We do not vanish!
I've been feeling nasty and lumpish lately, so I took a walk this morning (5 degrees, windchill -11) in every piece of clothing that seemed relevant. I've never been farther than a block north of my apartment building (on foot; Virginia and I drove around when she was up here), and there's a building with an interesting round section not too far away - or so it seems from the window - that I thought I'd take a look at.
It wasn't there, of course, but simply by continuing to go I wound up in a very cool place. First, I came upon a gloriously white domed building. From a distance, it had a Taj Mahal-ish look; as it turned out, it was a Baha'i Temple. The building itself was octagonal (or possibly decahedral; I couldn't decide and didn't want to circle it), but the dome was made of three converging points, and the points were made of vine-like tracery covering class. When walking back, I could see (through the glass doors) light shining down inside from the tracework. That's my idea of architecture. It would have been a video game, except that there was clearly a ficus tree (or equivalent) directly inside the SE set of doors. Grrrr. No, really, mundane-ify your glory. See if I care.
Oh, sweet: it's got a webcam. Wait until morning (CST) and go take a look.
My attention sparked, I got fancy and also looked to my right, and discovered that the lake had snuck much closer as I headed north. It looked odd, though... I walked over a bridge just then, and saw that the water in the marina was frozen. I cut through a park out to the waterfront, and lo and behold. For twenty feet out or so, the lake is covered with hummocks of jagged ice. Beyond that, the water was rolling gently (not much wind this morning), but big sheets of ice jutted out with every movement. It reminded me of nothing so much as unicorns (thus the subject: I checked an online script, and I can hear every line read in the characters' voices. I have seen that movie many many times). I walked along the beach for a little ways, tramping alternately on sand and ice, until I came to a little rivulet that had carved out a pretty serious cliff/ravine: from its emergence, it drops about two or three feet now before running 15 feet or so to the lake. It was liquid (though the waterfall part was surrounded by icicles), but then it just ran under the chunky ice of the lake and disappeared. It was surreal to stand by this stream, look out where the waves were, and then have the space between be this still mass of rough ice. I think I'll go up there sunny mornings and watch the ice spread outwards as winter continues.
I will, however, bring additional clothing, because even today's barely windy weather was a bit much. For reference, when I got out of the shower afterwards, my skin was still cold to the touch. I have created a new descriptor: today was cold as a butt. If that seems unreasonable to you - if butts seem like not-cold things - you obviously didn't spend much time walking around Evanston this morning.
Yesterday I handled one of the China books for this week, and then finished reading all the archives of every strip hosted by Dayfree Press (and all the other strips linked from Sam and Fuzzy). The book was pretty cool, but webcomics are better adapted to this medium, so here we go. The best find was Return to Sender, which combines the plot style of jdate with the French version of Radical Edward (plus some guy). If you are my kind of person, you will like it; plus it's only about 50 strips long at this point, so get on it. If you are looking for a strip that almost instantly brings in aliens (or something) and lesbians and sex toys, that'd be Girly. I was pretty surprised myself, but you've got warning. Either way, strip #121 is the funniest G-rated sex-scene I've seen yet. (I have #153 jotted down as well, but I don't understand the comment beside it. Ah well, judge for yourselves.) Mac Hall is another gamers comic, but this time from the perspective of dorm-dwellers at a GATech-like school. Those in the know might enjoy #169, and #195 is also worthy. Finally, Loserz #261 and, if you are not Stacey, #361.
But seriously, if you're Stacey, just don't bother with that last one. Go mix some drinks or chew out a writer. (You've earned it.)
Lastly, I gave my mom the link here when it became clear that without reading she cannot follow my exciting life in sufficient detail. Obviously the point is negated if everything isn't as realistic as possible, so everyone please feel free to swear a lot in your comments.
It wasn't there, of course, but simply by continuing to go I wound up in a very cool place. First, I came upon a gloriously white domed building. From a distance, it had a Taj Mahal-ish look; as it turned out, it was a Baha'i Temple. The building itself was octagonal (or possibly decahedral; I couldn't decide and didn't want to circle it), but the dome was made of three converging points, and the points were made of vine-like tracery covering class. When walking back, I could see (through the glass doors) light shining down inside from the tracework. That's my idea of architecture. It would have been a video game, except that there was clearly a ficus tree (or equivalent) directly inside the SE set of doors. Grrrr. No, really, mundane-ify your glory. See if I care.
Oh, sweet: it's got a webcam. Wait until morning (CST) and go take a look.
My attention sparked, I got fancy and also looked to my right, and discovered that the lake had snuck much closer as I headed north. It looked odd, though... I walked over a bridge just then, and saw that the water in the marina was frozen. I cut through a park out to the waterfront, and lo and behold. For twenty feet out or so, the lake is covered with hummocks of jagged ice. Beyond that, the water was rolling gently (not much wind this morning), but big sheets of ice jutted out with every movement. It reminded me of nothing so much as unicorns (thus the subject: I checked an online script, and I can hear every line read in the characters' voices. I have seen that movie many many times). I walked along the beach for a little ways, tramping alternately on sand and ice, until I came to a little rivulet that had carved out a pretty serious cliff/ravine: from its emergence, it drops about two or three feet now before running 15 feet or so to the lake. It was liquid (though the waterfall part was surrounded by icicles), but then it just ran under the chunky ice of the lake and disappeared. It was surreal to stand by this stream, look out where the waves were, and then have the space between be this still mass of rough ice. I think I'll go up there sunny mornings and watch the ice spread outwards as winter continues.
I will, however, bring additional clothing, because even today's barely windy weather was a bit much. For reference, when I got out of the shower afterwards, my skin was still cold to the touch. I have created a new descriptor: today was cold as a butt. If that seems unreasonable to you - if butts seem like not-cold things - you obviously didn't spend much time walking around Evanston this morning.
Yesterday I handled one of the China books for this week, and then finished reading all the archives of every strip hosted by Dayfree Press (and all the other strips linked from Sam and Fuzzy). The book was pretty cool, but webcomics are better adapted to this medium, so here we go. The best find was Return to Sender, which combines the plot style of jdate with the French version of Radical Edward (plus some guy). If you are my kind of person, you will like it; plus it's only about 50 strips long at this point, so get on it. If you are looking for a strip that almost instantly brings in aliens (or something) and lesbians and sex toys, that'd be Girly. I was pretty surprised myself, but you've got warning. Either way, strip #121 is the funniest G-rated sex-scene I've seen yet. (I have #153 jotted down as well, but I don't understand the comment beside it. Ah well, judge for yourselves.) Mac Hall is another gamers comic, but this time from the perspective of dorm-dwellers at a GATech-like school. Those in the know might enjoy #169, and #195 is also worthy. Finally, Loserz #261 and, if you are not Stacey, #361.
But seriously, if you're Stacey, just don't bother with that last one. Go mix some drinks or chew out a writer. (You've earned it.)
Lastly, I gave my mom the link here when it became clear that without reading she cannot follow my exciting life in sufficient detail. Obviously the point is negated if everything isn't as realistic as possible, so everyone please feel free to swear a lot in your comments.