Taken Down by Museum Docents

Since I have a lot of time on my hands during my time 'between assignments,' I resolved to do cultural things. It's like when you were in elementary school and they forced you go to the museum, even though you wanted to have recess. Today I visited the Skirball Cultural Center to see their Golden Age superhero exhibit. It's free on Thursdays, so of course that's when I decided to go. The place doesn't open until noon, so I arrived dead on the stroke of noon (more or less), eager to see what they had in store. Then I saw the two school busses at the front steps. Oy! Little kids I have to deal with. Then I saw the gathering of Japanese tourists. Oy! Kids and foreigners do not a calm museum experience make. But I'd already spent half an hour on the Devil's Highway - the 101 - and I wasn't about to turn around.
   I made it in just as they were lifting the gate to the exhibit space, confronted with a veritable sea of little people (I'm talking about the kids, jeez...), who practically ran in the direction of Superman, who was busting through a wall. I waited for a minute or two, then followed.
   A very polite museum docent intercepted me and asked if I had my sticker. No way I could fake this one, so I told the truth and said I didn't know I needed a sticker. She not only told me where to go, while she was giving directions she escorted me to the front hall, pointing out the nice lady placing stickers on shirts and jackets. When I returned - with my sticker prominently displayed - the docent congratulated me. But for the entire time I was there the other docents were giving me the stink eye. Like I was a trouble maker or sass-mouth. Or smarty-pants.
Golden Age exhibit - I recommend it, even if you're not a comic book guy. If you are a comic book guy, you have to go, it's amazing. It's not a gargantuan collection, but there's a ton of original art on every wall. And evidently Jerry Siegel had a 'thinking hat' just like Homer Simpson.
   Persistence: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster tried for SIX YEARS to get a publisher for Superman. This is a lesson for all writers: publishers know nothing. If you stick with it, eventually someone will give you a chance to prove yourself.
   Friendly advice: If you're going to be in a car for 45 minutes then in a museum for another 45 minutes, you probably don't want to have a bran muffin right before. Learn from my example.