In a few hours I will fly out to New York along with 27 other students for the
Whitney Biennial. During the day we’ll be visiting artists, studios, museums, and other cool artsy things. At night, we’re free to go about the city on our own. I still don’t quite know what I’ll be up to in the evenings, but I intend on having a good time. As always, I will document my adventure in photos. I’ll be back on Sunday night. Good night!
Hey everyone. It’s 1:30 in the morning and my family is still up and at it. We always wait until midnight on Christmas Eve to celebrate by exchanging gifts, hugs, and kisses. It’s always an emotional thing for us. Above is a picture of a handful of my cousins with my brother and me tonight.
Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks to all of you who have been a part of my life. I have been blessed with your kindness.
I’m definitely looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow is the company’s annual Secret Santa gift exchange followed by the Christmas dinner in the evening. We’ll be heading to Dave and Buster’s for a night of billiards, greasy meals, and arcade games. But wait, there’s more! Later at night I will embark on a mini road trip with 7 other friends to Lake Placid, FL, for a weekend of home-cooked meals
a la Maroo and hopefully a few games of Manhunt (a.k.a. group hide-and-seek). Anyone who knows me well can vouch for my unbridled passion for a good game of Manhunt. I’ll play that anywhere, anytime. The only trouble I ever have is finding other like-minded people to join in on the fun. Now we’ll have an entire house and wood to run around in.
We’ll return on Sunday afternoon, just in time for me to hop on another trip up to Orlando with my family where we will spend the week together for Christmas. The cousins and I will most likely end up going to one of the many theme parks where we will dine on expensive snacks with our Disney Dollars. I’m not quite sure yet, but I may have to travel back down to Miami on Wednesday to work a few days before driving back up to Orlando to spend New Years with the family. Either way, it doesn’t bother me. I enjoy being on the road, listening to albums and audio books. I’m trying to decide whether to purchase the audio version of A.J. Jacobs’ The Know It All or Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. Either audio book runs at least 15 hours long in an attempt to cover a world of data.
I’d say it’s a nice way to end one year and begin another: Food, friends, fun, and a whole lotta facts.
On a completely unrelated note, please check out this soundtrack for the Irish indie film Once. It’s wonderful.
I don’t know if I’ll have much internet access after tomorrow, so enjoy the weekend and Merry Christmas!
Thank you for being so impatient with me. Many friends have requested photos of my trip, so here they are below. If you can’t see them on a reader, feel free to follow these links for a slideshow: Chicago & Baltimore.
Continue reading ‘Chicago and Baltimore Photos’
Hey everyone. Got so caught up in enjoying my little vacation that I missed out on writing about it. I’ve been having a great time thus far. The folks in Chicago were real good to me. Nathalie and Cory have been awesome hosts in Baltimore as well.
I realize I should be writing more about whats actually been going on, but I’m about to eat breakfast. So instead I’ll leave you with this new interview with Ron Paul. Enjoy!
Alrighty. Things are already becoming a blur, so I’d better hurry up and type this before it disappears from the ol’ noggin. Once again, excuse the writing style and potential typos.
- Woke up without any markings are my face and body. These roommates are nice guys.
- Got dressed and walked a few blocks to eat some breakfast at a greasy spoon called Steve’s Place. It was a huge meal for about bucks. Not bad.
- Realized I couldn’t walk much farther because I didn’t have my belt.
- Went back to pick up my belt and met up with Becky.
- We headed to the dining hall so she can eat her lunch. I met some more nice people from New York and Virginia and elsewhere.
- Becky and I headed south on the train to downtown. First stop was Millenium Park where I saw the Bean, the giant LCD faces, the ice skating rink, and the amphitheater.
- We then headed north on foot towards the Navy Pier. On our way there, we stopped at an art gallery. A few cool paintings, weird sculptures, and a combination of both.
- We arrived at the Navy Pier building and guess who we saw? That’s right, Santa was there taking photos and getting wishlists from his young supporters.
- We stopped at Starbucks for some mocha lattes and a break from walking. Looking out the window we noticed that it was snowing! My first time seeing it ever!
- I walked outside and basked in the powdery, cold glory as I walked along the pier. Youngins were throwing snowballs, couples were walking hand in hand, families were sharing laughs. It was a beautiful moment.
- I walked back into the building and proceeded to observe a stained-glass exhibit which was absolutely amazing. There were quite a few Art Nouveau styled ones which I drooled over.
- We hopped then on a bus that took us back to the Moody campus.
- Took a nap in the dorm.
- Walked to Michigan Ave with the guys and took a tour of The Magnificent Mile.
- Ate dinner at the Soup Box. Spicy Chicken Enchilada soup. Quite good.
- Chilled at Borders for an hour with a few good photography books.
- Walked back to Moody with the crew.
- Saw in improv performance by the school’s troop, Informal. Very funny show.
- Walked to a restaurant with a bunch of people I don’t know. When we got there we all realized nobody was hungry so we walked back.
- Headed back to the dorm, took a shower, slept til 8:30am.
Greetings!
So far, so good. Here’s a listing, explaining the events of my first day in Chicago. I just wrapped up Day 2, so I’ll be writing about that very soon. You’ll have to excuse any typos (it’s late and i’m tired) and also my lack of photos. I’ve been taking them, but I’m not on my computer and I can’t upload them here. I’ll be able to do it in a few days when I get to Baltimore (pretty please, Nat?) Anyways, here’s the bulleted edition of my first day in Chicago…
- woke up at 4:00am and took shower
- went out the door with Mom
- arrived at airport, realized flight was not with US Airways, but with TED (division of United)
- checked in successfully
- ate bagel w/ mom at the airport’s dunkin donuts
- said bye, walked through security checkpoint. no problem.
- sat down in terminal with my magazine for 15 minutes before they started boarding the plane.
- had an entire row to myself
- after takeoff I laid down on the row of chairs and napped for a good 30 minutes.
- before landing, I could see the city was covered in snow. lovely.
- found my way around airport just fine. eventually hopped on the train to the city
- 1 hour later I met up with Becky Machado at the Clark/Lake stop.
- hopped on another train with becky to finally arrive at the ‘Chicago’ stop.
- she gave me a brief tour of the campus, and finally arrived at the dorm I would be staying at.
- dropped my bag off and also met roommates Preston and Jameson. cool guys.
- walked to have lunch w/ Becky at Jay’s Burgers. Ordered the Moody special: burger, fries, milkshake.
- took the food w/ me to Moody’s cafeteria w/ Becky.
- met Bruce and Kyhle. also nice dudes.
- got back to the dorm and took a 30min nap.
- went online, made plans for the day, including Blue Man Group show.
- left to Target with Bruce and new friend Tiffany. Sweet gal too.
- after running to catch up with connecting trains, we arrive at Target.
- bought a towel. should’ve bought snacks to tame the hunger.
- realized I didn’t pack black pants and white shirt for my ushering gig at the BMG show.
- went back to dorm, did some more planning for the trip.
- spoke to Becky on the phone, said her friend would buy my clothes for me.
- left with Bruce to meet up w/ Becky’s crew at her dorm lobby.
- got the clothes and changed into them. saw the receipt of clothes: $63. ouch ouch.
- left with bruce and becky to eat at Chipotle before the show. Kyhle arrives later.
- Bruce and I left to catch the trains. we’re walking extremely fast.
- arrive at station confidently, hop on train. 2 stops later we realize we’re going in wrong direction. time to hustle.
- change trains and exchange small-talk on the trip towards the show.
- finally arrived and we start running down streets until we finally get to the Briar Street Theatre where we will be ushering.
- met the 2 other ushers: Blaire and Sara.
- we get instructed on how to usher and then we… usher. easy.
- eventually we sit down in the 5th row and watch the amazing show. for free!
- show’s over. time to clean up. only takes about 15 minutes to pick up all the paper and trash off the floor. good team.
- say bye to everyone, leave with bruce to catch train to Moody.
- arrive around 12:45 tired. weary from walking on these boots all day.
- change into pajamas, climb bunk bed, and slept until 9am.
