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Wow...what a difference. Now I found myself at a church that asks its 'regulars' to come to the Sat night service because there isn't enough room for people in the Sun services!

HERE IS THE CHURCH, HERE IS THE STEEPLE

i went to church today. first time at my new apt. it was really good. i liked the songs and the message. but it had the same problems i'm probably going to find at every church i visit. where's all the people? i went to the 11 o'clock and i think the 8am is more attended so i'll try it. but i doubt there's going to be a bus of late 20 somethings pulling up to the steps at 8am. we'll see.

it was refreshing to go period. even if i'm doubtful of much young adult interaction (do i still qualify as a young adult? i hope so)

they included a verse from mark that i love. mark 6:1-13
(8)these were his instructions: "take nothing for the journey except a staff-no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. (9) wear sandals but not an extra tunic..."

i love it because i really feel like i've tried to simplify my purchases in the past few years. when i was younger, grade school and high school, i accumulated a lot of junk and spent money on garbage i didn't need. i've made conscience efforts not to do that anymore for a number of reasons. one of which being that it is a waste of resources God has given me. whether i am putting the money to good use or just saving it, either option is better than wasting it on things i don't need and won't use.

i also love it because i love the idea of leaving 'home' with nothing and completely trusting God to provide and protect.

and i see it as a reminder

TASTEY CHICAGO

i went to the free guster concert at the taste of chicago yesterday. despite the steady misting rain it was a good time. the rain no doubt helped keep the crowd down. i don't think i tried anything too unusual...sweet potato fries were a must along w/ the mango, cranberry rice pudding that is my yearly favorite. the concert was AWESOME. the drummer is by far the most talented person ever created. he attacked his bongos like they were his flesh being bitten by armies of red ants. loved it. we were about 40 yards from the stage which was ok. until the middle of the show when shaquell o'neil, 7 rows in front of me, opened his golf umbrella that i swear was sheilding me from the rain while at the same time blocking my view of the entire stage. i love the music alone but i really needed to be able to see. so me and my friend moved closer to an unobstructed spot. we were there all of 5 minutes before we were told we couldn't stand there and had to find a seat. so i walked over to shaq and asked if he'd be able to hold the umbrella lower (he was holding it so there was a 3 ft gap btwn the bottom most points of the umbrella and his head) he mockingly attempted my suggestion as if to show me it was a rediculous request. i forgot to explain that i had migrated from behind him due to his monguloid umbrella. i then realized the rain had almost completely stopped and pointed this out to him. he said his head was allergic to water. so me and my friend continued to stand by him for a song or two before being asked AGAIN to find a seat. back at our original seats the rain really did stop and he exageratively shook the rain off and closed his umbrella. i wanted to let him know his display was not wasted, that i did enjoy it, but i was afraid the people at the end of our aisle would strangle me w/ their ponchos if i passed by them one more time.

the lead singer paused at one point and thanked us for welcoming them to "tastey chicago". he said this twice. there was an awesome group of 20/21 yr olds behind us dancing on the folding chairs the whole concert. they redefined horrible white dancing. it was great. guster gave us don't fear the reaper w/ plenty of cowbell and an encore. fantastic!

UUH WHAT IS THIS IDIOT DOING?

30 rock is THE greatest show on tv. and quite possibly the greatest show ever created. tying w/ arrested development. it is pure genius and i LOVE it.

PEOPLE STILL HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY

two ladies have sold over 6,000 bracelets yellow that read, "I NEED A JOB" and pink that read "LAYED OFF". They say they help people find jobs and it looked like people were passing them out at a job fair.

Hmm

FEET: LOWEST EMISSIONS OF ALL

i assume that about twice a day nearly 5 million people in the chicagoland area take a pause from their cursing and swerving to ponder, "how can i get rid of this traffic?" new york is experimenting by closing some major streets to only allow pedestrian traffic. apparently it's similar to what planners unsuccessfully tried 40 years ago. i only read the first couple articles at this link but think it's an interesting idea. i can't think of anywhere it would work in chicago.

i like the emphasis on mass transit though, and the mention of turning car companies into bus manufacturers.

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/pedestrian-malls-back-to-the-future/

OLDEST ARBY'S IN AMERICA

i'm not entirely sure if i visited the oldest arby's in america but i am certain it is near the top of the list. i found it to be an odd experience through and through. from the manager who skipped past us asking in a loud sing song voice, "how you doing tonight!!!?" and then waived wildly at the strangers in the drive through. to the fact that it took her, no joke, almost 10 minutes to get two combo meals and a side of onion rings together when it appeared that all of the food was sitting there ready for us when we walked in and that they had no more than 1/2 a dozen customers in the past two hours including us and the car in the drive through.

but that was minor in comparison to my feelings for the old school electronic dumbwaiter that was used to deliver the food from the kitchen, over the passenger's head, over the driver's head and then down to the driver side window. it sort of resembled the set up at a drive through teller. i couldn't believe they were actually still using this devise. and when i saw the name i had to take a picture.

THINGS THAT ARE AWESOME

bungee cords
sky writing
pop rocks
cheese
online personal surveys
bsf
the arch
scooters, vacation and fall

AVOIDING ACCIDENTS

sometimes, for a very slight moment, i think it would be kind of fun to be the cause of the 5 car accident announced in the morning traffic report. "5 car accident on north ave holding everything up. strongly advice taking another route!" as long as no one was hurt of course.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE WORDS

moniker

CROWS, AS EQUALLY BAD AS GEESE

yesterday after my long drive home i was in a very foul mood. trying to put it out of my memory but i think it took me an hour and 45 mins that time. i just wanted to be grumpy and go to bed.

until i saw something that completely cheered me up. i saw something swoop down from the sky, and then i saw a bunny run east to west in front of the already slow moving traffic in front of me on ravenswood. then i saw the bunny run west to east back to a patch of tall grass. and i saw what swooped from the sky. it was a crow. the bunny was large full grown animal but the crow was equally as large. i think the city crow was hunting it. either that or the bunny had been after the crows nest...? not really sure how 'nature' works in the city. but someone stopped their car, parked and got out to help the bunny. it was really nice of them.

reminded me of when i'm watching 'NAT-GEO' shows where some prey is being hunted and i wonder why or how the camera man just can't go down the mountain and help the baby seal (or whatever) out.

WATER BEDS ARE WEIRD

it wasn't until recently that i had ever pondered what the world thought of water beds. growing up my parents always had one. and i was jealous of my cousin when he got one. i always thought they were really cool and special. until i heard a comedian make fun of them not too long ago. it stuck w/ me and would randomly run through my mind. it left me feeling unsure of my opinion. was i wrong? were water beds a hokey, cheesy fad from the past? worse still, were they sleezy and cheap? my parents represent everything that is proper and right. why would they own something that was thought so little of by someone that obviously was no better than them?

fortunately they got rid of it before i overheard this comedian. they now have a very nice, albeit monstrously tall, bed. i swear my mom has to use a step stool to climb into it. but regardless it looks really good with the rest of their updated bedroom furniture.

tonight while looking thru the 'FREE' section on craigslist i came across a free water bed frame. i've decided waterbeds are weird. the whole concept. filling your sleeping surface w/ water? sleeping on an unsteady water filled rubber bladder. glad i never had one. i can't imagine the mess i would have ended up with. i'm not the most careful person and the whole thing just seems like you're setting yourself up for failure.

INTRODUCING - BETA LEO

i know betta fish is spelled 'betta', but his name is officially 'beta leo'. he came w/ papers. his favorite artist is m. ward. he spends his time swimming, hanging out w/ pals zubra, duhr and chort. and his favorite animal is the lion.

TRADITIONS OF NOT FOLLOWING THRU AND PREVENTING SPOILED DOGS

tomorrow will be the third time i've signed up for the shamrock shuffle and NOT ran it. i think it's partly due to the fact that i always sign up so far in advance i never know what i'll be doing that weekend - this because of the fact that it ALWAYS fills up so quickly. and it's partly because i sign up on my own each year and have no one to keep me accountable. and partly because of the weather.

the first year i signed up i lived in the burbs and it was freezing rain. i woke up in the wee early morning and quickly fell back to sleep. the year after i was just too hung over to get up. and this year there's supposed to be 3 inches of snow on the ground when i wake up tomorrow...so thanks but i'd rather go sit in bio class for 4 hours then ride the train downtown at 7:30 to plod thru 8 miles of slush by myself.

i should come up w/ a part two to this tradition. "every year i will enter the shamrock shuffle and then instead of running i will spend the day sleeping in and eating italian beef sandwiches" (i'm hungry)

ps maddie literally just stole my pillow. she moved it w/ her long ambidextrous limbs over to her half of the bed and proceeded to fluff and prod it to her liking before plopping into it. i quickly pulled it away in an ongoing attempt to prevent her from ruling the apt.

CLOTHING OPTIONAL

why do people crochet accessories for tree trunks? i don't know what else to call them and since i don't have a proper camera i won't have a pic for you. we'll since i am holding a computer w/ answers i guess i'll search for the one to this question and provide you with it.

so i searched tree scarves and this is the first thing i found. not what i was looking for but awesome!

i found this helpful diagram that helped me figure out the old children's song to teach kids how to tie their shoes. i had never understood it.

finally success! after google-ing 'yarn around tree' i found this! oh no. it's pretty much what i expected. there is no real reason. these people just think it looks good. that it's art. i don't think it's art at all. i think it's tacky garbage around perfectly fine tree trunks. it's the kind of idea i'd expect to come out of walmart. kits at home to make 'sweaters' for your naked trees. :(

BABY MOMMA

my favorite lines from the movie:

Kate Holbrook: Did you just stick your gum under my coffee table? Angie Ostrowiski: I don't know. Kate Holbrook: What do you mean you don't know? You think you're at an Arbys right now? Angie Ostrowiski: You know what? I WISH I was at an Arbys cuz theres better food and cooler people there! Kate Holbrook: [Kate looks under coffee table and gasps then looks at Angie] Did you stick all this gum under here? Angie Ostrowiski: I DON'T KNOW! Maybe you stuck some of it under there! Kate Holbrook: Yeah, actually you might be right cuz sometimes when I work a really long day I like to come home and chew a huge wad of bubbilicious gum and stick it under my reclaimed barnwood coffee table! Angie Ostrowiski: B!t@h, I don't know your life!

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT AND YOU WON'T LOSE

you, my friend, just lost the game :)

I WISH I WAS A LITTLE BIT TALLER, I WISH I WAS A BALLER

it really annoys me how people judge celebrities no matter what they do. i guess because some people judge any/everyone no matter what they do and celebrities are easy to pick on because everyone knows their shit so people don't feel like they're gossiping quite as much. "not like i spread the rumor. everyone already read all about it. just putting my two cents in."

anyway, this morning power/B52/something...was talking about kid cudi. (day an night) the mention of it sounded familiar and i just looked him up. i had heard the song and i had liked it a lot. i shared it w/ friends. i looked him up to see if i could find more of his songs. i still do like it a lot. but they were making fun of him cause he made a statement that he doesn't think he wants to record anymore because his friends are telling him he's starting to change (not for the better). so the radio people were joking, saying he doesn't know what famous is and just giving him a hard time for thinking he's something that he's not. and yet when celebrities are pushed and pushed into fame and it becomes too much and they crack then people say, 'well they knew what they were getting into. they chose that career....".

just irritates me.

MAD DOG

my first shot using my comp cam. maddie lept onto my bed and decided my back was a pretty decent location to chew on her new bone. her way of showing gratitude. guess that $30 trip thru the pet aisle was worth it :)

I'M JUST SAYIN

this weekend was my bday! 28, a nice round number :) and julz bachlorertte party. it was a great birthday. i reaped the benefits of hanging out w/ some of my favorite ladies w/o all the stress of arranging it or having the focus on me. well actually julz was more then happy to share some of the spotlight of her 'last night out' ;) w/ me. i did some how end up getting two happy birthday serenades, free cheesecake, a bday shot and a martini by the end of the night :)

we went to a comedy show and it was the opener's bday too. he informed me that it was pi day (3.14) don't think i'd ever heard of that. it was also the bartender's bday at the hotel bar. that's where the martini came from :) the main comic was hilarious! our drunk server from dinner ridiculed us for going to the funny bone. he said he'd had three bad experiences there. but luckily he was wrong and it was a good time. and yes our server was intoxicated. he was on call and decided to drink w/ his buddies at the St.L parade...not a smart idea but i'm sure waiting w/ a buzz is pretty fun when you have a crowd like us!