Culture Club – And I don’t mean Boy George

A lazy Sunday afternoon, it’s raining, and the Falcons have a bye week. Given these circumstances the only logical thing left is to spend the afternoon striving to obtain some form of culture.

After church, a group of us traveled to the High Museum of Art to see the <a href=”http://www.anseladams.com” target=”new”>Ansel Adams</a> exhibit. Adams was a photographer commissioned by the US federal government in the mid 20th century to photograph our National Parks among other things. His black and white photographs are among my favorite artwork, so I was excited to be seeing the exhibit.

As I mentioned earlier, it was raining and on top of that it was a free weekend to attend the museum. Wonderful we didn’t have to pay, however it was the last day of the Ansel Adams exhibit and everyone and their brother seemed to be there forming a line that rivaled most Disney World attractions. In fact I think I’ve renewed my driver’s license in less time than it took just to get into the building.

Once inside we were then herded into the coat check line as we could not take umbrellas into the exhibit. In case you were wondering, this line also wrapped around the corner and down the hall. At the front of the coat check line I could see hordes of umbrellas left by the masses. Others who were there trying to collect their belongs were asked to describe their personal effects as well as turn in the ticket they had originally received. I can see now someone describing their umbrella…. “Yes, it’s short and black. Do you have any of those?” Quite frankly at the end of the day I’m sure they still had tons of umbrellas as people finished the exhibit and forgot to pick them up or saw the line and decided they’d just get wet rather than stand in another line.

After the coat check line we came back to the regular line to start a series of switchbacks that lead us aboard an elevator that took us to the exhibit on the top floor. Once out of the elevator, we were free! Considering the amount of people outside and the time we waited I was pleasantly surprised that the exhibit wasn’t particularly crowded. Reasonably because everyone else was still standing in line to kiss their umbrellas goodbye.

Walking through the exhibit, it was wonderful. My favorite mediums in art are paintings from the age of impressionism, and black and white photographs of nature. Adams, specializing in the latter, blows me away at how he captures light and the majesty of God’s creation. I ended up buying a print of his at the end of the exhibit, it will look good on the wall somewhere. I wanted to get a coffee table book as well, but they had sold out the day before. I should probably work on getting the coffee table first though, then I’ll worry about which book to place on it.

All in all, an excellent day. Maybe next time we’ll get ambitious and tackle the symphony.

Storytelling

I met Will Overstreet on last Sunday at church. His name sounded familiar, so I asked if he played for Auburn. “No, I played at Tennessee.” Felt a little silly, but continued with the small talk. “So, what brings you to Atlanta?” “I play for the Falcons.” Open mouth insert foot. I knew his name sounded familiar, but I just couldn’t place it. We talked a little longer, and he seems like a cool guy, but I’m sure he thinks I’m an idiot…

I was walking back to work from Lenox Mall the other day when two people walkd up behind me speaking in a different language. It was such a rush trying to figure out what they were speaking, and being surounded by people who spoke different language than I for a split second brought me back to my travels in Europe. It was fabulous. Of course when that split second was over, I found myself listening to two people talking German, while I was headed back to work.

In a related language story, when I actually was in Europe I loved listening to people talk to try and figure out what they were talking about, but mostly just to listen to the inflections in their voices, and the animations of their conversation. Because there are so many languages in Europe, I had to really concentrate and listen for a while sometimes before I could pick the language out. I remember one time in particular I was listening to two people for a solid minute and a half, but I just couldn’t place what they were speaking.. until it hit me… They were speaking English. Because they had British accents, and I had not heard spoken english in so long I was amazed that it took forever to pick my own language out of the air.

Anyways, that’s all for now. Time to go watch hockey

Friday, October 10th

Happy Birthday to me =)

Quote of the Day

Abstinence – It’s not easy, but neither am I

- A friend’s aim profile

I ended up going to the Auburn – Tennessee game on Saturday. (War Eagle!) I have pictures, but I can’t seem to get them off my camera… Will post as technology allows…

Traveling again

For those of you who don’t know, I have a younger brother who is taking a semester in Australia right now. He’s seen most of Australia, but hasn’t gotten to New Zealand yet. Well, I’ve wanted to go visit him every since I found out he was going, and due to an insanly low airfare and an incredible boss, my father and I are going to meet him in New Zealand for a week and a half in November. I’m so excited I don’t know how to contain myself. Australia and New Zealand really were the next places of interest for me to travel, so this works out wondefully. YAY! =)

Quite frankly I’m amazed that my boss let me take 8 consecutive business days off, but hey, who am I to question it. It was really funny when I first asked him about it, I told him it would be around the time of the Auburn – Georgia game, and he said we’ll you better get me the exact dates, for all I know that could be in April.

Speaking of the Auburn – Georgia game, I will have to miss my first one since 1996 this year due to New Zealand. I’m not complaining, but I just wish I could have my cake and eat it too.

Anyone know of any good travel books on New Zealand? (Jon?)