camouflaged

I've been to Museum of Science twice in as many weeks with two of my friends. Since the summer Gunther von Hagen's Body Worlds 2 exhibit has been there and I've been dying to see it. "Dying" - in a half extremely curious, half extremely disgusted sort of way. Two weeks ago the museum had it's annual "College Student Night" where any local college student is allowed entrance into the museum, all of its exhibits, and the IMAX movies for free. And well...I have three college IDs, none of which have an expiration date, so...that makes me a college student, yes?! YES!

We arrived there with the masses, I've never seen so many college students in a museum before. I had, in fact, just come over from MIT where I am auditing a class this semester - so I AM a college student! I was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt of some sort, nothing fancy, and I fit right in. We waited in this chaotic line for a few minutes, then realized we had to push passed the line to get these stickers (which indicated we were students) and then get BACK in line to wait for our free tickets. Such a process. But, I got a sticker and had passed the test as a true college student.

Before we went we had tried to pick an IMAX movie we wanted to see - it was narrowed down to 2 choices, "The Human Body" and "Stormchasers". In reality, I've never seen a bad IMAX movie, so I didn't care. But when we got to the front of the line, "The Human Body" was sold out - so we got tickets for "Stormchasers". A little twinge of remorse hit me, perhaps now I knew that I really did have a preference, and "Stormchasers" wasn't it.

We saw the Body Worlds 2 exhibit, which was amazing. I mean, really. It was gross - some of them had skin and hair and faces and if you stopped to think about what it really was....ewww. But if you stopped to look at the innate beauty of what you were seeing. It was truly awesome (in the actual, awe-invoking meaning of the word and not the 'like, totally, eh-he!' meaning). I mean, you saw everything - muscles, nerves, fat, bones, organs, all healthy and unhealthy. Really, truly, awesome.

Now, the IMAX we saw. Well, I've now seen a bad IMAX. It was called "Stormchasers" so you think, wild crazy footage of these horrible big storms - pretty cool. Nah, it was wild crazy footage of meteorologists watching computer radars and predicting storms. Then the obligatory bolt of lightening and a plane or two...but, I was unimpressed. (and I fell asleep). But Body Worlds 2 made up for it.

Last week the Museum of Science had its "Educators Night" where teachers can go for free. One of my friends who I went with before is actually an educator - he teaches chemistry and pre-algebra at a high school. He had registered for this. When he registered his girlfriend and I also registered, because, well, they weren't doing anything obvious to verify that we were educators. And when you come right down to it, I teach math to high school kids, just not in a school - and Allison, she teaches lots of things, to lots of people. The day after College Student Night we got email confirmations to say that we were registered for Educators Night. Allison and I had the same exact thought - "we can see The Human Body IMAX!" So, we went back.

Apparently the Museum of Science trusts educators more. There was no chaotic line, no need for a sticker proving I was an educator, nothing. I just walked in. This time I was wearing a nice pair of dress pants and a top, and again I fit in nicely. But there was no test to pass - I had nothing to prove. The difference between the two nights was shocking. College Night had a DJ and dancy-club music pumping throughout. Educator night had veggies and dip and grilled sandwiches. We also snuck into a demonstration on the Sky Lab, a mobile planetarium that can go to schools for special programs. I guess this was the one test, when the guy said to the crowd "what ages do you all teach?" I felt myself freeze...oh god oh god, WHAT AGE DO I TEACH??! Until I remembered I could just say ANYTHING! First grade, that works. I look like a First Grade teacher.

The Human Body IMAX was worth it.