Homecoming is coming up, and it's my 20th reunion year. Avery and I have been in discussions about it, in an I'll-go-if-you-go sort of way. I haven't gone to a reunion since our 5th, back when it was held at Lou Malnati's. Our 10th happened when I wasn't working, and was held at a bar, and I did NOT wish to give what precious little money I had ( Read more... )

Now you know why I wanted to at least get through this afternoon ( Read more... )

It's the end of Winter Term at NCC--likely the last winter term ever, since they're switching to semesters--so it's concert season. Time to hear what Dr. K has done with his kids this time around ( Read more... )

I knew this anniversary was coming, but an article in the Chicago Tribune/Naperville Sun brought the memories flooding back. Consider this happened long enough ago now that roughly half the current NCC student body wasn't even alive when it occurred. What's weird for me is reading this article and realizing I know one of the people interviewed ( Read more... )

After one of the NCC players went viral a couple weeks ago, I was reminded that it's basketball season and I should go to a game at some point. In checking the schedule, virtually all of the home games were on Wednesdays...save for a double-header on a Saturday that must be alumni appreciation day or something. Considering I'm not a football fan ( Read more... )

When you attend a D-III school, you pretty much expect that your sports teams will never be on TV. The players go to college for an education, and they play for fun; they don't expect to become professional athletes ( Read more... )

It's concert week. Mine was Sunday; Dr. K's was last night. The other NCC band concert was Tuesday, which I had to miss because I was working. The bigger bummer was finding out that the guest high school band for Tuesday's concert is led by someone I know, and I've not gotten to see him conduct his school band, so to have missed out on a chance ( Read more... )

Third in a series! Yes, if it's a Friday night, two weeks after the last time we got together, it must be a Friday night I'm spending with Avery. You know you have a routine down pat when you get to Chinese Kitchen and they ask if you even want a menu. No; we're good. (This would be why I grabbed a take-out menu last time. Now I can decide ( Read more... )

It's been a week, almost exactly, since I found out the Europe trip was off. Last weekend was...not easy. (The orange chicken didn't help.) Pretty much from the moment I was invited, my mind started racing, as it's wont to do, imagining what it would be like to be in Europe. For as scared as I am about such a plane ride, the thought of going ( Read more... )

( This was the second of three Fridays where Avery and I would be getting together. )