Secret combinations

Yesterday The Redhead and I made a very sloppy excursion to the Freer Art Gallery to meet two people whom we did not know. In fact, we really didn’t even use our real names. We stood at a predetermined spot facing the Mall at 1:00 PM and waited for our two “informants” to show up. They arrived and identified themselves by the secret handshake and the passwords (“plethora” and “scatological”) and we proceeded to conduct secret 100 Hour Board business. Okay, it really wasn’t very secret. There weren’t any handshakes or passwords, and if there had been passwords, “scatological” wouldn’t have been one of them. But The Redhead and I did have an entertaining visit with Katya the Physics Chick and A.A. Melyngoch yesterday afternoon.

Why Katya and Ms. Melyngoch happened to be in Washington in the middle of the semester is another subject entirely. But they decided to meet us for a not-so-secret rendezvous to see the Asian-Eastern art at the Freer Gallery down on the Mall. DC, in its wonderful American spirit, welcomed them with 40-degree weather and steady rain all day. Being used to the drier weather of Utah, they didn’t bring umbrellas and consequently were rather soaked when they arrived.

I have decided that touring a museum with funny people isn’t necessarily the wisest thing to do, although it is certainly fun. The pieces in the collection were amazing, and I wondered why I didn’t know more about the Freer Gallery before they proposed visiting it. (It certainly was a better museum than the American History Museum, which is the reality show of the Smithsonian. All of the exhibits were built for people with attention spans of less than 30 seconds and half of the upper floor was dedicated to The Beatles. They’re not even American! C’mon! The only thing truly American about that museum was the blatant consumerism built in with the restaurants and museum store. But I digress. . .) Despite the respect I have for ancient Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Muslim artifacts, the company was far more entertaining. We caught up on recent Board news while admiring full-size wooden carvings of Buddha. (I want a Buddha for my bathroom.) We talked about school and work while in the Peacock Room. We engaged in vicious gossip through the Japanese and Korean exhibits and only finished while looking at the Hindu sculptures. All in all, it was a very enjoyable outing that really didn’t have anything to do with Board business or anonymity. But it was fun. The other writers need to come out and visit too. Maybe we can bribe them. Latro, I have a friend who owns a Mini Cooper. He might be willing to let you drive it if you come to visit. . .