dom.blog

I crammed a lot into the past week – I think I’m secretly hoping to be so exhausted for the excessively long plane journeys ahead that I just conk out. (More on that later.) Back on Saturday night, we celebrated Nolan’s birthday for what I counted as the third time, but admittedly it was a significant birthday and he is a significant individual.

The next afternoon, I was lucky enough to get invited along to a pub crawl hosted by the League of Chicago Theatres. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “oi, Dominic, you don’t work in the theatre. Why are you crashing their events?” To which I would reply, defensively, that I was invited – and more effusively, that Chicago’s theatre folk turn out to be an extraordinarily lovely bunch. I mean, no offence to – say – lawyers, but I have trouble imagining the League of Chicago Lawyers’s pub crawl would be anywhere near as fun, or culminate in such good cabaret either.

I’m not senior enough for a black jacket, yet

This week included a free screening of The Blind Side in the park after work with Suzanne and co. Now, if we’re being honest, we should acknowledge that this is not a good film. I mean, if we were really being serious we’d say it was a patronising white saviour narrative – but let’s just settle for it being overflowing to the brim with cheesy American schmaltz.

All true, but there was also fair amount of wine, a generous spread of picnic food and excellent company. And I learnt a teeny tiny bit more about American football. So.

Sunset from the lake

The next evening, Lauri invited me to come sailing with her friends on Lake Michigan. I’m not great with boats – it’s the same kind of headachey problem as the banana variety – but I must say it was worth it to see the sun set over the city, and watch the beautiful red harvest moon rise over the lake. I may have to wait another year for peak summer temperatures again, but I really would like to try swimming there too.

And then tonight I made excellent use of my free pair of Theatre Thursday tickets (acquired at some point during Sunday’s drinking) to go see a musical version of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. I thought it did impressive justice to a memorably creepy book, and (icing on the cake) it was nice to spend a night listening to British accents use words like ‘flat’ and ‘telly’ for an hour or two. (We had a tasty Indian meal beforehand, actually, so it was quite the Dominic-friendly night.)

Tomorrow I am going to a baseball field again to actually watch baseball: White Sox vs. Blue Jays, if you’re interested. Todd has instructed me to cheer for the latter, which I’m more than happy to do. Especially as they are Canadian. And then I should probably pack or sleep or something, because I have a 6am flight to Kuala Lumpur the next morning. Yup, I’m going to Malaysia! For work, for two weeks, which is just as well given the flight takes approximately six thousand years. It’s just you and me now, Kindle.

With Nolan and Grisel at Common Room

I feel a bit like Benno’s groupie for going to see Common Room‘s inaugural shows two weeks in a row, but the concept is so lovely you’d need a pretty rad alternative to give your Wednesday night to anything else.

For a mere $5 – which includes beer and cookies – you’re treated to scenes from a couple of plays and shows going on in Chicago at the moment, performed by their actual casts. Interspersed is live music and a couple of skits and performances by the regular hosts. And it’s all done in one of those little, intimate theatres which are basically always better than the big ones.

The idea they’re playing with is that theatre is hard to discover and navigate compared to, say, going to the cinema. How do you really know what’s on, and whether it’s any good? My answer in London was basically ‘go to the Tricycle’, but I do need a new strategy now, so the concept is perfect for me. And I feel lucky to have such a cool workplace where people do stuff like this.

Also pictured: FOOD

In other news… tonight I also caught up with my something-cousin-something-removed Sophia (who cares about the specifics). Last meeting was in California, three years ago! And it totally just whets my appetite for the great big family reunion in October for Jamie’s wedding – can’t wait 😀

Despite my last post, I have been doing other things alongside flossing. Such as:

• Improv! At The Armando Diaz Experience, a large gaggle of performers improvise on stage, triggered by short sections of a comedian’s monologue. It’s the second time I’ve seen improv in Chicago and I was impressed again by its cooperative nature. Unlike shows like Mock the Week – which are really collections of solo stand-up acts – you never get the feeling that people are just waiting to interrupt each other. This keeps the whole thing funnier and lends a nicely collaborative feel. Oh, and it’s all super-cheap. Recommended.

• Gig! Or as numerous people put it, “the most American experience you’ve had so far”. This was Made in America. Budweiser’s attempt to repeat the word Budweiser so many times that you’ll continue drinking Budweiser long after the free Budweisers have run out. Also – and I’m really not making this up – 3D glasses so giant animated Budweiser logos and glasses of Budweiser can zoom into your face. I think someone called Girl Talk was playing as well. But yeah. Budweiser. (Property of Anheuser–Busch InBev of Belgium, incidentally.)

Our flat: me, Nolan, Brett

• Film! Although I don’t have much to say about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, really. I haven’t seen any of the earlier films, and was so sleepy that at one point I think I dozed off while the humans and apes were making some sort of pact. (At least that’s what I deduced had happened afterwards.) Anyway: it was OK. I would have liked a song or two.

• Fish! With Grisel, Agata and Emilie at the Shedd Aquarium, which is also home to creepy snakes, adorable otters and not-taking-enough-exercise penguins. (Bit rich to type that from a rocking chair, but there we are.) If you were weighing up a visit to Chicago and the presence of a good aquarium would tip the balance, then take note.

An underwater Acromantula

My endless Craigslist trawling has also come to an end, because I’m excited/relieved to say that I’ve found an apartment for August onwards. More details later, but the most important thing is that it has a truly spectacular rooftop view 😀

I was also planning to say that I haven’t really felt homesick yet – although plenty of nostalgia for days, places and people of the past. That was until today when Cat sent me a photo of the rest of the ex-flat and plus-ones having dinner together in Josh’s garden, and then yes, I did feel a smidgen of homesickness. And a yearning for wine. But maybe that’s just because my private supply of PG Tips at work ran out today, and carrying on without a supply of proper tea close at hand is an emotional highwire act at the best of times.