Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Summer Fun

HELLOOOO!

So I finished my spring class (book publishing) so now my days are filled with working (still at CR) and. . . da da da: my internship! The first week was a bit rough. I went in for my first day and took an editing test and read through the their style guide and stuff. So when I went in the second day, I assumed I would be doing more orientation stuff. Well. . . instead, there was a fat manuscript on my desk to source check, along with a box filled with seven three-inch thick binders filled with photocopied sources. So, source checking isn't the most glamorous of jobs within the realm of editing, but someone needs to do it, and as an intern, I was overjoyed at having a project of my own to be in charge of. Well, unfortunately, before I could even start source checking, I had to make sense of all the sources. They weren't in any sort of order, so I spent pretty much the whole day alphabetizing the hundreds of articles by author or editor last names. Also, about 2/3 of the the cited sources were not even in the binders, so I had to make note of all the missing sources and carefully go through the bibliography. Even though it took me about a week, it was rewarding every time I found an error and could fix it. Because it was so time-consuming and tedious, if I hadn't done it, I don't know that it would have gotten done as thoroughly. Besides, after that, all the editors felt so bad for me that I had to do that, that they have given me really fun projects since then. I've proofread a few Christmas books (yes--that's how far in advance they are going through the editing process), I proofread a kindle version of a cupcake cookbook, and now I am doing the page layout design for a book on business strategy and I've been put in charge of it so that I am the one collaborating with the author. It's pretty fun and exciting. My favorite aspect of editing/publishing is the ambassador role between author and publishing house. It's a lot of collaboration, compromise, and negotiation. Fun fun fun.

A couple of weeks ago, Joe and I went on a weekend camping trip with Brittany and Kenton. Joe and I had seen a list on Yahoo or something of "the ten places every kid should visit in the U.S."


So, between us, we had been to all of them (thanks, Moms and Dads!) except Craters of the Moon national monument. And whattaya know- it is only in Idaho! So we decided to be spontaneous and go check it out one weekend. It was truly awesome! Except the weather, which was super windy and rainy the first day (making my dutch oven meal plans rather difficult!), but cleared up by our second day there. We checked out these tube caves that had been formed by lava on the surface cooling and hardening first, while the lave beneath kept flowing out, forming hollow caves. There were just these huge mounds of black sand from the volcano cones, and then lots of jagged black rocks everywhere. It was really surreal scenery. It truly looks like you are on another planet (or the moon), and we read that astronauts used to go there to learn about volcano craters and other geological features found on both there and on the moon.

I taught our primary class (4 and 5 year olds) for the first time this past Sunday. They are hilarious and adorable. There are just 3 girls. They talk SO much. They love to talk about their families and how awesome/terrible their parents were in the past couple days, current favorite toys, who they played with yesterday, and how they are going into preschool/kindergarten soon.

For the fourth of July weekend, Joe and I went to my parents for a BBQ on Sunday and then Joe's parents Monday evening. We drove to see Keren and Nik's new house in Weber and in anticipation of watching fireworks from. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes got the best of us, but we got to see tons of fireworks on the drive home to Provo-- more than I've ever seen on Independence day, most likely due to the now legalized aerial fireworks in Utah. But we also go to meet Keren and Nik's new dog, Oscar, a dachshund! He is so cute and it makes me want a dog so bad!!!

Kara is at Brighton, being counselor Chinook and having so much fun! It makes me nostalgic for being up there, and I really miss hanging out with her during the week. But I think I will go up for devotional one of these weeks.

I wanted to post some pictures with this, but I can't find our camera at the moment, so... hopefully I'll put some up soon