day off

Today was my first weekday off with Philip since his summer vacation began. Naturally, one would assume that a day like this would warrant a leisurely start followed by a lot of nothingness. Not so. The alarm went off at 5:15 am to get us out of bed so that Philip could attend one of his new favorite classes at the gym and I naturally decided to tag along to get my workout out of the way. After returning home we both agreed upon a 30 minute nap which turned out to be 3 hours long. Well rested! Afterward we lounged around with our laptops and then decided to "splurge" and eat lunch at our favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant. As we were walking home we stopped to get ice cream cones at a local candy store and then made our way home. We mentioned going to the beach or just going to the park and laying out.... but we ate still at home... waiting. Maybe next time we can go to the Lincoln Park zoo?

a whole new world

We've created a whole new world in our apartment. Philip and I went to get an air conditioner from the Lincoln Park Home Depot (sorry Ross), brought it home and installed the new one in our living room then we put the one we already owned in our bedroom. 4 handcrafted installation pieces, one beautiful black and white piece of fabric from Urban Outfitters, and 17,600 BTU later we have a whole new world in our apartment. Walk into any entrance and you will be immersed with humidity and heat fit for any tropical plant, then step through the fabric door and imagine yourself in the Arctic on a cool summer day. During the first day, the only image that I could compare it with was walking through the different rooms at the Garfield Park Conservatory as the temperature and humidity change for varying plant types. All I can say is that it is amazing!

iphone

Wow!, I'm famous!

Check it out...

$35 goes a long way...

$20 buys you waiting time in the general room, more waiting time in the tiny room, a short chat, some tools prodding your body, a cheap throw-away robe, "can you cough please?" and oh "looks like you have Strep". Luckily because it's at the same time it also included a cup to pee into, a tiny needle and 3 vials of my oh so pretty blood.

$15 buys you more waiting time in uncomfortable chairs, but also mental peace and ten days of giant pills to swallow!

Oh the joys of the medical industry and thank goodness for insurance!

is there a demon under my bed?

No, it's just our cat Bailey, who sometimes is like a spoiled brat child, without the talking and responsibility. So we are cat-sitting two sister-cats for our friend Allison as she frolics around Canada on a family vacation and Bailey is not one bit pleased. She has been residing in our bedroom since their arrival and we moved her water, food and litter box in there also, so that she doesn't growl and hiss constantly. She makes occasional visits from under the bed to sit in the window sill or curl up on our bed, but she is royally pissed off. The two cats we are watching have identical collars with bells, which I removed because every time Bailey hears one of those bells she lets out a hiss and a deep roar which can only be described as one you hear in a movie when someone's body has been taken over by a supposed demon. I had no idea, Bailey had that Base tone in her and I'm sure she wishes she didn't have to share it. The funny thing is that these two cats who are sisters have begun to hiss at each other in a somewhat, "back off crazy and let me discover this area first". Even more, the nice friendly skinny one was growling at me in a fake friendly way when she wanted to get away from me, but without any anger or hate. I think she simply heard it and is using it instead of meowing. Oh, and in order to give you a visual image, these cats have been shaved everywhere except the points of their tails and their feet, so they look somewhat royal... and I think it has gotten to their heads!

searching...

9:57 am, the phone rings...

Me: Hello
Stranger: Hi, uh um is David Taylor there?

Okay, so the person on the other line does not sound like a telemarketer, nor anyone that I could possibly know.

Me: This is David Taylor
Stranger: Um, I'm not sure if I have the right number.
Me: Okay
Stranger: I'm actually looking for my father... (with a voice full of hope)

All of a sudden I'm struck with a deep sadness for what seems to be an older teenage boy, randomly calling all the David Taylor's listed in the phone book searching for his father.

Me: Oh, that's not me, sorry.
Stranger: Sorry, he has the same name as you.

Rushing through my head are all these good, positive, encouraging things to say, but I can't or won't or just didn't do it in time.

Me: Sorry
Stranger: Sorry, bye
Me: Bye

ravinia

Philip and I took our very first Metra ride today to go to Ravinia Park for the Philip Glass and Leonard Cohen performance. We had lawn tickets which sounded great, until we learned that no one on the lawn can actually see the performance, but only hear it. Nevertheless it was a very fun experience and we were graced by our first view of this brood of cicadas that have not made their way into any area of the city that I've been in since their emergence. So, even though Ravinia is in the suburbs, we can pretend that it isn't because we took the train and basically had no knowledge of any area that we went through to get there. I'll pretend that it was a nice, clean, ritzy park in the city :)

no a.c.

Imagine this... standing at the North & Clybourn Red Line station at 5:20 pm waiting for the Howard Train. So, it's always packed at rush hour... that's a given... so when the train pulled up with people literally smashed to the windows, I felt nothing. I secretly pride myself in being urban by ALWAYS attempting to get on a full train unless, there's no way at all, while others who are afraid often dwindle and wait for another train. I waited for another train on two occasions that I can remember and will never do it again. The madness that runs through your blood while waiting and the explosion that occurs when the second train pulls up just as full as the first is not worth it.
So, a bunch of people exit the last car, the one I always get on, and I'm hopeful about not being squashed too tightly, then as I enter the car, I'm immersed into an entire new environment...about 15 degrees warmer, stale still air. My horror is topped when more people who I must not have seen on the platform get on my car and create a tight environment. As the car treks slowly through the tunnel trying to emerge into the outside world, I must have become panicked inside, because I felt as if I could not breathe. I take long slow breaths of hot humid air with no satisfaction for my lungs waiting hoping for Fullerton and open doors. At every stop as the doors open it feels like an air conditioner is turned on. The only greater feeling is the look of disgust on other peoples' faces as they enter the sweltering car and thoughts of how much worse they feel than I because I've finally acclimated. The first of many trains with faulty air conditioners to come, no doubt!

window unit, here we come

Summer is coming, which means it's about to get real hot and we all know that I do not enjoy anything about hot muggy weather, even less when I'm in an apartment with no air conditioning! Philip and I have a window unit from last summer that his parents kindly lent us. However, as we would both remember, it did not do justice in cooling our apartment on the worst summer days, so in order to be supportive to that unit, we are planning on purchasing another to help in cooling what at times seems like a mild oven of an apartment. Ross, kindly suggested going to ABT electronics superstore which requires us to make a trip to the suburbs. While you may know, we only visit the suburbs for special occasions such as IKEA, we felt that this would be a worthy experience since I hate the heat.
Today as I mentioned a trek to the suburbs to my GM, who lives in Wheaton, she was like, "is that near 294?" and another manager was like, "no, it's near 290" and I was like, "whatever.. it's all the same to me"

Be still my heart, Spring Awakening

I've just watched the performance medley by Spring Awakening at the Tony Awards and have fallen in love with it all over again! The medley consisted of "Mama who Bore Me", "The Bitch of Living", and Totally fu*&*%", silenced of course. Can they say bitch on tv?, asked Philip... as I ignored the comment glued to the screen. So Jonathan Groff did not win the tony for best actor, but he still rocks and I love his voice and the fact that he has menno connections. Anyway, Spring Awakening will always have a special place in my heart.. well, until I fall in love with something else!

speaking of regalia

So, as I mentioned below, I am finished with all my grad school work. My professor liked my paper.. well her exact words were, "I like your paper, even though it could be more solid..I posted your grade". Fine by me! It's done and an A- is not the worst grade ever for a sort of Thesis like culminating project. Anyway, I decided to change my RSVP for the Commencement Ceremony after the visual image of myself dressed in a hot gown stuck in the middle of 6000 students at All State Arena came to light. Screw that, I thought... I'll just use the day to celebrate privately with friends and wait for that degree to make its way to my mailbox via USPS.
Now that I'm done...

I'm Back

Ok.. so Philip has been teasing me that it's still "peeps season" on my blog because that was the last time I blogged anything... sadly :(. Well, I'm back, hopefully for good. Now that I AM FINISHED with graduate school!, I should have more time to post meaningless and odd blogs since there is nothing ruling my free time anymore, so watch out everyone... here I come!