Much Ado

Last night was much fun. My cousin-in-law is the understudy for all the non-Beatrice leads in Chicago Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, so she is required to see it twice a week and has access to lots of comp tickets and invited me to go with her. It's not a particularly deep play, but it is silly and entertaining and I love Shakespeare in general and this production was pretty much awesome. Also entertaining was getting Vicky's behind-the-scenes perspective on things, like the real-life personalities of the stars--a sort of small-scale Chicago Shakespeare version of E! True Hollywood Story.

After the show we went to Clarke's, a diner a few blocks from my apartment that I frequented in high school and my first summer home from college. Before they put in the bar, it mostly attracted burnt-out teenaged weirdos who sat for 4 hours and only ordered coffee to go with their 12 packs of cigarettes and attempts to sober up before going home to Mom and Dad. Now, it has more college and 20-somethings, fewer freaks, and better service, but the food is still awesome, particularly at stupid hours of the night. For those of you (Brian) who have been to the Golden Nugget, it is less of a standard greasy spoon (like when Vicky asked if they had herbal tea they brought out a tea chest) but comparably priced and much smaller. I hadn't had time to eat dinner between work and the show, so I tried a new (to me, at least...I don't remember if it used to be on the menu or not), larger dish: The Chicken Coop. Potatoes, grilled chicken, and cheddar cheese all mixed together and topped with two eggs over easy and two pancakes on the side. $6.99 (online menu is outdated) of pure delicious death. Good times, good food, good company.

How do you get 7-year-olds to stop being rude and disrespectful when you're not allowed to beat them?

I need to finish my cover letter for the full-time job I'm hoping to get for next year. Fingers crossed.