Prangster in Chicago

The random industrial area near my office building at sunset

I'm dipping my spoon into the bowl of blog desperation with these photos. I took them last night with my camera phone while I was waiting for the bus. They're kinda ugly. For the record, you're looking at the action-packed intersection of Halsted and Chicago.

Green City Market

That's right, from scratch

I baked these puppies last night with my new muffin tin. They're whole wheat apple cinnamon and mostly organic because I shopped for the ingredients at Whole Foods. Stupid Whole Foods. The start-up cost for these muffins was almost $30! Now I'll bake muffins every damn weekend. You lose, Whole Foods.

We made it, then we ate it

 

I think I'm getting old. I was too excited about going to a pasta making class on my birthday.

Afternoon light at Lula Cafe

The face and foot model here is Ry. (Hi Ry.)

Can you hear me now?

Last week I went to a free "New Music Mondays" show in Millennium Park. (Go free stuff!) The singer-songwriter from Mali who was booked for the night couldn't make it, so a Chicago rock band called Shellac took her place. In the second picture you see the original crowd that was waiting for the singer from Mali. Tourists, young families, the sort of elderly. When Shellac started playing, some of these people got so confused. I felt bad for the little kids who covered their ears because it was so loud. (I hope those tissues you stuffed in your ears did the trick, little kids!) But it was kind of cool to see these two worlds collide: tattoos and skinny jeans mixing it with Birkenstocks and khaki shorts. Are we the world? Yeah, we are the world. (RIP, MJ...)

They're back, in black

Almost a year ago, I lost the first pair of sunglasses I ever owned at the cinemas when Jess and I went to watch Mamma Mia. (See that picture on the right of me casually resting my chin on the dock? Those are my old sunglasses there.)

Some argued that I got what I deserved for going to see such a movie, but let's not rehash that argument here. It's time to move on. Because I found a new (old) pair on Ebay recently, and I'm wearing them right now as I'm typing this. They're black. They fit just like my old ones. Putting them on was like riding a bike, but not really riding a bike, since I recently rode a bike into a tree. I'm pretty chuffed that they've come back to me.

Uh, weird. Guess what movie just started on HBO? Mamma Mia. I'm putting my sunglasses on. I'm not losing them to that movie again...

Hello, my new Japanese toy

I bought this Fujifilm Instax Mini instant camera at Narita Airport on my way back from Taipei. It's like carrying a little snowman around town. It takes old school photos like these ones below. My fave part is watching the photo come out of the top after I've snapped a shot. It makes this old timey noise...like waiting for a video to come out of the VHS machine.

The surprise

Right now I'm in the United Lounge at Narita Airport, en route to Taipei to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. He has no idea I'm coming. I was on the phone with him earlier this week and he told me to book a ticket to go back for a visit already. I told him I'd think about it. Maybe August, probably September, I said. That was a little cruel of me, but it means the surprise is gonna be even more awesome.

They have self-service beer on tap at the United Lounge. The machine automatically tilts the glass. Yeah, I like Japan a lot.

Update: I almost gave my dad a heart attack!

Lincoln Square