November on the lake

Just kidding

Remember how I found that $10 and we all thought it must be karma? Because I'm such a do-gooder? The next day on my way home from work I got a speeding ticket (there's a PERFECTLY GOOD explanation). It was my first one, which I celebrated by going home and crying into a free beer. The officer took my license (I guess it's a standard procedure) and they'll mail it back after I pay the fine. So I've been carrying my passport around for ID, which makes me nervous, after I "lost it" in my drawer for a few months. But using my passport to buy alcohol makes me feel like I'm going on a trip, and I really like that.

Then a few days after that I got my first parking ticket, for parking during rush hour. Both tickets total $135. As if I didn't hate driving in this place enough. I think Chicago knows I want to move in the spring, so it's taking all my money so I can't afford to move and have to live here forever. I'll go silver by the time I'm thirty, like Mr. Jay Manuel.

A reenactment

Happy frieniversary

Last night Russ and I wanted to get pizza for dinner, to celebrate our one-year anniversary as friends, something that I totally would have remembered even if Russ hadn't told me. We were trying to decide whether to go out or order in, and I started to feel guilty about spending money. So I said, Let's just get a frozen pizza from Jewel, even though I really wanted to go to Bluestone and have fancy pizzas and beer.

We walked up to Jewel in the first snowfall of the season, which at first made me want to collapse on the ground, because this is just the start of something much bigger, bigger than all of us. But then I thought back to last winter, and how much fun I had that one time I "accidentally" hit Russ in the face with a snowball. I felt "terrible." We have so many good memories.

Once we got to Jewel I subconsciously led us right to the liquor section – like, "Oops, I don't know how I always end up here – ooh look, camouflage High Life is still on sale!" Russ said, "We can get something if you want." I was all, "No, that's okay. I shouldn't spend anymore money. We can just drink that awful wine you brought over a few weeks ago. It's no big deal." But it was a big deal.

So we picked out a pizza and left Jewel. Then, as we crossed the parking lot I saw something on the ground that I must have had the foresight to see not thirty minutes before when I suggested we have a cheap dinner. I saw ten dollars. Russ picked it up, soggy from the melted snow, and without even having to think about it, I said, "Let's go back in and buy some beer!" Russ said, "OKAY!" And I led us back to that very same liquor aisle that just moments before we had left empty handed.

Office trick

Moody's

Russ and I spent many hours together this weekend, most of which were spent eating or drinking something. For lunch on Saturday we went to a new place from the Blue Book—Moody's Pub. It was dark and hard to see much beyond the food on the table, which is really all that has to be seen—that's why I have no problem eating in bed at night. That, and it's just easier to roll over and go to sleep immediately after a meal. But for lunch we had beer and onion rings and sloppy joes by candlelight.

Change has come to America

I was lucky to get a ticket to last night's rally in Grant Park. I'm still processing it, I think. The whole night was unreal. Russ and I were so far away from the stage that we couldn't even see it. But just being there, with 65,000 other people all hoping and cheering for the same thing—it was incredible. And I cried. I cried like a little girl. I didn't at all expect to, but it was just so moving and exciting. I saw the guy next to us wipe tears away, too, and I was touched.

I'm so proud of the country. I'm proud of us for making this finally happen—finally! For saying, "White dudes, give someone else a chance." I'm proud of the people who stood in line for hours to vote for change. I've never been so inspired and filled with hope for the future. I truly feel like Barack Obama cares—not just about the country, but about people. It feels like a brand new day.

Cheering—soon after CNN's projection.

on the street where I live

Cheri was here

Cheri was here this weekend on a last-minute-decision, much-welcomed visit. We just stayed in Evanston and did a lot of walking. It was nice not to drive anywhere. We even saw Jerry Springer in downtown Evanston. He was pushing a stroller.

We went to this cafe called the Wild Tree Cafe that I had been wanting to try but hadn't because I'm not much a cafe goer, and it was the weirdest place. Everyone in there was just so weird. I liked it.

HEY-OHH!

"I have to admit, carrying a purse kinda turned me on."


They were all out of Bret's Brew.

"Every rose has its thorn... How does this song go? Just like every stripper has her pole... Just like every cowboy drinks himself to sleep at night... Every rose has its thorn."