back from Chicago

well friends, after a relaxing long weekend at home I am back at BC sitting in the department. today i labeled file folders, delivered some paperwork to McGuinn, and made a pdf document. someday i'll look back and smile upon these days...

i am mad the department for shafting my favorite professor and the Bulgarian program here. intro to bulgarian was cut, as was 'society and national identity in the balkans' in the spring. wtf. everyone wants to learn stupid russian, chinese, and arabic. naturally the languages that interest me, namely Bulgarian and Catalan, are taught almost nowhere in the U.S. even portuguese, one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world, was cut after I took it for one semester here.

anyway, most of my time at home was spent sitting on my ass doing nothing, which was exactly as i had planned. thursday i spend the day at home with the fam before going to dinner with my aunt and uncle (plus my family) to catch up. later that night kasia, ben, and andy came over to hang out, but i only lasted so long seeing as i had been awake close to 24 hours on account of my ridiculously early flight and the time change.

friday was the big trip to the new sonic that opened up in South Bend, IN, a mere two hours drive from the Chicago 'burbs. Considering we usually drive up to 4 and a half hours to get to a Sonic, this was a welcome addition to the Sonic family. there were a few new things on the menu, like 3 different cheeses to slather one's tots in, angus beef burgers, a fried ice cream shake, and a chili frito pie. naturally we tried all of them. technically we should have ordered 10 times each to keep up with tradition (this would have been our 10th cycle), but since last time we were miserable and almost vomiting, we decided it was best to just enjoy sonic without having to eat a certain amount. afterwards i chilled at andy's and watched the opening ceremonies before heading home.

saturday i hit up oakbrook with natalie and andy after lunch at Claimjumper. I had a chicken and brie sandwich, which was quite good. it was nice to have gloria jean's again (the only place to get a mochanut cooler after caribou discontinued it), too. i headed back to andy's where we watched the ashley tisdale movie 'picture this' which much to my surprise had two actresses from degrassi as part of the supporting cast. it was...entertaining.

that night was mexitalasian night, meaning we combined the wonders of mexico, italy, and asia with respect to food and beverage, and only the HIGHEST quality foods were consumed. we got pizza from nino's; crab rangoon, fried rice, and egg rolls from south china sea whatever, and then a bunch of stuff from taco bell. meanwhile we were drinking a mexitalasian cocktail, composed of tequila, limoncello, midori, and sour mix topped with club soda. it was actually really good. we saw andy drunk for the first time ever, which was entertaining. though he was somewhat annoying, i was just happy to see him drinking heavily. after hookah-ing outside a bit, we called it a night.

sunday was my grad party. i had a nice buzz going the whole time thanks to the margarita and pina colada machines we rented. i also had a beer now and then to counteract the acid from the other drinks that was eating away at my throat. christina came, which was great, though weird as expected considering i only know her in the BC context. it'll be great to be able to see her whenever i come home. nato and theresa flaked, but i had a great time with kasia, ben, andy, and everyone else. i ended up making waaaaaay more money than i expected, so now I can comfortably live for the rest of the month and was able to put a few hundred into savings for quebec city and other trips in the fall. per andy's request i need to spend his amex gift card on a splurge clothing item. now i just have to lose the 30 lbs i gained this weekend before i can fit into any reasonable article of clothing. good thing i have money to finally get my bsc membership! i'm just gonna wait til their next promotion.

as for the rest of today, in an hour i have reservations at Eastern Standard for lunch with Chris. since it's restaurant week i pay $20 for a 3-course meal! i suppose i'll have to order a cocktail - the September issue of Details actually talks about ES's 'Jack Rose' in their unusual cocktails article. I suppose i'll have to try it! then who knows. perhaps i'll treat myself to a worldly good of some sort.