faith restored (at least for now)

A few things to restore my faith in humanity...

Yesterday I had to go and get some bloodwork done. I had to go to the hospital for it, an outpatient thing. Not a big deal at all, but naturally my hypochondriac sensitivities went into overdrive and I was reaching for a paper bag to hyperventilate in when my name was called. The (cute) tech who was drawing my blood noticed my anxiety as he secured me in the chair (it had a little swinging arm thing that snapped into place, kind of like an amusement park ride. Except a really crappy not fun one.). He noticed huge gobs of white fur on my pants (yes sirree, I am one Klassy Ladee!) and asked if I had pets. We chatted away about cats and he loved the names of my two (Start and Finish). I really appreciated his efforts to take my mind off the huge needle that he was plunging into my arm, so Robert in the Lab of Lutheran General, I thank you very very much. That little bit of kindness made my morning.

This morning, as I waited for the train in the rain, I got good and wet. Soggily, I clamoured on board and looked for a seat. There was not one to be found. Then, a businessman moved some papers off the seat facing him and told me I could sit there, if I wanted to. That little bit of kindness made a wet morning a little happier. So thanks, Metra Man!


** If you are interested, I got a clean bill of health from my test results.

Happy Friday!

I can't stop watching this... For extra points, double click impatiently so that many You Tube windows open at the same time, and she's singing along with herself in stereo.




Thanks Bob! I saw this on your blog and shamelessly bloglifted it for my own...

everybody just say "ah"

Hello, my name is Kristen and I am a hypochondriac ("Hello, Kristen" you chorus). I am also a drama queen. So. When I get sick and I don't improve rapidly to A-game status within oh, about 24 hours, I.FREAK.THE.HELL.OUT. I jump straight onto the computer and attempt symptom analysis on Web MD or MayoClinic.com. Naturally, my mind goes instantly to the bad place. I will scan conditions and try to match their symptoms to mine. (Oh my god! Do I have that? I think I have that! I'm dying! Arrgh!)
I can't be the only person that does this. I think too much about everything and that only makes it worse. I never used to question doctors or the efficacy of antibiotics before. Now I'm all like, "So that's what I've got, huh? How do you KNOW?"

I know this is not healthy for me but I can't help it. I am sick right now and completely freaked out about it because I am kind of uncomfortable and not appearing to improve at the pace I would like. I've also discovered an Immediate Care Center near my office so it is not necessary to schlep out to Niles whenever I get a symptom.

Anyway. I am trying to wean myself away from WebMD, since it's not at all helpful in determining what it is I ACTUALLY have and only makes me feel worse. Let's hope when I see my doctor tomorrow, she will give me more drugs...

elephant = squirrel + toaster

So.... yeeesss. Last night me & the girls braved the elements (not only torrential rains, but also the nutbags and Cubs fans that ride the CTA) to see Eddie Izzard (I would direct you to his website here, but it's apparently disappeared into cyberspace, as I have not been able to access it at all today. Too many jokes at the PC's expense? It is funny, since he even did a bit about updating your computer...and the wonders of Wikipedia.)

I don't know how to explain one of Eddie's shows for people who haven't seen him (and if you haven't seen him - WTF? Go and Netflix his "Dress to Kill" please. I'll wait. You can thank me later.) except he can make things like the title of this post make total sense. Really. It is true. He was on stage for about 2 hours, and it flew by. At the end of the show, I was thinking "Waaah! It can't be over ALREADY!" I could sit there and listen to him for many more hours. I think I laughed the whole time. The act is very stream-of-consciousness but it never seems rambly. It's just completely hillarious. I haven't done him justice in this post, but just trust me, it was a great show. It looked like the theater was pretty well sold (and how he has moved up! The first time we saw him was at the Royal George Theater, very small and intimate. Then he was at the Shubert/LaSalle Bank Theater and now the Chicago Theater!) and the crowd was with him the entire time. He raised the roof just by showing up on stage.

Also, I must give a shout out to the restaurant we went to - La Rosetta on Madison, across from Chase Tower. If you go, order the house rigatoni. The sauce is like crack. I kid you not. Oh, so good...

think inside the box this weekend...

Eddie Izzard at the Chicago Theatre

If you feel like getting some culture, go and check this
out. It's all contemporary choreographers and it's a lot of fun. It features a Blue Man Group-ish, work called Inner Space (guaranteed to have you sitting there scratching your head going "how are they doing that??"). This work features three dancers in a teeny, tiny, plexiglass box (see a picture here

It's Official...

I have seen more Tony-nominated shows this season than I saw Oscar-nominated films. It's only three (Gypsy, Sunday in the Park with George and August:Osage County) but still. I would give you predictions, but I don't feel incredibly qualified and it would all be guessing and general shout outs to people I like.

So we'll just have a giant shout out to people I like instead:

Yay for Gypsy!

Also yay for Chicago Shakespeare Theater who won the Regional Theatre Tony Award. Back in the day, I did several school projects involving them, including a marketing audit and box office review.

I'll have the chicken, please

On Saturday, we're seeing Eddie Izzard!
Watch. Laugh.

Hill no, she won't go!!

So last week the Sun Times printed a headline urging Senator Clinton to drop out of the Presidential race (so much for the impartial writing of the news, huh?). I believe the words emblazoned in the headline were "Give it Up" - I was so tempted to respond to this, but I was not able to put my thoughts down in an eloquent manner, that is, without the liberal use of the word "fuckheads."

Fortunately, a fellow reader put it into words for me:

The best candidate
I'd like to know why you're calling for Sen. Clinton to exit the presidential race. As of today, counting the entire popular vote (that is, the actual people who voted, not some delegate process that few understand and even less approve of), Sen. Obama leads by less than one-half of 1 percent. That's far from a mandate. Sen. Clinton is staying in the race for those of us who believe she's the best candidate -- and there are a lot of us.

Lisa Young, Lincoln Park


I promise I won't veer into political topics very often, but this headline just really pissed me off...

all that and a butterfly vendetta

Vair vair busy weekend. Started off with lovely dinner at Mykonos on Friday with Heidi and Jane. Our quest for cupcakes went unfulfilled, but we found some gelato and planned our farewell to youth trip to Australia (summer of 09, baby! Anyone turning 30 like us or hitting a milestone?? You are welcome to join us...) also planned revenge on a certain incompetent Big A manager (I am Italian, remember. "Io voglio vendetta!" Or, as Heidi put it "Farfalle vendetta!" which means either she has a thing against pasta or a thing against butterflies. As Jen Lancaster said, we are a very vengeful and stabby people. I think she was talking about Sicilians specifically but I think it applies to us all.)

Saturday - hair cut!!! It is back to being dark. And rather than going with the usual, I let Cathy's scissors run wild... She said "You know what I'd love to do on you?" and then she told me and I said "Okay." A hairdresser's dream, really because how many times do customers really give the stylists carte blanche to do whatever? But I felt like a change, so here we are. It's one of those shorter in the back longer in the front things and I am very happy with it. We will see tomorrow if anybody notices. Or if I can get it to look even remotely like it looked when I left the salon.

Also went to drop off the dress for its alterations (finally!) and met up with Heidi and Jane again for yes, cupcakes, and a movie (Baby Mama).

Today I've been alone with my horrible allergies, cleaning my closet and discovering the secret of the universe. Well, fine not really. But I think "discovering the secret of my missing playbills" doesn't sound nearly as exciting. Found one of the Rent ones (no idea where the others are. None.) and also Heidi claims that she went to Cats with me in 2002 with our friend Emily and her (then) boyfrield Mark. Emily? Do you remember this? Did you see Cats? Was I there? This truly does not ring any bells for me. I remember seeing Eddie Izzard together but not Cats.