Make it a Geek Day!

If you're an avid fan of The Big Bang Theory, then you may remember when Sheldon suggests that Raj's sister "make it a train day" for her one day vacation in Los Angeles. Well, yesterday I had the day off from school, and my husband hasn't started school yet, so we made it a geek day! We started with amazing pastrami sandwiches at Langer's Deli, which admittedly isn't necessarily geeky, but gosh, their pastrami is enough to inspire an eccentric devotion, which is one of the definitions of geek...

It's Cera! Did anyone else watch all the Land Before Time movies?

Anyway, afterwards we had a nice, leisurely afternoon at the Natural History Museum. Now, ever since I got my first dinosaur book at the age of seven, I've loved those huge beasts; one might even go so far as to say that dinosaurs were my first geeky interest. I enjoyed the dinosaur hall a lot, but definitely experienced a bit of a letdown when I realized I wasn't learning anything new. The problem with having geeked out about dinosaurs so early is that I've had plenty of time in the intervening years to read up about them (and dream about being an archaeologist paleontologist [thanks for the correction, Claire!], until I realized that almost all digs are in hot, dry, dusty locations, and I hate being outside), so when I go to the nth natural history museum that's primarily aimed at kids, the information gets a little repetitive. Same goes for the mammals exhibits, although I do enjoy a good diorama.

Aaaaah, Sharptooth! I'm sorry, but I cried way more when Littlefoot's mom died than when Bambi's mom died.

Walnut: I'm about to be ignored for hours in favor of these little plastic bricks, huh?

Still, it was fun to go to a museum that wasn't uber-crowded (unlike everything in the UK!) -- I'd almost forgotten what it's like to have plenty of time to read the plaques and take pictures. And if a museum wasn't enough geek fun, we ended the day with watching Sherlock, my new favorite TV show, and working on the brand new Lego Helm's Deep! One of the first truly "adult" books I remember reading was the Sherlock Holmes anthology that my uncle got me in fifth grade, and for the longest time I tried (and failed) to make SH-esque observations and rational deductions about my classmates. And of course, my childhood was all about Legos and saving up for the big sets, building them, then taking them apart to build new things, so a 1000+ piece set is always exciting! Also, I don't need to tell you all that I love all things LOTR. This might be an unpopular opinion, but TTT is probably my favorite of all the movies...but only the bits with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. I'm always tempted to fast-forward through all the slow bits with Frodo wibbling. I really just love the Rohirric design aesthetic, so Helm's Deep was a logical first choice for my future LOTR Lego collection.

Walnut inspects the as yet unfinished Helm's Deep.

If only Theoden had a giant cat on his side!
Those Uruk Hai would have been no match for a thick-furred, claws-like-daggers, spider-killing feline monster!

Okay, confession time: these pictures were totally staged, with the help of some strategically placed, tuna-flavored treats.

So yeah, no sewing to show here, but it was an excellent day nonetheless. We weren't able to finish Helm's Deep in one evening, but that only means the fun continues tonight!