busy busy

Looooooong days. Three in a row.

Saturday morning I had to drop off my rent check at the leasing agent's office downtown before my improv class. No big deal, except the bus that was supposed to run every 7-10 minutes and take me from the office to class didn't show up for 40 minutes and then had to detour around many blocks of street fair. It should have taken at most 20 minutes from the time I showed up to the bus stop until when I'd arrive at class. I budgeted half an hour to be safe. It took almost an hour.

I was pretty off and out of it all class, but we did play this one game that involved jumping from one scene to another. The class split in half and coincidentally all the crappy people* ended up in one group. They crashed and burned and our new teacher actually called them on it and made suggestions as to why they had so much trouble. I like it when a teacher teaches proactively. Then the group I was in had our turn and we basically kicked ass. It was much fun. After class we went for food as usual, but since it was hot and everybody was tired we agreed to meet up later that night for karaoke.

Back at the ranch** I took a nap until my sister showed up. A few days ago, my sister met some guy who knew one of her friends back in elementary school and he got her number. Friday, he called her and asked her on a date. She'd never been on a real date, so she proceeded to freak out for the 36 hours before they were scheduled to meet up. He lives not far from my apartment so I suggested she come over first and leave her car and crash at my place overnight so she wouldn't have to worry about the how and the when of returning to our parents' house. Ever since my dog nipped her elbow when she was in "his spot" she's made me lock him up if she's around. I hate it, but sister is supposed to trump dog, and it's not like she fits in his crate.

She got to my place early so we went to this coffee/ice cream shop I like by me and then sat outside and got eaten by mosquitoes while we waited for the boy to arrive. She wouldn't let me meet him or even see him. Dork. Once she was gone I got myself ready to go out and headed to the karaoke bar.

Karaoke with improv people: so much fun! I was too sober when I went up and did Like a Prayer, but The Model absolutely rocked Led Zepplin (which was really funny since she's shaped like a waif) and drinks and fun were both had in large quantities. Drink I asked for because the combination was good and now I think if no one else has I should patent it and make a bazillion dollars: Stoli blueberry in cranberry juice. It was delicious. The bar itself was this funny dive bar in an otherwise very upscale and touristy neighborhood. Most of the other karaoke-ists were borderline painful to listen to. Made me miss being surrounded by musicians, but then again, it's often funnier when the people can't sing.

I wandered home around two. My sister was already asleep in my bed, but I was craving the shitty pizza they sell at this all-night place around the corner from me. I poked the sister to ask her if she wanted any and she said yes, so I took the dog and went. The line was crazy and long and consisted entirely of drunk and stoned white kids ages 16-29(ish). They were really obnoxious and some tried to bargain for more pizza than their $5 would buy and, even in my own besotted state, I wanted to apologize on behalf of the White Young Adults of America. Luckily I was sober enough to keep my mouth shut. I woke my sister up again with her pizza and she scarffed the whole thing down still in my bed, only half-conscious, before handing me the empty box and telling me to shut up so she could sleep. I was still wired but I fell asleep anyway.
Sunday was my mother's birthday, so my sister drove the dog and myself out to my parents' house where I was supposed to fix their computer (again!) and go through my old room. The computer defeated me in the end (though it turns out the cable modem was shot and none of it was my fault) and ended up playing Taboo with the family until it was time to do presents and head out to dinner. My mom loved the Kate Spade bag very much and the siblings and I made her cards from a kit we got at the Paper Source. My card ended up extremely cute and my brother and sister were all annoyed that mine looked by far the best, but my message was the most boring so it all evened out in the end.

Dinner was excellent. We went to this restaurant downtown (bucktown/wicker park, actually) that specialized in "country kitchen food" done really well. My meatloaf thing was fantastic, as were the sides of mac & cheese and my brother's shmancy grilled cheese. My mom got fried chicken and waffles. We were all too stuffed for dessert.

I'd originally planned to go home after dinner, but since the computer still wasn't fixed and I'd barely touched my room, they held me captive for the night. I barely slept. The bed is terrible and somebody is up at all hours (my brother and sister late, my mom and dad early) and the dog and I aren't used to sharing a twin so every time he flips over I wake up. I was very cranky all day Monday as I called the cable people and got the internet running and let the Dell guy in to replace one of the computer's power source (which continued not to work as the entire motherboard was apparently fried by the lightning) and cleaned out tons of crap from my old room. Nine bags went to the Salvation Army before dinner and next week they're picking up some of the old furniture. Dinner was delicious but I almost fell asleep on my plate and my mom and sister finally took me home around 9:30.

During dinner my brother called from his first night at his first real job: delivering pizzas for a local restaurant. He was extremely upset and frustrated because no one was telling him what to do or where to go or anything and he tried asking and they still didn't tell him. It was pretty funny (from the outside). Then on the drive back to my apartment he called to say "This job kicks ass!" Apparently he finally found out what to do and where to go and he gets to make his own schedule and he got almost $50 for the evening's 4 1/2 hours of work. I would totally deliver pizzas were I not small, blonde, female, and living in the city.

Today I mostly took it easy and slept and sorted through the random albums and boxes of photos I found in my room at my parents' house. They're all sorted and labeled now, but I need albums to actually put them in so I can determine what pictures are unnecessary and throw them out. I feel strange throwing out photos, but I'm trying to tell myself they are just the ones that would have been deleted anyway had I/we owned a digital camera.
Yeesh. Why am I still so effing tired?


*Yes, this is horribly bitchy and snobby of me, but there are some people in the class who suck at following directions and/or listening and/or thinking of things, and they all went in the first group.
**and by "ranch" I mean "my apartment"