9 posts tagged “weekend”
I wish I *could* feel better, Tylenol Sinus, believe me.
I have a cold. I'm not one of those men who somehow turn into the walking wounded when they get a minor sniffle. More than anything, being ill just pisses me off. I can barely breathe properly at the best of times with my stupid allergies, but this just exacerbates the problem and makes me snippy. And tired.
Then to make matters worse, I had to wear a scarf to combat the cold weather this morning. While in the summer, buses are air conditioned to freezing point here in Chicago, in the winter, the heat is full blast and you're too packed in to successfully remove and replace clothing. Scarf plus cold plus heat... ugh. Hate, hate, hate.
Other than my immune system coming under fire, this weekend was quiet. We spent most of it packing things up ready for our move (if it ever happens, we're still waiting for our mortgage nonsense to be signed off); I finally completed Tales Of Vesperia - an effort that took over 50 hours of play time, all in; and Josie came to see as us it's been a billion years.
After my last move (across an ocean, no less) I have definitely gotten more ruthless about throwing things I don't need away. Not that my brother Ricci can agree with this, seeing as his attic is half full of guitars and CDs and books.
Anyway, this week, we are crossing things that our mortgage and all that come through so we can just worry about being ready to move on 22 November. Yes please.
UPDATE: We are clear to close, we are definitely moving!
A couple of weekends ago, we went to Sparta's Butterfest. Sparta is Jess' home town, and being a small city in Wisconsin, it was only natural that its annual fair be named after a dairy product.
While the fair itself was mostly rained out, the sun was out for the parade on the Sunday. Being my first real parade in the good ol' US of A, I was not fully prepared for the Shriners (aka Freemasons) in their little cars; the barage of sweets and chocolate milk; or the local Republican candidate handing out flyers that just said his name and that he's Pro-Life. I kid you not.
It was actually pretty fun, sitting on the pavement in little chairs, clapping and watching the assorted floats, vintage emergency services vehicles and marching bands go by. The only similar thing I can really recall enjoying was Lewes Bonfire Night back home.
This weekend in Chicago, we're getting a different kind of fest - Chicago Pride - and Jess and I are going to the parade on Sunday. Of course, having been to another parade, I am wondering what the gays could possibly do to top fez-wearing go kart drivers and one-note, Right Wing politicians. Will they throw condoms and arseless leather chaps into the throngs of spectators? Will they have the characters from The Wizard Of Oz driving little penis-shaped go karts? I can only hope.
While I do jest, it's still amazing to me that Chicago is such a gay-friendly city. I always assumed the US was still very homophobic based on their reluctance to endorse civil unions and so forth.
What's on your "To-Do" list today? What are you most looking forward to and what are you most dreading?
- Shave... as in clean shave... for the first time in months. Jess may like the permastubble, but it itches bad enough as it is, without the heat and humidity. CHECK.
- Be awesome. CHECK.
- Ivan Lendl's nationality. CZECH.
Other than that, it's all about finishing up my half of my current project; seeing REM/Modest Mouse/The National, and doing late night laundry ahead of a weekend away.
This weekend has been... yeah, it's been alright.
Jess made last minute plans to go up and visit her mum in Wisconsin - her mum just had surgery and needed an extra pair of hands, plus they haven't seen each other since Christmas and there's been... stuff in between then and now. I was going to go to some event downtown with co-workers but between the weather and being tired, I lamed out and had an early night.
On Saturday, my friends Jim, James and Nick from back home wanted to play some Mario Kart Wii online. We set up a video chat session on Skype, buggered about forever getting our accounts connected on Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service then played and chatted for a couple of hours. Although Nintendo's online system is absolutely retarded and as un-user-friendly as it gets, it was good fun.
Other than that, I watched a ton of VH1 countdown shows, played some Grand Theft Auto IV online (which, by the way, was infinitely simpler than the Nintendo solution) then had an early night.
I started my Sunday by watching the Radiohead special, followed by more GTA IV; a trip outside to pick up a package/trade in some games/get supplies; yet more GTA IV; rubbish TV, and so forth. Now I'm having a relatively early night ahead of work tomorrow.
I won't see Jess till after work. Bo.
And now I shall try to sleep in spite of the screaming morons outside.
While this song from the obscure British duo Boy Least Likely To was a surprise, the film's plot was cheesy and predictable. Thankfully, I could forgive it because there were plenty of laughs along the way - especially from Amy as white trash Angie to Tina's uptight career woman Kate, and Sigourney Weaver as the head of the surrogacy agency Kate finds Angie through.
Don't be alarmed if I tell you "I want you to put your baby in me" for some time to come.
Other than that, my weekend was uneventful. On Saturday, we did as little as possible. On Sunday we walked around a whole lot looking at furniture (because Jess likes to torture herself) and buying hippy food. I just wanted the break as I am very tired lately, not helped by the ever-changing weather.
Aside from a few Xbox achievements, I did little of note this weekend.
I was excited for this week - Mario Kart Wii just came out in the US, Grand Theft Auto IV is out tomorrow - but because GameStop suck a giant fat cock, I won't have either till god-knows-when. On top of that, I didn't have a great day at work today and I just want to curl up in bed listening to nice music.
But it is. Bo. At least it's been a fun, productive weekend.
After the cable was installed yesterday, we got some lunch, set up the various boxes in our lounge how we wanted them then headed out to a nearby-ish bar to meet some of my co-workers - Jason, Laura, Kristian, Lindsay, Mike, Peter and various spouses/friends/partners. Jason turned 33 so we all got him tipsy enough to slap people:
There are more photos of the mild debauchery, but I'm only sharing a cute one:
Being the lightweights we are, we ducked out early (but then, we had started drinking before 5pm). Jess ended up watching Bridget Jones while I passed out.
I felt very manly.
We got that home, and then spent the day tidying up the apartment, going on a huge grocery shop (in which more than 50% of the items we bought were vegetables or fruit), watching the hilarigross reunion special of Rock Of Love With Bret Michaels and generally bumming around.
It's a shame it's over already.
This weekend was productive but generally sucksome.
It all started Friday night. I got out of work only an hour or so late after a network outage prevented me from launching a series of changes to my latest project. I met Jess at home, then we walked to a Thai place close to where we live for dinner. We wanted to go somewhere different as we usually visit the same five places to eat.
The food was great and it wasn't too busy, so we decided to add it to our roster. On the way home, we also spotted a diner we wanted to check out and picked up some DVDs to watch - Pulse, 30 Days Of Night and King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters.
We watched the hilariously terrible Pulse (I only chose it because it had Ian Somerhalder aka Boone from Lost in it), then called it a night.
It would have been a blissful night of rest, but I woke up twice almost choking to death like a Spinal Tap drummer. I took some drugs and fell back asleep, but then at 3am I needed the bathroom. I felt extremely nauseous still and ended up yakking. That was just what I needed and I managed to sleep.
After dosing up on Ibuprofen for a remnant headache, Jess I then headed out for the day. We went to Target to pick up some supplies and little bits (she got some clothes, I got Bully: Scholarship Edition for the Xbox 360). From there, Jess went to fetch some craft supplies, I looked at nerdy things, then we grabbed lunch at Panera Bread.
When we got home, I played some Bully. This Rockstar game, the same folks who made Grand Theft Auto, was beset with controversy on its original 2006 release for the PlayStation 2. Rockstar even went so far as to rename it Canis Canem Edit in the UK to escape the negative connotations of the name. Naturally, it doesn't live up to the negative attention. Although basically GTA set in a boarding school, you are punished for bullying other students and instead must complete missions that get you in the good books of different cliques.
It's actually a solid little game - even if the graphics were very obviously scaled up in a hurry; with shorter, much less frustrating missions than its crime sim sibling.
By this point in the day, there were plenty of drunken Americans celebrating St. Patrick's Day so we remained very firmly entrenched. We watched King Of Kong first - a documentary about one guy's attempt at getting the world record at Donkey Kong. It was actually a really enjoyable film, and certainly showed the dorkier side of my hobby. After that, we watched the surprisingly excellent 30 Days Of Night before hitting the hay.
Jess had a brief lay in Sunday while I played more Bully. She got up, then we headed out to do our taxes to get them over and done with. The guy doing our taxes was very friendly and helpful, and didn't take forever despite the hourly rate H&R Block charge. As much as we knew it was coming, when we ended up having to pay him $255 to tell us we owed almost $4,000 in taxes for the year, it was still pretty depressing. Thankfully, we'd been saving in preparation.
After that bombshell, we went to the diner we'd spotted on Friday to get some lunch. It was busy, so the service was lacking, but the food was pretty tasty.
We spent the rest of Sunday doing very little - we played some video games, watched Rock Of Love and various other bits and bobs, and generally chilled out ready for another week of work.
What a week.
Tuesday marked the one year anniversary of my getting on a plane at Heathrow with two big bags, a guitar and a smaller bag and stepping off at O'Hare to begin my new life in America.
I still remember that day. I could barely sleep - partially because I was on the floor at my parents' house, and partly because I was so nervous. My mum refused to come as she didn't want to cry in public, so it was just me and one of my two dads in the car.
I don't remember the flight, but I do remember getting off, getting through customs with my shiny new visa and meeting Jess. We got a cab back to our place - a place I had never seen before as Jess had only just moved in a few months prior.
Since then, it's been a busy year: we got married (twice... sort of); I got a job that has kept me plenty busy; we've had ups and downs with US Immigration; we've been to gigs and movies and restaurants; I've made new friends and somehow kept in touch with old ones. I won't feel fully settled in until I get my green card, but it wasn't as hard as it could have been.
And from one anniversary to another as yesterday as the anniversary of my being born. 28 years old... Jebus. Although I was at work and busy, it was a good birthday. I got money, vouchers and presents up the wazoo; I got to eat Indian food (double nice as Jess hates it) and a tasty, giant banana cupcake; I went for a nice lunch with Leslie and Jason at work. I feel spoiled, but old.
Today is the piece de resistance. A project that started back in November; that has caused plenty of long days, late nights and weekends; that has seen myself and several co-workers amassing wrinkles, grey hairs and scruffy facial hair... this project that has been our lives finally launches today. It's a huge deal: we launch the latest version of our platform, written from scratch, with a massive site for Comcast - one of the biggest cable TV companies in the US - and a smaller one for Bresnan. Right now, we're just finishing the final preparations after a couple of test runs before our five hour launch at 6pm.
If we get through this, we can get through anything.
ME THREE!
Jess came home on Wednesday. We both got paid on Thursday. On Friday, we decided to go out for dinner and a movie.
We went to a new restaurant just over the road from where we live called Forno Diablo. It was great - we both had tasty chicken-based dishes, mine washed down with a Martini, Jess' with a beer. Then we went to see the brilliant No Country For Old Men starring Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones. I won't spoil it but it was a good man-film (I don't think Jess was overly fond of it).
Yesterday morning, we woke up at Dawn's crack, collected a rental car from up the road then went to IKEA. We had an awful lot to get - a new desk chair as our current one was dying, a new dresser for Jess (we had bought two matching ones but Jess' broke while being put together), some kitchenware and decorations for Christmas.
From there, we went over to see Josie and Buster at Josie and Josh's place - we hadn't seen it before, and we hadn't seen Buster since he got his cast off. He is one crazy little pup, but ever so cute... even when he was biting/trying to hump my feet.
We then drove to see Josh at work and do some shopping at Target. We got a Christmas tree, various Christmas-y things, Jess got a dress and I got Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action for the Xbox 360. With it being holiday season, I thought a four player film trivia game would be fun. Jess and I road tested it last night and it was enjoyable.
When Josh finished work, the four of us went for food at Chilis, dropped Josie off at work then Jess and I headed back to the city. It was a long old journey as traffic was horrible. After unloading the car and taking it back to the rental place, we had a quiet night of video games and wine.
Today was just as busy. We took the car keys back to the rental place, grabbed breakfast then came home where Jess did laundry while I put together the desk chair and dresser - Jess helping when I put together the drawers as you need two pairs of hands. We dumped Jess' old dresser downstairs, brought our laundry back up and Jess has been sorting her clothes.
Now we just have to put up the Christmas tree.
And nap. Hell yes do I need a nap.
