SO – yeah, it’s been a while. Long time no blog. But I have a really good reason. I have a very boring life. Maybe not so much boring as unblogworthy. Do you really want to hear about how I worked all day, came home, made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, then watched Public Television, (OK, you got me), America’s Next Top Model, then did a little knitting, some reading, and went to bed? Then got up the next day and did that same thing again (except substitute maybe Survivor or CSI for ANTM). Because that’s what my winter has been like.
Except finally last week we actually did something that involved leaving the couch. We went to Navy Pier to the Flower and Garden Expo, then to see the movie Watchmen on Imax. It was a mutual compromise – you do my really cool fun thing and pretend not to be bored, then I’ll tolerate your geeky superhero movie and pretend not to be bored.
By the way, if you bring a baby to an R-rated movie filled with ear-splitting explosions and blood-splattering violence, you have failed Parenting 101. And if you let the kid cry for the first 15 minutes of the movie without getting up and leaving, then you’ve failed Decent Human Being With A Fraction of Common Sense 101 as well. When I point out how annoying people are, Matt tells me “you’re so angry grrrr!” but I prefer to think I just have a low threshold for stupidity. (And no, it doesn’t make me less angry when he points this out, although I can’t help smiling a bit when he goes “grrrr”, which is probably why he does it).
Anyway, here are some pictures from the show (not Watchmen, I’ll spare you the hatchet in the head, arms getting sawed-off blood splatter. You’re welcome.) It was so refreshing to walk into the expo space and smell the flowers. And even though it’s way too soon to plant anything, it definitely got me in the mood. It was also an unseasonably warm day, so we were able to walk outside along the Pier, where the ice in the water reminded us that winter was still around.
Matt says no hot tub. He thinks hobos and rats would make our yard their new party central. Maybe. But I'm pretty sure you can get covers that lock. He still remains unconvinced. I'll have to keep working on that one. I can be very annoying tenacious when I want something.
This was a big display made out of Lite Brite pegs - hard to see here, but it was really cool.
Not sure what this was all about, but I thought it was creative. The bed reminded me of something from a fairy tale.
I loved the little scottie dog made out of, well, I'm not sure what that stuff was... rattan? Whatever, it was cute and I have this thing for garden animal sculptures. See below:
Moving on... One part of my life that isn’t usually boring is my commute. The 20 bus is such a deal, $1.50 each way and there’s usually a little show going on. Matt hates it, he cranks up his iPod to tune out the crazy, but I embrace the crazy. Well, not literally, the crazy usually smells and can be a little scary, but there are things you never witness anywhere but the 20 bus. Such as:
A guy sitting in a seat, in such a way I can only describe as folded in half, his head on his knees. Kind of like a human pocketknife. Passed out cold from whatever substance he was abusing, every time the bus driver put on the brakes, he’d slide forward in the seat. I was holding my breath because he was one really good slam of the brakes away from flying into the seat in front of him head first and probably breaking his neck. He finally sat up, looked around, decided it was time to get off the bus. He stood up, something in an open bottle in his pocket spilling out onto the floor (please don’t let it be pee). Unfortunately, his way-to-big pants did not quite make the trip and my “quick-look-away” reflexes were too slow, and I now have the sight of his bare ass permanently imprinted in my brain.
Then there was the little soliloquy by the drunk in the back of the bus (where I normally don’t sit, because it’s like “hobo central” on the 20). He was going on and on for the entire ride about all his various injuries, how he’d been stabbed 17 times and shot 8 times, the government was trying to have him assassinated, etc. I pretended to listen to my iPod, but I had the sound off because the conspiracy theorists are the most entertaining people on the bus. When he got off, the guy sitting across from me started in on how he’d had to listen to the guy for the last hour and he thought he might have to stab him himself. The 2 junior high kids sitting next to me were laughing so hard, I couldn’t help but start laughing at them laughing. Which the guy loved, now he had an audience and he just went on and on, it actually was pretty funny. Just before he got off he paused, then said, apropos of nothing “there’s nothing like putting on a new pair of socks”. And then he got off. Words of wisdom, if you ask me.
On the same ride the junior high girl sitting next to me was watching my iPod screen as I scrolled through the artists list, looking for something to listen to. She said, surprised, “you listen to the same things I do!” I wanted to say, jeez, hold old do you think I am? Then I realized the answer would be “really old”. So instead I just said “yeah, I like pretty much everything but heavy metal.” And we talked about our favorite singers and inside my head I’m thinking “hey, I’m still cool!”
And occasionally there’s a guy dressed from head to toe in white, with a white Bible, preaching. It’s a stream of consciousness rambling, he just strings together his thoughts about sinners and evil mixing in a random Bible verse or two and sprinkling in the occasional profanity. The first time it kind of caught me off guard – I mean, I don’t remember the f-word being used in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, or even Revelations, where it might actually be appropriate. But then I thought maybe he was reading from the New Urban Edition Bible. I’ll give him credit for trying to reach the people on their own level.
The 20 bus is definitely PG-13 and sometimes R. There’s a very large segment of society for whom profanity doesn’t exist. They don’t distinguish between swear words and all other words, it’s all the same and I honestly don’t think they even know that some people are offended. On woman recently had “the nerve” to tell a teenage girl to watch her language. The suggestion was not appreciated or applied. In fact, the girl seemed confused about exactly what it was that was offensive and an argument started. What made this amusing to me was neither party was willing to let the other have the last word. Finally they were just mumbling “mm hmmm”, “that’s right”, “I said”, etc. back and forth. It came down to who would make the last sound or word fragment.
So there you go, that’s got to be about a month’s worth of posting. We’re leaving for Sonoma tomorrow (Yay, vacation! Vacation involving wallowing in wine and cheese!!!) so I should have lots of pretty pictures and interesting stories upon our return. Ciao!
I'll update soon, I know it's been forever. Until then, here's a cute picture of Matt with his dinner at a restaurant in Juno Beach, Florida. He's had to travel for work a couple of times and I think this restaurant is the only reason he's not completely unhappy about it. That and the fact it's 80+ and sunny in Florida and cold/rainy/crappy here at home.
