Experiences 37-40

Continuing on with the reduced approach to the blog, this time on the category of experiences:

37: Playing in the Women's Tournament of the World Series of Poker: Ok, I got thumped, but it was a fantastic experience and an enormous amount of fun!

38: Ranked in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. While I was not ranked super high, it was fun to have the experience of playing in Will Shortz's backyard, if only for a short time.

39: 1,000 miles in a weekend. We just got back from a car trip from Chicago to Cleveland to Athens. Great to see everyone and to celebrate Kate's birthday with our Athens friends.

40: Saving the best for last: NO MORE CANCER! We just found out yesterday that I am cancer free! It kind of feels like I have been holding my breath all year and can finally exhale! Yahoo!!

[41: Racing in my first triathlon in July -- see picture above]

[42: Cubs win the world series in October -- they're 20 games above 500 right now!]

Reduced 10x40 - Experiences

We're way behind in our posting, maximizing our last months in Chicago at the expense of keeping of the blog! Have you ever seen Reduced Shakespeare? It's a humorous performance offered by a comedy group that goes through all of the plays (or all the books of the Bible, or all the great books -- you get the idea). Well, they take their time for first 3/4 of the show, only to have to run through in rapid fire fashion whatever plays or books remain at the end of the show.

Inspired by Reduced Shakespeare, in the next several posts we're going to offer a list of things that we've done in the last month or so, to the end of getting to 40 in as many categories as possible. Think of it as Reduced 10x40. We'll be closing down the blog on or around June 16, which is the day that I will have my one year check up in cancer world. Seems only fitting that we end there (but with good news this time), since that's where this whole trip started.

Hold em in Vegas - Experience 35

There's been so much going on that we've hardly had a moment to talk about it here in the blog. We'll be remedying that in the next several days. Most recently, Susan took a trip to Las Vegas with several of the girls to test out her Texas Hold Em skills in a bigger venue. She played in three tournaments and was able to break into the money in one of them, placing third! In the tournaments she did not cash in she was competitive, but largely card dead. So, she came away feeling that she definitely could compete at this level. Anyone want to join her at the World Series of Poker's Women's Touranment in June?

Surfing in San Diego - Experience 34

I was in San Diego last week for a political science convention in which I was particpating in an all day feminist theory workshop, presenting a paper on YouTube versions of the Founding Fathers, and serving as a discussant for a panel of law as a vehicle of redress and reform. Amidst all of that, I was able to get away for a few hours to try out surfing with my feminist theory friends Hawley and Cricket. They had both surfed before and very graciously explained to me what was required while we were still on dry land. It turned out to be enormously fun (as you can tell from the pictures -- how happy do we look?), but also very difficult! I was not able to get up on my feet, but did enjoy riding the huge waves in while on my belly and knees on the board. (Once I had a bit of a bad spill I lost a little bit of my nerve for standing up). It was so much fun that we are already plotting what our next time-out activity will be at the conference next year! Don't you think that wetsuits should be required attire at the conference next year?

Preaster - Experience 33

Remember Pre, the pre-Thanks-giving dinner we attended last fall? Last week we followed up with Preaster, a pre-Easter dinner put together by our friends Cyndy and Terri. About 25 of the girls were in attendance for an amazing sit-down dinner which was topped only by the scrumptious desserts and the fabulous company at the event. Can't wait for the next holiday. . . Pre-Fourth of July anyone?

Women's Poker Tournament - Experience 32

A couple of weeks ago we met up with some friends at a casino in Gary, Indiana to play in an all women's poker tournament. It was great fun, and 3 of the 4 people who cashed (= won money) in the tournament were from our group, which made it even more entertaining. I came in fourth and won what I had put out to enter plus a bit more. Maybe more important, I gained some good experience playing in a casino based tournament. A trip to Vegas may be in the offing in April, perhaps as a warm up for the World Series of Poker in the summer :)

Retest - Experience 31; Fun Fact 34

I guess it really is Groundhog's Day. After spending about 5 hours at the hospital on Thursday, we received an unanticipated outcome -- they were not able to get enough of a sample due to the difficult posterior position of the calcifications. What they got was benign, but they got so little that the result is somewhat inconclusive. But, they were able to get a clip in there that should help to guide them better, so it looks like we're probably going to try again, if the surgeon and the other radiologists agree that that's the best course of action. We won't have word on that until the end of next week or so.

In the meantime, thanks everyone, for sending your support and good wishes. It really means alot! Here's a picture of me in front of the mantle in our apartment with beautiful flowers sent by our friends Amanda and Mary (fun fact: irises are my favs and they sent them without even knowing that :)

Groundhog's Day? Experience 30

Saturday is Groundhog's Day and I can't help but worry that I'm going to be subject to it. Remember the movie with Bill Murray? He wakes up and every day is the same as the one before. As most of you know, I'm going in for a biopsy today, to explore the nature of some calcifications that showed up at my 6 month post-surgical check up. Feels like June all over again! And here we are at just about the half-way point in our stay in Chicago! But with any luck the outcome won't be the same as June and I'll be able to dodge the Groundhog's day scenario. It's snowing today and is expected to really snow big tomorrow, so there's no way any groundhog would be seeing any shadows in Chicago. But the official groundhog is in Pennsylvania, right? In any case, thanks to everyone for once again sending so much positive energy our way. All those good thoughts and vibes really do make a difference!

LAFS - Experience 29

Right before the holiday break we held our first official session of LAFS - The Lesbian Association of FilmwatcherS. For our first meeting, we watched two rite of passage films - Racing With the Moon (which we all watched in advance) and My Life as a Dog (which we all watched together). Both were good, but neither held up in the way we thought they might. Still, it was a fun night and an excellent initiation of the group. Our post Christmas meeting will feature a discussion of the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men and and (re)viewing of one of our all time favs, The Big Lebowski. "The dude abides."

Rock and Soul Class Part I - Experience 29; Fun Fact 25; CDs 6 &7

Last night I finished the first semester of a year long class on the history of rock and soul, taught by WXRT DJ Terri Hemmert (pictured right) at Columbia College in downtown Chicago. Fun Facts: Terri was the first woman assigned the morning drive slot in Chicago radio, over 25 years ago. I used to listen to her show when I was home from college working downtown during the summer. Columbia College is the largest media and arts college in the country.

This first part of the class focused on the roots of rock and soul starting with Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith in the 20's and ending up with The Beatles and Black Sabbath in the 60's. It was a fantastic in-depth review of the popular music of this period, facilitated by Terri's truly amazing dvd collection.

Next week the real students in the class will take the exam (in this case it pays to be a poser ;^) and then we'll all meet at a Thai restaurant across the street for an end of the class celebration. Kicking off the holiday party in advance, Terri gave all of us two fantastic cds. The first is called the College of Rock and Roll Knowledge is basically a review of the central roots artists that we studied this term, including Billie Holiday, Louis Jordan, Big Mama Thornton, Irma Thomas and others. The second is the 2007 edition of her Christmas disc which includes Christmas songs from artists who performed in Chicago during the term. Both are sensational and include excellent picutres of Terri dressed as Santa and Terri as a dj at maybe 4 years of age! Thanks for a great term Terri! See you next semester!

Another Pre - Experience 28

This is yet another catch-up post. We were invited to another "pre" dinner at our friends Mary and Amanda's place on Thanksgiving Eve. (We had three Thanskgiving dinners when all was said and done.) They cooked up a really tasty turkey (very moist) and had all the great traditional sides and the company was great too! If this keeps up we'll be as big as houses by the time we return to Athens!

Thanks to Mira and Eric for the great picture, taken just before the party was breaking up. (I lifted it off their great website, Life of Miric.)

First Winter Storm! Experience 27

The first winter storm of the season arrived in Chicago today, and it is looking like a doozy! It started out this afternoon with some beautiful big flaked snow, but by the time we got out of the movie (see below) the temperature had risen and it was sleeting, leaving the streets with a layer of ice on top. Here's hoping this is a sign that we're in for a very white holiday season!

First Friday at Old Town - Experience 25; Fun Fact 23

One of the most purely enjoyable things that I've done since I've been here is playing in First Friday at the Old Town School of Folk Music with my friends in the women's acoustic ensemble. On the first friday of each month students at the School offer performances ranging from folk to rock to dance. It was great to be a part of an event where adults were all doing something that they love with pure abandon (rather than perfection).

The Women's Acoustic Ensemble (WAC?!?) is a great group of women who meet every Monday morning, led by the friendly and talented Andrea and Aerin who teach us a wide variety of songs. At First Friday, we played a song by Feist called "I Feel it All" and then we joined another ensemble to play "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac. Both songs have various levels of harmonies, making them especially fun to sing as a group. I had such a good time that night! I hope we're able to do it again soon! Thanks to Nancy (the bass player in the group) for sending the fun pictures.

Fun Fact: The building that currently houses the Old Town School used to house the Hild Public Library, a place where I spent many happy hours as a kid hanging out in the towered stacks of books (which seemed enormous to me then, but were probably pretty modest in size). It is really fun to be back in the same building as an adult, again doing something that is bringing me a lot of joy.

"Pre": A Thanksgiving Event - Experience 24

Here's a picture of us taken by our friend Marissa (and then another of us with Marissa) at "Pre," a fantastic pre-thanksgiving dinner put together by our friends Cyndy, Terri, and Julie 2 weekends back. The food was fabulous, as was the company. After stuffing ourselves on a variety of traditional thansgiving food and drink we had fun with a rousing game of Master Clue. (How do kids manage to follow the complex rules in these games? I promptly messed up about 5 minutes in.)

A sit down dinner for 20 of the girls is no small feat, but it went so well that the organizing trio is considering staging "Pre 2" - a Christmas event. Stay tuned for details.

Eviction and New Apartment - Experience 23

As the little girl said in Poltergeist . . . they're back. Now that we're all settled into our new place we're ready to resume blogging and will be catching you up on our recent escapades over the next several days. Most of you probably know by now that we were evicted from our old apartment due to excessive landlord greed trumping any and all concern for the well-being of tenants. That's the bad news. The good news is we survived the move and our new apartment is fantastic. Not only is it bigger and equipped with a fantastic old clawfoot tub, it is also much more homelike with gorgeous old wood in each room. But don't take our word for it. Check out these pictures and you be the judge.

Playoff game at Wrigley - Experience 22

The Cubs lost their third game to the D-backs on Saturday, marking the end of their fantastic run from last to first this year. Being in the crowd at Wrigley on Saturday really helped me to understand why it's so difficult for the Cubs to win. The level of expectation and desperation was palpable. 99 years of losing tradition is unbelievably weighty. The Cubs were never really in it. The starting pitcher Rich Hill gave up a home run on the first pitch of the game and things went downhill from there. The Cubs had many chances, but everytime they got close they hit into a double play (four times!) Sadly, many in the crowd booed the team at the close of the game. But there were other people holding up signs thanking the Cubs for a great season. Two inebriated young men were standing by the exits urging people to root for the Bulls. So there was some gratitude and humor in the crowd. But mostly huge disappointment. It would have been great if the crowd could have spontaneously have broken into a chorus of "Go Cubs Go" but it just wasn't to be. (One of the papers had a cruel headline: "No, Cubs, No." This year, like so many other years, Cubs fans can only say "Wait till next year."

CUBS WIN DIVISION!! Experience 21; Fun Facts 13 and 14

HOLY COW! The Cubs won the division! As I've been saying since we arrived in Chicago, IT'S GONNA HAPPEN! After being swept earlier this week by the lowly Florida Marlins, the whole city was shaking in its boots, worrying that the Cubs might once again pull one of their trademark tank moves at the end of the season. But last night they won big over Cincy, and then the city held its collective breath waiting to see if Milwaukee would lose their game and the Cubs would clinch the division. As we waited at home for the results on tv, we could hear helicopters circling Wrigley Field, waiting to get pictures of fans streaming out into the street from the packed sportsbars nearby (the Cubs were playing out of town in Cincy). Soon, champagne bottles were being uncorked everywhere as San Diego beat the Brewers and the Cubs were guaranteed a spot in the playoffs!

I don't think I have to remind many of you that I've been waiting my whole life for the Cubs to win it all. My theory is they've been waiting for me to come home, and now that I'm here they're ready to do it!

Fun Fact: The headline in the Chicago Tribune today was a banner: NEVER IN DOUBT followed by (Well, maybe for a short time.) When you haven't won in 99 years, you have to develop a pretty good sense of humor :^)

Fun Fact: Susan was able to score a ticket for the playoffs and will be in attendance at the first home playoff game, scheduled for next Saturday. Can't wait!

Stephanie and Moe Come to Town; Boat Tour - Experience 20; Beers 19 and 20

This weekend our friends Stephanie and Moe were visiting from Portland, Maine. We had fantastic weather and a great time, starting out with dinner at our favorite rib place, Carson's, where Susan used to go quite a lot with her aunt in earlier days. On Friday we went to Wrigley Field, where the Cubs pounded the Pirates 13-9 on route to a weekend sweep of their last homestand and sole possession of first place in the division by 3 1/2 games with only 6 left to play. With a magicnumber of four, things are looking pretty good for the Cubs at this point. Their pitchers are coming on and their big hitters have all gotten hot in the last few weeks! Susan tried to get playoff tickets over the web this weekend, but sadly she did not get lucky in the lottery.

On Saturday we took an architectural tour on a boat on the river which was fantastic. Our tour guide was an extremely knowledgable and enthusiastic volunteer who crammed huge amounts of interesting tidbits into an hour and half tour. For dinner, we returned to Nacionale 27, our new favorite restaurant in Chicago. After three interesting appetizers, we all enjoyed our entrees quite a lot as well. Susan had sole with tasty potatoes and leeks, Kate had salmon with an interesting topping and sauce, Stephanie had chicken and Moe had halibut. Kate had a Palma Louca beer from Brazil which was very good. Susan had an Imperiale which also good, but not quite as tasty as Kate's. We also had great deserts of flan and coffee brulee. On top of great food, this place has a great atmosphere -- all the hustle and bustle of a city club without any of the pretension or snobbery.

On Sunday we were planning to go a matinee of a play, but when we got there we discovered that the play had been cancelled! So it was back to the apartment to catch the end of the Cubs game, another route of the Pirates, 8-0. Stephanie and Kate made some great falafel and bean and chick pea stew, followed up by coconut / lemon fudge. Yum! Great weekend all around!

Kayaking the Chicago River - Experience 19; Fun Fact 9

Last weekend we rented some kayaks and explored the North branch of the Chicago River. It was quite an urban experience! There are several signs posted along the River noting that raw sewage is occassionally dumped there when it rains a lot, and that the water is not suitable for human touch! Does that qualify as a FUN fact? Fortunately we did not have to have any contact with it. The North branch is largely undeveloped (perhaps for that reason), so if you can suspend knowledge of the toxicity, the ride is a fairly pleasant one with a variety of birds and plants of interest along the way. It also has some distinctly urban aspects to it -- the El passes over the River at one point and there is a doggy day care place that sounded more like a dog asylum when we paddled by. There was a strong wind the day we went so we only paddled for a few miles. Luckily the wind, and the current, were at our backs on the way home. Chatting with some fisherman on the banks where we returned, we were horrified to learn that some folks do eat catfish caught out of the river. Ugh! In any case, the rates weren't bad ($14 / hour) and the ride was interesting. We may go back in the fall and head south towards downtown come spring (see picture above -- note tiny kayaks to the left of the ship.)

Lesbian Bowling League - Experience 18; Timberlanes Bowling Alley - Place 24

Last Friday was the first night of the biweekly lesbian bowling league at Timberlanes Bowling Alley. This is a great little place has 8 lanes to bowl in and a great old bar tucked in behind the lanes. It's located just a few blocks away from where Susan grew up, near Irving, Lincoln, and Damen. What a great vibe this place has!

Susan got a maroon colored ball from a friend from the league who has since graduated to a bigger and better ball. She got it redrilled by the helpful but somewhat odd fellow at the family owned Simmons Bowling Shop just down the street, where the proprietor still rolls out 6 feet of foam rubber for you to try out your new ball on.

It was great to bowl with all the girls! (See photo above :^) The folks I bowled with were really supportive. There are some really great bowlers in the group, however, I do not seem fated to be among them! In any case, Timber Lanes and Simmons are both a very delightful blast from the past -- so delightful that the scores from bowling night are, luckily for me, largely irrelevant!