Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Soda Pop Stop
I came across this video from one of the blogs I subscribe to, and it's fascinating. I wish everyone could be like this guy: innovative, interesting, knowledgeable, fun, and doing his best to help the little guy. Not to mention he owns one of the coolest stores ever, and it is now on my list of places I must visit at some point in my life. The video is about 13 minutes long, but it's awesome and definitely worth the time investment. Mmmm...rose petal soda...
Last Evanston Symphony Concert
Today was my last official Evanston Symphony Orchestra concert, not counting the Christmas concert. It was a really challenging and fun concert to play, and as I played the last note I thought to myself "This is the last time you'll ever play on this stage" and I was sad when it was over. If I end up at U of I, I'm planning on coming up for at least a few concerts per season next year, but it'll be strange to be watching and not playing.
Thanks to everyone who has come to concerts over the past five years--it's so much more fun to play a show when you know someone in the audience. It's been a great ride and I'll miss all the friends I made through this group (though I won't be sad to see the 2.5 hour rehearsals after a full day of work go--Tuesdays are looooong days). I do still have the Christmas concert to look forward to and I hope everyone can come out for some holiday fun. I love you ESO!
Thanks to everyone who has come to concerts over the past five years--it's so much more fun to play a show when you know someone in the audience. It's been a great ride and I'll miss all the friends I made through this group (though I won't be sad to see the 2.5 hour rehearsals after a full day of work go--Tuesdays are looooong days). I do still have the Christmas concert to look forward to and I hope everyone can come out for some holiday fun. I love you ESO!
Throwback
Look what's on sale at Target now that Halloween is almost upon us? I didn't even think they still MADE Count Chocula and Boo Berry cereal!! Good times...
Rhymes with Nipple
Last night my good friend Katie had a housewarming party to celebrate buying her first condo. She is now an official resident of Logan Sqare, living on the lovely Whipple Street. Which makes me giggle every time I see it because it rhymes with Nipple Street. Yes, I am a twelve-year-old boy. I can't help it. Despite the unfortunate street name, the condo is really cool and Katie definitely knows how to throw a party (check out that food table and bar!). A good time was had by all, but especially by Katie's dog Otis who turned on the charm and managed to procure multiple table scraps from every single party guest in attendance.
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Thursday, October 22, 2009
So Much Fun He Couldn't Wait Another Second!
My friend Diana was getting a bath ready for her little guy, Seth, this morning. She walked out of the bathroom for a second to go get something, leaving Seth toddling around. When she came back, this is what she saw...
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Glee
I have a new tv show obsession. I started watching Glee with the single-show preview they had last spring. I liked it, but I wasn't wowed by it. But, I was curious enough to tune in when the season officially started this fall. I'm officially wowed.
The show kills it every time. Billed as a musical comedy, it centers around a high school glee club that, at first, attracted only the misfits at the school. As their talent became a little more well-known, they managed to gain a few of the popular crowd as members as well. The dynamics are all there--the love triangle (or square, in this case), the flamboyantly gay kid who's still in the closet, the overweight girl with bad self-esteem but an incredible voice, the kid in the wheelchair, the pregnant cheerleader, being popular versus being yourself, etc. Matthew Morrison, who plays the coach of the glee club, is a SICK dancer (as has been displayed on the show several times already) and very attractive. Jane Lynch also gets in on the fun by playing a maniacal cheerleading coach who is out to get Mr. Schuster (Morrison). She's a riot.
What makes the show so damn entertaining, however, is the music! Whoever the writers are, they have a keen sense of exactly what songs make you go "Oh my god, I LOVE that song!" It seems like every song on the show is something you would belt out when you're alone in the car with the radio turned up. If you haven't watched this show yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's like watching an hour-long musical with really good music and lots of laughs every Wednesday night.
The clips below are from one of my favorite episodes, where the glee club was broken out into guys versus girls and each group was assigned to come up with a "mash up"--basically a combination of two songs that already exist. The first clip, of the guys, has them singing a mash up of "It's My Life" and "Confessions." The second clip, of the girls is their mash up of "Halo" and "Walkin' on Sunshine." They're both awesome. We'll see how long these clips remain on youtube (and therefore my blog) since they're copyrighted, but for right now, here they are:
The show kills it every time. Billed as a musical comedy, it centers around a high school glee club that, at first, attracted only the misfits at the school. As their talent became a little more well-known, they managed to gain a few of the popular crowd as members as well. The dynamics are all there--the love triangle (or square, in this case), the flamboyantly gay kid who's still in the closet, the overweight girl with bad self-esteem but an incredible voice, the kid in the wheelchair, the pregnant cheerleader, being popular versus being yourself, etc. Matthew Morrison, who plays the coach of the glee club, is a SICK dancer (as has been displayed on the show several times already) and very attractive. Jane Lynch also gets in on the fun by playing a maniacal cheerleading coach who is out to get Mr. Schuster (Morrison). She's a riot.
What makes the show so damn entertaining, however, is the music! Whoever the writers are, they have a keen sense of exactly what songs make you go "Oh my god, I LOVE that song!" It seems like every song on the show is something you would belt out when you're alone in the car with the radio turned up. If you haven't watched this show yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's like watching an hour-long musical with really good music and lots of laughs every Wednesday night.
The clips below are from one of my favorite episodes, where the glee club was broken out into guys versus girls and each group was assigned to come up with a "mash up"--basically a combination of two songs that already exist. The first clip, of the guys, has them singing a mash up of "It's My Life" and "Confessions." The second clip, of the girls is their mash up of "Halo" and "Walkin' on Sunshine." They're both awesome. We'll see how long these clips remain on youtube (and therefore my blog) since they're copyrighted, but for right now, here they are:
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Talk Derby To Me.
Last night I FINALLY got to do something I've been wanting to do for years: go to the Roller Derby! Chicago's Windy City Rollers (the number 2 team in the country, aHEM) played Portland's Rose City Rollers, and a rowsing good time was had by all. The match was a close one, but in the end we shot it out of the park (rink?) by winning 113 to 73. Woot!
While there are many many things to love about roller derby (the fast paced exciting nature of the game, the relative ease of learning the rules, the awesome music, the female empowerment), my favorite has got to be the names of the players, coaches, refs, and really anyone involved. Beth Amphetamine, May R. Daley, Ruth Enasia, Carnage Wilson, Yvette Yourmaker, and Anne Arkie were some of my favorite players. I also loved Stegascorus and Oedipus Ref(both refs), and Scorey Feldman and Judgement Dave (both on the statistics team).
If you ever get a chance to go see your local roller derby team, I highly recommend it. It's a relatively inexpensive way to have a great time. Whereas roller derby of yesteryear used to all be fake and put on for the show (similar to WWE wrestling), when the game made a resurgence in the early 2000's it was with a determination to legitimize it and make it a true sport. There's nothing fake about it these days. The players practice three days a week, in the evenings after working all day at their regular jobs. The hits, falls, and slips are all real, meaning these women are bad ass. I just love them. :)
Our group
Little kids stood on the sidelines during the warm up hoping to get high fives from the players
While there are many many things to love about roller derby (the fast paced exciting nature of the game, the relative ease of learning the rules, the awesome music, the female empowerment), my favorite has got to be the names of the players, coaches, refs, and really anyone involved. Beth Amphetamine, May R. Daley, Ruth Enasia, Carnage Wilson, Yvette Yourmaker, and Anne Arkie were some of my favorite players. I also loved Stegascorus and Oedipus Ref(both refs), and Scorey Feldman and Judgement Dave (both on the statistics team).
If you ever get a chance to go see your local roller derby team, I highly recommend it. It's a relatively inexpensive way to have a great time. Whereas roller derby of yesteryear used to all be fake and put on for the show (similar to WWE wrestling), when the game made a resurgence in the early 2000's it was with a determination to legitimize it and make it a true sport. There's nothing fake about it these days. The players practice three days a week, in the evenings after working all day at their regular jobs. The hits, falls, and slips are all real, meaning these women are bad ass. I just love them. :)
Our group
Little kids stood on the sidelines during the warm up hoping to get high fives from the players
The Halloween Festivities Commence!
My friend Cheryl came to visit from South Bend this weekend and in honor of her arrival, we decided to check out the haunted house at Navy Pier called "The Fear" (not to be confused with the song "The Fear" which I just linked to in the last blog entry...). I've been to a few haunted houses before, and I've decided that my natural defense to being scared is laughing. I literally laughed my entire way through the haunted house. I'm comforted by the thought that if a stranger weilding a deadly weapon were to break into my house, I would most likely laugh him straight back out to where he came from. And there were definitely parts of this haunted house that were very scary. Particularly one part where you had to push your way through these giant blow up walls that were pushed together so tightly that they completely enveloped you as you walked through. It was about 20 feet of exteme nervousness on my part, as I'm a bit of a claustrophobic. There were some wicked special effects though, LOTS of crazy scary monsters jumping out at you, and at the end, we got to walk through a ginormous blow up lizard complete with organs. I know, random, right? I think they put on a pretty good, show, though, I must say. Below is the promotional video for "The Fear" which they also made us watch once we were inside the haunted house. Right before they separated Cheryl and I and made ME go first. For that, Cheryl will never be forgiven.
New Song Obsession
I bought the new-ish Lily Allen album on Friday and I seriously cannot stop listening to it. It's that good. I usually don't like an album the first time I listen to it--it generally takes a few go arounds for me to settle into it. But I liked this album from the get go. One of my favorite songs on the album is actually the single, called "The Fear." I love love love it. Maybe you will too?
Monday, October 5, 2009
Woe Is Me!
Hello there blaudience! You may or may not have noticed that I haven't posted in awhile. Well get ready for the excuse, because here it comes: last week my less-than-a-year-old laptop decided to become a severe introvert and will no longer start, light up any lights at all, or function in any capacity. I should have known something was up when it started wearing all black and hiding out in my room listening to emo music all day, but alas, it still took me by surprise. After two hours on the phone with Dell tech support, they deduced that they had no idea how to fix the computer and I must mail it in to them. Sigh. To make matters worse, my U of I application is due on October 16 and all of my documents were on that computer (resume, personal statement, interview with a school librarian...). Fortunately, I had emailed several of these documents to various people to edit for me and was able to recover them in an unfinished state (but at least it WAS a state). For the librarian interview I was not so lucky, as that one had been recorded and saved in iTunes. So, I had to email the librarian I interviewed, explain the situation, and ask her in a very groveling manner if she would mind re-answering a few of the questions again via email since our interview occured four months ago and the details were a bit fuzzy in my mind. She was wonderful and replied right away, so no worries there. Now I have no excuse as to why I can't finish those last two essays. Dammit.
Anyway, I'm currently posting from my old, rather slow, and extremely outdated desktop computer which I managed to hook back up to the Internet and get back in working order for the time being. I mean none of this as an insult to said computer, as it is currently saving my ass from not having any access to the Internet at home (the horror!!), as well as allowing me to finish my application. However, for the past almost-year I've been reclining on the couch, with a cozy blanket, a cup of tea and my laptop while I mess around on the Internet and take care of any business requiring a computer. Now I'm forced to sit at a desk again, which I do all day at work and am therefore loathe to do in my few hours of free time at home. I should get the god forsaken laptop back in a few weeks (just in time for the U of I application deadline to be over!), so keep all fingers and toes crossed that they can actually fix it. If not, the laptop won't be the only one wearing all black and listening to emo music on repeat while banging its head against the wall.
Things are stressful enough as it is. You know this whole "I'm Going to Grad School!" thing I've been talking about for the past six months or so? The "Won't it be awesome to meet new people, take interesting classes, be on a college campus again, and maybe-if-I'm-lucky meet my Person?" thoughts that have been rolling around in my head for awhile now? Well, I think that up until now I hadn't really thought about it actually happening. I mean, it all seemed so far off and in the future and I have all the time in the world, la de da. But, ahem, it's kind of happening now. I've sent in one application, and the next one is due in less than two weeks. In ten weeks I'll be done with my job (!!!), I'll have one week to find an apartment wherever I end up, I'll go home for the holidays, and then I'll be MOVING. To a completely DIFFERENT TOWN. Where I know NOT A SINGLE PERSON. Guh.
I am the first to admit that I am horrendous when it comes to change. I hate it hate hate hate, and why can't I just pick up my life as it currently stands, apartment, friends, lake-across-the-street, favorite restaurants and hang outs, and relocate it all to my school of choice? Starting over is just so hard. I've been in Chicago for six years now. I know where things are, I always have someone to hang out with or call and vent about work (and since we work at the same place, we know what each other is talking about), I have routines and familiar annual events and organizations I belong to and all of that will be gone when I leave.
I love my apartment. It will be one of the things I miss most of all. It's the perfect size for me, I can see Lake Michigan from my living room window, and it's cozy and awesome. I was lucky enough to make it into the Evanston Symphony Orchestra five years ago--one of the best community orchestras in the state--and now I'll have to leave that behind. Not to mention all of my friends. I'm an extremely social person and I don't do well on my own for very long. A few days is fine, but then I get restless and lonely. Now I get to fight those battles again, just like when I first moved here. And just when I'll start to feel settled at grad school, it'll be over and I'll have to do it all again.
Not to mention that while I love Chicago, I have a feeling I won't be back after school. I've been away from my family for over ten years, and I think it's time to be closer. While I don't know much about it, and I'm sure it's very nice, thinking about moving to Kansas City after school makes me kind of sad. Almost like I'm giving up my independent and "adventurous" single life in a big exciting city and settling down in a place that I'm not drawn to at all other than the fact that it's close to my family. Which is a huge consideration, but at what cost? Kansas City doesn't have the history of Boston, the sexiness of New York, the excitment of L.A., the size and wealth of unique things to do of Chicago, the bohemian artsy granola culture of San Francisco, the beauty of Colorado. The only thing drawing me there is that it's close to my family. Is that enough? I know I still have two years to decide, but already it's weighing on me heavily. What makes Kansas City unique? What makes it better than other cities out there? If you know, I'd appreciate a shout out.
Anyway, those are the thoughts that are battling it out in my brain right now (Don't you wish you were me? Thought so!). Thanks for letting me get them off my chest. I know it'll all work out the way it's supposed to, but you see, there's that whole change thing I was talking about earlier. It makes me all angsty-like.
Well, that and the thought of packing...
Anyway, I'm currently posting from my old, rather slow, and extremely outdated desktop computer which I managed to hook back up to the Internet and get back in working order for the time being. I mean none of this as an insult to said computer, as it is currently saving my ass from not having any access to the Internet at home (the horror!!), as well as allowing me to finish my application. However, for the past almost-year I've been reclining on the couch, with a cozy blanket, a cup of tea and my laptop while I mess around on the Internet and take care of any business requiring a computer. Now I'm forced to sit at a desk again, which I do all day at work and am therefore loathe to do in my few hours of free time at home. I should get the god forsaken laptop back in a few weeks (just in time for the U of I application deadline to be over!), so keep all fingers and toes crossed that they can actually fix it. If not, the laptop won't be the only one wearing all black and listening to emo music on repeat while banging its head against the wall.
Things are stressful enough as it is. You know this whole "I'm Going to Grad School!" thing I've been talking about for the past six months or so? The "Won't it be awesome to meet new people, take interesting classes, be on a college campus again, and maybe-if-I'm-lucky meet my Person?" thoughts that have been rolling around in my head for awhile now? Well, I think that up until now I hadn't really thought about it actually happening. I mean, it all seemed so far off and in the future and I have all the time in the world, la de da. But, ahem, it's kind of happening now. I've sent in one application, and the next one is due in less than two weeks. In ten weeks I'll be done with my job (!!!), I'll have one week to find an apartment wherever I end up, I'll go home for the holidays, and then I'll be MOVING. To a completely DIFFERENT TOWN. Where I know NOT A SINGLE PERSON. Guh.
I am the first to admit that I am horrendous when it comes to change. I hate it hate hate hate, and why can't I just pick up my life as it currently stands, apartment, friends, lake-across-the-street, favorite restaurants and hang outs, and relocate it all to my school of choice? Starting over is just so hard. I've been in Chicago for six years now. I know where things are, I always have someone to hang out with or call and vent about work (and since we work at the same place, we know what each other is talking about), I have routines and familiar annual events and organizations I belong to and all of that will be gone when I leave.
I love my apartment. It will be one of the things I miss most of all. It's the perfect size for me, I can see Lake Michigan from my living room window, and it's cozy and awesome. I was lucky enough to make it into the Evanston Symphony Orchestra five years ago--one of the best community orchestras in the state--and now I'll have to leave that behind. Not to mention all of my friends. I'm an extremely social person and I don't do well on my own for very long. A few days is fine, but then I get restless and lonely. Now I get to fight those battles again, just like when I first moved here. And just when I'll start to feel settled at grad school, it'll be over and I'll have to do it all again.
Not to mention that while I love Chicago, I have a feeling I won't be back after school. I've been away from my family for over ten years, and I think it's time to be closer. While I don't know much about it, and I'm sure it's very nice, thinking about moving to Kansas City after school makes me kind of sad. Almost like I'm giving up my independent and "adventurous" single life in a big exciting city and settling down in a place that I'm not drawn to at all other than the fact that it's close to my family. Which is a huge consideration, but at what cost? Kansas City doesn't have the history of Boston, the sexiness of New York, the excitment of L.A., the size and wealth of unique things to do of Chicago, the bohemian artsy granola culture of San Francisco, the beauty of Colorado. The only thing drawing me there is that it's close to my family. Is that enough? I know I still have two years to decide, but already it's weighing on me heavily. What makes Kansas City unique? What makes it better than other cities out there? If you know, I'd appreciate a shout out.
Anyway, those are the thoughts that are battling it out in my brain right now (Don't you wish you were me? Thought so!). Thanks for letting me get them off my chest. I know it'll all work out the way it's supposed to, but you see, there's that whole change thing I was talking about earlier. It makes me all angsty-like.
Well, that and the thought of packing...
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