Goodbye, October and ohmygoodness November?!
(Photo of a group outing of a design field trip to Carrie Furnace, an iron mill back in the day.)
FEAST FOR THE EYES>>
- The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Haruki Murakami. Excellent book! I really adore Murakami for his intricate stories. I was reading some of the GoodReads reviews and I feel sorry for the people who just read it as a confusing mess. They’re not indulging.
- Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language. Robert McCrum. You know, it was wasn’t constantly thrilling but I thought it was an interesting read. Unlike The History of the English Language in 100 Words book, this was much more enjoyable to follow along to. McCrum talks about how different events in history pushed English forward. So if you’re into knowing the ‘why’ of things, i’d recommend this book.
- Things I have learned in my life so far. Stefan Sagmeister. You guys know how I feel about it.
- Microinteractions. Dan Saffer. This was for my thesis, but it was pretty interesting and lots of pictures (that’s right, it’s actually not an audio book!)
- Einstein: His Life and Universe. Walter Isaacson. Ugh! Walt! You’re such a good biographer! It was a really amazing book and Einstein is an incredible human being. I highly recommend. You’ll be so dazzled about how this lovable little guy lived his life. It gets a little repetitive at times, but people fall into patterns.
- Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. William McDonough, Michael Braungart. I just started reading this book. I’m pretty sure that I started reading this book in undergrad but was so upset by the all-plastic book I couldn’t continue reading it (dramatic, huh?). But this is an audiobook and so I’ll suck it up and read this very famous and popular book about design. (He explains why its a plastic book and that it’s supposed to be super recyclable. We’ll see. We’ll see.). It makes me wonder again which is worse: killing trees or creating something that never decomposes and that animals eat and die from. The first few pages are non-stop alarm. He’s basically like “Imagine you’re at home and your first born baby son is playing with a rattle. That rattle will kill him.”
ENTHUSED>>
- Friendsgiving in New York! Igor, Shanna, Katie, and Savannah all in one place! I can’t wait!
- I’m enjoying a lot of the readings I’m doing for thesis. I just can’t read all day or I’ll die.
- I’m looking forward to next semester without any mind to how this semester will shape out.
- I made bread! More details to come.
COMPULSIONS>>
- I’ve been interneting a lot.
COMPUNCTIONS>>
- I’m so worried about thesis. Like, so worried. I dropped one of my courses because I realized the imbalance in my life, but I’m still not sure it’s enough to recover all the lost time. Sometimes I’ll think about it more and be in disbelief that I let it get so bad. Oh, Jacklynn.
- I’m sad that I’m never going to get to see Falling Water. It was confirmed mentally to me this weekend that you need a car to go there. Sigh.
SIGHTS>>
- As yo could see pictured above, on Halloween I went with a bunch of other design students to take a tour of Carrie Furnaces. It was so incredible to see the structure and our tour guide, Tom, was amazing. He had actually worked in the iron mill when it was still open. Highly recommend if you’re in the area.
- The Grace Hopper Conference was indeed a good time. it was nice to talk to Becca again. Though, I will admit that it didn’t feel as relevant to me as it could have because I felt like it was mostly for computer scientists.
- I took my design class to the Swiss poster collection at the library and got a lecture by the incredible Mary Kay about them. They were excellent! I’ll have to study the archives and look at them closer. (I miss Switzerland so much). The jazz posters by Niklaus Troxler were especially rememberable to me:
STORIES>>
- Seven Guitars performed by CMU Theater was indeed a good time.
- The Recluse, put on by the Carnegie Theater. It was cute, but not exactly my humor.
- The Usual Suspects. In a bout of protest, I watched it last night while crocheting. I liked it.