So my break was wonderful, as was Chicago, and all of the lovely people I hung out with. Saturday, however, was kind of amazing. So, of course, it is list time. We're doing this chronologically.
1. I woke up (at 6:15 AM so we could bring Liz to the airport) but I was waking up intermittently for the half hour or so beforehand and for a while, one of Liz's cats was curled at my feet.
2. Liz's dad drove me to Hyde Park and told me cool things about the U of Chicago campus and Nabokov and The Brothers Karamazov, which I apparently really need to read.
3. On the way to Hyde Park, we saw a flock of birds flying in these circles. It was extremely bizarre.
4. Liz's dad dropped me off at Starbucks, and I chilled there for a while with a venti hot chocolate and a delicious delicious pumpkin scone.
5. I did most of a NY Times Monday crossword by myself. Just the top left corner was unfinished.
6. At Starbucks, they were playing Bruce Springsteen's new album. I was reminded of how catchy "Livin' in the Future" is.
7. I overheard some great conversations some of the locals were having. They were in really good moods, and after being in high school so recently, I sometimes forget that average Americans are so interesting and like to talk about smart things. It's a good thing to be reminded of.
8. I talked to my dad for 40 minutes, and in the process remembered that it was Saturday, so I wasn't interrupting him at work AND I was awake before he was.
9. I spent a while working on memorizing the Pushkin poem, and achieved knowledge of 2 or 3 stanzas, and familiarity with the rest of the six stanzas.
10. At 10:10, after it opened, I walked over to Borders. I sat that the cafe for a handful of minutes, and then Anna called. To not disturb the people reading, I walked over by the knitting books. While she and Dan figured out their morning, I spent an hour and 40 minutes reading/exhausting the knitting section. There were more good musical times as the sounds of Prince's Planet Earth wafted through the store.
11. I kifed a pattern for fishnet stockings from a book of lingerie patterns. It's like my journal is carrying contraband. Except that it's not really stealing. I would have just found the book at a library and copied down the pattern later. I'm saving time.
12. I copied (out of another book at Borders) a list of novels knitters might enjoy. Now if anyone makes me read a Sue Grafton book, I should choose D is for Deadbeat, because it apparently has crafty undertones.
13. Dan (Anna's U of Chicago friend) let me keep my stuff in his room in the afternoon/evening.
14. I found out that I didn't need to go to the Museum of Science & Industry to see the Star Wars exhibit, because it'll be in Minnesota this summer!
15. We went downtown. I walked for at least an hour through some semi-sketchy neighborhoods to get to Nina, at 1655 W. Division St. But it involved public transportation by myself. I felt all sophisticated and grown-up and city-dwellery.
16. At Nina, I had a nice conversation with one fo teh women there and got to sit down and look at a couple of magazines. Particularly enjoyable after walking so much.
17. I bought two skeins of bright red Manos del Uruguay. It cost about $35, but I would have paid that much to stay at a youth hostel, which I didn't end up needing to do.
18. In Nina, I found Karan and Cara, two women on their way to a wedding downtown. I asked them for a ride back downtown, and it worked out!
19. Cara's brother picked us up in a mini-Cooper.
20. The ride back downtown included a nice view of downtown, including a Michigan Ave, which was quite busy and good for people-watching.
21. Between the Nowaks (the above wedding), the one Linden was at, and Tom Hoberg and co. in Oberlin, today was a good day for future anniversaries. 3 weddings!
22. I managaed to find Anna in downtown Chicago without being confused.
23. We saw some art in the Cultural Center, which is this really pretty building by Millennium Park. Mosaic-y ceilings and whatnot.
24. We had dinner at Qdoba, which is exactly like Chipotle except not related to McDonalds. There was a reprise of the good music phenomenon, this time featuring some R.E.M.
25. The guy who made our burritos at Qdoba was awesome. It was by far the most enjoyable burrito-building experience I have had. We were talking about meat, and the benefits of vegetarian burritos (namely, guacamole doesn't cost extra). I've started asking for both the corn and hot red salsas. "...How do you guys feel about dairy?" PRETTY AWESOME.
26. Anna and I had a really good conversation. I showed her my lists of words, and was a T Rex for a couple of seconds. Then we examined the social implications of guacamole. Unfortunately, due to the inside nature of inside jokes, it's hard to explain the significance of this exchange. It was powerful, though.
27. After dinner we went to Millennium Park and hear storytelling! What good stories! We pretended that we were preschoolers. It was too bad David Reese was still in Ohio.
28. After the stories, we went to the bean and flew on the ground and took many silly pictures.
29. We employed our mad bus waiting skillz in anticipation of our return to Hyde Park. Everyone else at the bus stop seemed pretty bored, but as you can guess, we were pretty good at entertaining ourselves. The more tired we are, the more amusing it is.
30. Back in Hyde Park, we talked in (and about) various accents (British, Irish, Australian, Russian) for many minutes on our way to the coop.
31. En route to the coop with Anna, Dan and Marcelo, I did a double take when I saw someone I recognized...
"Do I know you?"
"Do you go to Oberlin?"
"Yeah. ...What's your name?"
"Bethany. And yours?"
"I'm Meagan."
"You're on OSCA Board!"
"Yeah! That's where I know you from!"
... "Well, see you on Thursday!"
32. Upon arriving at Haymarket House (the coop), Anna and I laid down and barely moved for 20 minutes. It was almost meditation, and most relaxing after a long day.
33. We also hung out with one of the Haymarket cats for a while.
34. In retrospect, in response to everyone who asked me where I'm from, I said I'm originally from Minnesota but go to school in Ohio. Where in Ohio? Oberlin! And unlike the uninformed residents of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, they knew what I (and Anna) was (were) talking about! They either
- knew someone who recently graduated
- said "Oh yeah. Oberlin! I tell a story about Oberlin. (To Anna) You know what, you have my email address. Send me an email and remind me that you're the Oberlin student. I'll send you a CD with that story for free."
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Happy day happy day happy day.
No comments:
Post a Comment