Showing posts with label patty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patty. Show all posts

Friday, February 4, 2011

gnat survives the snowpocalypse

let me preface this by saying that of all the chicago adventures i have had thus far, snowpocalypse has been without doubt my absolute favorite.

it all started on monday morning when i had the following conversation with my mother:

ma: tomorrow and the next few day there will be a blizzard storm you need to go get food to store
gnat: i went today
ma: candles there might be power outage
gnat: but the store is very close
gnat: a blizzard?
ma: i am telling you whats on the news
gnat: in chicago?
ma: yeah all over and they said chicago. the next few days worse on tuesday and wednesday
ma: just check it
ma: go to walgreen get a couple of flash lights and a lot of batteries
ma: you dont want to find yourself alone at home pitch black
ma: your stove is gas?

a quick google search turned up a story from the chicago sun-times with the headline "'life-threatening' blizzard on its way to chicago area."

naturally i did what any scared californian who had never lived through a blizzard before (and who had a fear mongering parent sending doomsday messages from the other side of the country) would do - i prepared for the worst. over the course of monday and tuesday i amassed a respectable collection of candles, flashlights, snacks, and water in anticipation of the impending snowmageddon.

what i forgot to get (and what would later prove essential) was wine. by the time cara and i realized the omission, the winds had picked up and the "falling" snow was flying horizontally. we suited up in our snowpocalypse survival gear and trudged through the abandoned streets to the nearest trader joe's.

our provisions:

we dined and caroused with our taco tuesday guests (because i wasn't about to let the end of the world get in the way of taco tuesday, and neither were they, although we ate slightly more blizzard appropriate foods) and then somewhat foolhardily headed out to experience the storm.

it was chaotic. frenzied. helter skelter. really the only word for it is apocalyptic.

the next morning (my first snow day!) we examined the aftermath of the storm. things i found buried in the snow included my street,

a fire hydrant,

and (probably) a bicycle.

we snowball fought - well, i attempted rather pathetically to snowball fight and the andrews pummeled each other with continent shaped chunks of snow,

and i made my first snow angel, which is truly as satisfying as all those little kids frolicking in the snow on tv make it look.

snowpocalypse is, sadly, over, and it's sunny and beautiful (albeit really, really cold) outside, but the streets and the sidewalks are still piled high with snow. i'm not sure how long it will stick around, the snow plows have been at it outside my window since about six o'clock this morning. thanks, assholes.

(side note: perhaps due to the sun coming in through the windows and the garbage-truck like beeping of the snow plows i woke up thinking i was on kelton, that it was wednesday, and that i was late for work. i even strained to hear if patty had beaten me to the shower.)

there's a small part of me that wishes it could be snowpocalypse every day.

well, not every day.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

gnat says goodbye LA, it's been fun

friday was a mad dash to finish everything i could at work or to put sticky notes with detailed explanations all over everything i couldn't.

saturday, after early breakfast with brig, i proceeded to pack all of my remaining belongings into bobby (who is, by no means, a large car) then take them out, then repack them, then take them out, then repack them in such a way that i could still mostly see out through the windows while driving. then i left my key with patty and headed to my uncle's house where now (sunday) i am downing some coffee and preparing myself for the drive up to nor cal.

i keep repeating to myself - just because the consequences of a decision aren't easy doesn't mean it was the wrong one.

Friday, June 18, 2010

gnat does something impulsive (and nobody is surprised)

besides the whole, deciding to move to chicago thing, which i think also falls under the "gnat does something impulsive" umbrella along with piercing my nose and going to france sophomore year of college.

but i digress.

i sent my camera back to the manufacturer today, the warranty isn't quite up and the lens is finicky so everything looks blurry and out of focus when i turn it on. hopefully they can fix it and send it back. in the meantime i thought it was a damn shame to do this big move without a spiffy camera to record it all, so i hopped into bobby the silver sentra (who is a little miffed that he is getting left behind in favor of much crappier and less drivable weather) and made my way down to best buy where i promptly bought the most beautiful little point and shoot canon digital camera you ever saw. photos to follow (taken WITH the camera, not OF the camera).

today was my last thursday/funday with patty and the other kids. tomorrow is my last day of work - we will just have to see if i survive.

AND i just found out that not only does taste of chicago, an entire festival just about food, start the day after i get there, but also that BELL BIV DEVOE of hideous pant legend is going to have a free concert mere blocks from my apartment. to which, of course, i say YES PLEASE!

pictures of my dirty dirty dirty apartment (and of bell biv devoe) to come later.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

gnat experiences separation anxiety

pat is gone for the night and the apartment is eerie and sad without her, and without even the consolation of figures moving on tv to make this space seem less empty.

i am seriously wondering if i have made a horrible mistake.