Artsy Daftsy

The gas prices went down and I decided to drive up to the State Capital to get outta town and do a little shopping. There were only two definite things I wanted to do. Go to the Apple store and see if they had some software I wanted, and go to the State Museum of Art for one of my infrequent visits.

The Apple store jaunt was a disappointment. They didn't have what I wanted. A Sudoku game I favor. Since I'm not going to buy anything until Apple comes out with the Snow Leopard OS there was no reason for me to hang around there. However, I was able to get the Sudoku game I bought a few months ago to work right again when I got home.

The support people at Tik.games were able to figure out what I was doing wrong. I really like this Latin Squares Sudoku game. It's a little hoky on the flashy side, but it's big and easy to see, and it's thoughtfully laid out. I'm really happy to have it working again. I like doing Sudoku puzzles. It's been months since I've worked crossword puzzles.

It's been a while since I've been to the museum. I've only been once this last year. I've been looking at some of the paintings and sculptures there since I was twelve years old. The Museum is a little tricky to get to if you don't know your way around Raleigh. Now that they're remodeling and building a bunch of new buildings there, it's even trickier.

Inside the Museum it was very sedate. They were remodeling on the second floor and many of art pieces from the American Gallery were not on display. Next came the European Gallery, which always freaks me out. It embarrasses me. It makes me feel ashamed of myself. It's probably why I married my first wife. I'm a disgusting human being.

There are a disproportionate number of paintings of European women of royal families. At least five of the women in those paintings look remarkably like my first wife. I'm not going to try to describe what that look is like. If you wanna know what my first wife looked like when I married her, go to this museum and see for yourself. I may have married my first wife in order to make people think this woman of apparently royal blood chose me for her consort.

I can't tell you how stupid it makes me feel to realize it's probably true. I'm definitely a fool, and untrustworthy to boot. She hates me now at best. No blame. Our daughter, who fortunately looks like her mother instead of me, hates me too, if she is emotionally invested in the idea of me at all. I haven't seen either of them in at least a decade, if not more. I ruined their lives with my disruptive insanity. I am is an embarrassment to them. No blame.

There were some painting I hadn't seen before. They were just down the hall from the entrance and were the first paintings I saw today. Most of them were painted in my own lifetime. That interested me very much. Without exception I agreed with the Museum's decision to buy them.

There was a display of some couple's private collection. They were all painted in my lifetime too. I felt like I understood why the artist painted them. I don't understand at all how they painted them. The nice thing was that I didn't feel like I needed to understand much about what happened in order for the artists to produce the paintings. The works themselves took care of that. I guess that's why they are considered museum quality. They were self-explanatory in a powerful way.

Im still influence by my reading the book called Blink. The new paintings at the museum I read all the placards about the paintings. I move up close to see the details, and backed away to get the big picture. Literally. But, the museum's old pieces and the ancient civilization stuff merely got the once-over from me. The me-and-thee-ing (meaning) could only be taken in by small slices of time. A nip and a tuck was all it took to gather it all in.

It's been unseasonably warm the last three days, and welcomed, but tonight the temperature is back to it's late Fall, autumnal forms. Nippy. I turned the new space heater on my sister-in-law bought for me. I keep telling her I'll be okay. Then, my brother shows up with the new one. It's just like the one they bought me last year that broke after one winter season. Har-rummph! They don't make 'em like they used to.

I have two other broke space heaters besides that one. Four space heaters, and only the brand-new one works, and not that well either. One of these days I'm gonna have to invest in a solid way to actually heat my house in cold weather. Granted, I'm a true miser, but it's kinda crazy to be a cold true miser.