Riddle

I recently made some Target purchases online. I intended to purchase the item on the right, the Rogan for Target jumper, but because shipping was free for orders above $50, I got the tie on the left for Mordecai as a graduation gift. The jumper shipped first, and the next day, the tie shipped. But how is it that I get the tie first, which came from Minneapolis, while the jumper came from Illinois but got here after the tie? And why did the tie come in this giant box, while the jumper comes all folded up in a bubbled envelope?

Catch!

Who would've thought, there are pictures of me being active. Actually, these were taken after I took a nap while Mordecai and Kota threw the ball around. At least I don't throw like Mariah Carey (video of her pitch at 00:21 here).

Film Location

They seem to be filming "Public Enemies" starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in Logan Square. My mom told me that they had been filming at the Uptown National Bank, and when we saw "No Parking -- Filming" signs up in our neighborhood, I thought it might be the same movie. Mordecai got confirmation from a police officer patrolling Schubert and Francisco, a block away from our apartment. I guess if you put one of these old school vehicle in front of a nice greystone, you get a 1930's scene going on. They should've picked my parents' house! Then again, Francisco has a lot more greystones than Richmond or Whipple.

Security wasn't that tight, I guess because there weren't a lot of people around; it was also pretty chilly today. I think we could've scooted up a little closer to the crew and scene, and actually have seen Mr. Depp's head or something. A giant black Yukon pulled up in the middle of the street while we were lurking, and based on sudden girly screams and camera flashes, I'm guessing he showed his face or something. The Yukon drove right past us, heading towards the boulevard--we were so close to him, if even separated by tinted windows!

Then the old school cars lined up and left. We saw one of them creating traffic on the boulevard, from what seemed like frequent stalling. Mordecai asked the other day, "Where do you think Johnny Depp is staying?" His mother guessed the Drake, his father the Raddison O'Hare, and my guess is the Trump Tower. Or whatever the most European hotel we have in the city--I hear he likes France.

Healed...

...in the sense that I don't need to see the doctor anymore. I think I'm going to start a collection of photos of myself with my doctors--both the medical and academic variety. I have pictures with my college professors, and now my lung and ankle doctors!

Target Bonus

I had been meaning to get some bulletin board-type thing to put up random photos, postcards, and my favorite Onion article ("Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8--Review Calls Ancient Art Form 'Tired'"). I was going to get an actual board instead of these tiles, which I once had in college, but then we noticed something odd.

The "Board Dudes" say their cork tiles come in a "4 Pack."

But look, there are five of them in there! Someone, or something, couldn't quite count right.

Lincoln Park Day

Today we went to the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pond, the Lincoln Park Conservatory, and the Lincoln Park Zoo. There are no pictures of zoo animals because my camera battery died, but here are some other photos from the other places.

This looks cool, but structurally unsound.

Here is a special duck or waterfowl of some sort. It looks more regal than your average Chicago duck, the speckled brown ones or the green headed ones. When I was little, my mother collected the crusts of breads I would reject, and we'd take them to a pond probably not too far from this one, and feed the ducks.

There were these nice cherry blossoms, so pink they look like they would reek of Fanta Strawberry or something equally artificially sweet.

Tree bark. When my dad first went to Japan with my mother and me, he'd often fall behind everyone because he'd stop to take a gazillion pictures. I remember distinctly one time when he disappeared, and we all stopped to ask where he was. We found him directly up against some random tree, taking close ups of its bark.

Here's another one, but with vertical lines and orangish-brownish colors.

At the Conservatory, I walked out of the Fern Room and the first thing I noticed after taking a breath of fresher-than-Fern-Room-air was this woman's stockings. And then I realized she was painting her nails some gaudy pink color that vaguely matched her equally gaudy, furry top. I think I was both appalled and impressed by her behavior. And then Mordecai pointed out that that bench is dedicated to a Kei Roth.

At this point my camera battery was not going to come back to life even if I rubbed it between my hands, so I was not able to take pictures of: a droopy camel hump; a rhinoceros' behind and its contents unloading; shivering and diving penguins; a regal lion basking in the sun; a jaguar pacing back and forth, licking its lips while eying two ducks outside of its cage thingie; a wonderful tiger peeing and pacing around; and random primates. Too bad!

Diner coffee!

Last Friday was Matt's last day of work. Emily invited me to his last lunch outing, and since Mordecai and I had no other obligations for lunchtime that day, we went down to Hyde Park and joined them. It was good times.

It was very good. I like the little splotches on the cup.

Emily and I ordered the exact same thing.

I miss these folks!

Pro-Grape

Yesterday I decided to personify my favorite flavor of soda and candy: grape. The boots are from the past, around 1998 or so. I'm not sure why I got them, as I had never been a big fan of purple or pseudo-metallic fabric, and only recall wearing them once back then. A decade later, they've returned to my feet, to gather comments, stares, and one classmate wanting to steal them.

In honor of this outfit, Mordecai took me out to Mr. Sub. I got a hot dog, fries, and Grape Crush. I know Mr. Sub doesn't mess around with grape soda. Afterwards we walked around Logan Boulevard to "exercise" (maybe it counts as "physical therapy"?), but only to collect more calories in the form of coffee and chai tea at the Starbucks on California.

I thought of getting Skittles yesterday to count how many grape Skittles there are in a given bag. I really think they're underrepresented, though I don't have an exact theory of why yet. Instead, my co-TA gave me a grape Dum-Dum he found on the ground somewhere on campus. It was flagged with a quote from John of the Gospel, and it turned out that it was from the peeps at West Loop UBF. Shout out to UBF! (Hi Abe!)

Tulips

I like tulips. Are they available throughout the summer?

TRAGEDY again

I dunno what happened to the straw, so I cut that area with my teeth.

TRAGEDY

I didn't look at that greenish-yellowish sign on the door to see the details of Doggie Diner's fate. Hopefully it was just a fire and it'll take some time to revive the place, and not a total demise of the home of the world's greatest cheese fries.

Eternally 12 Years Old

Good God.

As an official member of Mariah Carey's fan club, Honey B. Fly, I feel obligated to speak on the matters at hand. Let's begin by assuming that they really did get engaged and married. I'm just sort of annoyed at how irrelevant Nick Cannon is. It seems like this whole relationship is just an extension of her slogan, "I'm eternally 12 years old!" which would be eternally sad. But overall, the 11 year age difference, whether or not they had a pre-nuptial agreement--I don't really care. We all know that Mariah Carey is crazy, and hey, as long as she's not linked to Eminem, I'm OK with everything.

But what I really care about is the ring. Let's give Cannon the benefit of the doubt and say that he didn't give Mimi the leftover ring from his previously failed engagement to a Victoria Secret model. I've read reports that the one Mimi was seen sporting recently is a $2.5 million customized Jacob & Co. pink and white diamond, platinum ring. What I'm pissed about is that I'm just a measly fan--I don't even get out of control at concerts and yell, "THIS IS MY SONG!" and start screaming the lyrics throughout her performance. And yet I know that she's got connections to Van Cleef and Arpels; those ridiculous butterfly rings are customized by VC&A. Surely Mr. Cannon must've know her penchant for Van Queefer and Apple jewelery! That's all I'm mad about. Now we just wait and see what official people officially say about all of this.