Weekend & Week 2 Highlights

Last weekend I spent a wonderful 3 days with my aunt who came to visit. She and a friend were there for her friend's work conference, and so while her friend attended that, my aunt and I got together.

We did a lot in the three days. Friday we walked around shops at Union Square and later went to see the musical Billy Elliot. The show wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but maybe that's because I didn't really feel a sense of emotion in the kid's dancing. It did have good songs, though - of course it would, it's Elton John!

Then Saturday we ate lunch together before taking the subway uptown to Central Park. Since my aunt has a bad foot, we decided to take a bicycle tour around the park. Our tour guide/bicyclist was a nice guy from Italy. He showed us around the park and made sure we were comfortable. He even stopped when we wanted so we could take pictures. Later that night we met with one of my aunt's friends and her friend's husband for dinner. Then we saw A Little Night Music, staring Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was fantastic! I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone if they have the opportunity to see it. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury are leaving it at the end of this week, but Bernadette Peters and another well-known actress who I can't remember at this moment is taking over.

Sunday we met up for lunch, walked around Union Square with my aunt's friend, and then watched my little sister graduate from high school. The school had live video streaming online, so we saw everything, which was really neat. After that my aunt and I went to dinner and then she left to meet her friend and watch the Tony Awards while I talked to Fraser.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and I am so thankful for the chance to spend it with my aunt.

After a wonderful 3-day weekend with my aunt, Monday morning arrived and with it the beginning of another week at work. I have to say I was pretty excited to return to the office and start on the week's projects. I had several going for me. I rather like the juggling atmosphere of the workplace, at least of my department, simply because if I work on one thing and get to a point where I just have to set it aside, I have other projects to devote my attention to, making the day fly by. This week was a very fast week. I can't believe I will soon start my 3rd week at the internship.

Here are some highlights from this week.

Monday: Worked on manuscripts and attended an editorial meeting with my supervisor. That meeting was the first editorial meeting I attended. It proved very interesting. I really enjoyed it.

I think oftentimes the book business is just that - a business, and it's not always easy to remember the reason why most people got involved in publishing - the love of readingliterature, not producing it. Editorial meetings ground themselves more so in the love of literature than the business aspect (or so it seems to me), though business is always a shadow in the back of the room. Still, the meeting reaffirmed the fact that literary love and appreciation still exists, even in the work world.

Tuesday: Not too much happened Tuesday. I went to a meeting and read more manuscripts. At lunchtime all interns attended a brown bag lunch session. We have these every Tuesday from now on, and each sessions features a different speaker. This session was presented by the HR department and focused on Internship Etiquette. Most of what we went through was pretty self-explanatory: faux pas, do's and don't's, proper dress, phone answering, email etiquette...I enjoyed it, though, because it brought all us interns together, made us aware of situations we may have already experienced or may experience in the future, and prepared us to react respectfully in these situations - which I hope everyone would do anyway, but....I guess reminders don't hurt!

Later that day I also attended another meeting. Each meeting fascinates me, simply because there are so many connections within the publishing industry, so many departments dependent on each other. Cooperation is essential. If one part miscommunicates or loses momentum, the whole business suffers. If all work together, though, the business flourishes. Perhaps you're thinking "Well, that's a no-brainer observation," but for me it's interesting and intriguing.

Wednesday: Same as Tuesday. Typical day at work. Read. No meetings, though.

Thursday: I finished all my projects for the week. It was a pretty slow-paced day, though I did attend a meeting in the morning. I spent most of the day writing and reading, which I enjoyed, but for some reason the day seemed very long.

A perk from yesterday, though: my supervisor gave me three books to read. The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama, Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, and The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. I've started reading The Marriage Bureau and really enjoy it. I recommend it, if you haven't read it before!

That is all for now...no incidents of stalled elevators to report - thankfully!