Posting from the JavaOne conference in San Francisco. AJM is attending and I'm here today on a guest pass. This is the first time I've had a chance to go online since last Sunday--it's a strange feeling. Although I've been to San Francisco once before, this time I find it difficult to adjust to the rhythm of the city. The number of homeless people is shocking and rather intimidating to a small town girl like myself. On the other hand, the sheer number and variety of people on the streets is exhilarating.
I spent a happily exhausting day yesterday at the Asian Art Museum which has moved into its new home in the old Main Library building in the Civic center. The building is a beautiful blend of old and new--they termed it "adaptive reuse". And, of course, the collection is tremendous.
After four hours of walking through the museum, I spent a long time resting in quiet contemplation of the stone fountain pictured above. The water moves so slowly that you can neither see nor hear its movement. The surface is as silky as poured acrylic. People would walk right by it, barely glancing. When someone did stop to see what I was staring at, I'd tell them, "It's water." Then they'd do a double-take. The guard had to keep coming by to keep people from sticking their fingers in to see if it really was water. In a quiet moment, he confided that if I blew gently on the surface I'd see for sure.
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
June 12, 2003
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Photos from the San Francisco Asian Art Museum.