This past week at work, I was given the tedious but necessary task of converting all our contracts from paper to electronic. This way, when returning customers phone in an order, we'll have their details already and it makes the process much quicker. Plus, it makes the customer feel like we remember them, which goes with our whole small-independent-familial-publisher mentality. Some are print-outs from online orders, so all I see is the name, address, phone number, and book(s) that the person ordered. But some people still write in and send a check. These people are generally of the older generation. And recently, we had a special running in a magazine for a novel called "The Girl at the Farmhouse Gate". It is kind of your stereotypical, old lady, cheesy sweet, romance novel. We have a lot of these kinds of books--it is a rather stable demographic for A and B. They all tend to have the same kind of theme, most often set in WWII. The storyline usually conforms to: American GI goes to England and falls in love with proper Englishwoman. OR WWII wreaks havoc on a family, but through their struggles, love blossoms between those that the war has thrown together. They are all easy reads, really sweet, and either have happy endings or bittersweet endings.
Well, as I completed the online print-out contacts, I got to the hand-written letter ones. Some are very straight forward. "Send 'blah blah blah' to 'cute English cottage name, cute English road name, some abbreviated form of their city/county, postcode'". The names of people are always intriguing to me. We had a Mrs. Allison and a Mrs. Busby (ironic, as those are the two last names of the founders of this publishing house). And I also came across a Mrs. B Still, which I thought was humor since it is kinda a sentence..."Be still!" haha. In other letters, the handwriting is atrocious, calling for the need of the Royal Mail's address finder website. And sometimes, the spellings are just plain confusing, especially if from Wales. For instance, one area is named "Ceulanamaesmawr". But some are still written out as actual letters, as if speaking to an old friend. I read one written by an older gentleman, and it said, "Could you please send me 'Girl at the Farmhouse Gate'. It is for my wife. She was the girl at the farmhouse gate and I was the boy who waited for her." Aw! How adorable! I loved reading the letters that had an actual story. It made the dull task of constant typing of contacts must more enjoyable.
I have two more weeks of my internship and then I'm finished. I've learned a lot and the length of this internship was just perfect--not too long but not too short. I've definitely enjoyed the experience. :)
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Underneath London
This past Sunday, Callum and I decided to visit Fleet Street--or rather, I wanted to visit Fleet Street and I took Callum with me. :)
Fleet used to be a river, until the city kept growing and eventually paved over it so that now it runs underground and can't be seen. Instead, there is Fleet Street--which use to be the home of the biggest, best, and richest publishing and newspaper companies. Being an English major, I naturally wanted to go check it out, even if there aren't any publishers there anymore. We had to walk by the financial district, which Callum enjoyed because he's studying economics. As we got closer, the building became more and more office-y and really tall. As we were walking, I saw a little mews that had a really pretty archway and lamp, so we went over to investigate. Turns out, it was the entrance to St. Bride's church. I wanted to explore, so we went in. It was a gorgeous church, with stained class windows and a really elaborate steeple, which the sign outside claimed to have inspired the tier-shaped wedding cake. That sign also said there was a crypt underneath it. Maybe its my love of secret passageways, but I REALLY wanted to go see that. We go explore for free, so down we went! And lo and behold, one of the coolest crypts (and so far the ONLY crypt) that I've ever seen. It used to be where the parishoners and notorious people were buried. They had part of it set up like a museum and it was really informative. Apparently St. Bride's wasn't always just a church, it use to be where the original and first printing press in England operated from and continued to be in the epicenter of the publishing sector on fleet street until the business started moving away in 1980s with the advent of computers. This crypt also happened to lie on a foundation built by the Romans when they owned the land long before England existed as it does today. They discovered this when they were renovating the church. Under the crype is authentic Roman pavement--bricks laid down by the Romans. It was amazing! The U.S. has some cool sites, but just plain doesn't have any that old! It was really neat to stand there where Romans used to walk and publishing tycoons used to worship. And we hadn't even really planned to tour anywhere or even knew that St. Bride's existed. It was a really nice surprise and I learned a lot about the publishing industry in London--yea for educational adventures! :)
Since then, I've just been working on wrapping up the school year so I can enjoy the rest of my time in London. My classes and internship end in 2 weeks and I'm using the first week of spring break to write my two final papers. Then I'll be filling my time with non-obligatory things like enjoying London, visit Norwich with Callum, hosting Emily Lambrix and Niki Green in May, and spending time with my flatmates. I leave London and return to Michigan on June 18th--though I technically have my flat until the 25th, my summer job begins on the 20th and I need to be back for that. So all-in-all, I have a lovely 2 month-ish chunk of time to enjoy and relax in and I can't wait until that time is here! :)
Fleet used to be a river, until the city kept growing and eventually paved over it so that now it runs underground and can't be seen. Instead, there is Fleet Street--which use to be the home of the biggest, best, and richest publishing and newspaper companies. Being an English major, I naturally wanted to go check it out, even if there aren't any publishers there anymore. We had to walk by the financial district, which Callum enjoyed because he's studying economics. As we got closer, the building became more and more office-y and really tall. As we were walking, I saw a little mews that had a really pretty archway and lamp, so we went over to investigate. Turns out, it was the entrance to St. Bride's church. I wanted to explore, so we went in. It was a gorgeous church, with stained class windows and a really elaborate steeple, which the sign outside claimed to have inspired the tier-shaped wedding cake. That sign also said there was a crypt underneath it. Maybe its my love of secret passageways, but I REALLY wanted to go see that. We go explore for free, so down we went! And lo and behold, one of the coolest crypts (and so far the ONLY crypt) that I've ever seen. It used to be where the parishoners and notorious people were buried. They had part of it set up like a museum and it was really informative. Apparently St. Bride's wasn't always just a church, it use to be where the original and first printing press in England operated from and continued to be in the epicenter of the publishing sector on fleet street until the business started moving away in 1980s with the advent of computers. This crypt also happened to lie on a foundation built by the Romans when they owned the land long before England existed as it does today. They discovered this when they were renovating the church. Under the crype is authentic Roman pavement--bricks laid down by the Romans. It was amazing! The U.S. has some cool sites, but just plain doesn't have any that old! It was really neat to stand there where Romans used to walk and publishing tycoons used to worship. And we hadn't even really planned to tour anywhere or even knew that St. Bride's existed. It was a really nice surprise and I learned a lot about the publishing industry in London--yea for educational adventures! :)
Since then, I've just been working on wrapping up the school year so I can enjoy the rest of my time in London. My classes and internship end in 2 weeks and I'm using the first week of spring break to write my two final papers. Then I'll be filling my time with non-obligatory things like enjoying London, visit Norwich with Callum, hosting Emily Lambrix and Niki Green in May, and spending time with my flatmates. I leave London and return to Michigan on June 18th--though I technically have my flat until the 25th, my summer job begins on the 20th and I need to be back for that. So all-in-all, I have a lovely 2 month-ish chunk of time to enjoy and relax in and I can't wait until that time is here! :)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Happy Birthday...to Me. :)
So, my relatively faithful once-a-week blog entries of first semester have now turned into once a month entries...this was not my intention! Balancing my internship and classes with fun things and exploring London has forced me to triage my time I had dedicated to my blog. However, I am going to update it now!
In the beginning of February, Callum and I went to Ronnie Scott’s—London’s oldest jazz club. I went because some of my Dad’s favorite performers have played there and I said I’d go visit and see a show for him. And since Valentine’s Day was a Monday this year and we both had classes, it also served as Callum and my “Valentine’s Day night out”. We saw Kenny Barron—a really good pianist, 6 time Grammy nominated. He had dedicated his whole life to performing and has played all around the world. He was amazing to watch. The place itself was really nice. On the outside, there’s just simple posters hanging in display boxes with a neon light hanging above beaming “Ronnie Scott’s” with a saxophone next to it. As we walked in, we were greeted by two very well-dressed men, complete with awesome zoot suit-inspired hats, and they were very pleasant when they directed us to the hostess’ desk. We were taken to our table—a very skinny booth-style up against a back wall and lit by the red glow of two table lamps—and watched the intro band. They were a very raggedy looking trio, but they were very talented none-the-less. And though it made me miss the music part of my life a little bit, the whole night was very fun and relaxing.
Another weekend, Callum’s mom, mom’s boyfriend, and little brother came up to London for the day. We all went out for lunch and walked around the British Museum for the afternoon. The British Museum is amazing! It has a very wide collection of everything from Egypt to China and the building itself is amazingly beautiful. We only toured around the Egyptian and Greece exhibits that day. So the following weekend, Callum and I went back and did some more exploring. We still haven’t seen all the exhibits yet! It is quite an expansive place, with large Roman columns marking the entrance, high glass ceilings, a quaint open café area, and a giant staircase in the middle leading off to various floors. It was very nice to walk around and read all the history.
On the same note of history, we also went to the Imperial War Museum—Callum’s pick. We went at the beginning of half term for younger school kids here in England, so the place was flooded with little school kids—mostly boys with cute caps—going “ah, wow, look, a bomb, a truck, a ‘name of cool big-kid-war toy here’” haha. It was a smaller building, and the exhibits were very close together, but I liked learning a bit more about England’s war history—it was more in-depth than what I’ve ever had in high school.
Classes are still going well. With only 4 weeks left of term, the school year seems to have gone by quickly. But I have lots of time after classes official end, which is really nice so that I can enjoy London and everyone I hang out with here in a non-stressed, summer-like context. It’ll be great and relaxing—I can’t wait!
My internship is still strong as well. I’ve been doing a lot of proof-reading, research for book/blog tours, and previewing new manuscripts. I definitely want to look into this as a career—I am really glad I took on this internship. J
When I’m not in class, at work, are walking around a museum, I’ve just been doing normal, average things. Reena and I still make pancakes every Friday—I enjoy sitting around in my p.j.s until 1. We also saw a movie—Black Swan. Rather good, but not the best flick to see late on a Wednesday night—too much thinking involved! Haha. I also spend a lot of time in our kitchen still, sitting and talking and drinking tea.
And now, like the title of this entry states, it was my birthday a few days ago!! I am now 21, which strangely feels so much better than turning 20. Don’t ask me why…I think it is just because I am more comfortable with “being in my 20s” now than I was last year, which is good. J I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. We had gorgeous weather! I mean, really gorgeous weather, even for London. It was warm (ish) and REALLY sunny. I had one class in the morning and actually really enjoyed my walk to and back. Then when I got back at my flat, I find that my door and the kitchen has been decorated with streamers and balloons—all Reena’s doing. I knock on her door and she was there, along with Callum and Reena’s friend Sophie, which apparently helped blowing up the balloons. We sat and talked for a bit there. Reena gave me her gift—a silver necklace of a set of keys. It is a tradition in her family that when you turn 21, you are given a key—there is some kind of folklore behind it that I need to look up still. It was really sweet. When Reena and Sophie went to their class, Callum and I went for a walk in Regents Park before his class, which was really nice. I saw lots of daffodils and other flowers springing up, which was lovely. That evening, Callum, Reena, Jess, and I went out to dinner—we had Italian food, complete with wine. Even though I’ve had wine before here, it was nice to have wine that night especially to mark my 21st. We came back to the flat afterwards to eat the beautiful cake Callum bought for me. It was chocolate with fruit and a kind of buttercream frosting on the inside and milk and white chocolate covering the outside. YUM! I like cake, haha. My parents had sent me a gift in the mail, which Reena held hostage until my actual birthday day in her room. So I opened that up next on skype with my family so they could see. It was a really nice day, filled with family, friends, and food—always a good combination.
I have posted pictures on facebook of Regents Park a few weeks ago—Callum and I like to walk there whenever there’s good weather to do so. I’ve also put up the handful of pictures that I’ve taken since there—at the park again and of my birthday celebration.
In the beginning of February, Callum and I went to Ronnie Scott’s—London’s oldest jazz club. I went because some of my Dad’s favorite performers have played there and I said I’d go visit and see a show for him. And since Valentine’s Day was a Monday this year and we both had classes, it also served as Callum and my “Valentine’s Day night out”. We saw Kenny Barron—a really good pianist, 6 time Grammy nominated. He had dedicated his whole life to performing and has played all around the world. He was amazing to watch. The place itself was really nice. On the outside, there’s just simple posters hanging in display boxes with a neon light hanging above beaming “Ronnie Scott’s” with a saxophone next to it. As we walked in, we were greeted by two very well-dressed men, complete with awesome zoot suit-inspired hats, and they were very pleasant when they directed us to the hostess’ desk. We were taken to our table—a very skinny booth-style up against a back wall and lit by the red glow of two table lamps—and watched the intro band. They were a very raggedy looking trio, but they were very talented none-the-less. And though it made me miss the music part of my life a little bit, the whole night was very fun and relaxing.
Another weekend, Callum’s mom, mom’s boyfriend, and little brother came up to London for the day. We all went out for lunch and walked around the British Museum for the afternoon. The British Museum is amazing! It has a very wide collection of everything from Egypt to China and the building itself is amazingly beautiful. We only toured around the Egyptian and Greece exhibits that day. So the following weekend, Callum and I went back and did some more exploring. We still haven’t seen all the exhibits yet! It is quite an expansive place, with large Roman columns marking the entrance, high glass ceilings, a quaint open café area, and a giant staircase in the middle leading off to various floors. It was very nice to walk around and read all the history.
On the same note of history, we also went to the Imperial War Museum—Callum’s pick. We went at the beginning of half term for younger school kids here in England, so the place was flooded with little school kids—mostly boys with cute caps—going “ah, wow, look, a bomb, a truck, a ‘name of cool big-kid-war toy here’” haha. It was a smaller building, and the exhibits were very close together, but I liked learning a bit more about England’s war history—it was more in-depth than what I’ve ever had in high school.
Classes are still going well. With only 4 weeks left of term, the school year seems to have gone by quickly. But I have lots of time after classes official end, which is really nice so that I can enjoy London and everyone I hang out with here in a non-stressed, summer-like context. It’ll be great and relaxing—I can’t wait!
My internship is still strong as well. I’ve been doing a lot of proof-reading, research for book/blog tours, and previewing new manuscripts. I definitely want to look into this as a career—I am really glad I took on this internship. J
When I’m not in class, at work, are walking around a museum, I’ve just been doing normal, average things. Reena and I still make pancakes every Friday—I enjoy sitting around in my p.j.s until 1. We also saw a movie—Black Swan. Rather good, but not the best flick to see late on a Wednesday night—too much thinking involved! Haha. I also spend a lot of time in our kitchen still, sitting and talking and drinking tea.
And now, like the title of this entry states, it was my birthday a few days ago!! I am now 21, which strangely feels so much better than turning 20. Don’t ask me why…I think it is just because I am more comfortable with “being in my 20s” now than I was last year, which is good. J I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. We had gorgeous weather! I mean, really gorgeous weather, even for London. It was warm (ish) and REALLY sunny. I had one class in the morning and actually really enjoyed my walk to and back. Then when I got back at my flat, I find that my door and the kitchen has been decorated with streamers and balloons—all Reena’s doing. I knock on her door and she was there, along with Callum and Reena’s friend Sophie, which apparently helped blowing up the balloons. We sat and talked for a bit there. Reena gave me her gift—a silver necklace of a set of keys. It is a tradition in her family that when you turn 21, you are given a key—there is some kind of folklore behind it that I need to look up still. It was really sweet. When Reena and Sophie went to their class, Callum and I went for a walk in Regents Park before his class, which was really nice. I saw lots of daffodils and other flowers springing up, which was lovely. That evening, Callum, Reena, Jess, and I went out to dinner—we had Italian food, complete with wine. Even though I’ve had wine before here, it was nice to have wine that night especially to mark my 21st. We came back to the flat afterwards to eat the beautiful cake Callum bought for me. It was chocolate with fruit and a kind of buttercream frosting on the inside and milk and white chocolate covering the outside. YUM! I like cake, haha. My parents had sent me a gift in the mail, which Reena held hostage until my actual birthday day in her room. So I opened that up next on skype with my family so they could see. It was a really nice day, filled with family, friends, and food—always a good combination.
I have posted pictures on facebook of Regents Park a few weeks ago—Callum and I like to walk there whenever there’s good weather to do so. I’ve also put up the handful of pictures that I’ve taken since there—at the park again and of my birthday celebration.
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