Book Thoughts
Book Thoughts
Okay, I just love that quote from Finding Nemo. Dory was such a great character! Anyway, I've been chugging along at work. I've actually found something that I think is pretty cool. I was able to get an imprint from a splice that, when viewed under a microscope, shows minute cracks. This may sound lame to you, but that's basically what I was hoping to find, and I never thought I would see them in such detail. But yeah, I'll keep recording all this fabulous data and things should go well.
Finished reading another book. I tell you, 4 hours of travel time really helps you get a lot of reading done. So, I just finished reading Let Go of Clutter by Harriet Schechter. She's got a couple of websites out there, too. One for the book, and one for the author in general. I really liked this book because I have so much trouble with clutter and trying to keep my room in order (just ask Katelyn or Sarah about just how messy my room can get)! It gave me a lot of ideas, and it got me thinking about all the stuff I want to do for my dorm room when I get to campus!
Anyway, that's all for now!
-Stephanie
Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I've got to say, it is pretty darn good! Some parts I didn't like (probably because I cried!) but overall, really great. Can't wait until the final book!
Oh, and I noticed that I currently have 99 comments. I remember people had been trying to help Katelyn reach 100 comments a while ago. Let's see who commenter #100 is!
-Stephanie
What do I mean, that I'm famous? Well, one of my posts has been "featured" on Blog Carnival-Sports. Check it out! (oh, and by the way, in response to the comment I posted to them, they said that it was in fact a compliment).
I've also got a book update. I just read The Big Sister's Guide to the World of Work by Marcelle DiFalco & Jocelyn Greenky Herz. Okay, so maybe it's only a good read for women (the subtitle is "The Inside Rules Every Working Girl Must Know"), but I really liked the way the facts were presented. And most of the advice is good for both genders, but it is specifially focused on some issues that women face in the workplace as opposed to men. It's not some angry woman bra-burning type stuff, just usefull stuff for surviving the work force. I'll probably re-read it when I get into the "real" world.
And yes, last night I watched another movie. But I'm not sure if this one counted, because it was on TV. I saw The Breakfast Club. The reason I say I dont know if this counts as actually seeing the movie is because almost every curse word was replaced with some minced oath or other replacement word. . .it just loses it's effect. That, and I think they cut some of the movie to make it fit in the allotted time. Oh well, I had always meant to see it, and I finally got around to seeing it!
There was probably something else I was planning on saying, but I just can't remember. Oh well. Later!
-Stephanie
It was definitely nice to have a three-day weekend. I got to spend time with my family, eat good food, and relax. Plus it was the 4th of July! So, that made things even better. Sunday afternoon, my family and I went over to a friend of the family's house for a cookout and such. My little sister and the girl in the family her age went swimming, but I opted out. But I did end up playing volleyball with them. I also played a bit of Frisbee. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself. . .I was actually starting to get good! The last time I played with a Frisbee, I ended up tripping over a tree stump at the Fens. And I wasn't throwing or catching it very well. This time, I did really well! Our friends live pretty close to Veteran's Park, where fireworks are set off every year, so we watched the fireworks from their backyard.
Last night, we went to a Trenton Thunder game. The Trenton Thunder is a AA minor league baseball team. They are affiliated with the New York Yankees ::shudder::. Ironically, the team that they were playing against was the Portland Sea Dogs, who are the AA affiliates for the Boston Red Sox! I have to say, I felt a bit torn. I wanted to root for my "home team", the Trenton Thunder, but I also wanted to root for the Sea Dogs because I knew they might eventually be Red Sox players.
I've been watching quite a few movies recently. I am almost ashamed to admit it, but I watched Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous last Thursday night. It's definitely just a silly movie, but I guess it's just fun to watch, and I actually enjoyed it. Sometimes you just need something light and fluffy, you know? Friday night I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I haven't watched that movie in so long, and I knew that it was somewhere in our movie cabinet, so I just had to watch it. Made me smile. :) (oh, and check out the lego version!). Saturday night, we rented some more movies. We watched The Terminal. Nice, heartwarming movie. . .though we got a little frustrated because the disc kept on skipping. . .We also rented Blazing Saddles (yay Mel Brooks!) but we haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet. Maybe we'll watch it tonight!
I also finished reading another book. I finally got around to reading The Da Vinci Code. It's relatively well written, and definitely a bit trippy. . .but it wasn't bad. The beginning half, you might start getting confused as to what's reality and what's fiction, because the stuff they talk about is all "real" stuff. As my dad puts it, "The nouns are true, but the verbs aren't." The later you go in the book, the more it turns into a novel. The fiction becomes more apparent. Hopefully I'm not giving anything away by this. It's really a good book, and I'm interested to see how they make it into a movie. [trailer]
Oh, I almost forgot. Katelyn says I should write about penguins. Well, here are some things I know about penguins. In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent says to Ford Prefect, "You're turning into a penguin. Stop it!". the other thing I know about penguins is that there's a documentary about penguins that recently came out (i heard about it randomly on the news. It's called March of the Penguins..
Well, that's I'll I've got for you. I saw on the MIT Website that the blog survey I posted about is a big deal!
.
-Stephanie
Well, since the last time I wrote about the books that I've read, I've finished two more. I read Maurice by E.M. Forster, and Artemis Fowl, the Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer. Maurice was actually written in 1913-1914, but was not published until after Forster's death due to the subject matter. The novel is basically like any normal love story, except that it was about homosexuality. This topic was too racy for the time period it was written in. But I thought it was really good, and I'm planning on reading more of E.M. Forster's works (I've already read one other book of his, A Room with a View). And I loved the Artemis Fowl book! I'm a fan of the series. It's very mythical, with fairies, trolls, magic, etc. But they're very well written. . .and I managed to finish the book in only 3 days! (it probably helps that I have such a long commute each day!).
I also went to go see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants last night with my younger sister and one of her friends. Very good, though it's definitely a tear jerker! I don't remember the last time I cried that hard! But it's still a really good movie. Just don't forget your tissues! I hadn't brought any, and let me just say, that was one regret I had!
Well, that's it. Work has been going well. A bunch of people came to learn about what we do at the place I work as part of a conference sponsored partially by EPRI, Electric Power Research Institute. I one of the guys who presented was course 3 from MIT! I met him, and we talked for a bit. I gotta say, there's something that brings some sort of weird connection between MIT alumni/students. I think it's the shared pain, and the ability to talk about stuff that you both know about. He also got a glimpse of my Brass Rat, which he pointed out to me. That's another thing I like. The brass rat is like a universal sign that you have suffered through/enjoyed MIT. Or something like that. Anyway, I dont know what else to talk about, so I guess I'll end there. Keep the questions coming!
-Stephanie
Well, after a rather confusing weekend, it was back to work for me. I discoverd that I got my first paycheck. And I was reminded just how much taxes suck. I mean, sure, they go to some good causes and such. but my problem is the fact that almost half of my paycheck went to taxes. boo to that. Anyway, work went well, stayed a little bit longer (which hopefully means more pay!).
Anyway, about this book I finished reading. It's Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. I guess the best way to explain it is that it's very Salinger-esque, if that makes any sense. It's the kind of book where, once you finish reading it, you have to close the book and just sit for a moment and reflect. I liked it, if that's any help.
So, not much else to talk about. The weather's been excrutiatingly hot, and it's not so great to walk from the subway station in the Bronx to my job, but I guess that's something I have to deal with. Hmm, time to go fix some links so they're better (i noticed that my links to the books could be linked to a better link. . .if that makes any sense.
Hope all is well with you!
-Stephanie
So, this post is mostly devoted to talking about the books that I have read so far this summer. In a previous post I talked about the first book I had finished reading. Now to discuss the rest.
So, next book I read wasn't a long book, but it was very relaxing to read. It was The Art of Doing Nothing : Simple Ways to Make Time for Yourself. Very nice to read, because it just had simple tips and ideas about relaxing and enjoying life. I'm a fan of that, since it's very hard to relax sometimes when you're at MIT.
Next book I read was more of a middle school book, but it was still cool to read, because it was almost all normal, with just a tiny bit of magic. The book was The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli. It was a nice read for a long day when I had nothing to do.
The most recent book I read I absolutely loved. It was A Room with a View by E.M. Forster. It was about a girl in what I think was the late 1800's, and it was so good to read because it was a romantic story at some points, and a frightening story at other points. As you can tell, I'm not so good at describing books (i never did too well at book reports). But I definitley reccomend this book, at least to the girls.
Well, that's all I have time to talk about right now. I'm so tired all the time when I'm home, so I think I need to go lie down and relax.
Thanks for your comments!
-Stephanie
And I was definitley surprised how fast things seemed getting from NJ to NYC. It might have helped that I was on an express train that only had a few stops along the way. Comparing that to my ride home, which was on a train that made EVERY stop. Oh well. I rode a New York City Subway for the first time ever. I swear, I'm not some sort of country bumpkin who lives under a rock. Just usually when I go to New York, it's with my family, and we either walk or take a taxi to wherever we are going. Anyway, I only got on the wrong train once (I wasn't sure which way I was supposed to go), but I made it to where I need to be. Basically had to fill out a lot of paperwork, get a drug screening, and get my picture taken for my photo ID. I gotta say, the worst job ever is the guy who does the drug screenings. They're mandatory at most places now, but this guy just sits in a room with an ajoining bathroom and tells people when, where, and how to pee, and then pours the pee into the sample jars for testing. Oh, excuse me. He pours the urine into the sample jars. There, much better. I also met the other summer intern I'll be working with. He just finished his freshman year at UConn. He's also a materials science major. I'm a little nervous, since this guy is 2 years behind me, and I feel like if he knows something, and I don't, I'll just feel stupid. Oh well. It's bound to happen. But I'm sure there will be times when I understand something, and he wont. That's just how life is.
I finished reading my first book of summer break. It's The Funny Thing Is. . . by Ellen DeGeneres. It's pretty funny, just a lot of short chapters, that definitley makes you laugh. Definitley a good summer reading. Or maybe something to read when you're stressing out at school. Oh man, speaking of which, on my medical forms for work, they needed you to check off any symptoms or ailments that you might have, and then explain them. I checked off the box next to Stress, and for my explanation, I just wrote: I go to MIT. I know, it sounds like it could be snobby. But I guess that was the only explanation I could come up with on the spot. Maybe it will make whoever reads my forms laugh a little. Maybe.
Well, I'm pretty exhausted from running around Manhattan (in heels!), so I think I'm going to go take a nap. Thanks for reading!
-Stephanie