Deck the Halls

Okay, so this will be a random smattering (as most of my posts seem to be)

** Happy Thanksgiving ( a day or so late) to everyone in the blogosphere

** Thanksgiving for me was spent partly in Chicago and partly in IC. I drove to Naperville on Wednesday afternoon (after joyfully discovering I didn't have to find a sub for Wednesday night's library shift because we closed the doors at 5pm that night) The drive was crowded, especially on I-80, and for a change, there was significant traffic on I-88 also. My mistake though, was that the Naperville Road exit on 88 was closed, so I had to take Illinois Hwy 59 partway to get to Erik's. This did not make me very happy in the end. At the beginning it was fine because I hadn't explored the outskirts area, but, to my dismay, this area was mostly shops and resturaunts, and with a holiday fast approaching, there was SOOO much stop and go traffic. I did discover a DSW shoes which may warrant a return someday.

** Other drawback to Wednesday's journey: my car smells like new paint not new car. Seriously, the inside smells like the inside of your house when a fresh coat arrives. I think I did get a lill contact high from the fumes. *Car was hit in a parking lot the day of Cassi's opera and after getting my insurance company to pay fix the dent (after 250 out of pocket because person didn't leave insurance info, probably because they didn't have any, or b.c since the dent was rather small, they didn't think it was worth leaving info. But it's noticable to mama)
Now I have to take the car back to the body shop because they didn't finish touching up the scratches, it's been a hassle.

**Wednesday night we drove into the city to visit with one of erik's friends from japan who recently moved to Chicago from Seattle (wooo all of you Seattle-loving friends can pick her brain if you'd like). We were courageous enough to try a place called the Paragon in the area, and the general population was at least twice our age. We deduced this was because it is situated near the hospital. After dinner Erik and I drove to UIC for the Bloc Party/Panic at the Disco! concert. Knowing nothin about Panic at the Disco! but looking forward to Bloc Party's set, we were drastically disappointed to learn that Bloc Party wasn't performing due to illness. Sign said "refunds at point of purchase" which for Erik was ticketmaster. (Insert groans of annoyance for ticketmaster here) after being on hold for 20 minutes, we learned certificed mail to customer service was the way to attain said refund. (I took a camera phone photo of the sign though, just in case). So, we drove back to Naperville, while commenting on choice music of another person. Scrabble and bedtime finished out the evening.

**Thursday I spent with Erik's extended family having a traditional Thanksgiving Day set up. Yum yum. It was great, swapping stories about ruining other holidays, watching NFL games and trying not to be "THAT GIRL"^ Incidently I never check out football players, and I know a thing or two about college football - just not NFL rules or announcers.

^THAT GIRL meanin the one that knows nothing about the teams playing and continues to ask questions like "Why did he throw it to that guy?" or "Gee, his butt looks cute in those pants"

Kyle, Erik and I left when the Scrabble challenge was made. Truly I think Erik's family is out of my league for Scrabble. Last time I played I got my mom tipsy first and had to argue that hijinx didn't have a hyphen.

**I left Naperville at roughly 7:30 and got back to IC around 10pm. I went back via 55 to 80 though, since it was Thanksgiving Day and I assumed that at least a few gas stations might still be open there. Luckily the BP in Genosca (splg?) was, but they were closing in 10 minutes. whew!

**Friday I spent the whole day organizing and cataloging via Librarything.com. I have roughly 250 books in my collection now. Including a large # of undergrad art history and english texts, and some library science books from gradschool...harry potter, horsey books, etc. They will all be put into boxes, labeled, and easily locatable via librarything tags. Now, to get my folks to donate some of their collection to the library. Really the rafters aren't the best places to stick outdated encyclopedias.

**Erik joined me on Friday night and we joined some friends at the Field House (not so affectionatly known in IC as the "meatlocker" or "fieldwhore", these monikers are ascribed because older guys often sit at the top level of the bar, and can look down upon the dance floor two levels below. You are free to draw your own conclusions as to what they hope to see.) It is not one of my favorite bars in IC...honestly beyond Billiards Club, none are favorites anymore, since Martini's redesigned after the tornado. Regardless, I seem to still attract strange men wishing to dance with me. I'm not saying I'm the cutest of my friends, far from I think, but for some reason, guys see me dancing with my other guy friends, and yet, still think I'd want to dance with them more. Why is that? Fellas, if a woman is dancing in the middle of a group of 4 or 5 guys for most of the evening, or with a guy who is obviously her gay guy pal, please do not assume she wants to dance with you. If she's already got a smile on her face, is laughing and all over seems to be enjoying herself, this does not mean she's "on the hunt" or looking to strike up a new/brief friendship consisting of dancing with you. You may be a perfectly wonderful guy, or you could be a sleeze. It wouldn't make a difference. She's not there to find you.
(I say this not to hurt the feelings of guys who ask women to dance and get rejected, just to point out that when she says no thanks the first time, she really does mean no thanks. No amount of reasking will make her change her mind, in fact it will probably make her really annoyed and prompt her to write a blog note about how drunk guys that don't listen are extremely annoying.) I don't need rescuing by my guy friends, but I was quite glad that Patrick was there to help me prove my point that I already had a dance partner. The response of "aww, you're no fun" doesn't win me over to your desires either, drunkie. This guy wasn't nearly as bad and "slap your ass when you look away" guy from last week at the Loft bar in DM. Geez guys, figure it out. Women out at bars are not of only "one type" --seemingly most males think one type of woman goes to a bar, the type that secretly want the unwanted attention. Incorrect assumption. There are actually a number of types of women who go to bars. Some of us go because our friends frequent these environments, and in order to see our friends, we have to be willing to go to a bar on occasion. Some of us go simply because we love to dance, and in order to dance, we need music, music is played by djs in bars. It is true that some women do go to bars because they want to socialize and meet new people and have guys pick them up. Rarely will these women actually invite you back to their place that evening(though sometimes they will). Sometimes you might get a phone number. But the majority of women in a bar, after initially saying no to dancing with you, will not change their mind. Not as they drink more, and not as they get more sober. Your window of opportunity doesn't exist. Also, to guys out there that think it is okay to slap a woman on the ass that you do not know, be prepared that if you do act upon your instinct to slap her, she will most likely slap you back, across the face, and hopefully report you to the bouncer or management. This is VERY IMPORTANT FOR BOTH MEN AND WOMEN: DON"T ASSUME ANY PERSON IN A BAR WANTS YOU TO TOUCH THEM IN ANYWAY. ALWAYS ASK ASK ASK FIRST!!!! If they tell you don't. Don't. Simple rule to live by.
Mr. "Slap My Ass" Guy was standing at the bar, while I was talking with Liz, and we were all trying to help her get over her hiccups. He taps me on the shoulder and says "look over there" and points toward the emergency exit of the bar ( i didn't actually look at the exit, but I knew that's where he was pointing) I gave him a quizical look and asked "Um, why?" He goes "oh, just look." "Uh, I'm okay thanks anyways." I respond and turn slighly back toward Liz. I get the "Aww, you're no fun. I was gonna slap your ass when you looked." What is that? I mean seriously. My response: shook my head, ignored the guy, and moved to the other side of Erik. What my response should have been: "Had you slapped my ass, I would have requested you get kicked out of this bar for sexual harrassment." I don't know what I do to spur on this kind of behavior. If it's me, or them, but I'm more inclined to believe it's them. So get yourselves into the mindset of preventing this type of behavior folks. Don't instigate it, and don't tolerate it.

**Moving on...Saturday I worked at the CPL til 4:30pm, then Erik and i went to dinner at the Jade Sisters. I'll recommend their California rolls. We had invites to Wylde Nept, which I'm sure would have been fun, but I was so dead from the night out on Friday and working all day, that I really wanted a night in, and Erik had school work to get done also. So my apologies to the nepts.

**Sunday we lounged around because that's what Sundays are made for. ;) Bears game, and sushi at Misa's. Thanks Misa for hosting and preping and viv and trish for rolling, yummy yummy, two nights of sushi in a week? wow, I'm spoiled.

**Monday, well, I've written this blog, my car is now fixed (by 3pm) and the errands are calling to me.

Thanks for listening folks, and until next time...