The
great thing about moving to Chicago is that it has given Cary Anne
and I a chance to pursue our dreams; the bad thing is that so much
dream-pursuing has resulted in limited "quality time." Cary
Anne has been working on shows for weeks on end, and when I'm not in
improv class, I'm out trying to hit local open mics. Luckily, we have
been able to squeeze a date into our busy schedules every now and
then. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to see Cary Anne's show, "The
Sea," and it was highly entertaining. I'm so proud of her for being a part of it. Afterwards, we walked down
to a new burger joint of Belmont called Indie Burger, which combines
great food and great music. The place had only been open for 3 days
when we went, so everyone was extra nice and eager to please. It
definitely has the potential to become a hipster hangout with all
organic food and walls lined with concert posters. And since we
discovered it so early on, we're like hipsters at the hipster place.
Hipster Inception. However, we're not always so hip. Sometimes we
just go to the Dunkin Donuts with a Baskin Robbins attached and eat
with all the other fatties.
That
same week end, we had a cook out at church. Three of our members were
having a birthday during the following week, so after worship, we
pulled out some tables and set up a feast. We probably should've
started the cooking a little earlier because everyone had to wait and
graze on pita chip while Zach cooked the meat (slowly) on a small
grill by the parking lot, while Sam & I alternated holding the
flashlight. Eventually, everyone got stuffed on burgers, brats, and
chicken, and the board games came out. I passed rude, intimidating
notes to the other teams during Cranium, and Cary Anne got way to
into Apples to Apples. Later I created some racial tension. We
started cutting and distributing the cake when Lisa came back with a
slice and said, “Darius doesn't want his. He doesn't like
chocolate.” Across the room I yelled, “Darius! How can you not
like chocolate? You are chocolate!” He pretended to be made and
flip a table. While I'm excited for our church to grow, right now I'm
enjoying looking around the art gallery filled with 30 people,
knowing I know everyone's name.
Then,
on Monday, UK played Kansas in the NCAA Championship. I was hoping
Cary Anne and I could go to The Pony Inn for the game since
it's the official UK alumni bar here in Chicago, but Cary Anne wasn't
crazy about the idea since we went to the The Pony for 2 other
tournament games and it was absurdly crowded. Luckily, our friend
Josh called ahead. (Josh also moved to Chicago from Lexington. During
the years I was working at Krispy Kreme, he was working only a few
blocks away at the Movie Tavern.) The Pony informed Josh that there
had been a line of UK fans waiting to get in since 4pm, and they were
gonna stop allowing more people in over an hour before tip off. That
successfully squashed that idea, so instead Cary Anne and I met up
with Josh and his roommate, Courtney, at a surprisingly quiet bar in
Wrigleyville. In the end, we all enjoyed watching Kentucky beat
Kansas 67 to 59. Cary Anne kept rolling her eyes as I took to the streets
yelling, "C-A-T-S! Cats, Cats, Cats!" No one joined in, and
even the homeless people tried to avoid contact with me.