Brush with fame.

My brain is totally fried from sitting in front of the television set watching the Academy Awards. I don't know why I enjoy watching a big group of people with salaries I couldn't even imagine as well as bodies I could never even hope to attain get accolades for fulfilling their dreams, while I sit on my ass, drinking orange juice and trying to get the dog to stop licking the bottom of my foot because he wants attention. But I do.

Hey! Guess what? As my friends and I were going through the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry this afternoon, there was a guy running after his kid who looked vaguely familiar, and I realized that it was John Herndon from Tortoise. I had a brush with fame! I was looking at plastinated bodies with a famous musician. This was almost just like when I ran into Joe Perry of Aerosmith with his family at the Brookfield Zoo when I was in seventh grade. Umm, but minus the actual stepping on the feet of Joe Perry, because I was looking at the pygmy hippo and not him, and the subsequent dirty look that I got. Still. Wow.

And now - to bed.

Saturday night lists. Like Friday night lists, only more Saturdayish.

How has everyones' weekends been so far? Mine - pretty good.

1. Friday I went running for the first time in over a year, with my friend Pat. I almost died, but hey! I didn't. So I take that as a good sign, and once this ice-y rain/snow mix that's falling right now goes away (I just saw lightning. Lightning! In February!), I think I might try running again.

2. My mother, sister and I went and saw this performance by the Joffrey Ballet this afternoon. Damn, was it amazing. The last piece, "The Green Table," is an anti-war statement that was created between the two World Wars, and at first I hated it, and by the end I was totally shocked at how it pretty much summed up all of my feelings of what's going on in our world right now. And it was ballet! Ballet! Ballet doesn't usually stick with me - I'll be honest, I'm a season member of the Joffrey, and this is the first performance this year where I've made it through the whole dance without dozing off in the second act. Today, though, ballet knocked my socks right off.

3. Sharyn has definitely confirmed that she's coming to Chicago in the spring to see the Arcade Fire. And we're going to meet! This is the first time I will have met someone I talk to on the Internet in real life. I hope she's not disappointed to find that all of those times when I've confided to the Internet that I think I'm lame is, because, I truly am that lame.

4. Today was a big day for this lady. Her EP came out today! She and i stumbled into each others' lives in a pretty bizarre way, and we've never met in person, but I know her just enough to know that she's worked really hard on this. Check out some of her music at her main site or her MySpace page, and if you like it, show your support.

5. Because I'm too cold/tired/generally lazy to go shopping at an actual store, I've been cyber-windowshopping a bunch of websites. I've decided that I pretty much love all of this woman's stuff. I think I might need to have Dolly Parton hanging around my neck. Also, why does this stupid store have to have so many cute handbags that I can't have because they're about $500 a piece? Stupid Anthropologie.

****

Time for sleep. Tomorrow I'm off to the Museum of Science and Industry to see Body Worlds. I saw Part One when it was in Chicago, and I have to say that I wasn't blown away by it. I'm not incredibly science-oriented, so I think it was hard to actually believe that those bodies were real. Also, there was the whole anti-smoking statement. We get it, Dr. von Hagens, we get it. Smoking is bad. Thank you for reminding us by showing black lungs almost exclusively. Blech. I wouldn't mind seeing nice, white lungs on some of the bodies that resemble those in people like me....those who took a few puffs behind Kate's garage in seventh grade, and smoked a few cloves during their Hipster stage. That would be nice.

Goodnight, Internet!

One reason to bring my mom in through the front door.

So we're doing some intense cleaning around the house (as in, we've been living in squalor for the past, oh, two weeks or so), and Steve's relegated to taking out the trash (I don't like to touch it).

Outside my kitchen door is an enclosed back porch. It's unheated, and holds stuff like the Christmas tree and boxes for moving, and bags of trash during the week, when we're too tired to take them to the garbage can. You have to go through this porch to get to my deck.

Well, when I moved here the enclosed porch sort of creeped me out, because there is a Frightening Dark Staircase that leads to a Frightening Boarded-Up Door, so Steve put an extra lock on my kitchen door so noone can get in. This has come in handy many times, especially because my landlord used to let the neighborhood homeless guy, Smokey (sometimes I refer to him as my "Homeless Doorman"), store some of his stuff in a closet in the enclosed porch. Smokey's a nice guy - and speaks fluent Polish, which I envy - but I don't really want him to come into the house, you know how it is.

OK, to finish up this story, while I was washing the dishes, Steve came in, tapped me on the shoulder, and said, "Ummm, have you ever noticed this?"



Stuck into one of the walls of the enclosed porch is a knife. Doesn't look like a switchblade - it's more of the steak knife variety - but yes, it's definitely stuck right into the wall.

No, I hadn't noticed it. And I'm quite glad that my man put that extra lock on the door.

And also, I love this town!

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The night before last I had absolutely INSANE dreams. Most of them were of the Real Life With Just One Strange Tweak variety, which I seem to have all the time, but there was one that was certifiably a Fucking Scary Nightmare. I don't remember much of it, other than I was in a scenario sort of similar to this film.

I trudged into work completely exhausted and, thus, a total wastoid. I don't think I got one work-related thing done. It was good that this happened on a Friday and all, because everyone left early and didn't really rely on me for much.

The one shining light of my day was that I read Jek's blog all the way through. I LOVE THAT WOMAN. I've been looking at her totally great, color-saturated, crafty photos on her Flickr page, but I had never read her blog before. She's so cute, and upbeat, and funny, and....well anyways I really needed it yesterday. And she has another blog that has all of her awesome craft ideas. I put them both in my links list, if you ever need a pick-me-up. Jek, if I'm ever in your neck of the woods, I'm totally going to look you up, and, I don't know, glue some stuff with you or something.

****

I best get back to cleaning. But before I do, can I just say that this XM radio that I got for Steve for Valentines day - you know, the one that I had to ask about because I didn't know what the hell it was, is A-W-E-S-O-M-E. If I could just have the forties music channel and that was it, I would love it just as much. All these great songs about meloncholy babies, how great it is to be in the navy, etc., etc. I mean, come on, they just played Strip Polka! That song rules.

****

Ok, I'm really going to get back to my cleaning now. I am, though, going to leave you with this. Click on the picture, and you'll be sent to probably the best cartoon ever.

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V-Day, et. al.

Ahoy, Internet. It’s been awhile. I was busy this weekend visiting my alma mater, the U of I. It was fun, talking about the bygone days when I lived in shitholes (to quote my mom) such as this:



As soon as I got home, Chicago got sacked with a ridiculous amount of snow. In classic Chicago Department of Public Works fashion, it is now three days later and the side streets are still a mess. Steve’s car is buried somewhere in our area under all this snow, but since we have the Jeep we see no reason to release it from the throes of winter any time soon. The snow hasn’t been very kind to my dog, whose breed’s genetic modifications have him coming in after every walk with a completely wet belly, coupled with some frozen feet. The snow piles are two times his size. Luckily, he’s just a dog and all of these emasculating situations don’t phase him in the least.



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How was your Valentine’s Day? Mine was pretty cool, actually. Hadn’t expected much, because my better half and I aren’t really one for those Hallmark Holidays. I guess Valentine’s Day has more of a meaning to most than Sweetest Day, at least in this town, what with the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and all... Whatever, what I'm trying to say is I guess I just don’t like it, because it makes so many people feel bad about being alone.

If we could all go back to the days when all we did was decorate paper bags and send Superhero Valentines to each other, I think we’d be a lot better off.

I will now get off my soapbox.

And, for the record, Valentine's Day is when my favorite candy ever comes out. Actually, after I publish this, I'm going to go to the grocery store hunting for them on sale. Damn seasonal candies!

I really shouldn’t say anything at all, though, because I had a nice Valentine’s Day. I took a half-day because I had to get my emissions tested on my car before this Saturday. I’m a little immature (well, maybe very immature...) in that if I haven’t done something before, I give myself extra time to do it, so I can mentally acclimate myself to being outside of my comfort zone. That aside, getting your emissions tested is e-a-s-y. Who knew (probably everyone)? And it’s hilarious how long you have to wait - with your car turned on and blowing all sorts of nasty toxins into the air, mind you - for a 1-minute test to see if your car is environmentally sound. Progress!

Anyways, after that, I cruised to Best Buy to get Steve an XM satellite radio that he had been pining for for quite a while. He wasn’t going to get it for himself, so I thought Valentine’s Day would be a good time to surprise him. I didn’t know what XM radio was, though, so I think I said something like, “Yeah, my boyfriend said he wants an XM radio to listen to baseball day games on the radio at work, so do you know that is?” And luckily, the guy who was helping me happens to be a huge White Sox fan and knew exactly what Steve needed. It was a rather euphoric trip.

Steve outdid himself this year:



Isn’t it pretty? Men with good taste in jewelry are keepers, ladies.

After exchanging gifts we decided we wanted to go somewhere to get some good stick-to-your-ribs cooking, and bypass the Valentine’s Day restaurant throngs, so we ended up at Feed. Great place, right down the street, and I stuffed my face full of chicken, corn pudding, broccoli, sautéed spinach and cole slaw. Yes, I am an eating machine.

****

And now here it is, Thursday, and the week’s almost through. How awesome is that? I have a pretty packed weekend involving seeing these guys, going to a party with all of my cousins Saturday night, and going to a pancake breakfast Sunday morning. And I wonder why I show up on Monday mornings an absolute wreck, and I’ve had the same head cold for about three weeks now....

!!!

Tally-ho, Internet! To the weekend!

Friday Night Lists

Hey Internet. It's Friday night, and I'm totally in my PJs. Hardcore! Rock on!

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First of all, as an aside….is anyone else totally captivated by this last chapter of Anna Nicole Smith's biography? What a sad, ridiculous life. I have to admit, I enjoyed her show on E! immensely. I would put it right up there with my other guilty TV pleasures that have had the potential to totally obliterate my indie cred: "Newlyweds," "Real World," "The OC," and most anything on CourtTV.

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Sarah Brown recently wrote an entry about the products that she uses on a daily basis. I was intrigued, mostly because historically I have never had loyalties to products. This is for many reasons, such as:

1) I have normal hair that is stick-straight and very rarely unruly.

2) I have never (knock on wood) had a hideous acne problem. I have one or two from time to time, that's it.

3) My skin seems to maintain it's own moisture quite well.

4) I could use a use makeup that costs $50 or $5, and I would pretty much end up looking the same with either - Astonishingly Average in Every Way.

That list was longer than I wanted it to be, but you see where I'm going with this.

However, I've noticed that lately I have become loyal to certain products, jewelry, shoes, etc., more than I ever have. This might be because I now officially live on my own, with no roommates or parents to assume some of the cost of living, so I have become incredibly Cheap. I haven't bought much of anything for myself lately....except that DS Lite. But whatever.

Moving on.

So I thought about it, and I made a list of stuff that I nevereverever leave my home without. Just for you, Internet. In the spirit of EEK's entry about losing her virginity with it's open discussion on how we all knocked boots for the first time, I encourage you guys to let me know what you can't live without. And by you guys, I mean the maybe four of you that I know for sure read this. Trust me, four is a stretch.

Can't Live Without
Neutrogena's Oil-Free Acne Wash – Like I said before, I have minimal acne problems. But, being the glutton-for-punishment that I am, I sort of like that just-ripped-the-upper-layer-of-your-face-off feel that you get from salicylic acid. Enter: Neutrogena's Oil-Free Acne Wash. I just put a little on my hands, lather, pat on my face and rinse off, right before I get out of the shower. If I miss this step, I will feel grubby for the rest of the day. Probably because that top layer of skin from the day before is still hangin' on.

Neutrogena Moisture Oil-Free Formula – The only facial moisturizer I've ever used that I don't feel for the rest of the day, and doesn't make me nauseous from the smell (it doesn't smell like anything).

Burt's Bees Milk and Honey Lotion – Ok, this is probably the item that is the whole reason for this entry. I felt like I found the Holy Grail when I discovered this stuff. I have always wanted to lotion up daily, you know, for those random moments in my swingin' 20s lifestyle when I'm thrust into an impromptu CrazySexyMoment, and need to be baby-soft. That's never happened, actually, but if it ever did, I'd want to be ready. I had never found lotion that was light enough and non-smelly for every-day use. Also, I hate unscented lotions. I think unscented lotions smell foul. With Burt's Bees, you smell nice (Like milk! And honey!) for a little bit, and then it dissipates, but still leaves you moisturized. I actually have to jump into my pants pretty quickly after putting it on, because the dog likes the taste, and will start to lick my feet and ankles. The dog likes it, people!

Burt's Bees Raspberry or Strawberry Lip Gloss – I have both. If I can't find one or the other in my purse, I will turn the car around and go home and get it. My friend Erin is a firm follower of the Lemon-Lime flavor, but I'm not so into that one, myself, and I pretty much hate any cherry flavored item. Strawberry or Raspberry. All the way. Just make sure you screw the top of the jar on tight – I did have one of them open in my purse. Bad, waxy scene.

Could Live Without, But Why:
My Elsa Peretti "enlongated teardrop" ring from Tiffany's. Bought it as a treat for myself. It is the most comfortable ring in the world. It will continue to grace my right hand even when the left is taken up by engagement bling, whenever that might be.

My cowboy boots. I love them them dearly. If I had four feet, I'd wear both pairs at once. I like to just look at them sometimes.

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So, Internet, what can't you live without?

Signing out.

Ok, so I'm leaving work in a few minutes to take a half-day. This is due partly to the fact that I have a cold, so when I get home at night I pretty much lay on the couch until it's time to lay in the bed. I need to get some stuff at home done that I would normally do at night to make up for this. The other reason I'm leaving is my real boss (i.e., the only one that I really answer to here, although the others would like to think I answer to them, too) has been in London all this week attending Board meetings, and right now is probably finishing up a day of bashing around the merchants on Portobello Road. I am not needed in this office right now.

Nothing of any importance has happened this week, really. Like I said, lots of sacking out on the couch and complaining about Things I Can't Fix, like the cold weather and the snow. If there's no real reason to go out, we stay in, and it's got all of us (animals included) a little down.

Which is why Steve, and I are going to go down to my alma mater on Saturday. Steve's going to spend the day with his brother, playing video games and eating things Steve doesn't normally get when I'm around, like buffalo wings (I think they're too graphic). I'm going to see my former roommates (minus the one on the left....Kendra's in California working on a Masters/PhD at Berkeley), and have a good, old-fashioned sleepover. I want to go see my old haunts, like where I worked for 4 years, the coffee shop I used to frequent, and the houses I lived in (I lost my virginity in one - !!!). IF they're still there, which is a big "if" because they looked like they were going to fall over 4 years ago. I doubt Time has been kind to them.

Some other random things:

1) I cut my own bangs this morning, because I'm too broke to go to my hair salon. I don't think I did that bad of a job, if I do say so myself. Then again, Steve's the only one who's seen it, and he thinks everything looks "fine," so I am going to have to ask my mom and sister for the real answer.

2) Speaking of my mom and sister, last night they asked me if Steve and I would want to use my mom's mother's Art-Deco engagement ring to get engaged with. I love this ring. It's a square, recessed setting with little flowers all around, in white gold. I was just sort of taken aback by the question, I guess. A real ring makes things alot.....more real, I suppose.

3) While I'm on the subject of my man, right now he's at the heaviest he's ever been. 6'2" and 165 pounds! Pssh! But whatever, it still bothers him, and just now I got a text from him that read:

"770 calories in a box of DOTS?! I'm buying running shoes tonight."

Oh my, how the tables have turned.

Oh, wtf.

Chicago is not just cold from the ridiculous temperatures, we are now cold deep down in our souls.

I can't follow this guy's advice right now, not after watching Chicago become the laughing stock of the NFL.

It all started out so well, with that Hester run right at the beginning....we seemed unstoppable. While the Colts let the ball slip out of their hands, it seemed like the Bears had Velcro on theirs.

And then it all went to hell.

But! The party I went to was great. The food was great, the people were great, and the excitement (and despair) was palpable. Same time, same place next year, guys.

****

I am cold. I am cold and I am broke. Broker than broke. Better-not-leave-the-house-in-case-something-happens-that-I'll-have-to-pay-for broke. I know it's just until payday Thursday, but that check is going to go to alot of things that are getting put off right now. My cat is sneezing and I don't think that's healthy, my hair is grown out, I need an oil change and I have to pay my car insurance.

Stupid glasses and contact lenses sucking away all of my money!

****

I better get back to work. This is a Monday to end all Mondays, I must say.

Sunday morning blogging.

Good morning, Internet. I'm taking a break from the 1500 things I have to clean up in my apartment to blog. Mostly because I don't want that entry about having crazysexydreams about Daniel Radcliffe to be up at the top of my blog for too long.

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Friday nights are usually Date Nights for my man and me. Most of the time we're exhausted from the work week, so going out for dinner or seeing a movie is about all we can muster.

On Friday we went to a Bob San, a totally badass sushi place not far from where we live. We've been once before, and Steve had been jones'n to go again. I had a hard time committing to going, because it's 0 degrees here in Chicago, and the last thing that sounds appetizing to me is cold fish. But I finally caved, and we went. We sat at the bar, which I totally love, because you can watch the chefs make everything.







The food? Excellent. The wait staff? Superb. The clientele? Total douche bags. You could tell that alot of people were there just so they could say, "I eat sushi. I can eat raw fish. I'm worldly!" The guy who was sitting next to us was trying to impress his new girlfriend by ordering different things. He kept ordering and then saying things like, "I don't know, I guess it's just me, but I'd take sushi over a burger any day." To his credit, the girl that he was with seemed to think he was very adroit. So more power to him, I guess.

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I spent all Saturday laying out on my bed, felled by a migraine. I have had only two migraines in my life now to date, and holy shit, are they awful. And the dreams that I had during it! My god, I knew that some of my thoughts are a little strange, but I didn't know they were that strange. I woke up a few times, saying to myself: "Oh, right, yes, I am a normal person. Phew."

If any of my 0.5 readers have a good way to cope with migraines, please send me some advice. Not that smashing a pillow onto my face and whimpering wasn't effective or anything, but, you know, I think there are probably some wiser alternatives.

****

So now it's Sunday, and I'm up early to get everything I wanted to do yesterday done before we leave for a Super Bowl party at 3:30.

All of Chicago is awash with excitement about this game.



Pessimist that I am, I'm nervous. Not as nervous as I was in October of 2005, but definitely on-edge. I don't remember when the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1985, because I was 5 when they won and I have a memory like a sieve. But any kid that has grown up in or near Chicago knows all the stories about the '85 Bears. It's 2007, and they're still spoken of in hushed tones. So we'll see how this goes...

I stand corrected, etc.

Update: I came home from work on the day of my fiery entry about the green CR-V whose owner can’t parallel park, only to find that the culprit had, yet again, parked nine feet from the curb. This time it looked like she had just pulled into the spot head-on. Well, I was tired/hungry/in a fightin’ mood, so I went upstairs, went to my desk, took out a Post-it note and angrily scrawled:

“Dear Green CR-V:

Stop parking 3 feet from the curb. Learn how to parallel park.

Thanks.”

OOOOOOH. So nasty. It was SO ON. Anyways, I suited Mojo up for a walk and took off outside.

Too bad that 6:30 p.m. on my block turned out to be prime Hang Out and Be Noticed time. There were people everywhere. People getting picked up, people walking by….and right as I was crossing the street to get nearer to the CR-V to place my Dastardly Note, the owner of the CR-V came running down the block. I’m not sure what she was running from, but she was running at the dog and me, so of course Mojo went berserk. And she looked down at him and said, “Puppy, puppy, you are so fierce!” She put out her hand for him, Mojo wagged his tail and sniffed her shoe, and she ran into her house.

I crumpled up my note and stuck it in my pocket. Maybe my mom was right about Nice People not leaving notes. And, well, I GUESS you could be a shitty driver but still be a nice person. Plus, she likes my dog. Anyone who likes my dog is ok with me.

I will shut up about the Green CR-V from now on.

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So, for those of you who don’t frequent my Flickr account, here’s me in my new specs:



Click on the photo to get a gander at the pointy chin that I inherited from my mother that I'm hiding in this picture. I really feel for Jay Leno.

Anywho, I’ve been getting pretty rave reviews on the specs, so far. And, well, even if I didn’t, I think I would still love them, because I love orange, and I enjoy being able to actually see out of my glasses. Bonus on top of bonus!

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Some other things:

1) My DS Lite came! Hurrah! It's so small! And sleek! And the picture is so crisp!

2) Marn is back from a brief hiatus due to a death in the family. I’m so happy to see her blogging again. She was one of the first bloggers I ever read, and I enjoy reading about the goings-on of a couple in their hand-made cabin in the wilderness of Canada. Go say hello.

3) My friend Kieran just made a website, and, although there's not much to it yet, I think you will agree that it is fabulous.

4) My personalized Google How-To of the day was “How to Be Organized." I’m excited for this one, because I really trust wikiHow’s How To’s. I mean, they showed me How to Deal with Abusive Street Teens, and how to Transform My Dollhouse into a Faerie Dollhouse, both of which I thought I’d NEVER master. I trust wikiHow with my life.

5) Steve showed me some of the shots of Daniel Radcliffe posing nude that has sparked a media storm, such as this:



As he was showing them to me, he kept saying things such as:

“He’s too skinny.”
“He has a strange-shaped head.”
“Look at how wide his treasure trail is!! It's freakish!”

To which I responded with:

“Umm, could you scroll down to the next picture, please?"

Then I drooled a little bit on Steve’s shoulder, and asked him if he’d fancy a trip to London to see Radcliffe's play. Fine. I think Harry Potter is a Hottie-Hot McHottington. I admit it. I’m ok with it. So there.