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happy birthday to me!
Aug. 22nd, 2012 01:51 amI woke up today to gorgeous weather. Perfect temperature, no humidity, sunny skies. Mom brought me breakfast and gave me some birthday cards (one with cash in, my favorite!) and some lottery tickets (I won $25). After breakfast I decided I'd head up to the Peabody Essex Museum. Really wanted to see the Ansel Adams exhibit. Arrived just in time to tour the exhibit with a docent, so heard some good context while I was looking at everything. I have loved Ansel Adams's work for my entire life — Dad was a photographer, so I grew up with photography books, magazines, and prints all around me. It was pretty neat to be in the same room as photographs Adams printed himself. I decided that I really like his later-in-life work more than his earlier work. He apparently changed the way he printed his own work over time and would revisit earlier negatives and print them again. His later stuff was more contrasty than his earlier stuff, and I'm a huge fan of contrast. The curator for this show decided that he'd try to get prints that were from the same basic time as when the photos were taken, so that was pretty interesting. The curator also tried to represent works from throughout his life, so they had something he took when he was 13 (impressive that they had it, unremarkable as a work). They ranged in size from 3" to room-sized.
No photography allowed inside (IRONY) but here's a good write-up with a few good examples. "Stream, Sea, Clouds" was really impressive in person, as was "Submerged Trees, Slide Lake"
So that was awesome. I left, got a burrito at my fave burrito place, then headed over to the Salem Willows Park. They have a decent arcade there, and I was able to play much pinball. Only $0.25 for most of them! I liked the Sopranos one a lot, however, and that was $0.50. Jerks! When I left I wandered around the park, admiring the willows that it was named for, and got some soft serve — CREAMSICLE flavored! Awesome.
Came home, read the internet a little, then decided I had to keep to Birthday Tradition and go to a (preferably bad) movie. Decided that "The Expendables 2" would fit the bill nicely, so hied myself off to the local cineplex. Delightfully awful in a wonderful way. And now! With added Chuck Norris AND Jean-Claude Van Damme. That's right! VAN DAMAGE! So I enjoyed the hell out of that (although the first one had a plot, which this one really didn't, and it didn't do dumb things like say "I'll meet you at the checkpoint" and then have the guy mysteriously aboard the plane that the rest of them boarded via jetski—but hey! that's all minor quibble stuff).
Got a birthday call from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zanzjan who is having shoulder surgery in the morn tomorrow, so we talked about that. She will find out when she wakes up if she has a couple days of recovery or a whole month, so that's kinda scary! Send "white sling" thoughts her way (because the alternative is "black sling").
Got 2 slices of cake from the bakery (they sell it by the slice) for me and mother. Tomorrow night is birthday dinner with P at Ruth's Chris, so that should be awesome. Thursday is birthday dinner with Jenn at somewhere in Kendall Square that we've never been to before (my choice). My coworker Joanne made me a birthday tart which was delicious. I bought myself birthday flowers, which are awesome. Got some e-cards from my aunties. Got lots of facebook greetings. Had home-cooked birthday dinner. I guess birthday #48 is just about a wrap! It was a good one.
Altered Images says it best:
Other pix at flickr.
No photography allowed inside (IRONY) but here's a good write-up with a few good examples. "Stream, Sea, Clouds" was really impressive in person, as was "Submerged Trees, Slide Lake"
So that was awesome. I left, got a burrito at my fave burrito place, then headed over to the Salem Willows Park. They have a decent arcade there, and I was able to play much pinball. Only $0.25 for most of them! I liked the Sopranos one a lot, however, and that was $0.50. Jerks! When I left I wandered around the park, admiring the willows that it was named for, and got some soft serve — CREAMSICLE flavored! Awesome.
Came home, read the internet a little, then decided I had to keep to Birthday Tradition and go to a (preferably bad) movie. Decided that "The Expendables 2" would fit the bill nicely, so hied myself off to the local cineplex. Delightfully awful in a wonderful way. And now! With added Chuck Norris AND Jean-Claude Van Damme. That's right! VAN DAMAGE! So I enjoyed the hell out of that (although the first one had a plot, which this one really didn't, and it didn't do dumb things like say "I'll meet you at the checkpoint" and then have the guy mysteriously aboard the plane that the rest of them boarded via jetski—but hey! that's all minor quibble stuff).
Got a birthday call from
zanzjan who is having shoulder surgery in the morn tomorrow, so we talked about that. She will find out when she wakes up if she has a couple days of recovery or a whole month, so that's kinda scary! Send "white sling" thoughts her way (because the alternative is "black sling").Got 2 slices of cake from the bakery (they sell it by the slice) for me and mother. Tomorrow night is birthday dinner with P at Ruth's Chris, so that should be awesome. Thursday is birthday dinner with Jenn at somewhere in Kendall Square that we've never been to before (my choice). My coworker Joanne made me a birthday tart which was delicious. I bought myself birthday flowers, which are awesome. Got some e-cards from my aunties. Got lots of facebook greetings. Had home-cooked birthday dinner. I guess birthday #48 is just about a wrap! It was a good one.
Altered Images says it best:
Other pix at flickr.
