Diary
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
My Room, Mom & Dad’s, Winnetka, IL, USA

Monday was a holiday and I had an invitation to go out Sunday evening, but I declined choosing to get some rest. Goal was to wake up quite early, get to the course and caddy two rounds on Labor Day. Physically moved myself out of bed about a half hour later than planned, but the goal came to pass. I got in two loops Monday.

Afterwards I ate dinner with Mom and Dad, unawares of the fact it was their thirtieth wedding anniversary. I gave thema  belated congrats today, following a reminder e-mail from Grandma. We ate at Crust and it was fantastic. Started with a antipasto appetizer, then split margharita and shroom pizzas. The shroom was tasty, but something was missing, while the margharita defined “less is more”.

Made plans to see Julia and her roommate after. I hung out at the apartment awaiting their call. Once they said they were driving downtown I collected my belongings from the roof, headed down to my parent’s place and changed, then walked to the ‘L’. I was finishing a delicious coffee from Dunkin when the train arrived. I stood up, threw it out, then noticed the cute girl brushing up with a make-up mirror. As I walked to the train I slipped

“You’re beautiful.”

in what I felt was an extremely smooth way. Only to turn and see the train doors shutting in front of me. I wasn’t so smooth then yelling “Come on!” and kicking the door in frustration as she scurried away to a different side of the platform.

Following two more ‘L’ mistakes I arrived at Julia’s stop and was deservedly chastised for arriving two hours after we’d chatted. Her roommate noted that was somewhat impressive. They gave me a tour of their beautiful apartment, accented with family paintings and some chique squares on the walls, then headed to the roof where we had a view of downtown Chicago one hundred and eighty degrees around us. Following a chat where I was taught many new things they went to bed and I headed out.

Mom bought me “Time Out Chicago” last week and its nightlife information was really helpful. I headed for the Debonair Social Club, even though the event sounded kinda lame, because the number for the place I wanted to go, the Green Dolphin, was disconnected. Social Club was closer to Julia’s too. Atmosphere and music of the Club were decent, best part was the bathroom attendant who didn’t hand you paper towels but spun them up in the air for you to catch. Luckily after party was at the Dolphin so I got there anyway. Save their lazy bathroom guy, spot was grooving exactly like I’d hoped.

Slept in late today, then took the rush hour ‘L’ home and met Mom and Dad for dinner. Laid down at home to watch the Sox lose badly to the Tigers, and later laughed literally out loud [llol] to Frasier, a formerly favorite show I haven’t watched in years, which oddly enough featured a visit Roz’s cousin, a jaded twenty-something heading to Asia who loved clubbing.

Frasier recounted to Niles a conversation they had:

“She said my radio show was bourgeois. I said anything that had mass appeal could be called bourgeois. She said my argument was bourgeois.”
“I find her very jejeune.”

I found her pessimism and entitlement annoying, but the episode was fantastic.

Closing out, after much eager anticipation from fans around the world following the recent announcement … here it is: Halloween Lesson 1. It’s part of the resource I’m making on Wikiversity taking all of my lesson plans I used last year teaching in Anqing, China for personal evaluation and so others can hopefully use and improve upon them.