Such a big "ta' do".

Something truly amazing happened today. I completed all but one thing on my To Do list. This is something that has never happened before, at least not with such a lofty list. I even had time to work on a fun art project during my.......... (wait for it)........... FREE TIME? I had kind of forgotten what free time actually was. Most of my free time ends up being used for mindless pursuits because I'm too tired and wound up to do anything I actually might enjoy and put some effort into. In terms of level of accomplishment, I' just as satisfied as if I completed my entire list today.

On top of all this, I even wrote out a To Do list for tomorrow, and it's looking promising. Two of the things on the list MUST get done, therefore they will, which means I'm already certain I'll complete two tasks tomorrow. I've even planned time to go to the gym. Then again, there's supposed to be a snow storm tonight, so we'll see what happens.

The Mixed Up Files of Mr Philippe de Montebello

I spent most of my afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art today. My main reason for going (besides that fact that it's cheap, warm and beautiful), was to see the current Philippe de Montebello exhibit; he's a renowned curator for the Met and the museum's current director. In thirty-one years, he has acquired over 80 thousand pieces for the museum. The exhibit puts together around 300 of those pieces. What's wonderful about it is that, other than appearing pleasing in their placement next to each other, the piece have no relationship to each other, what so ever.

Only in a few spots of the exhibit is there something that could be called a “theme,” with much of the start of it taken up by sketches and etchings, but for the most part 2nd century busts stand unapologetically beside 19th century oil paintings. Eclectic doesn't even begin to describe the variety in this exhibit; it's almost like The Breakfast Club took the form of an art exhibit. Things are arranged kind of how I imagine a personal collector might arrange art in their home. I guess that's how we're being asked to look at and appreciate the work of de Montebello; he could have easily been a personal collector, but he's shared his gifted knack of collection and his collector's eye with the museum and all of its visitors. It also makes the exhibit that much more personal; I felt like I was walking through the aesthetic section of de Montebello's mind. I don't even know the guy, so I have no way of verifying whether his acquisitions reflect his personal taste but hidden among the vast display, I found one small photo of him, de Montebello himself, taken in front of the Temple of Dendur in the Egyptian gallery. It seemed to reflect a sort of unassuming cheekiness, the exact personality I think would be drawn to all the items on display.