The past few days I have been at the National Museum of the American Indian, working on a de-install of the Brian Jungen exhibit entitled 'Strange Comfort', and yes, it is called a de-install, I am not just using poor grammar. My first day there was pretty exciting, I really love this museum, I think the way it is built is beautiful, and the gardens outside are lovely and quiet. I walk into the closed exhibit and met Gail and Ann, Gail is the Collections Manager at NMAI, and Ann is a conservator for SI. Both women were lovely, lovely people. They were cleaning the piece called Carapace, which was made entirely of trash bins in France. When it was shipped over to America, the artist wanted to alter the piece and make it a different shape, so a lot of the bins were cut in half to make more pieces to play with. It took several weeks to install. I took pictures of it, but they are not up yet, but to describe it, it was sort of a circular shape with two small entrances on either end, the inside had what looked like seats running across either side. It was MASSIVE needless to say. As soon as Richard from my office arrived, we began taking it apart, piece by piece, trashcan, by trashcan. In the end, it took an hour and a half to take it apart. It came down QUICK, we had pieces saran wrapped together and ready for load in at around noon. It was a very speedy process and I was so amazed by how quickly we worked, and how quickly each piece came down. After removing the Carapace, we moved on to taking down a few totem poles, very carefully.Followed by a lunch break, and let me tell you the cafe at NMAI is outstanding, they serve traditional native cuisine, and it is soooooo goood, go there and eat lunch one day, you will totally love it. Not to mention they harvest vegetables from the garden outside to make food for the cafe, I really like that idea.
So our day ended at 3, and I went home to do nothing of any particular interest. I went back to NMAI the next day to finish up, we finished our work by 11AM.
Whoa.11AM, how do I spend the rest of my day?
Well, Gail invited me to come see them take down the whale sculpture at 3PM, they were going to make a big event out of it for donors, guests, important SI people, etc, etc....I could not help because of some silly rules, contracts....but I decided I would come back to watch anyways..but how the hell was I going to kill time?I've already been to all of the museums on the mall at least once, some 3+ times...agh!!!And, it was hot, I was lazy and didnt feel like going far. So Jared and I went next door to Air&Space where we checked out a Wright Brothers exhibit, and parted ways with a hug, a few 'good lucks' and he told me to
'do good'
I really love when someone says 'do good'-it is so simple, yet it means so much.
So, I actually wandered into the castle after that,wandered around a few museums for the 1000th time, and headed back to NMAI to watch their dog and pony show. I met the curator Paul who was wearing a RUN DMC shirt underneath a blazer, which pretty much made my day. I watched as their staff took down this massive whale sculpture and gently place into back into the crates it was shipped in. It was sort of like watching a ballet, everything was so precise, timing was everything, it was so cool to watch. My experience was fantastic at NMAI and I would totally be interested in working there. I think if I were to ever come back to work for SI, I would want to work at ONE museum, be out of this world awesome!!
Soooooo, now it is Thursday night at 1016PM, Nate will be here tomorrow morning.
Holy.Crap.
Im pretty much going to be high strung as crap tomorrow, I was for about 5 hours this afternoon until I drank 2 beers....and now, I am okay.For now.
oh goodness!!!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
the final countdown
thanks to arrested development and G.O.B for the inspiration for my title.
Well,one week until Nate gets here, only two more days of work, and those days are both downtown at National Museum of the American Indian to be a part of the deinstall of the Brian Jungen exhibit, holy crap I am excited about that. I loved the exhibit at NMAI and can not wait to check this out. Today was sort of our 'official' last day at OEC. They gathered all the interns into the conference room for what was basically a post-mortem, except this was not scheduled in a timely manner, which REALLY ticked me off. I am just going to say it on, the lack of scheduling they did over there drove me bonkers. Important things were also scheduled week of in an 'oh, by the way' manner. I suggested to them that this change, and as soon as possible. If you have something of relative importance, it can not be scheduled like that, end of story. That is the way I function, I don't mess around, I really do not have time for that 'oh, by the way' thing. Ragh! Anyways, because it overlapped with a meeting I had downtown, I could not stay for the entire thing and had to skidaddle. We were going to receive certificates or something like that, I'll be picking mine up on Wednesday.The hilarious thing about the certificates was that the interns were musing the day before about what we were going to receive at this meeting, because a token of appreciate was mentioned in the 'oh,btw' email. We joked about a few things, but in a serious manner, we were like, certificates, like any other thing in life. Later, when I saw the Graphics intern, Jamal, I asked him how the certificates were coming along. He looked at me in shock and said,
"That was supposed to be top secret"
Sike. So, moving on to my meeting. I had a meeting back down at Gallery Place at NPG to meet their lighting designer, you might be thinking to yourself,
"Betty, You sure are meeting with an awful lot of lighting designers, you don't really work in lights"
I have actually only met with 2, I met with a tech at American History by chance, and NPG/American Art are actual designers, these two galleries are attached to one another,and they could not meet with me on the same day due to schedules and such, so I met with them separately.Also, lighting museum objects/lighting paintings/sculptures etc-VERY DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER.
But it was good, because I got a really good understand of design for a gallery. Alex, was really great, also very passionate about his work, and a really great teacher. He talked about how lighting this gallery was a lot of architectural lighting as well, the building is very beautiful and one of the tricky things with lighting art is that there are conservation restrictions, so one of the ways they make the gallery inviting and draw interest to it, is by lighting the room itself. He has worked with artists when it came to lighting their work, which can be tricky when often times the artist may have painted under fluorescent light, natural light etc, and sometimes can change the way the color looks etc, etc. He says that halogen lamps are really the best choice when it comes to lighting color, because LEDs do not have all the color capabilities yet. I also got to see them installing lights for Americans Now, which opens August, where I saw one of the vitrines I had painted, waiting patiently to be completely installed. That was a COOL feeling, most of the work here I've done here I will not see come full circle, because the exhibits open after I leave, which is sort of a bummer. Maybe I will have to make some time to check them out later on. It was cool to see some of my work, actually in a museum,not quite ready yet, but still. It was awesome. Alex, even offered to get me involved in a hang/focus for Americans Now, but unfortunately, I do not have the time, which SUCKS, wish I had met with him earlier, that would have been really cool!
I really recommend going to these two galleries, check out the courtyard at night, also stand in either of the main lobbies, and look to your right, and to your left at the ceilings, and just notice the amount of lamps hanging from the ceiling in NPG compared to American Art, it is really quite something.
Excited for the weekend, volunteering back at Columbia Heights Farmers Market, this time we are doing live music, so we have a stage and sound equipment to set up. Super stoked to be involved this weekend, it looks like I'll get some sound experience in over my summer too.
So, this is pretty much farewell intern friends, we survived this madness, and it looks like everyone has their limbs, and hopefully you all will get a chance to rest your brains a little bit before you being your next big project. Hahah, it was good getting to know you, and eating lunch with you everyday while watching CNN. Wish I could have worked with some of you all more, but you all were in different units, dang. Have a good year!!
Here is a link to Brian Jungen, love it:
http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/jungen/
Well,one week until Nate gets here, only two more days of work, and those days are both downtown at National Museum of the American Indian to be a part of the deinstall of the Brian Jungen exhibit, holy crap I am excited about that. I loved the exhibit at NMAI and can not wait to check this out. Today was sort of our 'official' last day at OEC. They gathered all the interns into the conference room for what was basically a post-mortem, except this was not scheduled in a timely manner, which REALLY ticked me off. I am just going to say it on, the lack of scheduling they did over there drove me bonkers. Important things were also scheduled week of in an 'oh, by the way' manner. I suggested to them that this change, and as soon as possible. If you have something of relative importance, it can not be scheduled like that, end of story. That is the way I function, I don't mess around, I really do not have time for that 'oh, by the way' thing. Ragh! Anyways, because it overlapped with a meeting I had downtown, I could not stay for the entire thing and had to skidaddle. We were going to receive certificates or something like that, I'll be picking mine up on Wednesday.The hilarious thing about the certificates was that the interns were musing the day before about what we were going to receive at this meeting, because a token of appreciate was mentioned in the 'oh,btw' email. We joked about a few things, but in a serious manner, we were like, certificates, like any other thing in life. Later, when I saw the Graphics intern, Jamal, I asked him how the certificates were coming along. He looked at me in shock and said,
"That was supposed to be top secret"
Sike. So, moving on to my meeting. I had a meeting back down at Gallery Place at NPG to meet their lighting designer, you might be thinking to yourself,
"Betty, You sure are meeting with an awful lot of lighting designers, you don't really work in lights"
I have actually only met with 2, I met with a tech at American History by chance, and NPG/American Art are actual designers, these two galleries are attached to one another,and they could not meet with me on the same day due to schedules and such, so I met with them separately.Also, lighting museum objects/lighting paintings/sculptures etc-VERY DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER.
But it was good, because I got a really good understand of design for a gallery. Alex, was really great, also very passionate about his work, and a really great teacher. He talked about how lighting this gallery was a lot of architectural lighting as well, the building is very beautiful and one of the tricky things with lighting art is that there are conservation restrictions, so one of the ways they make the gallery inviting and draw interest to it, is by lighting the room itself. He has worked with artists when it came to lighting their work, which can be tricky when often times the artist may have painted under fluorescent light, natural light etc, and sometimes can change the way the color looks etc, etc. He says that halogen lamps are really the best choice when it comes to lighting color, because LEDs do not have all the color capabilities yet. I also got to see them installing lights for Americans Now, which opens August, where I saw one of the vitrines I had painted, waiting patiently to be completely installed. That was a COOL feeling, most of the work here I've done here I will not see come full circle, because the exhibits open after I leave, which is sort of a bummer. Maybe I will have to make some time to check them out later on. It was cool to see some of my work, actually in a museum,not quite ready yet, but still. It was awesome. Alex, even offered to get me involved in a hang/focus for Americans Now, but unfortunately, I do not have the time, which SUCKS, wish I had met with him earlier, that would have been really cool!
I really recommend going to these two galleries, check out the courtyard at night, also stand in either of the main lobbies, and look to your right, and to your left at the ceilings, and just notice the amount of lamps hanging from the ceiling in NPG compared to American Art, it is really quite something.
Excited for the weekend, volunteering back at Columbia Heights Farmers Market, this time we are doing live music, so we have a stage and sound equipment to set up. Super stoked to be involved this weekend, it looks like I'll get some sound experience in over my summer too.
So, this is pretty much farewell intern friends, we survived this madness, and it looks like everyone has their limbs, and hopefully you all will get a chance to rest your brains a little bit before you being your next big project. Hahah, it was good getting to know you, and eating lunch with you everyday while watching CNN. Wish I could have worked with some of you all more, but you all were in different units, dang. Have a good year!!
Here is a link to Brian Jungen, love it:
http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/jungen/
Monday, August 2, 2010
mid city dog days.
Surprisingly,its not that hot here as of late, as the term 'dog days' would usually imply. Not that that information about the weather here was that important to my blog, I am also not very good at keeping up with this blog either, I jot down things in my sketchbook that I learn while at work, but then the thought of transcribing them to another medium sometimes frustrates me, sometimes I wonder if what I say is actually exciting, well, it is exciting to me for the most part. I am not even sure what I have been up to lately, other than eagerly marking days off of my calender until my 2 week vacation starts with Nate.Hmmmmmm.....
Well, I met with another lighting designer, this time at American Art, his name was Scott, and he was SUPER STOKED to meet with me. No joke, this guy was really animated, and super in love with his work. Color is key when lighting a gallery, that is basically what he told me in a nutshell. When he lights artwork, he wants to light the most exciting part of it, and really make the color beautiful, and to my surprise NEW paintings are the ones you have to worry about the most when it comes to conserving them from the light sources, not OLD. Which I suppose makes perfect sense. Anyways, he was really great, and I really enjoyed taking a tour of American Art, and learning how he designed the light for each exhibit, piece, I also thought it was great he actually got to work with a few artists in the Modern Gallery on how to best light their work. I really enjoyed what he had to say, and enjoyed hearing him talk about how passionate he was about color. It always gets me excited to see someone else excited about something they love.
Back at HeadQuarters ( which is what I will refer to OEC as from now on to make life seem more exciting ) Lots of carpentry and painting, as usual, that is pretty much what goes on in my shop. I think I would have been better off in the model shop, it is a little more prop-y, and therefore; a little more my speed.
Last Thursday, we had our OEC Open House, which was hosted by the interns, and we held tours, showed stuff that we had been working on over the summer and held a Q&A session. It went well, my mom and twin sister drove up for the event, and then kindly dropped me off at my cousins house, and then turned right around and drove straight back to Norfolk. Making it a total of about 8 hours spent in the car for that day, what troopers.
: D
My internship is coming to a close fast, holy crap.
Well, I met with another lighting designer, this time at American Art, his name was Scott, and he was SUPER STOKED to meet with me. No joke, this guy was really animated, and super in love with his work. Color is key when lighting a gallery, that is basically what he told me in a nutshell. When he lights artwork, he wants to light the most exciting part of it, and really make the color beautiful, and to my surprise NEW paintings are the ones you have to worry about the most when it comes to conserving them from the light sources, not OLD. Which I suppose makes perfect sense. Anyways, he was really great, and I really enjoyed taking a tour of American Art, and learning how he designed the light for each exhibit, piece, I also thought it was great he actually got to work with a few artists in the Modern Gallery on how to best light their work. I really enjoyed what he had to say, and enjoyed hearing him talk about how passionate he was about color. It always gets me excited to see someone else excited about something they love.
Back at HeadQuarters ( which is what I will refer to OEC as from now on to make life seem more exciting ) Lots of carpentry and painting, as usual, that is pretty much what goes on in my shop. I think I would have been better off in the model shop, it is a little more prop-y, and therefore; a little more my speed.
Last Thursday, we had our OEC Open House, which was hosted by the interns, and we held tours, showed stuff that we had been working on over the summer and held a Q&A session. It went well, my mom and twin sister drove up for the event, and then kindly dropped me off at my cousins house, and then turned right around and drove straight back to Norfolk. Making it a total of about 8 hours spent in the car for that day, what troopers.
: D
My internship is coming to a close fast, holy crap.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
killer queen.
So, it has been a while since I last posted, and I have A LOT to post about and I wish I had started writing earlier because I have some GREAT stories that have piled up throughout this week.
Let's begin.
I started Monday waking up an HOUR LATE but still managed to make it to work on time (it is the little miracles...)But I swear my entire commute and for the majority of the morning I was asleep on my feet.It was out of control...I had a pretty ridiculous time trying to change a drill bit in a makita at work, which actually turned into a sort of embarrassing moment, in short, I tried to put this drill bit in the drill backwards. I KNOW how to change a drill bit out....cakewalk....not this morning in particular.Ugh!So I survived that day, headed home, out for a bike ride per usual. The next evening was so exciting....Tuesday night was Drag Bingo Night at Nellie's Sports Bar. I can not begin to describe the excitement for this event.....I think it is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life because it is THAT fantastic.
My cousin Audrey and I got all decked out,well, she did in fantastic retro-attire...I was exhausted and stuck with jeans and a nice shirt with fancy earrings. Haha. Attempted to hail a cab for nearly an hour!Really?!In DC who gets stuck trying to hail a cab for THAT long?Finally made it down to U St for Drag Bingo...it was PACKED and very hard to get a table...but we weaseled our way in up close to watch the start of this fantastic show....Shaquita-Lee strutting around the bar with her best Tina Turner wig on lip-singing along with it. Watching this fabulous Drag Queen strut around the bar, was sort of like a religious experience.No joke.And so begins the drag bingo hosted by hilarious drag queens, and yes we won prizes and sipped drinks that made us feel fabulous.It was fantastic and yes, I am going next week.I wish I had started going to drag bingo earlier in the summer!!
The next morning I started out at the National Museum of American History to see their shop, meet their shop guys and learn about what they do there. I meet with Peter, the lead guy at the shop, and he gave me a tour of the shop, and a few exhibits too. Peter,was really nice, and has a really neat job. He got to go to JULIA CHILDS HOME IN CAMBRIDGE TO DISASSEMBLE HER KITCHEN WHEN SHE DONATED IT TO THE SMITHSONIAN, AND ALSO REASSEMBLED IT WHEN IT CAME TO THE MUSEUM.HOLY CRAP WHEN HE TOLD ME THIS, I WANTED TO SCREAM, I WAS SO JEALOUS AND EXCITED AND THAT IS WHY I AM IN CAPS LOCK STILL. So, needless to say, I was so stoked about that, he was a great storyteller/tour guide and a good teacher. He gave me a tour of her kitchen, unfortunately not allowed to go inside because he is not the curator and he only goes inside if something needs to be fixed....I really wish I had found some kid to kick the plexi-glass around the kitchen in...so I could be there...dang. Hahaha!
But he explained to me how he used the CNC Router, to make one of the plexi-glass walls in the kitchen that has the outline of all of her kitchen gadgets...pretty cool. I learned that the Ruby Red Slippers are the most asked about thing in the museum and that the reason the shoes sit on a yellow brick road in their case now, was not because of a designer, but because of Don, who works in his shop. I learned a lot about the recent renovation to the museum and his involvement, saw a lot of 'backstage' areas,and learned many 'insider secrets' which I vowed never to speak of...
but not really, I do know a lot of insider secrets though, that I am allowed to share, but would not make any sense unless you were at the museum and I was showing you what I was talking about.
So, who wants to come visit?
Friday, I got to do a behind the scenes tour at the National Zoo, hosted by the Smithsonian Intern program....this was by far, the best intern program I have been to since I started here. We got to meet with the Curator of the Big Cat exhibit named Craig, he was really cool. He took us back to where the LIONS were in their overnight holding areas and we learned about lions, while 3 were standing a FOOT AWAY FROM ME. Oh, there was also a red panda I got to see that close too, he was cute, and old. He reminded me of an old puppy dog.
: D
The lions were amazing, I've never been that close to a wild animal before! Craig, the curator was a very passionate speaker, and you could tell he really loved his job and was very passionate about the creatures he cared for. It was a really cool experience, one that I wish I had my camera for, and not just my camera phone. But lucky for me, my camera was being a jerk again.....dang.
Later that day I went back to American History to meet with Lighting Designer Leo Karr.He was also very informative and lighting for the museum world is SO MUCH MORE EXTENSIVE THAN THEATRE. It was a little mind-blowing actually. The amount, the programs, the fact that most of the time you are lighting delicate objects that are much older, but at the same time, light labels so that the public can read information on the object....Seriously, it was nuts!!
This morning, I volunteered at the Columbia Heights Farmers Market, even though I said I would be interested in volunteering my first weekend here in DC, because I had a desire to MEET PEOPLE,MAKE FRIENDS,AND NOT SPEND MY SATURDAYS BLOGGING ABOUT MY LIFE!
Anyways,they finally got around to being like 'Oh hey email blast we need volunteers'
I got free peaches, a tshirt, and met a guy who works at the National Gallery, which is not quite a Smithsonian affiliate, but he offered to get me in touch with their shop guys so I can learn a thing or two about the behind the scenes life at NGA. Not a bad day if I do say so myself.
Only a few more weeks left, and in all reality, I think my time here has been much better than I have said in the past.....It really has been great to be in a new place, learn new things and have all of these experiences that will eventually make me stronger, smarter, wiser and hopefully a better person. I've missed the crap out of Ypsi and all of my friends and I cant wait to get back, and enjoy pizza, beer and shenanigans together.
18 days until Nate comes to visit, and we embark on a 2 week do-whatever-the-heck-we-want-vacation.
See ya'll later.
Let's begin.
I started Monday waking up an HOUR LATE but still managed to make it to work on time (it is the little miracles...)But I swear my entire commute and for the majority of the morning I was asleep on my feet.It was out of control...I had a pretty ridiculous time trying to change a drill bit in a makita at work, which actually turned into a sort of embarrassing moment, in short, I tried to put this drill bit in the drill backwards. I KNOW how to change a drill bit out....cakewalk....not this morning in particular.Ugh!So I survived that day, headed home, out for a bike ride per usual. The next evening was so exciting....Tuesday night was Drag Bingo Night at Nellie's Sports Bar. I can not begin to describe the excitement for this event.....I think it is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life because it is THAT fantastic.
My cousin Audrey and I got all decked out,well, she did in fantastic retro-attire...I was exhausted and stuck with jeans and a nice shirt with fancy earrings. Haha. Attempted to hail a cab for nearly an hour!Really?!In DC who gets stuck trying to hail a cab for THAT long?Finally made it down to U St for Drag Bingo...it was PACKED and very hard to get a table...but we weaseled our way in up close to watch the start of this fantastic show....Shaquita-Lee strutting around the bar with her best Tina Turner wig on lip-singing along with it. Watching this fabulous Drag Queen strut around the bar, was sort of like a religious experience.No joke.And so begins the drag bingo hosted by hilarious drag queens, and yes we won prizes and sipped drinks that made us feel fabulous.It was fantastic and yes, I am going next week.I wish I had started going to drag bingo earlier in the summer!!
The next morning I started out at the National Museum of American History to see their shop, meet their shop guys and learn about what they do there. I meet with Peter, the lead guy at the shop, and he gave me a tour of the shop, and a few exhibits too. Peter,was really nice, and has a really neat job. He got to go to JULIA CHILDS HOME IN CAMBRIDGE TO DISASSEMBLE HER KITCHEN WHEN SHE DONATED IT TO THE SMITHSONIAN, AND ALSO REASSEMBLED IT WHEN IT CAME TO THE MUSEUM.HOLY CRAP WHEN HE TOLD ME THIS, I WANTED TO SCREAM, I WAS SO JEALOUS AND EXCITED AND THAT IS WHY I AM IN CAPS LOCK STILL. So, needless to say, I was so stoked about that, he was a great storyteller/tour guide and a good teacher. He gave me a tour of her kitchen, unfortunately not allowed to go inside because he is not the curator and he only goes inside if something needs to be fixed....I really wish I had found some kid to kick the plexi-glass around the kitchen in...so I could be there...dang. Hahaha!
But he explained to me how he used the CNC Router, to make one of the plexi-glass walls in the kitchen that has the outline of all of her kitchen gadgets...pretty cool. I learned that the Ruby Red Slippers are the most asked about thing in the museum and that the reason the shoes sit on a yellow brick road in their case now, was not because of a designer, but because of Don, who works in his shop. I learned a lot about the recent renovation to the museum and his involvement, saw a lot of 'backstage' areas,and learned many 'insider secrets' which I vowed never to speak of...
but not really, I do know a lot of insider secrets though, that I am allowed to share, but would not make any sense unless you were at the museum and I was showing you what I was talking about.
So, who wants to come visit?
Friday, I got to do a behind the scenes tour at the National Zoo, hosted by the Smithsonian Intern program....this was by far, the best intern program I have been to since I started here. We got to meet with the Curator of the Big Cat exhibit named Craig, he was really cool. He took us back to where the LIONS were in their overnight holding areas and we learned about lions, while 3 were standing a FOOT AWAY FROM ME. Oh, there was also a red panda I got to see that close too, he was cute, and old. He reminded me of an old puppy dog.
: D
The lions were amazing, I've never been that close to a wild animal before! Craig, the curator was a very passionate speaker, and you could tell he really loved his job and was very passionate about the creatures he cared for. It was a really cool experience, one that I wish I had my camera for, and not just my camera phone. But lucky for me, my camera was being a jerk again.....dang.
Later that day I went back to American History to meet with Lighting Designer Leo Karr.He was also very informative and lighting for the museum world is SO MUCH MORE EXTENSIVE THAN THEATRE. It was a little mind-blowing actually. The amount, the programs, the fact that most of the time you are lighting delicate objects that are much older, but at the same time, light labels so that the public can read information on the object....Seriously, it was nuts!!
This morning, I volunteered at the Columbia Heights Farmers Market, even though I said I would be interested in volunteering my first weekend here in DC, because I had a desire to MEET PEOPLE,MAKE FRIENDS,AND NOT SPEND MY SATURDAYS BLOGGING ABOUT MY LIFE!
Anyways,they finally got around to being like 'Oh hey email blast we need volunteers'
I got free peaches, a tshirt, and met a guy who works at the National Gallery, which is not quite a Smithsonian affiliate, but he offered to get me in touch with their shop guys so I can learn a thing or two about the behind the scenes life at NGA. Not a bad day if I do say so myself.
Only a few more weeks left, and in all reality, I think my time here has been much better than I have said in the past.....It really has been great to be in a new place, learn new things and have all of these experiences that will eventually make me stronger, smarter, wiser and hopefully a better person. I've missed the crap out of Ypsi and all of my friends and I cant wait to get back, and enjoy pizza, beer and shenanigans together.
18 days until Nate comes to visit, and we embark on a 2 week do-whatever-the-heck-we-want-vacation.
See ya'll later.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
metro.
So, I got a moment to check out the fabrication unit at Natural History,needless to say,that was really interesting.One of the things that I was really curious about is the fact that they build things for exhibits like fossils,etc....how does a carpenter build around something that is millions and millions of years old?
Well it is a lot of working together with other people, within the museum there are different departments such as paleontology, mineral sciences etc, they all have to work together to get the museum exhibits together.It was a pretty cool thing to learn.
After Natural History,I headed back to OEC.Worked the rest of the day,then headed home...got bombarded by emails from work the next day about our Open House that is coming up on the 29th, it is going to be a simple tour etc etc,but our intern 'wrangler' likes to do this thing when the interns are in our productions meetings, where he will but in, negate what we just talked about, repeat EXACTLY what we just talked about,then say,then say, that is what he wants.
It drives me nuts.
Moving on, I spent all day Thursday and Friday working at my part time nanny gig,which was my last week because of summer camps starting : (
Dang,there goes my steady income.I spent the better part of each day,scouring lists,trying to get hired elsewhere.Ugh,I just need to be making money, I have bills and crap to pay when I get back to Michigan.
Today I spent some girl time with my cousin Audrey,where she treated me to a pedicure.Then I hopped on the metro and headed over to Columbia Heights to pick up a few things and run errands.I had a moment on the metro where I realized that I really do not like it here.This city swells to nearly 3 million people during the day,filled with tourists,politicians,families.Every day I ride public transportation and everyone seems so sad,or if I bike, I spend the better part of my bike ride avoiding death.I've found it very hard to get into any sort of community around here.I've thrown myself at places to volunteer,mostly because I want to help,and I'd like to get to know people,it hasn't worked out too much.I feel like in past situations where I was in a new place,new people, I just threw myself into situations,volunteered,and let my curiosity guide me and suddenly I had a community, and a family.
Here that has not happened at all.I guess I am going to take that as a sign,this is where I am not supposed to be in life.Granted, I am very, VERY lucky to be living with my cousin and her family, and had I lived on my own here, I think I would have given up a LONG time ago. Especially after my first week of fiascoes in this city. So, here is my epiphany I suppose; I do not belong here. Washington DC is just not for me, I still think the Smithsonian is the coolest thing since sliced bread, and maybe working for them one day will be amazing, but for now, there are other things on my mind.
I am a firm believer in that 'Everything happens for a reason' and my questions as to why I am here have not all been answered yet, and I know that I was not sent here with the soul purpose of being made fairly miserable in a big city all summer, missing friends in Michigan terribly, leaving my boyfriend in Michigan high and dry (sorry, thank you for being supportive!)
I got to know family better, I get to hang out with my cousin and her great family, I have gotten to see my aunt and uncle, I got to finally meet my nephews, see my brother in law and sister for the first time in 3 years. Those, are all really great things.
My time here is not yet over, I less than a month left at my internship.Things are going to be great,and I will go out with a bang.
Well it is a lot of working together with other people, within the museum there are different departments such as paleontology, mineral sciences etc, they all have to work together to get the museum exhibits together.It was a pretty cool thing to learn.
After Natural History,I headed back to OEC.Worked the rest of the day,then headed home...got bombarded by emails from work the next day about our Open House that is coming up on the 29th, it is going to be a simple tour etc etc,but our intern 'wrangler' likes to do this thing when the interns are in our productions meetings, where he will but in, negate what we just talked about, repeat EXACTLY what we just talked about,then say,then say, that is what he wants.
It drives me nuts.
Moving on, I spent all day Thursday and Friday working at my part time nanny gig,which was my last week because of summer camps starting : (
Dang,there goes my steady income.I spent the better part of each day,scouring lists,trying to get hired elsewhere.Ugh,I just need to be making money, I have bills and crap to pay when I get back to Michigan.
Today I spent some girl time with my cousin Audrey,where she treated me to a pedicure.Then I hopped on the metro and headed over to Columbia Heights to pick up a few things and run errands.I had a moment on the metro where I realized that I really do not like it here.This city swells to nearly 3 million people during the day,filled with tourists,politicians,families.Every day I ride public transportation and everyone seems so sad,or if I bike, I spend the better part of my bike ride avoiding death.I've found it very hard to get into any sort of community around here.I've thrown myself at places to volunteer,mostly because I want to help,and I'd like to get to know people,it hasn't worked out too much.I feel like in past situations where I was in a new place,new people, I just threw myself into situations,volunteered,and let my curiosity guide me and suddenly I had a community, and a family.
Here that has not happened at all.I guess I am going to take that as a sign,this is where I am not supposed to be in life.Granted, I am very, VERY lucky to be living with my cousin and her family, and had I lived on my own here, I think I would have given up a LONG time ago. Especially after my first week of fiascoes in this city. So, here is my epiphany I suppose; I do not belong here. Washington DC is just not for me, I still think the Smithsonian is the coolest thing since sliced bread, and maybe working for them one day will be amazing, but for now, there are other things on my mind.
I am a firm believer in that 'Everything happens for a reason' and my questions as to why I am here have not all been answered yet, and I know that I was not sent here with the soul purpose of being made fairly miserable in a big city all summer, missing friends in Michigan terribly, leaving my boyfriend in Michigan high and dry (sorry, thank you for being supportive!)
I got to know family better, I get to hang out with my cousin and her great family, I have gotten to see my aunt and uncle, I got to finally meet my nephews, see my brother in law and sister for the first time in 3 years. Those, are all really great things.
My time here is not yet over, I less than a month left at my internship.Things are going to be great,and I will go out with a bang.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
CORRECTION, That is the CAPITOL BUILDING.
This is the title of my new favorite game, I invented it.I came up with this game after I moved here because I spend a lot of time on the National Mall.Which is not to be mistaken with a shopping center.Every time I over hear a tourist look at the United States Capitol Building and exclaim
'LOOK THE WHITE HOUSE!'
I swoop in to correct them,in hopes to educate them,and make them feel slightly like a moron.
The making them feel like a moron part is my favorite part.
For those of you that dont know this is the CAPITOL BUILDING:
THIS is the WHITE HOUSE:
The more you know.
'LOOK THE WHITE HOUSE!'
I swoop in to correct them,in hopes to educate them,and make them feel slightly like a moron.
The making them feel like a moron part is my favorite part.
For those of you that dont know this is the CAPITOL BUILDING:
THIS is the WHITE HOUSE:
The more you know.
Monday, July 12, 2010
busy,busy,busy.
I've been staying pretty busy lately.But don't ever say to me
"Wow,You're busy"
Or any statement that remotely resembles the above.
I don't know why,but it drives me fucking bonkers.
I know how to manage my time,trust me on this.
Moving on.OEC has been buzzing lately and I love it.My first day back from Folklife I actually wandered into the Graphics Unit to help Theresa with an exhibit from S.I.T.E.S,which stands for Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Services.It is a program that takes exhibits to small towns.I was unloading an exhibit that just came back from somewhere in Georgia.It was called 'Key Ingredients' and was about the history of food in America.I had to un-pack everything from their crates,clean,mend etc.It was neat because it reminded me of prop-work.In the crates the exhibits all had spots,dedicated to specific items.It was a nifty little exhibit and really very fun.
The next day I went back into the paint shop to help Walter.It was great, I was prepping some panels for paint (say that 5 times fast) and then being awesome,I knocked one over,and onto the nearby slop sink,which subsequently put a GIANT FREAKING HOLE IN IT.
Needless to say, I was pretty embarrassed.But,nothing a little wood putty cant fix.
I worked all weekend long as a nanny for different families.It is good money, and keeps me busy (there is that damn word again) hopefully I can make enough money to start paying back loans.Wahoo!
Today,I was back in the paint shop with Walter,painting frames for an upcoming exhibit at the National Postal Museum called 'Collecting History',I got a real hands on experience with a REAAAALLLLLYYY nice Kremel Paint Gun,and primed all the frames,and will put the finish coat on tomorrow.Wednesday, I will be visiting the small fabrication unit inside of Natural History.I am so excited about this,I could pee my pants.No really.Natural History is my favorite of all the museums!Hopefully I will be checking out a few other fab units at the other museums before I leave.
Also today,began the frantic planning of an OEC Open House.We,the interns,will give tours,and 10 minute run-downs of what it is like to be an intern at OEC to fellow interns,friends,family,and other SI Staff on July 29th.
Holy Cow!
Halfway there!
"Wow,You're busy"
Or any statement that remotely resembles the above.
I don't know why,but it drives me fucking bonkers.
I know how to manage my time,trust me on this.
Moving on.OEC has been buzzing lately and I love it.My first day back from Folklife I actually wandered into the Graphics Unit to help Theresa with an exhibit from S.I.T.E.S,which stands for Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Services.It is a program that takes exhibits to small towns.I was unloading an exhibit that just came back from somewhere in Georgia.It was called 'Key Ingredients' and was about the history of food in America.I had to un-pack everything from their crates,clean,mend etc.It was neat because it reminded me of prop-work.In the crates the exhibits all had spots,dedicated to specific items.It was a nifty little exhibit and really very fun.
The next day I went back into the paint shop to help Walter.It was great, I was prepping some panels for paint (say that 5 times fast) and then being awesome,I knocked one over,and onto the nearby slop sink,which subsequently put a GIANT FREAKING HOLE IN IT.
Needless to say, I was pretty embarrassed.But,nothing a little wood putty cant fix.
I worked all weekend long as a nanny for different families.It is good money, and keeps me busy (there is that damn word again) hopefully I can make enough money to start paying back loans.Wahoo!
Today,I was back in the paint shop with Walter,painting frames for an upcoming exhibit at the National Postal Museum called 'Collecting History',I got a real hands on experience with a REAAAALLLLLYYY nice Kremel Paint Gun,and primed all the frames,and will put the finish coat on tomorrow.Wednesday, I will be visiting the small fabrication unit inside of Natural History.I am so excited about this,I could pee my pants.No really.Natural History is my favorite of all the museums!Hopefully I will be checking out a few other fab units at the other museums before I leave.
Also today,began the frantic planning of an OEC Open House.We,the interns,will give tours,and 10 minute run-downs of what it is like to be an intern at OEC to fellow interns,friends,family,and other SI Staff on July 29th.
Holy Cow!
Halfway there!
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