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...

I saw Marriage of Figaro last weekend at ISU. We went on Thursday night, and I realized just how spoiled I was at Indiana for opera performances. The singers did a good job though and it was entertaining.
Kudos to everyone who went out and voted. Gold stars all around.
I'm hoping to see borat tomorrow night with some friends here, since I've heard such good things about it from other sources.
Then Sat morn it's off to Chicago for a mini reunion with some of the Indiana U art librarians and students, yay! ;)
back here Sunday for Thanksgiving with Steve and Victoria.
okay, that's a wrap.

You HAVEN"T read the book!?!

Dear Indiana, Mom/Dad, Tina's, Waitress, PF. Chang's, Little Tibet, IMA, Residence Inn, B-town Theater, Trac, Erik, Rena, Jon, Steve, Becks, Misa, Aaron, Lenny's, Circle Center Mall,

Thanks for a nice drive to/from Indianapolis on Wednesday to pick up "Alaskaboy." Thanks also for a fine and somewhat windy drive to Indianapolis on Thursday for Thanksgiving festivies with my folks. Thanks also for not being too annoying with traffic or weather and delivering the other travelers safely to your state. Thanks also for not having the police decide that 10 miles over the speed limit was worthy of pulling over the blond in the civic...

Thanks to mom and dad for driving Thanksgiving food across three "I" states and sending me home with ALL of the leftovers. Thanks to Tina's in Bloomington for delivering a scrumptous pie. Thanks to the waitress at the Hilton hotel resturaunt for carding me and taking a long time to find my date of birth. Serves her right, haha. No thanks to P.F. Chang's mushrooms, though depositing them on other people's plates was a tad entertaining and the pin noddle soup made up for this slight problem with fungus. Thanks to Little Tibet for still serving their Iced Thai tea..sooo yummy.

Thanks to the IMA for having a real Norman Rockwell painting, which my dad found worthwhile and interesting to see (as so often I feel I drag him to art museums and subject him to lots of cultural things he could care less about.)

Thanks to the Residence Inn for having a hot tub! SCORE! :)

Thanks to the B-town theater for hosting a lovely and interesting affair called a matinee of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Thanks to Trac for pointing out things that are different between the movie and the book, since no, I HAVEN"T actually read this one (grad school got in the way). Thanks to Erik AND Trac for the combined effort to engrain the words "It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time" in my brain probably until I die. Thanks to Erik for attending some after movie dinner beer time at Lenny's. Thanks to Rena for letting us bug her afterwards.

Thanks to those I talked to on the phone: Jon, Steve, Becks, Misa, Aaron

No thanks are in order for Lenny's being out of my newly discovered Ruby beer. No thanks are allowed for the Friday morning 6 am wake up call for Circle Center Mall shopping, and no thanks for the fact that it was the record low for the past 16 or some odd years at 17 degrees upon the 4
block walk to said venue.

But THANKS overall for a good break.

Signed,
one of your visiting students from Iowa


PS: According to Trac - I should also thank Martha and her Baking Handbook something. :)

PPS: Faraji wants me to thank him also, even though I technically didn't talk to him over Thanksgiving weekend, but this evening - so thanks Faraji 11/30/05

Hey look, a post. Wow. I'm amazed at myself...could it be I've finally got a bit of free time and can write something brilliant, witty, or earth-shaking? Nope...well, the first part is corrent...a bit of free time, the later, well you're expectations far exceed my own if you think I'll be writing brilliant, witty or earth shaking things. More aptly, this is what you'll be getting, so you'll need to be satisfied.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it, and happy Thursday off of work/school for those of you who don't. :) May you enjoy it with family, friends or fun of some sort.

For myself, I'll be here in Indy, celebrating with my parents, who are driving over from Iowa. It will be a MUCH needed break from the academia. I am only responsible for a bottle of wine from the Butler Winery and a trippple berry pie from Tina's...both of which I'll yay or nay after the festivities...

Perhaps seeing Harry Potter this weekend, very exciting. ;) and yes, SOME people who see it in IMAX theaters first might find the whole experience somewhat lacking, but my guess is at least the company will be worthwhile...

thankful that...

Okay, it's roughly 3:30 in the morning, IA time on Thanksgiving. I've thrown off my sleeping schedule significantly this week. I've caught a cold (pretty much since i got back last friday) cause I'm burning the candle at both ends. I hate that my internal clock still wakes me upa t 9 am every day regardless of what is actually slated to happen that day and whether or not it will be occuring during the morning hours. I've been staying up too late each night for that to be the case.
Wow, I felt old hanging out with folks the other night. What's really funny, the new people I met had no idea i was nearly as old as I am upon meeting me, so I consider that a victory for my passing myself off as younger than I really am. haha. not that I really look old I guess, and a certainly tend to act younger in a lot of situations and I am totally a kid at heart, so I guess it makes sense. I also blend well in different types of groups based on behavior i think. or at least I hope so. Regardless, it was kind of a nice feeling to hang with younger folks...wow, talk about the whole "feeling old once you think about having your five year high school reunion" because well, that should happen this year for me...if it happens. scary. I did have a great time though. Watched the hawks lose :( but managed to get in a few good games of billiards at Brothers while watching them suck it up - NO defense. seriously. I was actually doing pretty well w. some shots I didn't expect to make too. We all ate 10 cent wings and socialized. Q, Will and Rolling Rock split off to go hop the bars, and I wasn't entirely up for joining in their plans when i discovered they'd gone to a townie bar (after the game was over) that is not really near downtown. Sounded like they had a good time though. Instead I opted for hanging w. kath, Chai and Jon and Chai's friend from camp from the summer. was pretty fun to just go back to his place and chill and watch Harry Potter 1. He'd watched HP3 with us the night b.f at my place, and had NO idea what was going on, having not seen the other two. I'm pretty sure he still has no idea what was going on, since he didn't get to watch the movie really b.c we were all chatting and joking around. haha...funny quote from that night "if Chai and Jon had a child, it would be 3/4 asian." After we left Chai's, I had great fun exercising my long lost skills at Duck Hunt. I'd forgotten how much that dog annoys me when you miss a duck, and also, how close I used to sit to the screen in order to hit them. I think Grand Theft is more my speed, but retro is classy too :)
Turkey day has been very lazy, as turkey days should be. We went to see National Treasure (my parents and I) it was quite good. Very entertaining, very much Da Vinci Code meets Indiana Jones, which was the way it as described to me b.f hand as well. Then back here to sleep -because well, I'm sick and need my rest. so i had a pre-turkey nap and a post-turkey nap, as any self-respecting person should on a national holiday where we celebrate things we're thankful for, including naps in the afternoon :) Steve arrived home at about 6:30 pm and by then I was starving, so ate too much food and then watched Pieces of April, which Steve had rented b.f leaving San Fran. kinda a depressing movie, but with thanksgiving theme, so fitting for the day. and I promptly fell asleep for a number of hours. now, my sleep schedule being all messed up, I'm fully awake at 3:40 Iowa time.
In honor of thanksgiving though I'll say what I"m thankful for - ooh, yes, waxing self-reflective for a moment!
I'm thankful for my family, extended and immediate.
I"m thankful for my friends, IC and otherwise :) You guys keep my life both entertaining and somewhat more sane that it would be if I didn't have ya.
I'm thankful for chance to get a higher higher education, with which I hope to make something out of myself.
I'm thankful that I've only got 4 more years of having to deal with president bush. hopefully he'll do better the second time around.
I'm thankful that I've been able to travel and explore so much of the world already, and hope to continue to do so.
I'm thankful that I've been blessed in so many ways!
okay folks, I'm outta here....

Home for the holiday and quite happy ;) I've gotten some of the assignments done and turned in on time for the classes. my mom is doing okay after her car accident - a dog hit the passenger side door. I've had a blast hanging out with my ole pals from the IC Crew :) I miss having nights when all I have to do is call one of the friends and soon I've got five people to share the time with and watch movies or whatever. such fun. tonight we watched harry potter which I bought this afternoon. last night we watched elf and I finally got to plan San Andreas and Halo II. was really fun! NOw I just have to kick my butt to get my pathfinder done or started tomorrow during the day, and then going out for wing night at brothers possibly, or at least, hanging out and drinking a bit with the boys and gals perhaps. should be fun! and the Indy folks have already emailed and text'd and called and such, so I feel like I've got a nice home away from home started too! hooray! such great folks. Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Turkey Break

So, now that my paper is finished, and all stappled and read to turn in, I have to do a few more homework assignments tonight, and attend class in the morning, and THEN, fun coffee time with Traci and THEN, driving back to Iowa City. I wantedt og et home earlier, so I'm missing class on monday, mostly cause mom was in a car accident - though she's okay, i feel like i should go a bit earlier if i can to make sure she's REALLY okay, and not just saying so, so that i"ll stay for class like I'm posed to. I'm looking forward to partying with the iowa city folks again for an extended weekend instead of the rushed visit last time - though mostly Im looking forward to a break from grad school life and the chance to actually relax and watch amovie or two and visit and chill and so forth and so on. I"m hoping that everyone else has a great holiday too!