I'm tired. I've been tired the past week. Why? Because it's the holidays and for some reason, I've been working 9 hour shifts like nobody business. Yes, it's paying for stuff. No, I am not enjoying it.
I know in a real world job I'd work 40 hour weeks, but I'd at least get some days off. I had one day off this past week and that was Thanksgiving. I have none this upcoming week until Monday,the 6th, where Joe and I ship off to Alabama.
Currently, my back is filled up with tons of stress pent up from the week. From every bitchy customer to every pet peeve, all stuck in my back. Now, it's hard to sleep. Thank you, retail job.
I have so much grad school stuff to do it isn't funny.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving
This year is my first thanksgiving day away from my family and, yes, I do feel the effects. I miss the food, the family, and the ambiance. The laughs, the news, the tasty tasty food.
What can I say, I am food fan. (Obviously)
Today is the only day off I have this week and I'm enjoying it as much as I can. I'm not cooking, mainly because Joe is extremely picky and I am tired of cooking. I will pay someone to feed me and enjoy it. I think we are going to have some exquisite mexican (if it is open). I'm going to be watching the Saints game and working on my statement of purpose. Perhaps catching up on last week's episodes of Conan. Such is my life.
Tomorrow I have to work Black Friday and will hate it. I have grown to become numb to customers and their antics, just learning to shake off their quips and going on about my life. I am looking forward to not being a member retail society one day. There are not enough people who have worked retail in the life and I feel that is a shame.
10 days before I see my darling Mama again, attend my sister's wedding, and generally enjoy what it is was like to live in Fairhope before being in Texas. We are going to move back to Alabama briefly for the winter. It will be a regrouping, however. My journey does not have me ending up in Fairhope for long. I must keep moving.
Enjoy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your family. I look forward to seeing mine soon.
Love,
Ellen
What can I say, I am food fan. (Obviously)
Today is the only day off I have this week and I'm enjoying it as much as I can. I'm not cooking, mainly because Joe is extremely picky and I am tired of cooking. I will pay someone to feed me and enjoy it. I think we are going to have some exquisite mexican (if it is open). I'm going to be watching the Saints game and working on my statement of purpose. Perhaps catching up on last week's episodes of Conan. Such is my life.
Tomorrow I have to work Black Friday and will hate it. I have grown to become numb to customers and their antics, just learning to shake off their quips and going on about my life. I am looking forward to not being a member retail society one day. There are not enough people who have worked retail in the life and I feel that is a shame.
10 days before I see my darling Mama again, attend my sister's wedding, and generally enjoy what it is was like to live in Fairhope before being in Texas. We are going to move back to Alabama briefly for the winter. It will be a regrouping, however. My journey does not have me ending up in Fairhope for long. I must keep moving.
Enjoy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your family. I look forward to seeing mine soon.
Love,
Ellen
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Oh,blog, excuse my neglect of you
So much to cover in so little space.
Ahem.
Work and Villa take up most of my life, I end up tired, and forget to blog. Bad me. Baaaaad me.
Things have so changed at Villa Finale.I have essentially "graduated" from the actual house and moved on to the Carriage House, or the basic offices on site at the house. Walter's House looked absolutely beautiful. People now get to enjoy the wonder that Walter Mathis created over time. I haven't been in the house since September 30, but I hope to view the inside one more time before I leave this place.
Meg is wonderful as always and I get to work much more closely again with her again. I'm currently in charge of cataloging of the Villa Finale Carriage House library into Past Perfect, a museum catalog software. I can easily say that this has been one of the best learning experiences of my life and I will miss it dearly.
Meg told me the other day that she had been (and still is) extremely impressed that I came to San Antonio simply to intern at Villa Finale. To her it showed my passion for museum work and how I am driven to do what I must to do to become a museum curator.
I told her that if I had not done, if I gave up, that everything would mean nothing, and this quest I have put myself on would have been just a big waste of time. I might as well live out my days working at P-Mart.
I'm talking to the Curator and Asst Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Dr. Jen Shannon, at Univ. of Colorado at Boulder about the museum studies program there next Tuesday over the phone. So excited! This woman has a lot of the similar interests I do!!
I must always remember nothing good is ever worth giving up on.
Ahem.
Work and Villa take up most of my life, I end up tired, and forget to blog. Bad me. Baaaaad me.
Things have so changed at Villa Finale.I have essentially "graduated" from the actual house and moved on to the Carriage House, or the basic offices on site at the house. Walter's House looked absolutely beautiful. People now get to enjoy the wonder that Walter Mathis created over time. I haven't been in the house since September 30, but I hope to view the inside one more time before I leave this place.
Meg is wonderful as always and I get to work much more closely again with her again. I'm currently in charge of cataloging of the Villa Finale Carriage House library into Past Perfect, a museum catalog software. I can easily say that this has been one of the best learning experiences of my life and I will miss it dearly.
Meg told me the other day that she had been (and still is) extremely impressed that I came to San Antonio simply to intern at Villa Finale. To her it showed my passion for museum work and how I am driven to do what I must to do to become a museum curator.
I told her that if I had not done, if I gave up, that everything would mean nothing, and this quest I have put myself on would have been just a big waste of time. I might as well live out my days working at P-Mart.
I'm talking to the Curator and Asst Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Dr. Jen Shannon, at Univ. of Colorado at Boulder about the museum studies program there next Tuesday over the phone. So excited! This woman has a lot of the similar interests I do!!
I must always remember nothing good is ever worth giving up on.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Let me sum it up for you
Hmm, where did I leave off? Between work, internship and procrastination, I've neglected my blog just a little bit!
So hence I will sum up the past few days at Villa Finale. Things are definitely coming together. The dining room is almost fully put together, the library looks great, the napoleon parlor still needs some work and we are moving things around upstairs finally.Karina and Tina have been helping out as the other interns (although both don't speak much) and the docents (including Bumbling Ed, who I am sure to make an appearance in my posts) are being trained by Sylvia, the director of public affairs I believe. Also, I will miss the company of Tobin.
Last Thursday was Tobin's last day before she heads back to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). We had a fun day including going on a quest to steal(borrow) forks Christ the grounds manager's desk in the Carriage House and playing Where Does the Retablo go on the giant arc of Retablo paintings on the wall upstairs. I will miss her talking to me about San An and her life. She's definitely an interesting girl.
Things are moving ahead for the opening on the 30th. More to come.
Ellen
So hence I will sum up the past few days at Villa Finale. Things are definitely coming together. The dining room is almost fully put together, the library looks great, the napoleon parlor still needs some work and we are moving things around upstairs finally.Karina and Tina have been helping out as the other interns (although both don't speak much) and the docents (including Bumbling Ed, who I am sure to make an appearance in my posts) are being trained by Sylvia, the director of public affairs I believe. Also, I will miss the company of Tobin.
Last Thursday was Tobin's last day before she heads back to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). We had a fun day including going on a quest to steal(borrow) forks Christ the grounds manager's desk in the Carriage House and playing Where Does the Retablo go on the giant arc of Retablo paintings on the wall upstairs. I will miss her talking to me about San An and her life. She's definitely an interesting girl.
Things are moving ahead for the opening on the 30th. More to come.
Ellen
Monday, August 23, 2010
Day 6: My feet are better on the ground.
Sorry I am getting late to posting, but I figure I would go ahead and tell about my week last week before i start my internship this week.
By this time, the Napoleon Parlor as well as the Dining Room and Library are starting to take shape more and more. The time is counting down until Villa Finale opens to the public. Docent training is on-going apparently, but that will be discussed later. On this day, I was joined by a lady who generally works at the visitor center named Diana who was helping place items back in cases. Tobin joined us later as she was cleaning furniture for Meg. I was told to put a variety of items back into a two-shelved case. This included dog and human band figurines from germany, various silverware, etc. etc. My favorite was a tiny album shaped like a suitcase which stated "somebody's luggage" and contained various photos of Tom Thumb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tom_Thumb) and his wife, seemingly pre- and post wedding. Apparently, after finding a news clipping in the case, Mr. Mathis was a fan of Gen. Tom and his wife as well. It perhaps has something to do with his impersonations of Napoleon Bonaparte of which Mathis is an obvious huge fan of.
I was told that I, or Tobin, could clean the giant mirror that lined the back wall of the room. Since Tobin was cleaning, I was going to attempt it. Halfway up the ladder, my father's infamous fear of heights caught up with me and the fact I have very bad balance made me come down. Tobin, on the other hand, had no problem accomplishing this task, climbing up the ladder barefoot and straddling the top as needed. My feet are definitely better on the ground.
Did I mention this was the first day I experienced air conditioning in the house? So nice! Everyone was enjoying the difference from hot and sticky air to the cooler environments. Mostly my day was spent cleaning and putting things back together.
More to come,
Ellen
By this time, the Napoleon Parlor as well as the Dining Room and Library are starting to take shape more and more. The time is counting down until Villa Finale opens to the public. Docent training is on-going apparently, but that will be discussed later. On this day, I was joined by a lady who generally works at the visitor center named Diana who was helping place items back in cases. Tobin joined us later as she was cleaning furniture for Meg. I was told to put a variety of items back into a two-shelved case. This included dog and human band figurines from germany, various silverware, etc. etc. My favorite was a tiny album shaped like a suitcase which stated "somebody's luggage" and contained various photos of Tom Thumb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tom_Thumb) and his wife, seemingly pre- and post wedding. Apparently, after finding a news clipping in the case, Mr. Mathis was a fan of Gen. Tom and his wife as well. It perhaps has something to do with his impersonations of Napoleon Bonaparte of which Mathis is an obvious huge fan of.
I was told that I, or Tobin, could clean the giant mirror that lined the back wall of the room. Since Tobin was cleaning, I was going to attempt it. Halfway up the ladder, my father's infamous fear of heights caught up with me and the fact I have very bad balance made me come down. Tobin, on the other hand, had no problem accomplishing this task, climbing up the ladder barefoot and straddling the top as needed. My feet are definitely better on the ground.
Did I mention this was the first day I experienced air conditioning in the house? So nice! Everyone was enjoying the difference from hot and sticky air to the cooler environments. Mostly my day was spent cleaning and putting things back together.
More to come,
Ellen
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Day 5: Things are taking shape
In my absence due to my schedule at work, things had begun to move along in the shaping of the house museum between the Tuesday I was there and the Thursday upon which I returned to do my internship work. Meg said that the movers had come and moved all the major pieces into their respective rooms, meaning that the Napoleon Parlor which I have spent so much time in looked a bit different.
As I entered the room, I noticed a new face, a woman in her late 20s-early 30s with short clipped brown hair and dark complexion, cleaning objects. Meg announced that although she was not a student (she is actually a free-lance photographer), she would be interning just for the experience. Unfortunately, I cannot remember her name. I know it starts with a "V" and she is a lovely lady from Spain. Another older woman in her 50s joined as well, named Rebecca, who I learned was from Louisiana and is a HUGE LSU fan. She asked me if I went to "Bama" and I replied, no, I went to South Alabama, but I did have friends who went there. She was nice about it, but underneath, I could tell she wasn't a big fan of the school. She told me at least 2 of her children went to LSU. Later, I discussed with Meg that LSU fans were an unique brand.
We all cleaned figures from the Napoleonic collection that Mr. Mathis had collected over the years. He apparently had an intense interest in Napoleon that lasted all his life which drove him to buy many pieces featuring the likes of the small general including, as Chris the grounds manager put, "pieces of gift shop junk".
Lunch came around (finally) as I was tired from closing at work the night before. Meg, Chris, and I sat in the parlor and ate lunch while talking. I found out Chris had a link to Sigourney Weaver through his wife's cousin, who had directed her in a film called Girl in the Park. I would die for him to be able to get Sigourney's autograph for me. Meg knows very well it is my holy grail of photographs and to attain it, I will die happy.
After lunch, Meg invited me to the kitchen for a treat of ice cream (donated by whom I do not know, but it was blue bell and that had me sold) before I went back to cleaning objects. We chatted a bit about dogs and my father, who I told her had a similar fascination with objects like Mr. Mathis, except his came in phases, instead of one long run. After the chat, I went back to cleaning and was joined by the other intern while we listened to the radio that Joe, the electrician from Boston who enlightened us with mob stories over lunch, had brought.
More to report as it comes!!
-Ellen
As I entered the room, I noticed a new face, a woman in her late 20s-early 30s with short clipped brown hair and dark complexion, cleaning objects. Meg announced that although she was not a student (she is actually a free-lance photographer), she would be interning just for the experience. Unfortunately, I cannot remember her name. I know it starts with a "V" and she is a lovely lady from Spain. Another older woman in her 50s joined as well, named Rebecca, who I learned was from Louisiana and is a HUGE LSU fan. She asked me if I went to "Bama" and I replied, no, I went to South Alabama, but I did have friends who went there. She was nice about it, but underneath, I could tell she wasn't a big fan of the school. She told me at least 2 of her children went to LSU. Later, I discussed with Meg that LSU fans were an unique brand.
We all cleaned figures from the Napoleonic collection that Mr. Mathis had collected over the years. He apparently had an intense interest in Napoleon that lasted all his life which drove him to buy many pieces featuring the likes of the small general including, as Chris the grounds manager put, "pieces of gift shop junk".
Lunch came around (finally) as I was tired from closing at work the night before. Meg, Chris, and I sat in the parlor and ate lunch while talking. I found out Chris had a link to Sigourney Weaver through his wife's cousin, who had directed her in a film called Girl in the Park. I would die for him to be able to get Sigourney's autograph for me. Meg knows very well it is my holy grail of photographs and to attain it, I will die happy.
After lunch, Meg invited me to the kitchen for a treat of ice cream (donated by whom I do not know, but it was blue bell and that had me sold) before I went back to cleaning objects. We chatted a bit about dogs and my father, who I told her had a similar fascination with objects like Mr. Mathis, except his came in phases, instead of one long run. After the chat, I went back to cleaning and was joined by the other intern while we listened to the radio that Joe, the electrician from Boston who enlightened us with mob stories over lunch, had brought.
More to report as it comes!!
-Ellen
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 4: Enter Tobin
Day 4 at the museum included a new guest, the old summer intern, Tobin, who reminded very much of a sprite from Greek mythology. It included filling in many past perfect (collections program) forms for very many collection objects. Nothing new, but work. I got to clean porcelain dishes and discovered the wonder of popsicles in the freezer! According to Tobin, we were allowed up to 10 a day.
Tobin filled me in on many good localities in San Antonio to visit while I am here (if I am not here past December) including telling me to eat a local burger place I am excited to one day try (Chris Madrid's) and telling me that sweet tea is a delicacy in San Antonio, there are no Taco Bells in San Antonio because of the popularity of the local Taco Cabana, which, as Tobin says, "kicks Taco Bell's ass". Also that San Antonio has heat wave days like hurricane days in Alabama, and I must make it to Schlitterbahn, which is a dream of mine.
Tobin filled me in on many good localities in San Antonio to visit while I am here (if I am not here past December) including telling me to eat a local burger place I am excited to one day try (Chris Madrid's) and telling me that sweet tea is a delicacy in San Antonio, there are no Taco Bells in San Antonio because of the popularity of the local Taco Cabana, which, as Tobin says, "kicks Taco Bell's ass". Also that San Antonio has heat wave days like hurricane days in Alabama, and I must make it to Schlitterbahn, which is a dream of mine.
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