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안녕하세요? No photos ‘cause I didn’t bring my camera – but here goes.

Today we dropped off Mom and Caleb to fly back home a week before everyone else, because Caleb needed to start work, and Mom just has WAY too many commitments which can’t be ignored (you need to lighten your load, Mom). On the way there, however we found that we had a flat tire, about 30 minutes into the trip, and at just the right time, as we were just about to separate ourselves from the last of humanity for a long while. Thankfully, this did not delay us too much, and we arrived on time, and Caleb and Mom got through check-in and security without the hassle we had when we flew down here.

Since Adam knew we would be in Phoenix, he told us yesterday that there was an exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum titled “The History of Video Games” or somesuch. So we decided to go to this since we were in town. Unfortunately, the museum didn’t open till 12, so we had to entertain ourselves for about an hour before going to the museum. We decided to get lunch before our museum trip, and we found that Phoenix before noon is completely abandoned – except for the funny people in their artificially cooled driving machines, completely separate from the desert town they live in. We finally stumbled upon a wonderful, small restaurant called Hob Nobs, and were treated to both wonderful food and an impromptu visiting jam band, who played some very skillful blues.

Once we were done with our lunch, we headed over to the museum, and spent a good hour or two, first examining the video game history exhibit, where I found a string of five minute clips about the beginnings, narratives, technology, present and future of the video games to be the most interesting, and then we visited the rest of the museum. I found most of the art to be, frankly, quite odd. But once we went upstairs, left the modern, pop art behind and entered the European and Renaissance section, I enjoyed myself quite a lot.

From there, me and Sarah met up with Dad and Adam, who had left the museum a bit early, at the Phoenix Library. And let me tell you, that thing is insane. It’s five stories tall, and mainly only has books on the top floor. I don’t even know what they need all that space for, but they do. The bottom floor actually has two pools, one in which the elevators stand, and the other in which the stairs go up from. Very odd to see water placed as a decoration in a library of all places.

Then we went home, uneventfully, and I slept most of the two and a half hours of the trip. And now, after dinner and a movie, I think I shall go to sleep. It was a long day.