not at the la quinta, surely?!?!

derek took me to the tacoma glass museum today! this time when we went, we had plenty of time to look around. oooh, ahhh, pretty. here's the funny thing - i never thought i would like anything like that until a couple of years ago. it was a bright saturday afternoon and i was driving down to oklahoma city to hang out with priyanka for the day. she suggested that we go check out the dale chihuly exhibit, which some of my other friends had raved about seeing. i thought, "well how dorky is that? whaaaaaaat? a glass exhibit?" but we went anyway, just to do something cultural, and i LOVED it! shiny. SHINY. ooo la la, that stuff was positively enchanting. since then, i am convinced that doing something dorky is just what i need to feel cultural when i'm hanging out doing a bunch of nothing.

there was this exhibit by an artist named jim campbell at the museum today. it was much more technologically based, as opposed to being glass sculpture like the rest of the pieces. if you ever get a chance to see his work i would definitely recommend taking advantage of the opportunity. one of my favorite things was an installation piece with lighting and wires rigged up to represent the thoughts and experiences of the artist's brother on his last day alive. the lights would sparkle and fade depending on the intensity of each happening. it might sound sort of esoteric or fruity, but i could really feel the meaning behind the whole thing. it was just the sort of modern art that i love to appreciate.

after the museum we went across the bridge of glass. (see mary's blog for some nifty vacation photos along the bridge.) according to rumour there is an art-o-mat machine in the area. behold! it's true! if you don't know about art-o-mat, you should google them right away. the machines are old cigarette machines that have been converted into art dispensers. for the small price of a token, you can own a little bit of original art for yourself. eee! we got two tokens so that i could get one for derek and one for mary. she's going to the art-o-mat near her house and we're going to swap with each other in the mail.

we met up with bonnie and kelly for dinner and got some really super tex mex. if there is one thing i'm good at, it's going out to dinner and rambling endlessly with people i really like. mmmmm, melty cheeeeeeeese. bonnie told me she's going to have some of her art put into the art-o-mat machines pretty soon, so be on the lookout for her stuff in the near future.

on the way home i called mary to chat, to distract me from driving on the freeway in a heavy rain. or from derek driving in the rain. not that he's a bad driver, but i'm not so great at freeways and pouring rain. (let's not all make fun of me at once for moving to seattle on this one, okay? i do really well at regular city streets. i promise.) somewhere after we got back, the conversation turned to coffee. she was thinking of getting a little grinder, and i had thought of getting them something to brew a good coffee. that's when she told me about the hotel coffeemakers. oh, the humanity! oh, the brutality! one of my small joys in life is the tiny coffeemakers you find in hotels. don't ask me why, but they are one of my favorite things about staying in a hotel room. you wake up, the coffee is right there in front of your face. how perfect is that?

mary said that she read a thing about how people make crystal meth in those little coffeepots. NOOOOOO!!!!! don't violate my tiny joy!!! i was thinking about how derek usually stays at la quintas when he's on business trips (free wireless and conference rooms and that oh-so-cool continental breakfast including the super duper waffle maker thingie) and how they have those coffeemakers. good thing he doesn't drink very much coffee, i suppose. but it occurred to me that drug dealers would never stay at la quinta. they're either at motel 6 or the ritz. i'm pretty sure we don't have anything to worry about regarding crystal meth in the coffee.

yes yes yes... mary laughed quite hard when i said, in the most aghast manner, "not at the LA QUINTA, surely?!?!?" then again, it does make me feel pretty peppy when i have it. ack. don't mess with my coffee, i tell you! oh, sweet nectar of the universe. coffee is sacred. coffee promotes confidence. yay for coffee.

think i'll go make some coffee.


what i'm reading this week:
boomsday by christopher buckley
paradox of choice by barry schwartz
OK! magazine (as usual)