George Michael and the Dating Iditarod

Here is E doing "Father Figure" on Wednesday night. Note a) the wine glass in his hand, which he sipped from during the performance and b) the audience holding up a table candle (left) and lighters (right)...

(Instead of running with my weekly fun run, I am blogging and lying in bed and petting my dog. I am SO tired. Besides, I finally had the "permanent" stitches, which my legs have been slowly rejecting over 6 months, removed with a scalpel Thursday, and my plastic surgeon said not to exercise for a few days anyway. So there.)

I just finished a week of meeting 5 (count 'em!) 5 new guys - 4 from the online personals site I'm on. I'm exhausted. I also drank beer or wine every night this week, which is also a (bad) first. Wednesday, my one night off, was a perfectly timed respite: this funny, great-idea theatre piece followed by karaoke with E at a tiny bar/restaurant/club in Uptown.

But it's also my very, very busy week at work. These crazy weeks come around 6 times a year, and basically ruin my life with constant fires to put out and constantly being behind on the many, many phone calls to make... and these weeks test my poor dog's will to live. She spends hours at home, alone, plus, topped by the dates and the drinking this particular week, I've often been asleep within minutes of getting home and washing my face. Poor girl.

Without going into detail on the dates themselves, I'll just say that meeting this many people at once has been really, really good for me. I was telling a friend - it makes me just not really care about looking or acting any certain way, and I can be myself all the more (too tired and worn out to be anything different), which I think is what dating is ultimately about.

I also have noticed the range of what people act like on first meetings. What they ask about, what they assume, and what they hide. It's definitely been interesting. There is one guy still to meet, with whom I have been trading phone calls and emails.

Then, it may be back to the damn "drarwring" (say it like Mike Myers, please) board, or maybe not. I need a couple of days to process, and with the holiday next week, and busy work stuff, my social calendar is full anyway.

Happy 3rd birthday William!/Summer's really here

William (nephew) is 3 today! Here's his awesome golf swing:
...which means less blogging, and more jogging (I've stopped calling it running), going out on weeknights, dog beaches, and weekend events. It really is true that we in Chicago fit the entire year's worth of outdoor events into 4 months. I looked at my calendar and I don't have a free day off until the end of July.

Plus it's been crazy busy at work, with the first week of classes, the festival, and another 2 projects I'm working on.

And: meeting new people through the magic of the internets. It's going pretty well, though at times can be overwhelming. The tradeoff for any adventure is that I have no free time. If only I didn't have to work 8 hours a day!!

Kids art classes are fabulous, and I found out all but one of my classes aren't running again this session. Most of the kids are repeating, too, which is a good compliment, but means I have to come up with more and more interesting projects... translation: more unpaid research and planning time. See, we're only paid for the acutal45-minute class time. Not the one hour setup and prep time before classes, or the 15 minutes between each class, or the 45 minutes after class for cleaning the art room. So, the better the teacher you are, the less you get paid. Interesting concept, and I am sure it goes for public school teachers as well, though they at least have pensions (and the world's pity).


William and his parents (my stepbrother and sister-in-law) came in from Bangkok for their annual summer visit last Tuesday, and due to slight family emergency, I got to pick them up at O'Hare! Unlike many people, I love going to the airport. I want to make a kids' book about it.

My stepbrother wanted to keep them all awake until 10pm to avoid jetlag, so we went to the the zoo and for a walk around. I love this child. Because of work I had to miss his big 3rd birthday party with the rest of the family at my parents' place this weekend, and that is a bummer. But I had a great weekend anyway.

Went late to party/BBQ Thursday (and stayed too late), where I made delicious margaritas and Sheila made incredible lime velvet cupcakes with margarita frosting, and was exhausted on Friday when my Dad came to town and stayed overnight. We went running Sat. and I took him out for breakfast and Sheila came too, which as great. We then walked to the new Belmont Art and Music fest, which was nice but a bit empty, and then I took him to the airport. Stayed in Saturday night after doing a couple favors for friends.

Yesterday was the last day of the Sunday art classes for the session, and we did the cupcake project, of course. Then worked a few hours, and biked to the Hideout's A Day in the Country fest, where I finally met in real life and hung out with an amazing guy (not interested in dating, we emailed today, but still super cool), and also saw a lot of friends. It was fantastic. I was tired. By the time I biked home, I was literally OUT. OF. STEAM., so Lois got no walk, just a backyard romp. I started cooking myself some dinner and fell asleep, so it became today's lunch.


The Hideout by night, after the BBQ truck pulled away, with the strains of Freakwater squeaking through the speakers...

Jogging* and laundromat, and maybe some cleaning this evening - *it's lovely weather!!

Independent media: endangered

A video eulogy to Chicago-based, 13-year-old, fabulous Punk Planet.

Pics galore, again

It's been busy at Poptart HQ. Well, sorta:

First there is the jogging, which still hurts, my groin (esp. left) flares up after about a mile and a half/15 minutes and I absolutely can't go further without a ton of pain... but I am stretching, and trying, and we'll see. Maybe it'll just not hurt one of these times.



I ate lunch with E on Friday at Los Nopales and had a great catchup with him about all things over delicious fish tacos.



The owners' youngest son played with us a bit, which was fun. Must be sorta satisfying to grow up in a restaurant - you'd always have attention.

Friday night was a great night of foiled plans... I was going to go (alone) to Summerdance and attend the first free swing dance lesson of the summer - one of my summer goals is to learn to dance partner dances - and I rode my bike furiously for about 25 minutes only to realize I should have left an hour earlier to make it all the way down there by 6, so instead I went shopping (it was payday; I needed a running bra) and tried on a bunch of clothes I don't really want or need. Funny how that starts out as fun but then you always end up feeling fat and broke...I did purchase the necessary undergarment, though, in a lovely blue.



Then Lois and I walked over to the School, where we hung out in the courtyard, and ran into T, and J and Y. T and I hooped for a while.



I went inside to watch the Flat Five's second show - they were opening up for Leslie Gore. Their set, even without drums, was fabulous. They did a rendition of "Sundays Will Never Be the Same," which brought the house down. Then Scott (far left; Poptart and Lois's ex-roommate) sang a version of Leslie Gore's "Treat Me Like a Lady," which rocked. It's amazing that the best musicians are the ones right around the corner who don't even get heard by the masses, who would be blown away.



The next day I went on the painful fun run and then drove through heinous traffic on the Dan Ryan to get to Pullman, this great neighborhood on the far south side and had sort of a walking tour of it with a really kind and and interesting guy I met on the internet who is an artist who lives and has a studio in a home there that he restored. If I didn't want to be rude, I would have taken hundreds of photos a) throughout his home/studio, and b) of every single thing I saw in Pullman. It was so magically gorgeous there. I might have to sneak back there and do a photo essay. Seriously. It was beautiful in every eyefull.



I did pull out the camera when we ran into these two women, Towanda and Betty, who had just opened up a church in the upper floor of this semi-restored stable/now an auto shop (note the little horses) and were passing out flyers. They kept talking about the Lord's work and their new worship space and we jumped at the chance when they offered to take us upstairs to see it.



Wow. Purple.



I raced back to the north side to the great space/studio, Galaxie, where I did a hooping workshop for two hours. It was awesome. I have to practice, and soon I will be doing tricks.

Then I went home, walked pooch, bought some Father's Day cards that will be at least a week late, and spent the evening reading and surfing the 'net. Instead of cleaning.

"Pomme Frites"

The spelling (should be pommes frites), the fonts...it's all excellent to me. And, truth be told, the fries just aren't all that great...but if you want two Chicago-style dogs with everything, fries and a cold can of pop for $3.75, Budacki's is the joint. It's supposedly a drive-in, too, but I have yet to see anyone do that.

Why?

Here's the news: 1) I have major pain in my groin? or some muscles (at the very top of my thighs, on both sides, the thing that kills when you do a butterfly stretch, or breaststroke, like I did for a 1/2 hour today), and it started in the middle of my run on the fabulous secret track last night, and hurt so bad that I had to walk after only 13 minutes. I ran again for a few more laps but I really wanted to start crying and limping, but since it hurt on both sides, I didn't know how to limp, and since I was with the running buddy for the first time, I couldn't cry either (in fact, I acted all tough.) But you better believe I whined to Lois during the entire walk we took afterward to the park. Does the groin get pulled by running? Why now?

2) I am so tired from all of this excellent fitness (and also from not being able to sleep much Sunday or Monday nights) that I decided not to go to Ravinia with a group of smart and fun people I like very much and could possibly network and meet even more people through tonight. This is annoying that I am missing out on potentially interesting life experiences because of other potentially healthy life experiences, isn't it? I also unfortunately had to skip my Brazilian Dance class (which I love) because something came up at work and I didn't want to rush to get changed and to class late.

See, in the olden days, I would have done all the things, and rushed around like a chicken with her head cut off. Now I am just old, and tired. And my allergies have really gone crazy. And, actually, I was hungry.



So instead, I walked Lois to Budacki's, the funny, sorta out-of-place hot dog stand/ drive-thru that I had never been to though I've walked by it a few times a week for 3 years, and I tied up Lois outside at the picnic tables and ordered a gyros plate to go, which I have been craving for a couple of weeks (just ask Sheila), and of course, like psychic clockwork, I saw DG's unmistakable back, walking very quickly away down the sidewalk as I came out with my greasy bag in hand. He probably saw me (and fled), and I wonder if Lois recognized him when he passed right by her...poor pooch. It's all too odd. Again, why at this exact time? The gyro was good, but the fries were a little weird — I threw away a bunch of them. The funny/best thing about Budacki's is the way they call their fries "Pomme Frites" on the sign, and the fonts they use for it. It has cracked me up for years. I don't know why. I'll get a picture soon.

My roommate spent about 30 minutes doing makeup and getting ready to go to a show at the little theatre down the street with two guys from her work. She then asked me if I smoke "weed" and asked if it was OK for them to come back after the show and smoke in her room. (?) I then turned on one of my videotapes of Kojak episodes but still can't really pay attention enough to watch them, so instead, I wasted a bunch of time online (I got my computer back! I can pay bills and shit!), I put away the kitchen stuff that had been on the living room floor since a month ago, and opened up my new fancy vaccuum cleaner, and cleaned the bathroom, and started reading a book, and packed my stuff for tomorrow (swimming, then teaching, and then Cardio Pilates...).

And I'm gonna go walk Lois again at midnight.

P.S. OMG: I found the BEST site while looking for an image for this post. Your mouth will water, your arteries will quake, Have fun!
..

Catalpa Speciosa

When Lois and I take our nighttime walks, these trees are just gorgeous. They're in full bloom right now. They smell incredible, too.

The thing about a blog is that it can function as a journal or as some sort of glamorized, exhibitionist record of a life - and since I don't journal (yet?), I fear that my blog serves as a (pathetic many times, but) "highlights" version of my pretty confused and unglamorous existence. So much is always in my head that the facts of activities seem more prominent in the blog, and are more readable, but if I told the truth, it would be that 95% of my time is spent alone, feeling alone, and trying (many times failing) to think in ways that will motivate me to do positive things for myself. It's always an uphill battle.

And I still think of DG all too often. (I wonder, idly, if he ever thinks of me?) I've seen him a lot lately, which could account for all of the emotional space he seems to be taking up. While with Spencer on stroller duty Saturday, I saw him walk by, then his car was in the laundromat again on Sunday, (even earlier, when I went by with Lois on our walk) and then I saw him walking down the street from the grocery store yesterday evening. I always pretend I don't see him, but that's difficult for me. And it makes me feel bad and confused and sorta shaky. So I decided that the next time I see him, I'm just gonna say hey, and smile. Because no matter what happened there, I did really think he was a possible love of my life contender, and it can't possibly be good to ignore him.

I have been randomly posting on the internet for people to do things with - jogging, tennis, friends. Seriously. I need a few more friends, and I think having a straight guy around might help me bit. It's weird to be this needy. Plus the dating sites are just useless. Not one's contacted me in a couple of months, and I've left my profiles up.

Exercise update: Ran/walked a bit again Sunday night all the way to Andersonville Midsommarfest (2-1/2 miles?) from my house with Lois. Swam today. Took Cardio Pilates. Rode bike. Running tomorrow after work with total stranger.

See, nothing glamorous here...

Happy Birthday P!

(Me - with giant happy cheek action - and the birthday boy in his Opera America office during my birthday trip to NYC in February.)

P McDiddy, you are a fantastic person and a great friend, and your next 40 years are going to be just amazing. Happy big 4-0!!

Though I couldn't be with P as he celebrated his "Lordy, lordy..."
birthday at Lazy Meadow, I still managed to have a great weekend, but a few lame and funny things were thrown in. Here goes:



Friday night, I did a last-minute babysitting gig for my 5-year-old friend Tommy. I haven't seen him for a while, and I usually hang out with him in the context of his parents (whom I really like,, too) or with his older brother Jimmy, who's 9. So I was
excited for the opportunity to have an evening "date" with just Tommy. Well,
apparently his school just stopped the daytime naps for his age group, and he was already totally asleep when I arrived at 6:30pm (see above).



He stayed asleep all night, but not in one place. I
spent the evening downstairs reading - without music or TV on - and somehow, I didn't
hear him get out of his own bed and wander over to the master bedroom
and climb in. I went upstairs to check on him at one point, and I have
never felt such pure panic as when I saw his empty bed...

Saturday started with an early walk with Lois and then an 8am run - that's right folks, I said run (but I meant JOG)! I went over to the local running shoe store where they have an 8am Saturday open running group, and I finally made it to that. I met some nice people, found a woman who runs at almost exactly my pace, and made it to the 3-mile turnaround and then about halfway back without stopping, so I figure
about 2.25 miles. It was great! My goal for the summer is to run in a
fun 5K, and by the fall do a 10K. I also posted on Craigslist for a
once-a-week beginning running partner, and have had some great
responses. I meet for a run with my first "buddy," T, on Tuesday
after work.



Then, my cousin M called, and he and his wife K and baby Spencer (who's 2 months old already, and I hadn't met him!) schlepped up to Lincoln Square from Hyde Park, and dang if they didn't take me out to lunch! It was an awesome afternoon of visiting, baby-kissing, window-shopping, salad-eating and stroller-pushing, and it was gorgeous weather to boot.


I gave Spencer some sunglasses (his first pair). Then we went to a store and I bought him his second pair, too, because they were hilarious. I should have taken a picture of those, too.


This is the German band that plays down the street from my house at the Glunz Bavarian House bar and restaurant. They make my day on weekends in summer. I can hear them from my bedroom window.

I was then sposed to meet an internet "just friends" guy at Ribfest,
this sorta crappy festival (in Chicago, you can find 5 festivals going
on any given weekend from June-October) exactly one block from my
house, so I went over there, fought the crowds to buy tickets, got a
beer and a not-great bbq pulled-pork sandwich, and watched a fun band, The
Blacks, play. The internet guy never showed up, but my friend
J called, so we ended up going to a bar for beer. It was perfect. I
learned about his planned polka band called The Lincoln Square Polka
Boosters (which I would really like to be in, but then I'd need to actually, finally, learn to play an instrument).



We were walking across the neighborhood (trying to avoid the Ribfest
people) to the next bar when we noticed that the German band was still
playing, so we sat right in front and enjoyed their set (and a couple big beers)
from up close. What a fun Lincoln Square-y day and night!

When hate turns into love

So the other night (sorry I am pausing so long between blogs, by the way; I still have the damn loaner computer and it's a pain) I had a couple of revelations: One was that I really, really like, maybe even LOVE, brussels sprouts. I used to vehemently hate them. I don't know what exactly happened to change this, but I find myself eating them every couple of weeks. It's crazy. They are especially delicious with a Boca brand BBQ Riblet.

Another crazy food insight is that I just can't eat like a dieter. I know, that's probably a good thing (I mean unless I wanted to be a model or ever wear a clothing size in the single digits), but I tried to curb my chocolate cake craving by buying the little 100-calorie packs of Hostess cupcakes, and damn if they didn't just ruin my appetite altogether for my once-secret-craving favorite, their larger and much more tasty 400-calorie cousins. I mean, just look at the puny thing!


Then last night, after a very rough 11-hour day at work, complete with brutal deadline and another missed Ukulele class the night before, I trudged out of the administrative office, where my cramped little shared cube is, and saw this sight:



It's too bad I didn't think to do an audio post, too. It was pretty cool to see and hear all these people playing music for fun, at night, and practicing on their own. Honestly, I was so proud of my workplace I almost forgot that they pay me nearly nothing and treat me pretty much like crap.

You know, outside of the cube, it's still a pretty great place.

Brokedown street

Yeah, my (work - and only) laptop konked out on Tuesday of last week so this is being typed on a loaner from work that I finally just sorta figured out. All my Firefox bookmarks are gone, and my passwords aren't automatically in this system, so it's not easy getting to my "regular" online haunts. I just can't memorize that much. (Me and Paul McCartney, apparently.)

So this will be a long-ass, catch-up, photo post.

Tuesday: Swim. Computer dies. Can't do any work. Last day with Hedley. Pick up Lisa at O'Hare. Lois depressed when we get home. Apartment full of dog hair. Me? Exhausted.

Wednesday: Work a half-day. Plan to buy a vaccuum cleaner but get too confused at the stores and can't look up consumer report without a computer, so I just do nothing and get a bikini wax at the Aveda training place with a gift certificate that's about to expire. It hurts. Go to samba dance class and love it so much even though I am still SO bad at it. The next day, I notice that the student waxer left on all the hair that actually shows when I wear my swim suit, so I have to shave it anyway. Great.
Tired as hell, but P calls and we have a great catch-up conversation. I see a real-life COYOTE running by my apartment right below my porch at about 12:30am, but can't grab the camera in time, even though I'd taken some evening porch view shots earlier.

Thursday: Swim, work, teach. Try to catch up, but don't - still so far behind at work. Skip Pilates class. Go see free Sneak Preview of "Knocked Up" - TOTALLY funny - with Lisa. Then, go to Zincs and The Sea and Cake late show at Empty Bottle. Great performances by both groups. I find parking out front. Cute guys (that's Archer and Mark, above - Coctails, anyone?) everywhere, and one fella even tells me I look great. Tamale guy makes a late appearance, and I go home with a queso 6-pack, very happy. Awesome night.

Friday: Work. Swim. Walk over to May Fest (a German drinking fest in my neighborhood) with Sandra and Tina, buy tickets for brats and beer, and run into Krissy, Ryan and Aidan. (So cute in hat.) Have to leave immediately to go fetch Dad from train from airport. Go back to Mayfest with Dad and Lois for brats and beers, and get totally drenched in the flash flood. See DG a couple of times and want to throw saurkraut at him or kick him in nuts. Sing German polka songs and John Denver songs really loudly with accordion band and drink with my Dad. Drive Dad to brother's house and go home.

Saturday: Wake up way too early, walk dog, dress nicely before getting into car to driving through hellish South Chicago traffic down to Kankakee, IL for great uncle Jimmy's memorial service. Meet father's cousins and their families for first time. Get great grandmother's beautiful quilt and shell dish. Drive Dad back to O'Hare using back roads - which wound around the river and through gorgeous green fields - for 8pm flight. Meet Lisa and Hedley at park, later go to see the Eternals at Schubas and dance a lot. Leave early.

Sunday: Take Lois for long walk and stop for fancy croissant and iced tea at neighborhood bakery because it's so early and such a lovely day. Walk past my laundromat and see DG AGAIN! - talking on cell phone outside, must be doing laundry there still, even though it's a mile from his apartment...erg. Want to kick him in nuts for being on my turf, but just run with Lois across the street before she recognizes him. Teach classes. Swim. Go back to May Fest with Lois for sausage and beer before it gets crowded (I was craving it again - they make them so good! - plus it's that time o' the month) and to say hi to Yvonne, who is bartending. Pick up the Thuringer Meal to go (sausage in bun, german potato salad, pickle, and saurkraut) and get trapped in another torrential rainstorm on walk back home.

Stand in doorway eating German meal with Lois's help until rain clears. Who knew dogs LOVE saurkraut? See double rainbow when sun pops out on way home. Go to Sheila's to hang with Lisa and Hedley before they go back to Madison. Test Sheila's $400 vacuum cleaner and look at her dresses. Fill up gas tank with nearly $40 of gas (!?!) and get some groceries. Go home and finally blog, watch 10 minutes of a Netflix British murder drama before falling asleep with bra on.