there are many many fur coats in chicago. i found it most funny that there were quite a few women in fur coats at trader joe’s. trader joe’s is all about eco-animal-friendly stuff, and those fur coats just didn’t belong there. one of the women wore a short fur that had an uneven hemline, giving it the appearance of an actual pelt. she was french.
another woman wore a short white fur, and she was blonde and very thin. i don’t think i saw any women in furs who weren’t thin.
at the hotel last night there were two big parties going on. one was a large hispanic wedding. i saw a very large woman walk in wearing one of those shimmery satiny clingy dresses. she really shouldn’t have been revealing quite so much of herself. there were many cute kids there, running all around.
in a room at the opposite side of the building was a bar mitzvah. i saw the preponderance of fur coats walking into that event. long furs, too, none of that cheap short stuff.
i couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen once everybody at the two events got drunk – would they start to comingle? would people stagger out of the bar mitzvah and sneak into the wedding reception in order to dance one of those annoying line dances that they play at all wedding receptions? would little kids from the reception want to crash the bar mitzvah in order to get some of the booty that was being given away?
also at the bar mitzvah were quite a few girls of that bat mitzvah age, i guess about 13, and many of them were wearing clothes completely innapropriate for girls so young. tiny dresses and really high heels. one little girl teetered around in her heels, waiting for her parents to pick her up.
besides that, chicago was very cold. my workshop wasn’t so bad and i didn’t lose my mind even though i had to sit for many many hours listening to a lecture that at times became either completely unintelligible or astoundingly boring or both.
i did learn a few things, which is good. and i finally got to LEAVE, which was really good.
we were in northbrook, and most of the restaurants there seemed to be steak houses.
our hotel was really close to the chicago botanic garden, but i had no time to go there. someday i’d like to. maybe when it’s warm again. someday.
mom went to a cool exhibit at the field museum today, all about tornadoes. kevin had heard about it; some tornado-chasers put a video camera down in the eye of a tornado and there were cameras all around in a circle and so i imagine it must have felt like you were inside the tornado.
it’s weird to go to a place where there are many things to do, but you can’t go to any of them.
we did see “role models” on saturday night and i HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. you will laugh, a lot. i love it when a comedy is actually funny, and it’s much too rare.
the theater was in a northbrook mall, and it was chock full of teenagers. a gaggle of boys sat in the front, and before the movie started one of them began to yell LOUDLY for his friend who was sitting higher up. i was horrified and mesmerized that somebody would actually behave like that in a public place. eventually yet another teenage boy sauntered down to join his friends, but the yelling guy continued to stare up at the crowd in back of him, perhaps scanning it for other friends who would need summoning.
this made me nervous that it wouldn’t be possible to hear the movie, but when it finally started, after more horrible trailers than i’ve ever watched at one time, the boys settled down. i did notice that a lot of them were checking their cell phones periodically, maybe checking on the weather.
go see “role models.” i’m going again and taking kevin, because i know he’ll laugh a lot.
ok then, goodnight,
sunday night grace.