[OOC][PLOT] The Third Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals

[Labster]

Now you're thinking with portals!

I visited the Getty Museum today down in L.A.  One of the consequences of writing this story is that it makes me realize how little exploring I've done near home -- and basically how no one is a tourist in their hometown.  But since I'm writing about new immigrants who work in the tourism industry, it's now all background research for me.

Part of writing is that I have to keep mental models of your characters in my own mind, so that I can ask them how they would react to stuff.  Normally this happens during the writing process, and the rest of the time I'm not really thinking about how they feel.  But at the museum today, when I rounded the corner and realized I was in a whole room of Venetian art, well, six voices inside me went "Squee!!" simultaneously.  Akari was the loudest, of course -- she's such a fangirl.

BTW I still rank the Getty on the lower end of museums in LA (but still above the one with the Space Shuttle, which is the only good exhibit if you actually know science).  It has a few great works, and a lot of stuff that, well, I wouldn't mind owning but doesn't quite count as Great Art.  There's a lot of rough in which to find the diamonds.  Of the local museum founders:

• Norton Simon was an art collector who was rich
  
• J. Paul Getty was a rich man who collected art
  
• Henry Huntington was a rich man who knew what he liked
  

Jury duty ... later today.  Better sleep now.