You're still here?
My family came in for Parents' Weekend, something I was originally dreading. I was somewhat concerned with keeping college life and family life separate, and there's always that awkward feeling that's none too different from having to walk with your parents during class change in high school. But as it turns out, it was really a lot of fun. My mom came in Friday afternoon and we went out for Due's Pizza and then down Michigan to see Intolerable Cruelty at the titanic AMC River East 21, which has become my home away from home away from home. I mean this most sincerely; however lost I'm feeling, the movies are a welcome place I can return to that will always give me hot cocoa and slippers (as well as some Uma Thurman ass-kicking). I got to stay with my mom in the Chicago Hilton that night, which was the best sleep I'd had since September.
I took a taxi back down to campus Saturday morning and put in 3 hours of moving old university theater filing cabinets, and while i was there, my dad and sister flew in and we all went to the Medici, which totally wants to be The Maxx of University of Chicago but is way too overpriced to get any constant student business. That night we ate the Chicago Firehouse, an old converted fire station, where I ate my first steak in over a month: bleu cheese-encrusted prime rib with garlic mashed poe-tay-toes. After that was back to campus for the Phantom of the Night UC Symphony concert, where they were supposed to play all kinds of gothic-type classical music like Saint-Saens's "Danse Macabre," but ended up just doing a bunch of lame Faust stuff. But everybody in the symphony wore costumes, and it was really amusing to see all four French horn players sitting in a row in identical pink bunny suits.
Sunday was a rush to eat more pizza at Due's and to do some quick shopping on Michigan. It felt very Yule-tide yesterday, and I can't wait for the day off in December Finals week when I'm going to go downtown to Christmas shop. I was sad to see my family go, especially because I had to rush the goodbyes for play practice, and yeah, like Daniel, the holiday couldn't come any later. The whole weekend was very cathartic, and it really energized me after a week or two of slumping. I also had a realization that I'm quite proud of my family. It seemed that everyone else's parents I met were extremely stuffy, uncommunicative intellectuals. Or really old geeks who wear hats that they're not supposed to. These people went to all the parents' seminars in their blazers and pearls, but my family was more interested in getting some good pizza or picking out some wicked college apparel. My dad and I made fun of the inept people who play tennis outside my dorm. I think this campus has a sense of humor, but often it takes itself too seriously.
So... the week of Halloween. The holiday spirit isn't totally absent. My door is almost fully decorated now, complete with fake cobwebs sporting a big fuzzy spider, bat garland, a jaunty cardboard skeleton, banners, and of course, Malachi. I came home Saturday to find Malachi gone, but it turned out that my neighbor had merely rescued him from some kids downstairs who decided to use him as a soccer ball. Inside our foyer, I've strung some purple lights around the doorframes give the room a really creepy purple glow. I plan to watch a horror movie every night this week. I put Halloween on in the lounge last night, but nobody came to watch. There was nobody to sing along with to the Paul Song ("Oh, Paulll... No Keyyys...." You know). It's such a cool movie!
It's cold and rainy today, and for the first time my dorm room feels cozy. Yesterday I took a stroll around Hyde Park to catch the leaves before the rain dumped them on the ground, so I'll have pictures to come for those back home who don't really get an autumn.
My family came in for Parents' Weekend, something I was originally dreading. I was somewhat concerned with keeping college life and family life separate, and there's always that awkward feeling that's none too different from having to walk with your parents during class change in high school. But as it turns out, it was really a lot of fun. My mom came in Friday afternoon and we went out for Due's Pizza and then down Michigan to see Intolerable Cruelty at the titanic AMC River East 21, which has become my home away from home away from home. I mean this most sincerely; however lost I'm feeling, the movies are a welcome place I can return to that will always give me hot cocoa and slippers (as well as some Uma Thurman ass-kicking). I got to stay with my mom in the Chicago Hilton that night, which was the best sleep I'd had since September.
I took a taxi back down to campus Saturday morning and put in 3 hours of moving old university theater filing cabinets, and while i was there, my dad and sister flew in and we all went to the Medici, which totally wants to be The Maxx of University of Chicago but is way too overpriced to get any constant student business. That night we ate the Chicago Firehouse, an old converted fire station, where I ate my first steak in over a month: bleu cheese-encrusted prime rib with garlic mashed poe-tay-toes. After that was back to campus for the Phantom of the Night UC Symphony concert, where they were supposed to play all kinds of gothic-type classical music like Saint-Saens's "Danse Macabre," but ended up just doing a bunch of lame Faust stuff. But everybody in the symphony wore costumes, and it was really amusing to see all four French horn players sitting in a row in identical pink bunny suits.
Sunday was a rush to eat more pizza at Due's and to do some quick shopping on Michigan. It felt very Yule-tide yesterday, and I can't wait for the day off in December Finals week when I'm going to go downtown to Christmas shop. I was sad to see my family go, especially because I had to rush the goodbyes for play practice, and yeah, like Daniel, the holiday couldn't come any later. The whole weekend was very cathartic, and it really energized me after a week or two of slumping. I also had a realization that I'm quite proud of my family. It seemed that everyone else's parents I met were extremely stuffy, uncommunicative intellectuals. Or really old geeks who wear hats that they're not supposed to. These people went to all the parents' seminars in their blazers and pearls, but my family was more interested in getting some good pizza or picking out some wicked college apparel. My dad and I made fun of the inept people who play tennis outside my dorm. I think this campus has a sense of humor, but often it takes itself too seriously.
So... the week of Halloween. The holiday spirit isn't totally absent. My door is almost fully decorated now, complete with fake cobwebs sporting a big fuzzy spider, bat garland, a jaunty cardboard skeleton, banners, and of course, Malachi. I came home Saturday to find Malachi gone, but it turned out that my neighbor had merely rescued him from some kids downstairs who decided to use him as a soccer ball. Inside our foyer, I've strung some purple lights around the doorframes give the room a really creepy purple glow. I plan to watch a horror movie every night this week. I put Halloween on in the lounge last night, but nobody came to watch. There was nobody to sing along with to the Paul Song ("Oh, Paulll... No Keyyys...." You know). It's such a cool movie!
It's cold and rainy today, and for the first time my dorm room feels cozy. Yesterday I took a stroll around Hyde Park to catch the leaves before the rain dumped them on the ground, so I'll have pictures to come for those back home who don't really get an autumn.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home