Thing Nineteen: Brotherly Love

Whew! Okay, I think this will finally catch me up after my "Oh god, why did I choose 'fix iTunes tags' as a goal?" lapse.

Lately, I have been feeling the urge to wander.

I think it's the weather - it's been really warm and sunny, but not oppressively hot, and there is nothing I like more during on a day like that than getting in my car and going on a nice, long road trip.

But the thing is...I live near a really great city. Like, walking-distance close. (Clarification: One COULD walk there. One would not, because one would more than likely be horribly murdered, but one could.) And I really don't take advantage of it. I haven't been to the Art Museum in...man, at least five years, probably since the Schiaparelli show. There's a Van Gogh exhibit there right now, that closes on Sunday, and I have not gone, even though I deeply love Van Gogh (now more than ever: Tony Curran was brilliant in that episode of Doctor Who). There's an exhibit opening tomorrow that's about crafts. And that's just the art museum!  That's not even the Bell, or the Franklin Institute, or Elfreth's Alley, or the Constitution Center, or Headhouse Square, or LOVE Park, or, or, or...

It's silly that the only reason I go is to buy art supplies and then come right back home. It's preposterous that I've been to New York probably...ten times so far this year? and I've been to Philly once. It takes two hours and forty dollars to go to New York, and ten minutes and four dollars to go to Philly, and once you get there, everything's cheaper! (AND there are decent cheesesteaks, which, sorry, NY, but: no.)

And this hasn't just been a problem for me while I've lived here, near Philly. At Harvard, I rarely left the bubble of Cambridge to venture into Boston, and when I lived in Chicago, I almost never went into the Loop. So, starting this year, I'm going to start taking advantage of the stuff right nearby me, instead of venturing around the world. Philly deserves better.

(And I'm going to start this one ASAP. No waiting for my birthday this time, or I'll miss the Van Gogh, and that'll just be a sin.)