Instead, I just stopped for a while.
Yeeep.
Just stopped.
I was gonna inform you about anything that happened during my absence, but so much happened in the last day and such that if I did talk about other stuff, this post would become excruciatingly long.
Sort of like my reading of all the entries you guys made while I was gone, thanks to the sheer amount of time, and number of users – and also thanks to certain users who apparently cannot go for about five seconds without posting on here.
*glares at
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
chakramchucker*
So here goes:
Yesterday and until just now today, I took a short trip to Phoenix. You know. The capital of Arizona? Yeah, okay. My mother and I were going to see the Rembrandt exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum (which we had previously planned for earlier, but had to call off due to Mom's Serious Illness – hey, that wouldn't make a bad band name). So, we set off for Phoenix, like I had previously stated. ANYWAY– we did fine until we tried to get on the exit for You Know Which City. Because it had been blocked off.
So we had to take the exit to the airport area, and then while on THAT block of interstate, we got off on the road we were supposed to go to to get to the Youknowwhere Art Museum. There was a slight problem though:
The destination was near 7th Street.
We were on 48th.
No biggie, though – we just have to follow the road until we get where we're going.
We decided to take a short stop at a 7-11, since we were hungry but didn't want to take the time to eat actual food. We stopped, and I got some Twix bars and Doctor Pepper, the king of caffeinated drinks. Well, some of you may argue that coffee is better, but it's the king of soft drinks, at the
very least. Stopping at 7-11 was great, but we realized something on our subsequent return to the car.
The keys
Were locked inside the car.
The RENTAL
Car.
With the car
RUNNING.
AGAIN.Suffice to say that after much frustration, AAA fortunately came by to save our sorry asphalt yet again. Unfortunately, at that point it was about 10:30. And our ticket pickup deadline was 10:45.
After driving all the way down to 7th street, then following the remaining directions and the crossing of all my fingers (inwardly of course), we just BARELY made it.
It was cool. It was not only Rembrandt, but also Dutch art. There were paintings. Lots of 'em. And they were very interesting. There was this weird thing we took with us where you punch in numbers then press a button and hold it to your ear so you can hear comments on the art, but it got annoying so I gave it to Mom.
But the real fun came when we went out of that part of the museum and saw the rest.
IT WAS SO AWESOME.
There were a lot of interesting things. Weird modern art things, other paintings, an exhibit showing how automobiles influenced fashion (in a way that made people look extremely ridiculous, in case you were wondering), actual classic cars (which were way cool), and Some Naked People™.
But my favorite thing was the following installation piece:
It was designed by a female Japanese conceptual artist. No, not that one. Really, it's not. What do you mean you don't know what I'm talking about? Of course you do. Come on, admit it. You were thinking of Yoko. Well, it's not her, and I really don't see why it should be, as conceptual artists appear to be as common in Japan as, say, grass is here in the USA.
Anyway, I'm getting off track. It's a completely black, mirrored room with LEDs hanging from the ceiling on various lengths of... black stringtype stuff. The LED lights periodically changed color/turned off/whatever, as controlled by a computer. The effect? You're in a dark void, which goes on infinitely, with colored "stars" (or whatever your interpretation is, the artist mentions fireflies in the title but this doesn't really seem fitting to me) in every direction. God, it was so gorgeous. And if you know me, you know that is NOT something I say very often nor want to say very often since it makes me sound stupid. But this piece deserve that praise completely. If you are ever in the Phoenix vicinity, I ask– nay,
demand – that you go to this museum, if only just to see that piece.
They also had music. They had students from ASU compose pieces and had other ASU students perform them in string quartets. They would have them play a song inspired by an art piece (next to the aforementioned art pieces), and then they would have different string quartets play different songs by different composers in response to different art pieces, which of course meant that the audience had to move around a whole lot. It was cool. The pieces were definitely avant-garde, but they were very fun to listen to.
After that, we left, and we stopped over to see my aunt and uncle's house/apartment/thing, since they live there and we were staying there. We ate some lunch, then headed to the 24th Annual Blues and Jazz Festival. Cuz it was there. It was all right, and we had some fun, but I personally found it kinda boring, since we were listening to the blues and it was a bit slow, to be honest. Still, funtimes. I had ice cream.
After that, when it was later in the evening, we stopped for something you can find anywhere in the US: cheap Chinese food. Ah! That wonder of all wonders. It's indubitably crap, but you love it, don't you? Well, we did!
We also rented a movie: The Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith is excellent in it, and it's a real heartwrencher. I won't give anything away, but the main character gets reduced so low that at one point he is forced to sleep in a bus station bathroom. And it's a true story. Sad. But uplifting. Oh, also it has the guy who plays Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) in a minor role as a corporate suit.
Then I went to sleep in the guest bedroom. The bed was rather lumpy, and when you moved around on it, it made noises similar to a piece of paper crumpling raised by about 5-10 decibels and slowed down from 33 to 72 rpm. Still, I slept.
Then I woke up, and after some breakfast, we went to another museum: The Phoenix Science Center or something like that. And saw Body Worlds 3. You know, where they have all those people's insideys shown in statues. Pretty cool, and you learn a lot about the human body. However, if you are a prude and are offended by naked people, don't go. More importantly, if you are offended by people who not only are not wearing clothes but who have no SKIN on and are DEAD, then don't go. And if you faint at the sight of blood,
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T GO! There's not any (flowing) blood, of course, but I'm guessing if you don't like blood, you're not going to like cadavers, either.
Afterwards, we saw other hands-on type stuff at the museum, ate at a Jack-in-the-Box, and drove home. The only thing notable about the drive home is that as we drove, there was some very heavy wind that was blowing a crapload of dust around. So much that you could barely see, at one point. There was a whole LOT of it. I mean srsly.
So there's the end to my long post.
If you're curious about anything you may have missed, let me tell you that all you missed was standardized testing (complete with the idiotic questions that surely were intended for 4-year-olds or something), and a sleepover thing where my classmates and I all went to someone's house and Had Fun, but only got 3 hours of sleep MAX. Not that we weren't trying, but... Ugh. Don't wanna talk about it.
Anyway, there.
Wait, nobody missed me. Or cared.
D=
(yeah just kidding you guys were MISERABLE without me. BD)
content
psyched
frustrated
Meh.
aggravated
crazy