Prangster in Chicago

The creeps

I watched a movie called Zodiac last night, about the Zodiac killer in California who murdered random people during the 60s and 70s. It was so long, creepy and suspenseful that I spent much of the 160 minutes (!!) peeking at the TV screen through gaps in my hands. When it was over, I realized that there's something off-putting about watching a movie about a real-life serial killer -- who hasn't been caught yet, I might add -- in the country where these crimes took place. It made me feel even more creeped out than I already was. I guess it's one thing to be in Taipei or Sydney and watching a film like Copycat (which is so scary too) cause you can just brush off the post-movie creeps with a "phew, lucky that fictional psycho is in faraway America!" But since I'm living here, the creeps stayed with me until I got home. And the same creeps made me imagine looking through the keyhole of my front door and seeing that bald, fat Zodiac killer guy staring back at me with a "you ready to die?" look in his eyes. Cause I mean, it could actually happen. Cause this is America, the land of all these real and fictional serial killers :(

This is no place for flippy skirts

FYI: This post is written quite badly. Enjoy.

Last night the wind was so strong I walked home basically hugging my skirt to my thighs. And this afternoon at around 4pm, a tornado came by Chicago and an office email was sent around asking everyone to shut down their computers, grab a bottle of water and file into the basement of the building. In the end, we didn't end up going into the basement and all was well soon after. Phew.

By the time I went home, it wasn't raining anymore but I still had my cardigan tied around my waist since I wore a dress today and it was still a bit breezy out. I saw a lot of the damage the afternoon storm had caused. There were a lot of big branches in the street and clean-up trucks cleaning them up. Yikes.

I decided to get some groceries at Treasure Island (no, that name could not be more un-supermarkety) on my walk home so Lien wouldn't open my fridge tomorrow and mistake me for an anorexic. By the time I was done -- it couldn't have been more than 20 minutes later -- the world had gone dark again. The sky was grey and foggy, the rain psychotic and cyclonic, and the streets very scary looking. I stood underneath the awning of the supermarket with a worried, scrunched-up look on my face. As I stood there, I watched other, braver shoppers step out into the outdoor hell, their umbrellas futile against the multi-directional rain. It wasn't looking good.

My own umbrella is a compact one. It's black and functional. Smaller than a regular umbrella but still does its job. I carry it in my bag every day because my mother taught me well. In this kind of weather-hell, however, no umbrella is qualified. Only a car will do. So I was very lucky that another shopper offered to give me a ride home. Some kind, Chicagoan stranger. Just a middle-aged man with a car and a spare seat. He dropped me to my door and I came home dry. My groceries too. Thanks, random man.

Now I'm sitting at my desk, on my chair, and looking at the crazy traffic on the streets, the crazy lightning that's flashing about, and smiling because I'm home. I do feel bad for all the other girls in Chicago who are out tonight wearing skirts though. Tomorrow I bet we'll all be wearing pants.

The brisket

Considering that I'd thought about pretending my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year instead of a Saturday -- and basically doing nothing more than watch a DVD on the floor -- I had a really, really fun night. I spent it with some guys I know through Chris -- the aforementioned friend who moved to Cleveland, Ohio earlier this week for law school. The guys picked me up and we went to have dinner at a BBQ ribs and brisket place called Smoques in Irving Park. (Funny. When I just searched for it on Google, Google asked if I was looking for "mosques".) So dinner was spent eating seriously delicious beef brisket and drinking BYO beer with four guys -- three of whom were wearing backwards baseball caps.

After dinner, one of the guys (Steve) decided to go for a run at the gym (don't ask me why) and the other two disappeared, so two of us (Randy and me) waited in my apartment for him to be done. We watched the last of Forrest Gump. Then some Iron Chef America. Ate some coffee ice cream. Drank some tea. In the hour or so that I was home, I got calls from Janice and Simone, which was perfect.

The rest of the night was pretty standard. After Running Man came back to get us, we went to pick up another friend of theirs, watched some pro wrestling on TV, drove out to a club, tried to pick up some girls (man, girls in clubs are hard to talk to...) then finished the night with some food at Chinatown at 4am. I got home at five. Woke up at one in the afternoon today. And no hangover. I'm way too old now for hangovers now.

Up in the air

This weekend is the Air and Water Show at North Ave beach -- the beach that's opposite my studio. The beach I've never been to, ever. And the beach that's packed with people right now looking at the airplanes spiral and flip over and fly within a reported 18-inches of each other.

It's a cool show. There are planes tailing each other. Planes flying in tandem as if their wings were holding hands. Planes diving nose-first towards the lake then leveling out just feet above the water -- a stunt that's probably made a generation of young Chicago kids pee their pants many times over already.

Right now there's a big black fighter -- or "Top Gun"-like -- plane that's doing crazy air-gymnastics and generally making a lot of noise. It's doing this cool stunt where the plane flies straight up like a rocket (or like it's standing up in a sky elevator), then it flattens out and floats down again. It's been so noisy actually that I haven't been able to take a nap. And I don't think I'll get to cause the planes keep getting bigger and bigger...noisier and noisier :(

In a bit, I'm going out to get a haircut. I really need one. Figured I should start my 26th year without any split ends.

Chris-less

This post in point form because I'm tired.

1. My friend Chris moved to Ohio today to start law school.

2. I have a chair now! It belonged to Chris. He stole it from a frat house during his college days. Who knows how many naked frat butts have sat on it.

3. Last night was a company outing at Navy Pier. Was kinda fun.

4. I just added my boss on Facebook. He's got his birthday as March 1985. He's a funny guy.

5. Lien is coming to visit next weekend!

Warning: bad weather and more

We get some pretty psycho weather here in Chicago. Today, our friendly office manager sent out this warning for afternoon storms from AccuWeather. We all had a good laugh at how dramatic the graphics were.





Then, one of my coworkers -- a graphic designer, of course -- sent out this weather update to the office.



Which got others in the office thinking...





I love the American flag behind Johnny Cash's profile.

Good morning, sunshine

I have this as my desktop wallpaper right now because it's unlikely I'll ever be up at five in the morning again to see this.