I sometimes wonder why natural things like trees and the ocean feel right, then i hit myself upside the head and say "Ivy you spend too much time indoors being an industrial exister."

I think one day ill plant a garden..with tomato plants because i like tomatos

I wonder...
how many people answer the poll of the day thing honestly?

My group and I went to the Getty Villa on Saturday the 7th of November 2009. We all drove there together. David’s dad a white guys with a shaved head who smoked cigarettes drove me, Peter, David, and Leslie up to the museum. David’s mom was in the truck to. When I got there I saw Leslie first and then the truck. I ended up getting a window seat and sitting next to Leslie. David was in front playing Mario Kart on a DS. Peter was of course about an hour late. He got the other window seat.
We started in on our way there and I really liked the drive, other than the fact that the car was stuffy because the windows were all closed. I mostly watched out the window for the first part of it. We drove down the 10 West toward Los Angeles and I think we actually drove through Los Angeles before turning onto another freeway headed to Santa Monica also West I think, but to get to it we had to turn on a freeway going south first. Personally I think David’s dad picks weird routes to drive on, then again he might not of been paying attention. He was listening to a football game. After the Santa Monica freeway thing we got off and all of a sudden we were on the Pacific Coast highway. The houses are more colorful there. I liked looking at the ocean, I hadn’t seen it in about three years.
Looking at the Ocean made me think about my boyfriend Wes’s grandparents who live in Huntington beach. It made me think about how the Ocean and beaches are his favorite kind of landscape, and about how he might be right because the ocean looked so pretty, and so big. And seeing the Ocean going on forever like that made me think about the trip when I went to Catalina that I took in seventh grade, how I loved being on that boat having the wind and ocean spray blown in my face, how alive it made me feel. I also wondered how we were still headed West when the ocean is west and it was to the side of us not in front of us.
Then all of a sudden we were going up a hill into this place and it was just like ‘what the f*ck! Its ….plants, and looks…different, where the h*ll are we?’ Everyone was talking then even me although I don’t know what anyone said. We were driving up and a security guard asked us about parking and reservations. David had made reservations in his name, and his parents weren’t parking only dropping us off. The security guard guy warned us we might want to set a time up in advance, but we didn’t.
We all got out of the car…which reminds me…during the car ride there Peter handed me his notebook and I opened it and read what was in it. It was full of poems. I suppose it was a little unexpected to me that he handed them to me. I read them and they were….just…. Reading those poems was like bathing in Peter’s soul.

Anyway we got out of the car and they drove away I guess. We went to the elevator and went up to the second floor in an attempt to follow the directions on the handout we all printed off your website Beeken. Personally I think we failed at getting the first photo, mostly because we didn’t get the first photo but oh well its done now. Anyway we went over to one of these two things that had four benches on either side and a view of the front of the building and of the ocean I think and we had some old lady take a group picture of us with Peter’s camera. I will take a moment now to say all pictures came from Peter’s demonically possessed camera and were taken before actual fact finding missions or during because his camera was the only one with us and had low battery.



After taking that picture and making a battle plan we went over to the thing that I assume is the Garden and Outer Peristyle. What is a Peristyle anyway? Hmm…Anyway after admiring all the naked statues and discussing how they were creepy and all had a pointed penis if they were male we went to find Hermes. I already knew it was the first one, but for some reason we had to look around the whole garden first anyway. This time I volunteered to take the picture on the basis that I didn’t want to kneel next to the naked guy and his winged sandals, I suppose it might have been different if he had had wings on his back or something but I don’t really think so. 

Hmm…what did we do next…oh yea. Those stupid walls. They wouldn’t believe me that there were rabbits on them. No it had to be in only one particular section they said. Lol. I don’t really care. Anyway after some discussion I remember that we determined not only that there was another group nearby featuring Samantha Babcock but also that there were, antelopes, duck, chicken, and fish on the wall. Personally I want to disagree and say that if you looked at the whole thing you would find sparrows, dogs, rabbits, lizards, and crickets too, but I could be wrong.
We were pretty much going in order for awhile so after that we ended up at that bench with the complicated black and white floor. All I could think about when I was looking at the little black and white pieces was a PBS show I watched when I was like 7 with my mom and how they were saying that a black rock meant one thing and a white rock meant another and that was how the ancient Greeks voted. There were some other things though, like there was an equal number of black and white pieces (I counted), and there was a whole symmetrical thing going on. Oh yea and it was a circle, everyone could have faced everyone, nobody got put first or last. David thought it was boring and took a nap.



So then we walked into the Triclinium which had a lot of openings to other rooms if I remember right. I know it had at least one big one. We kind of got annoyed because the other group was always one step ahead of us, those darn evil Babcocks getting there early. We all ended up deciding different things for how many kinds of marble the floor was, it was kind of difficult because they used some kinds twice, and sometimes the marble was two-toned but eventually I figured that there was probably about 9 colors and 7 kinds of marble.



Then came the columns which were fun. David totally jumped one of the columns when the security wasn’t looking. We counted them first and came up with 36 because none of knew the slightest thing about architecture types. We tried getting photos of each of the kinds but well we didn’t know the kinds so I think we only ended up with two : ( . Then again we might of because we never took pictures of the tops of any of them…hmm …I’m so confused. Basically Doric is when it still had curves in it but at the tops and bottom its plain. Then Ionic is usually thinner and fluted and represents femininity. Lastly Corinthian pillars were more elaborate. All three got borrowed by the Romans from the Greeks but the Romans did think of a few of their own like Composite and Tuscan pillars. We also went over to the east garden which I thought was really pretty. It was supposed to be exactly recreated from somebody’s pleasure garden in Pompeii. You know before the volcano got everyone.  
We went to the Atrium next. It had a big whole in the ceiling called a compluvium which lets water down into a pool underneath it called an impluvium which is supposed to lead to an underground cistern which stores water. Not a bad system. The four rooms attached to this one all had different art. Room 101 C had marble vessels in it. It was a room that seemed to be about lasting grave offerings and such, the marble in it was inspired by other metal works. Room 101 F probably had some inspiring metal works in it. That room was the Bronze vessel room. Bronze vessels were used to serve food and were often more in the possession of the rich. Room 101D also had metal works but this time Silver vessels instead of Bronze. Most of these were discovered by accident and also had to do with eating and drinking. Customs involved with this room are probably still used today. Room 101 E is special though because it has the shiny glass things. They were mainly made out of three main elements Silica, Lime, and Soda. Whatever the heck those are, I didn’t know those were elements. Most of the rooms in Roman homes were used for storing goods and were like not all awesomely big or if they were then they weren’t private. I think that Romans liked being outside more I mean when you like to cut holes in your ceiling so bugs can get in and so the sun and stars will give you light when you could of just had a well or cistern outside, usually you like being outside yourself. My other little hint was the abundance of gardens.



My favorite Roman Goddess was Athena. She is the Goddess of the war, wisdom, the arts, justice, industry, and skill. She reminds me of someone that is why I chose her. I got a picture with her but you might not be able to see to well since she was on a vase. Oh and I might have accidentally stood in front of it.


We also went over to this other thing, the hall of colored marble which had a nice floor. I guess. It had twelve kinds of marble, I believe it was supposed to actually be made out of pieces of the floor from the excavation site of Villa De Papiri although I might have mixed it up with something. I can also honestly say that we messed up, I know we visited the Basilica because the muses in their were awesome but we didn’t grab a picture of the exact replications from Pompeii.
The Temple of Herakles was kind of boring to be honest. I barely remember it. The statue was old. Let me think…hmm…1,884 years old. So yea that thing is old. Like mind-boggling old. Like tripping old. Like dust and bones old. Ok, ok sorry ill get on with it. Anyway, so the rings were also important. There were twenty four rings and that real important because its an exact replica of the floor Villa dei Papi.
All this historical replication is amazing and beautiful and wonderful. I can just imagine if it were really something people lived in again and if the groups were tended and the statues brand new shining marble, but I cant help but feel sad because of it. These people are all dead and gone. If one of them walked into this thing, this Getty Villa even if they spoke English and they saw it all dead like this, hell even lived in with tiny things wrong, I cant imagine how they would feel in that moment. We as people in this society are…odd. I cant say preserving this is wrong, because its not, but it feels like it is. It feels like this museum, not for its importance in our history, but because of its attempts to recreate what can never be recreated is like keeping alive a man who cannot hear, cannot speak, cannot see, cannot move his arms or legs, cannot taste. The best we can do in museums like this, in recreations like this, is bring back a corpse. Even fully alive, places like this would be out of time. Ok. End disturbing rant that I went through while at museum.
Oddly enough that wasn’t my least favorite part of the museum, far from it. My least favorite part was the bird shit on the statues that were outside. Just that tiny detail. It bothered me immeasurably. Idk. OCD much Ivy.
So we went to see a film. Which I really feel like we should have seen first. It was kind of like a broad overview of everything. I learned a few things about the whole place that I retained. Hmm.. Lets see the whole recreation was supposed to be more than the villa it was supposed to be about archeology (sick and twisted…huh…where did that come from?) The villa it was recreated from was named for all the papyrus scrolls found in it, and believe me there were a lot, I don’t remember the exact number but hundreds. Oh yes, and we found out the guy who paid for the whole thing and started it died without ever seeing it finished, which was kind of just like “wow ouch that sucks”.
So then we went to the timescape room in which I discovered computers that lagged worse than my mothers. “God have mercy on whoever had to install everything on them’s souls.” It has a timeline of the 1900s Villa site. The room really mainly focused on art and mythology. It also had information on glass making in antiquity.
The Oldest pieces of art were surprising because they were as old as they were. The oldest pieces were Neolithic and Bronze Age. I tended to think the Romans were later but I guess that’s because of how long their empire spanned and the influence they’ve had even into today. My favorite piece of art was probably not as old. I like the headless statue of Aphrodite, it was called Venus Genetrix and was 100-200 AD .






Oh dang it might be as old. Anyway here’s David standing by it for some reason. I would totally put that in like a corner in my house or something or use it as a candle holder.
Ok so now the statue of the victorious youth. Which is important because it shows a commemoration of an athletic victory.
It even has you guessed it a relaxed and confident naked athlete. If you can be that relaxed and confident naked you know either you look great or you just won something.
So after all of this nonsense we went to lunch. I had the best slushy in existence. I would frame that slushy except it was too irresistible and I ate it. Except I didn’t eat all of it. Peter gave me twenty six cents for a sip so I gave him the rest of it. Him and David kept passing it to each other to a compliment of dirty jokes. Also him and Peter spent their money on pizzas and it was funny because they tasted horrible and you could get way more fries than you did pizza for way less money. They dared me to grab some guys pizza so I did then panicked and put it back. The guy never came back so I took a piece and it was like perfectly timed cause I got it literally like two seconds before the busboy showed up and cleaned the table. Honestly though it was really embarrassing and I wish that I hadn’t done it. My favorite part of the whole trip was driving up there and looking at the ocean. I don’t think I would have gone if it wasn’t for the extra credit. Honestly I wouldn’t recommend it, it was a real long drive and I learned very little of practical use. So that was it. My Getty Villa adventure. Of course Peter and David got lost looking for me and Leslie who were talking about my love life, and Peter made me scream because he looked so ugly…(no just kidding). And of course we went back. It was fun getting dropped off. But really that was it. Fin.

sometimes i wish i knew how to write good blogs
then i realize that if i was writing it for me and didnt give a shit about how good it was i would be better...



whats worse wanting all the right things for all the wrong reasons or wanting all the wrong things for all the right reasons

The velvet touch of night
Kissing delicately
Smoothness of skin, Of light
So patiently

The touch of velvet flesh on flesh
Tounge on tounge
Until two are one and mesh
Eternal, the song sung

Within the body
If not the soul
Its cost so sweetly
Pays the tolls

Burning fingers,
Whisper
It lingers and
Whispers

To me a kiss of the wind
A kiss of your breath
When we've sinned
Petite Morte, Little Death

The grasping of hands
The fusing of beings
Every demand
A part of its keening

Call to Sword
Piercing flesh
Piercing spirit
Submerged and impierced

Until the soul drowns
Enraptured
Eyes rolling back
Captured
In the delights crown