my anniversary

One year ago today, at this very moment, I was in the neurosurgery ICU at UIC, still groggy from my craniotomy. Hard to believe it's been a year already! To celebrate, I took B out to lunch at Wishbone (they have the best black bean cakes with mango salsa on the face of the planet), then to Emerald City to see Snow White. Tomorrow, it's finish-my-phonology-exam day, plus Stinky Cheese Man at Lifeline Theatre and Getting to the Point at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Boy, do I get around in the world of children's theatre. You'd think I had a job covering such things or something. Hah.

Oh -- last night Critical Mass was winding its way along Lincoln Avenue when I got off at the Western brown line stop... never quite encountered them before; took me a good 15 minutes to cross the street because of all the bikes!

And another oh: my eyebrows are fixed! They need to grow in more, but they are at least, now, in the semblance of a shape and I have "brow booster" I've been instructed to use religiously at bedtime under penalty of death.

Off to catnap before heading out for my evening full of music and mystery....

yo, man...

Went to the Chicago Cultural Center today, thinking B and I would be able to get our photo taken for free as part of this project to take 15,000 pictures of people passing through the city. Instead, we happened upon a concert about to happen, featuring Yo-Yo Ma. There were only about 30 (maybe 40?) people there, and they had all kinds of music as part of the Silk Road Chicago project (which Yo-Yo Ma started).

Anyhow, after the show, B says, "I want to meet all the players!" and so we started making the rounds. He fell in love with the cello, and of course had to meet Yo-Yo Ma, who was remarkably down to earth and gracious. He loved B's name and encouraged him to take cello lessons, though at this point I think the instrument is bigger than the child!

The show overall was just remarkable, and featured music from all along the Silk Road, including some ethnic music played by a string quartet from New York City, ancient Chinese operatics, and a drum performance where only two drums were used (the rest of the rhythms were vocalized in a way that was just transfixing).

So, even though we didn't get our picture taken, it was still an afternoon to remember. :)

new york city...

...is the kind of place that makes me wish I were 22 again. I'd move here in an instant. Alas, all I can do is appreciate it while I'm here and try not to miss it too much when I'm gone. I'm always a grass-is-greener kind of gal, though, so that's hard.

Suffice it to say I'm having a great time. My hotel room last night and tonight has a view of the harbor, and it's beautiful. Stayed up to see the sunrise this morning-- delicious. And having all kinds of other fun, though not getting into any trouble at all (other than the sleep deprivation kind).

I have to do this more often!

oh. my. god.

I'm in love.

With a pizza.

Ordered from Pizza Rustica for the first time. Chose the Marinara Pizza Delle Case (tomato and garlic pizza with no cheese) and a Limonata San Pelligrino. I've never had anything like it in my life.

Now: back to pizza, The Amazing Race, and grading the pile of student papers in which I'm drowning.

plagiarism advice

Note: If you are in a developmental ESL writing class, your chance of being able to write The high cost of expenditures in the U.S. reflects a proportionately higher R&D outlay is smaller than my streaking across campus while sober. Wake up, folks. I'm not an idiot, but even if I were, I'd be smart enough to tell this ain't your work....

PS (completely unrelated) - King Lear has been extended... so run, run, run to get tickets, my dear friends who love the theatre...

PPS (added 6:57pm CST) - If I were any more tired, I'd be in a coma. I'm so going to upgrade to first class on Thursday. Harumph.

run, don't walk...

...and get tickets to see King Lear, the opening play of The Goodman Theatre's 2006-2007 season. It's directed by Robert Falls (who has a reputation for being, um, non-traditional) and starring Stacy Keach as Lear (though the rest of the cast is equally superb). Somehow I lucked into fifth-row center tickets and was transfixed throughout the three-hour performance this evening -- and it's still only in previews (having opened last night)!

The whole thing was done with a rather postmodern bent (with hip-hop music and even the Stones' Gimme Shelter blaring at one point), and a, um, wardrobe malfunction with Keach giving the audience an inadvertant (albeit brief) full-monty show. [Rest assured the other (planned) nudity - both male and female - is more pleasing.]

I'm looking forward to the rest of the season; I've subscribed to both the Albert and the Owen series at The Goodman (as well as The Steppenwolf season), so I'm sure I'll be seeing quite a bit of quality theatre in the coming year.

Once again, I'm reminded of how much I love living in Chicago. Yeah, New York has excellent theatre options, but it would be so far out of my price range I wouldn't be able to go -- here, it's all within my reach and it's such a kick-ass scene it makes me lose my breath.

my latest pet peeve

I am so completely tired of seeing beautiful otherwise-well-dressed women wearing flip-flops with business suits! It's the most unattractive trend in Chicago right now. I find myself regularly repulsed.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled program.