Sunday we succeeded in leaving the house at about 7:30. The goal had been 7:00, I think, but it ended up being okay because we reached our destination at the scheduled time: noon. Said destination was Queens, which is where we dropped Andrew off at the house his friends were staying. His friends didn't get back from church for a while, so we just sat in the car and ate our sandwiches, commenting on the massive amounts of snow that a Nor'easter had dropped on the city. Except for the time spent in the museum, we did a lot of commenting on the scenery from behind the car windows. It was really fun though, because New York City and all the surrounding areas are so huge, and there are so many interesting buildings and shops and people--the area of Queens was populated primarily by Asians, for example. And there were so many people wherever you went! I've been to NYC before, but never left the island of Manhattan, so I couldn't really grasp the number of people. There are so just so many. And that is only one city on Earth. And every single one of them is an eternal soul. So many of them need God.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was a lot of fun. For some reason we had deduced that no one else would be there on a sunday afternoon, but what do you know, hanging out at the Met on a gray, snowy sunday is the thing to do in NYC. There were people every where, once again. It was even worse than when we had been there with the Prutsman cousins in July of '09. When we were there before, we had been trying to fit as much sightseeing into one day as possible, so we only walked through a few of the exhibits, and due to posters and advertisements, I had figured out that Van Gogh's Starry Night (one of my favorite paintings) was there. But everyone else was anxious to be on their way, and since I am not very out-spoken when it comes to something I might like to do, we just left. So, ever since then, I've been sorry I wasn't more decisive. Well, Mom and Dad knew I really wanted to see it, so that was one the reasons we went back. We got there, and the first thing we did after admiring the Christmas tree was ask the closest person where Starry Night was located. They handed us a map, and directed us to the 2nd floor. On the 2nd floor, we found ourselves surrounded by Van Gogh stuff, but not starry night, so we asked another person and she said, "Oh, it is at the Museum of Modern Art, not this, the Museum of Art."
Dang. The Museum of Modern Art was 30 blocks away, and we had already paid for parking.
I don't understand why they split up the collection, except as a lure. Also, I don't know what classifies modern art as modern, but I don't think starry night should be modern. And, why did they have so much Starry Night tourist paraphernalia if it wasn't located there?
It was very cool to see some other Van Gogh paintings, though, including his self-portrait and Sunflowers. Also we got to see Degas' "Little Dancer of 14 Years", which is a very pretty sculpture. Another favorite was Monet's Water Lilies, and Jackson Pollock's "Autumn Rhythm." I could have spent hours just looking at them all, but we had some other goals. It was the last day of their special Kublai Kahn exhibit, and there were all sorts of ancient Asian pottery, sculptures, scrolls, and tapestries and wall hangings. Another neat exhibit was Egypt, which Sanna is fascinated by (especially the sphinx). The jewelry was all so beautiful, and I especially liked these little gold capsules that they would put on a mummified pharaoh's fingers and toes. Hahaha.
Though I didn't get to see Starry Night, it was still a really fun trip. And besides, it just gives me a reason to go back. I definitely don't want to live in NYC, but I think it's a pretty cool place, just for all the culture that is there, and all the interesting places you can visit.
After picking up Andrew and briefly meeting some people, we went home. It was a long trip back. I slept on and off, and we didn't get back until 1:30 am.
Yesterday I tried to get better from my cold. It is the worst one I've had in years probably, and I keep coughing and coughing and coughing...other than that it's not a bad cold. Just tons of coughing. Dad wanted me to go to the doctors, but i was like no...no...no...please no. They'll just put me on drugs. So instead, mom started me yesterday on this "oregano spirits," which is pure oregano herb oil, and is supposed to be packed with antioxidants, or something like that. You take it twice a day in 4 oz of water and it tastes weird (well, like really strong oregano) and burns the back of your throat going down, but today I'm already somewhat better, I think. So we'll see if I continue to improve.
This morning Maryah and I went over to Papa T's to clean his house. Thanks to physical therapy, I haven't had to work at his house in like 5 months, which was nice, but now I don't have that excuse anymore, so back to cleaning it is.
And, for the record, my resolutions for the New Year are as follows:
1. Superficially, I'm gonna get toned. I really slacked off in the exercising department when school and work was going on. There just wasn't time to even go for a run, after the first month or two when things started getting busier and the weather got colder. Exercising is something I really like to do (or rather, it's painful while its happening, but I like that feeling of accomplishment I get when I finish). So we'll see how that goes. For me to be useful to God, it is not mandatory to be strong, since God has done great things through bedridden people, but I want to take care of the body He has given me, and be physically ready for any task.
2. I need to stop day dreaming about the future, and thinking about what I might have changed, or what I wish other people would have changed, in the past. It's a trap. I need to focus my energies on the present.
3. I'm starting a special Bible reading plan. This last semester, while studying theology, I was really convicted about the importance of reading the Bible more. A lot more. The past two years I've read the Bible every day due to "read the Bible in one year" plans and "read the NT in a year" plans, but that is really not enough. The Bible wasn't meant to be read verse by verse, a chapter here and a chapter there. To really understand it, and gain wisdom from it, and grow in your relationship with God, you have to do more than that. So, what I am doing (and I got this idea from a great little book "Found: God's Will" by John MacArthur) is reading the same 5 chapters of the Bible every day for a month. I'm doing 1 Peter first, and since it has 5 chapters, by the end of the month I will have read it 30 times, and by that time I should know precisely what is in it and where it is located, without the help of a concordance. Then, maybe I'll go to a gospel. Take John for example, which has 21 chapters, I think. I'll read the first 7 every day for 30 days, the second 7 for 30 days, then the last 7 for thirty days. By the end of three months, I should know what is in John since I'll have read it 30 times. I'll continue this pattern for the entire New testament, which will take years, but I have to start some time. And I really want to become familiar with the greatest gift God gave us, besides His son. Mom is doing this with me, which is great, because it will be all to easy to skip a day here and there, or stop altogether.
Over and out.
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