Looking up at the AMNH
A friend and I journeyed uptown after church on Sunday to check out the American Museum of Natural History.
Though I live (practically) around the corner, I had never been to this museum before. The suggested admission fee is $24, which sounds like crazy-talk to this girl who grew up in the land of Washington, D.C.. Yup, Mr. Smithsonian ruined me pretty good with his free museums.
Nevertheless, we decided to give it a go and get educated on all things natural. In addition to an interesting climate change exhibit, we also wandered down the Hall of the Primitive Mammals (Yes, Honkey Chateau, your picture is still on display there) and the Hall of Dinosaurs.
This one I call "Roger."
It was pretty trippy, walking through the shadows of skeletons that once belonged to beasts I can hardly imagine. I suppose I could have been thinking about the transitory nature of life on earth, my own immortality, the incomprehensible quantity of a billion years.
But mostly what I was thinking of was an episode of Friends. Particularly this conversation between Ross & Phoebe:
ROSS: How can you not believe in evolution?
PHOEBE: Just don't. Look at this funky shirt!
ROSS: Pheebs, I have studied evolution my entire adult life. I can tell you, we have collected fossils from all over the world that actually show the evolution of different species, ok? You can literally see them evolving through time.
PHOEBE: Really? You can actually see it?
ROSS: You bet. In the U.S., China, Africa, all over.
PHOEBE: See, I didn't know that.
ROSS: Well, there you go.
PHOEBE: Huh. So now, the real question is, who put those fossils there, and why?
(Friends, Season 2, Episode 3)
Now, this is not to say that I don’t believe in evolution. My point here, rather, is to admit to the fact that I have 10 seasons worth of a TV sitcom near-memorized. And when wandering around impressive environs, instead of thinking impressive thoughts, often I replay an episode of Friends in my mind.
I worry that's perhaps a little sad.
Like, dead-dinosaur sad.
2 comments:
I don't think it's sad one bit, but perhaps that's because I frequently reference the show myself. . . You can reply, or not, I'm breezy.
life is more entertaining with a Friends quote, I say...
ps- those are some really great photographs, kw.
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