Well it was a busy weekend and Monday in these parts. There was a sojourn to Philly, PA in order to take in Gunther von Hagen's Body Worlds exhibit at The Franklin Institute Science Museum. The one thing I will say about Body Worlds is if you are in either Philadelphia or Toronto you need to check this out. There is a scaled down exhibit at The Ontario Science Centre through 2/26 and the main exhibit will be in Philly through 4/23.
Crystal and I left Mass. at 2am on the dot Friday night for the drive to Philly. Figured we would drive straight through the night, no NYC traffic hassles that way. We loaded ourselves up with a thermos of coffee and I had a few energy drinks stashed on the side and we were good to go. I might have got slightly woozy somewhere along the NJ Turnpike but my eyes stayed open the whole way and we cruised into downtown pretty much right at sunrise. Check-in time at Club Quarters (Hotwire $87.00) was not until 3pm and we thought it was a bit of wishful thinking to be able to grab a room at 7am. They didn't have anything for us at such an early hour and advised us to check back in around 10am.
At this point we were both in need of a nap and we cruised down through the old city and ended up at the Delaware River. Pulled over in a little park by the river and took a hit and miss nap until the sun began to burn our eyes. Found a Denny's by the airport to kill another hour or so. Wow, the service at this Denny's wasn't even half bad! I think our waitress refilled my coffee cup like 5 times. Back to the hotel and able to check in without an issue.
We freshened up and headed over to Body Worlds, but we first detoured into H&M and Daffy's Clothing. Photography was prohibited in the Body Worlds exhibit and actually thinking about it I don't know how I feel about taking pictures of the dead. Even if they are on display as art. The work of Gunther von Hagen and the whole platinization process and the way he shows the inner workings of the body are fantastical. I don't know any better way to get a better appreciation of the human body and marvel at the simple fact that we are able to function. Nothing like burying your eyeballs one inches away from a corpse. Skin stripped away, just revealing the inner works... The guts if you will, but what glorious guts they are! The sinewy muscles, fibrous and dense. Seeing musculature vary between different individuals and ages. The yellowish fingernails protruding out beyond fibrous fingertips. Lips and ears looking like something you have never seen before. Fleshy yet washed out. Wanting to touch them. I bet they feel like Silly Putty. Wait, you can't! These are actual dead bodies... Running, biking, stopping soccer balls, standing at attention. Could not stop looking at these exhibits. By the end you feel as if you are emotionally drained. Two hours of staring at your inner workings and maybe questioning your own mortality require a little bit of a nap afterwards. Especially if you drove straight through the night to get there!
On Sunday we did a tourist-y type thing which consisted of checking out Edgar Allan Poe's Philadelphia residence which is on the National Historic Register. That was pretty cool. Poe's neighborhood has appeared to go downhill since his day and is now a little rough around the edges. So rough in fact that a few blocks away I noticed a BBW sporting a size 24W skirt pull her drawers down to her ankles, hike up her skirt, and squat. She let out a stream of piss right on a manhole cover in the middle of an entrance to a McDonald's Parking Lot at 2 in the afternoon.
The late afternoon was spent doing some window shopping and retail therapy in the Rittenhouse Square area of town. Made pretty good time driving back home and we were able to make lights out by midnight.
This morning I just wasn't feeling myself. I had a serious cough, cold and flu coming on. Ended up calling into work. But wow, I was in luck as it was also Howard Stern's first day on Sirius. So since I wasn't working I got to fully enjoy all of Howard's show. I pretty much spent the morning listening to the new Stern show and cleaning up a bit around the house. George Takei rules! What a sport. He should be in everyday. Get that man a chair. In fact screw it, fire Artie and keep George there full time! All in all a good first show, and worth staying home for. I'm glad to see that Howard isn't married to the gold digging Beth O. Perhaps later this week I will try to match up the staff revelations with who I think each one belongs to. Big fun!
-Aiiight, I'm getting to bed before midnite for once!
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