the weekend (part 1)

during the weekdays.. i thought the weekend will be a good time to update this space here. the weekend comes and there is simply no time. and then its the weekdays again. darn.

these days, i am finding that time is moving faster than ever.. the hours just blend into days, and the days blend into weeks, the weeks blend into months, and almost 1/2 year has gone by.

and i wondered what i have achieved.

anyway, wanted to blog about the wonderful weekend i had. or rather fulfilling is the word, albeit super tiring. so much so that when i came home at about 8pm earlier, i wanted to doze off into slumberland.

started saturday bright and early with a trip to the science center! i think the last time i went was when i was still in school. you must be thinking what is the draw of the place.

it’s da vinci. lenardo da vinci.

no. i am just very drawn to the creator of mona lisa, the arts that he created, the many other things that he studied and created. and wow. i was so blown off by him because i think he is such a brilliant guy.

and i never knew he was a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, writer, musician, and many more rolled into one. at the exhibition, you can read about most of his achievements and view replicas of his inventions and play with some of the tools he has created to help in making work easy for humans, especially those to ease heavy weight lift in building, as well as war tools to help fight the war.

there were tools for transport too, like a helicopter concept that he thought of, a parachute design, and others such as a 8 panel mirror room that allows you to see every single angle of your body endless times and clocks works etc. another interesting thing was his unique way of jotting down his notes, or findings. the letters are a refection and you can only read it using a mirror. i forgot the term that was used at the exhibition to describe his handwritings.

and then the paintings. the mona lisa, the last supper, the virgin on the rocks etc. of cos it’s not the real paintings since the mona lisa is so precious that it cannot even be transported, so what we saw were photographed replicas of the real copy. you can read about how the mona lisa today is far from what it used to be due to the many restoration works done on it, as well as the 25 secrets of the mona lisa.

it was an intriguing display, as i walked around in silence, absorbing all that interesting information. i didn’t take any photos, because no photography was allowed. i think i could have sneaked a couple of pictures, but i think being there and seeing all the exhibits on display was well worth the money.

i personally like the epigrams of da vinci best. they trigger you to think. and here are some of my personal favourites.

marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.

Source: leonardo da vinci

and there was also this liner that i read somewhere that says..

there are three types of people. the people who see, the people who see when lead, and the people who don’t see.

makes me think about some people i know. ha!

while i enjoyed most part of the exhibits, i didn’t complete it because it was simply too disruptive and i was getting increasingly annoyed. there were young children running about, screaming and ‘destroying’ the exhibits, with their slamming and forcing and pulling all over. ok. not all kids were like that, some were really well-behaved with nice parents explaining how the things work, what is it supposed to be and all. but there were just some, running all over. disturbing people viewing the exhibits and causing disruption to the videos that were playing by pushing carts around.

seriously, i almost lost my patience and told a kid off but someone beat me to it. looks like i wasnt the only irritated person. i’m not a parent and i seriously do not know how to take a kid in hand, but i feel that if the child is too young to understand or that you do not want to spend time teaching your own kid, don’t waste your time and money and bring your kid to the exhibition and let them roam all over. they are not learning anything and are causing nuisance to people who are genuinely interested.

and because of that, i only watched half the video about da vinci’s life and decided to step out because i couldnt make out what the video was saying with all the noise.

still, it was a well worth trip and i cannot wait for the day where i get to go to the lourve museum and see the real mona lisa painting.

irritating der had to remind me that he had since the REAL thing before. Grrr..

we had to leave before we could devote more time because der had to report for RT, while i head home for a short nap before our terminator salvation movie premiere date.