What Now

*KERBLOOWIE!*

That was the sound of my head exploding from sheer delight!

I had such a fun day yesterday!

In a rather uncharacteristic move on my part, I decided to take advantage of one of my days off and drive down to Birmingham to visit the Museum of Art so that I could take in the exhibit on Pompeii.

It. Was. AWESOME!!

I'm afraid I'm going to have to geek out for a minute and gush over the fact that I was thisclose to things I studied about in one of my art history classes. I've always been interested in archeology, but Pompeii has always held a special interest for me. The body casts are one of the most amazing, but terribly sad, things I've ever seen. I was amazed by the jewelry, personal items, frescoes, mosaics...gah....everything! I had never realized just how seeing some of these things up close and personally would affect me. I've seen quite a few of these artifacts in books I've read and studied, but to see them in person really brings it home that these things actually belonged to someone. That someone cared enough about them to try and save them from disaster. I don't know if it is the intensely personal stories that arose from such a tragedy or if it is just the fact that I am amazed at the preservation of the things uncovered after such a terrible natural disaster. Well, whatever it was, I was in a constant state of on-the-verge-of-pants-wetting excitement while going through the exhibit.

A moment of silence for the death of whatever marginal coolness I might have once possessed.

I also had enough time to check out the other exhibits that the BMOA had to offer and I was in awe of the paintings and sculptures from the 13th-18th century artists from Italy and France as well as the Native American things, African stuff and hell, even the display of Wedgewood ceramics blew my mind. It was so much fun.

And to top it all off, I got to spend the evening with my very favorite Kenny, who took me to see the Vulcan statue! We sat and talked for a couple of hours, had an interesting discussion about the moralities of cloning, and got to act silly in the rain. I also went ahead and gave him his birthday and Christmas gifts, because I have no self control and was too excited about them to wait another month. When it was time for me to go he led me back to the interstate. Unfortunately for me, however, I took a wrong turn and wound up going SOUTH on 65. Huntsville is, of course, is in north Alabama. I drove quite a ways south before being able to turn around, but everything worked out in the end. I made it home before 10:00, so the Marines didn't have to be dispatched by my mother to find me.

My mom will forever believe I am 15 years old, but I'm glad she loves me enough to worry. :)