Late Noctus.

DIARY

After Christmas...

From my Journal, written yesterday:

"I have sweat.

Because I am taking a warm bath.
A bubble bath wit WASH AWAY YOUR SINS. A bowl of corn mush with cheese, black pepper, and cumin. A black U of C mug with Sam's Good Coffee. One of the teacups grandma Coyne gave me with Earl Gray and a splash of milk.

And I'm just aching here because I horribly twisted my ankle and it hurts (so it soaks).

I'm my own style of diva.

I must be pretty persistant because for almost four years I've vascillated between hope and resignation.

It's hard to give up on anything when you're firmly convinced of everything. And yes, repuation counts. I'm more F. Scott Fitzgerald than ever I thought.

So now I've put off writing about the last 2 weeks.

Put off PROCRASTINATION until tomorrow.

When Jess and I made Chicago, I pulled a pseudo all-nighter finishing COLUMBIA.

From this distance, the following week is hazy but I - Stumbleine - sat in (Tuesday?) and wrote about Christmas.

I remember feeling overwhelmed by the fact of the tsunami. Being overwhelmed by the smallness of the distance... Chicago top to bottom is roughly 1/200th the distance. By how underwhelmed we all were. I, myself. How utterly relative it was. Relative to the point of irrelevance.

Work was busy and dull that week.
I worked overtime.
Work was inefficient.

But as I've said, it's nice to work somewhere where I
1) care about doing my job well because I respect the work
2) can do my job well

This was when I became obsessed with Postal Service.

On Friday I was going to go to a techno concert with Sam and Natalie, but I felt sick and stayed in.

Saturday, I went to Jessica's.

I was there all weekend, and Sunday we went to Amber's to character create.

Next week was devoured by Gothic Funk #3 and work.

I worked Hard and Crazy Overtime.

I also put off work on the party 'til the very last minute.

But the week passed.

Wed. was small group meetings at the Pub. Dan, Colin, and I. I was late and ran into Josie walking to Ida Noyes. At the meeting we shared a couple pitchers of Killians and some wings. And it was good times and at the end I saw Jenny Kennedy and asked about Thalia as flower girl.

G.F. #3, when it arrived, was incredible! Slow moving at first - by 11 people were still trickling in. Then, at 1, suddenly we had a noisy mariachi band, 25 people, with salsa dancing on the floor.

I even danced, spinning Jess about, and when the band had sung literally every song they knew, we got all the drunker.

Who was there... Emily, Meridith, Amber, her 2 people Matt and George, Sam, Natalie, Sky, Jess, Marina and her 3, the 4 from the band, Cate and her friend, me, and whoever I'm forgetting.

Notable Missings: Lisa, Gemma, Colin and Nora and scavvies. Some were driven back by cold, sickness, schedules, and intertia. The rest were all bastards. We'll get them yet.

Events: I danced with Sam and Emily, Sam and I both shared work, only one soul got sick drunk. The next morning remaining casualties (myself, Jess, Sam, Amber, and Sky) oozed down to a diner and discussed Shireland. Then, about 2, we looked for an antique mall, didn't find it, found and antiwar demonstration, split it, and Sam, Jess and I got home and lay around.

In the end, I fixed Jess and myself burritos while Sam went out shopping, and we tooled on the internet until midnight.

Sam and I cancelled our Shireland plans the next morning because it was absolutely frigid. At four I took the Red Line to Hyde Park (accidentally getting off at 63rd street) and went to Mass.

Then I went and met Jess; she'd been shopping with Amber and got tupperware.

The scavhunt meeting was only Jess, me, Colin, Dan, and Steve, but was at the summit of Regent's Park and was swank.

Jess and I had a very nice evening.

Monday, I cleaned.
Tuesday, I wasted time.
Wednesday, I went to Hyde Park for a scav hunt meeting (first, I spent an hour at the wonderful Snail, where they recognized after a year's passed since I've been there) at which there emerged the first promising hints of troubled waters.

Sake and Old Style happened.

And today, I got out of work early, took the freakin' bus home and here I am.

I must have been in here at least 1 hour - the water's cold and the CD played out.

But I don't know if it helped my ankle."