Home Keys, Sweet Home Keys

The theme of my first week on the job is:

Things I Would Have Done Differently, If I Had Known I Was Going to Be the Writers' Assistant

I interned with "Mad Men" last year from March to August, first just one day a week, then two, then staying late, them working on my off days, until I was in the office almost every day on the last week. I got lunch, made copies, checked the coffee and did research.

I worked hard, but I tried not to pry into the workings of the show, perhaps out of some believe that I wasn't supposed to see this wall chart or that outline. (And I probably wasn't.) But that I have to recreate some of those same documents, I wish I had at least paid attention to the shape of the wall chart, or the size of the type face used.

Soon we'll be in the writers' room and I'll be on white board duty, jotting stuff down with markers -- but I have no recollection of the way the writers' liked to brainstorm. (Except that I remember it being very different from "Smallville," which would completely cover a board with tiny handwriting, then take it off the wall for the writers' assistant to type up.)

Another, minor thing: All this week, we've been ordering in lunch -- except that I can't remember where the office used to order lunch from last year.

Anyway, it's a valuable lesson -- and one I wish I'd picked up sooner. Even though it's extremely unlikely that an internship will lead to a full time job, you never know when you're glimpsing some piece of information that might become extremely useful down the road.

Also: Thank god for that 8th grade typing class at Emerson Jr. High. I know learning to type is a drag and has the faintest whiff of defeat, as if you're setting yourself up for a career as a secretary. I can't even imagine trying to do do this job without the ability to type.