Lisa and I took our fiendish dog down to Hollywood Beach today, which is a mere mile or two from our apartment. It was in the 50s today, and we wanted to give Carly a chance to run around on the long leash, hopefully chase some ducks or other waterfowl. Last time we took her down there, it was dark, and she was much confused by the dark apparitions of ducks out on the water. She also seemed a bit confused by the beach itself next to the lake, muddy and wet.
Today we enjoyed ourselves. Carly did chase seagulls, met several other dogs with varying degrees of malice. It's terrible how having a problem dog makes me upset to see other people out walking with their dogs off-leash. It's illegal, so I'm hardly in the wrong here, but I know that's what everyone would like to do with their dog. So I feel a little bad when I think "Can't you just keep the dog on a leash?!"
Far more eloquent discourse on this subject is available at the darling wife's site.
We went to Evanston yesterday to see Big Fish. It was very enjoyable, as we had hoped. It has its teary moments, its very Tim Burtonesque dark, scary moments (just a couple, nothing I couldn't handle), and lots of funny moments. Good entertainment. Even Uncle Orson liked it.
After the movie, we waited on the El platform, underneath the heat lamps. At the Davis El stop, the pigeons LOVE the heat lamps. There are heat lamps at every El station, but I've never seen as many pigeons consistently using them like the Davis stop. Dozens of them at times. So Lisa and I were standing there, taking in the sight, getting slowly hypnotized by the little buggers. One was standing on one leg, relaxing. I have no idea why birds rest on one leg -- to my bipedal thinking, it makes no sense that it would be more relaxing on one leg than two.
This is why I'm not a bird.
Anyway, as we were talking about the one-legged bird, this guy walked up to us and said:
"Pigeon stew. Mmm, I love pigeon stew. Give these guys a little more time, fatten up, and before they know it they'll be perfect for pigeon stew."
Mystified, we turn to look at him. He looks normal, has a big grin on, probably harmless. Okay. He goes on.
"I got two cockatoos. One's white, she the girl; the other's black, he's a guy."
"Yeah, and the white one, she kisses me. She's the girl. And the other one, the boy, he bites me. I mean, he really bites me. One time, he bit me so hard I bled. I flick him upside his head when he does that, you know, just flick him with my finger. That time when he bit me and I bled, I flicked him real hard, and he kinda walked around like this [stumbles, visibly dazed]."
"I thought, 'Oh no, I hope I didn't kill him!'"
"Anyway, he was fine, and he doesn't bite me anymore. I think he learned his lesson."
At this point, the train pulled up. We said goodbye, and went home.
Our first Valentine's Day weekend as a married couple was quite lovely. We made some plans in advance, amazingly, and crossed some stuff of our lists.
After a very sweet (and I don't just mean nice, I mean Sugary) breakfast of cream-cheese french toast, we relaxed for the afternoon. We even played Smash... how romantic!
For the evening's entertainment, we went to Addis Abeba, probably our favorite Ethiopian restaurant here. It's right next to Wrigley Field, so it can get very busy at times, but it's very good. They gave us exactly the right amount of food -- many times when we go out for Ethiopian food I get unhealthily stuffed, but that didn't happen this time. There was even room for creme caramel, something I hadn't tried before. For something with "caramel" in the name, it's quite edible.
After a brief stopover at the bookstore down the street, we went to see Baby Wants Candy at Improv Olympic. BWC is an improvised musical, which may frighten you, but these guys were very good. First, there was a group performing a Harold (basically, an improvised play where the performers do scenes and have to figure out some way to tie them all together and finish), then a short game based on the day of an unfortunate audience member, and finally the musical. The musical (created from an obnoxious heckler-type guy's suggestion of "Bad Gas") was the best part, but the whole thing was excellent.
We're looking forward to checking out some of Chicago's other improv troupes, as well as going back to IO some time.
Today is Isaac's birthday. For a fun-filled present to him and yourself, go read his journal and harass him.
I tried to see Tributosaurus this evening, but it was not to be. Never have I been so unable to find parking. Never have I been so disappointed to show up at the venue, well after the start time, to find it shoulder-to-shoulder with people, filled with smoke, with a line out the door. No thanks.
It's too bad, too, because they were Stevie Wonder tonight. I'm sure it was fun, but I'm too short and impatient (sometimes) to stand in a room for hours breathing nothing but smoke and other people's breath, and not be able to see the stage very well.
I have a bit less need to see music when I'm playing a fair bit. Considering I'm in somewhere between three and four bands at the moment, that's may have something to do with my not needing desperately to go to shows. (Although Jon's last night was really good.)
I have a good friend back in New Hampshire who is going through a very difficult time right now, and I'm thinking about her and her family all the time. Her dad is at the Maine Medical Center right now battling a potentially life-threatening illness. He has had similar trouble before, and has battled through it. He's tough, and I'm hoping they can beat this, because the guy is too young and too cool for anything else. Anyway, I'm thinking of you.
I'm also thinking of my great-grandmother, who is in hospital right now back home. She is in good shape, though, having made it through hip surgery. I've been looking for seeded raisins (that is, raisins with seeds in them) for her -- she had them growing up, but they're extremely hard to find now. I was hoping I could be the cool, big-city boy and find them here, send a big bag to her in the hospital. But I've had no luck so far. Maybe I should just send a card.
I ended up just coming home instead of running around trying to find more music. I made pumpkin bread and muffins instead, using a recipe my friend's mom uses. Back in high school, around Christmas, I was always raiding their freezer for pumpkin bread. When I started cooking on a more regular basis myself a little later, I got the recipe. This is my version, which is only different insofar as I'm giving it to you from memory.