In the end, it's SLEEP that matters most...
Holy cow...I'm so tired. I remember thinking that I would enter into a long period of blissful sloth when we returned from our trip to Japan, but the reality is exactly the opposite. It's been pretty much non-stop work since I set foot back in the States. wth? Same goes for Tristan, who is just about completely burned out on papers (writing, presenting or grading.) I've never seen myself as the sort of person who needs weekenders just to "get away from it all", but it seems that's what my life has become...at least for now. Oy!
At any rate...we returned from downtown Indianapolis ahead of schedule because, frankly, there's NOTHING to do in Indianapolis...trust me. We gave it a shot. The major attraction is a mall (which is most decidedly not "reminiscent of a European street market") and a canal. Just about the best part of our stay was our hotel room which was fairly m-a-s-s-i-v-e and well appointed. Friday night, we overate (!!!) at the very nice Palomino (which I'd thought was an Indy thing, but it's apparently a chain) and then tried to find a place to have a drink and just "hang out" with the locals. OMG was that endeavor a colossal disappointment. Maybe we just didn't know where to go. Or maybe there just was no where to go (seems more likely) other than to profoundly lame bars and "nightclubs" (i.e., bars with pool tables. yah.) Anyway...we headed back to Chicago Saturday afternoon (again, ahead of schedule), and actually had more fun stopping off along the way in the optimistically-named towns of Lebanon and Morocco. In hindsight, we should have just stayed near Purdue...ah, well. Tristan would really like to see more of the midwest and had earlier proposed taking one midwest roadtrip a month until the fall. His enthusiam is now somewhat muted thanks to Indianapolis...we'll still make it out to a few cities within 4-6 hours driving distance, but in general it's best to keep our expectations low (which, frankly, was my advice from the beginning, lol.) This realization slowly dawned on Tristan on the drive back when he said, "Do you realize a roadtip from Paris to Strasbourg takes the same amount of time as this trip from Chicago to Indianapolis?" Ah, well...
So, yeah...we were back in Chicago Saturday late afternoon. It took us all of 0.3038390203902093 seconds to resume our hectic lives. WTF?!?! Sigh. I have no idea how or when this happened, lol. But we've gotta figure out a way to make it stop or our heads will explode. Anyway, I did manage to make it out to have dinner with friends (Josh/Melissa, Bernie/Bob, Sen/Victoria) at Tango Sur (which means I had huge servings of red meat two nights in a row...I can't remember the last time that happened.) Tristan was stuck at home with papers. :( On Sunday, more work and then I met my friend, Chase, for tennis (holy cow was it gorgeous outside!) We'd intended to queue at Oz Park, but too many folks had the same idea. We decided to try the tennis courts by Millenium Park, but those close at 5pm on Sundays (we showed up at 4:35). So, we wound up hitting the ball around on the courts near Grant Park on Columbus and Balboa. It's been a year since I've been on a court and I'm so desparately out of practice. Fortunately, so is Chase. ;) Still, we play at the same level so we had a great time. I plan on hitting the courts a lot this year and Chase seems up for it.
OK...I'm almost done with this looooooooong, photo-less post. Just one more thing. It really is challenging trying to balance the growing demand for photographic services (it would be silly of me to complain about that) and my regular, full-time job. I just finished my first catalog shoot for a client who has a line of fairly glamour-less sportswear. It was a lot of fun and a fantastic learning experience (my friends Bernie and Chase joined me on the shoot), but I had only ONE WEEK to plan the whole thing: find locations, hire models, stylists, create a concept, etc. It was a near nightmare...but it came off well. I submitted the photos last night (at last! oy) and the client responded this morning stating that she is happy with everything. Cool, since this will most likely be a long-term relationship. Add to this a few weddings coming up over the next few months, all of which required INTENSE contract negotiations (omg) and most of which will need engagement photo shoots and suddenly I feel like I barely have time to breathe. Ah, well...it'll all work out one way or another. It certainly helps matters now that the weather has improved. Sun and warmth...yay.
Anyway...I saw the new Harry Potter international trailer yesterday. Looks set to be the best of the series. Cannot wait.
At any rate...we returned from downtown Indianapolis ahead of schedule because, frankly, there's NOTHING to do in Indianapolis...trust me. We gave it a shot. The major attraction is a mall (which is most decidedly not "reminiscent of a European street market") and a canal. Just about the best part of our stay was our hotel room which was fairly m-a-s-s-i-v-e and well appointed. Friday night, we overate (!!!) at the very nice Palomino (which I'd thought was an Indy thing, but it's apparently a chain) and then tried to find a place to have a drink and just "hang out" with the locals. OMG was that endeavor a colossal disappointment. Maybe we just didn't know where to go. Or maybe there just was no where to go (seems more likely) other than to profoundly lame bars and "nightclubs" (i.e., bars with pool tables. yah.) Anyway...we headed back to Chicago Saturday afternoon (again, ahead of schedule), and actually had more fun stopping off along the way in the optimistically-named towns of Lebanon and Morocco. In hindsight, we should have just stayed near Purdue...ah, well. Tristan would really like to see more of the midwest and had earlier proposed taking one midwest roadtrip a month until the fall. His enthusiam is now somewhat muted thanks to Indianapolis...we'll still make it out to a few cities within 4-6 hours driving distance, but in general it's best to keep our expectations low (which, frankly, was my advice from the beginning, lol.) This realization slowly dawned on Tristan on the drive back when he said, "Do you realize a roadtip from Paris to Strasbourg takes the same amount of time as this trip from Chicago to Indianapolis?" Ah, well...
So, yeah...we were back in Chicago Saturday late afternoon. It took us all of 0.3038390203902093 seconds to resume our hectic lives. WTF?!?! Sigh. I have no idea how or when this happened, lol. But we've gotta figure out a way to make it stop or our heads will explode. Anyway, I did manage to make it out to have dinner with friends (Josh/Melissa, Bernie/Bob, Sen/Victoria) at Tango Sur (which means I had huge servings of red meat two nights in a row...I can't remember the last time that happened.) Tristan was stuck at home with papers. :( On Sunday, more work and then I met my friend, Chase, for tennis (holy cow was it gorgeous outside!) We'd intended to queue at Oz Park, but too many folks had the same idea. We decided to try the tennis courts by Millenium Park, but those close at 5pm on Sundays (we showed up at 4:35). So, we wound up hitting the ball around on the courts near Grant Park on Columbus and Balboa. It's been a year since I've been on a court and I'm so desparately out of practice. Fortunately, so is Chase. ;) Still, we play at the same level so we had a great time. I plan on hitting the courts a lot this year and Chase seems up for it.
OK...I'm almost done with this looooooooong, photo-less post. Just one more thing. It really is challenging trying to balance the growing demand for photographic services (it would be silly of me to complain about that) and my regular, full-time job. I just finished my first catalog shoot for a client who has a line of fairly glamour-less sportswear. It was a lot of fun and a fantastic learning experience (my friends Bernie and Chase joined me on the shoot), but I had only ONE WEEK to plan the whole thing: find locations, hire models, stylists, create a concept, etc. It was a near nightmare...but it came off well. I submitted the photos last night (at last! oy) and the client responded this morning stating that she is happy with everything. Cool, since this will most likely be a long-term relationship. Add to this a few weddings coming up over the next few months, all of which required INTENSE contract negotiations (omg) and most of which will need engagement photo shoots and suddenly I feel like I barely have time to breathe. Ah, well...it'll all work out one way or another. It certainly helps matters now that the weather has improved. Sun and warmth...yay.
Anyway...I saw the new Harry Potter international trailer yesterday. Looks set to be the best of the series. Cannot wait.