June retroblogging

Okay, so I have prescheduled this post and committed to automatically posting it at the end of the month. Woohoo!

• May's retroblogging post
• Video game art

This post's themeword is meed, "reward, recompense, wage." I receive no meed for blogging, hence my intermittent consistency.

Extremely first-world, privileged problem

Nothing comes out perfectly round in practice; observe, my residence in Paris will not be a number of months divisible by 12. Thus, my gym membership has run out, and I will be here for only ~2 more months. Renewing for a full year is unreasonably expensive when amortized over 2 months; paying per-entry is unreasonably expensive at 25€/day multiplied by my 5-6 day/week gym habit.

What to do?

It's summer, so of course I could just switch to outside/no-equipment exercising, but I find this dissatisfying and it also means zero swimming during the peak heat-relieving swimming months.

On the other hand, I live in a big city and there are many gyms. Most offer a one-time-only free pass (as an incentive to lure people to subscribe), so perhaps I can string together enough free gym visits, interspersed with 25€/day visits and swimming at public pools and running outside, to meet my needs without using up my budget for food and rent.

Problems of privilege --- irritating, but I'm glad that this is the kind of worry my brain has leisure to contemplate.


This post's theme word is sook, "a timid or cowardly person, a crybaby." Ignore that overprivileged sook, visibly-bulging triceps are SO last season.

A problem of translation

Can you spot it?

Yes, I realize this is an instance of "translated to preserve the sense", but I am amused to think that the literal translation of "Paris" is "New York". Just tickled pink.

This post's theme word is syncope, "the shortening of a word by omission of sounds or letters from its middle. (For example, did not to didn't or Worcester to Wooster)" or "fainting caused by insufficient blood flow to the brain." I saw such an extreme translational syncope that I succumbed to a medical syncope.

Overheard

"I thought that dessert was pretentious, and it couldn't decide what it was."

"I thought that comment was pretentious."

This eavesdropper gives the exchange 5 stars. Would overhear again!

This post's theme word is bombilate, "to make a humming or buzzing noise."

National Museum of the American Indian

The exterior of the National Museum of the American Indian is a very appealing textured series of waves, spun to be vertical walls.

 There were many displays inside the museum that were aesthetically appealing, historically interesting, and truly shame-inducing (at least for me, inheritor of the benefits of many atrocities). While I was there, there was a choral group performing music in the atrium, which reaches up all floors of the building around the central open area; it was ethereal and gorgeous.

Some of the animal representations were in a stark line-style that I really like:

 It reminds me of the art style of Patapon.

The cafeteria at this museum was good! I recommend it for those assembling a National Mall itinerary.


This post's theme word is metanoia (n), "a profound transformation in one's outlook." The museum exhibits are carefully constructed to persuade visitors to a certain metanoia.