Introductions

Before anything else, I feel a need a explain why this blog is happening.

While I was at work today at the Danforth Museum, it hit me really deeply that I have been incredibly lucky. I was shadowing the museum director as she talked with individual artists about their work, reviewing their resumes, advising them on future creative directions, and suggesting future professional opportunities. We called these sessions "artist portfolio reviews". (She had like, six artists scheduled for the day on top of a presentation and a lecture to host - and it was a Sunday! My bosses, they're superheroes.) So there I was, pen and notebook in hand,  listening to Ms Katherine and her artists talking about the inspirations and processes and possibilities of all these beautiful works. And somewhere between lightbox-illuminated photographs of rambutans and oil-on-paper biomorphic circles (yep, exciting), I realized that I was an incredibly lucky girl. How did I get from the hot, sleepy town of Sandakan, to this tireless place of learning?

The past three days have been unbelievably stimulating in so many ways.

The day before yesterday I was at Smith College with my bosses and the other interns for a workshop, and got to visit Smith's wonderful museum and campus, and its surrounding neighbourhood in Northampton. Brought my nose really close to a 19th-century map of Paris, listened to original recordings of cabarets and chansons as they were sung in salons back then, saw a very saturated landscape by Hopper (who btw is my favourite painter)... Got a restaurant recommendation from a retired professor who really loved Northampton and was not shy about showing it, only to end up getting really good Pad Thai and sushi at another dinner place that we stumbled into, but not before toasting to friendship and Sofia's new job...

Yesterday I went into Boston expecting only to do the routine things like meeting up with friends and running errands and the obligatory Forever21 round... only to walk into brand-new exhibitions at the Public Library, Boston's very own Gay Pride Parade (and the tons of free swag the paraders handed out), and the breathtaking 180-degree movie screen of the Omnitheatre at the Museum of Science. Well, to be honest, the Omnitheatre visit was planned, but I really didn't foresee being so awed by the scale and magic of the theatre! "Only in Boston, only in Boston" - that was what echoed in my head all of yesterday. I knew I loved Boston; but I was falling in love all over again.

There were downtimes, of course. Getting lost on our way home from Northampton, near midnight no less, was not at all fun; and I would prefer not to have sprinted to the Commuter Rail station with a giant bag of swag swinging from our arms. All these action and stimulation from the days had me really worn out physically. And no matter how many years I've been here, that pang of guilt I get from using my parents' Malaysian money on American prices doesn't get any softer.*

But really, I have been so lucky to be here, doing all these, in the company of such wonderful people. I would never have seen any of these things, or learned to appreciate them, in sleepy, sweaty town of Sandakan... though that said, I kind of would give up my arm for a proper mug of Sandakan Milk Tea ("Teh-C") now...

I owe it to myself to write about all these inspirations and beauty that I get to "walk into".

Hence this blog! It will be loads of fun, I hope :)



*That's what I've been occupied with most of these days, to the point of unhealthy frugality...