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.

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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....

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Tally-ho, Internet! To the weekend!