ladies have set out on a mission to perform classic pieces of movie dialogue while adding their own spin to it.

The project is less about using twitter as an art form but rather as a vehicle to expand the audience partcking of their creative talents.  Although I did notice that @tdpfirst and @tdpsecond were having an arty conversation on the weekend during which they conversed about love lost, love found and the many different virtues of romance.

If you are looking for a twitter account or two to follow they will inject some hilarity into your day - then I 100% recommend following either of these two ladies or set up a search for the #thedp.  And if those two characters don't tweet enough for you then you can follow the real people behind the characters - @josiecampbell and @annagconnell.

And if you are really sharp you will soon discover a few other arty, super talented and very, very funny tweeters such as @corinh.  But he deserves his own blog post on here.

You can keep up to date with the daily videos of dialogue which are being posted very day of the Fringe Fest which runs from February 15th right through to March 10th.  You can view the videos in their original form and format here.  Or you can watch the side splittingly funny first video here -

Random follow #38 - @greengecko29

Libraries are the home of all knowledge.  Or at least they used to be.  There was a time when all the knowledge of the universe was held in one single place.  And as a kid we would ascend the heights to enter the house of knowledge and we would marvel at its complexities and mysteries.  The house of knowledge being of course the community library.


And then some smart person thought up the internet,  And so knowledge moved from being housed in a physical location to being accessed by anyone, anywhere at anytime.  @greengecko29 is one of those people who has moved with the times and has a VERY cool job.  She is an e-librarian.  Which means she gets to be a curator and overseer of knowledge but at the same time she gets to use technology to its full effect too.

@greengecko29 is a lady of many talents and many responsibilities as well.  She is a wife, a mum and a crafty type.  Oh and she tweets too. 

Proud mum tweet -

"Proud moment. Miss6 has read two simple chapter books to herself these past 2 days. Even woke up before school to finish one. #swellingheart"

In the kitchen tweet - 

"I need to do some baking. Am reduced to eating the kid's Tiny Teddies."

And this tweet -

 "Why yes, yes, I am reading a book about boobs."

Similar to other tweeters I have recommended Penny doesn't give much that is personal away with her tweets.  And when she does tweet she mentions situations that many of us face but Penny does it in such a way as to put a smile on your face.  Like this one -

"groupwise on the Mac? Not that good actually."

Just really simple topics and subjects that most people would never consider to be worth even mentioning.  But Penny is able to capture that moment in time and share it with you (her follower) and you smile.Oh and just so you know she tweets (often) so some of the best and greatest librarian tweeters in the world - @haikugirloz, @sallyheroes and @alisonwnz (okay I can't confirm she tweets this last one but she totally should 'cos Alison is awesome)..

@greengecko29 is quite possibly one of the sweetest and delightful tweeters you will uncover.  She is most certainly a random follow that is full of worth.  New Zealand I offer to you my recommendation of Penny as an absolutely worthwhile person who will enrich your twitter timeline.

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library."
Jorge Luis Borges