Sunday, June 16, 2019
By:
Did you happen to know that time moves forward in a linear fashion? I knew that, but somehow it continues to surprise me.
Week three is over already, everyone!
There are so many great things going on, I can’t even fit them all into one blog post. Here are my highlights for this week:
My project is on the waiting game right now. The modeling is going great! I’ve successfully modeled two test cases, one of a Bulbasaur planter with a cactus in it, and another Chewbacca pop figurine. I’ve also successfully modeled a sculptural piece from my own show, “Not to Scale”. The last thing we are waiting on here is the software! Then I can put my show up for display as a test case, and start contacting other artists to make sure they’re on board and I can start modeling their work.
To make the best use of my time, I decided to work in parallel on the secondary project of the summer: Physics Quest. Physics Quest is a teaching guide that the APS releases every year, targeted at middle school age kids. The past few years it has featured the comic book hero, Spectra, but this year we are returning to an older style guide which features a famous scientist and a small narrative to engage and guide the kids along.
I have the fun task of illustrating for the guide, as well as choosing a scientist and writing the narrative guide! I’m really excited about this as well. Past issues have featured Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, and Marie Curie. This time, though, I think we have an excellent opportunity to add some representation, so I’ve been doing a lot of research on women physicists of color. I’m starting to narrow down some choices, but I’m happy to get recommendations, too!
Phew, that’s it for work talk. On to the million and one social events we had this week!
Thursday night, we had the SPS Executive Committee dinner cruise. This was an absolutely amazing experience! The food was amazing, and everyone was dancing throughout the night. It was much less the networking experience I expected, and much more a real bonding experience with my fellow interns, as well as some more senior members of the SPS! I was completely exhausted afterwards, but there were no breaks this weekend.
My husband came in Thursday, too, to visit for the weekend. Friday night, a few of my fellow interns and us all went out to karaoke at the Punch Bowl Social in Arlington. This place is a decent metro ride away, but it is crazy cool. Not only do they have karaoke, they have darts, bowling, a bar, great food, and a million other activities I couldn’t even see! I’d recommend this place to any future interns, or anyone who just wants to visit the DC area!
Saturday, I finally got out and did some tourist-y things. Sam and I went to the National Zoo, which is huge! There was so much to see, it took us the whole day. The weather was perfect – sunny but not too hot and a great breeze. It was a bit crowded, but the exhibits were very cool. My favorite part was the electric eel exhibit, which featured a probe which picked up the eel’s electric bursts and translated them into sound! By pressing a button, you could hear the shock waves the eel sends out whenever it gets excited.
As if that wasn’t a packed enough day, all the Interns and I got to attend the National Orchestral Institute + Festival concert Saturday night. Normally, I’m not a big fan of orchestra. I love the music, but it is difficult to sit still through a two-hour concert of classical music. This concert, however, was a game changer. The music was more modern, and completely engaging throughout. Most of the musicians in the orchestra were around our age too! They brought such a great energy to the stage. The orchestra was Grammy nominated last year, and I can see why.
This week came to an end with a lovely lazy Sunday, and boy did I need it! With so many things going on, it is important to take breaks and recharge before doing it all again next week. That being said, I’m going to turn in and get an especially restful night’s sleep.
See y’all next week!
Isabel Bishop