Well this past weekend was a pretty busy one. My mom came down to visit Friday through Sunday, and then Matt came down last night. Friday night was pretty laid back mom got here after 5 using my totally awesome shortcut. She checked out the apartment, which she declared to be an awesome deal and a well laid out apartment. She didnt even complain about the crummy parking. But all we did that night was go get some Panda Express and then watch way too much TV. We watched that new TV show, Psych and I would have to say that it was a neat show, well see if it lasts.

Saturday we got up fairly early so we got get going and make it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science on time. Our tickets were for 10:15. We both get showered and dressed and out the door a bit later than I had thought. We packed Eliza a snack bag and dropped her off at day care. After getting gas and breakfast we were on the road at 9:30. This would have been fine if we hadnt missed the exit. We ended up going too far on 59, by the time we got it all figured out it was 10:15. Mom called the museum and they bumped our tickets to 10:45 which gave us enough time to get there, park and go to the bathroom which had only one toilet (a guy must have designed that bathroom!).

I know you are wondering why a museum has ticket times no it wasnt the IMAX, it was the Body Worlds 3 exhibit. They let in groups at a time so that there isnt a huge bottleneck at the entrance. I personally feel this created more of a bottleneck than it solved because we are all trying to start looking at the same time. Needless to say the exhibit was pretty crowded the whole time, and there were some people who never learned the basics of getting along well in crowds. You had people touching the glass after the guards specifically said no touching, people who would butt in wherever, and people who would stand right in front of the bodies like there isnt a polite semi-circle for pondering already in place. Nice. The best by far was the guy who would tell everyone around him at every plastinate about his lung surgery and point out where on the plastinate the doctors damaged a nerve and how weird it was to touch one spot on his chest and feel it somewhere else. Please shut up.

But about the exhibit I had heard about the first exhibit a long time ago, it was pretty controversial at its inception. Matt and I were going to fly to Philadelphia to see the exhibit, but luckily one opened up in Houston. I promised multiple people to go see it, but Mom lucked out by being here first (dont worry, Ill go back for everyone else). The premise of the exhibit is being able to see inside the human body with the rigors of medical school. These donated bodies are treated with a plastination process that is pretty secretive, but it replaces all the organic materials with polymers so they can be preserved and presented to the public. Most of the exhibit is pieces of bodies, but there were more than 10 or so full bodies preserved.

The exhibit is amazing. I knew what to expect going in but it was still incredible to see what exactly our insides look like. The bones looked fake, but that is because we are so used to looking at fake or dried out skeletons that the real thing is foreign to us. The preservation was amazing. Having mom there was really cool because she wanted to explain everything she could. We bought an audio guide but didnt really use it. Initially she was concerned about what if a donors relative went to the exhibit and recognized them? Ultimately that is probably not possible. Most of the skin has been removed from all of the plastinates. The exception is one Man holding his own skin is a plastinate that is holding his skin up in contemplation. Respectfully, the face of the skin is turned in, away from the audience. Though you could still see wisps of white arm and leg hair this was probably an older man. The plastinates were exposed to varying degrees to give a full picture of what we look like. Star Warrior had several bands on his body that were untouched with the in between spaces showing how everything connects. My favorite though was the plastinate man riding a plastinate horse. The horse is huge; the muscles and skeleton are large and powerful compared to the man riding it. But the man with outstretched arms shows both the human and horse brain to the viewers, and the true power of the man is shown in the size of his brain.

There were several displays of what smoking does to lungs, both with complete lungs and slices through the lungs. There were tumors and hemorrhaging preserved. The deformities that are so cruel in nature were shown in their terrible beauty. There were slices of a morbidly obese man showing how the fatty tissue wasnt just enveloping his body; it was contaminating his internal organs as well. There were also two small fetuses, which some people thought was highly inappropriate, but arent they just as important to see as all the other plastinates on display? They had a 13 week old fetus that was impossibly small, weighing only a few ounces but amazingly complex. Overall I was glad I went, would recommend the exhibit to anyone, and will probably go again!

The Saturday night came the Pirates! Theresa, her mom, my mom and I all went to see Pirates of the Carribean. The movie was really good, but sooo long! If you go see it, be aware there is a short scene after the credits. It isnt long and Theresa wasnt sure it was worth staying for, but I thought it was neat. But the movie was ultimately ruined a bit by the inconsiderate morons behind us. This guy must have been on a date with this girl because they talked through the entire movie. I dont know why they wasted $16 on a movie they werent watching anyway. Theresa politely asked them to stop near the beginning of the movie, but they ignore her. I finally got fed up near the end of the movie and asked them if they could be quiet for at least the last 15 minutes of the movie. The guy was like Sure. But they only managed to be quiet for about 3 minutes. I dont understand why people are so inconsiderate, but Im blaming it on bad parenting. Its not like they didnt know, the manager made this big deal out of not talking during the movie, turned the lights on and announced it in person before the credits. We probably could have gone and reported them, but none of us wanted to be that person. It seems like life is a constant struggle between the people trying to be nice and the people taking advantage of that. At least that is my experience at the movies so far.

If you are going to be rude and talk during the entire movie, please do it in a movie nobody wants to see anyway, like Garfield or Fahrenheit 9-11.

Busting my Bum
Friday July 07, 2006