Today was all kinds of nifty. I slept in to compensate for waking up at 4:30 yesterday, and I met with former JETSie Ashley and her friend Nancy to tromp around Boston. First, we visited the Gardner Museum, which was very cool, but really awkwardly arranged and poorly lit. It was like a very condensed version of the Frick in New York, but not as well executed. Still, the contents were extraordinary!

Then we went to the Bostom Museum of Fine Arts, which was fabulous. I wish we’d had enough time to do the museum justice, but we only had a little over an hour before I had to head back for SIGGRAPH registration. Ashley guided us through 18th century paintings, which were jaw-dropping. I dragged us to the ancient art galleries, representing Egypt, Greece, areas of Mesopotamia, and much of Asia. Ever since hearing Christian Lorenz Scheurer‘s lecture on worldbuilding at Industry Giants, I’ve been intrigued about what the art of ancient cultures says about the culture itself. This intensified when I went through the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s exhibition on artifacts from native tribes of the Americas. By looking at the natural resources available, how these natural resources are used, what was deemed valuable, what items were traded, etc etc etc, you can infer a great deal about the culture and its values. Fascinating!

I arrived for registration at about 5:20, 40 minutes in advance. The line was already about 25 people long. I arrived just in time, as a few minutes later, the line tripled. We were finally allowed in at 6, and I was out in 10 minutes. At 6:10, the line extended all the way to the end of the wing. Multiple-hundreds of people, easy. They’ll be waiting a lot longer than my 40 minutes, I guarantee.

And now I’m back at my hotel, eager to change my shoes. I’m so glad my mom cajoled me into bringing my tennis shoes, as the sandals that have been so comfortable this past summer have metamorphosed into… you know in the Grimm’s version of Snow White, where at Snow White and the Prince’s wedding, the evil Queen must dance in red-hot iron shoes until she falls down dead? That’s what my feet felt like an hour into our excursion. I have blisters the size of cats.

And that was my day! The real conference starts tomorrow morning, and I can’t wait! *would do a little dance, but that would mean her feet touching something solid*