Recap/pictures

Last Thursday, my friend E and I went to Redmoon Theatre's Boneyard Prayer, and though the play itself (I felt) had some imperfections, the art, the music (composed by a friend of mine and played by another), the puppets, and most of all, the stage and production stuff was fabulous. After the performance they let the audience wander around the set, and I took a couple of pictures.


Then on Friday, I worked (though it was sposed to be a day off) and at night, I babysat for my young friends Jimmy and Tommy. We had a fun night, but when Tommy, who's 6 1/2, had a difficult time at bedtime, the only solution was to bring his, and his brother's, mattresses into the master bedroom for a surprise when the parents got home. A family slumber party, if you will...


On Saturday, I overslept and didn't run, but I picked up my bike from the shop, where I paid $140 to fix it up and find out, after the 14-mile ride to and from my brother's place in the South Loop, that the bike just doesn't fit me well, and I'll probably need a different bike for the triathlon.


The barbecue at my brother's place was great, and there were lots of kids and lots of food there. I mostly hung with my awesome cousin who lives in Chicago but I don't see enough of and some of my brother's friends.
Here are the kids and one parent jamming out on drums in front of one of my paintings, which my brother has purchased and hung all over his house, which I think is super cool.

...and the kids piled up with my brother and sister-in-law:

Sunday morning came, and I taught my classes, and then I walked with Lois to pick up my other bike from the bike shop (where it was parked outside), and I saw this crazy graffiti on a building along Lincoln Avenue:
(What IS it?!)

On Memorial Day, I did all the garden and porch stuff I'd been putting off. The flower boxes are all done (and my gnome is guarding them),


and I planted the rest of the baby sunflowers in the rocky, sandy soil over by the garbage cans,


Lois hung out on the porch,


and the crazy neighbor lady N was out reading and making comments.


The nice next-door neighbor couple even put together a new picnic table they bought for the yard!


Then I went to R's Memorial Day barbecue, and it was lovely and the food was amazing (R can rub pork, lemme tell you!), and the company was even better.



BUT: Lois bit Tommy on the thumb (when he bugged her as he likes to do) and drew blood! I felt terrible. He was understandably very upset. Luckily, his parents are great about it and he's a tough cookie. Here he is with his Dad and his bandaid after the incident:


Lois, the biter, is now banned from all kid-attending events, which makes me sad. (Although she's probably relieved.)

Overall a great weekend! And I can barely bring myself to get back into working, if you can't tell already.

Pupil freak-out, habit lame-out

Here's one corner in the totally depressed neighborhood in Gary where I spent most of Saturday. You can just make out the crumbling house behind the sign and the guy in his bathrobe.

Friday night I went out with M. again for rockabilly at a bar one block from my house. Earlier, I also watched a DVD and made cookies. It was a good night, and I'm glad M. made me go out!

It was finally lovely weather here this weekend! and though I spent all Saturday outside, I had wanted to go running at least one day, but I got a splitting headache (I never, ever get headaches) when I got back from Ind. while walking Lois, and then my pupils totally dilated for about an hour, and I couldn't focus on anything, and the whites of my eyes were also bloodshot. Needless to say I didn't go running or go out. I am a little nervous about it, but will call my doctor tomorrow to follow up.

Habit #1: met/talked to a good one Saturday while canvassing for Obama/registering voters for the Indiana primary election. He was also doing that, in the group my friend A. put together. He gave me his card, even! (Not that I'm just gonna randomly call or email...) Nothing for today. I realized at about midnight that I'd planned to go see one of my favorite local bands at one of my favorite bars tonight but I totally, completely forgot. Oh well.

Habit #2: Didn't do any Sat. I just watched a DVD (I am Legend, which was actually good!) and went to bed. Spent most of today in bed too, after I got home from work and walking around in the nice weather with Lois. Did my 5 pushups tonight - after much internal debate.

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.