Saturday, November 05, 2005

Dress Up Weekend!

If this blog played music, it would play "Look Sharp" by Joe Jackson while you were reading this post. I guess it would play something like "Love Train" if you were reading the post about the first car being for singles. Which leads me to a fun conversation I had with Scratch:

S: Where did you see that picture of the sign?
M: Gaper's Block - someone's flickr site.
S: I always just sit in the last car
M: That's the gay car! Allegedly!
S: Really?
M: Well do you see a lot of gay dudes when you take the train home?
S: I don't know - when do I not see a lot of gay dudes on the train?

Ah, my ever lovin' Scratch.

So this is going to be a very dressy, or as Scratch just put it, "goin' out" weekend! Last night we went to dinner at Bistro Campagne to celebrate my new 'lateral move' at work. I get to add the word Manager to my title and I'm away from the mind-numbing crap. Awesome. Scratch is still talking about the duck. I had the pork chops, and a fabulous salade epinarde. Mmmm. Being a Friday night, it was very loud, but I could see how it would be a nice romantic evening instead of a big yuppie party on a slow night. Food: A, Service, A, Environment, C.
After dinner, we went to check out this mysterious Bad Dog Tavern we live a block away from but never go to. Bill V. was the DJ so we were also curious, as he has commented here on a couple of occasions and he & Scratch have similar music tastes. We were surprised that it is more of a restaurant, and less of a bar. We had a couple of drinks, and by 11:30 or so our old asses were sleepy so we went home. While I initially had wanted to introduce myself to Bill, I got that weird "I'm not a stalker or anything" complex and so we just left. I mean, how do you introduce yourself to someone (and I think this especially applies to women introducing themselves to men) and not seem like some weirdo? "Hello, internet friend." Gaah.

Today we are heading to charming Oak Park, to attend the wedding of two of Scratch's oldest friends, Don and Janet. They were in a band together, and lived on the mean streets of Hobart IN for a time. They are getting married at the Carlton Hotel, and we love our wine, so we're getting a room. During our visit to Oak Park I plan to visit A Tangled Web, which sounds like a charming knitting store. This is not exciting for Scratch, since he goes to school in River Forest twice a week and so is intimately familiar with the parking garages of Oak Park. But I get to wear a fancy party dress and dance and stuff so this will be fun!

OK, enough blathering - on with the weekend.

PS Also SCORE! Because my fantasy NBA waivers went through today. I have an awesome team this year. Wanna know the name? Well tune in tomorrow for a special surprise!

Friday, November 04, 2005

No Fat Chicks, Either!


Singles
Originally uploaded by paytonc.

Good Grief! I smell a moneymaking opportunity for the CTA, partnering with match.com for some sort of transit-based dating service.

Will panhandlers frequent these cars more often - after all, singles have more disposable income than married folks right? Will there be a new code emerging - "If someone in the front car sits across from you, they like your face, but if they sit behind you they just want 'friends with benefits." Will there be some sort of hanky code in place?

And the signmaker seems to have put a lot of effort (and $ unless done at work or something) - I hope he or she got a date out of it.


Thursday, November 03, 2005

So, I'm a little late.

But after seeing Skully in Florida over the summer, and then after the ER visit, I decided to step up on the knitting thing. I've been knitting scarves in garter stitch for many years, but I finally got off my butt, checked a book out of the library, and got to it. I figured out how to purl and away we went. I really enjoy it, and it's given me an excuse to check out Audible.com so that I can listen to books whilst knitting. My friend Tressa and her sister in law are like me, and so we're forming our own 'sick of scarves' club.

Being un-cool, the thought of hipster knitting circles terrifies me. And I'm way too much of a novice for an all-knitting blog. So I'm keeping it close to the vest - but I derive a ton of pleasure from it! So I'm outing myself as a closet knitter!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

I Wonder If They Write For Pitchfork

I wonder if these are the same kids that felt terrorized at that Ghostface show. Or maybe the Chicagoist contributors who felt like jumping on the bandwagon.

I'm not going to say that I hate U. of C. people. And I will not use the term "Frontin'" at all. But there is just this big group of white people who think that bridging racial barriers means pretending to be black, a la Steve Martin in Bringing Down the House. Ugh! In my age group (28-35) it's a bunch of people whose only interaction with African Americans was watching the Cosby Show and maybe liking some hip hop. Now that MTV went beyond YO! MTV raps, it's a bunch of white kids (16-27) who think all black people must love Jay Z and talk "ghetto." Guess what? It's possible, really - to like hip hop and not dress in Fubu head to toe. It's also possible to be white, and hang out with non-white people, and not have to ape their culture to appreciate it. Same thing applies to non-white people, you're not "acting white" by having a white friend. It's even possible to enjoy aspects of someone else's culture without exploiting it. You CAN like ethnic foods without having to wear a costume. What is all this playing dress-up instead of actually hanging out with people or learning about them outside of a college class? Parents, what have you taught your children?

There really is a fine line when it comes to cultural blending - where does a genuine appreciation or enthusiasm for a culture by an outsider stop being nice and start being insulting? I have no idea where it starts or ends, but I will opine that the U of C party sounds like a bunch of white youngsters who purport to be "street" and tell their friends that they live on the "south side" even though they probably don't leave the campus...ever. And that's not cool. And if you are in the camp that thinks it's ridiculous that this made the paper, well yeah, it is I guess. Those kids don't deserve this kind of attention.


Chicago Tribune | U. of C. gets rap for theme of party

Monday, October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!


Skeleton Movie
Originally uploaded by baranpower.
Weenie! If ye be trick-or-treatin' 'round Montrose & Western, I'll be there with candy for ye! And no ALDI candy, just the good stuff!

I made a jack-o-lantern this weekend. No digital camera anymore so no pics. Trust me, it's cool. It's a happy vampire pumpkin.

More later!

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