Blogging at night in my bed, the keys clacking, the blue of the screen and the old-schoolness of Diaryland - I'm hearing the Doogie Howser theme in my head. If it was Doogie Howser M.D, I'd have some pithy final sentence but don't hold your breath. Day 2 of the In-Laws was overall good and stress-free but we did attend an art exhibit at the (very fine) little museum, of El Greco and other Spanish artists and really, it was a fairly impressive round-up but crap, I hate "experiencing" art by checking my bag, stroller - actually, I had to wait outside with the baby until AH came back and took care of her so I could go alone, due to the stroller rule - and am let in with a timed ticket that has me lining up like a fool and sheparded around some serious velvet ropes and the dumbfucks who stand directly in front of paintings for 5 whole minutes with their goddamned audio tour and the security guards who warn you to stand behind the line and scour the scene like Art Hawks and bark at you and the lockers where you have to stuff your purse that only takes quarters and JEBUS, it all dumps out into a gift shop. The paintings, especially the still lifes, were rather fantastic but who would guess it. Ugh. Small, obscure galleries on Monday afternoons - that's where it is at.
AH and I were granted (eg begged for) the opportunity to go out for an hour or two ALONE after the baby went to bed, first time since she was born. we went to a new bar/social club we've been dying to check out but it was so so so full because of a local music festival we forgot about - which normally would be fun and exciting but these days, sardine-style next to smoking, drinking shitty bands and drinking beer out of plastic cups while feeling old and dorky and spending $15 per person on the door fee - not as appealing. So we hit the hotel bar - and when I say the, I mean THE hotel M@rriot bar, the only hotel in downtown. They have a baby grand and little bowls of salty snacks and that feeling of - in-between and good emptiness and possibility and absence - that hotels and train stations and airports have. Like you've disappeared into a vortex. We drank two beers and played cards and talked until a young man rolled up to the bar seeking a shot of "your finest tequilla". We then planned an exciting trip to the drugstore for cold medicine but it was 10 pm so everything was closed. Thus endeth our "date". Time to cultivate new babysitters.