This week has been kind of tough but only in that I feel really tired – thankfully nothing particularly difficult to deal with or dramatic came up, which is rare! I was rather busy this weekend and believe me: I’m paying for it today (Monday)!
On Friday night Bethany, Shannon and I went to see Kung Fu Panda in Wilsonville Memorial Park for their Summer Movies in the Park. I had never seen the movie or been to a movie in the park and was really impressed with how cute it was. We were laughing right along with the rest of the audience (mostly kids) and while I can’t speak for Bethany or Shannon, I’m pretty sure we liked it a lot…well, at least enough that we’re going back next week to see Hotel for Dogs! The only down side was that we were all eaten alive by mosquitoes. Yuck. We took a few pictures after the show with the aid of my flashlight.
This is Shannon's Hitler face. She stuck her tongue out which made a terrifying shadow that looks an aweful lot like Hitler's mustache. Nice.
Bethany's picture is the only one that looks remotely normal. Actually, she looks pretty awesome.
I think this is my "grrrrr" face. I can't be sure though. Mostly because I am an idiot.
I woke up kind of early (for a Saturday) and went to get a pedicure with Suzi then we did a bit of light shopping at Marshall’s and TJ Max. I LOVE the deals available at these stores. There really isn’t anything as awesome as getting department store brands at Wal-Mart prices. Those of you who know me know that I really love to shop but I love a good deal even more. I only spent $25.00 or so but I got a pair of capris, a t-shirt and a hair brush. Talk about awesome!!
I had plans to go with Kim and Sadako and their moms and my mom to go to a play so I got home around 4:00 and showered because even though I only spent about 20 minutes outside walking between stores and the car, the car and the nail place, etc. it was hotter than the face of the sun and I was sweaty. Eeew! I then made the mad dash to dry my hair, reapply my makeup, pick out a new, sweat-free outfit and then get out to some Mexican restaurant with my peeps before going to see…are you ready? Because I don’t know if I am and I was already there….we went to see Pride and Prejudice. Oh. My. God. It was AMAZING. I’ve read the book I don’t know how many times…a million? A billion? I don’t know. I’ve also seen the A&E version (you know, the one that’s so long it’s on like 951 discs) several times and own it on DVD. I also own the newer version on DVD and have seen that one quite a few times, too. This was my first time seeing Pride and Prejudice as a play, though. Did I already mention that it was amazing? Because it totally was. It’s still playing (through August 16th) so you should totally go check it out.
The play was kind of on the long side and even though there were two intermissions I was exhausted by the time it was over (at 11:00!) so I drove us all home bleary-eyed and yawning the whole way. Really, the older I get the more I appreciate my mom as a person and not just my mother. I realize that probably sounds silly, but it’s taken me a long time to get here and to realize that my mom is not just another woman, but an awesome person and a truly amazing friend. Honestly, I regret all the time I wasted looking for ways to make her so miserable! It’s true: I actively looked for ways to make my mom miserable. I’m a terrible person.
Anyway, we finally made it home and I actually managed to stumble to my own bed instead of the couch before falling asleep. It was after midnight before I got there, though so having to wake up at 7:00 to go to OMSI for $2.00 admission day was no small accomplishment! I had never been to OMSI before so to say that I was excited is a bit of an understatement. I was PUMPED. Because it was $2.00 admission day we knew it was going to be really crowded so we opted to go early and get through all the “important” stuff. (Did you know that the first Sunday of every month is $2.00 admission day? I totally didn’t until I read this blog)
Our first stop was The CSI Experience.
Honestly, it was a bit of a let-down. The diorama we saw (there are three “crimes” to solve) was confusing and all of the “answers” were written on a poster near each of the displays and labs. Yes, it was a fun way to spend an hour or so but I’m glad we found out about discount admission day! I would have been disappointed if I had paid full price specifically to see the CSI Exhibit and it was that cheesy. As I told Bethany earlier, it was kind of like Clue meets Candy Land but with more blood. Sadface. Entertaining, but not challenging at all. They did have little recreations of the models from the Miniature Killer episodes. AWESOME.
After the CSI exhibit we went up stairs and saw several other exhibits including one on human development featuring real human babies that were dead. It sounds weird and maybe even gross, but honestly I was really moved. After seeing this exhibit it would be impossible to deny that a fetus is a baby from the earliest stage of conception. Even at one or two weeks of gestation you could clearly see a tiny person developing with all the normal appendages and features. I was humbled to be seeing these people that would be parents and grandparents and brothers and sisters before me, years after their lives should have began. All of the “tissue samples” were donated to science and all died naturally or by accident (they were not aborted) prior to 1940. What a legacy, huh? I mean, it was kind of unsettling once I realized that these extremely detailed babies were not plaster casts or some sort of plastic models but were in fact REAL people but once I stopped to think about it I realized that this was probably the most selfless thing a parent could do once their child had died.
Picture from the OMSI exhibit on human development. As you can see in the picture, this is a femail fetus at 25 weeks old.
Donating your own body to science is a tough decision that your family may not agree with but I can’t imagine the struggle it would be to decide what to do with the body of your child. Not being a parent myself, it’s hard for me to imagine what I would do if I were faced with that decision but I would like to think that I would try to make something positive out of such a tragic and horrible negative situation. Scientific discoveries have to come from somewhere and our understanding of developing babies probably comes from hundreds of thousands of tragic situations. While searching for pictures of the exhibit I came across several blogs wherein people said how outraged they were by this exhibit and what a desecration of human life it was but I feel the exact opposite. I honestly feel that abortion, no matter the reason, is murder; however, I can understand victims of rape or incest seeking out an abortion. I wouldn’t agree with it but I can understand the desire to put those horrible moments out of your mind and memory and life. If this exhibit dissuades even one woman or girl from seeking out to terminate her pregnancy, it would be worth it. The parents that were selfless enough to donate the bodies of their children should be applauded, not ridiculed and railed against.
Enough of such heaviness though. While at OMSI we also went to see a movie in the theater which is five stories high and AMAZING. We saw Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk. The film wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be but I had never seen a trailer for it or even heard of it until we were there so I guess that isn’t saying much. The risk the film showcased is about 90% skydiving and I’ll be honest…seeing the movie kind of made me want to jump out of a plane. Who hasn’t seen a friend’s home skydiving movie? I don’t know. This film was shot so beautifully and made skydiving look so artistic and peaceful. In hindsight, that seems kind of weird because basically all you’re doing is falling towards the Earth at extremely high rates of speed and the adrenaline rush to be had by doing this is because YOU MIGHT DIE. Uh…not exactly something I like to think about…you know…being crushed into a skydiving pizza. They showed this group of guys that play this game while skydiving (I know! Crazy!) called Sky Ball where they throw a tennis ball filled with lead out of the plane (the lead is to make sure the ball falls at the same rate as the players) and they race round the sky trying to catch the ball. Minor detail though: if the ball is “fumbled” and not caught prior to impact it will make a hole in the ground that is seven feet deep. Oh. My. God. Can you imagine the hole a person would make if the parachute failed? Just thinking about that makes my toes curl and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. *Shudder* Something interesting though, the folks they were following for this film recreated Da Vinci’s parachute and proved that the design Da Vinci described in notebook in 1483 really is a viable design. Crazy! All in all, it was a wonderful weekend but I think I needed a little more sleep. I’m still exhausted!!!
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