The Ugly Girl Experiment
James details it in his blog today. This whole topic came up from a email exchange today. I love stories about this guy. I should also note that a nameless friend of mine and I both had a *massive* crush on this same dude our freshman year when we had a seminar with him (South African Government, I believe). We would come back from class and then moon together over how sensitive and mature he was. Just goes to show our 18-year old judgement is sooooo right.

News of note
TGIF: hooray!

I got another haircut last night, finally. It's short and sassy again and looks a lot more cleaned up than it did. The long outgrown shag was driving me up the wall.

After studying last night, I joined Todd to see his roommate's/bandmate's other band, Bear Claw, perform at the Empty Bottle (DC contingent: Bear Claw is coming to DC is July). I was wise and wore earplugs, and made Todd wear them as well. It made a huge difference, as it was loud in there and now after taking audiology, I'm paranoid about ear care.

On the way home, we listened to music by a band that may be my favorite only from name alone. Seriously, I have never come across a better band name, it gets me every time: I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness. The music was good too, btw.

Ugh, it's cold and grey in Chicago this morning. Are you all jealous?

Woooooo!
I have three midterms next week. Of course, I do.
One on Monday and two on Thursday.

I started studying for the Monday one last night and got through a good portion of the review questions.

My plan was to spend the next hour and a half getting started on studying for one of the Thursday ones today.

But it's much more interesting to go through my old archived emails and to read them to see where my life was at such and such point.

Happy Birthday, Miss Suzi!
I hope that you find some time for celebration and cake within the end-of-school craziness. You're the best!

I love this story about the Buffalo herd being corralled into a tennis court in Maryland.

Kiley in her bib and with her bbq chicken sandwich. The picture doesn't do justice to demonstrating the massive size of these sandwiches.  

Steve and Todd, debonair with their wine and their bibs.  

Cole slaw came with dinner. Todd got a HUGE dish of it compared to the small mounds that the rest of us got, as you can see above. We should have stuck a candle in Todd's massive bowl.  

Baby chicks at the baby chick hatchery at the Museum of Science and Industry! 

Myself, Madeline, and Katie at the awesome train exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. 

From the front of the Museum of Contemporary Art from our walk on Saturday morning. I loved this sculpture. 

Birthday dinner
Last night, Steve and Kiley (Todd's good friends) and I took Todd out for his birthday dinner at a bbq place called Carsons in downtown Chicago. It was a completely fun, throwback experience. The place was huge, old-school, and came equipped with an elderly, courtly waiter for our table. He was so gracious that he even caught on that it was Todd's birthday and came out with a surprise dish of ice cream. The best was the plastic bibs that our waiter tied on each of us, despite the fact that Todd was the only one who had ribs.

Happy Birthday to the Todd!
I hope that 27 will feel so right.

To the point where it's a problem
I am addicted to an Explosions in the Sky cd that I received for christmas this year. I play it incessantly when I study...like the only thing I play when I study. I'm listening to it to what amount to an unhealthy amount. But nothing pleases me more than spreading out on the dining room table with my computer and my notes and popping in that cd and feeling like I have a soundtrack.

Winter Weekend Revisited
Poor Madeline. She came all the way to Chicago to visit her friends living here, and the weather went from 80 degrees (Monday) to the 30s again this past weekend. She was indeed a trooper, though, but we had to chuckle when we stepped outside in the wind of downtown Chicago and it was snowing.

We had a great time, though. Madeline arrived on Saturday morning safe and sound with only the slight snafu where Todd and I headed most of the way to O'Hare before turning around and going to Midway beforehand. Afterward, Madeline and I spent the morning strolling through my neighborhood and then took the bus downtown to see the Magnificent Mile. The weather was not great and the wind was something else, but the place was still crazy busy. Who would have guessed. Madeline's friend, Katie, met us down there, and then gave us a ride back north, beforehand showing us her fabulous loft/condo on the edge of Lincoln Park. Lovely.

That evening we met up with Madeline's friend, Randy, and his cousins for Italian dinner on Southport (yum and reasonable) and then to see one of the cousins friends play at the Elbo Room. Tiny little place and close by so we could walk home.

The next morning, after a delish brunch and Nookie's Tree with Randy and Todd, Madeline and I met up with Katie and went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see their "Body Worlds" exhibit. Amazing. If you hadn't heard, a German dude took all of these real human cadavers and molded them in such a way to show off the human anatomy. Unbelievable stuff and totally crowded too. BUT, in Chicago through December, so all of you visitors will need to come and check it out.

Madeline took off in the late afternoon, and then Monday morning crawled up upon me before I knew it. Today went by quickly, and now I'm spending the evening poring over books.

Rockin'
Man, last night we went to see Yo La Tengo play at the Vic Theater. It was awesome. They were super tight and played a whole variety of songs--lots of favorites including "On Our Way" and "Cherry Chapstick"--and played three (!) encores! Plus, the Vic Theater is huge and lots of balcony seating and provides a decent view of the stage so we got to sick on our tuckuses all night. I bet that there wasn't a soul there under the age of 25, though.

The best was that there was the super-fan sitting behind us. She was rabid and loud and most probably very drunk. After every song, she would bellow "Fuuuuck Yeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" or "DUUUUDE!" even after the really quiet, dreamy songs, in between kicking Todd in the back. She was the antithesis of the average audience member there who mellowly sits and takes it all in, maybe occasionally nodding to the music. It was hilarious.

Regardless, definitely one of the best shows that I've ever seen.

A Huuuuuuge Happy Birthday to the ADD!
The bestest ever! I hope that this year is also the bestest ever for you.

Happy Wednesday!

Read this article to help you get through the day.

The best part:

Stevens allegedly told police that he was “caught,” while fiddling with his towel, occasionally exposing his genitalia.

“Oh you caught me,” Stevens allegedly told police. “I was having sex with my girl and you caught me.”

Police later discovered Mrs. Stevens was out of town for a funeral.

Police allegedly detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from Stevens. Carriker asked him how much he had to drink and Stevens allegedly replied, “Not enough.”

(via obscurestore)

What kind of American English do you speak?

My linguistic profile is as follows:

60% General American English
20% Dixie
20% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

We've talked about a lot of these differences in class in terms of phonetics. Especially number 20, which I pronounce all the same.

(via tmn)

Hell Monday is over!
Hooray! There's a lot of stuff due at the beginning of this week, but the end of the week should be fun, culminating in Madeline's visit this weekend. The weeks are already zooming by.

I have to mention as well that yesterday I watched "You Got Served" with Todd on his On Demand. Oh my gah. There was a lot of serving going on, and although the movie couldn't have been more than an hour, 45, it managed to draaaaag. I'm not sure if you've seen this opus yet, but suffice it to say that the movie revolves around serving suckers and serving suckers back. Todd managed to sum it up nicely when he dryly commented "I guess that what we've learned from this movie is that revenge is best served boring."

Don't worry, we watched the entire thing, though. I also saw from watching the credits (!) that Kevin Federline is also in it. Daaamn!

Chicago Celebrities
Last night I went with Todd and his friends to see Shellac at Martyr's Pub. Unfortunately, Grace was unable to attend, but don't worry, vroom vroom, I held down the fort for you.

Besides seeing the acclaimed Steve Albini of Shellac (see, I've even learned his name!), as we were waiting outside for one of Todd's friends to meet us, Jeff Tweedy from Wilco was in line to get into the show. Throughout the entire show, he and his wife were standing or sitting right in front of us. He's a lot shorter than I thought he was. Chicago celebrities abound!

Yay for Saturday!
Ahhh, it's a gorgeous Saturday outside. I just woke up and am going to try to muddle through a draft of a mid-quarter report, but blogging is calling my name.

It was an excellent Friday night. Todd and I got some cheap noodles at Cozy Noodles on Clark and then wandered over to meet Pam and Dave B for some drinks and catching up. We eventually settled on a tapas place on Halsted, and it was awesome. We tucked into some sangria pitchers and made a night of it. By midnight, we looked around and realized that we were the only people in the place besides the people who worked there. I'm sure that they loved us. Immediately after, we wandered over to Hydrate, a gay bar closeby that I always walk by but never have gone into. There was much dancing going on, not so much by us. By 1 a.m, Todd and I bailed and walked the block back to my place. I love this neighborhood.

Adventures on the el
On Fridays, all I have is my one client session, so my travel time is like three times the amount of time that I actually have to be on campus. I don't mind, since I usually like the zone-out time and looking out the window on the el. Since my session isn't till 1, I ride the train on the non-express times and it's a much more colorful ride compared to the usual commuters that I travel with. Please see as follows:

1.) Crazy man with a cane: Crazy people LOOOOOVE me. I should have had my cockles up when the google-eyed bald man with a cane walked into my car. It was a full car, though, so I figured that there was enough of a buffer. The dude settled into the priority seating area by me and proceeded to spend the first fifteen minutes muttering to himself and slapping the glass next to him rhythmically. I was sitting there, minding my own business and holding this large piece of poster board that I was using for my session (a board game I created with a simple snake picture and lots of construction paper pasted on). The crazy man honed in on that poster board and started questioning me about it. I tried to politely but clippily answer his questions and then put on my sunglasses and turned my eye gaze in the opposite direction. This didn't stop the man, as he came up with his own conclusions. Out of his mouth came the following:

"You're an art student, I bet. Well, that's pretty good art you've got there. It's no Picasso or Michealangelo, but it'll do."

Once he realized that I had checked out of the conversation, he said "Ooooh, I see how it is."

Then he took a large swig of the bottle that he had nestled within is coat, swung himself off of the seat, and then got off at the next stop. As soon as he stepped off of the train, everyone around me let out audible sighs of relief: they had escaped his attention.

2.) On the ride home, I was riding me some sort of fugitive who was caught. He in cuffs and boxed in by four huge men. I guess that they figured that the best way to get him across the city was to take the el. They support public transportation. They guy looked glazed and a bit resigned to his fate, but I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be heading toward some sort of punishment when you're surrounded by tons of people heading home and to their weekends.

Anyway, in other news, Grace couldn't come to Chicago this weekend because of her work (damn work), but Vroom vroom will be visiting in another month, and the weather will probably be more lovely then, so maybe it's even better.

Also, I'm starting to really like working with my sassy little dude of a client. The other day he told me that I looked Japanese without my glasses, and today when I walked him out the door and he greeted his babysitter he stuck his finger up his nose and refused to take it out despite her admonishments. He's still a lot of work to prepare for, but it keeps me on my toes. I'm happy to report that he was really, really into the board game that I created for him. Usually his attention span lasts for about ten minutes for each activity, but he wanted to play this game for like 20 minutes! I was amazed.

And this is odd, how?

Hambone sent me this article with the line

"Hambone, this story has your name written all over it." How very true.

Graduate student arrested
Mathematics student admits to about 60 incidents of lewd behavior toward Asian females on campus

Upon interrogation, Lohman confessed to cutting the woman's hair and to cutting the hair of Asian female students at least eight other times, University communications director Lauren Robinson-Brown '85 said. All of the hair-snipping incidents occurred on campus, Davall said.

Lohman also admitted to pouring his bodily fluids into the drinks of Asian female students on more than 50 occasions, Robinson-Brown said. The fluids poured into the drinks were semen and urine, Lt. Dennis McManimon, the Borough police's spokesman, said in an interview Tuesday.

....

A search of Lohman's apartment revealed "a quantity of women's panties and numerous mittens," according to a statement from Borough police.
The investigation, McManimon said, "has been leaning" toward the conclusion that Lohman stuffed the mittens with the hair he had obtained from students and used them for personal sexual gratification.

Sordid!

Lifting something like 500 pounds.  

Close up. 

Pat pulling the semi! 

View from the women's bathroom of the John Hancock. Not sure if you can make anything out from my excellent camera's abilities. 

View from our table from the 96th floor. 

Hillary and Megan at the John Hancock. 

Manic Monday Revisited
Oh man, I'm so glad that today's over. We had our first exam in what seems like the most challenging class of the quarter and I also had another client session to plan for. I'm happy to report that they both went relatively well, so I've earned my evening of chillness and maybe a little reading, but nothing that pressing. After the disaster first session with my client, things have definitely improved and now we're actually having fun during the time. Last Friday, the little dude even expressed a little sadness that we had to end an activity and that it was time to go. I was gobsmacked. Seriously.

This past weekend was nutty, but it was a good time. Friday night, Todd and I went out with Laura, Hillary, Megan, Nikki, and some others from my program for a free happy hour at this meat-market bar nearby and then we zipped over to the John Hancock to have martinis in their Signature Room. The drinks are expensive, but the bar is at the top of the John Hancock, so you have a stunning view of the city at night, and it's basically the same price you pay to get up there to see the views anyway. This way you get a drink for free. When Anne and I went on the architectural boat tour last summer, the guide opined that the best view in the city is in the women's bathroom at the John Hancock bar. It's so true: it looks onto the South of Chicago, and the window spans the room and it is stunning. We totally lucked out, too, and landed a table right by the window at the bar and let me just say that Chicago at night is a sight to behold.

Saturday, I joined Todd and some of his friends to see his friend, Pat, compete in a Strong Man competition. How awesome is that? We got there in the morning just as they were pulling the semis. Later on, they lifted ungodly amounts of weight (325 in each hand for the heavy-weights, which is where Pat fell) and then there was a keg-carry race. It was all extremely whacked out and fascinating. It was also gorgeous and sunny that day with a little bit of a bite of breeze. The breeze made it misleading, since we all came out of there with various degrees of burns. I have a red face and cheeks and Todd earned some wrist-band style burns since his wrists were the only part of him directly exposed (he was wearing a baseball hat, not a ski mask as you might think by that statement...although that would have been hilarious).

After some studying for voice, we went to see his friend play blues guitar in a bar in Lincoln Square (Dad, you would have liked it a lot), and then went and got some grub before crashing very hard for the night. I think my body is unused to having so much sun exposure at one time.

Sunday, Lee and I began painting the apartment. We're going for a yellowish color for the living room and a pinkish color for the dining room. She recruited a whole troop of people from her church to help, and thankfully, they knew what they were doing. It's a long process, and only just begun, so the apartment is kind of in upheaval right now. Grace, be warned, for when you come and visit, that you won't be visiting an apartment o' luxury as you expected, I'm sure. Then after some quick studying, I joined Jenny, Pam, Amie, and Abby for a delicious Mexican dinner that Jenny and Amie cooked up at Amie's place. Jenny's in town for a whirlwind visit since she got two days off in a row, and it was nothing less than excellent to see her. I had to beg off early, though, much to my consternation, since I needed to leave behind the good times, good food, good company, and good margaritas for voice study notes and session planning.

And that's my news. I'm feeling more upbeat than I was at this time last week, as I'm happy to report.

Almost weekend
Yay, one more day to the weekend. I have my second client session tomorrow, and I'm steeling myself for it. My client is spirited, and more challenging than the typical clients that people in my class get, but screw it. What can I do? Just give it my best. I was feeling really bummed and overwhelmed at the end of last week and the beginning of this week, but I'm feeling better every day. But, we have a voice exam on Monday, which is kind of hilarious to me. We've been in school for a week and a half so far!

So last night we didn't end up staying to see Crooked Fingers, which was a bummer, but they weren't going on till 11pm (dude, don't people have to work? I'm so lame.) and we weren't game for being totally out of it today. But, the Abbey Pub is cool and we stayed there for dinner. They had a meat loaf special for $5 that was so delicious and that and a few on-special drinks cost about $20. I think I'm in love.

It's chilly again in Chicago, but the sun is out so things are totally dreary.

Checking In
Man, this quarter so far has been kicking my ass, and it's only just started! I had an indecently stressful first week and a half, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it settles down once the routine is on and I know what to expect in terms of how much time to pour into each class or session-plan. In the meantime, I'm feeling a bit runover, however the good news is that i feel an iota less runover every day. Perhaps in two months (by the time the quarter is over), I'll be all right altogether!

The weather is lovely in Chicago--warm and in the 70s. This past weekend was rather fruitful as well. On Friday night we went to go see these bands, Mirror America and Pinebender, (I think) at Subterranean, an extremely cool and open music venue in Wicker Park. Saturday, after I pushed Todd's bed onto his toe cracking his toenail (yowch) when helping him move it, we hobbled over to a gallery to see his friend's performance art show opening. awesome. Finally, on Sunday we walked around his neighborhood in the sublime sunshine and warmth, found the nearest coffee shop, and checked out the changing neighborhoods. Afterwards we grilled steaks on his porch.

Now, when it's the choice between grilled steaks in the sunshine vs. sitting in my apartment and poring over wonky lesson plans and voice disorder texts, it's not much of a question in terms of what I want to pick. This is why self-discipline needs to become part of my life, folks. But tonight, I'm going to see Crooked Fingers at the Abbey Pub (jealous, Bill?), and I'm stoked. I need an effing break, people.

Happy Birthday to Christie!
Girl, 29 is going to feel so good.