Seattle museums allow free admission on the 1st Thursday of each month. Eric & I decided to make the most of it, and went on an all-you-can-eat cultural buffet. We saw a LOT of stuff that afternoon. If you want to do the same, bring along a good pair of sneakers, because you’d be doing a LOT of running. The following lists from my most favorite to least.
- Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum – Has some very cool exhibits with a Cha Cha live performance. It feels more like Planet Hollywood/Universal Studio than the typical stuffy museums.
- Seattle Art Museum – New building opened about a year ago. Ultra Modern Building. I especially like the new Impressionist exhibit.
- Museum of History & Industry – Surprisingly big interior that illuminates Seattle’s past ~150 years
- Seattle Asian Art Museum – Decent exhibit on Chinese & Japanese art. The Buddhism section needs an update. Been the same for the past couple of years.
- Burke Museum – This place seems to be frozen in time! Nothing changed since I first went there 10 years ago!! Granted it’s by UW, but still, add something new exhibit already!!!
- Wing Luke Asian Museum – This place sucks big time. It was closed when we got there @ ~3:30pm. There was no warning at all when I went to its website earlier that day. We saw more cool stuff on the opposite side of the block in a Tea Gallery where the hospitable manager, Mr. Dafe Chen provided us with free samples of $100/lb Oolong Tea. If you ever go to Seattle International district, I highly recommend it.
The downside of seeing all of the stuff is not having the time to digest and appreciate some of the fine art. But at least now I know which one is worth my time for a more in depth visit. Here’re the photos.
Earlier in the month, I vacationed with my folks at Ocean Park, WA.
I was driving in a forested Wild Life Refuge on a rainy Monday morning. There wasn’t a soul in sight. Then suddenly, a blur… a black fury blur… At first I thought it was a dog. But it was too big and clumsy. Then I realized, HOLY CRAP, a freakin, monstrous black Bear! I slammed on my brake, fumbled furiously for my camera, while the bear hopped obliviously down the road, and a few seconds later disappeared into the woods.
These days, almost everything is getting more expensive. It kind of sucks for people that saves money because it’s like a hidden tax that steadily erodes your purchase power. So there’s definite an incentive to spend it, but wisely. Heck, first take care of the basic necessities, then invest rest in stocks or gold, the former if you know how to read the financial reports, the latter if you don’t.
The basic cause is because the Fed is keeping the interest rate low to stimulate economy. The low borrowing cost creates a lot of money suddenly that dilutes the existing purchasing power. Here’s a link that explains how Money as Debt works.
Learning is like building a house. You have the foundations, and then move to more advanced stuff. It’s progressive. Take Salsa, a year ago, I was like a drunken bear on the dance floor. Now I get asked to dance by hot women. Granted, not every time, but hey it’s flattering. 
Looking back, I regret abandoning some of the stuff that I started, but didn’t continue, Kung Fu, dancing, and music. But you know, I might go back to them as I did with Salsa. If I do something, I do it with passion!
Went fishing at Cottage Lake on Saturday. Sat there for about 2 hours and not catching even a shadow. It was peaceful though for the most part…
Saw Female Agents on Wednesday @ the SIFF Cinema. It’s a French action thriller set in days before the Normandy invasion in France. As a friend said, it had just about everything, action, suspense, romance, and drama. Don’t want to spoil the movie, but if you want happy endings, this isn’t for you. But for a movie full of bullets and explosions, it’s well acted with an involving story. I give it a 2 thumbs up.
Went dancing at Century on Thursday. It was like an oven in there with relief only in sporadic areas near the windows and fans. They need some air conditioning!!!
Last Saturday’s hike was super fun! The 5 of us were like Olympians passing dozens of mere mortals. Memorable moments including Maurycy accidentally busting Mirek’s nose open in a wresting match on the snow. Andreas catching Chi as she lost her footing on a steep slope. Yours truly did a rain dance under the a waterfall.
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For most of my 29 years, I thought the latter was true, hurriedly moving from one thing to the next, often not really stop and contemplate the reasons, directions, and consequences of my actions. Maybe that’s why I suffered a lot of burnouts, or less flatteringly, “Chicken Running with Its Head Cut Off” syndrome. Now I favor pacing myself with bursts of purposeful actions at the appropriate times. It helps to think things through, even write them down.
Using a basketball analogy, Michael Jordan in his early professional years exhibits tremendous raw physical ability to go directly to the hoops, and score. But he paid dearly from the physical punishment by the defending players, resulting in some serious injuries. After his first retirement, and return from baseball, Michael’s shooting game improved drastically with fadeaway jump shots at the top of the Key, less action, but often more effective.
Having a routine really improves self discipline. It helps you do the things that you should do, but sometimes don’t really like. By having it in the morning, you’re able to “get them over with,” and move on to other more enjoy things. Things like exercise, setting goals, and writings are good candidates. The key is to be consistent and build habits by doing them daily.
Prettier girls tend to be popular dancing partners regardless their skill. And with more choices, they tend to be discerning, and choose mostly the more experienced. This leads to an informal arms race among the guys, learning new moves to impress. Check out some advance partner dancing classes, and you’d find guys usually outnumbers the gals, sometimes by a lot… It’s funny, kind of like the bar scene.