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Dec. 18th, 2009 11:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogI haven't caught up here in a while. Somehow I've gotten a little bit out of the habit of writing. Probably a combination of all the stress at work and all the excitement of an approaching move, approaching major holiday, and being busy doing things with people. That's alright.
This past Sunday I drove out to Richmond to see my grandparents. I spent a few hours looking at pictures and talking about Washington and my friends,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
savant_da_rat and ankhorite, who I stayed with and miss. We also talked about the president and other political type folks. My grandfather asked me what I thought of Obama. I said that I like him a lot and he seems like a pretty good guy who's doing the best he can, though I wish he could push harder for health care reform. Grandpa was happy to hear that, and lamented that there are a lot of people his age who would be just as happy to see him get lynched. He and Grandma and I then all talked about how horrifically scary Sarah Palin is, and how it's kind of amazing that she's written a book, seeing as how she spent her time in Alaska trying to get them banned. I like my grandparents so much!
---
Monday and Tuesday I was back at work in Chicago. The cold along the river on the way to work is pretty vicious at times. I'll have to make sure to bring my gloves next week. Tuesday was a fantastic time though. After work, I metmoiracoon in The Loop outside of where I work. Together, the two of us made our way through the chill toward Michigan Avenue, intent on seeing all the Christmas decor in the storefronts. First, though, I got to show her where I work and snag some free baklava in the break room!
While in the area, we went into Nordstrom's to check out Legoland. I really had no idea there was so much Lego merchandise these days. My last personal experience with Legos was when I was a little kid and just had a big bin of parts of castle and space sets and I built random spaceships and submarines and other unidentifiable collections of bricks. It's a whole different world now! It made me think a little bit about how toy culture has changed for kids between the eighties and now. Toys seem to become more and more complex, rigidly defined, and flashy, without improving on the basic concept. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, honestly. Maybe neither. But I did spend some time at one of the little play tables laying a few courses of Flemish bond out of Legos. I've been really interested in masonry and brickwork since visiting the National Building Museum in Washington, and I think Flemish bond is really pretty.
Err, anyway. Sorry. From there we walked north along Michigan Avenue toward the water tower (the 2nd oldest building to survive the Chicago fire, despite popular opinion) and looked at pretty shiny things. Moira took me into a mall with the most awesome-cool fountain along the middle of the escalators. As she noted in her journal, I couldn't keep my paws out of it. We also, at the advice of another mall patron, turned around and mutually threw a nickel into the fountain backward while we made wishes. I think we almost beaned somebody with the nickel. *giggles* Usually things in malls these days are too expensive to get nickled and dimed!
We walked to where we were meeting the horse and carriage that I'd bought a ride for Moira and I in. I'd been trying to find a good time to get Moira on a horse and carriage ride for a while. There's a group in Lake Geneva that does it, but it never quite worked out while we were there. So we finally got to do it in Chicago and it was entirely worth it.
The coach was enclosed, but the driver left the windows down a bit for us so we could be a little more connected to the passing scenery (though in retrospect, it might have been better to put them up; brr!). The seats were classic upholstery, dotted with buttons in diamond shapes. A few blankets were waiting for us to snuggle up under as the coach rolled along through the city. Moira leaned against me and I put an arm around her and we talked and cuddled and looked at the Christmas lights while the rhythmic sound of hooves on stone carried us away from the everyday parts of the city. It was lovely.
After our ride, we went to Star of Siam for some Thai food. I had some curry, which was pretty yummy, though not hot enough. The chill river wind knifed through us on the way back to Ogilvie station. I felt like my face would have shattered with a sharp blow. We finally made it to the station just in time to get the 9:30 train back to Waukegan, where Moira had left the car that afternoon to come meet up with me. It was a wonderful day and it makes me really happy to think about.
---
Wednesday night I was over atserinthia and todd_riverden's place to watch anime. We're almost done with the Kitsune series, which is kind of too bad 'cause I'm enjoying it so much. We might even have been able to get to the end, but I started crashing near eight-thirty. I guess I was worm out.
---
Yesterday was pretty great too! Moira and I went to the live Rifftrax event at Tinseltown in Kenosha. Apart from some unfortunate trans-phobic stuff at the end, it was a pretty good time. I'm still kind of amused about the most homo-erotic animated Christmas short I've ever seen. I was just waiting for all the reindeer to end up in an orgy. Weird Al was a guest, true, but he didn't really have a whole lot to say. Still, he made an impression. I mean, when did Weird Al go from this goofy looking guy with big hair and nerd-glasses (which, admittedly, aren't bad things in themselves) to this drop-dead gorgeous long-haired pretty-boy? He's strikingly attractive these days; I really had no idea.
---
So. Today I'm going down to Chicago after work to visitcranberrynomiko and her partner. There was talk of Rock Band, but we're going to hold off on that. Maybe I'll bring some anime again. And Saturday, Moira and I are going to go look at the apartments here in town. I spent a little bit of this morning with her extrapolating room dimensions from a floor plan by assuming thirty inch wide doors. And on Sunday, I may be going on a photo trip with jimcyl. I just have to get through the rest of work first!
=============
And my picture of the moment. Taken in the Laumeier Sculpture Garden in St. Louis, Missouri, this is a work called La Libellule. (Can anybody tell me what that means?) Something about it really intrigues me. I love the juxtaposition of the mechanical forms of what look like propeller blades with the human form that's been split and altered. I think it appeals to the same part of me that really loves Art Deco nudes holding geometrical shapes, but this throws surrealism on top of that.
La Libellule - Arman, 1996
This past Sunday I drove out to Richmond to see my grandparents. I spent a few hours looking at pictures and talking about Washington and my friends,
savant_da_rat and ankhorite, who I stayed with and miss. We also talked about the president and other political type folks. My grandfather asked me what I thought of Obama. I said that I like him a lot and he seems like a pretty good guy who's doing the best he can, though I wish he could push harder for health care reform. Grandpa was happy to hear that, and lamented that there are a lot of people his age who would be just as happy to see him get lynched. He and Grandma and I then all talked about how horrifically scary Sarah Palin is, and how it's kind of amazing that she's written a book, seeing as how she spent her time in Alaska trying to get them banned. I like my grandparents so much!---
Monday and Tuesday I was back at work in Chicago. The cold along the river on the way to work is pretty vicious at times. I'll have to make sure to bring my gloves next week. Tuesday was a fantastic time though. After work, I met
moiracoon in The Loop outside of where I work. Together, the two of us made our way through the chill toward Michigan Avenue, intent on seeing all the Christmas decor in the storefronts. First, though, I got to show her where I work and snag some free baklava in the break room!While in the area, we went into Nordstrom's to check out Legoland. I really had no idea there was so much Lego merchandise these days. My last personal experience with Legos was when I was a little kid and just had a big bin of parts of castle and space sets and I built random spaceships and submarines and other unidentifiable collections of bricks. It's a whole different world now! It made me think a little bit about how toy culture has changed for kids between the eighties and now. Toys seem to become more and more complex, rigidly defined, and flashy, without improving on the basic concept. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, honestly. Maybe neither. But I did spend some time at one of the little play tables laying a few courses of Flemish bond out of Legos. I've been really interested in masonry and brickwork since visiting the National Building Museum in Washington, and I think Flemish bond is really pretty.
Err, anyway. Sorry. From there we walked north along Michigan Avenue toward the water tower (the 2nd oldest building to survive the Chicago fire, despite popular opinion) and looked at pretty shiny things. Moira took me into a mall with the most awesome-cool fountain along the middle of the escalators. As she noted in her journal, I couldn't keep my paws out of it. We also, at the advice of another mall patron, turned around and mutually threw a nickel into the fountain backward while we made wishes. I think we almost beaned somebody with the nickel. *giggles* Usually things in malls these days are too expensive to get nickled and dimed!
We walked to where we were meeting the horse and carriage that I'd bought a ride for Moira and I in. I'd been trying to find a good time to get Moira on a horse and carriage ride for a while. There's a group in Lake Geneva that does it, but it never quite worked out while we were there. So we finally got to do it in Chicago and it was entirely worth it.
The coach was enclosed, but the driver left the windows down a bit for us so we could be a little more connected to the passing scenery (though in retrospect, it might have been better to put them up; brr!). The seats were classic upholstery, dotted with buttons in diamond shapes. A few blankets were waiting for us to snuggle up under as the coach rolled along through the city. Moira leaned against me and I put an arm around her and we talked and cuddled and looked at the Christmas lights while the rhythmic sound of hooves on stone carried us away from the everyday parts of the city. It was lovely.
After our ride, we went to Star of Siam for some Thai food. I had some curry, which was pretty yummy, though not hot enough. The chill river wind knifed through us on the way back to Ogilvie station. I felt like my face would have shattered with a sharp blow. We finally made it to the station just in time to get the 9:30 train back to Waukegan, where Moira had left the car that afternoon to come meet up with me. It was a wonderful day and it makes me really happy to think about.
---
Wednesday night I was over at
serinthia and todd_riverden's place to watch anime. We're almost done with the Kitsune series, which is kind of too bad 'cause I'm enjoying it so much. We might even have been able to get to the end, but I started crashing near eight-thirty. I guess I was worm out.---
Yesterday was pretty great too! Moira and I went to the live Rifftrax event at Tinseltown in Kenosha. Apart from some unfortunate trans-phobic stuff at the end, it was a pretty good time. I'm still kind of amused about the most homo-erotic animated Christmas short I've ever seen. I was just waiting for all the reindeer to end up in an orgy. Weird Al was a guest, true, but he didn't really have a whole lot to say. Still, he made an impression. I mean, when did Weird Al go from this goofy looking guy with big hair and nerd-glasses (which, admittedly, aren't bad things in themselves) to this drop-dead gorgeous long-haired pretty-boy? He's strikingly attractive these days; I really had no idea.
---
So. Today I'm going down to Chicago after work to visit
cranberrynomiko and her partner. There was talk of Rock Band, but we're going to hold off on that. Maybe I'll bring some anime again. And Saturday, Moira and I are going to go look at the apartments here in town. I spent a little bit of this morning with her extrapolating room dimensions from a floor plan by assuming thirty inch wide doors. And on Sunday, I may be going on a photo trip with jimcyl. I just have to get through the rest of work first!=============
And my picture of the moment. Taken in the Laumeier Sculpture Garden in St. Louis, Missouri, this is a work called La Libellule. (Can anybody tell me what that means?) Something about it really intrigues me. I love the juxtaposition of the mechanical forms of what look like propeller blades with the human form that's been split and altered. I think it appeals to the same part of me that really loves Art Deco nudes holding geometrical shapes, but this throws surrealism on top of that.
La Libellule - Arman, 1996
