Just Keep Swimming...

Why hello there. I am at work, currently subbing for the office administrator. This means I get to sit at the computer all day and answer the phones. The one major project I had to do I can't really do because the database login isn't working, so now I have another 7 hours to sit here and play on the internet. Which is very good because I have not had internet on my computer at home for over a week. I don't know why it isn't working, but it isn't. Anne could get online fine using her computer, so I know it's not the network, but I'm out of ideas for things to do to my computer. Maybe later this week I'll drag my butt to the really cute coffee shop by me with free wireless internet and try to make friends with someone with a clue. That would be good.

I have had the busiest week ever. Here is what I've been doing:
Sunday, March 12 was my brother's surprise 17th birthday party. He had no idea. My mom and I decorated with penguin, soccer, and philosophy stuff. I photoshopped Mark and philosophers into funny pictures together, and had one sign that read "I KANT believe it's Mark's 17th Birthday!" with a picture of Emanuel Kant. I think I'm funny, but so did Mark and his friends, so it's ok. My cousin and cousin-in-law Josh and Vicki came over and we watched Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy in the basement and ate cake. The whole evening was an overwhelming success.

Monday, March 13 Amy turned 24. Happy birthday, Amy!!!

Tuesday, March 14 Work had a half day for Purim. I love Purim. It's a crazy exciting happy costumed holiday. I came dressed as "Red personified" (I wore all red including a boa and cape) and had hamentashen coming out of my ears. By the time they got to Kids Klub at noon, the kids were all exhausted. We had a very long "quiet time" during which no one complained or squirmed or even made a peep. It was a long day, but pretty easy all things considered. I went home and took a nap and watched TV before trying to clean my apartment until 2 AM for Toph and Anne's impending arrival.

Wednesday, March 15, against my better judgment I agreed to work in the office from 8-noon. I did 4 hours of data entry on 5 hours of sleep. It was boring and sucky and reminded me why I am so hesitant to sign up with temp agencies. Then I ran back home and cleaned my bathtub and kitchen surfaces because my apartment was still a complete and total sty. At 3 I took the El to Union Station (well, actually to 3-4 blocks from Union Station b/c that's as close as it goes and then I walked), met up with Anne, walked and took the El back to my apartment, got in the car, and drove a friggin' hour in traffic to O'Hare to pick up Toph. Another hour back in traffic and we stopped at my apartment just long enough to drop off luggage and pee before heading to Anne's high school friend Matt's house to meet him for dinner at House of Sushi and Noodles. All you can eat sushi was good and filling, even though I'm picky about texture and only really liked one of the types (a few others were ok, but the "Seattle maki" were the best with Salmon Tempura, Cucumber and Unagi Sauce) but it was good eating and fun nonetheless.

Thursday, March 16 was Toph's birthday and the longest day EVER. We went out to breakfast with Anne's brother David at Cafe Selmarie in Lincoln Square. I hadn't been there since some break freshman or sophomore year in high school when Jeni was visiting me and we went with Zach to hang around Lincoln Square and I came very close to being thrown into the fountain by Zach. I'd completely forgotten the incident until we were walking towards the place and it all wooshed back. Woosh. I had to be at work by noon for another half-day Kids Klub extravaganza, so I just got a brioche (which was fantastic) and lots of coffee. According to David, the best way to get from Lincoln Square to work was by walking down Lawrence to the red line stop. He suggested I look over my shoulder as I go to pick up the bus if it passed by, but that I might make it faster by walking than if I were to wait. Stupidly, I didn't think the plan through for myself and just assumed his method would be fine. I had about 30 minutes to get to school, and I knew it was only 15 minutes away (including walking) once I was on the red line. Had I stopped for two seconds to think about where we were, I would have realized that it was almost 2 miles to the red line stop and it was cold and my short little legs don't go that fast. I would have just waited for the Lawrence bus and made it to school with plenty of time. But I didn't. I walked. And I wasn't thinking about where the red line Lawrence stop actually was, so every block I expected it to be just a little further. The bus came by once while I was too far to catch it, but I saw tracks up ahead and figured it wasn't a big deal. Then I half-ran the two blocks to the tracks and saw they were Metra tracks and not El tracks. At that point I started a steady jog in the cold, El not yet even in sight, trying to decide if it was worth stopping to call Elizabeth to say I'd be late or if I should just keep going with the hopes of making it on time. I finally got on the second Lawrence bus to pass by with 3 blocks to go, almost immediately caught a train, and ran the whole way from the El stop to school. I arrived completely out of breath at 12:01 PM.
Elizabeth was extremely cranky because she'd had to set up by herself. We had 22 students and were supposed to have an extra grown-up person come in for the day since I had to leave at 3 and 22 students warrants 3 teachers, anyway. He wasn't there. We called Marni (our boss). She said she told him he didn't need to be there until 12:30-ish but she'd give him a call and let him know. We did lunch and played a game. 1 o'clock rolled around and he still wasn't there. We had some quiet time and put in a movie. Still no sign of him. The office administrator for work had called Laurie (our boss's boss) and I'd called Laurie and Marni again. It was after 2 and I was starting to freak out. I needed to leave at 3. It wasn't fair to Toph or Anne or me if I got stuck at work, but I also couldn't leave Elizabeth with the 17 kids that were still there. I called Marni again on her cell phone and at the JCC and left frazzled messages. She finally called back at 2:30 to say she'd deal with it. I said I had plans and had to leave at 3, so if nothing else, could she come in? No, of course she was too swamped at the J, but she promised I'd be able to go at 3 if I gave her 15 minutes to figure something out. At 2:50, she showed up with someone, apparently not the originally scheduled person (who never picked up his phone) but I didn't care. I was free. The kids had been wonderful all day, which was a very good thing because I don't think I could have dealt with everything had they been difficult. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got back to my apartment.
But no rest for the weary! Must keep going! We went to Bittersweet to get goodies and a cake-like item for Toph's birthday. We sat and looked at wedding cakes as we consumed large quantities of tarts and cookies. Toph chose an amazing little cheesecake as his official birthday cake. I wish I'd taken pictures.
Back at the apartment we changed into our symphony-going clothes and played with make-up (ok, Anne and I played with make-up. Toph is no fun) until we decided where to go to dinner. Select Cut steak house seemed like the best idea for a Topher birthday dinner, so we walked over and deliciousness ensued. Anne was having tummy trouble, but Toph and I ate enough for her and an alligator. We were a bit slow getting out and were extremely late for getting to Symphony Center for Mahler 2. Toph and Anne were convinced we wouldn't make it the whole El ride there, but somehow I had this strange confidence that it would be ok. And it was. We found our seats with a good 30 seconds to spare.
Mahler was incredible. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra rules. It's a huge piece with three timpani (two onstage and one off) and the entire CSO chorus and 11 French horns. Who the hell needs 11 French horns? 11. The low strings were incredibly tight and even my flute-hating self has tremendous respect for the principal flute (he's way above and beyond every other flute I've seen in my entire life) and there is only one black person in the entire orchestra (a trumpet player) which is completely fucked up if you ask me. So Mahler ruled.
But the fun don't stop! After the symphony, we went to Vaughan's. It was extremely crowded and St. Patrick's Day-y, but we managed to get a table and drink 312s and have a good time. Finally, we went home and crashed hard.

But sleep in I could not! No! I had to be at work at 7:30 AM on Friday, March 17! Thank goodness for coffee! It was a fairly easy day at work and I ended up being put in the office in the afternoon, but I was exhausted and even when it's easy and fun, children are exhausting. And then I taught a violin lesson that went really well (this kid has rhythm and memorized the string names almost immediately) and was even more tired and had to pee and picked Toph and Anne up at the El station because they had the keys to my apartment. They'd spent the day walking around downtown and millennium park and such. We never actually got to Toph's cake the night before, so I stuck a Hanukkah candle in it and sang and then we ate it and it was wonderful. I don't like cheesecake except for Bittersweet's cheesecake, which I love. It's much richer and more delicious without the sour flavor I don't like in creamcheese. While we were eating, Anne's brother called to say we should go to this Irish place for dinner and get there as soon as possible before it got crazy-crowded. So finished our cheesecake and I refreshed my makeup and slapped myself a little and off we went! We were at David's apartment by 5:45 and were at The Grafton for St. Patty's Day festivities by 6. It was absolutely packed. We got our names on a list to be seated and got drinks while David ran home to get earplugs (he's not a fan of loudness, and this place was definitely loud). And we waited. We talked and waited and waited. I checked with the bartender to make sure we were really on the list and would actually get called at some point. I checked with the head waitress/hostess person to make sure she knew who we were when our names came up. And we waited and waited. The company and conversation were good (I actually really liked Anne's quirky brother and his friend who met us there) but we were getting hungry. Most of the tables had people who'd already eaten and were just sitting around. We wanted to say something, but didn't. There was even one table just playing CARDS. Every bit of floor space was taken up by people drinking and/or waiting for tables, and they just sat there. Assholes. When it was almost 8 PM (two hours after we'd arrived) I went up and did a polite "we've been here for two hours WTF" shpiel and saw the list they had no longer contained our name (it would seem the earlier list had been lost or they were going on memory for those of us who'd been there many many hours). Two minutes later we got to choose our table. Food makes everything better. Toph and I both got corned beef sandwiches and shared onion rings, David got shepherds pie, David's friend got corned beef and cabbage, and Anne got fish and chips. Very Irish, very St. Patrick's Day. It was after 10 when we got back to my apartment. I crashed. Anne and Toph met another one of Anne's friends from high school back at Vaughan's and I intended to meet them there but (big shock to those of you who know me) I slept right through their phone calls and barely woke up when they rang my bell to get back into the apartment. Apparently Toph completely crashed, too and was a zombie while at Vaughan's, so I felt a bit better about myself.

And then it was Saturday. We finally slept in (noonish) and I was starting to feel a little bit human. Anne and I were too lazy to shower before "breakfast" and we drove over to Ann Sathers so I could introduce them to the cinnamon rolls. We ate too much deliciousness and then went straight to the Shedd Aquarium. It was gorgeous out and after paying $15 for parking (which I calculated was comparable to had we all paid for public transportation) we saw the line was out the door, down the stairs, and part way across the courtyardy thing. Fortunately, I'd done my research ahead of time and knew that I wanted to become a member (if I go one more time this year the membership pays for itself), so we got to walk right past the line and into the building and to the membership desk. We are so cool. This is my first ever personal individual museum membership, so I feel spiffy.
The aquarium itself was fabulous. I hadn't been since the last time Toph visited 4ish years ago, and now there's a whole "Wild Reef" shark exhibit that is incredible. That's where I met the frogfish. These things are unreal. They change colors to camouflage with the coral and they have these weird flipper feet fins and push their way around and their faces are sexy to say the least. I think they may very well be my new favorite animal. Other aquarium highlights included sharks, sea turtles, two blue iguanas, sea otters, penguins, and an eel that scared the shit out of me. For the record, I hate fish-eating anemonies, so don't get me them for my birthday. They creep me out.
On the way back from the aquarium I introduced Anne to DSW Shoe Warehouse. We almost bought lots of shoes and ended up buying no shoes because even when they're a really good price they cost money and we'd been spending money like crazy people for days. By the time we got to my apartment we were pooped. Anne and Toph had been all cute and cuddly and pokey at eachother all day and I was feeling exhausted and lonely and third wheel-esque and I feel apart in a classic "Jill is crying for no good reason" tear-fest. So we ordered Giordanos stuffed pizza and watched Finding Nemo (we'd been referencing it all day at the aquarium) and played Monopoly on my cell phone.

Sunday we didn't wake up until after 2 PM. Oops. Anne and I went to the grocery store like good womenfolk while Toph practiced trombone, then we all went to Panes for whatever you want to call what one eats at 4 PM as the first meal of the day. The plan was to then go right to the Green Mill for the weekly poetry slam (we wanted to get there before they started charging the cover), but my stomach had other ideas. I'm not sure what I ate that pissed it off, but it pulled one of it's super-annoying "I refuse to properly digest what you just put in me" tantrums and I was tethered to the toilet. Since there was no point in Anne and Toph sitting around while I was stuck in the bathroom, I gave them instructions on how to get to the Green Mill by themselves. They had a good time and eventually my tummy quieted down enough for me to watch a little tv and do dishes in preparation for dinner. Dinner was the huge-ass BBQ brisket that's been in my freezer since Hanukkah and little red and yellow potatoes, all cooked on the George. The potatoes were very good considering how easy they were and I didn't try the brisket because I didn't trust my stomach. We went to bed around 1.

This morning we woke up at 4 AM to take Toph to the airport. There was no traffic and we made it there in record time, said our teary goodbyes, and got back in time to sleep for 45 minutes before getting up and getting ready and picking up one of the other teachers for work.

And here I am.