Membership has its privileges
With everything that's been going on this month, I needed to get out of the house. Laura and her family have a membership to the Art Institute, and as it's about to expire, she wanted to go one last time and invited me along. Unfortunately, she emailed me her available dates right in the middle of the Kirby mess, so I didn't reply with a possible date until this past Tuesday, and the only remaining date was Thursday. Crap. But she was still available and willing, so we made plans to meet up and head downtown.
The problem was that I'd smelled this rubber smell on my drive to Lisle the other day, and I really wanted to take my car in to get the oil changed and have that checked out. The soonest I could get it in? Thursday. Of course. Luckily they had an early-enough appointment that it shouldn't have been a problem, and even though it did take a couple hours, I was still done by 10:30. Turns out my belts were fine, but one of my filters had a big black spot on it and that's probably what caused the smell.
It was easier to go straight to Laura's after that, so I did and we headed on down. Initially I'd meant to pack up a bag of snacks and a water bottle and an umbrella, plus slap on some sunscreen, but it didn't happen, and besides, you're not allowed to bring that sort of stuff into the museum anyway, at least according to their website. That was fine. It's been years since I was last there, when I had to go twice in a term during college. I never saw my favorite painting, which I don't recall much about except that it was red and black and squiggly, but it's been a dozen years and they've redone the museum (hello, modern wing), so, yeah, things change. It's okay. It was cool to see some of the really famous works of art up close (again), as well as to be reminded that with some things, just about anybody could do them, and in fact one piece looked like it was done by a 5-year-old. Yeah, some of the modern art wasn't quite my style. Also, someone had taken a picture of people looking at works in the AI and it was hanging in the modern wing. I got a picture of it. How meta. The theme of the day was pigs, as we kept coming across artwork depicting pigs, including a dead pig's head. Lovely. I really enjoyed the miniature rooms, and the design part of the architecture and design room of the modern wing. The chairs were bizarre but cool, plus there was this projection of a spider web a la Charlotte's Web, and when you stood in front of it and moved, the web gathered in places. When you walked away, the web tore and then created itself anew. Very interesting.
We'd gotten there around noon, and by two we needed to eat, so we left briefly and went across the street to Corner Bakery. After that we popped over to Millennium Park because I wanted to see the Bean; the last time I saw it wasn't long after it was installed, and not only did it still have its seams, but most of it was under a canopy to remove the seams. It was nice to see it in all its glory, as well as to walk underneath it. Freaky. And it was quite warm and humid yesterday, so it was a bit refreshing to walk past the fountains. The modern wing actually connects to the park, so that's when we went there--we took the bridge over from the park and then went inside.
Laura drove us down, and she'd planned on leaving before rush hour, but that didn't happen. We basically left at 5 o'clock and found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of humanity. Fun. But despite the very heavy traffic on the Kennedy, all was good. Laura entertained me with her rush-hour songs, and I was on the lookout for my old landmarks (like the Golden Nugget on Irving and St. Stan's) as well as funky license plates. The two I remember are LUPIN and PNGUIN. Also, the Lamers bus. Just...there are some names you shouldn't call your business.
The problem was that I'd smelled this rubber smell on my drive to Lisle the other day, and I really wanted to take my car in to get the oil changed and have that checked out. The soonest I could get it in? Thursday. Of course. Luckily they had an early-enough appointment that it shouldn't have been a problem, and even though it did take a couple hours, I was still done by 10:30. Turns out my belts were fine, but one of my filters had a big black spot on it and that's probably what caused the smell.
It was easier to go straight to Laura's after that, so I did and we headed on down. Initially I'd meant to pack up a bag of snacks and a water bottle and an umbrella, plus slap on some sunscreen, but it didn't happen, and besides, you're not allowed to bring that sort of stuff into the museum anyway, at least according to their website. That was fine. It's been years since I was last there, when I had to go twice in a term during college. I never saw my favorite painting, which I don't recall much about except that it was red and black and squiggly, but it's been a dozen years and they've redone the museum (hello, modern wing), so, yeah, things change. It's okay. It was cool to see some of the really famous works of art up close (again), as well as to be reminded that with some things, just about anybody could do them, and in fact one piece looked like it was done by a 5-year-old. Yeah, some of the modern art wasn't quite my style. Also, someone had taken a picture of people looking at works in the AI and it was hanging in the modern wing. I got a picture of it. How meta. The theme of the day was pigs, as we kept coming across artwork depicting pigs, including a dead pig's head. Lovely. I really enjoyed the miniature rooms, and the design part of the architecture and design room of the modern wing. The chairs were bizarre but cool, plus there was this projection of a spider web a la Charlotte's Web, and when you stood in front of it and moved, the web gathered in places. When you walked away, the web tore and then created itself anew. Very interesting.
We'd gotten there around noon, and by two we needed to eat, so we left briefly and went across the street to Corner Bakery. After that we popped over to Millennium Park because I wanted to see the Bean; the last time I saw it wasn't long after it was installed, and not only did it still have its seams, but most of it was under a canopy to remove the seams. It was nice to see it in all its glory, as well as to walk underneath it. Freaky. And it was quite warm and humid yesterday, so it was a bit refreshing to walk past the fountains. The modern wing actually connects to the park, so that's when we went there--we took the bridge over from the park and then went inside.
Laura drove us down, and she'd planned on leaving before rush hour, but that didn't happen. We basically left at 5 o'clock and found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of humanity. Fun. But despite the very heavy traffic on the Kennedy, all was good. Laura entertained me with her rush-hour songs, and I was on the lookout for my old landmarks (like the Golden Nugget on Irving and St. Stan's) as well as funky license plates. The two I remember are LUPIN and PNGUIN. Also, the Lamers bus. Just...there are some names you shouldn't call your business.