it's like the eye of a duck

• 10:38 Between this and the Jamestown bones exhibit, I see myself hitting the Mall sooner rather than later: tinyurl.com/n95p26
• 11:26 Cashews: can't eat just one.
• 11:31 RT @wax_fm: Record Stores: Out of Sight, Not Obsolete (New York Times) tr.im/AdKI <- I totally get the "tactile appeal" thing
• 11:39 Emergency weather statement: it is Hot Chocolate weather.
• 18:45 RT @YuliZ: New "It" series on Sundance: Anthropologie buyer travels for treasures (and I want his job! ;) bit.ly/2LCyxt

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NMAH's Hispanic Designers collection, featuring a Fortuny dress and jacket !

[swoon] If I could go back in time, it would be to 1920s Venice to grill Fortuny about his pleating method. Until then, I think it might be time to consult my collections guide and contact someone about some behind-the-scenes....

I had a good birthday :)

D. brought home a chocolate (oh, so very dark and sinful!) cake, which we've both been nibbling at for 2 days now. I also got some nice gifts - mostly books, with which one can almost never go wrong. Top this of with slatherings of Chef! during dinner (don't miss the "salt" episode) and it was just about perfect :)

For today I'd toyed with finally going up to see Body Worlds, but distance, cost, and the fact that I've got a test on Wednesday that I need to study for conspired against this being a good/workable idea :/ So I hauled out of bed this morning to go to tutors/study hall on campus, and I've set the new shiny books aside in favor of homework, at least for the time being. If I feel "caught up" by tomorrow I might hit this or this closer to home.

Haven't felt overly "journal-y" for the past few days. Don't know why, just wasn't there.

Sunday D. and I went to see the Style and Status exhibit at the Sackler - oh, hold me back! Exhibited beautifully so you could see both sides (!) of a garment, the materials were too luxe (and in excellent condition!) to be believed! Lots of cloth of gold (a real treat, as I think most of this was melted down after the garment served its' purpose) and red and gold silk. I could practically feel the satins, just by looking at them. One thing lacking: I wish they'd had an example/reproduction of the loom used to weave these intricate patterns. Leched on the catalog (which is curiously not on their site today, I hope it hasn't sold out), but didn't get yet, because:

Ordered the book for my Survey of College Math class, which starts next Monday. Curiously, I'm not terrified (yet?); my other experiences with online learning have been so good that I've got a good feeling. I hope I'm not proved wrong.

Reading: should probably do a lengthy book post, because as much as I've been slacking in other areas for the past few weeks, I've been reading a lot. What's jumping out in my mind this minute is I finally started Laura Antoniou's The Marketplace. Wow, just... WOW! It's hot (obviously), but with excellent character and plot development. If you tried to read Anne Rice's "Beauty" series and loved the concept but hated the (crappy *cough*) execution, this is the book you're looking for. I'm only a few chapters in and I just marvel...

Fencing: eastern European guy with the weird aggressive moves is back at my club after a year off - still deadly :P My own game - still experimenting with distance, and despite every warning from my historical coaches, am trying to take some of what I've learned about "getting into measure" from rapier into my foil game. Still not quite budgeted for electric gear yet; will consider again after next paycheck.

Sewing: hand-sewing the finishing on D.'s cuff because the machine can't take it - 6-8 layers of fabric depending on if I'm going over seams. Then must finish the pirate coat (wanted to finish it by Halloween last year - yes, that worked out well, didn't it? :P) simply to finish it, and decide What's Next. Trying not to think too much about What's Next because it prevents my completing What's Now.

Teevee: got first Netflix order of discs 1 and 2 of At Last the 1948 Show with pre-Python Graham Chapman and John Cleese. Brief review: sketches with forced endings aren't as funny, but the first one has the original "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch that Python later did live - it translated well :) We shall see how the rest of the discs turn out.

Working: code and more code. ASP.Net still surprises me.

Sleep: not nearly enough, but it'll do. For now.

Coming weekend: haircut and historic fencing on Sunday. Apart from that, hopefully a lot of reading.

Body Worlds in Philly, just up the road from me. Morbid though it might seem, I've always wanted to see this exhibit, it just looks utterly fascinating!

And it's there until April of next year - that's PLENTY of time to plan a road trip! Any wannabee anatomists out there?