Postsecret.

This is an image from Postsecret. Go there if you haven't already, it's an incredible idea.

Por fin!

Today is my last full day of work, meaning it's the last day I will have to go to both of my jobs in one day. Tomorrow "all" I have is a sure-to-be chaotic field trip, for which we will ferry 65 screaming children to Navy Pier. At least my mom is coming with. Then next week I have two short days at the hospital, which I plan to spend cleaning out my office (and by cleaning I mean absconding with office supplies), deleting all evidence of my copious web activity from the computer, happily handing other people my files, and getting taken out to lunch.

One of the last things I had to do at the hospital was complete a self-evaluation for my boss, a terrible exercise for which I had to balance my perceptions of their perceptions of how I was as an employee with what I know to be reality. (For example, they think I was busy much of the time, I know that really wasn't the case. Same with my punctuality. No one really noticed that I was usually late to work, but that doesn't mean I can be sure that they would say I "consistently exceeded expectations" in that category.) I had to make sure to give myself a good score, but not too good. I'm not too worried-- I know I did a pretty good job, and besides, I'm convinced that my boss thinks I'm great simply because I find her hilarious (I do), and our meetings have always consisted of at least an extra hour of her storytelling. Ahhh...I'll miss this place. But only a little.

It's my last full day of work and the sun is shining!

So, who wants to get a drink with me tonight?

Nothing much.

Seriously, anyone know where I could get my shine fixed?


I haven't had the drive to post anything super edgy lately, in case anyone hasn't noticed...

Here are some little things that are making today very nice:

1. Pushing the snooze button 4 times, then resetting the alarm for 20 more minutes.
2. Warm weather, even if it rains.
3. Pretty pictures here.
4. Realizing I only have 8 days left of work.
5. Planning for a trip to California and Baja!!
6. Two words: Mango smoothie.

T minus 14 days.

Yikes! I haven't posted in a while.

Last weekend was fantastically fun-- we spent it running around New York. My sister once again secured her title as the Best Host Ever. She not only let us stay in her lovely apartment and cooked us more than one fantastic meal, but she had a spread of cheese, fruit, and wine waiting for us upon our arrival. At midnight. Brian just about passed out. Anyway, we had tons of fun, saw my friends and his friends, the new MoMA (beautiful), my soon-to-be new school, and pretty much ate the whole time. The mark of a great weekend.


Brewin' it up in Union Square...


This weekend was normal and fun, though I'm ready for it to be consistently warm. Yar. The good news is, TODAY begins my second to last week of work. And we all know the last week doesn't count, so basically this is my last week! Crap, I'm late for work.

Good times.

Oh, that wacky East Quad! SO much time spent there (and as a slacker employee in the Benz Library), I do miss it so...

Thanks to ATF for the article!

Fix up, look sharp.

Let it be known that the drama subsided (in my head) about 15 minutes after that last post. It must have helped! Hooray for blogs.

I feel like it's the weekend, as I do every day that I don't have to work at the after-school program. It's not that it's a bad job at all--it's actually quite fun, and when I'm not there I do miss the kids (most of them), but a one-day break from the mental and physical energy needed to do that job is like a tropical vacation sometimes.

That's all, really. No great theme today (as if there ever is). I'm reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and liking it. I like it so much, in fact, that I read it for a bit too long at my desk today. Why is that so much more naughty than reading a million blogs on the internet? I don't know.

Also, we're going to see Dizzee Rascal this weekend at the Double Door. Hooray!

Hear ye, hear ye.

It's been a while since I forgot something that I definitely, completely should have remembered, that someone else was depending on, but as of today let it be known that:

I am sometimes a stupid asshole.

Let it also be known that I am sometimes very dramatic, but it kills me when I forget something (something little and, to some people, trivial, but nevertheless important to me), simply because I'm absorbed in my own silly thoughts.

Damnit. Okay, this is my attempt to get over it and move on. Let's see if it works.

A cookie is a sometimes food.

FYI: As a result of Sesame Street's new theme of healthy living, Cookie Monster will be singing a different tune...

In other, less groundbreaking news, this weekend was a lovely smorgasboard of activity. Allow me to explain:

- Friday night. Brian and I attend a ceremony for the St. Viator high school Athletic Hall of Fame, where his father's 1969 football team was being inducted. I know that any description I attempt will not do it justice. Suffice it to say that the event was held at the White Eagle banquet hall in beautiful Niles, Illinois, and if you have ever talked to me and thought that I have a Chicago accent, then you would be blown away by the voices of the people there. "I mean, ahhhnest tah gaaaaahhhhd!!" Brian was all worried that I would want to slit my wrists after spending the evening there, but I was actually thoroughly entertained. And I learned some pretty good jokes from his dad's friend. (What's Irish and stays out all night? Patio furniture! Get it?? Paddy O'Furniture? HA!) The speeches were kind of endless, but at least the drinks were free.

- Saturday night. Friday was Brian's birthday, but because of the White Eagle extravaganza, we moved celebrations to Saturday. I took him to Green Zebra for dinner, where we got a table with very little trouble and had what may have been the best meal of my life. And even though you might not care, I'm going to outline that meal for you because it was so wonderful. And because they have a menu online. And because I love how Susie S. describes all her meals on her blog.

They were all tasting portions, so we shared everything:
1. Baby mixed greens, shaved manchego, sherry-hazelnut vinaigrette
2. California inside-out roll, with fresh wasabi, citrus-coconut sauce
3. Okinawan sweet potato dumplings, fresh water chestnuts and star anise broth
4. Gnocchi that is indescribable (and not on the menu online), other than that, upon tasting it, Brian sighed and said, "I could eat this all day. Every day."
5. Root vegetable terrine, with vanilla-salsify puree and citrus vinaigrette
6. Cream puffs with three dipping sauces: caramel, pineapple-mango, and spicy hot fudge.

We practically floated home, and after our very high-brow dinner, we joined Brian's friends for a hilarious night at a decidedly low-brow bar, where (because we kept losing everyone and it was so loud we couldn't hear them anyway) he and I did funny dances all night and pretended that there was a Star Trek-style forcefield around us, protecting us from the crowd.

Not a bad couple of days.

Wheeze, hack.

I've begun telling people that I've been smoking filterless Lucky Strikes for the past 50 years, because that's what the cough I have sounds like. Yesterday it started getting this intense wheezy quality to it as well, which, while really annoying for me, is at least quite dramatic. If you're going to irritate people with your incessant hacking, at least make it good so they wonder whether you have the black lung or something equally awful, and you might keel over at any time.

I'm feeling much much better than a few days ago, however. Just in time for the weekend.

Present.

"Information about time cannot be imparted in a straightforward way. Like furniture, it has to be tipped and tilted to get it through the door. If the past is a solid oak buffet whose legs must be unscrewed and whose drawers must be removed before, in an altered state, it can be upended into the entryway of our minds, then the future is a king-size waterbed that hardly stands a chance, especially if it needs to be brought up in an elevator.

Those billions who persist in perceiving time as the pursuit of the future are continually buying waterbeds that will never make it beyond the front porch or the lobby. And if man's mission is to reside in the fullness of the present, then he's got no space for the waterbed, anyhow, not even if he could lower it through a skylight."

- from Tom Robbins' Skinny Legs and All

Bicycles.

The smell of the warm springtime air coming through my open office window is driving me absolutely crazy. Why on earth did I not find an excuse to skip work today?? If I don't get to go outside and play at some point, I think I might just die.

That's one of the many things I have always adored about Chicago: the beautiful smell of the air when winter is finally over. It could just be because I have positive childhood associations with it, but I think it's just the most wonderful thing. (I must confess, it's something I'm not so excited about in New York-- I know from experience that summertime air there mainly smells like garbage, though I could never put it as eloquently as my dear friend Dr. Science did, upon his arrival in NYC many months ago...)

Speaking of warm weather, we're going to the Working Bikes Cooperative this week to get Brian a bike, so we can bike everywhere! Working Bikes is an excellent organization, by the way. If you're in or around Chicago, you must needs check it out. And one of the first places we'll glide into on our bikes will be The Handlebar, obviously.

Ain't no Hershey's.

This Easter, my mother bought me a chocolate bunny, which she has done every year for as long as I can remember. Only this year, the bunny she got me is made out of very fancy chocolate. Having consumed unthinkable amounts of chocolate over the weekend, I saved my bunny to eat at work today. It was only then that I realized that the little bag that holds the bunny is tied with a lovely ribbon, and on that ribbon is a card. The card says this:

I AM A BLACK-NAPED HARE (LEPUS NIGRICOLLIS).
In my native southern India, I regularly indulge on the beautiful flowering plants! Bite my ear and you will be swooned to India, curry, coconut and milk chocolate. A must try for the adventurous sort!

Haut chocolat, indeed.

Me, myself, and Monday.

Today, so far:

1. Woo hoo! The Once and Future Dr. Science now ALSO has a spin-off blog! We are so the hippest.

2. Woo hoo! It's not the most freezingest day ever, in fact it's sunny!

3. Crap! (Merde!) No one but royalty can afford to fly to Paris in June, apparently!

Let's go fly a kite.

Thank heavens I'm going back to school soon, because I never want to work again. I tasted sweet, sweet freedom this week, and being dragged back to captivity might be catastrophic. But I'll try not to be too dramatic about it all.

This week I basically took two and a half days off (and Monday and Tuesday were short days too), and did whatever I wanted. Wednesday Brian and I spent hours at the gym, where he wiped the floor with me in racquetball and then I kicked his bee-hind in basketball. When do we ever have that much leisure time? We were so tired. The rest of the time I socialized, played euchre with my high school friends, hung out with my sister, read, ate meatballs, saw the grandparents, went to see Watchers play their CD release show, slept a good amount (though not enough), and watched lots of basketball.

Oh, and speaking of basketball: I am a hardcore Wolverines fan and will be until the day I die, but I just need to express my pride in my home state Illini. Amazing! Down by 15 points with four minutes left and they win by one point in overtime?!! What a phenomenal team...

Too bad I missed tonight's game because I went to see a mediocre play. Yar.

Hey, Happy Easter. I've already consumed my weight in chocolate, and my mom hasn't even given me my hollow chocolate bunny yet. Mmmm.

My apartment smells like lilies and I love it.

It feels like I've had a pretty quiet weekend to myself, even though I wasn't by myself much of the time. After what seems like the longest week of my entire life, probably because it was leading up to CPS spring break and thus a sweet, sweet vacation from after-school this week, I almost fell asleep for the night on Friday at about 8:30. But thanks to Josh (Susie's boyfriend who's in town), I already had a ticket reserved for me for a show at the Empty Bottle, so I dragged my ass out of the house and enjoyed myself, even if I did leave around 12:30 after sort of falling asleep standing up. Hopefully everyone just thought I was really enjoying the music, which was good. Josh and Susie have had several social engagements this weekend (and Brian's out of town, which I wish would hurry up and stop), so yesterday I had a lazy afternoon. Last night I got to see a friend of mine from study abroad, Vanessa, and it was fantastic. I've literally seen her twice in the last three years, but she's such a funny, open, intelligent person, and it's one of those things where you just fall into a normal, fun conversation right away. She, Alex and I drank wine and then she and I were treated to a lovely Italian dinner at a restaurant with their childhood friends--I was the only non-DC native, strangely enough--and then had more drinks later. I fell into bed at 3am and made damn sure I slept until 11.

Sunday afternoon was as lazy as Saturday...many Sopranos episodes...and now that Josh and Susie are going out, I'm going to make some kale and white bean soup (thanks, Martha!). It's clearly nice to have some chill time, time to watch DVDs with no set time to stop, to write boring-ish life update blog posts, to wander around a bookstore and almost buy Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities (seriously, the intro was soooo interesting), to not set an alarm to wake up for anything, to think that I should use some Sunday afternoon time to vaccuum the dust water buffalo that have accumulated around our apartment and then decide not to and read Bust magazine instead. Let Spring Break 2005 begin.

Yarrrrrrrr.

It is currently snowing, very hard, and has been since I got to work this morning. It is now 1:30 pm, and I will have to brush off my car. This after Sunday, when Sus and I took a long walk just for the sake of walking and looking at pretty people not wearing coats in the 65-degree sunshine. Oh, Chicago weather, what a rocky relationship you and I have.

Related: Chi love.

Oh, and winter's not all bad: Pretty Chicago winter photo.

Cuisine.

Mmmmm...all that friendly cilantro garnish makes it look harmless, but it will kick your ass. Kick. Your. Ass.

Sus and I have decided to shun our five-minute-quesadilla dinner regimen, and have stepped up our cooking motivation this week to make some wicked meals. We got all excited about new recipes, and on Sunday we bought everything we need for all of them in...drumroll...one shopping trip!! If you know us and our granola bar world at all, you know this is unprecedented. Anyway, the week began with a lovely seasoned, pan-seared halibut on a bed of asparagus. So good, Sus! Then I made spicy sweet potato and coconut soup, very yummy, but spicy as hell. (I know we're both total spice wimps, but maybe we didn't need a whole tablespoon of red curry paste, hmmmm, Real Simple Magazine?) Then last night we made pecorino ravioli with walnuts and marjoram. Interestingly, the ravioli were made with fresh wonton wrappers. They made for an exceptionally thin, delicate ravioli, and no, dear sister of mine who "cooks really well" and "knows a lot about food," they were not italian potstickers. Shut up.


We are so fabulous.

Planetarium and Pulaski

Saturday night Brian and I got all fancy-fancy and went to the wedding of someone I work with. So much fun! The ceremony was at a Greek Orthodox church; we understood very little of the ceremony and had to stand for an hour, but the church was lovely. The reception was at the Adler Planetarium, in an area of the museum where the entire wall and ceiling were windows, with the most incredible view of the lake and skyline. AND, we got to learn all about stars and planets while drinking mojitos and eating yummy food. Amazing. The bride is Cuban and the groom is Greek, so the music alternated between salsa, merengue, and cha-cha that we could dance to, and many circle-centered Greek songs during which we were sort of exiled from the floor, even though I think we really could have held our own had we tried.

This afternoon, I will honor Kasimir Pulaski, the great Polish hero of the Revolutionary War. Chicago seems to be the only enlightened city that recognizes his heroism properly, by marking it with a public holiday. This means, of course, that I do not have to work at the after-school program. Thank you, General Pulaski, for all that you have done for our great nation. I will reflect on your valor and selfless contributions as I finish up disc 2 of Ali G this afternoon.

I [heart] Bolivia!

Check it out.

(Yawn.)

Wow, I'm officially one of those people who can't survive on less than 6 hours of sleep a night after about 3 nights. How sad-- I've always loved my sleep, but I had entire semesters in college where I never got 6 hours at once, and I was generally fine. In fact, I did some of my best work during those times. Now that I'm an old fogey, I guess that doesn't apply anymore. Nerts.

The weekend approaches at a snail's pace...