I have only just returned from my final chunk of summer vacation, too late (alas!) to wish a timely "Happy Birthday!" to 
beanpot who lives in this time zone, where it has already crept over the line to Monday. But if I type fast and make under my usual quota of mistakes, I might make it in time for a_loquita who lives a time zone further on! I hope to come up with a little something to honor those birthdays eventually, but for now I need to get my feet back under me again and get the world to stop spinning until I can get caught up on all the things I've been letting go while I was off having fun.
So at its simplest I guess the message is [hangs head in shame] moar fun for me = delayed fun for you. But I do hope that both of you had wonderful, wonderful birthdays, with plenty of the right kind of attention, and none of life's usual little irritations.beanpot, I admire the way you put your desire for the world that should be into action, and the way you face life with determination, involvement, and a great deal of intelligence, commitment, and determination. a_loquita, you put the glee in fannish glee, calling out attention to an announcement or an interview here, praising a performance there, and giving us wonderfully warm and joyful fics from time to time. Your enjoyment is contagious.
In other news, while I was away I managed to take my eight-year old Whirlwind of Destruction to the Tut exhibit in Times Square (she's taken notice of my large collection of books on Ancient Egypt for kids recently, and King Tut is hands-down her favorite). If you happen to be in the NYC area before January, and have any interest in the subject, go see it. It is expensive ($30 for an adult admission) and over-sensationalized, but some of the objects are simply amazing in the quality of the workmanship and the delicacy of the detail. As a would-be Egyptologist myself, I was really glad to have gone. The kind of detail I was able to see and marvel at is the type of thing that simply would not have shown up in any photograph, so if I had missed seeing the exhibit, I would never have known what I was missing. Buying your tickets on the 'net and printing them out at home is well worth it, if you can determine date and time well in advance. You miss some lines. The 3-D 20 minute movie about mummies that is an extra 5 dollars was worth it for me because the Whirlwind loooved it, and it did show some of the sites I'd love to see in person in 3-D, making it all the more vivid, but it also had Ancient Egyptians with camels !!! (camels were not introduced into Egypt until the Arab conquest around 600 C.E., long after the end of Pharaonic civilization), and I did not find it any too informative. But then I may...ummm...be a little bit over-educated on the subject.
Another high point of the trip (apart from seeing my mom and step dad, and 3 of my 5 sibs, my brother-in-law, and my nieces), was a chance to meetbluewillowtree in person for coffee. She turns out to be a warm and wonderful person, and a very good listener. I know this because I did my usual shy-but-overcompensating thing, and talked a blue streak at her. bluewillowtree, I promise that next time I will be less keyed up, and you will get a chance to get a word in edgewise!
Well, better go, or I will miss August 22nd fora_loquita too!
beanpot who lives in this time zone, where it has already crept over the line to Monday. But if I type fast and make under my usual quota of mistakes, I might make it in time for a_loquita who lives a time zone further on! I hope to come up with a little something to honor those birthdays eventually, but for now I need to get my feet back under me again and get the world to stop spinning until I can get caught up on all the things I've been letting go while I was off having fun.So at its simplest I guess the message is [hangs head in shame] moar fun for me = delayed fun for you. But I do hope that both of you had wonderful, wonderful birthdays, with plenty of the right kind of attention, and none of life's usual little irritations.
beanpot, I admire the way you put your desire for the world that should be into action, and the way you face life with determination, involvement, and a great deal of intelligence, commitment, and determination. a_loquita, you put the glee in fannish glee, calling out attention to an announcement or an interview here, praising a performance there, and giving us wonderfully warm and joyful fics from time to time. Your enjoyment is contagious.In other news, while I was away I managed to take my eight-year old Whirlwind of Destruction to the Tut exhibit in Times Square (she's taken notice of my large collection of books on Ancient Egypt for kids recently, and King Tut is hands-down her favorite). If you happen to be in the NYC area before January, and have any interest in the subject, go see it. It is expensive ($30 for an adult admission) and over-sensationalized, but some of the objects are simply amazing in the quality of the workmanship and the delicacy of the detail. As a would-be Egyptologist myself, I was really glad to have gone. The kind of detail I was able to see and marvel at is the type of thing that simply would not have shown up in any photograph, so if I had missed seeing the exhibit, I would never have known what I was missing. Buying your tickets on the 'net and printing them out at home is well worth it, if you can determine date and time well in advance. You miss some lines. The 3-D 20 minute movie about mummies that is an extra 5 dollars was worth it for me because the Whirlwind loooved it, and it did show some of the sites I'd love to see in person in 3-D, making it all the more vivid, but it also had Ancient Egyptians with camels !!! (camels were not introduced into Egypt until the Arab conquest around 600 C.E., long after the end of Pharaonic civilization), and I did not find it any too informative. But then I may...ummm...be a little bit over-educated on the subject.
Another high point of the trip (apart from seeing my mom and step dad, and 3 of my 5 sibs, my brother-in-law, and my nieces), was a chance to meet
bluewillowtree in person for coffee. She turns out to be a warm and wonderful person, and a very good listener. I know this because I did my usual shy-but-overcompensating thing, and talked a blue streak at her. bluewillowtree, I promise that next time I will be less keyed up, and you will get a chance to get a word in edgewise!Well, better go, or I will miss August 22nd for
a_loquita too!- Current Location:home to stay for a while. Whew!
- Current Mood:
mellow - Current Music:silence. No tire hum. No squabbling kids. Silence.
Comments
Sounds like you had a fabulous trip! We had the Tut exhibit here in Chicago a few years back (sadly, minus the mummy itself) but it was amazing to see all the artifacts up close. No wonder your 8-year-old had such a great time! And though I'm sure you are sad to see your vacation end, we're all glad to have you around these parts again. :)
A few years ago, when they did not have the fancy sealed cases that they have now, some of the mummies began to have some problems (fungal infections and the like) and it was decided that the mummy of Ramesses II (aka Ramesses the Great), one of the worst affected, needed to travel to Paris, where scientists would study the damage and try to come up with a solution to the problem. The mummy was carefully wrapped and readied for the voyage, but there was a problem when it came to customs. The contents of the crate had to be categorized. There was no category for "Pharaonic mummy", so one of Egypts mightiest pharaohs went to France identified on the customs forms as "dried fish".
Of all the pharaohs, Tutankhamon is the only one that has been allowed to remain in his own tomb, because it seemed only fitting, given that he was the only one who was found where the priests had originally placed him.