Bodies

A few of us from martial arts class (yes I include myself even though I attend only the conditioning classes) went on a field trip with Sensei to see Bodies the Exhibition. I was wary at first because of the human rights issues of these bodies being from China. The Chinese government said they were all legitimate. Oh okay well that makes it all better. Perhaps I was trying to rationalize it, but I decided that I would be better able to honor these dead people by seeing them than if they had just died in vain.

The Frugal Frannie in me was able to procure a discount for us and brave the lines since I didn't want to pay the web service fee. It turns out there are no lines on Friday night, for which I was relieved.

OMG, that was the coolest (and I say that figuratively since it was actually very warm in there -- all the lights I'm guessing) exhibit! Sensei is a great instructor and showed us every little tendon, nerve, ligament, etc.  He also went on to explain to his violent students (haha just goofing, I mean the ones who actually punch each other in class) all of the pressure points and which nerves & muscles are affected.

This is going to sound gross, but I got so hungry at first while walking through there. It all looked like salmon jerky. :( That is until we got to the intestinal room. Holy hell that put me off for a bit. By the way, did you know that the appendix is ridiculously tiny? I had no idea how small it was. It's about the size of my ring finger, and I have long, skinny fingers. Because these were all Chinese people, they were small-framed and coincidentally enough, all about my size. That made it even more fascinating because I could line up my body part next to theirs and see what it would look like inside.

We spent a long time in there studying every facet of the human body. And of course, us being us, we started in with the jokes. That made me feel as if we weren't actually honoring the dead, but that is who I am. I remember getting dirty looks when I laughed during my grandmother's wake. I also upset my own brother when I laughed shortly after our mom died. He knew I wasn't laughing at that, but emotionally it still hurt him.

I give everyone permission to laugh when I die, although try not to laugh too hard at the method in which I die. :) Man, I hope it's not too embarrassing like choking on a health-promoting supplement. I always push the envelope on that, too, by swallowing 5 or 6 at once. Just know that I would be laughing if I died that way. What can I say? I love to laugh.