I'm still here

Wow. So I've really neglected this thing. Oops.

I'm currently watching Batman Begins, so I can go watch the new one some time this week, but in more exciting news...

I'M GOING TO SEE THE X-FILES MOVIE AT MIDNIGHT ON THURSDAY (or Friday, technically). I am super excited about this. You really wouldn't have any idea unless you, too, where an X-Files fan back when it was still on the air (not including the last 2 seasons), or knew me in middle school when I was obsessed with this show.

Nothing too exciting has happened in the last month. I've gone out downtown a few times with friends from the master's program that I'm currently in.  That's usually pretty fun. I invariably hear songs that I heard at The Backer, and it makes me sad. 

My roommate has been making me work out with her lately. So that's good. I guess I started back up on Friday really. I've also been laying out at the pool a little bit, which I don't normally do. So, I've gotten some sun, and it's weird to think that I could be even WHITER than I am now, which is still extremely pale. We went to the TCU stadium and ran stairs today. That. Is. Difficult. Like, it was difficult to drive my car after that. With the gas pedal and clutch and all.

Oh yeah, my car.  So I had to pay 1017 dollars or so to get my car fixed today. I took it in yesterday after about two months of my engine light going on and off occasionally. None of my gauges were showing anything weird, so I figured I had some time. Anyways, I took it to the VW dealer yesterday, and apparently the fan was broken on my water pump. And my thermostat and temperature sensor were broken, which is why I couldn't tell that there was a problem. So that was fun. And expensive. 

So I had to pay for that right after I bought a plane ticket online to go to the Michigan game. I don't know why I do these things.  Well, I do. They're fun. And I figure, I want to go to that game more than I want to... say... buy a 250 dollar dress, or spend 250 dollars at the store. So why not? Getting a job would probably be a good idea...

Anyways, so Sunday was fun, because Julie, Bethany, Susie and I went into the same chat room and all talked to each other in the same window! It was great. I think I couldn't breathe for about half the time because I had forgotten how hilarious we are. I would have posted a chat transcript here, but the freaking AIM chat doesn't save but like, the last 5 minutes of the conversation. I'm kind of getting angry thinking about that. 

Anyways, we planned a wedding during our chat, so hopefully you'll be invited to that. Heh heh heh.

Ooh. Alfred and Bruce are looking at plans for the Bat Suit. Cool. 

I never thought that I'd be that inconvenienced by the fact that I can only DVR two things at once, however, this is proving to be kind of annoying. Like right now, I'm watching Batman Begins, which I recorded yesterday, but I'm currently recording Secret Life of the American Teenager. However, I would have liked to record Leno, because Gillian Anderson (aka Scully from X-Files) is on it tonight.  I had to cancel that recording, as well as Colbert, which isn't a big deal because he reruns like, 5 times tomorrow anyway, but still.

Wow. I kind of feel like that last paragraph was like when everyone in The Office was betting on how long Kelly would talk about Netflix.

So on that note, I shall end this entry, and hopefully blog more regularly from now on. So my brother won't criticize me.

Summer Woo!

Found this online for your listening pleasure...



Oh yeahhh...It gets a bit convoluted at the end. But it's what I was looking for, I suppose.

So I suppose a lot has happened since I last posted. Lots of beach visits, some interesting adventures, and lots of random people sightings. It's pretty weird to see the most random people from college in a new city. Like kid in freshman year seminar (I think?), two people who were abroad with me, old dining hall co-workers...it's crazy! Well, here are some highlights. Two weeks ago, we had a work social event at this place called Castaways at the beach. As it turns out, there was a storm coming in and this place was outdoors, so we left and moved the party to a new location. It was a pretty fun event, I thought. Nice to talk to people outside of work.

Right now, I am watching "Bring It On Again." This is kind of embarrassing to admit.

Anyway, the next day was the third of July, and that evening Carol and I went to see the fireworks downtown. It was super crowded, but we had great seats! To avoid the crowd, we shared a cookie and a brownie at Cosi. Luckily, we didn't get shot. I heard that there had been some shootings down there...yikes!

On the Fourth of July, I went running around the neighborhood and then Katherine came over for dinner. We went to a mexican restaurant (irony? or is that the Alanis Morisette kind of irony?) The waiter gave us free margaritas! It was great! That evening we went to a bar called the Hange Uppe, which had been recommended to me. The basement was all 80s music (well, some 90s and other songs mixed in). Katherine and I loved it! I am planning on taking all my friends there! Also, it's on the red line, which runs all night. It's pretty convenient.

The next day was my first real trip to the beach here. I went up to the Loyola Lake Shore campus, where Katherine is studying for the summer. The beach was steps away from the campus. It was so nice! I love sand...water, well, I don't really care too much about. I think, though, that napping on the beach sounds more productive than napping at home, for some reason. We ate dinner at Giordano's, a pizza place, and met some of the people in her program. Then I had a tour of the campus. It was quite nice, I thought. I really like visiting college campuses. Perhaps I should have tried to become a professor or something...haha. I bet I'd be terrible at that!

That evening we celebrated Rory's birthday, visiting 5 bars, I think. We got coerced into going to some bar that was offering free drinks. The music was on the techno-side, and the dance area reminded me of LaFortune ballroom, which was weird. Couldn't quite put my finger on why, but that's what it felt like. The night ended with me, Rory, and two of his coworkers at the 24 hour Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins. They talked about computer stuff THE WHOLE TIME. I was totally lost. Oh well. Sometimes I wish I had studied computer science so I could understand what my friends are talking about all the time!

The next day, after a long day of laziness, I went shopping at the Gap, which was recommended by Katherine the Ponge (yeah, surprising, I know). I got a pair of jeans for $14. That's unheard of at the Gap. Or...pretty much anywhere. I think it was worth the excursion!

Now on to this week...it was fairly uneventful, except when I broke my key in the door of the building and freaked out. It's ok, I got a new one, but not before my landlord lecturing me...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This weekend was quite the adventure! Mary and I had planned a nice little weekend. We were going to meet downtown to take the South Shore train to South Bend...but, after a few mishaps, we did not make it, and we were quite sad. So instead, we went back out to the suburbs, got Mary's car, and made it to South Bend by midnight! We first went to Beaubien's house, had some drinks, and walked to the Backer.

The triumphant return to the Backer! It was glorious! Well...wait...

Good: Cover was only $4!!
Bad: They wouldn't let us get purple rains with the drink tickets! (I hope this is not a new trend)
Good: We got long islands instead. And then people gave me purple rains.
Bad: They played Total Eclipse of the Heart and Bethany wasn't there.
Good: So I sang it with Peter Brandt instead!
Bad: The alien came out of Dave's stomach.
Good: Miley
Good: They played Africa! I requested it...of course.
Bad: No, my phone wasn't ringing.
Good: Dancing
Bad: Being smashed by Dave and Brian while dancing.
Good: No, wait...it was amazing. Because they have big penises. Three or four feet, to be exact. Or so says Dave. (No, I did not actually see this for myself. Thankfully. I am skeptical. Haha.)
Bad: I am kind of Brian's nemesis.
Good: He actually called me back the next day and almost went to the dunes with us.
Bad: He didn't actually go to the dunes with us.
Good: Carrie and Ryan were there!
Good: They had an after party!
Bad: The after party lasted til 6am...so late/early!
Good: We slept til noon.
Good: Beaubien made us lunch, and his house feels like it's in the country (compared to living in the city).
Bad: It got hot outside
Good: We went to ND and walked around campus. We saw some friends in a coffee table book at the bookstore. I bought THE SHIRT. We also saw The Shirt the Billboard on our way to South Bend.
Bad: I was an alumna, therefore no longer a student...sad?
Good: I got to walk up the steps of the main building and Mary didn't!

So after that, we went to the dunes. We accidentally got lost in some neighborhood, but eventually found the "real" beach. The water smelled kind of fishy, but you could see Chicago's skyline in the distance...and Gary, IN...ew. We spent most of the time napping in the soft, soft sand. Mmmm....I love sand. My legs hurt when walking off the beach because it was so think!

After a nice dinner at a Fazoli's rest stop (I love their Club Submarinos), we made our way home, and here I am, exhausted. Hopefully I will get some sleep this weekend, and that would be wonderful. I can't wait to go back to the Backer when more of my friends are in town...it could be even more like old times!

Summer in the City

Well, to start things off, I am just gonna go ahead and say what everyone already knows. Hayden Christenson is a HORRIBLE actor. I am watching the second Star Wars movie, and just...wow. He makes Keanu Reeves look good.

But anyway. On to something more relevant. This weekend was rather busty, I suppose. As I still haven't unpacked my apartment. Friday evening, Mary came over and we walked around the neighborhood, observing the different types of people who were going out to the different bars. WAIT....I forgot about my exciting Thursday evening...

Spiderman came in town, and after walking all around to meet up , we decided to try the bar that had Iowa flags out front that I had discovered the night before. So we sit down, try the special ($2 domestic bottles) and order delicious spinach artichoke dip and tater tots. A bit later, the bartender comes up to us and says,
"Hey guys, just wanted you to know that it's open bar for the next hour.""
us: "What do you mean 'open bar'?"
him: "Well drinks and drafts are free."
us: "WHAT?!?!?!"
He blew our collective mind. Seriously. And he even experimented for us, and gave us some non-well alcohol. We had 7 drinks between the two of us. It truly was a Good Bar. Which was its name. In fact, it was a GREAT bar.

Back to Friday. Mary and I had ice cream from the 24-hour Baskin-Robbins/Dunkin Donuts/Deli across the street. Then we discovered that the bars in the two blocks around me practically have a dress code on Friday nights...short black dress, high heels, caked on make-up and lots of hairspray. I think it's because I live close to DePaul. Going a bit farther north, you notice the more eccentric type people. And the eccentric stores...And then if you go all the way to Wrigleyville (which is like...15 min walk, tops), you see people who are a bit older than the people who were down here.

Saturday I slept in pretty late and found out that if I sleep past 8, the sun shines directly in my face. I need to get some curtains or something. Later in the day, Rory came over for a bit, and after an unsuccessful attempt to install my AC, we went to Starbucks and then to the free Stevie Wonder concert at Taste of Chicago where we met Carol and Christina.

I noticed a few things: Firstly, everyone who goes to Stevie Wonder concerts like Obama. Or...maybe just everyone in Illinois. It's hard to tell. But I did see a LOT of Obama shirts. And let's face it, who would want to wear a shirt with McCain on it anyway? He's old. I don't wear shirts with my elders' faces on them. Ew. Ok, my second point was that it was rather humorous to see all the older people who were singing/dancing along. Or the groups of people who would just SCREAM out lyrics. I was entertained.

After the concert, and after Christina and Carol had to leave, Rory and I wandered around until we found a somewhat affordable restaurant that was open. We settled on a Cajun-style one that tried to look like Louisiana inside. You know, signs on the walls, mardi gras beads, bayou dirtiness. Like a Crackerbarrel, but Southern-themed. The food was delicious, though. Rory and I had a nice chat about Notre Dame, people at Notre Dame, the past, etc.

Sunday was also a pretty exciting day...first...I GOT CABLE AND INTERNET! It was weird when the cable guy was on his rickety ladder outside my window. I thought he would fall for sure...but he didn't. I am not a fan of Comcast's high prices, and I think it is probably good for me not to spend all my time online or watching TV or whatever, but it's nice to have. And now I can watch Saved By The Bell before work!

I went to meet Spiderman and Tracey and Brad at the Southport stop (to walk over to the "Alliance" together and eventually a party), but they were running a little late, so I had time to buy a sandwich and a personal item which I had neglected to apply before I left. (ok, so your mind doesn't jump to crazy conclusions...deodorant).
Overall, it was a day of backtracking. We first got lost on our way to Maddog and Devlin's house. Twice. Then we picked up Erin and headed to the parade. The parade was fun, lots of people wearing crazy multicolored outfits, lots of really nice men bodies and not so nice female ones, and alcohol. When we realized we would have to cross the parade to get to the party, we decided to go to a liquor store and buy beer. Which we promptly opened in the parking lot. And then Brad and Devlin and I got lost in the parking lot labyrinth. It started to rain a bit, which gave us the perfect opportunity to cross the street and get to the party! We watched the rest of the parade from a covered balcony.

One observation...I saw WAY more girls making out than guys. What's up with that? Brad had a funny quote, as we walked through the insane parade crowd: "This is like the gay Backer on a football weekend." It was probably the best discription for it. But I didn't get as much beer spilled on me.

After the parade/party, we went to Bar Louie. And yeah, that was my day. Time to move the narrative along...

Yesterday after work I went to a Tapas restaurant with Carol, Rory, and Carol's friends from ND and people she met through a U of Chicago get-together. It was fun to get a bunch of people together and do something like that on a Monday.

Ok, I am getting tired of writing and i need to grab dinner. Tomorrow there is a work-sponsored party thing after work...free food and beverages! Maybe I will make some friends, although I tend to do much better at stealing them. I opened a bank account today. Like a grown up...ish. (Ok, this makes the 3rd one I have. Whatever.) AND...I got my Chicago card today, so i can ride the el AS MUCH AS I WANT!!! Yeah! (not that I couldn't do it before, but now that I have unlimited rides...)

Additionally...you should check out the new Girl Talk album...AMAZING. So many good songs! Anddd...Happy 4th of July! Makes me want to sing proud to be an american! (but only at 3am) Ok, one more thing. I am really tempted to just take the South Shore to South Bend one of these days to go to the backer. Because I can.