My Wombat weekend
Sep. 3rd, 2002 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
semperfionaI had a lovely weekend, though I missed my sweetheart. I do hope we can get away together soon. Maybe we can get a room at Archon.
Anyway, I left home early Saturday morning and drove up to Chicago in a rather subdued mood after having read the news. The first half hour or so of my drive, and sporadically again during the trip, I spent chanting the Goddess Chant and sending energy toward the mythical state for Miz M.
Isis Astarte Diana
Hecate Demeter Kali
Inanna...
I felt like Demeter really understood, because of her daughter's falling to the allurements of the underworld.
I went straight to Garfield Park Conservatory to see the Chihuly exhibit. On my way there, as I was passing through Cicero (lovely neighborhood, by the way: I made sure all my doors were locked),![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gremlin44 called to tell me that her family wasn't coming up until Sunday, and would I like to join her for dinner? Of course I would, but I didn't know exactly when, so I told her I'd call back later in the afternoon.
When I got to the park, I calledkateo, who came to wander through the plants and glass with me. We spent about an hour and a half looking at spectacular glass and petting plants, but not really talking much. Worry about Miz M had both of us rather quiet, especially Kate who knows her personally. I took several pictures with my digital camera, and will load them out later, probably tomorrow.
After we had toured the whole conservatory, Kate returned home and I went to my hotel to check in. I had a very bizarrely-shaped room: it was at the end of the hallway, and extended to both sides of the building. The door led into a transverse hallway. I went to the right and found several chairs and a desk, but no bed! I wondered whether this room had a Murphy bed and looked at the walls for a handle, but then realized that the hallway went further in the other direction, and followed it to find a double bed, another desk, and a couple chairs. There were two bathrooms off the hallway, and two closets. I never ended up using the sitting area at all.
After hanging up my clothes, putting my toiletries in the bathroom, and reading Dreamcatcher for a few minutes, I went out and walked up Michigan Avenue a few blocks. I bought myself some tea tree facial scrub at The Body Shop (I had been looking for it for several weeks but every Body Shop I had looked in had been sold out), and a Hello Kitty plushie for Rosa at the Sanrio store. I was so tempted to buy a bunch of other Hello Kitty stuff for myself, but most of it was pink and I couldn’t quite convince myself to buy pink purses or pencil cases, and also I didn't have any actual use for it. Then I wandered into Hammacher Schemmler, thinking that there was something I had seen in a SkyMall magazine that I might actually buy, but didn't see anything at all that I wanted. Went out again, walked back toward the river and contemplated taking a riverboat ride. Instead, I found a riverwalk area and settled on a bench to watch the water. Called Steph to make arrangements to see her. Went back to put my purchases in the room and then walked down to the El station.
At the other end of the El ride I got off the train and thought I'd wait for her on the platform since it appeared to have two exits and I didn't know which one she would come from. It took me a good half hour to realize that there was no way she could come down to meet me on the platform since the ticket gates were at the top, and I picked a direction and went out. As it turns out, there was only one exit: the other one was closed for construction. I felt like a doofus, but it didn't seem to make any difference, we had a lovely evening. She and Pete and I went to an Indian restaurant called Khyber Pass (and I kept giggling about the name: Khyber Pass is Cockney for "ass"). I had lamb jalfrezi for the first time in years, since it doesn't appear on the menus at any of the St Louis Indian restaurants I frequent. It used to be a favorite of mine at the Raj in Shaftesbury. After dinner, we came back to their house and I had the grand tour, then we just plopped in the living room and chatted for several hours.
Sunday morning I had planned to get up earlyish and go to the Shedd Aquarium, but for some reason wasn't eager to get moving. I dawdled in my room until 10:30 and then finally went. That meant that I only had about an hour to explore because Kate was going to pick me up at 12:15. Still, I enjoyed looking at the fish and I'd like to get back there again soon. I'd forgotten how restful and meditative watching fish could be. I think I will have to set up my aquarium at home.
Kate and Karsten arrived to pick me up and we drove down to Val's place in Park Forest (with an accidental tour of the Hyde Park area on the way), where there was already a crowd of wombats and partners: (What is the appropriate collective noun for wombats, I wonder?) Val and Roland, Kate and Karsten, Lurana and Tony, andlcohen, Joanna, and myself, all of whose respective girlfriends couldn't make it for various reasons. Roland had cooked up a feast of vegan treats: falafel, soba salad with some kind of nutty sauce, grilled vegetables, an excellent potato salad which was nothing like any potato salad I'd ever met before, and yummy veggie sushi (cucumber and avocado). We all hung out together, listening to music, eating the wonderful food, and talking about everything. I think I monopolized the conversation for a while because due to the sushi we got on the subject of Japan. We all got to hear Kate & Karsten's new song, and it's excellent. It's still in my head, making me dance a bit. "You and me and the mango sun..." The song reminded me of Steph, who couldn't be there, because we had talked about mangos the night before. Val and Lurana made up a dance to it. Immense thanks to Val for deciding to throw that party--and inspired by my visit! Yay for wombat hugs on departure, too.
At about nine-thirty Kate and Karsten and I left to go to the Wild Hare and listen to reggae music for a while. The band, Gizzae, was very good, but I got kind of over-peopled and decided to leave after the first set. I'm not really good around large crowds. I was asked to dance twice, but was rather uncomfortable with it for some reason: maybe because I wasn’t sure how to dance to reggae music, and maybe because I was thinking about whatdevilmuse told me last fall--that "the wrong kind" of dancing with people might mean you're willing to go to bed with them--and I knew I was not interested in that. So I ran away. A typical reaction for me, unfortunately.
On the El back to the hotel, a couple guys got on at the next stop after me (or that is, the same stop I had gotten on at, but I chose the wrong direction (north instead of south) and had to get off and come back. One of them sprawled on a seat by himself, and the other sat next to a girl who was there across from me. She looked kind of displeased, but he got up a little later and came and sat beside me. He told me that this was his friend (the sprawled one)'s 26th birthday, and seemed to be trying to pick me up on said friend's behalf. He kept asking if I minded if he sat there, and I said, "no, but it won't do you any good." He went back to the other side of the train after that and sat alone. They both got off before me, for which I was glad. I didn't want to be followed back to the hotel. Still, it felt good in a way to be hit on by younger guys.
So then it was Sunday. Joanna had mentioned at the party that she might like to join me at the Museum of Science and Industry, so I dawdled around the room for a little while to see if she'd call, then decided to go ahead and go down there; she could meet me there. The museum has changed a lot since I was last there, in about 1985. There's a whole new entrance underground, and a number of new exhibits. Many of the old familiars are still there too, though: the walk-through heart, the fetuses in formaldehyde ::shudder::, the coal mine, the fairy castle dollhouse, and the submarine. Unfortunately, I didn't get to visit any of the last three, since there was an hour wait for each, and I didn't want to waste my available time waiting in line. Ray called about eleven, and asked if I could be home by six so he could drop Rosa off early. That was not possible, but he reiterated that he wanted to turn her over at seven, and I determined that I had to leave by two-thirty.
I had wandered around for about half an hour when Joanna called and asked if I still wanted to get together. I did, and she came on over. By the time she arrived I was hungry, so she got to watch me eat lunch (lucky her) and we chatted over my tuna salad and soup. We looked at a number of exhibits, sort of haphazardly, and then I hugged her goodbye and started for home.
At 6:50 Ray called my cell phone to check on me (grrrr), but I was only five minutes from home at that time, so he couldn’t complain. Rosa was thrilled to see me after the long weekend, which made me all kinds of happy.
Now I'm back at work, trying very hard to avoid the internet, since I got a wrist-slap (again) on Friday evening. If the links are wrong, that's why: I did them from memory.
Anyway, I left home early Saturday morning and drove up to Chicago in a rather subdued mood after having read the news. The first half hour or so of my drive, and sporadically again during the trip, I spent chanting the Goddess Chant and sending energy toward the mythical state for Miz M.
Isis Astarte Diana
Hecate Demeter Kali
Inanna...
I felt like Demeter really understood, because of her daughter's falling to the allurements of the underworld.
I went straight to Garfield Park Conservatory to see the Chihuly exhibit. On my way there, as I was passing through Cicero (lovely neighborhood, by the way: I made sure all my doors were locked),
gremlin44 called to tell me that her family wasn't coming up until Sunday, and would I like to join her for dinner? Of course I would, but I didn't know exactly when, so I told her I'd call back later in the afternoon. When I got to the park, I called
kateo, who came to wander through the plants and glass with me. We spent about an hour and a half looking at spectacular glass and petting plants, but not really talking much. Worry about Miz M had both of us rather quiet, especially Kate who knows her personally. I took several pictures with my digital camera, and will load them out later, probably tomorrow.After we had toured the whole conservatory, Kate returned home and I went to my hotel to check in. I had a very bizarrely-shaped room: it was at the end of the hallway, and extended to both sides of the building. The door led into a transverse hallway. I went to the right and found several chairs and a desk, but no bed! I wondered whether this room had a Murphy bed and looked at the walls for a handle, but then realized that the hallway went further in the other direction, and followed it to find a double bed, another desk, and a couple chairs. There were two bathrooms off the hallway, and two closets. I never ended up using the sitting area at all.
After hanging up my clothes, putting my toiletries in the bathroom, and reading Dreamcatcher for a few minutes, I went out and walked up Michigan Avenue a few blocks. I bought myself some tea tree facial scrub at The Body Shop (I had been looking for it for several weeks but every Body Shop I had looked in had been sold out), and a Hello Kitty plushie for Rosa at the Sanrio store. I was so tempted to buy a bunch of other Hello Kitty stuff for myself, but most of it was pink and I couldn’t quite convince myself to buy pink purses or pencil cases, and also I didn't have any actual use for it. Then I wandered into Hammacher Schemmler, thinking that there was something I had seen in a SkyMall magazine that I might actually buy, but didn't see anything at all that I wanted. Went out again, walked back toward the river and contemplated taking a riverboat ride. Instead, I found a riverwalk area and settled on a bench to watch the water. Called Steph to make arrangements to see her. Went back to put my purchases in the room and then walked down to the El station.
At the other end of the El ride I got off the train and thought I'd wait for her on the platform since it appeared to have two exits and I didn't know which one she would come from. It took me a good half hour to realize that there was no way she could come down to meet me on the platform since the ticket gates were at the top, and I picked a direction and went out. As it turns out, there was only one exit: the other one was closed for construction. I felt like a doofus, but it didn't seem to make any difference, we had a lovely evening. She and Pete and I went to an Indian restaurant called Khyber Pass (and I kept giggling about the name: Khyber Pass is Cockney for "ass"). I had lamb jalfrezi for the first time in years, since it doesn't appear on the menus at any of the St Louis Indian restaurants I frequent. It used to be a favorite of mine at the Raj in Shaftesbury. After dinner, we came back to their house and I had the grand tour, then we just plopped in the living room and chatted for several hours.
Sunday morning I had planned to get up earlyish and go to the Shedd Aquarium, but for some reason wasn't eager to get moving. I dawdled in my room until 10:30 and then finally went. That meant that I only had about an hour to explore because Kate was going to pick me up at 12:15. Still, I enjoyed looking at the fish and I'd like to get back there again soon. I'd forgotten how restful and meditative watching fish could be. I think I will have to set up my aquarium at home.
Kate and Karsten arrived to pick me up and we drove down to Val's place in Park Forest (with an accidental tour of the Hyde Park area on the way), where there was already a crowd of wombats and partners: (What is the appropriate collective noun for wombats, I wonder?) Val and Roland, Kate and Karsten, Lurana and Tony, and
lcohen, Joanna, and myself, all of whose respective girlfriends couldn't make it for various reasons. Roland had cooked up a feast of vegan treats: falafel, soba salad with some kind of nutty sauce, grilled vegetables, an excellent potato salad which was nothing like any potato salad I'd ever met before, and yummy veggie sushi (cucumber and avocado). We all hung out together, listening to music, eating the wonderful food, and talking about everything. I think I monopolized the conversation for a while because due to the sushi we got on the subject of Japan. We all got to hear Kate & Karsten's new song, and it's excellent. It's still in my head, making me dance a bit. "You and me and the mango sun..." The song reminded me of Steph, who couldn't be there, because we had talked about mangos the night before. Val and Lurana made up a dance to it. Immense thanks to Val for deciding to throw that party--and inspired by my visit! Yay for wombat hugs on departure, too.At about nine-thirty Kate and Karsten and I left to go to the Wild Hare and listen to reggae music for a while. The band, Gizzae, was very good, but I got kind of over-peopled and decided to leave after the first set. I'm not really good around large crowds. I was asked to dance twice, but was rather uncomfortable with it for some reason: maybe because I wasn’t sure how to dance to reggae music, and maybe because I was thinking about what
devilmuse told me last fall--that "the wrong kind" of dancing with people might mean you're willing to go to bed with them--and I knew I was not interested in that. So I ran away. A typical reaction for me, unfortunately.On the El back to the hotel, a couple guys got on at the next stop after me (or that is, the same stop I had gotten on at, but I chose the wrong direction (north instead of south) and had to get off and come back. One of them sprawled on a seat by himself, and the other sat next to a girl who was there across from me. She looked kind of displeased, but he got up a little later and came and sat beside me. He told me that this was his friend (the sprawled one)'s 26th birthday, and seemed to be trying to pick me up on said friend's behalf. He kept asking if I minded if he sat there, and I said, "no, but it won't do you any good." He went back to the other side of the train after that and sat alone. They both got off before me, for which I was glad. I didn't want to be followed back to the hotel. Still, it felt good in a way to be hit on by younger guys.
So then it was Sunday. Joanna had mentioned at the party that she might like to join me at the Museum of Science and Industry, so I dawdled around the room for a little while to see if she'd call, then decided to go ahead and go down there; she could meet me there. The museum has changed a lot since I was last there, in about 1985. There's a whole new entrance underground, and a number of new exhibits. Many of the old familiars are still there too, though: the walk-through heart, the fetuses in formaldehyde ::shudder::, the coal mine, the fairy castle dollhouse, and the submarine. Unfortunately, I didn't get to visit any of the last three, since there was an hour wait for each, and I didn't want to waste my available time waiting in line. Ray called about eleven, and asked if I could be home by six so he could drop Rosa off early. That was not possible, but he reiterated that he wanted to turn her over at seven, and I determined that I had to leave by two-thirty.
I had wandered around for about half an hour when Joanna called and asked if I still wanted to get together. I did, and she came on over. By the time she arrived I was hungry, so she got to watch me eat lunch (lucky her) and we chatted over my tuna salad and soup. We looked at a number of exhibits, sort of haphazardly, and then I hugged her goodbye and started for home.
At 6:50 Ray called my cell phone to check on me (grrrr), but I was only five minutes from home at that time, so he couldn’t complain. Rosa was thrilled to see me after the long weekend, which made me all kinds of happy.
Now I'm back at work, trying very hard to avoid the internet, since I got a wrist-slap (again) on Friday evening. If the links are wrong, that's why: I did them from memory.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-09-03 01:01 pm (UTC)I didn't know there was a Chihuly exhibit in Chicago right now. I sent the link to Dan, and I have a feeling we're going to be road tripping to Chicago for that soon (soon, in our case, is probably October...) BTW, you were close, but the URL for the COnservatory is http://www.garfield-conservatory.org/
I'm so bummed I couldn't get up to the party. I missed meeting you :(
no subject
Date: 2002-09-03 02:03 pm (UTC)Wish I could have gone on Sunday. Unfortunately, my overindulgence on Saturday night really bit me in the ass all that night....and in my tummy, and my ligaments, and.....
I want to be normal again.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-03 02:37 pm (UTC)(we didn't get to the Chihuly exhibit yesterday, but we did buy a computer table. it's the little things. must get ourselves in gear next weekend though!)
no subject
Date: 2002-09-04 12:28 am (UTC)Bruce