LIFE MOVES ---> FAST

big news, FINALLY GOT A JOBBBBBB
at Brookings Executive Education, a collaboration between Washington University in St. Louis, Olin School of Business, and Brookings Institute (thinktank in DC)
going to be doing Events Assistanting which is gonna be nice and admin-heavy but i really like the team and i feel so awesome about this position

my life is finally moving forward and i think as nice as it was to have a plan (get a job and go to grad school) im starting to feel dissatisfaction with at least some parts of the museum world
i hate inefficiency and working in this field is making me feel so inefficient.
i need to be challenged and move forward and if all i can scrounge up is a part-time job doing admin shit at a postal museum and working on my own projects which will go nowhere because my senior researcher is _insane_ and also in some ways burned out, then i think its time for the change

it is so wonderful to have all my stress leave my life
and i can finally post on this blog without going NEED A JOB JUST GIVE ME A JOB
life has been pretty good if not for the stress of being overlooked at work and looking for work + then deciding between the three offers
loove my new TMH friends hana and yi and kayla and sam <3
going to be living here until april 30th, if not longer if i dont go crazy

moved into a penthouse suite with two windows (just on the 3rd floor) which is so similar to my room at vassar my junior year
hana supercurled my hair and will do so again sunday so i look pretty--need to buy bobbypins!
got a nice bagel with cream cheese
went with hana and yi to hillwood estate and museum ---soooo beautiful and especially with hte paper dresses! never saw a museum whose motto is "be fabulous!"

& with two canadian interns colleagues of hana's, rob and shivonne. met so many canadians last night who cheered for me when hana screamed "SHE GOT A JOB. AT _BROOKINGS_"
<3
enjoyed a nice Goose Island Sofie and discussed...canadian things? met three more TMH-Canada intern girls Alicia, Jessical, and Nujhat
 AND miss emily haight of chicago (only because i met her there) is now officially at NMWA (National museum of women in the arts) so there will be many mini-Chicago reunions and happy hours to come. got to see her, matt, matt's bf michael, and meghan, gabe, and some others from Smithsonian American Art at Chef Geoffs and enjoy a beer and an awesome burger :)

after hillwood we went to get some coffee, and eventually met with sam and her friend bryant at Sichuan Pavilion which was good and authentic--right down to the rude chinese mean waiter :(
but after that, got some bubble tea in chinatown which was ehhh for me but good for others i guess
sat and chatted for a whileeee
and made plans to hang out tomorrow eaaaarly
and i have to go into workkkkk omgggg inauguration is SO SOOOOOON

edit: mt.vernon was cool :D
sorry this got overlooked because of the AWESOMENESS of inauguration

been back

so much has not changed
i really need to fix my inner clock because my current one still gets me into work around 9:30am -_-
but that is better than me waking up at noon...

yesterday was pretty productive
spent the morning with ethan
went to pentagon city with leslie to get shoes for the inaugural ball (yay for comfort)
then national gallery with joe
pulpo, a tapas place, with joe--had some delicious mini burgers, and tres leches
then a thai place with matt, caught up with him
headed home
unpacked til about 1am, showered, and slept soundly :)

a little too soundly!

SECOND SEMESTERRR

...is exactly like the first.
very little, really none, fanfare for my return
but it's okay because that doesnt really matter. what matters is that it's INAUGURAL BALL INAUGURAL BALL INAUGURAL BALL

i need to remember to chat up people i havent met yet at NMAI and GGHC, try to leave a really positive impression :)

TMH is lovely as ever, rent is going up by $10 and they gave me my old room hahaha yay? not sure.
whoooo im back!

ai wei wei - never sorry

ai wei wei - not god's gift man to man
i like his ideas and some of his works, but at the end of the day he is an egotistical artist at the head of a massive workshop of nameless people
he doesn't seem to appreciate the valor of others because he thinks he is the leader through twitter
that he lives alone and that one person can enact all the change
he doesn't seem to believe in the strength of those who support him and also risk their lives just to help him do the things he does--only without the fame of being a fat man with a twitter account

that being said, some of his works are truly inspiring -- especially the sichuan earthquake victims pieces, but others are not as moving
some of it feels like dada on steroids, and some of its just him camwhoring it up because people don't do it in china and he's so different
he's the one cat that opens a door and leaves apparently
and like a cat, i love and hate him
so i guess what this means is he's definitely a great artist.

Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry (2012)

She lived 7 years happily on this earth.

and definitely an amazing documentary which can only attest to how things should be done--you really do get a good full nuanced complicated picture about the situation and that ai wei wei is not an amazing idol who is perfect, he's also flawed and sometimes not right

"One person can not solve the problems of a whole country. But if everyone ignores the country's problems, what will happen?"
- Gao Ying, Ai WeiWei's mother

i would've loved to see an actual bit from ai wei wei's wif about ai lao, his son from another marriage. why does he speak for everyone? hell, why did the mother of the child only get two lines and the two lines are "oh he's so nice to the son"?

" Ai had his only son through an extra-marital affair. “It was important to show Ai Weiwei as a father, not only because his son plays a crucial role in his life, but also because it’s one of the major reasons why authorities are now able to put more pressure on him,” says Klayman. “Without getting too much into his personal life, it was also important not to hide the truth, and to show that Weiwei is not a superhuman. He is a real person.” " So the man is not an island.

eames - math/science/art

what amazing sensitivity

Eames: The Architect and the Painter (2011)

"We don't do art. We solve problems."
"Best for the most for the least" - Ray Eames

sick day

woke up feeling worse than ever
napped, set up the horse blanket so im extra comfy
gonna be a day behind or so

Art:21 Identity~
starring Steve Martin, Bruce Nauman, Kerry James Marshall, Maya Lin (eek), and Louise Bourgeois
amazing
http://video.pbs.org/video/1237561998/

i like the series because even though it's thematically organized, the content is so rich with great interviews and images
maya lin is like all at once the most serious and adorable artists ever

"I cannot remember a time when I was not concerned with environmental issues or when I did not feel humbled by the beauty of the natural world. A strong respect and love for the land exists throughout my work.
I take inspiration from topography and natural phenomena: water patterns, solar eclipses, mappings of the ocean floor, ice formations, undulations of the landscape. My work asks the viewer to pay closer attention to the land.
As we begin the new millennium, we have to think of peace not just as among our own species but as encompassing all species that live on this planet. We must look at how our activities affect the natural world in which we live."
- Maya Lin (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/Lin/essay.html)

joy joy

interview went really well
northwestern might like me haha
nintendo store right afte rinterview
met up with samson and we went to the tree at rockefeller center, as well as the famous image of 30 rock and the christmas tree
lunch at tgifridays
walked over to kelvin's building and we saw the cool lever house with the tapestries and the huge bronze rat (that looked plush)
had some coffee in the blackstone building which was a little cracked out on christmas
after discussing e-waste and sustainability in the lever house courtyard, went down to the maker bot store on mulberry st--which had the most awesome heart gear and huge 3-d printed displays
after that, did a mini derive because i saw the street art wall changed and took some awesome photos
then went to the new museum of art, saw the exhibitions there on Rosemarie Trockel, and my favorite were definitely her wool pieces and her kunstkammer inspired curiosities with the beautiful scientific illustrations :)
omg Günter Weseler breathing pieces--amazing and terrifying. art really came alive o_o
after that we realized the new museum has a studio space next door called studio 231 which is currently featuring Haroon Mirza, "Preoccupied Waveforms" which was a thumping awesome room
http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/preoccupied-waveforms
following that we walked a bit, went into freitag which had the overwhelming smell of vinyl baggage
and then took the train to penn station to have red mango and look at the empire state building at a nice distance
walked to times square, spotted the ball from a nice distance and saw skyfall :D
good view from the empire terrace and now back homeeeee
whew--did so much!