A Voyage to DC

This has been a long time coming, but it needed to be documented.



So I got into Chicago the Thursday before Alumni Weekend, and after a brief stop at Costco, rushed off to The Snail in honor of Hollie Gilman's birthday. For those of you who aren't UoCers, there are two important facts to know about Hollie Gilman:

1. Louis Potok is NOT Hollie Gilman.

2. Hollie knows EVERYBODY.

So I shouldn't have been surprised by the scene that awaited me upon entering the restaurant. The Snail is a tasty, if somewhat small, Thai restaurant, and our party took up nearly the entire thing. There was plenty of food, plenty of booze, and not nearly enough chairs (to the point where Marie spent most of dinner sitting half on a chair and half on my left leg). After the party, most of the group ended up at Jimmy's (which I hate), then mercifully, I was allowed to collapse in bed.

Friday was the first day of Alumni Weekend, and after putting on my nametag (with accompaning spiffy ribbons), I walked around campus to see who was around. The nametag was very fortunate, or else I don't think people would have recognized me. I guess losing 40 lbs in a year will do that, but it was tons of fun to see people do double-takes when they realized who I was. Marie and I hopped around on the reception circuit, getting from a faculty reception on campus, to a Metcalf reception (where we picked up an increasingly tipsy Arianna), to the Goose Island brewery in Wrigleyville. After spending some time there, eating chicken wings and drinking a bunch of beer, Marie and I grabbed a few of her friends and we jumped a cab to the far north side to do karaoke. Upon arriving in the room, two things were readily apparent: There were a lot of people in a very small room, and (along with the words to the songs) there were nude women on the screens. I don't know whose decision this was, but someone decided that the softcore porn channel would be the perfect accompaniment to karaoke. This gets even funnier when the porn goes on regardless of what song it is, and that the porn doesn't change between songs by Metallica and those by Weezer. One would at least assume that this would necessitate a change of porn, but not according to the powers that be at the karaoke place. I actually put forward a passable rendition of Enter Sandman before heading back to Hyde Park.

Saturday was the major fraternity/sorority day on campus, and it started with a trip to AEPi for the alumni barbecue. I don't know what they did to the pledges this year, but they actually appear to be human beings for the second year in a row. They cleaned the place up, were good to talk to, and do all of the things that we failed to do. We managed to be decent at Greek Sing this year, and it was incredibly fun to sing the Jews in Space song from History of the World, Part 1, in front of everyone. The GO Party, which Chicago always pumps up as something to look forward to, was not so exciting. I think that next year, I will make this the NO GO party, and go do something cool instead.

The rest of the week was filled with a whirlwind of packing and moving things, but there were a few highlights mixed in:
* Wok-N-Roll with Aaron after filling 3/4 of a U-Haul with Marie's stuff.
* Tapas at Cafe Iberico with Marie's friend from Texas, complete with phallic dessert.
* A BBQ hosted by the head of Marie's program, and enjoying the company of his large, poorly behaved dog.
So basically, we ate, we packed, and the days passed quickly.

Marie graduated on Friday, and it was a lot more enjoyable than last year. First, I didn't have to wear that damn gown, making it less than 10000 degrees. Secondly, the speaker was less awful than last year's. And most importantly, it was shorter. Marie was happy, and looked awesome, and both of those are always a plus. The experience was only slightly marred by the fact that I had to go be part of the best dressed moving company ever, along with Marie's friend Stuart, who joined me in running back to Marie's to get the final moving done and to help sell her microwave. After an epic final dinner at Greek Islands with assorted friends and family, it was back to Marie's (now empty) apartment to sleep the precious few hours before the journey was to begin.

On Friday night, we promised to get ready to leave for 7am. This didn't happen. It was about 11am before we got on the road. When we did finally leave, I was well packed into the back seat, meaning that I had stuff packed in all around me, to the point where I wasn't going anywhere even if I'd wanted to. Fortunately, I had Ellie packed in the back with me, and once she figured out that she wasn't going anywhere, she stopped yowling and chilled for most of the car ride. The trip, surprisingly, wasn't too bad. The music was solid, the conversation was pretty interesting, and the billboards in the middle of nowhere were fascinating. I mostly want to point out that there are a lot of billboards for fireworks in states that sell them, and that in Pennsylvania, you can buy an automatic camoflage crossbow. I don't really want a crossbow, but this did tell me what kind of place I was in, and it looked really cool. We only made a handful of stops, and made almost no turns (just hopping from turnpike to turnpike), and at about midnight Sunday morning, we finally arrived at our apartment. (Sidenote: Its REALLY REALLY cool that I can call it our apartment now.) After stopping in at Eat First (a Chinese restaurant at which you Eat First, and ask questions later), our journey was over, and we were finally home.

Its been three weeks now, and our apartment is nothing short of amazing, at least since we finally unpacked it. Hopefully we can attempt to keep it clean (which would be the first time I've ever been able to do that), and start inviting more people over. But so far, so good.

May all your hits be crits,
B

A Musical Dilemma

I change my favorite song pretty frequently, as favorites go, but for the better part of the past year, my favorite song has been "Chelsea Dagger" by the Fratellis. Had I told this to ANYONE in the US before very recently, their response would have been something like "What by the who now?" However, the song has recently been featured both by the Chicago Blackhawks (as their goal song), and by Amstel Light, supporting the fact that their beer is brewed in Amsterdam by using a song from a Scottish rock band that is most commonly associated with soccer teams that do not hail from the Netherlands.

My dilemma is: Is the fact that my favorite song is getting exposure a good thing for me? On one hand, it's nice to know that other people know this song, and (I assume) kinda like it. However, I don't want to seem like the kind of person who likes the song ONLY because they heard it in a beer commercial. I mean, I have all of their albums (granted, there are only two), and I liked the song long before Amstel Light got the idea. Furthermore, I dont like Amstel Light. Maybe I need a new favorite song...

May all your hits be crits,
B