I think I became extremely spoiled in December. I finished up Fall Quarter, frolicked around Chicago during the mild winter we were having, and then jetted off to California for much sunshine and Christmas festivities. But then I came back to Chicago, and with the onslaught of Winter Quarter and my part-time internship, Chicago decided it should actually be the onslaught of Winter-winter. I.e., we’ve had multiple days this past week in the single digits and I’ve wanted to cry, but restrained in fear that my tears would simply freeze onto my eyelids.
So, while I have spent most of 2016 scurrying from my apartment, to the Damen el stop, to the bus, to Hyde Park, and to my new job in the loop, I still have attempted to socialize a bit and not become *too* much of a hermit.
Just two days after arriving back in Chicago, Dom and I (failed to) escape the room for my third time. Thanks to Tash’s lovely Christmas gift and Escape Artistry, we once again spent an hour of our lives trapped in a room (although this time modeled as a CTA train!), struggling to correctly answer all the riddles. I’m pretty sure our group’s performance piqued when after losing one of the marbles necessary to complete an obstacle, the operator’s voice came in over the intercom, stating that if we belted out Backstreet Boys, a new marble would appear. Needless to say, I was pretty proud of our group when that new marble rolled in under the door.
The other time I braved the cold for more than work, school, grocery shopping, and the gym was to go see our first play of 2016! Although Common Room doesn’t start until next month (for which I am inordinately eager), Dom’s friend Grace scored us free tickets to see Bruise Easy. It portrays a rather somber sibling relationship trapped in mass-suburbia Southern California, and made me very grateful for the rather solid sibling relationship my brother and I cultivated while growing up in that exact same mass-suburbia Southern California. Regardless, it was great to be back in a Chicago theatre, and I am excited to see what shows Dom and I stumble upon this year!
The rest of my evenings of 2016 I have spent snuggled under blankets on couches reading, doing homework, and watching TV. To be fair, Dom did host two lovely low-key evenings at his apartment thus far. The first with Kevin and Grace, when we potentially poisoned us all while cooking vegetarian Shephard’s Pie with expired vegetable broth (my bad!), and then with Todd and Carolyn, where we learned to order food instead of cook, and that Dom and my lying abilities are better than theirs after a fierce game of “Would I Lie To You?”. I also made it over to AJ’s to watch Alabama beat Clemson in the National Championship (Roll Tide!), and became pretty nostalgic and proud watching President Obama deliver his final State of The Union.
