Let's see.
my birthday
(...which was what, almost six weeks ago now...(rolling my eyes)...)
...was wonderful.
I took the bus down to Chicago and Loopy had a surprise for me... dinner at a hipster sushi place... fun & yummy...if a little too hip, or did I mention that.
Then we returned to the apartment where I found... a kitchen table full of presents! Yay! Lots of lovely smelly things from LUSH and all sorts of other items I had wanted, only better than I had imagined. Perfect.
Then the next day, my actual birthday, we went to the DuSable Museum of African American History—we had wanted to go for some time & my bday seemed a good occasion.
There was a decent section on Africa, where I learned quite a bit; the rest was full of all kinds of interesting things, but somewhat inconsistently labeled and curated (looks like it lacks money, surprise surprise).
The most thorough and clearly-labeled section was a good-sized room devoted to Ms. Annie Turnbo Malone (1869-1957), an early-twentieth-century entrepreneur who created a multi-million-dollar corporate empire selling beauty products. That was interesting (I especially enjoyed the 1920's advertisements, with their engraved illustrations of "Famous Black Beauties of History," including the Queen of Sheba and Casseopaeia), and it certainly epitomized its time period beautifully.
And yet...I couldn't help wishing that there had been as much attention given to the Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam, for example—there was only about five feet of wall space for both of them together, and they were tucked way back in a corner.
It was kind of a disappointment, because Chicago is so important in Black history—it should have a really top-drawer museum thereof.
Well, it looks like they're working on it all the time, so maybe it will get there. All in all it was a fun expotition (nother nod to Pooh) and I am glad to have seen it... I picked up a couple of posters and a CD—happy birthday to me, and contribution (a small one!) to the museum.
After lunch we went to the aquarium, which I'm going to talk about more under Amy's visit so I won't now.
And for dinner, to Salpicón! where we thoroughly enjoyed the chef's seven-course tasting menu (still can't get over the price—absolutely fantastic, delicious, fashionable cuisine—yet, seven courses for sixty dollars! Toto, I don't think we're in New York City anymore!) and some lovely wine as well. It was a perfect evening.
Patty & Fred visit
The next day we met up with Rebekah's sister and brother-in-law to wander around a massive RV Show (where Fred had to go on business). That was really a hoot.
We went into all these different RV's—who knew there was such a variety of options and prices? Everything from the tiny little pop-up trailer....to the luxurious cruiser with a roof deck with built-in grill & mini-bar. Un-&#$%ing-believable. And some of them even got decent gas mileage! (Not the one with the roof deck, though). I always love all the little space-saving things that pop out of the wall and so on.
Finished it up with a massive dinner (which in turn was finished up with a slice of carrot cake bigger than my head!) and back to their hotel room to watch a pay-per-view movie...
I accidentally ordered a movie while trying to see a preview, so we watched Yours, Mine & Ours, which, lucky for us, was actually quite enjoyable. ("That's your best screw-up this year," Patty told me after it was over... uh... yeah... thanks sis).
The next day we went to the Water Tower Mall in the morning, where Patty bought me two blouses from J.Jill (yay! thanks Patty!); then we hit my favorite Italian place, Papa Milano's, for lunch. Patty & I split the lasagna-the-size-of-a-cinderblock, which, turns out, was just perfect.
Then I hitched a ride with E, Loopy's roommate, back to Madison for a meeting I had to attend on Sunday...
...and thus endethed the best birthday week ever. Seriously. The absolute best. Heartfelt gratitude to Loopy (and the outlaws) for making it so.
*sigh* I was gonna post about Amy's visit, and about how we met my little cousin-once-removed and his mom for the first time... but Amy's visit has a buncha pictures to go with it, and it's already ten pm so I should really go to bed.
BUT...
some good news
Sunday night I finished all the major work for my most important and most incomplete class—when it ended in Dec. 2004, I had done NONE of the work. And now I've done it all except for this piddly little 1-page report thing. Yay for me!
That felt like the biggest obstacle, although more remain. It is a huge load off my, uh, load. Whew.
It was painful (literally, because I tied myself in knots with anxiety) and I had to talk to my therapist three times in the final 24 hours. (Hopefully that will not continue, both because it's totally insane and because who wants to pay for it? Yeesh.)
But. Yeah. A little bit of progress, a little bit of sunshine, a little crack in the cloudy gloom.
A little.
I was supposed to work more today and I didn't. And now I'm depressed, because when I'm supposed to work and I don't, I get depressed. I'll try to just go to sleep and get up and work tomorrow. Yeah. That's the ticket.
Oh and another little piece of happy: Saturday I had a blast taking a wonderful photography class from my (our) dear friend Miri. If you so desire you can read all about it and see the strange photos on my Flickr site...
Th-th-th-th-that's not all, folks, but it's all I have energy for tonight.
1 comment:
I hate it when I'm my own worst enemy, and I put tons of energy into avoiding work it would just be so much easier to just DO.
In other words, it's often easier to just do what you're supposed to do than it is to not do it. If that makes any sense. A lesson I'm still trying to freakin' learn.
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