Bathroom Woes

This morning I went to take a shower, and there was plaster in the tub, and a hole in the ceiling above my shower head. So now my tub is a mess, and I'm afraid to take a shower for fear that the ceiling will fall on me. Tim said if the ceiling isn't fixed today, he will let me take a shower at his house after he gets home from work. I called down to the office and left a message from the building manager about the problem, that and the fact that the light in the bathroom won't shut off. One of the rental ladies answered, so hopefully she will give him the message, and this will become a priority. Ugh.

Things I Noticed

Friday
We went walking around and checking out a few stores in the Roscoe Village neighborhood. In most cases we were the only customers in the store. How do these places stay open?

Roscoe Village would be a much cooler neighborhood if the Red Line ran through it.

Pineapple curry is good. But temperature (not spicy) speaking, the pineapple is the hottest part.

Saturday
There were two men silently saying the rosary and pacing in unison in front of the Planned Parenthood near my apartment. My guess is that they were abortion activitsts, although I didn't actually ask them, so I could be wrong. The main thing is, though, that that particular branch of Planned Parenthood doesn't do abortions. If that is the one you go to and you need an abortion, you will be sent somewhere else. I think only one or two Planned Parenthood branches in Chicago actually perform abortions.

Every time we go to IHOP and order stuffed French toast it is served differently and costs a different price.

I know the movie "Pretty in Pink" so well that I can know exactly word for word what is edited when it is shown on WE.

On the train platform on my way to work this morning I saw the gross guy who sat next to me on the train last week. I made sure I got on a different car.

The girl who sat down next to me was carrying a huge bag. She smelled like last night's beer.

After I got off the train, I was walking past a newsstand. One of they guys working there yelled out, "Smile! You're on your way to work!"

The computers and the printer in the psychology department computer lab are really slow. It's printing one page at at time and pausing. Ugh.

I got another free lunch today. Spaghetti this time.

It's amazing how you can sometimes tell who will get off at what el stop just by someone's appearance.

Walk

I had to go to Blockbuster to get some movies. Normally I go to Hollywood Video because it's closer, but last night they didn't have "Road to Perdition", so I left empty handed. Also, they only have the R-rated version of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and not the unrated version. Amazingly enough, Blockbuster had both. The closest Blockbuster is about a 45-minute walk away. But since it's a bit nicer out today, I decided to go for it, and I'm really glad I did.

I found a few new restaurants I want to try. They are places I drive past all the time, but they're small and I never really noticed them. One is a Colombian restaurant. It's a bit pricy, but it might be fun one day. I also saw 2 Ethiopian restaurants. I had seen one before, but not the other. I looked at their menus, and they looked pretty good. I also saw the menu of a Bosnian restaurant. I'm not sure if I want to try it or not...maybe one day when I'm feeling adventerous.

I also saw a couple of cool shops. One was a shop selling Southwestern US items. They had a lot of things like pillows, clothing, jewelry, etc. I didn't get to go in because it wasn't open yet.

But the coolest thing of all was the antique mall the opened a few blocks away. There was so much stuff in there that I wanted it wasn't even funny. First, there was this art deco bedroom set consisting of a dresser with mirror, chest of drawers, night stand, and a vanity with mirror and seat...all for about $950. Some of the wood wasn't in the best condition, but it was certainly decent and very pretty. There was a London fire department coat from the 1950s that looked so warm, but it was expensive. There were all sorts of cool vintage clothing and jewelery. But the coolest thing of all, I thought, was this 1950s kitchen table and chairs. They were like that diner style...gray formica top and made of metal. Oh, so cool! The table, leaf, and 4 chairs for $250! So if anyone wants to get me something for my birthday, there you go. There was also this really funky set of dishes that was black and white. That was cool too. Geez, I could have gone crazy in the antique mall.

I hate snow

Normally snow doesn't bother me that much. But today snow was a huge pain in my butt. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground. A decent snowfall, but not horrendous. Usually. But because of the way the wind was blowing down my street, one one end of the block there was no snow on the street (you could see the concrete), and on the other end of the block, the snow was deeper than the bottom of my car. Guess which end of the block my car was parked on. So I called my boss and said that unless a plow came there was no way I could get down the street. All because of the damn wind blowing the snow all down that end of the block. A while later the plow came down. The street was now more clear, clear enough for me to drive on it. Only now my car was buried. I spent about 3 hours total (on and off as I needed a break from time to time) to shovel my car out. My boyfriend came over before he went to work to help shovel me out the rest of the way, direct me in getting out of my spot (like if I should pull back straight or try to turn the wheel, since I couldn't see the snow behind me), and be there in case I needed a push (by this time someone else cleared out their car but piled all the snow in the middle of the street behind where their car was). So to thank him I got him lunch and drove him to work. I parked my car on another block, where the wind blew the snow away, so there were no big snow piles.

I took a long hot shower when I got home, but I'm still really sore and my muscles really hurt. I put on some Tiger Balm, and I will put on some more before bed. Now I'm just going to relax. I can barely move. I want some pop, and I'm not willing to walk next door to get some. I just want to collapse. My legs feel like rubber.

So, the snow. Since this afternoon 2 inches has fallen. It's still coming down. I hope it doesn't get that much worse overnight. If it doesn't, maybe getting to work won't be too tough. But the guy on the news just said that they expect snow to fall at an inch an hour overnight. Great. You know, it figures. We haven't had a really huge snowfall yet this year. Slightly over a week before I leave my job, meaning I will no longer have a 25-mile commute, we get creamed. Great. Ugh. In just over a week, I will no longer have to drive to get to work period. I can either walk around campus or take the el to my part-time job. But no, the bad snow has to come while I still have the 25-mile commute each way. Figures. My luck.

Blah

Last night Tim and I went out with a friend of mine who I haven't seen in a while, and the guy she's been dating. We went to Delilah's, which is one of my all-time favorite places. And it was The Smiths/Morrissey night!!! And I have conviced Tim to go to Delilah's with me once a month, and in return I promise to go to Lucky Strike with him once a month. So there. I was very happy and giddy until I started not feeling well :(