Well, Chicago was fun, but due to some less than intelligent banking on my part, I now have -$72 to my name... Good thing I get paid on Friday!

Visiting Jimmy was pretty awesome. On Saturday night, I met his friend Will and Will's wife Pam, a very nice couple, even though they're scientologists. Will has a gigantic mastiff named George who stands 6'2" on his hind legs. Will also has two very young daughters -- Madison, who is one-and-a-half, and Sydney, who is about eight months. Madison was already in bed when we were visiting, but Sydney, being an infant, was up for a bit to be fed and fussed over. Jimmy and I left at around 1am and I slept like the dead, since he actually has a bed. Any bed I sleep on now seems to be the most comfortable thing I have ever rested upon.

On Sunday, after some brunch at Coco's Cafe, I headed into the city by myself to go see Ellen and Erik. I saw Ellen's new place -- a very spacious apartment with 20ft high ceilings! She's getting a really good deal on it, too -- split between three people, it's about $450 per person (before utilities, of course). Pretty nice, for Chicago proper!

Ellen taught me how to play mahjong, and I proceeded to lay an epic smackdown on her, before she finally came back and beat me the third game we played. By that time, Erik had arrived from across town to chill with us in Ellen's nice air conditioning. We played a game based on the Nightmare Before Christmas -- it was difficult and frustrating, belying its indication that it was suitable for players 8+ in age. Ellen and Erik witnessed the best comeback in the history of that stupid little game, as I roared back from a definite losing position for the majority of the game to win it all in the end!

Erik and I traveled back into the Loop together. It took a long while; we got off at the wrong stop, and the trains seemed to only be running once every half hour. We had good talks, though, which was awesome, since I haven't been able to spend any time with Erik one-on-one for a long time. I'll be meeting him, Teryn, Kerry, and Kerry's new boyfriend Stephen at the Coffeehouse for some lunch today at noon. Fun times.

On Monday and Tuesday, Jimmy and I were pretty lazy. We hung out with Brian and watched 300 on Monday, and ended up booking a room at a sleazy motel for a "4-hour nap" later that evening so we could have some alone time away from the 'rents.

On Tuesday, Jimmy's mom set me up with a wonderful liquid vitamin supplement and a set of tea tree oil body wash, face wash, and cream, as well as some organic apricot shampoo and conditioner from her herbal shop. Free stuff is awesome!

And now I'm home for a paltry span of time (a whole two days) before I'm heading off to Canada to see T and Bri get married.

I missed my last work day because I set my alarm for 5:20pm instead of 5:20am... despite waking up almost every hour on the hour because of a) the heat and b) my craziest roommate's all-night television binge. Suck!

Yeah, so I came home last night, and there was an opened suitcase with clothes spilling out in the middle of the front yard right next to the driveway. Sara was in the living room, surrounded by what looks like days of accumulated garbage, dishes, and clothes.

I can't believe how utterly repulsive and annoying she is!!

I'm sorry, but yeah. I told her to get her shit out of the yard, because (DUH!) her shit's going to get stolent/wet/ruined. She gave some half-hearted acquiescence which I take to mean that her shit (or what's left of it) is still going to be in the yard, and the living room is going to be even more unrecognizable. I think she's home for good from camp (yikes!). I seriously don't know how much of it I'll be able to take. Sometimes, she'll come home and clean the entire upstairs, which is kind of nice, but also shitty because a) she chooses to do it from 8pm to 8am, and b) she manages to completely reverse the cleanliness within two hours, tops. By mid-fall, I'll probably be considering uniting with my other roommates to kick her out and sublease, because the house gets progressively more ridiculous every time she comes home and trashes it. Seriously, this is the worst case of "but usually Mommy is there to pick up after her precious little baby" that I've ever seen.

I doubt I'll make too much of a fuss about it, though, seeing as I'll be leaving in two days. I guess I'll just hope it's in better condition when I get back?

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