updates and things

When in the Chicagoland area, change-free is not the way to go.  I found myself driving to Schaumburg on Wednesday when some loco rocos in a hoopty Lexus almost ran me over the road.  I resisted the urge to flip them off but that didn’t make things better.  I missed the I-290 interchange anyway.  So, I hauled ass to the next exit and found out that the town of Barrington requires one to pay a toll to exit the freeway.  My purse got emptied of pennies and dimes and the green light indicated I could move forward.  A quick turnaround and I was once again eastbound only to find that I needed another thirty cents in order to exit.  Luckily, a man was emptying the change out of the machine.  I asked him if he had change for a dollar.  He gave me the pink slip (aka Missed Toll Form) and said, "Read this, you will need to pay the toll online within 7 days."  And so today, I went online and paid a whopping $0.30 to the Illinois Tollway. 

I spent part of the afternoon at Woodfield Mall while waiting for L&F to come out for dinner.  She had suggested Maggiano’s so there was no point in me going back to the city since the place was out in the ‘burbs.  We talked of Prague, Budapest and Germany over braised beef cannelloni.  Family updates and future travel plans over tiramisu and creme brulee.

My drive back to the city was side tracked when I got a call from Judie Pie.  It was his birthday and he was out with friends.  Northalsted it is, then! This time around we were off to Spin for $1 drinks.  It was the perfect amuse bouche evening for this out about town FagHag!

It feels good to be back. Tsu-man always said he felt like it was home for me.  He was right.

The first thing I did was to take a trip down memory lane.  I turned off of Bessie Coleman Drive and onto Mannheim Road, the bane of my pre-freeway driving existence.  Brought about by my last minute realization that I would need change for the tollways I would need to take in order to get downtown, I veered off my Mapquest plotted course and took the Eisenhower in.  I am not complaining now though, it allowed me the opportunity to stop at my old alma mater.  I decided against taking Congress Pkwy as my grand re-entrance into the Windy City. It feels a lot older than I remember.  I saw more cracks on it’s sidewalks, more grime on it’s buildings. But it was 80+ degrees hot and I was determined to enjoy my first afternoon back.

First order of business, see Millenium Park. I had a picnic by the auditorium and then made my way up the Golden Mile.  I found a couple old haunts and a lot of new discoveries. I even accidentally discovered the parent company’s building! With just enough time to soak my feet and freshen up, Jude came by and picked me up from the ‘It’s All Valet At The Hyatt, Miss’ hotel. We had fab sushi at Meiji on the West Loop area.  (It was good but not as good as Tojo’s) We had some warm edamame and a few rolls - Dynamite with avocado and CC roll, Spicy tuna with avocado and salmon and tuna draped on top and Toro and Ahi tuna with daikon radish wrapped in cucumber in a rice wine and sugar dressing.

What better way to finish off the evening than chat away while everyone else was singing along to Cabaret?  It was Show Tunes night at Boys’ Town and Liza was back in her prime. Yeah, yeah, there were a few Miss Saigon lines that I was tempted to mouth…But my fabulous companions had no problems acting it out for me.

Today, I was reminded of how crazy the drivers are here in Chicago. I hope to not bring it back to the "Ham but boy, the road rage is back in full force.  Flipping, honking, cussing, the works.  WTF were they thinking when they gave me a PT Cruiser for a rental?  Another sucky, slow, hard to maneuver car.  Oh d’uh.  For a moment I forgot that it is a domestic.

Ex-tomboy Karen came by and picked me up tonight for a little din-din and a lot of dishing.  A nightcap at the John Hancock signature lounge (the fog made my camera dead weight) was another perfect end.

Now, I’m off to the land of sheep counting. I haven’t quite gotten used to the time zone change.

I resisted for the longest time but my curiousity eventually got the best of me.  I needed something to entertain me during this period of absolute (but oh so glorious) inactivity, as I wait for the grass to dry and the start of outdoor vball season. So I looked at my list of shows to play catch up on and found Nip/Tuck.

Sidenote: I’ve never given plastic surgery any serious thought.  But I am relieved that such a profession exists, it’s a great fall-back plan in the event of accidental disfigurement.  Needless to say, I found out five minutes into the pilot that it was going to be much more than just surgical procedures.

I am hooked. Obsessively addicted, actually. I have spent the last week running straight home after work, like a good little girl, and indulging in episode after scandalously, gory episode.  I did find myself looking away as they cut around a nipple to fix this man’s moobies (man boobies, y’all) so that he could get accepted into a by invitation only, swingers party.  But the graphic display of blood isn’t what got me.  It’s a stylized depiction of giving in to vanity, fear, death, lies and the ensuing ruckus that follows.  I would be amiss if I didn’t mention that the show hints of sex in the weirdest depravity imaginable. Just a hint. It’s not pornographic after all.

Some people thrive only when there is drama in their lives.  (Now I’m beginning to understand why the ex-bffs are the way they are.)  I definitely prefer for it to stay within the confines of the tube.  With lives as crazy as these characters, I certainly hope it is art imitating (or more like exaggerating) life and not the other way around. 

So, if you don’t hear from me for a while, forgive me. I do have three more seasons to go.