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Went to the Met today.
Aug. 25th, 2002 12:43 amWell, actually, I went into Manhattan today; I wasn't going specifically to the museum. Just looking for Stuff to Do. It was gray and drizzly and everything above floor 60 on the Empire State Building was shrouded in clouds, so I didn't bother going up. Maybe next week... on the other hand, that's just down 33rd street from The Compleat Strategist, which is pretty much the Mother of All Game Stores so far as I'm concerned. Have purchased a Guide to Being a GM - for safety's sake - & intend to go back next week for other things, incl. map software so as to plot out a few extra things for VicMage. After that it was a quick stop at the comic store down the street (missed Dork Tower #19, forgot to look for Ruse - damn damn damn). THEN up to the Met.
Another way you know you're me: you'll park your car and take an hour long train ride into the city because you don't want to be bothered with the drive to the parking area just across the river, but once you're on Manhattan soil, you'd rather walk fifty city blocks than seek out the subway station. And you justify it by telling yourself that you'd have to walk anyway, because the nearest stop to the Met is several street blocks away and avenue blocks over.
Anyway. Got there. When The Manchus Ruled China is gone, it was a temporary exhibit from the beginning. Not a traveling one, though. The items all belong to the Met. They'll be back, eventually, but in the meantime some of my favourite stuff (how the HELL do you paint eyebrows and facial expressions on several thousand people who are each LESS THAN AN INCH TALL??) is no longer available. Oh, well. Went to the Ming Scholar Court instead and sketched the central 'pagoda thingy', to borrow the words of the guard on duty there. Left out the scholar's rock in the middle because by the time I finished, I was beating myself up over multiple perspective flaws and did NOT want to attempt adding a *!&()&)! ROCK. It didn't come out too badly, though. I'll scan it and add it to the web page, soon. That needs a redesign, now that I think about it....
I also got my chop to work, which is good. Several people have told me it's cool that I could put 'the red stamp thingy' on myself. I just smile and nod. Someday someone's gonna ask me what it says, instead of just assuming 'oo, red thingy'. I'd been wanting a chop for some time a while back, something to properly sign my art with, for the most part. Thing is, my name doesn't translate for beans into Chinese. I took one look at the attempt to dissect it in terms of soundalike syllables and nearly snorted coffee all over my keyboard. I tried looking for similar meanings in acceptable names, and none of 'em quite worked. So finally I rang up![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
condotierre and an email penpal in Wuhan and got myself a personal name that wouldn't look like it'd be simpler to throw down the characters for 'American Idiot' - Huiying. The family name was a lot simpler. I have an Ulster last name, and nobody spells it right - ever - until I've corrected them three or four times for it. They stick R's in where they don't belong, they change consonants and hesitantly repeat the name, they do all kinds of things... phbleah. I figure this'd be my one and only chance to choose a substitute name, so I might as well pick one that's simple enough for seventy or eighty million people to get right on a daily basis. Zhang it is. One quick visit to http://www.chinasprout.com, one payment, and about four weeks' carving, shipping, and handling later, and bam - my own chop with the name I wanted.
A'course, most people I know will just go on saying 'oo, red square thingie', but that's okay. It makes me happy to know.
Another way you know you're me: you'll park your car and take an hour long train ride into the city because you don't want to be bothered with the drive to the parking area just across the river, but once you're on Manhattan soil, you'd rather walk fifty city blocks than seek out the subway station. And you justify it by telling yourself that you'd have to walk anyway, because the nearest stop to the Met is several street blocks away and avenue blocks over.
Anyway. Got there. When The Manchus Ruled China is gone, it was a temporary exhibit from the beginning. Not a traveling one, though. The items all belong to the Met. They'll be back, eventually, but in the meantime some of my favourite stuff (how the HELL do you paint eyebrows and facial expressions on several thousand people who are each LESS THAN AN INCH TALL??) is no longer available. Oh, well. Went to the Ming Scholar Court instead and sketched the central 'pagoda thingy', to borrow the words of the guard on duty there. Left out the scholar's rock in the middle because by the time I finished, I was beating myself up over multiple perspective flaws and did NOT want to attempt adding a *!&()&)! ROCK. It didn't come out too badly, though. I'll scan it and add it to the web page, soon. That needs a redesign, now that I think about it....
I also got my chop to work, which is good. Several people have told me it's cool that I could put 'the red stamp thingy' on myself. I just smile and nod. Someday someone's gonna ask me what it says, instead of just assuming 'oo, red thingy'. I'd been wanting a chop for some time a while back, something to properly sign my art with, for the most part. Thing is, my name doesn't translate for beans into Chinese. I took one look at the attempt to dissect it in terms of soundalike syllables and nearly snorted coffee all over my keyboard. I tried looking for similar meanings in acceptable names, and none of 'em quite worked. So finally I rang up
condotierre and an email penpal in Wuhan and got myself a personal name that wouldn't look like it'd be simpler to throw down the characters for 'American Idiot' - Huiying. The family name was a lot simpler. I have an Ulster last name, and nobody spells it right - ever - until I've corrected them three or four times for it. They stick R's in where they don't belong, they change consonants and hesitantly repeat the name, they do all kinds of things... phbleah. I figure this'd be my one and only chance to choose a substitute name, so I might as well pick one that's simple enough for seventy or eighty million people to get right on a daily basis. Zhang it is. One quick visit to http://www.chinasprout.com, one payment, and about four weeks' carving, shipping, and handling later, and bam - my own chop with the name I wanted.A'course, most people I know will just go on saying 'oo, red square thingie', but that's okay. It makes me happy to know.
