A Reading Day

Today was my second day of work! That means I got to do a little more then just sit there awkwardly! Today I started reading a book about space travel as background knowledge for my project on space shuttles. Also, today I got to go and see a gallery they are installing at the museum. The first time I went down the layout was explained to me and why they made certain decisions. The second time I went down later in the afternoon I got to see them put two space outfits- not space suits - into a case! It was really cool how they adjusted the light so it illuminated the clothes correctly while not damaging them. I also go to see the things they installed that morning and it was explained to me how this one small cabinet took a long time to finish because everybody had to put in their input and they changed how it looked a little. Some of the mounts the objects are on are so small! It must take a lot of hand eye coordination and stable hands to work with some of these small things. I was also told how they set up galleries in order to accommodate all types of learners and people who read everything or just quickly walk through. The other thing I did at work today was I built a bibliography on the Skylab. Now that I have computer access I'll be able to start more complex work tomorrow. Tuesdays at lunch the Space History department has a science movie watching. By the sounds of it only two people really consistently participate. However, today there were all of us eight interns in this small room with two curators who stayed the whole time with other curators coming and going. Today we started watching Destination Moon from the 1950's. We only got part way through, but it was quite fun. The whole time we were commenting on the inaccuracies of the movie, the special effects, what they got right, the actors, the background and pretty much anything. The one part I really thought was funny is when the crew is taking off in their space ship they are laying down and the force from the take off is pulling the skin on their faces down making it tight. One of the curators was telling us that how they filmed it was by attaching skin coloured tape to the actors faces and fishing line. A movie crew member would then lie underneath the actors chair and pull on the fishing line to tighten the actor's face. That must have hurt! It surprises me what people will do for entertainment! Another funny thing is that the astronauts floated in space, but none of the other stuff did. When they opened drawers everything stayed inside and nothing floated out! It will be interesting to see the exciting conclusion next week! 

After work I went to a used bookstore and bought three books. One called Mistress of the Vatican by Eleanor Herman. It's about mistresses of the popes and how it was the women who sometimes were the real popes/rulers. One is called The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall and that  book covers a whole array of topics. The last book is called Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph by Alan Palmer. That book is of course about Emperor Franz Joseph who ruled the Austrian-Hungarian Empire from 1848 to 1916. When the lady was calculating the sum of my books she was quizzing me on Habsburg facts. She asked me who was the Habsburg murdered at the beginning of the First World War, which is Franz Ferdinand. She then asked me who was the second Maximilian of the Empire, he was Emperor Maximilian of Mexico who was killed by the Mexicans and they now have Cinco de Mayo on the day they killed him. It was almost as if she was testing me to see if I deserved this book or not. I guessed I past the test because she really warmed up to me and I might go back there while I'm DC and make it my go to book store.

On my way home from the bookstore I wanted to buy vegetable oil so that I could cook my meal. I was going towards the grocery store when a lady stopped me and asked if I would buy her a meal. I truthfully told her I couldn't really afford it, but I felt so bad that I went home without buying my vegetable oil and just ate samosas for supper instead of pad thai. I feel bad for saying no to people who ask for food or money, but certainly this summer I have to be careful with my money and I can't help everyone who asks. That doesn't stop me from feeling horrible when I turn someone down.