I'm a member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), so I get to visit the museum whenever I want. Theoretically, at least. I hardly ever go, but I like to option of being able to. In addition to the "free" admission, I also get tickets to certain special exhibitions.

The current special exhibition right now at LACMA is called "Pompeii and the Roman Villa." Stephen and I decided to check it out on Tuesday, June 16, 2009.

First, we stopped at the museum restaurant, Pentimento. It's very overpriced, but that's typical of museum restaurants. The menu is pretty limited, but the choices we made were delicious.

After lunch we stopped in to see the artwork. The special collection is pretty nice, though probably not worth $25. Good thing my tickets were theoretically free (though I did have to pay a lot for the membership). There's a lot of sculpture recovered from Pompeii and its environs. There are also several later depictions of what life would have been like in the days before Vesuvius erupted. Overall, it's a very good exhibition, and I would recommend it if you can afford it.

July's field trip is actually a trip to LACMA, but we're just going general admission; it's much cheaper. Let me know if you're interested in joining us.

Our January field trip was a great success, and some people have told me that they are eager for February's excursion. It will be on Saturday, February 21st, and we will be visiting the Asia Pacific Museum in Pasadena.

More details to follow soon. Let me know if you want to join us!

Well, Saturday, we finally had our January field trip. We visited the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. It was a wonderful day.

It began with lunch at Daisy Mint. I met Evelyn, Lloyd, Victoria, Finster, Stephen, and Carla at the restaurant. We had a delicious meal with good company. (This is the second weekend in a row that I've eaten at Daisy Mint, and I've had a good experience both times.)

Then it was time for the main event. Everyone was a little late, but finally everyone showed up. And by everyone, I mean . . . LaViva, Jaela, Carla, Lloyd, Victoria, Evelyn, Finster, Stephen, Ashley, Nestor, Shana, Janelle, Virna, Danny, and Michelle. Most of the people attending had not been to the museum before, so it was nice to see it through their eyes. We started off heading in the same direction, but with such a large group it was hard to sightsee together. Nevertheless, we made sure to check in with each other throughout the day, so that it still felt like a group outing. I really love the Norton Simon Museum. The collection is eclectic and wonderful. My favorites are the Degas and Picasso, and the religious art is always interesting. And, of course, I love museum shops. :) Everyone seemed to have a good time and told me that they really liked the museum.

After the museum, some people (Ashley, Nestor, Shana, Janelle, Virna, Danny, and I) went to Starbucks and sat on the patio. After Danny and Virna left, the rest of us went to Acapulco restaurant. We were having such a good time that we didn't want the night to end, so after dinner we headed over to Nestor's house, where we watched "The Princess Bride" and quoted lines to our hearts' content.

Overall, our first field trip was a success. Next month's trip is to the Asia Pacific Museum in Pasadena and will most likely occur on Saturday, February 21st. Wanna join us?

I'm not posting all of my New Year's resolutions in one great list. How embarrassing if I can't keep them!

But I thought I'd post some goals every so often.

Here's my first one . . .

This year I will visit at least one local museum every month.

I am surrounded by a lot of amazing things here in L.A., and I rarely take advantage of my environment. I even have a book that lists all of the museums in Southern California. When I bought the book years ago, I went through and put tags on all of the pages that looked interesting. Unfortunately, nothing ever came of that . . . until now.

I'm going to start with something familiar and move on to places I haven't been. First stop, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. Who's joining me?

Sunday morning came soon, and I was eager to fit as much into the day as possible. I woke up a little later than I wanted to and got dressed and packed. I checked out of my hotel and walked down 52nd Street toward Madison Avenue. The street was being set up for a huge street fair thingy with lots of booths selling food and other things. If I had known that my time wasn't as limited as I thought, I might have stopped to enjoy the atmosphere. But I had another destination in mind. I found my way to a bus stop on Madison, where I caught the M1 bus uptown. I had to stand for a good part of the time, but I got to sit after a lot of the people got off of the bus at the Met. But I had another destination in mind.

I got off of the bus at 86th and had to walk just a little way to the Guggenheim Museum. I'd heard so much about the Guggenheim--from "It's wonderful" to "The building is cool, but the art is mediocre"--so I was eager to see it for myself. I found it quite amazing. And, yes, the building itself is the most impressive part. As usual, the front of the building had scaffolding in front of it. (I say "as usual," because this seems to be a thing whenever I go on vacation.) I stood in line and got my ticket and then checked my bag at the coatroom.

As I mentioned earlier, the Guggenheim is impressive. It's a big spiral, both inside and out, and to get to the galleries, one just walks up the huge spiral ramp. The ramp area is called The Rotunda, and it houses the less permanent exhibits. When I was there, that exhibit happened to be the works of Louise Bourgeous. I didn't really like her art. I found it weird and depressing, and it seemed to get more depressing as she got older. I did, however, like a lot of the other art, including the Kandinsky gallery and an exhibit called "Toward Abstraction." I did not, however,like the gallery that housed the completely black canvasses with some person on video explaining the depth of the art. There was also some spectroscope analysis to explain how the black was different in different parts of the canvas. Modern art can be so weird.

I had seen nearly everything when my phone started buzzing, telling me that my sister and family had arrived. I headed downstairs, because I wasn't allowed to use my phone in the museum. (By the way, cameras are also forbidden in the museum, which is really sad.) I called my sister from downstairs, telling her that I was going to the cafe, since I was really hungry. I had a delicious salad with grilled peaches, dried cranberries, and candied pecans. Cha, Annie, and Ed met me in the cafe, and we soon set out to explore the museum. I didn't mind going through the museum at a slower pace, and it was nice seeing it with company. The museum store is a little small, but I bought a stack of postcards, some gifts, and a coloring book for myself. We bought some hot dogs from a vendor on the street corner and headed to JFK so I could meet my airplane.

I arrived in plenty of time to get my boarding pass and go through security. I knew something was wrong as soon as I got into the main part of the terminal. The food court and the area around the gates were both packed with people. People were gathered around the status board, looking worried. I soon discovered that a large storm front had interrupted air traffic around New York, forcing incoming flights to be rerouted and preventing departing flights from leaving. My flight read "on time," however, so I decided to wait. I got something to eat, checked my email, and sat on the floor to read my book. As I sat there, announcements about other delayed flights were made every few minutes.

Everyone on our flight got up and stood in a very long line to see what could be done. On a side note, while I was standing in line, I recognized someone a few places in front of me. Turns out that Cathy K from the church I used to work at was in New York for a wedding as well, and we were on the same flight home. We stood in line forever. People were getting very agitated, especially a woman in line (not directly) behind me. When I finally got to the front of the line, I was informed that I could not get onto another flight for about 48 hours. By this point I was frustrated but not really upset. After all, everyone else was in the same boat. At least I wasn't a part of this story!

I was fully prepared to spend the next two nights in the airport, but my dad told me to get a hotel. The people at the Jet Blue counter had told us that the best way to find a hotel would be to go downstairs to baggage claim and use the phones there to call hotels. I headed there and called several hotels, while I watched the lady next to me calling pretty much every number on the list. No luck. All of the hotels were full. I was willing to spend the night in the airport and to check again the next day, so I headed back to the gates. It was at this point that everything hit the fan. You see, when Jet Blue changed my flight, they also took my boarding pass. This meant that I could not get back into where the gates were until I got a new boarding pass, which I could not do for at least another day.

Though I had been very patient earlier, it was when this happened that I began to get somewhat hysterical. I sat on the cold, hard floor to figure things out. Then I remembered that the Palm homepage on my phone has a travel section. I was able to find the toll-free number for Orbitz and reserve a hotel room less than 15 minutes away. I headed for the taxi stand to get a ride to the hotel. By now it was after 8pm, and it had just gotten dark.

The taxi situation at JFK is surprisingly organized and relatively fast-moving. I got a cab after a while in the line and was on my way to the hotel. At least that's what I thought. The cab driver asked me if I was going into Manhattan, and when I said no and gave him the address, he seemed puzzled. Yet he took the address and got into the car and began to drive. He got on the phone with him home base and presumably asked for directions. When dispatch couldn't figure it out, he looked at the number, which was on the same page as the directions, and started yelling at me about how this place was in Long Island and he was not going to go there. He then pulled over to the side of the road and tried to call the number. When no one answered, he again started yelling about how this was a Long Island number. Oh, and did I mention that he left the meter running during this entire ordeal? While this was going on, I pulled out my handy-dandy Palm (did I mention how much I love my Palm Centro?) and found the exact directions to the hotel. When I told him I'd found the directions, he got even more upset with me. Instead of listening to me, he just insisted that the number was for Long Island and that I was wrong. "Look," I said, "you are charging me to yell at me instead of driving." He tried to B.S. me and tell me that the meter wasn't running. "I can read numbers," I answered. "And I am going to turn you in." That was when he decided to take me back to the airport where I could get another cab.

When I got back to the airport,I made it back to the cab stand, but I was determined NOT to stand in the line again. I had to make a bit of a fuss, but I managed to get to the front of the line without having to wait, and I was on my way again. The driver wasn't sure where the hotel was either, but I gave him the highway name, and he soon got me there. Finally . . . not quite!

When I tried to check in, there was a problem with my credit card. Turns out that I was too close to my limit to charge the hotel room on my card. I ended up having to give the man what was left of my cash to pay for the room. So now I had a hotel room, but I wasn't just stuck in New York--I was stuck in New York without any money!

NOW WHAT?!???

It was a trip with a lot of promise. What could be easier? Fly into JFK on Friday morning, do some stuff on Friday, go to the wedding on Saturday, see more on Sunday, and fly home on Sunday. Most of the trip went according to plan, so I'll start with the good parts.

I arrived at Burbank Airport early on Friday. My flight was to leave at 7am, and I had plenty of time to catch my plane. My seating companions were an omen of the trip to come. As I came down the aisle, I saw one of them sit in my seat and shrug her shoulders, as if to say, "I can sit here because I was here first." When I got to my seat and informed her of the fact that it was mine, both women rolled their eyes and moved over. They were clearly unhappy about my sitting there. Honestly, what the hell did they expect? One of them (the one who was now sitting my the window) decided to insult me by calling her friend on the phone and declaring that, "Somebody sat next to [whatever the hell her friend's name is] and is taking up all the space, and she is pissed." EXCUSE ME??? Taking up all the space??? If these people don't have the money to buy the seat next to them, then I actually believe that seat belongs to someone. Idiots.

The rest of the flight continued without incident, and, as I expected, we arrived at JFK a little earlier than scheduled. I called my car service and was told where to meet them. I went to the designated place to wait for the driver. The car drove up, and I moved toward the car, just as I heard a woman say, "That's our car; it has a 7 on it."
"No, that's my car," I said, but no one heard me.
"Are you going to the Flatotel?" asked the driver.
The woman clearly didn't understand him, because she answered, "Yes, the Westin."
"This is my car," I said a little more loudly. The driver looked at me.
"No, DEAR," the woman condescended. "This is our car."
I directed my question to the driver. "Where are you going?"
"Flatotel," he answered.
"This is MY car," I stated again. Finally, someone figured it out. The woman continued to insist that it was her car.
But the driver said, "You will have to wait for your car."
"But this was the confirmation number she gave me," the woman whined.
"Then call them," answered the driver as he put my bag into the car. Once in the car he apologized, though it wasn't his fault. He drove me into Manhattan and dropped me off at the corner of 6th Avenue and 52nd Street, about a half block from my hotel.

Flatotel is a medium-sized, medium-quality hotel in midtown Manhattan, close to Rockefeller Center and 5th Avenue shopping. Does that sound like a commercial? It's not. I mean, it's an OK hotel, but it's nothing special. Some of the rooms are like apartments, so that's nice. My room wasn't like an apartment, but it did have a mini-fridge and a teeny-tiny microwave (which I never ended up using, though I had thought I would). The decor was modern and nice, although the bed was hard. I got settled but was soon out of my room to experience the city.

I headed to Rockefeller Center to find something to eat and to look for the Palm store. I needed an adapter for my Centro, since the Centro headset plug is 2.5mm, and a standard plug is 3.5mm. :( After walking around for a LOONNNGGGG time, I decided to give up. I did manage to find 'wichcraft and grab an onion frittata breakfast sandwich, though. YUMMY! Though I would have preferred more onion. Haha. I headed out to 5th Avenue and nearly ran right into the Sprint store. I went in and asked a very nice man for some help. He didn't have what I needed, and he also informed me that Palm has closed all of it's physical stores, because people buy Palm products either from cell service providers or online. Makes sense from a business point of view, but it doesn't help me. :(

I decided it was time to go to the Met. I had been wanting to do this since my last visit to New York, so I was pretty excited. The question was, How do I get there? I didn't have a map, so I asked someone in the Met store at Rockefeller Center for help. He told me the correct bus route, but the problem was that I didn't have any coins for the bus, and I didn't know where the nearest subway was so that I could buy a metro card. I decided to start walking, and if I happened to gain either of those things, I would hop on the bus. Thirty blocks later, I arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, tired but happy to arrive.

The museum's suggested entrance fee is $20. Technically, you can pay any amount you want to get in, since the fee is a donation. I willingly paid the $20. If I had known about what was to come, I might have saved my money. The Met is HUGE! I only had about 2-1/2 hours to see the entire thing, so I walked through very quickly, trying to absorb as much as possible. I saw SO MANY things that it's impossible to describe it all here. I especially liked the musical instruments, the armor and weapons gallery (which was surprisingly interesting), and the Renaissance stuff. I will post pictures when I get them downloaded. I even had a chance to stop by the store and pick up some postcards and a cute bag. I could explain even more, but you just have to experience the museum for yourself. :)

I had only $1.50 in coins, and I needed $2 for the bus. I got change from a mother and daughter outside of the museum, and waited for the bus. The bus was pretty easy, even though I had to stand for most of the time. I bought a gyro from a street vendor on the way to my hotel, bought some more supplies from the hotel store, found my room, and turned in for the night.

My first day in New York was, although a little annoying at points, was relatively uneventful. Oh, if it could have stayed like that.

Carmel sent me these cool pictures with this description:

Entries for an art contest at the Hirshorn Modern Art Gallery in DC. The rule was that the artist could use only one sheet of paper.