Chicago: customers are advised to allow extra travel time

Hah, I was only making Zelda joeks, don't mind me.

I dunno, I haven't seen the movie, but when I was the age that I imagine the lead characters being I had pretty much gotten over most of the severe awkwardness and insanity that you guys describe. I credit lots of girl friends (both platonic and not), my upbringing, and my already marginalized social status for this. Also, and this may not make much sense, but my extended international jaunt to Australia and New Zealand incited a bit of quick growing up for me, I think.

xpost: video games are going to reveal a treasure trove of this kind of stuff

Thank you, Kelsey, I missed me too. And JW is he of the noize bored.

Video games are not good social barometers.

I'm with Dan re girl friends growing up, maybe even more so. I'm trying to think of if I even bonded with guys in high school.

i don't know how to talk out what's in my head today.

I didn't mean to imply that dudes are JUST like evan & seth were in the movie in real life or anything.

Of course not!

Yeah, most of my friends in high school were girls as well. Not that I didn't have any male friends (though a few of them were guys I met through theatre, and you know what that means lol), but I remember a couple of birthday parties junior and senior year when I was the only guy there.

OK, I have some memory of riding in someone's minivan in a parking lot in the middle of the night as the other guys took turns climbing on top and riding as the van did donuts in a parking lot, so I guess I did bond with guys.

But then I've got another memory of riding in a minivan with a bunch of girls singing along with Amy Grant.

<i>climbing on top and riding </i>

On the roof of the van, people, on the roof!

Ghost-riding the whip, MN style.

I did a lot of donuts too.

I never did donuts.
My grandmother made homemade donuts though, which were probably almost as dangerous to my health.

I hung out with guys a lot too & liked that they seemed a bit more crass and easy-going than a lot of my female friends. rarely did they discuss women with me around but the few times they did i felt like i was privy to a secret window into the World of the Sexes or something.

i have had homemade donuts maybe twice in my life & if they always tasted like that i would be a donut person for sure!

Damn it, why am I getting a sore throat?

i've had one for the last week, maybe you caught it from me?

dan, i've been sneezing violently all day. I think the dampness is having its way with us.

I had one for the last week, then I spent about 18 hours yesterday sleeping and now I am better (knock on wood).

Yeah, loading my drums in and out in the pouring rain just about killed me.

I carried groceries hom in the rain yesterday, and was nasty soaked by the time I got home.

ha-HA! I spread my vile crud over ILX. FI-nally I am feeling better today. So much better that I'm pretty sure I no longer require sleep--been up since 6 AM, worked 8-4 and then 4:30-10:30 and then walked a long way getting around 2--TWO!--CTA detours (I went from downtown to Chicago Ave to pay my ComEd bill and found that Red Line was running above ground and the 36 Bus was way detoured--so I walked to Clark and Division to catch it.)

Not sleepy. Nope.

Crazy chopstix chef pulled me aside today and asked for my help in deposing the GM-- "She used to be nice person, but she got power and now her head too big! This have to change, and we fix it, but I need your help."

I have just started reading this
and already it seems great.

Also I added this to my queue. Story of two rural Mississippi gay bars.

perfume is very good. Yes.

I hear my neighbors! I haven't seen or heard them in more than a month. They were definitely not around since July 4. Shit. I was kind of hoping they were gone so I could get their apartment and have a balcony and private entrance. OH THE THINGS I COULD ACCOMPLISH IF I HAD A BALCONY/PORCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you hear them... in that bad way?

Oh, no. Not the living-room-sex way. I just heard them in the hallway, scurrying.

I have decided that I actually do require sleep. Now would be a good time for that. :(

How does one make a sleepy emoticon?

&*(&*(^&*

I just ate a banana. I was inspired yesterday by the "Oh no uh oh hey oh" part of the thread. It made me think of DAY-O from the banana boat song, which of course made me think of bananas.

Hi.

That's deep.

It's too early to discuss deep bananas.

Jorrrdddaaannn, so do you think you can come here my party weekend after all? huh huh huh?

I want to! But I think I won't know until I move the weekend/week before and see how exhausted I am. :(

made me think of DAY-O

Another potentially great FFs cover. Super-fast.

Ha ha, my dad used to sing Day-O really loud, like at the top of his lungs, to wake us up on the weekends or just to startle us. He also had a record of "Great American Classics" that had Day-O on it, which he would play very loud. I think this balanced out the times that I would wake up my parents by going into their bedroom with my Fisher-Price tape player and playing the Chipmunks theme song on top volume.

My mom couldn't find Ali, so she's leaving Memphis without her. :-(

sad

Aw, but won't the cat be happier out the wild or taken in by a neighborhood kid than if mom snuck her into a shoebox and inadvertently left her behind at your place?

I don't know. Ali is old and has bladder problems, which would make it especially hard for any kid's mom to warm to her. I'm guessing she was just frightened by all of the activity during the move and is hiding in someone's garage.

So I listened to the first episode of Radio Lab on the way to work this morning... it's this science show. Kelsey can tell you how awesome it is. Anyway, there's still a lot of shows I haven't heard. You can download them all. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

Anyway, so the episode was about the human sense of self, and I had very warm fuzzy feelings about it. First of all, the thing that makes us most human is our imagination, and they explain that rather scientifically. Secondly, though, is the idea that we're all a stroke or a head injury away from being a completely different person than the one we think we are. Here's what's weird: I find that very comforting. I like being reminded that I'm mostly a sack of water. It... helps me. It puts everything into perspective. Especially if you remember that everyone else is also just a sack of water.

I can't explain it, I don't guess.

For the record, Sarah's birthday-party weekend also = Kelsey and Leaf's wedding-party weekend.

<i>Millennium Park
Sing Me Back Home featuring The New Orleans Social Club
Date: 8/24/2007
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM


Park location: Jay Pritzker Pavilion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina, a group of legendary musicians from New Orleans gathered in Austin, Texas, to record Sing Me Back Home. Over seven magical days and nights, The New Orleans Social Club was born. For this debut performance in Chicago, we salute the musicians and culture of New Orleans.

Featuring the New Orleans Social Club: Ivan Neville, Leo Nocentelli, Raymond Weber, Tony Hall, and Henry Butler along with special guest Irma Thomas, Troy "Trombone Shorty"
</I>

http://chicagoist.com/2007/08/21/ken_vandermark.php

Yes! Wedding Party! We are excited to get our drink on with everyone! Since moving, my drinking habits have lessened.

Also: I am now wearing a wrist brace.

random tidbit: there is a person who i have seen working around the university who i would swear was my old neighbor in chicago. the distinguishing feature? i believe this person to be transgendering from a man into a woman. i kind of want to say something b/c s/he was really kind to us when we lived there (called the cops once on my behalf when i got into a yelling match with a very rude dude driving through the alley). but, really i haven't looked at this person closely enough to know FOR SURE. the main thing is the platinum blonde hair & the man-to-woman boobs. I guess i could just get over it & ask if s/he relocated from chicago b/c s/he reminds me of a nice neighbor i had.

"did you move from chicago" seems like a perfectly inoffensive way to start a conversation

i realized this as i typed it out. i think i just get nervous b/c i can imagine being mid-trans as a difficult position to be in. i noticed a lot people staring yesterday when i saw her/him.

back to that radio show... it very much reminded me of Six Degrees of Separation. One of my favorite dollar-bin cut-out movies ever, right up there with Joe Vs. The Volcano. :)

Anyway. Imagination.

The imagination has been so debased that imagination -- being imaginative -- rather than being the lynchpin of our existence now stands as a synonym for something outside ourselves like science fiction or some new use for tangerine slices on raw pork chops -- what an imaginative summer recipe -- and Star Wars! So imaginative! And Star Trek -- so imaginative! And Lord of the Rings -- all those dwarves -- so imaginative -- The imagination has moved out of the realm of being our link, our most personal link, with our inner lives and the world outside that world -- this world we share. What is schizophrenia but a horrifying state where what's in here doesn't match up with what's out there?
Why has imagination become a synonym for style?
I believe that the imagination is the passport we create to take us into the real world. I believe the imagination is another phrase for what is most uniquely us.

And science bears out this claim.

Also, our sense of self is a collection of stories that we, imaginative beings that we are, tell ourselves.

And we turn him into an anecdote, to dine out on, like we're doing right now. But it was an experience. I will not turn him into an anecdote. How do we keep what happens to us? How do we fit it into life without turning it into an anecdote, with no teeth, and a punch line you'll mouth over and over, years to come: "Oh, that reminds me of the time that impostor came into our lives. Oh, tell the one about that boy." And we become these human jukeboxes, spilling out these anecdotes. But it was an experience. How do we keep the experience?

The question almost answers itself.

:)

I've had a lot of coffee this morning.

Ooh good stuff.

it's an excellent movie. I wish I could see it on stage, like it was originally intended.