I think our boss just gave us off on Friday!!!

Merry Christmas!

Haha yeah! I love Jesus now!

we get out at 3 on friday which is cool except i’m flying out of ohare at 8 and was planning to go straight from work to the airport. i don’t want to come home because it’s more awkward to get to ohare from my house. so i guess i’ll go to a museum or a movie or wander around wicker park for a little bit.

i feel surprisingly good this morning, aside from a little tired. i went to the diner near my house this morning and had an omelet and potatoes, which i think helped.

I was tired and headachey this morning, but I drank some coffee and that helped. Now I just want to go home. Also I’m annoyed at how obscenely productive I’m being today. I have churned out more work this morning than I sometimes finish in two days.

I made it through without a trace of a hangover. I could go for a nap, but that’s no different from any day.

I think the plan for the rest of the day is:

Shower

Take shirts to cleaners

Haircut

Sit at the neat little locally-owned tea shop and organize my Firefox bookmarks.

i’m eating a chipotle burrito. i decided that i will go straight to o’hare when i get out at 3 and gamble on trying to get put on an earlier flight. it’s too cold outside to wander around.

I’m bored. Who is in town this weekend? I want to do some shit. I want to see people and I want to see life.

Jesse: me too! We could do that kind of thing together, if you would have any part of that.

Heaven help, my parents gave my grandmother a laptop and set up an email account for her for Christmas.

I’m at Ohare and through security 3.5 hours before my departure time. My flight doesnt even have a gate yet. But there’s a semi competent lite jazz band playing Xmas carols.

And directly across from the band, seats with electrical outlets!

This band is not very good.

Oh shit they’re doing a seriously awful blues jam now. I guess they didn’t learn enough Christmas songs.

Ask if you can sit in and then

AND THEN STEAL THEIR BANDWIDTH

Haha, it took a minute for me to figure out that the image had been replaced. V. funny with the wrong one. What was the image supposed to be?

Kenan, what are you up for? I may not want to drink? Email me.

It was Michael J Fox totally shredding in the prom scene from Back to the Future.

My mother sent us six pounds of scrapple for Christmas.

BAND WITH THEFT

hey if any of you dingalings want to go with me to ikea tomorrow around 11 (date and time not negotiable) lemme know

i’m driving there anyway, might as well have some company

We are at Maria’s in Bridgeport and it is everything I hoped for and more. Also I might be drunk.

Amanda how was Ikea? Normally I’d be on that invitation but we were just there not too long ago.

Oh hey I added TWO SONGS to the spread sheet.

It was fine! Not too busy, no traffic, and I got exactly what I wanted. Now my records have a slightly more dignified home.

Expedit?

yup, what other options do i have? it’s tons better than what i was using before.

We have two! It’s a delightfully versatile and cheap piece of furniture.

And we don’t have any records.

i have one of your records and i cherish it

before today we were using this “coffee table” i made for dan for his 25th birthday to hold the stereo — and knowing me, you know that tables/precision work/carpentry is not my strong suit. it was ridiculously conceived, painted red and aqua, and covered in superman comics and that lacquer people use to make decoupage or cover the wood on a bar. still, we’ve been using this monstrosity to hold the stereo for all this time.

today, on this very day, we have graduated to expedit.

i realize that the superman table is an object of love, but i’m tired of looking at it and wondering if it’s ever going to collapse. still, not going to pitch it, don’t worry.

Wow, Kr is throwing up tons of pictures of us from the wedding. My nap was interrupted by a fury of iPhone alerts of being tagged.

guys my sister is going to be in chicago for a few days later this week, with old college pals: what should she do???

Dance like no one is watching and judging her clothing choices.

Maria’s in Bridgeport

xp lolollllll

lol

rw, what is she into, where is she staying, etc?

Also, you know the town, so I guess you’re asking for special events, new discoveries?

well i was pretty terrible at doing chicago-stuff while i lived there, i just hung with pals and went to bars, so i dunno??

Wow, Kr is throwing up tons of pictures of us from the wedding. My nap was interrupted by a fury of iPhone alerts of being tagged.

Argh — sorry about that. It was actually me. I had no idea it would sent multiple notifications to each taggee.

I will think about what I would do. Is she going to be on her own?

A cop in front of Water Tower Place just remarked to another cop “it’s like fuckin Ford City out here tonight.” I can’t think what that might mean besides that there were large numbers of black people pouring out the doors at closing time.

Xp its fine, I just wondered where all the pictures went.

rw i don’t know what your sister should do — i would probably just send her to time out or the reader and look for things that are interesting to her. if she’s hanging out with gal pals, she probably isn’t like TOURISM, so they will have the resources to figure out how much or little they want to do while they’re here.

also guys? totally going to this tonight, pls join if you feel you would enjoy it

Free with admission, takes place in MCA theater
J.R. Robinson is a Chicago-based sound artist who works under the name Wrekmeister Harmonies. He has exhibited his videos in numerous museums. Robinson screens his video, “You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me,” and conducts a live score that is sonically similar to ambient black metal. Several renowned artists participating in this performance include Jef Whitehead (Leviathan), Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors), Bruce Lamont, Sanford Parker (Twilight), Stavros Giannopolous (Atlas Moth) and Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded) as well as a string section and harpist.

I remember seeing bloodyminded back at the wire fest several years ago. All of his songs were really short.

Hey, I’m back in DC now but I meant to say thank you to everyone who came out last Thursday! It was a lot of fun, and Delilah’s was a great choice. Hopefully I’ll land some sort of job and move out there soon.

<3

now his songs are really long! or at least the band he has been singing with. i think this is going to be a pretty great show, and also FREE and AT 6PM and AT AN ART MUSEUM.

Hi ZS—it was really good to meet you. Good luck with the job. I assume no word yet?

likewise, Jesse. Officially, I find out on January 9th. So I have to wait a few weeks. But I’m hoping that I’ll get unofficial word a little sooner? I’m not really sure what to expect.

sorry i missed you ZS — i was all over the place last week, lotsa miles logged

i have yet to be present when someone gets the malort treatment. how is that possible?

double malort treatment. i was so malorted that i was coerced into buying a second round of malort. stockholm syndrome!

You INSISTED on the second Malort!

Also, you tried to be a hero for the first round, so the second one taught you what’s what.

TBF, the first round was not nearly as gross as I remembered.

wait, how did i try to be a hero for the first round? as i remember, i accepted the malort with cautious humility and downed it in an appropriate fashion.

You weren’t duly fazed by it.

then i wasn’t trying to be a hero, it’s just who i am

^to be read in the voice of Sawyer from LOST

I could really go for a burger + fries from the Billy Goat. It’s too far to walk today.

Hello. My #8 bus is lost. We are goin north on Lasalle. Just passed Oak St.

We are loooooosssssttttter than fuck.

Now we are out of space and time.

There’s a reroute for the #8 but that doesn’t seem quite right...

Has anyone alerted the driver?

The reroute(in effect since December 2010 (are you Jensplaining??)) is supposed to leave Halsted by going west on North Branch, across Goose Island, East on Division, then back on route.

There might have been A re-reroute, bc the driver said we were going east on Chicago, on Larrabee, etc, but she couldn’t fun Larrabee and now we are

OH GOD WHAT HAPPENED???!?!?!?

Poop, I thought the reroute would be over this December. I was looking forward to the treat of a slightly shorter commute, but instead they have just re-rerouted.

Temporary Reroute

Route(s):

#8 Halsted

Length:

Friday, December 23, 2011—5:00 AM

to Monday, April 30, 2012—6:00 PM

Why is service being changed?

Buses are rerouted due to reconstruction of the Halsted Street Bridge over the North Branch of the Chicago River (847 N. Halsted).

I JUST WANT MY LIFE BACK

That metal thing at the art museum was so great! I only wish the video had been as interesting as the music but guess what—you can’t have it all, especially not at that price.

bump

lovely lady bump

Oh hey, there’s a new pizza place next door on Diversey. It’s called Pizza Persona, and I don’t recommend it.

I considered biking across the new bridge yesterday. Is it open to Chicago Ave now?

a. The pizza is really not good. It’s all quasi-personal-sized (10“ I think) thin crust pizzas, which is fine. But the crust is not good, and the toppings were sparse and not great. It’s cheap though, so I guess if you need calories but are short on cash—well no, if that’s the case, just go to McDonald’s.

xp—No, I don’t think so! I was going to mention that—a while back a cabbie told me that they were going to be repairing/replacing *all* of the bridges and viaducts on Halsted, and that’s what they’re doing. The one that goes over the south branch is now under construction. :(

I saw a car driving down it the other day and was thus confused. The bike lanes look nice.

I went to the planetarium yesterday and saw Jupiter through a giant telescope. It ruled.

(D and I went for our <3 anniversary <3)

ha—I sneezed while reading LL and Corey’s posts and it looked like “I saw a car and Jupiter driving down it the other day.”

Pizza persona looks annoying. I will never eat there.

“discover your pizzanality”

I ordered The Hipster by name and it didn’t feel good to do so.

Courtney and I ate there. Her opinion was that it was actually the worst pizza she’d ever eaten.

It was bad enough that we went and ate a second lunch at Noodles & Co., which has yet to let anyone down.

what do you guys think about this dramatic caveman illustration?

(it’s from a book about ancient humans)

i think i want that book about ancient humans

i’ve always really loved the artwork in this book and i finally got around to scanning it

this is one of my favorite images

this is the cover

is all of the text on that burnt sienna background? that’s awesome, if so. very primordial.

yep. it’s all red, white, and black. for an otherwise purely informative series nonfiction book about cavepeople, it’s remarkably arty!

marek, our protagonist caveman, is wearing a bear pelt/corpse in that illustration btw

Very nice.

I’m on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I’m on the Brown line.

writing a dress code policy woo-hoo

10 minutes left until we close woo-hoo

Make it so everyone must wear a clever hat on Tuesdays.

“Socks must match, except on alternating Thursdays, when socks are prohibited.”

T-shirts strictly forbidden, unless they bear the logo of 1) the library or 2) Big Johnson.

It would be wonderful to make the policy extremely convoluted and absurd. Though I guess technically it’s not a policy but a clarification of a policy.

loljenny

things i need to do, but cannot manage to do so far yet today:

— laundry

— produce market shopping

— washing the dog

— changing out of my head-to-toe green loungewear outfit

— going outside

— combing my hair

I did manage to take a shower and eat lunch.

i look like a tired snowpea.

I haven’t combed my hair today either. Or gone outside or done laundry but tbf I didn’t have very high aspirations today re: activity.

Fixing to make a roast chicken, sweet potatoes, and collards, though.

Yo, real ilx is back.

It’s not loading.

never mind, it finally loaded.