I Just Saw a Man Get Tackled...

...right in front of the museum.  Zana and I were just talking about cars, and the pros/cons of automatic or manual transmission, and I saw through our huge front windows a man running at full speed, followed by two policemen who tackled him right under our admission line tent.  I went up to the doors and watched them handcuff the culprit, and a woman standing next to me was almost in tears because she thought the police were going to break his arm.  He was full-on struggling, so one of the policemen kept his knee in the guy's lower back.  It was way intense--they kept yelling: "You are under arrest!  You have the right to remain silent!  You are under arrest!"  After they pulled him to the squad car, I went outside to fix our stanshions, and they were still yelling.  The guy was protesting, and a plain-clothed policeman with his gun hanging off of his belt was shouting, "My partner SAW you do it!  Why do you think we were chasing you?"  I have no idea what he was being arrested for, but it was more than obvious that he was resisting.  It's only 10:30 AM, and that may be the most exciting thing that will happen all day.  Except maybe the fact that it's 20 degress cooler than it has been the previous two days...

Unknown Art from Eastern Bloc Countries

Just a quick note today...
A gentleman just came and spent about twenty minutes talking to me and my co-worker about the kind of art he would like to see in the museum.  Seattle pales in comparison to many other museums, especially next to The Metropolitan Museum in New York.  He said that he is very good friends with a curator in Europe, and they want to do a kind of "trade" relationship.  Basically the period is twentieth century, but the work was done by artists who were hidden behind the Iron Curtain, so they are virtually unkown, even though they did pieces much like, say, Picasso.  I am totally and completely fascinated.  He said that bringing that stuff over here would be amazing, but equally awesome would be the opportunity to bring our Native-American and African art over there.  I don't know...I was pretty impressed...

Fire and Ice --Robert Frost

Another excellent Frost piece.  This one feels especially relevant with current political events...

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

--Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken --Robert Frost

This is one of my very favorite Frost poems...

The Road Not Taken 

  
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 
   
--Robert Frost

Mending Wall --Robert Frost

MENDING WALL
  

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing: 
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made, 
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go. 
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
“Stay where you are until our backs are turned!”
We wear our fingers rough with handling them. 
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across 
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, “Good fences make good neighbours.”
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbours? Isn’t it 
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, 
That wants it down.” I could say “Elves” to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. 

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbours.”

          --Robert Frost

You Can Never Have Too Much Access To Words, Their Meanings, And Above All, Literature

http://dictionary.com
 
http://thesaurus.reference.com
 
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm
 
http://www.wordsmyth.net
 
http://www.rhymezone.com
 
http://www.bartleby.com

Other People Have Smarter Things To Say Than I Do

One of the aspects about this blogging thing is that you can browse through other people's blogs.  How do I decide which ones to read?  Usually just the title ropes me in.  Sometimes the title isn't enough to cover up the crap that is contained therein, so I just stop reading and usually wonder why in the hell I bother.  But today I came across two that I found to be very interesting, mostly because they contained some hardcore political rants.  I was especially impressed with one of them, because it seems that the blogger only just graduated from high school, and is an astute philosopher and poet.  The other commented on the first, and I checked out his blog as well.  He is a doctor with the Army, and is currently stationed in Iraq.  We all know my feelings about that country and the soldiers (from any nation at all) over there.  So check these out.
 
http://mccarl.blogspot.com
 
http://candle_in_the_dark.blogspot.com
 
 
 
 

Politicians...or Celebrities?

So starting today, Seattle is hosting the annual governor's convention (I guess that's what it's called).  Most political events here are held in the Westin Hotel on Fifth Avenue (I prefer to call it The Corncob Hotel).  But why not host these gatherings called conventions in the Convention Center which is only a few blocks away?  Are politicians just too...special to enter a common convention center?  But surely the WSCC has rooms much more massive than the Westin could offer.  I refuse to believe that it's a security issue, either.  They could certainly have more security if they have control of a whole wing of a building rather than just a smallish room in a giant hotel.  My bus couldn't even travel down 5th, its usual route, when we got downtown.  How in the world is a local bus, full of regular Seattlites, a threat?  And they are just governors.  They are not rock stars, or famed geniuses, or religious icons (at least not to me they aren't).  But as a nation, we certainly do regard our politicians with the same fervor that we muster up for say, oh, I want to say Madonna, but I don't want to be insulting.  To her.  So once again, everybody in town has their panties in a twist.  And the real news, of course, is that none other than Mrs. Theresa Heinz Kerry was here in the Van Gogh gallery this morning.  So French diplomats, the future First Lady of the United States (I hope), and apparently yesterday we had some members of the Japanese Parliment.  Whoohoo!  Our little museum is quite the destination for political dignitaries.  VP Dick Cheney has been to Seattle several times in the past year, but I seriously doubt that he would come to an art museum. 

Music is nice, but not at this volume

Every Thursday night here at the museum, we feature free live music in the lobby. Tonight it is "Hot Latin Jazz for a Summer Evening." I have never worked the evening shift on a Thursday, so I am totally not prepared for this. The music is great, and people are into it, but holey rusted metal batman, it is so LOUD! My customers are getting angry with me because we can't hear each other talking. Plus, it is so much harder to sell memberships over there.

I Found the Following Roomie-Wanted Ad in the Seattle Times. Proceed With Caution...

Hey there. So we have one room open in a 3bd/1ba house 2 ½ blocks from Greenlake open anytime after Feb 1st. We are looking for someone ideally something like this: A chill kid that is down with a little drinkin and smokin on the weekends (even a rare outdoor kegger) but who respects the need for quiet time (we usually go to bed around eleven or midnight during the week). Basically if you want to drink a ton go to the bars like I do. One who keeps communal living spaces clean (I mean the clean part), is responsible and respectful, and likes dogs, even the mean ones :) A student would be cool, as I am one myself. Below is more info about my other roommate and I, the house and the bills. ME: 21yo chill but very upbeat straight girl. I am a nanny fulltime and I will begin school in the fall at the UW as a junior majoring in Philosophy (assuming I can manage). I am really into snowboarding, writing, pool (conceivably the tightest game ever), hip hop reading, philosophy (my intended major), sewing (it’s not just for old ladies anymore), drinking, horseback riding, photography and on. I am clean, so is the house, so watch out cause if you leave your dishes in the sink I might eat you alive, although I could give a shit what your room looks like. Other than being anal about cleanliness I am mass laid back. I dig people, love going out, find arguments pleasing and like to laugh more than almost anything else. I am a eco-friendly, very open minded, terribly sarcastic, wonderfully positive, liberal, quasi-vegan girl that drinks way too much.SCOTTIE: 22yo straight boy. Scottie is a rad kid. He isn’t as big into as drinking as I am but he smokes like it is his job. He has about thirty friends named Jake and they are all mass respectful. He is also in to hip hop, anime, movies by good directors and, gulp, techno. He likes to argue much like I do which makes for some occasional late night debates. He is very laid back THE HOUSE: The house has w/d, basement with some storage, cable, wireless internet, huge fenced backyard, heaps of plants, a kitty, two mini turtles and a pup. The cat is ancient and lives in the basement for the most part. Her name is Spiffy (don’t ask) but Scottie and his friends recently renamed her Jonas “Basement” Jones (again, don’t ask) whereas I prefer to call her Spliffy. He isn’t dangerous, just territorial. If you are straight with him, understand he is a little nuts, respect his space and pet him a whole bunch you will get along in time.BILLS: The rent is $450/mo. There is a month to month lease so you can bail when you need with notice, but of course I would prefer you have long-term plans to stay. You have to pay 1st and last up front. Monthly bills are (for each person) $10/mo for the phone, $20/mo for the cable/internet, an occasional $100+/- for oil (like 4 times a year), and on average maybe $70 every other month for utilities. It is cheaper in the spring and summer for obvious reasons. Take it easy. Lesley

What in the World?!

How in the foosh can it already be July?
I feel like I blinked and 30 days passed.
Which they did, whether I blinked or not.
But I'm not ready for 4th of July or any of that nonsense.
Especially now that Tim's in the Army.
I just don't have it in me.