okcupid round two

I went on my second OkCupid date yesterday, and it was really fun! We saw the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibit was actually all paintings from the collections of George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg, of all people! It makes sense if you think about it, though, because they're both kind of obsessed with nostalgia; I just hadn't known they were such big fans of Rockwell.



I don't have any pictures from this part of the date, because there was no photography allowed in the exhibit. But I can tell you that the paintings were totally gorgeous up close, and it was really fascinating to see the preliminary sketches Rockwell did before each painting. The one thing I would really have liked is more biographical information about Rockwell-- the labels on the paintings kept mentioning things like "this was painted while his second wife was being treated for depression," and making me go, okay, details please! Who was his second wife? Why was she depressed? Please allow me to interrogate this text from a feminist perspective!

After the exhibit we walked over to the Mall (that's the National Mall, non-DCists), where they were holding a science fair.



We got our picture taken with a neuron.



Then we went over to the Natural History Museum, and got to see the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef.







The coral reef was amazing to look at-- all the different textures and stitches and materials that were used, all the amazing handwork done by so many dedicated crafters. I loved it. The Reef website says that it "resides at the intersection of mathematics, marine biology, handicraft and community art practice, and also responds to the environmental crisis of global warming and the escalating problem of oceanic plastic trash," which I think sums it up pretty well.

We tried to go to one more exhibit, but by that point the museum was closing, so we headed for the Metro. I had a great time-- my date seems like a really nice, really cool guy. I think I'll see him again.