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pre-holiday prep plus linky fun
So as you know, very soon I am moving in with Mom and putting all my stuff into storage in my attic here. I need to be out of my current apartment by the end of January so Patrick can move into it. He really needs to be in a bit earlier than the end of January so he can paint (because I was lazy when I moved in and left the dreadful paint that was already there alone). Which means I need to goddamned get busy cleaning up and packing, right? AND it's also three days before Christmas, where I need to produce presents for at least two people. And when I woke up today I had exactly one small present in hand. So naturally today I...
...went to a museum. That's right. It's been on my list of "FUN" for several years, but for some reason today (TODAY) I was compelled to go to the Peabody Essex Museum (which is not in Peabody at all, nor is it in Essex, although it IS in Essex County — as is Peabody, confusingly. No, the museum is in Salem. You're welcome). I had read an article in the Globe a month ago about how they managed to recently raise $550 million, which put them in the top tier of museums, along par with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. So that totally piqued my interest and got me out of my own way to finally go. I mean, quality museum experience with no city annoyances? Yay!
It has a huge Asian art collection, and has a big maritime history collection as well. The Phillips Library, a separate building, is closed right now for renovations, but has an amazing collection of books, maps, and other written word stuff like ship log books — a selection of which is on display in the main museum building. I have a particular fondness for stuff in museums, rather than for paintings. Show me pottery, tools, weapons, housewares, chests, furniture, jewelry, models, books, and I'm happy. Paintings are fine, but I like to see all forms of stuff.
So I happily pottered around for a few hours. I even bought myself a membership (I am on a "reacquire familiarity with culture" kick right now, and find myself drawn to this kind of thing more and more. Might as well have the ability to go whenever I want to, right?) There's Comida, an awesome taqueria, right next door to the museum, too, so I avoided the cafe and went there for lunch. Nom nom nom, torta! Pretty good.
I then dealt with reality and ran around buying Christmas presents. The stuff I ordered online arrived today, also, so I am basically ready for this holiday madness. Gotta pick up some lottery tickets for Mom tomorrow (her favorite thing), but otherwise I'm done. I've even wrapped everything already. Yay me! STARTING to feel the holiday spirit. A little. Maybe!
Other entertainment: Been haunting Redbox lately. Like I don't already have enough options for entertainment, with my two Tivos, my Netflix streaming, and my Netflix DVDs by mail? I guess I don't, because I managed to rent something like 10 movies from them in the last few weeks. Some were HORRIBLE. I got Green Lantern (bad), the latest Pirates movie (ok), Super 8 (great), Captain America (good), 13 (good in a stylish odd way), The River Murders (bad, with Ray Liotta and Christian Slater, so it could have gone either way but it didn't go a good way), The Lost Future (tv movie, unwatchable even by me, and had Sean Bean so WTF?), 2012 Ice Age (very very bad, done by Asylum so there you go), Transformers Something Something (bad), Catch .44 (bad — and with Bruce Willis and Forrest Whitaker it should have been better), and something I'm forgetting that was also bad. The best thing about Redbox? It's a dollar to watch something bad. Instead of $3 or whatever Blockbuster used to be. And it's right there. But seriously, take my advice and avoid most of what I rented. My takeaway: Just because there's a decent actor in it doesn't mean it's a decent flick. MAN! Also: don't stand there at the machine trying to pick your movie. Do it from the comfort of home, then just go pick them up. Then you can avoid movies like THE LOST FUTURE. Dear god.
As I mentioned before, P and I also saw the lovely Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes, which honestly I have no idea if it held together as a movie, as I am attending merely to drool over pretty manflesh. I think it was fun! Tomorrow we are going to see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and I am hoping that will be excellent fun, also. We are trying to get to see all the movies we want to again.
Made it to 60 pounds lost, finally, since I started this spring. Which means that from my lifetime maximum weight I have now lost 100 pounds. 100 pounds! An entire supermodel and a half! Now I just need to lose another 100 pounds and I will be good. Yay! Halfway. I expect this half will go more slowly. But hey. Took me 47 years to put it on. I can deal with a bit to take it off again.
slideshow of museum pix or click below to see select images.
...went to a museum. That's right. It's been on my list of "FUN" for several years, but for some reason today (TODAY) I was compelled to go to the Peabody Essex Museum (which is not in Peabody at all, nor is it in Essex, although it IS in Essex County — as is Peabody, confusingly. No, the museum is in Salem. You're welcome). I had read an article in the Globe a month ago about how they managed to recently raise $550 million, which put them in the top tier of museums, along par with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. So that totally piqued my interest and got me out of my own way to finally go. I mean, quality museum experience with no city annoyances? Yay!
It has a huge Asian art collection, and has a big maritime history collection as well. The Phillips Library, a separate building, is closed right now for renovations, but has an amazing collection of books, maps, and other written word stuff like ship log books — a selection of which is on display in the main museum building. I have a particular fondness for stuff in museums, rather than for paintings. Show me pottery, tools, weapons, housewares, chests, furniture, jewelry, models, books, and I'm happy. Paintings are fine, but I like to see all forms of stuff.
So I happily pottered around for a few hours. I even bought myself a membership (I am on a "reacquire familiarity with culture" kick right now, and find myself drawn to this kind of thing more and more. Might as well have the ability to go whenever I want to, right?) There's Comida, an awesome taqueria, right next door to the museum, too, so I avoided the cafe and went there for lunch. Nom nom nom, torta! Pretty good.
I then dealt with reality and ran around buying Christmas presents. The stuff I ordered online arrived today, also, so I am basically ready for this holiday madness. Gotta pick up some lottery tickets for Mom tomorrow (her favorite thing), but otherwise I'm done. I've even wrapped everything already. Yay me! STARTING to feel the holiday spirit. A little. Maybe!
Other entertainment: Been haunting Redbox lately. Like I don't already have enough options for entertainment, with my two Tivos, my Netflix streaming, and my Netflix DVDs by mail? I guess I don't, because I managed to rent something like 10 movies from them in the last few weeks. Some were HORRIBLE. I got Green Lantern (bad), the latest Pirates movie (ok), Super 8 (great), Captain America (good), 13 (good in a stylish odd way), The River Murders (bad, with Ray Liotta and Christian Slater, so it could have gone either way but it didn't go a good way), The Lost Future (tv movie, unwatchable even by me, and had Sean Bean so WTF?), 2012 Ice Age (very very bad, done by Asylum so there you go), Transformers Something Something (bad), Catch .44 (bad — and with Bruce Willis and Forrest Whitaker it should have been better), and something I'm forgetting that was also bad. The best thing about Redbox? It's a dollar to watch something bad. Instead of $3 or whatever Blockbuster used to be. And it's right there. But seriously, take my advice and avoid most of what I rented. My takeaway: Just because there's a decent actor in it doesn't mean it's a decent flick. MAN! Also: don't stand there at the machine trying to pick your movie. Do it from the comfort of home, then just go pick them up. Then you can avoid movies like THE LOST FUTURE. Dear god.
As I mentioned before, P and I also saw the lovely Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes, which honestly I have no idea if it held together as a movie, as I am attending merely to drool over pretty manflesh. I think it was fun! Tomorrow we are going to see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and I am hoping that will be excellent fun, also. We are trying to get to see all the movies we want to again.
Made it to 60 pounds lost, finally, since I started this spring. Which means that from my lifetime maximum weight I have now lost 100 pounds. 100 pounds! An entire supermodel and a half! Now I just need to lose another 100 pounds and I will be good. Yay! Halfway. I expect this half will go more slowly. But hey. Took me 47 years to put it on. I can deal with a bit to take it off again.
slideshow of museum pix or click below to see select images.
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Next time I go I'll see the Chinese house and maybe spend more time in the documents room. That was pretty neat.