Margot Weekend 2.0
I believe that now is a good time to reflect on this weekend past, as I am pantless since my clothes are being laundered, and there isn't much one can do while pantless.
Thursday
I woke up at 9am so that I would be clean and awake for my first full day of classes. Aspects of Portraiture looks like its going to be a good class, I just have to get used to sitting in the tiny desks for 3 hours when those rooms are usually used for tutorials and only 50 minute sittings. Aw, the joys of being an upper year student. Filming literature looks awesome, simply awesome, and I'm greatful that Eric took it when I was in first year, so that I would know exactly which english course I would want (and not confuse it with Film and Literature). The last book I read this summer was Wicked, and the first book I'm reading for school is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which is backwards, but more fun that way. Also, every person I recognized from the lecture turned out to be in my tutorial - Frosh Boss Jeremy, Tanya Abel-Hauser Gosselin, and JayPee's friend Jason. Sweet.
Then there was Pub Night. There was a dinner affair at 1022, but I came late since I kind of forgot that I had to pack. I ate a caramel sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles, followd by a tiny bit of Bacardi, the return of DP hits, and whippets. We split up with Aidan, Matt, Kiki, Jess and I walking and Bear, Bexy and Alicia getting escort. Jess and I went into rez to change while everyone else went straight to the Ab. When we came down around 9:30 there was already a line, but it only look about a half hour to get in. The Ab itself wasn't that packed, because there were a lot of people on the patio, but there really didn't need to be a line that long - Bear, Bexy and Alicia didn't even get in until a few hours later. I rememeber Jess and I being bored but overall having a good time. Spink called his dad who runs a limo company to get me a ride to the airport, which was a nice gesture, since all his friends have practically stuck along side Steph through their breakup.
Friday
Everyone went to bed (or someone else's bed) while I stayed up until 4am talking with Todd. When I got to the airport, it was eerie, because it was so early in the morning and absolutely no one was there. There were maybe 10 people waiting to go to either Chicago or DC, but that was it. We had to wait until 5:30 before we could get tickets checked and head on into customs, however, there was no ridiculous line at customs which was nice, but the guy was still rude:
"Why are you going home already if you are in Canada for school."
"Because my friend has cancer and its her birthday."
*stamps boarding pass with grimace on face*
"Bye."
Maybe it was towards the end of his shift. At least I only had to wait another 30 minutes to board the plane. I was nodding off a lot at this point, since I had been awake since I had already passed the 20 hour mark, but the instant the plane got to the runway, my eyes popped open and I starred out the window the entire time. Just as we were gearing up to take off, the sky was lightening and the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon. I took so many pictures from the plane window, it was just so goregous, not to mention how amazing it was to know that I was racing the sunrise, and not many people on the plane were awake to see the stripes in the sky changing. I felt it was just me in the sky and everyone else was crazy for sleeping or being a flight attendant and having to work through this.
When the plane landed it was ahead of schedule, which was a first in my career of traveling. I called home when I got inside the terminal, catching my mom for five minutes just before she was heading out to work, but I was tired and looking for the blue line station while I was talking, so I'm sure the conversation was pretty incoherant. Taking the train from O'Hare was fun in the fact that it was the first stop so I could take my pick of seats and since the tracks run alongside the expressway, I had the feeling I was zooming while all the cars were stuck in morning rush hour traffic. I called Margot and left a message that I was in the country, but planned on sleeping all day. Being on the Metra was a personal hell. The train left at 8:30 and I couldn't get a decent sleep because I was positive I would sleep through my stop, and I can't communicate how much I hate Ivanhoe, because it always lies on the track at the point where I really just want to be home, but I know its 5 really spread out stops until Homewood. And after 26 hours of awakeitude, I could finally sleep.
I woke up sometime around 3pm, forgetting how much sunshine streams through the blinds and into my eyeballs when I sleep in my bed. I checked the answering machine and there were no less than 5 calls from Margot, in varying degrees of excitement and frusteration. Charlie was already at U of I with Teresa and we needed to head down there so that we could see Teresa's improv show. It was a long drive, but we made it lots of fun. I got to see more of U of I this time around, and I love it. I'm glad I didn't go there for the reasons I realized freshman year (because everyone from H-F goes there), but its a nice place to visit, and I miss looking at nice architecture and seeing a university that really looks like a university. After Teresa's show, Charlie, Margot and I went for dinner at IHOP and then back to Teresa's dorm. In the parking garage, Charlie found a giant packaged brownie on the roof of his Jeep with a note on it that simply said "Steven" in girl's handwriting. From this point on, Steven Brownie joined us on all of our adventures for the rest of the weekend.
After a quick goodbye to Teresa and her sister Nat, we headed to Millikin to see Margot's school friends and the silos. I ended up sleeping the entrie drive there, so I woke up as I felt the bumps of a car pulling into the driveway. This house was awesome, huge, old, high ceilings, and broken up perfectly for student living. Margot was showing off her latest Ebay acquistion, which was a nifty xylophone, and Jeff told her that since now she has an X, if she could name something she owned for every letter of the alphabet, he would give her a giant cookie, and a giant cookie he gave her. It took a while to get organized, but around 1am, we headed to the silos in a two car caravan.
I was told that you could see practically every star ever, but whoa. As I stepped out of the car, my eyes filled with tears at the indredible amount of stars in the sky. Charlie spotted the Pleides early on and showed me where it was, and after months of knowing it only as a word and something dear to Margot's heart, I finally felt a part of it in detecting that glittering kite. After living outside of Chicago and Toronto for the past 8 years, I don't get to see many stars because of light pollution, especially at school where I can only see Orion's belt, Venus, and Betelguese (if I'm lucky). There was no black space, as every inch of sky was covered in sparkling light, I could even see the Milky Way, which had been something only reserved for Halloween goodie bags. Margot, Jeff, Charlie, and I laid out there on the dirt path for hours starring into the sky. What made the night even more incredible were the shooting stars. I had only seen one ever and I was the only one to see it in the car, so chances were it was probably an airplane. But that night I saw four. Clearly, vividly streaking across the sky. I think the collective amount of shooting stars people called out were around a dozen. Breathtaking.
Saturday
We left early in the morning so that Margot could go straight to the cottage in Michigan and so Charlie and I could spend some time with our families this weekend. It was a nice lazy change of not being on a plane, train or car for a few hours, and I got to talk with my mom about how Nate isn't talking to them when he is at school and talked with my dad about how the Cubs are doing (which isn't too great now as the Marlins spanked them the other day). Much later in the day, Charlie and Teresa came to pick me up and then Brian on the way up to Michigan, which I think I slept most of the way to. I think we were the last group of people to arrive, but we jumped right in and headed down to the beach after quick tasty eats at the house. The sun was just setting below the Lake Michigan as we got there and we set up the tent and played tag in the shallow water. When the sun was compeltly gone the stars popped into full view and a fire was built near the tent for warmth and light and smore purposes. I had a lot of fun poking at the fire and making it burn brighter and later in the night, I found the Pleides through a gap in the trees and I saw four more shooting stars. Laura arrived sometime around midnight, straight from working downtown, with her cute short short hair, and was taking requests on Margot's xylophone, playing everything from the Beasties Boys' "Girls" to "Prince Ali" from Aladdin. When we realized that everyone else had gone up to the house for bed, Brian, Teresa, Charlie, Amanda, Laura, Kyle and I piled into the tent for sleeps. Yes, 7 people in a 4 person tent, Teresa said that this is what an Anne Geddes print looks like 15 years later.
Sunday
Laura had to leave way-super early in the morning so that she could go to work again. The bright blue sky shining down through the tent's roof woke us up so we could go to the house for breakfast. I ended up falling asleep on a couch in the house for 3 hours while everyone else was having super beach fun. Margot came up to get me, and I realized that I could have been sleeping on the beach instead inside, oh well. At some point during the weekend, we all realized that no one had made any arrangements or organized anything along the lines of getting tattoos. We had been planning to all get a tattoos inspired by Margot, and since we'd all be together this weekend, that it would be a good time to do it. Now, the options are getting tattoos on our own (which would defeat the purpose of getting group tattoos) or waiting until we are all back for X-mas, which is what the option is now, hopefully Margot's health will be good enough at that point to do so. At least this way, I have more time to develop what I want, since before this weekend, I had wanted to get the radiation stars, but now I really want a something involving shooting stars, but I don't want it to look like "The More You Know".
We left around 2pm so that we could hit Redamak's for lunch on the way home, everyone stuffing their faces with burgers and me with chick nugs. It was a stuffing of Thanksgiving proportions, and I slept for most of the way home. That night, I spent with my parents, being lazy and falling in and out of sleep while watching TV.
Monday
Well, my laundry's all done and putting fresh-outta-the-dryer pants on is one of life's greatest feelings. Time to pack up the suitcase before heading over to HF to pick Mom up and have Dad drive me to O'Hare. I don't have either the facilities nor the time to post my pitures up, so that is what I shall do when I get back to school, although I have photo studios from 8:30-5:30 and my first shift at the Ab from 8-2ish. I'll have pictures up some day, I promise, but for the time being, I'll send you to the pictures Charlie took.
Thursday
I woke up at 9am so that I would be clean and awake for my first full day of classes. Aspects of Portraiture looks like its going to be a good class, I just have to get used to sitting in the tiny desks for 3 hours when those rooms are usually used for tutorials and only 50 minute sittings. Aw, the joys of being an upper year student. Filming literature looks awesome, simply awesome, and I'm greatful that Eric took it when I was in first year, so that I would know exactly which english course I would want (and not confuse it with Film and Literature). The last book I read this summer was Wicked, and the first book I'm reading for school is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which is backwards, but more fun that way. Also, every person I recognized from the lecture turned out to be in my tutorial - Frosh Boss Jeremy, Tanya Abel-Hauser Gosselin, and JayPee's friend Jason. Sweet.
Then there was Pub Night. There was a dinner affair at 1022, but I came late since I kind of forgot that I had to pack. I ate a caramel sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles, followd by a tiny bit of Bacardi, the return of DP hits, and whippets. We split up with Aidan, Matt, Kiki, Jess and I walking and Bear, Bexy and Alicia getting escort. Jess and I went into rez to change while everyone else went straight to the Ab. When we came down around 9:30 there was already a line, but it only look about a half hour to get in. The Ab itself wasn't that packed, because there were a lot of people on the patio, but there really didn't need to be a line that long - Bear, Bexy and Alicia didn't even get in until a few hours later. I rememeber Jess and I being bored but overall having a good time. Spink called his dad who runs a limo company to get me a ride to the airport, which was a nice gesture, since all his friends have practically stuck along side Steph through their breakup.
Friday
Everyone went to bed (or someone else's bed) while I stayed up until 4am talking with Todd. When I got to the airport, it was eerie, because it was so early in the morning and absolutely no one was there. There were maybe 10 people waiting to go to either Chicago or DC, but that was it. We had to wait until 5:30 before we could get tickets checked and head on into customs, however, there was no ridiculous line at customs which was nice, but the guy was still rude:
"Why are you going home already if you are in Canada for school."
"Because my friend has cancer and its her birthday."
*stamps boarding pass with grimace on face*
"Bye."
Maybe it was towards the end of his shift. At least I only had to wait another 30 minutes to board the plane. I was nodding off a lot at this point, since I had been awake since I had already passed the 20 hour mark, but the instant the plane got to the runway, my eyes popped open and I starred out the window the entire time. Just as we were gearing up to take off, the sky was lightening and the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon. I took so many pictures from the plane window, it was just so goregous, not to mention how amazing it was to know that I was racing the sunrise, and not many people on the plane were awake to see the stripes in the sky changing. I felt it was just me in the sky and everyone else was crazy for sleeping or being a flight attendant and having to work through this.
When the plane landed it was ahead of schedule, which was a first in my career of traveling. I called home when I got inside the terminal, catching my mom for five minutes just before she was heading out to work, but I was tired and looking for the blue line station while I was talking, so I'm sure the conversation was pretty incoherant. Taking the train from O'Hare was fun in the fact that it was the first stop so I could take my pick of seats and since the tracks run alongside the expressway, I had the feeling I was zooming while all the cars were stuck in morning rush hour traffic. I called Margot and left a message that I was in the country, but planned on sleeping all day. Being on the Metra was a personal hell. The train left at 8:30 and I couldn't get a decent sleep because I was positive I would sleep through my stop, and I can't communicate how much I hate Ivanhoe, because it always lies on the track at the point where I really just want to be home, but I know its 5 really spread out stops until Homewood. And after 26 hours of awakeitude, I could finally sleep.
I woke up sometime around 3pm, forgetting how much sunshine streams through the blinds and into my eyeballs when I sleep in my bed. I checked the answering machine and there were no less than 5 calls from Margot, in varying degrees of excitement and frusteration. Charlie was already at U of I with Teresa and we needed to head down there so that we could see Teresa's improv show. It was a long drive, but we made it lots of fun. I got to see more of U of I this time around, and I love it. I'm glad I didn't go there for the reasons I realized freshman year (because everyone from H-F goes there), but its a nice place to visit, and I miss looking at nice architecture and seeing a university that really looks like a university. After Teresa's show, Charlie, Margot and I went for dinner at IHOP and then back to Teresa's dorm. In the parking garage, Charlie found a giant packaged brownie on the roof of his Jeep with a note on it that simply said "Steven" in girl's handwriting. From this point on, Steven Brownie joined us on all of our adventures for the rest of the weekend.
After a quick goodbye to Teresa and her sister Nat, we headed to Millikin to see Margot's school friends and the silos. I ended up sleeping the entrie drive there, so I woke up as I felt the bumps of a car pulling into the driveway. This house was awesome, huge, old, high ceilings, and broken up perfectly for student living. Margot was showing off her latest Ebay acquistion, which was a nifty xylophone, and Jeff told her that since now she has an X, if she could name something she owned for every letter of the alphabet, he would give her a giant cookie, and a giant cookie he gave her. It took a while to get organized, but around 1am, we headed to the silos in a two car caravan.
I was told that you could see practically every star ever, but whoa. As I stepped out of the car, my eyes filled with tears at the indredible amount of stars in the sky. Charlie spotted the Pleides early on and showed me where it was, and after months of knowing it only as a word and something dear to Margot's heart, I finally felt a part of it in detecting that glittering kite. After living outside of Chicago and Toronto for the past 8 years, I don't get to see many stars because of light pollution, especially at school where I can only see Orion's belt, Venus, and Betelguese (if I'm lucky). There was no black space, as every inch of sky was covered in sparkling light, I could even see the Milky Way, which had been something only reserved for Halloween goodie bags. Margot, Jeff, Charlie, and I laid out there on the dirt path for hours starring into the sky. What made the night even more incredible were the shooting stars. I had only seen one ever and I was the only one to see it in the car, so chances were it was probably an airplane. But that night I saw four. Clearly, vividly streaking across the sky. I think the collective amount of shooting stars people called out were around a dozen. Breathtaking.
Saturday
We left early in the morning so that Margot could go straight to the cottage in Michigan and so Charlie and I could spend some time with our families this weekend. It was a nice lazy change of not being on a plane, train or car for a few hours, and I got to talk with my mom about how Nate isn't talking to them when he is at school and talked with my dad about how the Cubs are doing (which isn't too great now as the Marlins spanked them the other day). Much later in the day, Charlie and Teresa came to pick me up and then Brian on the way up to Michigan, which I think I slept most of the way to. I think we were the last group of people to arrive, but we jumped right in and headed down to the beach after quick tasty eats at the house. The sun was just setting below the Lake Michigan as we got there and we set up the tent and played tag in the shallow water. When the sun was compeltly gone the stars popped into full view and a fire was built near the tent for warmth and light and smore purposes. I had a lot of fun poking at the fire and making it burn brighter and later in the night, I found the Pleides through a gap in the trees and I saw four more shooting stars. Laura arrived sometime around midnight, straight from working downtown, with her cute short short hair, and was taking requests on Margot's xylophone, playing everything from the Beasties Boys' "Girls" to "Prince Ali" from Aladdin. When we realized that everyone else had gone up to the house for bed, Brian, Teresa, Charlie, Amanda, Laura, Kyle and I piled into the tent for sleeps. Yes, 7 people in a 4 person tent, Teresa said that this is what an Anne Geddes print looks like 15 years later.
Sunday
Laura had to leave way-super early in the morning so that she could go to work again. The bright blue sky shining down through the tent's roof woke us up so we could go to the house for breakfast. I ended up falling asleep on a couch in the house for 3 hours while everyone else was having super beach fun. Margot came up to get me, and I realized that I could have been sleeping on the beach instead inside, oh well. At some point during the weekend, we all realized that no one had made any arrangements or organized anything along the lines of getting tattoos. We had been planning to all get a tattoos inspired by Margot, and since we'd all be together this weekend, that it would be a good time to do it. Now, the options are getting tattoos on our own (which would defeat the purpose of getting group tattoos) or waiting until we are all back for X-mas, which is what the option is now, hopefully Margot's health will be good enough at that point to do so. At least this way, I have more time to develop what I want, since before this weekend, I had wanted to get the radiation stars, but now I really want a something involving shooting stars, but I don't want it to look like "The More You Know".
We left around 2pm so that we could hit Redamak's for lunch on the way home, everyone stuffing their faces with burgers and me with chick nugs. It was a stuffing of Thanksgiving proportions, and I slept for most of the way home. That night, I spent with my parents, being lazy and falling in and out of sleep while watching TV.
Monday
Well, my laundry's all done and putting fresh-outta-the-dryer pants on is one of life's greatest feelings. Time to pack up the suitcase before heading over to HF to pick Mom up and have Dad drive me to O'Hare. I don't have either the facilities nor the time to post my pitures up, so that is what I shall do when I get back to school, although I have photo studios from 8:30-5:30 and my first shift at the Ab from 8-2ish. I'll have pictures up some day, I promise, but for the time being, I'll send you to the pictures Charlie took.