Best Week Ever

Being unemployed rocks. To wit:

Tuesday:
One of my flatmates from London is a film producer. She asked me to help do makeup on the set of her film, so I painted red swirls on the body of an actress, then hung out and reapplied paint/fake blood as needed. Not only did I get doughnuts and Chipotle, but I'm also getting paid $100 for the morning's work. And then there's the whole being-on-a-film-set, which was pretty cool.

Later that night my best friend Sam and her boyfriend Flux took me to the Brew & View--where yes, you watch a movie and drink--to see The Incredibles. Because Flux works there, we got free admission, free pop, and got to sit in the balcony above the drunken riff-raff. Shades of this summer when my parents took me and Sam to a Cubs game; again we were above the huddled masses, although in skybox seats.

Wednesday:
A former co-worker--who quit a week before I got laid off--interrupted my watching Season One of The Office: "It's Soul Nite at Danny's! You should come!" Expecting a bar full of Afros and bell-bottoms, I was surprised at the heaving throng of gyrating hipsters, all dancing their own inimitable dances in the smoked-filled interior. I shouldn't have been too surprised, considering my co-worker is a dyed-in-the-wool hipster (although a bit of a playa hater at times, or else he wouldn't hang out with me). He quit the bookstore to chill at his apartment, which happens to be a former church turned into a "performance space," and work on his music: playing bongo drums.

Thursday:
My pal Andy is a personal trainer, and one of his clients traded him a couple of haircuts at her salon for extra training sessions. He was kind enough to give me one, so I spent a lovely morning being waited on hand and foot and being treated to a new style by Jeri, who normally charges hundreds of dollars. She knows I don't have any dough, so I'm going back on Thursday for a trainee to give me $20 highlights. (Boys: highlights to long hair normally run over $120.) I call that a pretty sweet deal.

New Waves + Bangs


Thursday eve Andy rented a movie--which I'm too embarrassed to write down--then gave my still-stiff neck a workover while eating ice cream. (Did I mention he's a masseur/engineer/tutor as well?)

A few hours prior I'd been called by the law office I'd interviewed with in January. I didn't get the (boring) filing clerk job at the time, but a new position had opened up: half reception, half filing. They wanted to know if I was still interested in working with them. A flurry of self-recrimination [see post below] and phonecalls later, I decided it was probably a sign. Two days before my sick days run out and I'm offered a job out of the blue? I'd be a fool to turn down a salaried job with benefits. Even if it's not something I'm interested in, it'll pay the bills till I find that dream job.

Friday:
I know most of you have yet to hear about my trip to Europe, which I promise to write about immediately, but suffice to say we met a Belgian guy in Prague. Louis-Philippe came to visit on his way to moving to Arizona for two years. (A pilot, he'll be teaching at the Belgian flight school, which of course happens to be in Scottsdale.)

On Friday we:

• walked around downtown, Millennium Park, and the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Avenue, Chicago's version of 5th Avenue)
• had fresh guacamole made tableside at a restaurant; then Louis-Philippe had his very first Guinness at a nearby bar
  
• attended a sketch comedy show at Second City with my French friends
• went to dinner, then to the famous Redhead Piano Bar. Live music and delish cocktails, plus getting to watch four Frenchies and a Belgian parleing francais trop vite.

Moi avec les Francophones: Louis-Philippe, Emilie, Louis, Bernard


Saturday:
The tour continues:

• Sears Tower (first time for both of us!)
• Chicago-style pizza and Louis' first of what should prove to be many root beers
  
• the horridly tatty Navy Pier + first time on its Ferris Wheel, incidentally invented in Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893
• the Museum of Contemporary Art
  
• famous department store Nordstrom on Mich Ave.
• a drink at sunset in the Signature Lounge of the John Hancock Building, the second tallest in Chicago, which looks out over the skyline to the Sears Tower
• cajun dinner and a walk through Boystown (just for kicks)
• pre-drinking at my friend Nora's Chilean pal's apartment, then bar-hopping with them and Sam & Flux till 2 a.m.

I'm pretty proud that in a day-and-a-half, I showed Louis-Philippe the Loop, Grant Park, River North, Lakeview, Old Town,Boystown, Uptown and West Town. Whew!

My favorite Chicago buildings: the Marina Towers (aka Corncobs)


Sears Tower View -
later we had a drink in the tall building opposite, the John Hancock Building


Sunday:
Sleeping away the day, I roused myself enough for delectable chocolate cake at Sam's, then Nora and I saw my roommate Alex perform improv at Second City (attentive readers will see a continued theme developing of constant SC attendance). I capped off the weekend by watching Napoleon Dynamite at Nora's. Not a bad end to the week.


Currently I'm eating Belgian chocolates in bed. What are you doing?