Friday Five
More randomness (since I'm not schmoozing at the SCBWI conference)...
1) I went to the L.A. Natural History Museum on Tuesday. It's free the first Tuesday of each month. Unfortunately, about half of SoCal was there taking advantage. Lots of school and day camp groups running around. Most interesting group: the little Hasidic Jew kids. They all wore purple t-shirts, but the girls were in skirts, and the boys had the long locks of hair on both sides of their heads.
2) The gem and mineral exhibit was my favorite part. I could've spent hours in there, looking at all the displays. One case held gold nuggets. I also saw a red diamond that was stolen by the Nazis; they thought it was a ruby.
3) I found out that I have a lot in common with grizzly bears: poor eyesight, but keen hearing and sense of smell; more active late at night; and we have a tendency to be ill-tempered. I draw the line at eating grubs, however. (Berries and salmon are okay.)
4) The day ended with a couple of unusual events. A boy got his head stuck in a stairway railing (museum employees to the rescue ). Then, as soon as I got inside the nearby Science Museum's gift shop, a cashier announced that everyone needed to evacuate the building. I saw some smoke and smelled plastic burning. Several fire trucks arrived, but the firefighters didn't stay long, so it must not've been too serious. They were busy elsewhere, though--a building downtown belched thick black smoke across the freeway, and a brush fire was burning in nearby Glendale.
5) I just finished reading a book--in Spanish. A self-published mystery novel by my sister's pen pal. I had my trusty Spanish dictionary at my side, but I figured a lot of passages out for myself. Glad I've learned something.
1) I went to the L.A. Natural History Museum on Tuesday. It's free the first Tuesday of each month. Unfortunately, about half of SoCal was there taking advantage. Lots of school and day camp groups running around. Most interesting group: the little Hasidic Jew kids. They all wore purple t-shirts, but the girls were in skirts, and the boys had the long locks of hair on both sides of their heads.
2) The gem and mineral exhibit was my favorite part. I could've spent hours in there, looking at all the displays. One case held gold nuggets. I also saw a red diamond that was stolen by the Nazis; they thought it was a ruby.
3) I found out that I have a lot in common with grizzly bears: poor eyesight, but keen hearing and sense of smell; more active late at night; and we have a tendency to be ill-tempered. I draw the line at eating grubs, however. (Berries and salmon are okay.)
4) The day ended with a couple of unusual events. A boy got his head stuck in a stairway railing (museum employees to the rescue ). Then, as soon as I got inside the nearby Science Museum's gift shop, a cashier announced that everyone needed to evacuate the building. I saw some smoke and smelled plastic burning. Several fire trucks arrived, but the firefighters didn't stay long, so it must not've been too serious. They were busy elsewhere, though--a building downtown belched thick black smoke across the freeway, and a brush fire was burning in nearby Glendale.
5) I just finished reading a book--in Spanish. A self-published mystery novel by my sister's pen pal. I had my trusty Spanish dictionary at my side, but I figured a lot of passages out for myself. Glad I've learned something.