ShaBang

Best Cat!

2012-03-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

This cat!

Thanks Therese!

Also...

2012-03-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

If you Google Image search "Rat with a balloon", all you will get are balloon Mickey and Minnie Mouses. I would be insulted if I were them.

Balloon Bitch

2012-03-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

My brain just broke into tiny pieces all over.

I was on my way into work, cutting through the courtyard that runs between buildings on campus. A woman walks out of the building I am about to enter with an armful of sadly deflated balloons. She dumps them on the ground and then goes back inside. I literally just stopped walking and stared, waiting for her to come back and be like, "Just kidding! I'm going to pick them all up now!" That did not happen. As they started blowing away through the courtyard, I started running after them, picking them up, popping them and collecting the carcasses to throw away. Other people on their way to work looked at me with amusement and confusion. Why is some angry lady stomping on balloons?

The last balloon was right under someone's window. I bent down to pick it up and when I stood up, I realized this was the window of the balloon throwing lady. Excuse me, balloon throwing bitch. And since it is gorgeous outside, her window was open. This was our conversation:

Me: Did you just throw all these balloons outside?
Bitch: Yessss...
Me: Are you serious?
Bitch: I thought the children could play with them.
Me: ??? [All the children that regularly play in the grass-less courtyard inbetween the College of Medicine Research Building and the Clinical Sciences Building!?!?]
Me: Seriously? Did you realize that you were totally littering? And balloons are dangerous for animals; they can choke to death.
Bitch: What animals?
Me: The animals that live in our courtyard [squirrels, rabbits, birds, rats]
Bitch: Silent
Me: I mean, what the fuck?

Has she never heard of a trashcan? She wanted to give back to the children, I guess. If I ever see that balloon bitch again, I am going to give her really dirty looks.

This post brought to you by the memory of JNCOs

2012-03-08T19:48:00.001-08:00

I wore some wide-legged pants today. I think they were actually maternity pants. But that's besides the point...wide-legged pants reminded me of JNCO pants.

JNCOs are, as you can see above, crazy big-ass pants that I bought and wore in middle school. Picture the above denim leg tents on a 5' 4", 115 lb white girl from Wheaton, Illinois. Total street.

The point of this post is: my parents are pretty cool. They let me make my horrible, teenaged fashion decisions with little comment. One time I asked to take home a pair of my grandma's brown elastic-waisted because "old people pants" were really big (?) at the time. And they let me! Giant Airwalks and Vans, Umbro soccer shorts (I definitely did not play soccer) and Starter jackets for a basketball team that had cool colors...they allowed all of these things to happen. Basically, I was a slave to fashion trends. Looking back on it, I realize that I looked crazy. But they did what good parents are supposed to do, they let me figure it out for myself without too many rolled eyes.

So, thanks mom and dad, for letting me look like a fool all those years.

Happy Vday Y'All

2012-02-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

This is the only celebrating I am doing for this holiday schmoliday.

Thanks Internet! Hoping they (internet people) come out with a "Breaking Bad" card for every occasion! Next up - President's Day.

Brain dead

2012-02-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

I broke my brain last night. It was the fault of sake, dewars, jameson, effen cucumber, dead guy ale, and jameson. Seriously. The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Shannon Dowty (stolen from the best titled TV show ever). Kristen and I went to a DePaul young alumni sake tasting at Sunda. And it was completely appropriate because we acted like our old college selves again. I actually uttered the words, "Hey ladies, would you like to join our table?" in what was definitely the most awkward manner possible, which said ladies definitely did not hear, which made it even more awesome. I knowingly paid $14 for a life-changing cucumber martini, because I am Fancy. We name-checked R. Kelly, went to an after-party that featured an etch-a-sketch and a giant stuffed gorilla and listened to ska music.

Here are some random thoughts that I thought today:
- How am I conscious right now?
- I'm so glad to see Denzel Washington back on the big screen
- Gal-antine's Day should be a national holiday, am I right?
- I'm sorry, body
- Sloths are now my second favorite animal and I would be really psyched to hug one
- That man is the personification of steampunk, and I'm not even sure what steampunk means
- Why is that man wearing sandals!? It's been a mild winter, but that's a stretch, sir.
- There is a small child dressed like a magician walking through the halls of the College of Medicine Research Building and somehow it makes complete sense

The end!

The Battle We Didn't Choose

2012-02-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

There are no pictures of me rocking a bald head. Even though I lost my hair three times, I would let very few people see me without a hat or wig on. I think this is mostly because of my age. I was a normal, self-conscious pre-teen when I was diagnosed a few months before my 13th birthday and losing my hair was one of the most traumatic moments of my entire treatment. So, that probably explains why I am so affected by this photo of Jennifer M. from her husband's amazing photo series "The Battle We Didn't Choose."

These pictures were taken over a six-month period in 2011 by Jennifer's husband, Angelo. Jennifer survived breast cancer in 2008. In 2011, they found out that it had returned and metastasized to her liver, hip, and brain. She passed away at the age of 40.

She is an inspiration and a beautiful reminder of how strong cancer patients must be just to get through every day.

The wicked witch is...back?

2012-01-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

Life at work got brighter when the wicked witch of the department (she who shall not be named) left for another job on campus. After that, my days were filled with less consuming rage and less stress in general. I think I am a generally good-natured and patient person; there are, however, a few individuals who can unleash untold amounts of bile in my gut. Aforementioned wicked witch is one of them. A few weeks ago, however, she started poking her noxious head around the department and clomping around again. Like any survivor with post-traumatic stress disorder, I instantly retreated into my office, twitching and hyperventilating. She is, apparently, squatting in our space while her new department's offices are renovated. Why this is acceptable, no one knows.

I've got my bucket of water ready.

Prank Calling

2012-01-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

In my opinion, there are few things more awesome than when your five-year-old nephew and his best friend call you at work to talk about ice skating and friendship. What makes it even more awesome is that his best friend is named Giovanni and for the first few minutes of the phone call, I had no idea what was happening.

Young and Dumb

2012-01-22T21:08:00.000-08:00

I've been suffering a lot of nostalgia lately. With my parents trying to put the house on the market, I spent a few days immersed in my closet, digging through shoebox after shoebox of saved mementos. There was also the inevitable holocaust of the insanely massive stuffed animal collection that still resided in the basement. Even more recently, my hard drive crashed and I lost all of my photos and documents from late 2007 to the present day (back your shit up, world). Luckily, I am an over-sharer and put almost every picture I've ever taken on Facebook or Snapfish. So it's been a long and slow process of right-clicking and save-asing in my spare time. It's been mostly a pleasant process of reliving fun, drunk nights out and sweet time with my nephew when he was more of a peanut than a string bean.

But in the midst of all of this nostalgia, I was reminded that sometimes, when we are young, our dreams and goals for the future are bizarre and way off track. When I "graduated" from fifth grade in 1994, I received a yearbook/scrapbook of the entire fifth grade class and all of the BIG things from that year. Our class' favorite song of the year was "Gin N Juice" (I'm really impressed that our school actually printed that...we were 10), followed by "River of Dreams" by Billy Joel and "Dream Lover" by Mariah Carey. Our most admired person was our parents, closely followed by Michael Jordan and Emmit Smith. And who can forget the most used phrase of 1994: "cool." Anyway, we were provided a space to declare where we would be in the year 2016, at the ripe age of 33. Man, we were really into ourselves. Lots of people had predictions of big success: fame, fortune, and super early retirement from the NBA. Some people dreamed of their own apartment/castle/mansion. It was totally realistic to imagine being both a dolphin trainer and an architect. And why not the head of the CIA with six hamsters and two ferrets? My own prediction was especially specific:

"I have just finished college in Tucson [apparently a non-traditional student, I graduated at 33]. My husband and I moved into a ranch in Phoenix where we both spend a lot of time at our jobs as writers. I spend most of my time writing, but I also enjoy my pony, two horses and two dogs, Brandy and Yancy."

Say what? Awesome. Well, at least I gave myself a husband and not only horses, but a PONY too. And note that I gave my dogs' names that my parents had given their first pets. Aw. The funny thing about this is - I had never even been to Arizona when I wrote this. I wouldn't go until 2008. And it's OK and everything, but I don't particularly like hot weather. Or the desert. So, I'm gonna go ahead and say that in 4 years when I turn 33 (holy shit), I will NOT be fulfilling any of my ten year old self's dreams. Sorry self.

Even worse - I found a survey I had filled out in seventh grade. When asked what celebrities I would like as parents, I chose, and I am extremely embarrassed to admit this, Gwenyth Paltrow and John Travolta. Vomit. If this were my true life, I would be a macrobiotic Scientologist with an overinflated view of my singing abilities.

I wonder if Chris Martin would be my step-dad?

RE #

2012-01-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

All of my posts have been re-posts of something I saw on the interweb somewhere that made me laugh. That's because everytime I try and write, all I can think of are vaguely negative to downright whinery things to talk about. And who wants to read that? I don't, and I especially don't want to write it.

I'm starting a list of things I would like to see happen in 2012. Don't worry, I'm not getting grandiose or sentimental on you, blog.

My hard drive will not crash right before I try to back it up
My windshield wipers will actually start cleaning instead of smearing
I will not start dating everything 2013 by the time August rolls around
My cat will stop chewing on my kneecaps in the middle of the night

So until there is more YAY in life - you'll get more of this shit.

I hope this is real, but some of them sound too good to be true. Anyway, here are my two favorite "Funniest AutoCorrects" from 2011.

Meth Head

2011-12-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

Stolen directly from Best Week Ever - a website that usually makes me laugh once a day.

For the fourth straight year, Breaking Bad did not get a Golden Globe nomination for Best TV Series (Drama), despite producing arguably the best season of television in the history of the medium (here’s my rant about the Globes last year). You know what did get nominated? Boss, the Starz show starring Kelsey Grammer.

It’s been fun, society, but I’m out of here.

- Dan Hopper

Third times a charm

2011-12-15T12:47:00.000-08:00

I have been to the grocery store three times this week (it is Thursday). I keep forgetting things or running out of something after I've already been, etc. I have gone to three different stores in order not to arouse suspicion. On the list for my last trip?

- Butter
- Ranch
- Jameson

Best shopping list ever!

Burgle my ham

2011-12-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

Random things that have passed through my head recently:

- Jennifer Aniston was named the Hottest Woman of All Time. I was confused, but then I remembered that this is the same country that decided that George W. Bush should be president - twice.

- I have decided to start eating peanut butter and jelly for almost every meal. At least for awhile. It makes me feel like a kid again. Now to complete the feeling, I should throw some juice boxes and wet naps in my lunch as well.

- Someone has turned Disney Princesses into rock chicks. My favorite is Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

- I keep feeling like Christmas has already happened, since we had our Dowtymas celebration last month. So it's going to be a big non-event. The first time in my 28 years that I haven't spent Christmas Day with all of my immediate family. My parents and I are planning to have mimosas, go to the movies, watch the Bears and continue drinking throughout the day. Maybe go to a Chinese restaurant to round out the non-Christmas things to do on Christmas.

- I have become sort of a gamer. But like, a stereotypical girl gamer, who plays games like Lego Harry Potter and looks up cheat codes online. Why don't Lego people talk? They have mouths!

- The best Christmas gift for me this year would be the following:

It's hamburger wrapping paper. You could even just wrap me empty boxes. For some reason, I have an obsession with the hamburger shape/design. Every time I shop at Jewel, I walk down the card aisle and fantasize dropping $6.99 on this way overpriced but amazing card:

Apparently it is also a singing card. So I take it back, the singing hamburger gift card is the perfect gift for me this Christmas.

From the Mouth of Brandon

2011-12-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Brandon dancing in a wind tunnel. The gift that keeps on giving.

But for extra measure, some more Brandonisms...

"I don't have my contacts in" - said when failing to see the ball right in front of him. Of course, since he is five, he wears neither glasses nor contacts.

"I don't want to fight about this with you" - said after I told him that you usually only put one ornament on per branch.

"Wah wah for you because you ate Cheetos with a spoon" - to his dad. Great call back from a few hours before when his dad was, in fact, eating his Cheetos with a spoon.

"You and Daddy made me. And I don't know who I'm going to build because I'm only five." - to his mom. Building babies inside of you is a superpower.

"Regardless, there's cake on the table." - trying to turn the conversation back to what really matters...cake.

What Dowtymas Gave to Me

2011-11-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

This year we celebrated the first annual Dowtymas, a mixing of Thanksgiving and Christmas with a splash of Hanukah for good measure. Bryan, Ann and Brandon drove from Maryland on Friday and reached Wheaton on Saturday. I had to work on Monday, but took the rest of the week off to enjoy some family time. Per Dowtymas tradition, the Christmas tree is put up on the first day and then it "poops" a present for Brandon (a book and a toy) each day during the week, with a slightly more poopy day on Thanksgiving. The magical pooping tree was a great thing. It even brought me:

Black converse lace up boots and a Playstation 3 for video chatting with my parents and my nephew in Maryland. I might be the only person who owns a PS3 and does not have any games. That will probably change though, because I just downloaded a demo version of the Harry Potter Lego game. That is right up my alley.

The other gift that Dowtymas brought me was:

Brandon arrived with a hacking cough, but not many other symptoms. By the end of the week we had all felt it's effects, perhaps me worst of all. The Cat Butt and I are headed back to Chicago tonight for some more rest and the finals preparation that I postponed all week.

We wish you a merry Dowtymas!

Wish I wrote that...

2011-11-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

Words + Music are one of my favorite combinations. I've been slightly obsessed with Florence + the Machine's new album, especially "Shake It Out." I listen to it on repeat like I have OCD. Thankfully I do this in the privacy of my headphones so not everyone knows of my obsessive compulsive behavior. Except now I've done gone and told ya.

I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out
And then restart
...
And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark, at the end of my rope
And I'm ready to suffer
And I'm ready to hurt
It's a shot in the dark, and right at my throat

Also, forever and ever obsessed with "Slow Show" by the National. The last minute and 40 seconds of that song is too beautiful to resist.

You know I dreamed about you
For twenty-nine years
Before I saw you.

You know I dreamed about you.
I missed you for
Twenty-nine years.

That song literally makes me ache.

And finally, from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, one of my new favorite lines is from "If I Had a Gun..."

My eyes have always
Followed you around the room
Cause you're the only
God that I'll ever need

OK, show and tell is done for tonight girls and boys.

Back on the Blog Saddle

2011-11-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Life has felt generally meh lately so I haven't blogged. Who wants to read meh blog posts? But then today, something exciting happened. I ate an apple by biting directly into it (instead of cutting it up first) for the first time in years. I was relieved to find all my teeth still in my mouth and no trace of blood on my apple. I don't know why I have this aversion to biting directly into things. Well, except if those things are one of the ten candy bars sitting on my desk right now. Halloween, whoa.

Also, Eagle Eye Cherry just came on my iPod, so I immediately got inspired to blog. All it takes in life is a fresh apple and some good old EEC to get the creative juices flowing!

Happy October is Over Month (aka November). This year's October was quite busy, a few highlights below:

I got to be in a focus group about Diet Coke. And get paid $100. To drink Diet Coke and talk about life for an hour. It was unexpectedly intense and totally therapeutic at parts. Bizzare. I cannot think of Diet Coke in the same way.
My nephew sent my spirits soaring when he announced, via video chat, that he was going to be an ice cube for Halloween. I was SO excited for that. And then he decided that ice cubes don't do anything neat (except melt) and so it would be better to be a Transformer.
Myself and some of the ladies from work went on a Haunted Pub Crawl, thanks to the Chicago History Museum. Who knows if any of those bars were remotely haunted, but I did get to cross a few things off my bucket list. Namely, visit Excalibur and Cobra Lounge on the same night via trolley. The $10 bottles of champagne at Cobra Lounge resulted in a serious brain drain the next day.
I went as a Deviled Egg for a Halloween party on Friday and then resurrected the Hamburglar for a night at Reggie's with Kate. Thanks to Reggie's owner Robbie, Kate and I tried the "World's Worst Liquor" contest winner - Malört. It is made of wormwood and reminded me of the Absinthe I had in Finland. Or as Wikipedia puts it - musty and extremely bitter.

I also went to Georgia for a few days in the month of October. I figured it deserved a little bit more space than a bullet point, although fans of Malört might make the same claim. My father is the oldest of four children and after his parents passed away, none of the siblings kept in touch much. We had a mini-family reunion with my Aunt Diana and one of my cousins, Toni, in Indiana this past September, which was wonderful. My Aunt is the co-founder of a cancer outreach organization called "Loving Arms." She started this organization in spring and they were already having their debut event at the Strand Theatre in Marietta on October 20th. Toni and Diana offered to pay for my flight to come down and I got permission from work to take a few days off. I spent the weekend staying at Toni's house with her kids (pups Guinness and Heineken), exploring the greater Atlanta area, and eating lots of delicious foods with my family. The "Loving Arms" event was so wonderful. An all-volunteer group of women and men who devote their extra hours in life to helping people with cancer; they created a gorgeous event with a huge turnout and raised a ton of money. I stuffed my face with cupcakes all night (Miss Mamie's!) and got to meet a lot of people who know and are inspired by my Aunt's work. I was definitely inspired, and thrilled to know that I had been a factor in her decision to start this organization. Growing up, I can count on one hand the number of times I saw my Aunt and her family. My cousins, until Facebook, were only vague blurry memories. There are of course all sorts of reasons why we didn't see each other more, but those reasons don't matter now. I loved hearing stories about my grandparents (whom I barely remember) and my father as a young man. There were so many new stories and emotions to process, it was all a bit exhausting by the end. I am hoping they can come visit Chicago sometime soon and that we don't have to wait another 20 years for our next visit!

So, to end this post, just for the hell of it...a picture of me with a horse.

Trick or Treat

2011-11-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

The most dapper Transformer you will ever meet.

Must see TV

2011-10-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

There is a Zombie Gus shaped hole in my life where "Breaking Bad" used to be. Where else am I going to get my amazingly stressful and violent TV watching experience on a weekly basis? Oh that's right, "The Walking Dead" is back on TV. And while "Walking Dead" is nowhere near as wonderfully written and acted as "Breaking Bad", it still fills that hole pretty nicely. Thanks AMC.

Best Week Ever recaps both series, and boy, did these screencaps make me laugh.

Also, it is a horrible idea to eat dinner and watch this show. Horrible. Especially when you're eating spaghetti which looks a whole lot like zombie intestines.

Highly recommended...

2011-10-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

GQ Magazine (yes, I am a subscriber) has had, hands-down, the best writing regarding the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in spring. Both articles published this year were incredibly compelling and heart-wrenching. Unfortunately, I can't find the one by Chris Heath online, but I've posted a link to the other story below.

The Man Who Sailed His House

In other internet news, I have a new obsession: Longform. The site posts new and classic non-fiction articles from ALL kinds of publications (both print and electronic). I've read some of the most interesting stuff thanks to this website. It's the bomb dot com.

Fall Daze

2011-10-02T18:38:00.000-07:00

I want to post something but am having a hard time just beginning.

I guess that will do.

Spent the last second to last week in September in Mauston, Wisconsin at Woodside Ranch for the annual COSI Dude Ranch trip. Since I missed summer camp, it was a sweet treat to get to leave the dark cloud that is work (lately anyway) and head to nature with 23 awesome kids and a whole group of counselors to get to know better. We rode horses three times a day - once in the morning on the way to breakfast, once in morning activities and once in afternoon activities. We watched movies, played games, fed goats, llamas and horses. I went in an unheated pool on a 60 degree day. The counselor-only horse ride was one of most terrifying/exciting things I've ever done - galloping on horseback through an open field got my blood going for sure. The morning rides were cold and peaceful; usually the kids were too tired to make much noise...until they started to smell bacon anyway. I spent a lot of the slow morning rides thinking about life. Sometimes Zech would pop into my mind, out of nowhere, and I would feel so overwhelmingly sad, happy and grateful all at the same time.

This year continues to try my spirits and my resolve, but I feel lucky for the many moments that remind me of all I have to be thankful for.

This weekend I got to video chat with my nephew, big bro and sister-in-law. Brandon's fifth birthday is this Friday - and will be the first that we will spend without him here. We are sending him a big care package, but it definitely is different.

During our chat, I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween. Without hesitation he answered, "An ice cube." To which I say, rock on little dude, rock on. Oh, and good luck finding that costume in Party City.

Zechariah - Dancing Machine

2011-09-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

This video of Zech dancing will always make me smile and it is how I will remember him: happy and bustin a move.

Goodbye Zechariah

2011-09-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

Zechariah was small for his age, but he had an enormous personality and an overwhelming joy for life - especially camp. I spent three years in Standard with Zech. He never went anywhere without his favorite hat (it had definitely seen better days). He had the best dance moves and danced like he thought you weren't watching...even though he knew you were. At times, he seemed like a wise old man in the body of a little boy. And he was. He was determined, thoughtful, funny and brave. We will miss you so much Zechariah

My new alter ego is Dave Calzone

2011-08-31T07:03:00.000-07:00

First, a note of apology to any neighbors who were alarmed when I woke up screaming at 3:00 AM this morning. I was having a really intense dream about zombies. In my dream, I had just found some peanut butter to eat (it was one of those end-of-the-world / no-food zombie situations). Then I felt teeth sink into me. So, I woke up screaming...to find my cat's mouth firmly secured onto my arm. She never usually bites me like that, so she totally must be psychic and was just trying to add some intensity and realness to my dream.

Secondly, I started off this morning by checking my gmail account and found that I had a message from a user on OKCupid (internet dating website...remember all that jazz?). To preface this message, I should let you know that I include the phrase, "what to be for Halloween" under the section of the questionnaire that asks what I spend a lot of time thinking about. The below message has not been altered at all.

Ok this might sound a little odd, but I came a across your profile by putting "Halloween" in the search function. After reading your profile and seeing that spend time thinking about your Halloween costumes, I thought you might be able to offer me some creative solutions to a Halloween dilemma I am currently trying to solve.

I build "displays" that I put out in my front yard on Halloween for the trick or treaters in my neighborhood. If you have ever seen those people that go all out for Christmas with all the lights and stuff, it is kind of like that. Last year I went with an abandoned mining town theme. I built a mine shaft entrance facade, an abandoned miners shack complete with floating ghost and a cemetery. all with the back story that many years ago the town suffered some sort of catastrophe leaving it haunted.

So you may ask why am I telling you all this random stuff? Well after reading you like Halloween, I thought you might have some kind of creative insight into a theme I could peruse or some places I could look to get some inspiration. If this is something you might want to help me with, I am looking for something that is spooky, has some kind of back story and isn't the typical ghosts, witches and things that go bump in the night type of thing. Something outside of the typical Halloween box so to speak.

Because I am not a horrible person (allegedly), I did respond to this user and tell him that while I enjoy Halloween costumes, I do not spend much time thinking about elaborate Halloween displays...and I do not even have a yard. I wished him best of luck on his endeavors.

And THAT friends, is the extent of my love life ;)

News Flash

2011-08-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

From BBC News:

Sesame Street pair Bert and Ernie 'will not marry'

Bert and Ernie have lived together for more than 40 years
The makers of Sesame Street say characters Bert and Ernie will not marry in a same-sex ceremony despite an online petition calling for the union.

Campaigners say the best friends should marry as a way to encourage tolerance of gay people.

Nearly 7,000 have signed the petition, with more than 3,000 joining a Bert and Ernie Get Married Facebook page.

A statement from the show's makers said: "They remain puppets and do not have a sexual orientation."

Time well spent, internet.

Favorite Lolla photos

2011-08-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

One more Lolla post-a-roo...this time of my favorite pics (that I shot) from the weekend.

The view from Wabash & 15th Street on a walk home.

Too bad it's not a double rainbow.

Calm before the storm at Foo Fighters.

I always get goosebumps when I'm at Lollapalooza and I turn around to see what the band get to look at. I love this city.

The only time I made it to Perry's tent at night - and everyone was gone!

Birthdaypalooza

2011-08-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

Holy Lolla weekend, Batman. 2011 was a banner year for my relationship with Lollapalooza. At times tempestuous, due to the heat, ridiculous amount of people and long distances to trek between stages, this year most all was forgiven, despite the rain. I was able to take Friday, my birthday, off from work in order to catch some of the earlier bands I wanted to see. Sporting my hand-made “Birthdaypalooza” tank top, I caught Delta Spirit around 2:00. I saw this band open for Cold War Kids a few years ago and have always enjoyed the raspy and desperate quality of the lead singer’s voice. Foster the People was next. I was excited for this band, having just bought their new CD, but the sound quality wasn’t too great from where we were standing and I was a little bored. Bright Eyes was next on the agenda and I loved the set, a veritable greatest hits. Kate and I dashed off to catch as much of Ok Go as possible at one of the smaller, side stages. I saw them perform in October at the House of Blues and loved the show and their theatrics. Not all of these theatrics (like performing a capella to hand bells) translated to an outdoor venue, but it was still an enjoyable show.

Kate and I had a lot of fun and were feeling the birthday vibes (thanks to some alcohol). The headliners on Friday night were Coldplay and Muse. I will freely admit that I love Coldplay and am not ashamed of it. However, by the time night fell, I was ready to dance and some of the songs they played were a bit too slow for my liking. I have seen Coldplay twice now, and both times I have been exceptionally inebriated. Oh well.

I got to Lolla around 1:30 on Saturday to catch Fitz and the Tantrums, a soul pop band with so much energy on stage that it was infectious. I also bought their album recently and LOVED their set, especially their covers of “Steady as She Goes” by the White Stripes and “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics. I got a little too sweaty dancing to their set. Check out the video for their single, “Moneygrabber.” I am really pumped about this band and want you to be as well. Yes, you. The lead male singer reminds me of an indie Michael Keaton. After Fitz, we traipsed across the park to catch Death from Above 1979 in all their metal/white outfit wearing glory. I guess they really aren’t that metal, but for Lolla, they were one of the hardest rocking bands booked this year. Kate and I wandered over to see Patrick Stump (most unfortunate last name award went to him), formally (or currently?) of Fall Out Boy. They were 10+ minutes late starting and never apologized or explained why. That was annoying. He came out in some crazy get-up looking like Andy Warhol. I do like his voice but wasn’t feeling his r&b/soul/pop vibe until the last few songs (and crowd-pleasing covers of “This is How We Do It”, “Motown Philly” etc.). We had dinner (Smoke Daddy!!) and then headed towards Atmosphere. I had listened to this rap rocker on Grooveshark and had liked what I heard – I had no idea how MUCH I would love the set and just really enjoy everything about him. The only distracting thing was that the dude in front of us was carrying an Abraham Lincoln stuffed doll in his mesh backpack. He could offer absolutely no good reason for this, although, you don’t really need one with Abe Lincoln.

Anyway, I immediately wanted to go home and buy every single album Atmosphere ever released. He was a great intro to Eminem, who followed him on the south main stage. I was really excited to see Eminem and I think he put on a really good show. The only thing that was a little bit of a bummer was the fact that he often didn’t do an entire song, but just portions of it before he switched to another hit. It kept the show moving though. I think we were all confused when Bruno Mars came out to join him on a song. Pretty cool though. The rapper in me was satisfied and my strange and sometimes intense crush on Eminem was renewed.

Sunday is always hard – it’s the third day of sun, enormous crowds, sore feet, etc. I decided to wear more responsible shoes (my trusty Converse) and pack a small umbrella. Thank fudge I did, because it was totally appropriate for what happened later in the day. I met Jean, Kevin and Patty at Cool Kids and then we went to see Flogging Molly on the north side. They always put on a fantastic show and everyone was dancing and jigging, despite the ridiculous heat. While we were watching the show, we noticed dark clouds rolling in from the north. After Flogging Molly, I wanted to hear Cage the Elephant, but I was so sweaty, I welcomed the chance to sit down. The temperature dropped dramatically and then the rain hit – absolute downpour. We spent about 45 minutes huddled together under the grove of trees and watched the north side turn into a massive mud pit slip’n’slide. The rain finally let up and we were able to watch Damian Marley & Nas and enjoy some brief sunshine and rainbows. Foo Fighters were the headliners, and so we slogged our way through massive piles of mud to see the Foos. As we made our way towards the stage, we passed a buck naked guy lying in the mud, surrounded by a crowd of cheering people. So, that was a little different.

Three nights in a row of talented and sexy front men (Chris Martin, Eminem, Dave Grohl) – I need to find a combo of all three! The Foos came out strong, but it was only a few songs in when I turned to admire the black/grey sky that was headed towards us.

It took a second to register that the ridiculous color of the sky likely meant that we were all about to die/get soaked. Sure enough, as soon as “My Hero” started, the rain wall hit. I let Jeanie and Patty take my umbrella and I enjoyed the freedom of singing at the top of my lungs while standing in the torrential rain. The rain did let up after awhile, but no one and nothing (especially not the field) dried up. Great set by the Foos. We all squished towards home in our rain and mud-soaked shoes. One of my favorite parts of Lolla is leaving Grant Park with 90,000 other people who are all blissed out on music (also drugs and alcohol) and who mainly break into spontaneous cheering and chants of “U.S.A”, while really uninformed drivers on Michigan Avenue lay on their horns. Since I don’t have to get on the EL with everyone, I can be amused about the crowd, rather than rage-filled. Walking to the bus stop I passed scores of abandoned shoes and people frolicking barefoot in mud puddles. Love it. See you next year Lolla.

ghjkl

2011-07-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

As told to Shannon by Guest Blogger Brandon:

I want to tell the world that I am super smart. And that people who I know are super nice to me and I know them. Well, and then, there is a big tornado headed for...for...hmmm. Shiver me blue! That's something on TV. And then a tornado happened to go all over the whole universe. And then something happened to the tornado and that became the tornado smashed into earth and hmm...and uh...and then it made two earths. And then it's so cool because I was so impressed with all this stuff that I've seen in the Earth, like when we went to Willis Tower and everything is so beautiful. I got to go on the Skydeck. It was like I was out on a porch in a building. A tower. And then something happened to Willis Tower...it broke down and it built a weird tower, which is kind of like an oval, but it goes over the whole universe. I have never seen a tower go over the whole universe. Isn't this a cool story? You know what? There was no towers in the whole universe, just houses and buildings and homes and grocery stores and every place else was just short. That's my story.

Hello. And that's my story.

- Brandon

Side note

2011-07-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

Let me just say that I have never been more excited to fill out a course evaluation. I went to town on that baby.

My Favorite Picture in the World...Ever

2011-07-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have yet to hear the back story to this picture. I hope it is as good as I imagine it to be.

It's funny because it's true

2011-07-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

From Poofytoo.

Promotion of Self

2011-07-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

Some more self promotin' ... guest post numero two on Always a Bridesmaid.

In non self promotin' blog activity, I had a wonderful Monday night, which is something I haven't said in quite a while. I went to see Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (!!!) at Millennium Park for the last of the free outdoor concert series. It was pretty packed, but it was just me by my lonesome, as I could find no friends who were available and wanted to hear an awesome garage rock/punkish band on a gorgeous evening while drinking for free outside in public on a lawn. I plunked down my little blanket, ate my Subway and cheetos, and drank red wine out of a Nalgene bottle...like any other semi-prepared music lover on a budget. It was great people watching (especially if you were interested in potbellied hipsters with no shirts on and babies with gigantic earphones). I ended up sitting next to a group of people who were 70 and up. The one man kept thanking me for letting them sit next to me (because I control grass ownership!) and kept offering me food and wine. I did take him up on the wine offer once I finished my own supply. Before he left he told me that I was a good kid and that if he was 40 years younger he'd ask me to marry him. Huzzah!

After Teddy Leo, I took my slightly inebriated self to Reggie's to get even more inebriated with Kate. Lovely night.

On another note, the newsman on the radio just said: "Today's weather...you're looking at it." What a lazy weather person. "Want to know what the weather is going to be like? Look outside sugartits! Also, that means I can't be wrong! Bwahaha!"

Guest Blogging

2011-07-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hey oh!

My fabulous friend Brooke has a fabulous blog called Always a Bridesmaid on the Chicagonow website. I was thrilled when she asked me to provide a few guest entries for AAB about my adventures in dating. Loyal Shabangers will recognize the stories, but they have been expanded and improved with 150% more Shabang. Please check out Brooke's blog and my first entry at: Always a Bridesmaid - Shannon's First Post.

I have been inspired by this guest blogging experience and will soon be asking a very special person to contribute to the blog. Look forward to that.

Adventures in Grad School

2011-07-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

Things that have recently happened in my HPA 403 class (or why my blood pressure is too high and why I sometimes really hate people).

1. I took a midterm in fifteen minutes. I got an A.

2. We were told to give a five minute presentation on the paper we recently wrote. The first five people to speak went for an HOUR. Way to go. Bitches ain't be practicing beforehand, yo. One exceptionally dim student spoke for twenty minutes without even really telling us what her organization did. The Most Annoying Girl in Class (MAGIC!) finally did something other than a) tell the class why she missed the last session b) tell the class how she needs a job and c) call the University of Chicago Hospital ghetto and when further pressed as to what made it ghetto, by yours truly, responded "I don't know, it's just ghetto". MAGIC interrupted the other student by saying "UM, I think it's been over five minutes." And of course, professor said nothing and just let people ramble on.

3. I had to share an elevator with aforementioned exceptionally dim student. She asked me if I was related to the Addams family. For a minute I thought she meant the Gomez / Morticia / Cousin Itt Addams family. When I just kind of looked at her, she explained that I look a lot like Jane Addams, the famous social worker of Hull House. So there's that totally flattering and ridiculous thing.

4. In going over our midterm, the professor had one of two comments about each question:

I thought this one was pretty easy, by the way.
Remember when we talked about this in class?

Yes, I clearly remember. That's why I answered incorrectly. Are you serious?

5. My least favorite person, MAGIC, stayed after class to explain to the teacher why she had gotten the second-lowest score in the entire class (I'm guessing just behind the student who has only showed up to class to take the midterm.). She kept saying, "I totally knew that one too. As soon as I walked out of class I was like 'Duh.' I knew that one." She was trying to talk her way out of a C by emphasizing that contrary to what she had written down, she clearly knew things. I had to get out of there before I started laughing. Close behind me was my actual favorite person from class, who always has intelligent and insightful things to say. As we get in the elevator she said, "I don't like to speak badly about people, but that girl is one of the most annoying people I've ever known." And then I hugged her, because yes sisterfriend, you are right.

So, only a few more classes left. I cannot WAIT to write my evaluation for this awesome educational experience.

There's a hero...if you look inside your heart...

2011-07-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

After getting to sleep in, spending the day with my nephew and sister-in-law on a GORGEOUS Chicago day, AND getting a bright blue plastic mold-a-rama figurine of Abraham Lincoln, I was pretty sure that today could not get any better. And then I checked the internets.

Happy Place

2011-07-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I am inspired to blog by big things...life-changing events...this is not one of those times. However, I'm pretty sure it will be more entertaining than any "important" bloggy blogging. From my new favorite website, Happy Place. Best / worst high school yearbook quotes.

I'm like Che Guevara with bling on, I'm complex.

2011-07-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

Today I had another job with Out Cold Marketing, promoting the Fiat 500 and the Chrysler 300 at a company picnic in Burr Ridge. It was a pretty hot day but I've been going to these outside festivals and parties so often that I think I'm getting used to it. And I'm also becoming a Person Who Knows Things About Cars instead of a Person Who Doesn't Know Things About Cars.

The event featured two bouncy attractions: Bouncy Jousting and Bouncing Boxing (yay for kids beating each other up with oversized, bouncy weapons!) I was attempting to amuse myself this morning and after taking a quick bathroom break, proceeded to walk straight into the side of the bouncy jousting. No one was around and I thought I would just bounce off and continue my walk. Well, it was unfortunately not nearly as inflated as I thought it was and I collapsed into it and then rolled a short distance down a slight hill. Awesome. And the best part was, when I stood up and tried to pretend like that had totally been the plan, there were two 20-something guys who were there to set up the rock climbing wall that were just staring at me.

We got to eat at the company picnic for free (thanks company!) and I shared a picnic table with a family and their three kids. This is the conversation that I had with the oldest girl:

OG: I have five years old.
SD: That's awesome. I have twenty-seven.
OG: Wow. What's your name?
SD: Shannon.
OG: Wow. Dad, this person's name is Shannon.
SD: Are you having fun today?
OG: I sure hope so.

And then she was bored with me.

On a completely different note, what is up with Tinley Park? We drove through their ye olde historic Tinley Park and it was just sort of strange. They had these massive, decorated benches every few yards and NO one was sitting on them. They were all super patriotic and featured a lot of buffalo, which I guess are totally native to Tinley Park. There was even one in the parking lot of the Fiat dealership. Please let me know if you understand this, as it is inexplicable to me.

So yeah, that's the front and back of a park bench that is in the middle of a parking lot...and features a mad, Asian, ninja rabbit.

Version 2.0

2011-07-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

Please stop calling, Pepe.

Anyway...

Trying to write a paper on mental health after a night of a one-woman drinking contest is difficult. That is why I am not doing it right now and complaining about it instead. My night began calmly at Erin's birthday party, accelerated greatly at an impulse stop at Reggies (thanks to a coin toss) and went off the tracks at a Wrigleyville bar called the Gingerman (which I remember referring to as the Gingerbreadmanclub).

Instead of verbally composing letters to myself while drunk (a favorite past time from college), I now send myself drunken text messages. Last night I confused even me with this one: "I hope you are ready for Shannon 2.0." So there's that.

Okay, back to the books.

One more thing...

What the dilly yo?

2011-07-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Since this is my blog, I'm going to tell you about last weekend and all of the fun things I did. And there you have the most unnecessary introductory sentence I have ever written.

Friday night was a (un)surprise party for Joanne, who is moving to Switzerland someday soon (we think). While in Switzerland, Joanne will be skiing in the Alps, eating holey cheese, remaining neutral on major world events and doing some shady tax-free banking. And there you have all of my Swiss stereotypes in one sentence! We had a gathering of friendship in Wicker Park where we celebrated Joanne by playing pool, drinking whiskey from a smuggled-in flask, etc. etc.

On Saturday, a group of us planned a friendship meeting at Buffalo Joe's in Evanston for some delicious wings and waffle fries. Then we went to see Ellie's unbeaten football team, the Force, (they tackle!) play in the playoffs against another unbeaten team, the Pittsburgh Passion. Great name, huh? The game was ridiculously entertaining - from the flamboyantly gay male cheerleaders in all their flag-waving/push-up glory to the ridiculously loud, seizure-faking, chain-smoking sounding Pittsburgh fan to our immediate left. The Force won - 41 to 31 - and even though Ellie didn't get to play, she was still our MVP.

Sunday funday involved adventures in the city with Ann and Brandon. The weather was absolutely perfect for a day outside. We started at the corner of Roosevelt and Michigan Avenue which features 20+ cast-iron statues of headless and armless people. Brandon was thrilled with this art. He proudly exclaimed, "I call this one the Half Human" at the first one he encountered. He ran from statue to statue going, "Look at this one!" They are all completely identical, but a four-year old sees differences in all of them. There was one off to the side by itself and Brandon thought it looked like his Daddy. So we took a short video to send to my brother, where Brandon is seen talking to and hugging the Daddy statue.

After this, it was time for his first trip on public transportation. We waited for about 10 minutes, during which Brandon asked "Is that the bus?" after every single vehicle passed. Once on the bus, Brandon wanted to play his own version of musical chairs, trying out all the different (i.e. exactly the same) chairs. It's a short drive down Michigan to Millennium Park so we weren't on the bus too long and didn't have to deal with any crazies.

Our first stop was the spitting videoscreen/fountains where Brandon got to run around like a twinkly-toed madman, racing from giant head to giant head without pause. Everything was going swell into another little person slammed into Brandon and he face-planted on the cement. Oooh boy, I have not heard the kid ever cry that loudly. We thought we would be ending our fun and heading to the ER, but he had just bitten his tongue and bloodied his lip. He didn't take too kindly to his new nickname, Fat Lip Dowty. After recovering from this accident, we explored the rest of the park including the giant ramp, the gardens and the Bean. Crawling underneath the Bean, Brandon joyfully exclaimed that it was "like being inside chocolate pudding!!" We stopped briefly for dinner and to buy Brandon a shirt proclaiming his love for ketchup. Ann really wanted to see Buckingham Fountain after dark, so we braved our way through the Taste. We got some dessert (gooey chocolate lava cake and Oreo cheesecake smoosh) and Ann bought a caramel popcornsicle (pretty disgusting...just because you can flash freeze something doesn't mean you should do it). All filled up on calories, we staked out a park bench around the fountain. And lo and behold, at 8:20, the water abruptly shut off (no sound and light show for us). In order to encourage people to leave the Taste, Buckingham Fountain was being turned off way early. Bummer.

And so, now it is the weekend again. It literally took me all week to write this post and it isn't even very good. I'm working all weekend at the Naperville Ribfest, so it is doubtful that I will have any fun adventures to relay, but you never know. After all, I will get to hear/see MEGA-SUPER-ROCKBAND Styx play at Ribfest.

Hula Hoop Dreams

2011-06-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Someone may want to practice their hula hoop a little more...

I'm just saying.

Catching Up

2011-06-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

Things have been very busy in the SDowts household in June. Between my chief residents graduating, new residents starting, summer school class beginning and general life goings on, I have been a busy bee.

Last week I went with Ann and Brandon to Brookfield Zoo. I hadn't been there in many years so I was excited. Brandon was excited too, but as it turns out, not to see animals. Brandon's favorite things about the zoo (in no particular order): taking pictures of butterflies, walking on the stepping stones in, essentially, a large puddle, the waterfall in the monkey house, playgrounds,and handicap accessible ramps that are perfect for running up and down. Brandon's least favorite things about the zoo: looking at animals, touching animals, talking about animals. We still had a good time though, and I learned that Brandon is, as he puts it, "freaked out by babies." I asked him what that meant, and he declined to respond, instead saying something about how much he "loves powerlines." That's my nephew!

I also began class last week. In order to try and graduate sooner rather than later I am taking a summer class that meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:00 - 7:45 for eight weeks. It's about the U.S. Health Care system. It really should be called the U.S. Health Care System and Oh, By the Way, Here's a Funny Story About Monkeys. My professor is a nice guy but the KING OF TANGENTS. Wow, and to think I was briefly enthused about getting to take a class in person again. That's quickly gone out the window.

Friday was the Resident Graduation, planned by yours truly. It was a pretty good time, I'm not going to lie. The food was good, the drinks were free and flowing and there was a large sized photo booth full of props at the party. I got a litle choked up at the awards ceremony when my graduates presented me with a gift and said some kind words. They are the first resident class that I have worked with for their entire four years of residency. I will miss them all very much. But yesterday, eight new residents started and so I have been super busy with that.

Saturday night I went with Chuck to see Beady Eye, a band featuring all of Oasis except for Noel Gallagher. They played their first North American show in Chicago at the Metro and I was there! Whoo! Liam was wearing a heavy, long coat decorated with the Union Jack and had his usual swagger. While we were waiting for the show to start, we waited in the lobby. I got to see Steve, who has been with Liam since 1997 (at least) when I first met them. Back then he was security, now it seems he has moved up to management. He is a big, tough looking Englishman, but he definitely has a soft spot in his heart for me, because he lights up whenever he sees me. Saturday was no exception and I got a big hug. He promised that he'd say hi to the boys for us. The concert itself was great - they only have one album out and they pretty much played the entire thing. They sound great live and definitely made me want to dance.

Sunday was Father's Day so we gathered in WheaTown to celebrate dad by watching golf (and Curious George) and singing "Happy Fathers Day" to the tune of "Happy Birthday". My big brother is living on his own (for now) in Maryland and so we were missing half of the Dowty family father's, but we talked to him on the phone as he shopped at KMart for some cheap ass plates (he is currently in single guy/college living mode). I introduced my nephew to hopscotch, evidence below.

Look at those moves!

From the Mouth of Brandon

2011-05-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

Brandon: "Knock Knock"
Me: "Who's there?"
Brandon: "Butterfield"
Me: "Butterfield who?"
Brandon: "Butterfield Road...stop saying Butterfield so much."

(non)Adventures in Dating

2011-05-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

My so-called adventures in dating began last fall, when Kristen and I joined a singles bowling league. We met every Sunday at Diversey River Bowl, downed a few drinks to make the evening more tolerable, and bowled. As a result of this experiment I was left with: one pleasant but unexciting date, a few more numbers in my phone...from awesome single girls that I met, more hangovers than usual on Mondays and tendonitis in my toe.

In April, inspired by the music video for Britney Spears' "Would you Hold it Against Me?", I signed up for the free dating website, PlentyofFish.com. I was bored one night, watching music videos on On Demand, and in her brilliant and life-changing music video, Britney Spears logs on to PlentyofFish.com. I have a policy of blinding imitating whatever Britney Spears does (I did draw the line at head shaving) and so decided, well, Britney knows best! As a result of this experiment I am currently the recipient of: one pleasant but unexciting date, a new collection of horrifying, shirtless, "I took this in the mirror of myself" photos of men, an offer by an older gentleman to take me shopping (not yet redeemed), and a mildly wounded ego.

The process of marketing and selling yourself online is tricky. I, apparently, have not mastered it. PlentyofFish requires users to create a short tagline that advertises something about yourself or your interests. Something that will draw a member of the opposite sex to your profile, whereby he or she will send you a fake internet rose. I spent a lunch break going through some online offerings and have listed my favorite single men's taglines below:

Slippery when wet (classic!)
Hey...not for nothin (slightly better than original tagline...At least I'm not Osama)
I'm the full package (indeed!)
Love Moses (this one is super confusing)
Go easy on the Pepsi (haunted by memories of his ex, the Pepsi addict)
I can kill it with kindness or murder it (i feel slightly threatened)
Better and funnier than the fake PRON on cable tm. (what?)
Why do people make relationships complicated? (why indeed, sir)
Just looking to kill some time (i.e. just looking to spread some STDs)
I won't judge you for your past... (if you don't judge me for my appearance on Jerry Springer)
Knight from another age (i.e. I work at Medieval Times)
Give me one hour (deal maker!)
RELIGOUS SYMBOLISM & METAPHOR (misspelled and frightening! win win!)

Finally, last night, Kristen, Ellie and myself gathered our collective balls, put them in a bucket, and took them to Aja Lounge in the Dana Hotel for a night of speed dating, hosted by DateandDash.com. We waited for the event to start in the posh bar, drinking $10 cocktails (or $8 bubble tea in Kristen's case) and repeating "I can't believe we're doing this" over and over. We started to get concerned when NO ONE else was showing up. The host of the event told us that there was one guy who had showed up. He told us to wait around for a bit, but with the competing Bulls/Heat game, he wasn't too hopeful that more people would show up. We would "reschedule" for another night, he said. Two more girls came and we invited them to our table. At 8:30, there were five girls and two guys there for the event. One of the guys wouldn't talk to anyone and sat by himself watching the game (good move!) and the other guy, a man named Uyi (pronounced We) from Nigeria, brought himself to our table. There was some mutual interrogation of who lived where, who did what for work and fun. Well, us girls were having a really good time talking to one another and all of a sudden, Uyi abruptly got up, grabbed his coat, and left...leaving a half-full drink, which we later finished for him. I have to say that I had a great time at speed dating - I met two awesome girls, got their contact information, and we set a date to all go to the First Friday event at the Museum of Contemporary Art in July. As a result of this experiment, I was left with: a lovely dinner with Ellie, a $20 tab for two drinks from a very unfriendly bartender, a strong buzz, two potential new girl friends, and an unused Groupon for speed dating...to be redeemed in the near future (or maybe never).

So, there you have it, my recent (non)Adventures in Dating.

The Leaves Made My Nose Cry

2011-05-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

I took this video of Brandon last weekend at the Mother's Day brunch we went to in Schaumburg. We were waiting in a very long line for the balloon "artist." Brandon spent the time amusing himself (clearly) and saying hi to a random boy in line (and then loudly complaining that the kid wasn't saying hi back). I kept asking him what kind of balloon thingy he wanted and his answer changed every time he saw what the kid at the front of the line had just gotten. When it was his turn, he, of course, asked for what the little girl in front of him had just gotten: a lavender and pink butterfly. The balloon artist suggested that maybe he would like a helicopter instead. So a helicopter it was.

Enjoy the video. "The leaves made my nose cry" was what Brandon told me happened to him on Saturday, when the cold and chilly day outside made him sneeze. That kid is full of amazing stuff like that. When my parents' neighbor said, "Hi Brandon, how are you?" he immediately demanded of her, "How do you know me?" Good stuff.

Down. Continuing to be Kicked.

2011-05-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

2011 has not been a banner year for the Dowty household. Between job losses and extra financial burdens falling (literally) from the sky, we have all been struggling a bit. Today I found out my big brother and his family are moving to Maryland for a new job. On one hand, I'm so thrilled for my brother to be out of the perpetual hell that is Motorola, but I am also decidedly unhappy that half of our small family (and unarguably, the more entertaining/cute half) is moving so far away. But, at least Maryland (40 minutes outside of D.C.) is a much rosier prospect than somewhere in Bumblefuck, Arkansas (my apologies to residents of Bumblefuck, Arkansas). This is why I've always envied people with large families. When one part of the family moves away, it still hurts, but there are others to fall back on. So, my mom has requested that if anyone needs a family, they should call us, because we need some more.

In other, completely unrelated news, I received a voicemail yesterday from a dear, old (and I mean old) friend, Pepe. I met Pepe on my spring break trip to Ft. Lauderdale in 2005. Katie W. and I decided to stay at the hotel bar that night and we found a gregarious, grey-haired Cuban named Pepe who entertained us with stories and offered to drive us around town in his taxi for free. We didn't take him up on that offer, but I did allow him to put my phone number in his phone...knowing that I was leaving for Chicago the next day and didn't need to answer it if he called. But call he did...and call he still does. Once a year, during springtime, I will get a call from Pepe, asking when my friend and I are going to come back to Florida and spend a night on the town with him. Pepe is sweet and charismatic and damned if he isn't persistent. Anyway, I usually don't answer a number I don't recognize and I haven't had the heart to program his number in my phone with a warning not to answer because I keep figuring, well, this will be the last year he calls. Last year, however, I did answer and spent at least fifteen minutes listening to Pepe try and convince us to come back and relive Spring Break 2005 in Ft. Lauderdale. I did tell him that I was married (ha!) in an effort to discourage him, but Pepe doesn't care. Pepe just wants to drive us around in his car for free.

Anyway, I unearthed a photo of said Pepe and a sunburned me. While I'm not thrilled about posting this picture of myself on the interwebs, I think it's necessary so you all can see the man who is Pepe.

So that's that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go home and go to a condo board meeting about our disastrous roof and the massive amount of money it is going to cost us to repair it. I'm hoping that no one yells at me, because I've had the kind of day where I will either break down in tears, or start throwing knives.

Thorny

2011-05-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Now that I don't have homework every night, I'm working on scanning and cataloging a ton of old black and white photos of my grandmother and her family and friends. It makes me really happy to see her curly, familiar handwriting underneath the photos - adding a wry comment to the sunny, posed shots above. I wish she were still here to tell me the stories behind the handsome young soldier ("Ace") whose photos fill a few pages at the end of one album, or who her happy, round-faced friends were. My favorite shot of my grandmother Julie is below.

Her caption? "A thorn among the roses."

Holey Holey

2011-04-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

I experienced my first acupuncture / chiropractic session yesterday. In an attempt to relieve myself of almost daily headaches, I have decided to try almost anything (except giving up sodium, popcorn and drinking vegetables...more on that in a minute). Suprisingly, my insurance company covers 90% of a visit to an acupuncturist, so I found one in network and made an appointment.

My acupuncturist was not a doctor per se, more of like a guy in a suit with diplomas on his wall from non-medical school places. Anyway, he was licensed in acupuncture by whoever accredits that. He was very nice, but worried me when he started talking about the "heat" in my body. Apparently this is a bad thing. I have a lot of heat. This is likely influenced (according to him) by the amount of sodium I eat. Also, popcorn gives you a lot of heat. And this is my favorite snack food and I eat it religiously. So, I started getting pretty skeptical because whenever anyone threatens to take away my popcorn eating rights, I shut down. I was like, okay, okay, just stick some needles in me already. He also talked about the importance of buying organic and how I should definitely invest in a juicer. His recipe for me and my headaches involved kale, chard, watercress, romaine and half of an apple. Yum? My juice tastes don't extend far past apple and orange (with no pulp) so I don't foresee me become a juicer any time soon.

Now to the acupuncture part. I was actually pretty nervous. I laid down on a table with my pants awkwardly rolled up to my knees (they were pretty much cutting off all circulation). He started by sticking the needles in my right hand, then my right forearm. It tickled a little but didn't really hurt. By the end, I had about 14 needles in me. Two had actually hurt pretty badly, in my opinion because they were hitting nerve endings, in his opinion because I was releasing energy. After all the needles, I was able to "relax" on the table for 15 minutes...a relaxation filled with thoughts of all the needles in me. He came in them to "manipulate" my needles and again let me rest (more needle obsessing). Finally, he took the needles out and then proceeded to pull out his chiropractor card and pop/pull/push my body around. It made me panic a little but ultimately felt pretty good. I was uber-relaxed afterwards. Thinking about all the healthy living advice I had been given, I decided to head to Portillo's for some hot dogs, fries and chocolate cake. It was worth the walk. Damn I love Portillo's.

I did feel noticeably relaxed and very tired after the session. I was worried about driving home but was fine. My chakra feels groovy today! Groovy chakra!

A busy weekend coming up - final projects due over the next two weeks. I'm about 18 pages into one project. It's been such a long semester, I'm really trying not to totally half-ass this last bit. I get to see mi famigilia on Sunday for a little bit of Easter-timin'. Then it's rush back to the city for the National/Arcade Fire concert.

Charts are awesome

2011-04-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

I stole this from Aziz Ansari's website. It bears reposting. And reposting. And putting on t-shirts and mugs.

Parent / Janitor Conferences

2011-04-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've ever laughed...really laughed...at a New Yorker cartoon. Until now.

Legislate This!

2011-04-07T13:10:00.001-07:00

Springfield.

Let me sum up a few words that my week in this town brought to mind: Pizza. Salon 2000. Swag. Abe. Ramada! Chlorine. Pizza. Sherriff. Representative. Douchebag. Swaggerwagon. Bob Saget. History! Pizza.

None of that will make any sense, except maybe the Abe and History! references. For those of you who don’t know, I went to Springfield, Illinois with One Step At a Time camp (the camp with the most swag) to lead a group of 18 middle school kids/cancer survivors. The purpose of the trip is to teach kids about advocacy and have them speak to their Senators and Reps about what it means to be a survivor of pediatric cancer. They also work to get signatures on a resolution that made the week we were there Pediatric Cancer Survivorship Awareness Week. So this involved a lot of running (sometimes literally) around the state capitol building while getting shushed from mean security people, stalking Senators and Reps outside the chamber, giving insanely nasty looks to aggressive old lady lobbyist types who tried to get in our kids’ sweet spot for advocatin’ and eating a shit-ton of pizza (seriously, we had pizza from Godfathers Pizza, the Pizza Machine, Incredible Pizza Company…but don’t worry, we rounded the week off with McDonald’s and KFC).

We tooled around the depressingly depressing city of Springfield on a giant bus that the campers quickly named the Swagger Wagon (and proceeded to mention in every other sentence for all time ever). Our first day there we spent meeting with some firefighters (holla!), Police Chief of Springfield, and Sherriff of Springfield (more like Sherriff of my heart). I was able to find out that my Representative, Ken Dunkin, reminds me of a smarmy Guy Smiley Douchebag. He didn’t say hi to the kids, seemed to have an annoying permagrin on his face, and said “Salutations!” really loudly to someone he knew. Who does that? We ate at TGI Friday’s where the kids could order whatever they wanted (like Christmas almost).

Tuesday – Thursday were Capitol days. We got to eat lunch in the Governor’s Mansion, which was very beautiful. However, the food was blah and they served us Kool Aid without any sugar in it. Thanks Governor Quinn. If Blago was still in office I’m sure we would have had cotton candy burgers. We met with a number of really cool political people, including one Mike McRaith. He was the most handsome, lovely, compassionate man in the world (probably slightly exaggerating but I was smitten) and is on his way to the White House to do something as equally awesome as he is.

We watched our bill get introduced and passed in both the House and the Senate. While we were in the House gallery, we watched them all be lead in prayer before commencing work. Prayer? Separation of church and state say what? I was definitely put off by this. “Work” in the government seems to be standing on the floor, chitchatting with pals, occasionally “respectfully” arguing with someone on the other side of the room, and dashing madly back to your seat to press your yay/nay button to vote for the bill. All of us were really surprised at how NO ONE seemed to be paying any attention to what anyone else was saying. A group of campers, including myself, testified before the House Sub-Committee on Health and Human Services (we tried really hard to make them cry – SUCCESS!).

We got to eat from a 60” pizza that was surprisingly good (and travelled by crane). We went mini-golfing and bowling (where I definitely re-aggravated my tendonitis in my foot, no more bowling career for me). My favorite was the Abraham Lincoln museum, but I would have wished for two more hours. I got my Lincoln bobblehead which is now bobbling at me from my office file cabinet. The museum was really well-done and I’d love to go back. But that would mean going back to Springfield on my own and ehhh…sorry state capitol but I don’t know if I like you like that.

Tres Awesome

2011-04-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

Cannot wait for the new Garbage album.

North V South

2011-03-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

From the section of 2010's The Best American Nonrequired Reading entitled "Best American Lawsuits."

The North Face is asking for unspecified damages and wants the court to prohibit Jimmy Winkelmann from continuing to offer his alternative clothing line, The South Butt. The South Butt offers fleece jackets, shorts, adn other apparel with its name and a logo that is a mirror image of The North Face's famous mountain logo. Winkelmann's attorney, Albert Watkins, argued that the public knows the difference between a face and a butt and that those wanting a North Face product won't accidentally purchase one from South Butt.

I'm crying.

Unsolved mysteries

2011-03-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is my cat's favorite toy.

Well, besides the empty travel Kleenex pack.

Why is this blog worthy? Because I have no effing idea where this fuzzy fish ball came from. None. I had never seen it before until one day, she dropped it at my feet for me to throw. Thus began one of the greatest mysteries of my life.

I never purchased this toy. I don't even know where you could purchase something as shit-tastically awesome as this. I certainly don't think I stumbled home drunk one night and pulled out my craft kit to create handmade awesomes for my cat. Is she stepping out on me?

Thoughts, dear readers?

Flippy Floppies

2011-03-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

And if I could wake up with this photo floating above my eyes every morning, life would be grand.

You're welcome.

An Attache a Day

2011-03-11T16:39:00.001-08:00

Today was a snoopy snoopy poop dogg day at work, but now it is the freakin weekend baby and I am about to have me some fun (this is not guaranteed).

One thing did make me laugh pretty hard though. I witnessed an older man introducing a woman to one of the UIC cleaning people. In introducing the cleaning woman, he said to his companion, "I try to throw out an attache case a day and she helps me get rid of them."

Say what?

There is no logical explanation for this statement. How many attache cases does this man have? Is he an attache case hoarder? If so, is this cleaning woman staging her own intervention? So many questions. Absolutely no answers.

Mimitarod

2011-03-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

It is not every day that I come up with a genius idea. Nay. Nor is it even an annual occurrence. But recently, my brain struck gold. We (Kate, Jean, Ellie and myself) were pondering how we could participate in the Chiditarod without really participating (i.e. getting a cart, decorating it, transporting it to the race). And that is when it happened. The idea. How can you join a shopping cart race/bar crawl/food drive/costume contest without a shopping cart (clearly the most onerous part of the entire event). Why, you go as mimes and you mime having a shopping cart.

I'll wait a minute for that sink in for full effect.

Yes, it was a truly genius idea.

So that is why, last Saturday, Kate, Jean, Cherie and myself dressed as mimes and found ourselves silently (for the most part...Cherie really likes to talk) crashing the Chiditarod. We took a cab from Lakeview to Happy Village in Ukie Village and from there walked with our imaginary cart to Nick's and Flatiron bar in Wicker Park. We were a huge hit, I tell you.

They always say that you can never appreciate how hard it is to be a good mime until you dress like one on a random Saturday in March. And they were right. It is hard. From the makeup to the not talking to the trapped in the damn box thing. But we gave it our best. We didn't stick around the after party for long since we were hungry and wanted to watch the Hawks game.

And yes, we took off the face paint before we went to Reggies.

Doldrums

2011-02-28T20:02:00.000-08:00

Grad school got me wishing that I had a clone. This semester is rough. Tons of fieldwork, reading, on a full time job. Yadda yadda. No one is making me do this, so I should just stop complaining. I am getting lots of "real world" experience and getting to know a lot about Chinatown. I just feel like my head is going to pop off and float away.

Last night I went to Geja's Cafe with Kristen for Restaurant Week. It was uber-romantic, and by romantic, I mean extremely dark, one candle per table and a pot of bubbling hot oil on the table. Fondue! It was my first experience at a fondue restaurant and actually should have required more wine consumption than I was willing to pay for. The dinner was fun, but time-consuming, and involved a lot more swearing and use of phone as flashlight than I had bargained for.

The Chiditarod is this weekend and we are not "officially" "participating" but instead will be crashing it in a mind-blowing way. Hopefully. Details later.

I haven't been feeling uber-swell since mid-February. Headaches daily mainly. I have an appointment at the DIAMOND Headache Clinic (cha ching!) on Thursday to help sort my head out. Also, I thought I had a fractured toe/bone spurs (thanks UIC ER Doctor) but after a visit to an Orthopedist, found out that nothing is really wrong with my foot, besides probably some tendinitis. At least I can get the image of someone sandblasting my bone spur off out of my head.

A few thoughts:

My cat's favorite toy is an empty travel Kleenex pack. She carries it around everywhere with her, in her mouth. She brings it up into bed when she wants to play (a.k.a. wants me to throw it). It is supremely hard to explain to her that you can't really throw an empty plastic Kleenex pack very far. At all. I swear she gives me a dirty look each time it flutters stupidly to the ground, 2 inches away. Hey cat, at least I'm not the one playing with a shitty piece of trash.
I want Supernanny's help and I don't have kids. Can this still be arranged?
Muammar Gaddafyi = Charlie Sheen in 5. Without all the dictatory mass murder stuff, though.

Miss me?

2011-02-26T21:10:00.000-08:00

I'm a total liar. I promised in my last post to actually post something substantial. Well, that was almost a month ago.

Instead of substance, I have a video of my nephew. I went to Wheaton today to visit the parents and the little man (who they are "big-boy-sitting"). We spent some time making gruel (his request) which consisted of shredded mozzarella cheese, milk, salt, pepper, one blue M&M, sprinkles, green grapes, syrup, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, crushed oyster crackers, water, dog kibble, Arby's Sauce and butter. Stomach churning. But he had fun spooning it all together and then dumping it down the sink. Wasting food! Yay!

Speaking of butter, my mother has turned young Brandon on to her favorite condiment. Butter. See below.

Superbro?

2011-02-06T19:33:00.001-08:00

I promise that soon I will post something other than a fun picture and a witty sentence. Soon. But not tonight. Because the only things I've done all weekend alternate between school work, watching Law & Order reruns and eating food. Oh and watching something about a Superbro? Superball? A game which I desperately wanted neither team to win, interspersed with commercials that cost more than my life to make and a halftime show featuring the best use of people in white spandex body suits since this:

But back to that funny picture! Here is how our deck is getting cleaned from all the snow back in Wheaton:

In four days I will say "Goodbye Snow" and fly to Phoenix to spend a long weekend with some awesome people (Kate! Ellie! Cherie! John! Mandy! Jan! Steve! Sundae!) to celebrate that part of the country is not covered in snow...and also, Kate's 28th birthday.

Death Snow

2011-02-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

This is what Snowmageddon looks like...the Chicago Doppler right now:

And a few hours later...

So I guess things are looking up, yeah?

Amazing

2011-01-23T11:05:00.001-08:00

Clearly this is what my dating life has been missing. Now, should I order 250 or 500?

Drool

2011-01-17T20:19:00.000-08:00

QB

2011-01-17T00:21:00.000-08:00

I couldn't find the screen cap of tonight's after-game Jay Cutler looking sexypants with his black blazer and scarf...so I chose this picture to honor my favorite QB. Looking sharp Mr. Cutler.

Well said

2011-01-11T19:07:00.001-08:00

I do think it's important for us to watch our rhetoric. I do think it's a worthwhile goal not to conflate our political opponents with enemies, if for no other reason than to draw a better distinction between the manifestos of paranoid madmen and what passes for acceptable political and pundit speak. You know, it would be really nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn't in any way resemble how we actually talk to each other on TV. Let's at least make troubled individuals easier to spot. Again, to see good people like this hurt, it is so grievous and it causes me such sadness, but again, I refuse to give in to that feeling of despair. There is light in this situation. I urge everyone, read up about those who were hurt and or killed in this shooting. You will be comforted by just how much anonymous goodness there really is in the world. You read about these people and you realize that, people that you don't even know, that you have never met, are leading lives of real dignity and goodness and you hear about crazy, but it's rarer than you think...If there is real solace in this, I think it's that for all the hyperbole and the vitriol that's become a part of our political process...when the reality of that rhetoric...when actions match the disturbing nature of words, we haven't lost our capacity to be horrified. And please, let us hope we never do. Let us hope we never become numb to what real horror, what the real blood of patriots looks like when it's spilled.

- Jon Stewart

Bathroom Redux 2010 (too lazy to post until 2011)

2011-01-09T12:32:00.000-08:00

Part of my winter break saw me re-painting and re-decorating my bathroom. I am super pleased with the results. I now feel like a sophisticated, wine-sipping, grown-up when I go into the bathroom, as opposed to how I normally feel. I went from electric green to swank.

I was able to change the entire look of the bathroom without replacing the flooring, appliances or vanity.

The best part is, I also got a matching cat, perfectly free!

Here are some things I got to do at work today

2010-12-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

In no particular order:

- Eat Portillos

- Hold an adorable baby, get covered in drool

- Talk to an adorable 3 year old

- Open a Secret Santa present that consisted of a Corona metal bucket (for chilling beer) and 4 Corona pint glasses

- Wrap presents for 2 hours

- Typity type some things

Happy non-interview day Friday!!

Tonight will consist of friendship with Kate. Finals are done. Almost an entire month filled with fun times reading.

Pretty much the best thing that happened to me today

2010-12-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

was seeing this picture

The expression on that dog's face is the best.

From the Mouth of Brandon - Thanksgiving Edition

2010-11-29T20:24:00.001-08:00

Man, I'll be really glad when this semester is over. The work hasn't been too overwhelming, but I've struggled a bit with some of the concepts of Epidemiology and feel like I could stand to take the class again. Not that I will. But just saying. I hope that I'm actually learning stuff, instead of just remembering it for awhile. Finals are next week and then a short break before Spring term starts (lonnnnnng before Spring actually gets anywhere near Chicago). I also begin my busiest time at work - with 180 interviews for 7 residency spots...starting on Friday and Saturday. I'm a little stressed, but so is the nature of life. At least there are some fun festivities ahead in December.

I saw the Frames last week at the Vic. It was an amazing show, as always. I think they have to be in my top 5 of favorite live bands ever. I was able to get really close to the stage and got some good shots of Glen and the boys. I love concerts where I have a stupid grin on my face the entire time.

Anyway, spent Thanksgiving with the fam, as always. Our holidays would be so much more boring without the presence of a crazy person in size 4T pants.

His dad: "What is your brain thinking about?"
Brandon: "He's thinking about my lunch."

To me, after looking at my salad: "Those are some nice chunks!"

Brandon: "Happy Thanksgiving everyone. (2 second pause) I'm trying to tie my hair."

Brandon: "I'm going to college when I'm 18"
Grandma: "What are you going to do in college?"
Brandon: "I'm going to the storage room"

I have no idea what he meant by storage room. He said something about the teachers being there. I was too busy laughing to listen.

From the mouth of Brandon

2010-11-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

Today is my mom's birthday and her grandson came to take her out to lunch. My mom said that he was giggling and wiggling a lot.

She told him: You're like a bowl of jello

His amazingly brilliant response?

No, jello is wet. I'm dry and I'm made of meat.

Slow clap.

Ain't no party like a bone marrow party

2010-11-09T12:49:00.000-08:00

Talk about an amazing weekend - I had SUCH a blast. I shall recap.

Thursday - Kate and I met after work for dinner at Sheffield's. We made sure the photo booth was working (key ingredient of my party on Saturday). Then we stopped on over at The Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Company to get my yearly ink. I decided to get ... after the ten slashes. If I decide in the future to go back to the yearly tattoo plan, I can always get the marks over it. Ten seemed like a good place to stop. It also seemed like a good way to save $60 a year. My friend Jennifer sent me a text so I went to meet her at Reggie's for a drink and some chatting. We went over to the Music Joint next door and watched Genitorturers, a rock metal band with a busty lead singer and a definite S&M influence. Needless to say it was an interesting show.

Friday - Kate came over to my condo after work (sensing a pattern?) and then we headed to Subway for dinner. Living large! After that it was Reggie's, which has become a home away from home (away from home) for me lately. We got some seats at the bar and watched the crowd. We were there for a Mucca Pazza show in the Music Joint next door at 9:00 ish. We went over in time to see an opening act that looked like brother/sister, sounded a bit like the Scissor Sisters, and looked like Sonny and Cher. Very weird. They had a song called "Man Crush" and I really dug it. Although, I thought they were saying "Man Purse" for the longest time. Mucca Pazza came on afterwards and we were at the front of the stage. I had never seen a full show of theirs and I loved it - they were so high energy, crazy, talented (and only the slightest bit smelly). I loved that they came out and performed in the crowd. What a loud brilliant show.

Saturday - I moped around the house in the morning pretending to do schoolwork. Terri came by to drop off the cookies that her sister-in-law Adrienne made for my party. They were so adorable! I had a hair and make-up appointment at a place called Wax On Wax Off near UIC. They did a really nice job with my hair and after I wiped off a few pounds of eyeshadow, I was happy with my make-up too. I made it back just in time to meet my family and Kate. We went to a celebratory dinner at Kroll's and then drove to Sheffield's for the big party. I had reserved the back room with the private bar and bathrooms for the party and it looked lovely at night - all lit up by orange twinkle lights. We got the "Bone Marrow" mix playing and the DVD slideshow of photos up on the screen. Rubber stretchy skeletons and shot glasses were set out. Wow, what a turn out. I was so thrilled with the amount of people that came, including people I hadn't seen for years. It made me feel so loved and appreciated. The photo booth was a hit - even though it took about 10 minutes for each strip of photos to print. My nephew was the real star of the party - he was wearing a bowtie and dancing like a maniac to the music. He had to leave early (being four and all) but it was great having him there and for some of my friends to get to meet him. Shenanigans ensued and I eventually made it home - aching feet and all.

Sunday - Pretty much slept all day, except for some brief conscious time spent watching the Bears game. Stopped by Kate's to pick up all that I had left at her house the night before and then headed to Diversey Rock & Bowl for the first of my singles bowling league. I was really nervous. Luckily my friends Kristen and Diana are also doing it (although we are not on the same teams). It was much less painful than expected, everyone on my team (9 + myself) were friendly and normal. Some of the boys were pretty cute and we had good conversation. I am not married, however, as I had planned to be after the first night. Quick stop at Reggie's on the way home to grab a drink and basically get proposed to by a Irish firefighter. I would have said yes, but he was 40.

Now, it's back to work and catching up on all of the homework that I so expertly neglected over the weekend.

I am really no good at blogging anymore

2010-10-29T14:44:00.001-07:00

So much to do, so little time to blog about it all.

My vacation was amazing. Rome was my favorite, followed by Barcelona and then the Italian Riviera. The men were just as gorgeous and well-dressed as I thought they would be. We only had two days in Rome but we packed them full of sight-seeing and eating. And drinking lots of wine. We saw the Capuchin Crypt (covered wall-to-wall in the bones of over 4000 Capuchin monks), did a night tour of the city with a private guide, saw the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Forum. The cruise was great - although the food wasn't nearly as good as it was on Holland America, but that was good for my waistline. We had one day at sea and the weather was pretty fabulous for the entire time.

We took a boat to the Isle of Capri and explored the main part of town and the beautiful Giardino di Augosto. I have never seen more designer stores in one tiny area than I saw in Capri. Then we took a boat to Naples and visited Pompeii. I really wish we had had more time there because it was so amazing. And so crowded. Jeez people.

Someone tried to buy my mom in a souk market in Sidi Bou Said (Tunisia). I think he was joking though. I received about seven kisses from three different men and walked out of there with no money left and a ton of new jewelry. My mom bought a shit-ton of bowls.

Not all of those, but still. We saw the ruins of Carthage and an amazing beautiful American war veteran cemetary in Africa. We went on a whirlwind bus tour of Barcelona and got to explore Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. We did have some time to walk around by ourselves, but not nearly enough. I must go back to Barcelona.

We spent the day in Nice, France and explored a medieval village called Eze. I also got to see where Bono's house is (granted from like 15 miles away). Our last stop was Livorno. We chose not to go to Florence or Pisa and instead went to the absolutely stunning and gorgeous Cinque Terre - a series of five villages that are literally built onto the edge of cliffs. It was amazing to see.

I had a liver biopsy. It hurt a little. It came back OK. Yay.

Work is prettttty busy. We had our big site visit this past Tuesday and then interview season starts.

Magazines are piling up. I keep buying new books but I'm not reading any of them. Buy one get one half off at Borders gets me every time. I got I Am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak (the author of one of my favorite books, The Book Thief) and David Cross' I Drink For A Reason. I also got the The Best American Non-Required Reading for 2010. Nicole Krauss and Bill Bryson (two of my favorites) both have new books out but they're hardcover and I'm running out of room!

And then there's Halloween. I am going to be something. I'll tell you later.

This is sheer and total genius:

This dog's costume is so pop culture-y that I can't get over it. That, and how much he looks like Antoine Dodson, of viral video fame (Dodson became semi-famous for his ranting about an intruder who came into his home and tried to assault his sister - which was of course turned into an Auto Tune song - which of course he performed live on BET). He has his own professional website now. Because this is the world we live in.

get get get get get over it

2010-10-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

I promise to keep posting about Ok Go unless you watch this.

Ok watch this one too.

And then look at this:

Did you know that if you google someone, you can look at as many pictures of them for free as you want?

Good night.

Mediocre people do exceptional things all the time

2010-10-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Despite feeling oddly and rapidly sicker as the day went on, I braved the world tonight to go see Ok Go at the House of Blues. If it is still possible for a girl to swoon over a lead singer, consider me swooned.

Sigh.

Anyway, the band was great and put on a really entertaining and fun show. They played the song "What to Do" with only handbells. Apparently this is a thing they do, but I hadn't heard or seen it before so I was suitably impressed. So, instead of going to bed like a smart sick person who has to go to work tomorrow, I am stalking Ok Go on the youtubes.

Later, I promise there will be posts about my Afro-European voyage. It was the bomb.

Can't stop. Addicted to the shindig.

2010-09-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

Lyrics to Red Hot Chili Peppers songs are generally strange and slightly incomprehensible. However, they are pretty damn catchy.

Anyway.

I'm taking a break from packing.

I went to the liver specialist yesterday with my parents. It was the kind of doctor's visit that you go into with all of your body organs and muscles in giant tangled knots and leave from feeling like you just got deflated (in a good way). Like someone stuck a needle in your worried, balloon-body and let all the hot air out. The doctor was reassuring and didn't believe that the lesions on my liver were something to be seriously concerned about. They are very small and likely to be benign. However, they have to do a liver biopsy to make certain that there is nothing bad going on in my liver. I was told to lay off the whiskey (it is not my fault that I can drink most people under the table, I think it's in my genes) and come back after my trip to get the lesions, and my liver in general, biopsied. So, I feel relieved from our meeting but still have no answers. I did not expect to. Now I feel happier and a little lighter about going on vacation.

I had a special guest stay with me for a few hours yesterday. After I got home from work, I "bigboy-sat" my nephew while his mom and dad enjoyed a few hours with adults at Fogo de Chao. Brandon and I enjoyed three-soon-to-be-four-year-old stuff at my "amazing condo". We watched Teen Titans, ate peanut butter M&Ms, explored my condo's hallways with a flashlight, decorated a sticker book, and boogied our butts off to some ridiculous Kidz music. We also played hide and seek in my two-room condo. I hid in the bathtub. He took forever to find me and I had to intercede when I heard him leave the condo and go outside to look for me. I posted a video of him dancing to one of his songs on the facebook. Please do check it out, if only to feel slightly better about the world for a few minutes.

A special edition of From the Mouth of Brandon is below:

B: Do you play your guitar every second of the day?
Me: No
B: Because why?

I took a picture of the inside of your toilet. Because I'm silly!

Grandma's dog eats everything I drop on the floor.

Here I am! I look different because I'm wearing pajamas. I'm still me!

B: I'm so worried about Grandma
Me: Why?
B: Because she's going on vacation and I will miss her.

Me: Will you take good care of Harley while I'm gone?
B: Yes, I will tell her everything I know about trees.

And yes, I do follow him around with a notebook.

Off to finish packing and then drive back to Wheaton. Tomorrow: Rome. Ciao bellas!

Just a penny on the train tracks

2010-09-22T15:13:00.001-07:00

I promise I will stop blogging about stress soon. This vacation will give me a 12-day respite from stress. And then I will return to all the catch-up stress that comes with being gone for two weeks. But I will hopefully be happy and rested (unlikely!) and ready to face the challenges. I cannot wait for the trip. So excited. I definitely didn't learn Italian as well as I'd planned. Thank god for pocket-sized dictionaries.

The biggest stress of all has been my health, which has been up and down and all over the place. I've been posting about some of my issues and doctor's visits. Well, last weekend I had a liver MRI and had to visit Northwestern again. For about the 11th time in three weeks. At least, on the way, I ran into Marcus Samuelsson who is an award-winning chef and winner of Top Chef Masters on Bravo. I said hello. I giggled a little. It was awkward.

Anyway, I got the results from the MRI yesterday. And they weren't really anything good, nor were they specifically bad. Basically, the radiologists could not rule out anything, serious or less serious. So, I have to go see a liver specialist on Friday on my busiest day of work, on my LAST day of work for two weeks. But they recommended that I get in ASAP. They will probably end up doing a liver biopsy, although not this week, to see if they can identify my liver lesions.

As I am so good at doing, my brain exploded into a million different directions, each one worse and scarier than the other. That night, in order to help me calm down and fall asleep, I had two glasses of wine. Now, I know that my liver is hurting (and apparently covered in some bleeding-looking lesions) but I figured that two glasses of Merlot wouldn't push me over the edge.

So that's where things are. I have been staying in a lot and trying to get all of my homework done before I leave (unlikely!) This weekend I watched three movies: Inglorious Basterds (hurrah!), Coraline (spooky/cute!) and Couples Retreat (eh!). I have also spent some money on concert tickets - I will be seeing Ok Go, the Frames, and the Black Keys in Oct, Nov and Jan. Take that, liver!

White Knuckles

2010-09-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

This is definitely the best thing that happened to me all day.

This was the best thing to happen to me all weekend. Thank you Tapas Valencia.

Diddums-Wuz

2010-09-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

Not sure if life could be too much busier right. Or too much more stressful for that matter. I'm still going to more doctors and specialists - trying to find out what is causing all of my various issues. I have a liver MRI tomorrow and am a little nervous about that. I have to try and get a ton of homework done this weekend because *HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY* I leave for Europe next weekend!

The long awaited Mediterranean cruise is nigh and I am so super excited. There is just so much to be done for work, school, health and life before next weekend. Jeez louise. As Tim Gunn says, "Make it work!"

Monday I went to Children's Memorial Hospital for the first day of my field experience. I am not starting the research aspect of the project yet, but just wanted to shadow the attending I'm working with and reorient myself to the clinic. I almost had a panic attack when I walked through the doors. It's been about 8 years since I've been there and everything looks exactly the same. The fourth floor oncology clinic waiting room still has the same uncomfortable blue couches, there is still the same smell of stale coffee and the same cheerful nurses and MAs walking down the hall. It was so surreal to be back there and I think it's going to take some serious work to deal with being there again. This is especially true since my role has completely changed and I am not there as a patient, but as a health care worker. This is no longer about MY experience, but about the awesome kids and teenagers I will be working with. I got to meet a few patients and I even saw two of my campers who were there to get chemo. I got to visit with some old familiar faces and it was gratifying to know that they remembered me and recognized me (my voice at least) after so many years away. This is going to be interesting.

Rockin the Colonies

2010-09-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, wow wow. Things have been a little crazy lately.

Last week can be referred to as the week of Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I visited it three times (and will go two more next week) beginning with an ER admission on Sunday. I was really sick with GI stuff and wasn't able to even keep water down. I was super dehydrated and needed some IV fluids. Long story short - not sure exactly what caused it. Whether it was just a GI virus or a gallstone attack. Yes, a gallstone attack. Friends of ShaBang (and friends of me) will remember that last year I had my gallbladder removed. Apparently, you can still get gallstones. So...that's pretty great. Whatever it was, I was totally knocked out for most of the week with horrible body aches, migraines and a low grade fever. I finally made it back to work on Thursday.

So, in addition to my chronic headaches (July and counting), I now have this new added delight to deal with. I had a sinus CT on Saturday morning to rule out chronic sinus problems for my headache. If that is negative, I will have to find a headache specialist and/or try accupuncture. For my GI issues, I have a liver ultrasound on Thursday morning to look for whatever it is liver ultrasounds look for (including gallstones).

All of this coincides with my return to school. Yay!

At least I am still able to have fun times. Last night, Kate and I made our mark on Reggie's (one of my favorite places ever). We spent all night at the bar watching the different live acts. The first show was a really good blues rock band called Blue Road who played some of their set standing on the bar right in front of us. Then, we witnessed the most magical music sensation ever in the form of the 1960's rock band New Colony Six. I had no idea what was going on, but then I turned around to look at the stage and saw five men, well into the second half of their life, dressed in natty revolutionary-era outfits complete with ... well let me just post a picture from their website.

Apparently, they have been wearing these outfits since the 1960s. Anyway, they weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be, in fact, they were pretty enjoyable. However, I did not enjoy them anywhere near as much as the man next to me did. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. ** Side note: I called my mom this morning and she definitely remembered this band - moreso for their outfits than for any specific song. **

They were followed by a band called the Bama Lamas (I think they should have been called Onomatopeia!) who had every little rockabilly in the bar dancing and twisting. We also visited the VIP section next door (Reggie's Rock Club) to watch William Elliott Whitmore and his banjo. I quite enjoyed him but by that point of the night (1:30 AM) Kate and I were both a little too tired too appreciate the more mellow stylings of the banjo. He seemed nice enough and later I saw him sitting on a foam cooler, reading the newspaper. By this time, there was no one left at Reggie's Music Joint to watch the metal band the Mauds, as all of the 50+ New Colony Six fans were long gone (at home in bed with some warm milk).

Anyway, it was a blast of a night. I got to know some of the cats who work at Reggie's a lot better, laughed my ass off and danced a little.

But...today. Today!

Today, I discovered that my 10th great grandfather, Edward Doty, came to America on the Mayflower and was one of the first settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Unreal.

See, I've been watching that show on NBC called "Who Do You Think You Are?". It's all reruns of shows that aired last fall, but it traces the lineage of famous people like Sarah Jessica Parker and Brooke Shields back as far as possible. I had already spent my time on this project for my own family - but the show really got me thinking about things. I knew that the Dowty/Doty side of my family had been in the country since the beginning. I wondered if I could find anything about the earliest settler, Edward, on Google. Um, yeah. He even has his own Wikipedia page. He, along with the 40 other men on the Mayflower, signed the Mayflower Compact and set off to explore the area where they landed in December of 1620.

He came to America as an indentured servant to one Mr. Stephen Hopkins and family, along with his cousin, Edward Leister. Once here, the Edwards worked off their debts to the Hopkins family, and, apparently, tried to join it as well (more on that later). Edward Doty has the distinct honor of being in the first recorded duel in the new world. On June 18, 1621, Edward and his cousin, Edward Leister, were in a duel for the heart of their former master's young daughter, Constance Hopkins. They wounded each other (although not mortally) and were punished by Governor William Bradford by having their "head and feet tied together for an hour (it was supposed to have been for a whole day, but they were let go early because of their apparent suffering)." It should be noted that the lovely Constance did not marry either of these gentlemen.

Edward was also noted for his appearance in the Plymouth Colony Court records, having been sued or sued other colony members [including his father-in-law] at an impressive rate. His wikipedia entry notes that he was "on the losing side in the majority of these cases."

He married a young woman named Faith Clarke and had nine children, including my 9th great grandfather, Samuel. He died in 1655 at the age of (approximately) 57. It is just unbelievable to me. I am actually reading Sarah Vowell's Wordy Shipmates as we speak (or blog) which is a book about colonial New England and what kind of people the first Puritan settlers were. So now, that reading has taken on a whole new meaning, as instead of vague English settlers, I can picture a vague English (trouble starting) 10th great-grandfather.

Loaf-A-Roma

2010-08-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

Back to all the baby mama drama at work.

Weekend was good stuff.

I went to brunch with Kristen on Saturday at Orange. While we were waiting for a table (in the unfortunately unairconditioned place) we took a walk and stumbled upon something joyous. It's all meatloaf. Made to look like lovely cake / cupcake concoctions with mashed potatoes serving as the icing and decoration. I tried a Chicken Shish Ka Loafie and Kristen had a Mother Loafie. Yum. Our brunch was pretty good - despite sweating our brains off into our food.

Oh, on the EL ride back to my hood, I sat next to a Chicago Crazy. He talked most of the ride, to no one in particular (that I could tell). I wrote down what he said after he left.

What do you do for a living? Train dogs.
That man there is a millionaire.
You have something red dripping on your arm.
Welcome to America.
Shut the fuck up.

I really didn't care, I just wanted a seat since I was hot and tired. People gave me looks of incredulity / pity / awe. I always believe that it is sometimes safer to be next to the crazy. Definitely more so than across from the crazy (direct eye contact and all).

Saturday night I went to Ravinia for the first time to see Counting Crows. I caught the first train up and was so glad I got there a bit early because it was all out chaos and wall-to-wall people on the Metra. Jeanie and company were waiting for the train at the Rogers Park stop and weren't even allowed on. After getting off the train, I had to wait another 15 minutes to cross the tracks and luckily found Joanne and Nick pretty easily. Once inside, we were kind of floored by the amount of people that had already set up for the show. There were hardly any spaces left on the lawn. I gave some people the evil eye, as they had taken up space appropriate for 20 people, not 4 people. People had tables, buffets, flower arrangements, reclining chairs. It was kind of crazy. We had our own little table and some chairs, which we managed to wedge inbetween a tree and a trash can (after asking one nearby family to move ONE of their three wagons out of the way). It was a tight squeeze (and I had the lovely honor of sitting next to the trash can) but after finishing my bottle of Merlot, I wasn't too concerned any more. It was a good show, although you couldn't see anything from the lawn and the sound wasn't too good. I wouldn't go to the lawn at Ravinia for a band that I really wanted to hear/see/enjoy. But on a mild night with friends, food and drinks, it was lovely. Until we had to leave. Mad chaos for the train on the way home. Yuppies can push!

Sunday I drove out to Rosemont to have lunch with the lovely Erin at Chili's. It was so nice catching up and talking. And eating queso. Damn, I love that stuff. I stopped at Kohl's on the way home (holla!) and definitely had some serious adult purchases (picture frames, door mat, two new vacuums). I spent some dough but I am really happy with my vacuuming ability.

The rest of Sunday I spent preparing for my return to schooling adventures. I signed up for a Singles Bowling League that plays on Sundays beginning in November. My dad said I should do it, even though I can't bowl for shit.

The kitten kat is still living with my parents in Wheaton. She has no name but I was informed by my nephew that a) she is Grandma's cat now and b) her name is Mr. Destroyer. So, I think we should stick with that.

Friday Brain Drain

2010-08-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

This is week four of my constant headache! Whoo! I finally went to the doctor this week but he was stumped. We're starting out on the premise that it is a sinus infection although I don't really have congestion. So we'll see how that goes.

It has been an interesting and busy week.

I am trying to learn Italian. I have an audio program that I play while at work. I have gotten some strange looks from people walking by my office as I say "Parla inglese?" over and over. We are going to one less Italian port (Portofino is off of the cruise itinerary) and instead are going to Tunisia, Africa. So...maybe I should get an Arabic language thingy too. Seriously, we are going to four-different language countries (Italy, France, Spain and Tunisia). I am going to get so je ne sais quoi all over that biblioteca, grazie.

I took Tuesday off to go to the beach with Brandon and Ann. It was a very mild, cloudy day, but it was still nice not to be at work (and not to be sweating over every piece of clothing). We had a Subway picnic lunch and then went splashing around for a little while. The water wasn't as cold as I expected and Brandon had a fun time throwing water all over himself. We dug some holes, smashed some sand castles, good times were had. Tuesday night I enjoyed a special tour of the latest MCA exhibits with Cherie. The main exhibit was Calder sculptures, which were beautiful, and the adjoining room was modern artists who created pieces inspired by Calder's work. Our tour included some intensely weird photos by Gillian Wearing and a room full of homemade stuffed animals from Mike Kelley.

Wednesday I got a new cat. Well, it's not really my cat, per se. So, my coworker, Homeslice Price, calls me to ask if I want to adopt a kitten. A woman working in Pathology found an itty bitty kitten on her way to work and had her in a big box in her office. We immediately went down there. Holy cow. That was the cutest little furball ever! I definitely offered to take it home that night, but there was another Pathy who wanted her. Except she looked like my 8th grade gym teacher, smelled like cigarettes and "may or may not be" allergic to cats. Her boss / Pathy doctor, told her she couldn't take the cat so I ended up with it! Yay! I carried the furball home in a box and brought her to the vet. Little Miss Kitty weighs 1.1 pounds and seems relatively healthy. She is too little to get vaccinated and the vet advised keeping her isolated from Harley. So this meant that I had one cat in the bathroom and one cat sitting outside the bathroom, completely perplexed by the squeaking noises coming from the other side. Tiny cat would squeak. Harley would meow and look at me. It was a long night. My mom and dad are keeping Miss Kitty in Wheaton for now since she can't be near Harley. And we're waiting to see if my mom's friend wants to adopt her and give her a lovely little home. If not, she'll be a Dowty cat. Except that so far she seems to hate Bailey the dog and has spit on him. Cats can spit?

Yesterday while walking to work, I stepped over a rat. It was lying on the edge of the sidewalk. I paused and said "Are you a rat?" It didn't answer so I repeated myself. Then it lifted it's head off of the ground and looked at me. I swear to god it sighed out loud and then waddled off into the bushes. In the hallway on the way to work, there was a cockroach. On the way back to my car at night, there was an ENORMOUS raven standing on the lawn with its mouth open. It was standing over a dead ... thing. Wildlife! In the city!

Next week I begin school after a nice summer break. I will be taking intro classes to Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences. I will also be starting my field practicum at Children's Memorial Hospital, working with adolescents with cancer to conduct one-on-one focus interviews about what personal, social, familial issues they face. I will be shadowing one of the doctors there for awhile before I begin doing interviews on my own. I will be at Children's for one half-day a week and then make up that missed time at work during the rest of the week. So: full-time job, two classes, one internship. No worries.

Finally, there has been a big mystery today at work. Someone has been printing things about miniature furniture and doll houses all day. All day. And no one has come to pick up these lovely informative print outs yet. I am still here at work, waiting to see who the mini-furniture loving person is. I am determined to figure this out.

Two lunch dates with friends this weekend and Ravinia for Counting Crows on Saturday night! I think I will enjoy drinking wine out of plastic cups on a lawn.

The Raggedy Ann Cat is Definitely Smizing.

2010-08-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

I have a headache in my nose. It is the weirdest thing.

I have spent a quiet night at home. I am trying to become a Master Griller (actual thing) with my new grill and made some chicken marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and oregano. It was so good I surprised myself.

I went through all of my tupperware. I am being serious. I recycled some and organized the rest.

You are insanely jealous, I know.

Then I went on the internets and found these photos from a cat fashion show.

I don't possibly see how my Friday night can get any better.

Lollapaloozed

2010-08-13T12:24:00.001-07:00

I had a really good time at Lolla this year. Better than I expected. I love music, obviously. But I hate heat, giant crowds of people. I'm also not that fond of outdoor music festivals because the sound quality can be kind of shit if you are not up front. Also, I was going by myself and was worried about finding my friends in the mass of humanity and no cell phone signal that is Lollapalooza.

Hats off to the planners of Lolla though, because things were really well organized this year. There was a lot more space, water and portapotties everywhere. The food was awesome. Also, I usually got someone's text message about 2-5 minutes after they sent it, not 2 hours like has happened in the past.

SO...a week late...here is my review of the whole shabang.

Friday

I had to work on Friday so I didn't make it there until close to 4:30. I decided to get food right away and then wait for the Black Keys to come on stage. I got a chicken gyro which was way too freaking messy. Anyway, I crammed up close to the Black Keys stage for a good hour and a half waiting for them to come it. It was my first of many experiences that weekend surrounded by drunk, underage teenagers. With braces. Smoking pot and drinking some sort of liquor out of a sprite bottle. They were a little ridiculous.

The Black Keys were amazing when they came out. They were my #2 band to see that weekend and they delivered. Dirty rock. I was so happy when they played "Ex-Girl". And that they didn't play "Unknown Brother." I totally dislike that song. Sorry, Linda. And the Black Keys (who surely are reading this). Amazingly enough, I met up with Jeanie, Kevin and Patty after the set. There was some discussion over whether to see Lady Gaga or The Strokes. Lady Gaga won and I decided to head that way with the group. We met up with Linda, Rizzi and Grant at the south side food tents and then found a spot on the hill to watch Gaga. After twenty minutes of her set (complete with long-winded, inspirational speeches to her "Little Monsters" and creepy art videos of her biting into a bloody human organ) we made a unanimous decision to go see the Strokes. We caught their entire set. They were pretty rocking. In fact, they were definitely rocking. The lead singer, Julian Casablancas, was wearing dark jeans, a hoodie and a leather jacket. It was still roughly 85 degrees outside. Rock stars are kind of stupid.

Saturday

I showed up around 3:30 and met Jeanie and Kevin for Gogol Bordello. I have never heard or seen this band perform live before. I was really intrigued by the description in the Lolla booklet of the band being a "gypsy-punk troupe" that was a must-see.

They became one of my new favorite bands. They were so awesome - eclectic, high energy, insane, foreign. There was some guy dressed in a Scooby-Doo costume in the mosh pit. I ate hush puppies and ranch dip from the Southern (amazing). After Gogol Bordello - Patty and I went to go see Metric and Spoon. I was really excited for Spoon, but I had just seen them in July so I wasn't super concerned about getting close to the stage. It was a good set but I was dragging a little. I also was concerned because Britt Daniel was wearing white jeans and a white t-shirt. Not sure if that is a good look for anyone but P Diddy. We all went to Green Day (over Phoenix). They rocked for 2 1/2 hours. They literally never stopped rocking. They even rocked on their backs. It was sort of a cheesy show - lots of audience participation and some rocknroll gimmicks, but totally satisfying. They sounded great. Billy Joe has definitely become a better guitar player since they started with Dookie. And thank god they played some Dookie!

Sunday

Man, that was one hot day. I left my condo around 12:30 and I was really chilly, the wind was strong and it was pouring. Once I got off the bus at 1:00, the sun was out and it was back to the 90s. I found Marybeth and we sat on a blanket to watch Blitzen Trapper. Pretty good. Then went to see Hockey, a band Linda told me about. They were really fun and high energy. They played on a smaller stage so it was a more intimate feeling and there was actually shade. After Hockey, there was Yeasayer. I have gotten more and more into this band and was excited to see how their music would translate to a large open-air show. It definitely worked - very danceable, very anthemic. There was a man in a banana suit and a man in a green body suit. I caught some of MUTEMATH, who I remember seeing 4 years ago at Lolla on a very small stage. MGMT was very good live. Everyone was singing along. Some people smiled at each other. Good times. My #1 band to see this weekend was Arcade Fire, so I gave up the National to get as close as possible to the stage for them. Terri and I got pretty close to the stage where we waited in a seething mass of sweaty humanity. She eventually left to go find her hubby while I braved it out. I was rewarded by a ridiculously amazing show from Arcade Fire.

I have never seen them live before and was pretty blown away. The 12-piece band really sounds so powerful live. There was a little more moshing/crowd surfing than I would have liked or than I expected. However, you put a bunch of people in the sun all day and give them beer, they will mosh to almost anything. There was a 6 or 7 year old kid in his dad's arms in front of me and his mom kept freaking out (rightly so) anytime some overweight schlub came surfing towards us. I wanted to tell her that, maybe, just maybe, she should take her little child and go stand farther back. Just a thought.

Anyway, it was a great show. I nearly lost my camera (I held onto it with a vulcan death grip). I also had one of the straps on my tank top ripped off and had to have a nice young man tie my loose end to the remaining strap.

Good times!!

Last night

2010-08-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Last night's blog entry was brought to you by Delirium Tremens.

Earlier

2010-08-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just don't want to go home.

Let's say it's your birthday. And say you've been working hard all week. You decide to stop by Reggie's to get some music and another beer. Let's say that during this interlude, you find yourself watching television. And on this television, it is a tribute to Eminem. But it is not just any tribute. It is a tribute that involves the complete unabridged lyrics to every single Eminem song you have ever heard (closed caption style). And some songs that you have never heard of. You don't want to end a sentence with a preposition but you have no other choice.

You think: My, that Eminem is so serious. But, I see him acting in movies and music videos. He seems so charming. Perhaps he is a completely different man than I thought he was. After three hours of music video watching (with subtitles) you are sure...but not completely sure..that he might be a good role model.

Statistically speaking

2010-08-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

Statistically, you're twice as likely to be killed by a tipped vending machine than by a shark attack.

On another note: I had a lovely co-birthday dinner last night with my gal pals at Kroll's. It brings my total of giant pieces of chocolate cake consumed this week to 2.

Third and final birthday celebration on my actual birthday (tomorrow) with my co-workers. Then it's off to Lollapalooza. Arcade Fire here I come!

Medical Mystery

2010-08-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

I started off my birthday week by fainting in the doctor's office and then throwing up my breakfast.

Yay.

I have had more needles stuck in me than I can even count. Yet, lately I have not done well with getting IVs. In fact, I have done very poorly with getting IVs. This morning was no different. I had to get an MRI and that required an IV for the contrast. I asked the tech to start the IV in my right arm, as the veins in my left arm are all scarred and pretty useless from all the chemo I've had. So she started a line, but it immediately felt weird. Then she kept injecting saline into it to see if it was OK. Once she got a bigger gauge syringe to inject me with, my arm immediately started swelling a bit. I knew that the needle wasn't exactly in my vein. I managed to say "I need to lie down" before blacking out. I came to about 10 seconds later (I swear I had a dream during that time) thanks to some ammonia shoved under my nose. Then I threw up. After all that joy, I had to get another IV in my left arm. This one was on my forearm near my elbow. Ow. After THAT I got to lie on my stomach with my arms above my head for 45 minutes. If you've ever been inside an MRI, you will know that it is one of the loudest things ever.

It also reminded me, funnily enough, of a Black Eyed Peas song with a skip in it. I wonder if Will.I.Am has spent some time getting MRIs. I swear to god that I heard the opening line of "I've Gotta Feeling" about 60 times.

I was also consumed with thoughts of catching on fire. I watched an episode of the X-Files once and now that is all I can think about when I get a scan. Of course, it was the X-Files and not necessarily rooted in actual occurrences or possibilities. But still.

So, all in all, a great start to the week.

Weekend warrior

2010-08-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

What a lovely weekend. The weather was gorgeous and I had a lot of mini-adventures.

Friday night, we all went out to celebrate multiple birthdays (mine included) and the fact that our friend Jackie is leaving for Georgia (the country) for a year to teach English. We had dinner at a cute little BYOB in Ukranian Village called Greek Corner. I had chicken gyros. They made me so happy. Debauchery ensued. There were many people from France, I left my mark on Chris (literally) and Cherie made the most delicious guacamole I've ever tasted.

On Saturday I ventured over to the Newberry Library for their annual book fair and the Bughouse Square Debates. It was nice to go inside the library, as I'd never been. You'd think that a gigantic book fair would be right up my alley, and normally you'd be right, but I didn't anticipate the absence of air conditioning and the presence of a million people slowly browsing books. I was getting a pain in my neck from tilting my head to read titles. I did something I've never done before at a massive book sale: walked away without buying anything! The Bughouse Square Debates were outside (complete with tuba marching band, root beer floats and hot dogs). You can read about the history of the Bughouse Square Debates - they are very interesting. The key debate was about gun control in Chicago and was between Garrett Evans (a survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre) and Otis McDonald (plaintiff in the recent U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned the ban on gun ownership in Chicago). It was an incredibly heated debate, with loud, sometimes angry, and often unintelligible yelling from the crowd. Apparently this is in the spirit of the Bughouse Debates. I was a little uncomfortable. I love discussions. I will talk to almost anyone about anything, as long as both parties are respectful and listen as much as they talk. This didn't seem like a debate or discussion so much as angry shouting matches between peaceniks and gun lovers. I didn't stay too long.

Walking downtown afterwards, I realized that what makes me unreasonably angry is trying to navigate Michigan Avenue on a lovely sunny, summer day. People out shopping (usually many tourists included) walk so incredibly slow, stop on a dime with no warning and walk 5 in a row, making it impossible to navigate around them. Fellow Chicagoans who appreciate a nice, swift walk, will understand my aggravations.

On Sunday, after a nice cooked breakfast, I set off to explore Pilsen a little more. Unfortunately, most of the shops were closed (it being Sunday) and so I mostly wandered around sweating. I realized that what makes me unreasonably sad are missing pet posters. I can't even look at them.

I went to the Pilsen Farmers Market as well. There were very few farmers and only one stand of fruits / vegetables. There were, however, stationary booths and two booths of book sellers. The one book booth was a dream come true - I counted at least four of my favorite books among his treasures. I got into an excited conversation with an older woman about each of our favorite reads and I ended up buying hers. It's not too big of a risk, considering it won a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. I also bought an anthology of news stories that were considered too controversial to print, a collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri (another favorite of my new friend) and the book Confederates in the Attic.

My family came down later that day to celebrate my birthday. I opened my presents: a gas grill for my balcony and assorted grilling supplies, a Target gift card, and a fantabulous homemade picture frame from my nephew. We went to Dave & Busters for dinner (oh my how I love their green beans). My favorite part of the night was seeing Brandon transform from a 3.5 year old into a chocolate cake addict. He was insatiable. Then we played some games. We collected 897 tickets and...surprise surprise...all proceeds went to Brandon's toy collection. He was pretty stoked though.

Like Whoa

2010-07-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

I have worked out 7 days out of the past 10. I swam four laps in the pool without my lungs exploding. I am flossing every night. It's like I don't even know who I am anymore.

Maybe it's because I'm turning 27 next week.

Or maybe it's because I'm jealous of how tall and skinny my cat is.

Sailing Away on Pungent Sound

2010-07-20T09:05:00.001-07:00

Back from Seattle and with inflamed calves to prove it (damn you hills!)

I had an absolutely lovely time and Mary was a great host. Mel and I arrived on Wednesday night and spent Thursday on our own...on a boat. I am not a boat person. I am definitely not a 8 hours on a boat person. But, if you dangle the prospect of seeing whales in front of me, then I become a reluctant and Dramamine taking boat person. The cruise was a bit long - 3 hours to San Juan Islands and then another 2 hours looking for whales. At least we found some! There are three different pods of Orca whales that live near the San Juan Islands and we found one of them.

We saw at least 10-15 whales swimming around, splashing their tails and poking their heads above water. It was a really awesome experience. I just wish that I had brought some good binoculars as we were still pretty far away. The rest of the gang (Linda and Joann) arrived Thursday evening and we went to dinner at a local pub called Buckley's.

Friday morning we set off for a 4 mile hike on the Rattlesnake Mountain Trail which brought us 2100 feet up with amazing views. We had a picnic lunch at the top and then came back down (much easier!). After some showers we walked to the Space Needle and took a Duck ride/tour of Seattle. These are the bus looking vehicles that can also go into the water. It was a little long and a little corny but we had a pretty good time jammin to the music and and quacking at people. One of my favorite parts of the trip happened on Friday night. Mary joined a softball league (The Underdog League) and had missed her first two games - we convinced her to go to the third one that night. To prepare, the rest of us headed to the local grocery store to pick up tall boys of Rainier (Seattle's premier cheap ass beer) for tailgating. We caused quite a stir - some sassy ladies drinking beer out of paper bags (or in Joann's case: eating Greek yogurt) and coming up with the most innovative and awesome cheers that the Underdog League has ever seen. Awesome. Afterwards - we headed to Ozzie's bar near Mary's apartment to continue the festivities with karaoke. Showed Seattle how Chicago gets down with some Salt N Pepa, Rage Against the Machine and Coolio.

Only slightly hungover on Saturday, we walked down to famous Pike Place Market to eat large carrots, smell raw fish and see the sights. The fruits and veg stalls were amazing and I saw some of the lovelist (and cheapest) flowers I've ever seen.

I tried my first plum (yay!) and uncooked chocolate pasta (boo!). We headed back to Mary's for some quick R&R before heading out for sushi. After dinner we went to her friend Zach's house for some Rock Band and beers.

Sunday morning was spent walking around Freemont (an artsy area of Seattle known for its street art and sculptures). We got to climb around the giant troll that resides under Aurora bridge and explore the Sunday Freemont market.

I bought way too much stuff. After a nice lunch we headed out to Woodinville to visit the Chateau Ste Michelle winery. It was a free tour, led by a slightly tipsy guide (I swear), and we got three free tastings. Afterwards, I was the only one game for more wine and tried four more. On the drive back we stopped in Kirkland (sort of like a Naperville) for some yogurt and more street festival exploring. Back in Seattle, we walked around the Space Needle and Queen Anne (Mary's neighborhood) while Mary packed for her trip to Atlanta and then grilled out dinner on the roof of Mary's building. Mary was brave (or foolish) enough to let us borrow her car after dinner and the four of us found our way to downtown Seattle to visit the Seattle Central Library (I really wanted to check out the architecture of the building, designed by Rem Koolhaus) and stage an impromptu photo shoot on the premises.

Our flight left Seattle at 6am which meant that the cabs were there bright and early at 4. My momma was nice enough to pick me up from the airport (with Kitty Kat in tow) and chaffeur me back to my condo. It's always a nice post-vacation surprise to find your home mildly infested with ants and lacking any water pressure whatsoever (yay for showering at the gym!).

All in all, a lovely lovely vacation with some great pals. I think I might actually be able to live in Seattle. I loved the atmosphere - the shops, the people and the restaurants. It seemed very unique and awash in culture and fun times. The only thing stopping me is those damn hills.

Why aren't I a cat?

2010-07-07T18:06:00.001-07:00

They're not even trying to disguise the fact that cats basically get to have as much weed as they want.

In other news, camp was fab as always. One of my campers introduced me to shower naps (and the less popular: dance floor naps). Ask me about that when you see me, its a pretty good story. I had eight lovely boys and two lovely co-counselors in my room. Brooke, Aidan (one of the little dudes) and I spent a memorable morning at the lake making up songs about sausage milk, worm souffle and bacon popsicles. I learned how to build a fishing rod and got up close and personal with worm guts. We had a shaving cream fight (whipped cream would have been more advisable). I really wish that I could post pictures for everyone to enjoy but we've been warned against posting pictures of small children on Facebook or the internets (wonder why!?).

My mom got a reverse 911 call today. That's where 911 calls you and tells you to keep your ass inside as some shit is going down in your area. Turns out there was a man with a gun in our neighborhood. I saw on the news tonight that he actually shot and killed himself. Sad stuff. But, did you know that 911 can call you?

I'm headed off to Seattle next week to visit Mary, along with Mel, Joanne and Linda. Adventures! Hiking, winery, whale watching cruise, no humidity. I'm very excited.

Weddings Etc.

2010-06-13T19:13:00.001-07:00

Erin and Raf got married on Saturday. They had a wedding photo booth. It was a good idea.

The wedding was beautiful and a blast. During the long 90s dance music section, Mary declared that it was the "best ten minutes" of her life. There was a creepy doll fair going on in the room next door. I ate half of a container of ranch dip around 1:00 AM.

Lovely weekend. Preparing for an intensely long week - new intern orientation. My fourth years graduate on Friday and then I have to be at camp on Saturday morning at 10 am. Anxious for all the work that has to be done before then but excited!

From the mouth of Brandon

2010-06-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

Summer craziness has begun. There is so much going on that I haven't had time to compose my thoughts. But what I do have time for is "From the mouth of Brandon."

This Sunday we celebrated my big brother's birthday by dining out a conspicuously empty (maybe 2 other diners) Italian restaurant near Six Flags. Brandon was getting a bit stir crazy, having finished eating about 2 seconds after his food arrived. To keep him entertained, we began telling jokes. The first joke went like this:

Ann: Knock Knock
Brandon: Who's there?
Ann: Banana
Brandon: Banana who?
Ann: Banana banana banana
Brandon: Hysterical laughter

This got him on a nonsensical joke telling role.

Brandon: Knock Knock
Us: Who's there?
Brandon: Knife
Us: Knife Who
Brandon: Knife knife knife
Us: Ha?

Then, of course, this happened...

Brandon: Knock Knock
Us: Who's there?
Brandon: Kay
Us: Kay who?
Brandon: KAY KAY KAY
Us: oh my god

Of course that was screamed out loud. Thankfully there were only a few other people in the restaurant. But that also meant that the restaurant was incredibly quiet when our little man told his not-at-all intentional white supremacist joke.

So, that was fun.

Wait Wait

2010-05-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

What's that you say? Why yes, I was sitting mere feet from Mo Rocca tonight. Kate and I went to see a taping of "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" for NPR. Very good stuff.

Now I won't have anything to listen to on Sunday. But it was worth it.

Geeks unite!

Lostie

2010-05-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

I read a comment tonight from a fan of the show LOST who said that she never understood the Trekkie phenomenon until she started to watch Lost and got sucked in. I feel that.

I have never been so sad to see a show end. It was such a brilliant, smart, funny and emotional show.

Phew. I feel all sentimental and mushy. And at the risk of coming off like a total fan geek, I'm going to stop blogging.

New kid on the block

2010-05-18T17:30:00.001-07:00

Introducing ShaBang Books.

From the mouth of Brandon

2010-05-17T18:26:00.001-07:00

As promised*, another installment of "From the Mouth of Brandon."

"I will poop, and poop and poop your house down." - April 15, 2010

Sometimes even the classics need to be rewritten.

*to no one really...

Finally

2010-05-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

After 4 years of faithful weekly reading and subscription to The New Yorker, I have found a cartoon that a) I understand and b) that speaks deeply to me on all levels.

Amen.

Conspiracy Theories

2010-05-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

I am certain that the UIC Fitness Center is conspiring against me to prevent me from getting in shape. Two of the last three fitness classes I have signed up for have been cancelled. I am willing to pay money for these and yet, they have given me my money back and told me to take my out-of-shape, unflexible body elsewhere*.

*This is not actually what they said.

Anyway, this past weekend was Mother's Day and I took my new cat friend, Harley, home to meet the folks and Bailey dog. Things went swimmingly. I am so happy (and surprised) that I have managed to adopt two cats that seem to like Bailey and that Bailey seems to LOVE. Harley is decidedly interested in eating all of Bailey's food, but Bailey seems quite satisfied to eat cat food, so perhaps they work out an agreement.

The only glitch in the weekend was the god-awful fight that Harley put up when I put her into her carrier and then into the car. She spent the entire 45-minute drive home howling, scratching and trying to bite through the door of her carrier. It was not fun, at all.

Tonight I will be babysitting for Mary & Jean's adorable little nephew. Tomorrow my sister-in-law Ann and I are going shopping in Wicker Park and then it's off to celebrate Cherie's birthday.

Street Sounds

2010-05-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

Musick by Mr. Fish