Second party weekend in a row

[dorchadas]

Writing this while I smell the petrichor and barbecued meat coming through the window and listen to the wind.

Friday we were let out of work early thanks to the holiday, and since I had something planned for much of the right, rather than go home, I went to the Art Institute and used my membership to get in. I spent a little over an hour looking at European tablewear and furniture before the museum closed, so I took a slow walk up State Street looking at shops and finally arrived at Cheesie's in Lakeview for saintofsnark's birthday party.

Cheesie's was fine, I guess--pizza and grilled cheese--and while the caprese grilled cheese I got was good and, most importantly, had neither American cheese nor bacon on it, it wasn't anything special and I don't really care about going back. I did have a strange interaction with the woman who took my order, though. She asked me if I danced, or did yoga, and when I, confused, said no, she said that I had good posture and that's why she asked. When I said I meditated, she seized on that as the explanation.

That said, the really special part came later when we went to the next location--Rhiannon:

There were a lot of Fleetwood Mac posters on the wall, but it was described as a "witchy pop-up bar" to me and I don't know anything about Fleetwood Mac other than that it exists, so that meant nothing to me. But there were overflowing-wax candles that provided light, someone doing Tarot in the corner, and a bunch of delicious-albeit-sweet drinks there. And stephen_poon was there, so that's who I spent a bunch of time talking to after I was finished talking to fangthetall over what drinks to order. I didn't actually get that much chance to talk to saintofsnark, but she complimented me on my shirt and kept introducing me to people as "basically an elf," so I have fond memories of the talking we did do. And the conversation with caitlinoffstage about religion, about tradition and exploration of meaning, was lovely.

This was another night where I thought "I'll go for a bit and then leave" and got home at 1 a.m.

Saturday I woke up at 10:30 and enjoyed my short morning before I left to go to another Betrayal Legacy event. This went badly for the forces of light, but better for me specifically. The first scenario we lost, but the second scenario involved a shoggoth suddenly appearing in the house and the players having to choke it to death with rubble, which I did in one round, foiling mutantur's sudden-but-inevitable-betrayal, and the third scenario I was the traitor and the scenario was basically Herbert West: Reanimator. I reanimated one of the servants in the house, the two of us jumped another player, and then took down the third player before he could inject anyone with the antidote.

Oh, and after we lost the first scenario, the gate to Hell opened and freed the "Wolf"? And every time we unlock a new path on the Helm, the text we have to read is always Scandinavian themed? I think we're building to some kind of Cthulhu mythos/Norse/Hammer Horror Ragnarok here.

I left a little later than I wanted, and there was a Cubs game that meant the trains were packed and people kept holding the doors open, so I missed the train I was going to take to saiyukisiren's housewarming by two minutes. I wrote on Facebook that if schoolpsychnerd and I had been traveling together, she would have had a meltdown about how terrible she was for missing the train, regardless of where the fault actually lay, and she probably would have rejected any attempt to make it better because that would be rewarding her "fucking up."

But it's just me now. And Girl & the Goat is in West Loop, and I've always wanted to go, so I went:

Pictured is the best lamb I've ever had in my life, which was so amazing that the mere sight of it convinced the man next to me to order some. I ate leisurely and then walked over to the Riverwalk to catch Art on the Mart before catching the L and heading home.

Sunday I woke up at 7 a.m., lay in bed for three hours reading the internet, and then finally got up and enjoyed a slow morning with a bit of cleaning and starting up Hyrule Warriors before it was time to travel to the far ends of Chicago for cillic and heather.eisele's Memorial Day barbecue party. worldbshiny had rehearsal for a performance on Wednesday so she couldn't make it, but I went and had a lovely time. The food was delicious (and mostly non-pork!), and I met a statistically-disproportionate number of people who had lived in Japan or had close ties to someone who lived in Japan. Nearly everyone I met was there either because they were in infosec or because they were old regulars at Neo before it moved (one of my Chicago regrets is never making it to the old Neo). The intersection of all this was the woman who was a bartender at Neo and married to a Japanese-American man, so we talked Japanese food together and she told me about making omurice for her son and getting party guests to love ochazuke.

I did feel really young, though, the opposite of the way I felt at ACEN. I think most (non-child) partygoers were ten to twenty years older than me. One person said I was half her age, but I think she was just slotting me in at younger than I am. I think?

I didn't get to really talk to the hosts until I left--again, hours after I originally expected to after having a great time--but cillic told me that Slurping Turtle was closing! Since we met at the sake tasting there last month, that was obviously of great interest to me. We might make an attempt to go there this week, for one last hurrah, before the owner departs to his Ann Arbor restaurant that's probably the reason the Chicago one is closing.

This morning I woke up at 10:30, have done nothing, and it's been a great day. It's been raining basically all day and storming for a bit part of it, so I've been writing this post and listening to the rain (title drop!).

And now I should actually get some chores and shopping done and eat dinner.

I hope you've had a good weekend too!

Comments

[corvi]

I don't have much to say, but I enjoy your Busy And Sophisticated City Life With Interesting People And Tasty Food Posts. I don't regret leaving urban life to live on a tiny rural island, but cities have their own magic, and reading your posts on the subject fills me with a pleasant longing.

[dorchadas]

Thank you!

Though I understand the reverse pull. I lived in rural Japan amid a bunch of rice fields and singing frogs, traditional tatami-floored houses, and two minutes' walk from a shrine within a bamboo forest, so I understand the lure of rural life.

(I wrote some posts about the town complete with Google Streetview pictures at my A Tour of Chiyoda tag, if you're curious!)

[corvi]

Oo, that sounds great. I will poke through those when I have time.