What's up everybody. I'm currently taking a slight break between gaming sessions. I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to play next. I've been playing plenty of LEGO Rock Band recently, and I'm getting slightly burnt out. Time for something different. While I was doing this, I figured I might as well give you all a little blog to read up on.
As you should have known, Halloween was about a week and a half ago. I always love Halloween. At my work, they let you dress up for the holiday. Never one to let an opportunity like that pass me by, I made sure I had a costume ready to go.
It took a lot of work, but I was able to put something together on Thursday night. I stuffed some white scrubs and sweatshirt with portions of a mattress pad. Together with some face paint, and a severely doctored white cotton hat, I had made myself into the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man! Truly an epic feat. It wasn't supremely awesome, but I'm on a budget here. I think for 50 bucks I did DAMN well.
Everyone who saw me that day thought so too. Unfortunately, there was a bunch of confusion about who I was. Seems people can't figure out for themselves the difference between Stay Puft, the Dough Boy, and Michelin Man. Kinda sad, but at least everybody was loving the costume. It felt good to bring that much joy to everyone that day. People were smiling and complimenting on the costume every time they saw it.
It wasn't without it's own price though (besides the price tag). The costume was incredibly hot. With an inch of pad surrounding my upper body inside of a sweatshirt, it's understandable that it became my own personal sauna. I actually thought I was gonna pass out for a bit during work, but it must've just been a bit of panic attack. I even broke out on my chest from it! It was real rough and red for a while, but it's almost completely back to it's normal, pale self now.
In spite of the fact that everybody loved my costume, I still couldn't pull first place at the costume contest we hold. Lunacy, I know. None of you will really get to see the pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it. They say that we're supposed to judge our voting based on originality and such, but like everything at that store, it's all about your circle of friends. I do have many friends, but apparently not enough to place in the competition. I can understand getting beat by the Amish, because that was actually kinda cool. But I got beat by a witch (just a basic witch), and a person who wore a bald cap to call themselves one of our managers. Once again, I guess it's about being topical, and I'd rather have fun. A poor Joe the Plummer (that's how he spelled it) last year, a poor excuse for a manager this time.
Like I said in my Twitter, I'd love to say it doesn't bother me, but it does. It's really disappointing. Last year he bought a penguin outfit and placed third, this year he just buys a bald cap and places first. And really, a witch? A black outfit and pointy hat is all it takes for third? I worked my ass off and I can't get anything beyond a couple of pats on the back and "attaboy"s? People at work keep saying that it's rigged. Every year they tell me that, and I'm starting to believe them. I guess I found another area of life where hard work doesn't pay off in the end.
But, like I said, I had a lot of fun doing it. I wish that I could've run into some of you guys (preferably while the makeup still looked good), because I'm sure you would have gotten a kick out of it. I've still got the hat that I went through so much trouble to make, so who knows. All I know is that I'm already anxious for next year. I'm actually going to try and get the costume ready ridiculously early to prevent any last minute runs for ideas. Sure, it paid off this time, but I really wanted to be Dan from Street Fighter. I'm not even sure if I'm going to be in the same job next year. I hope not, but you can always bet that I'll dress up for Halloween.
... and any other time I get the opportunity.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sometimes it just works like that.
I realize that I haven't blogged for over a week. I knew something bad was going to happen to this thing when I came back. I wanted to try and avoid skipping a beat, but I determined that blogging while in Chicago on Patrick's iPhone was just too pathetic. It just happens sometimes, you don't have enough time to do what you want. I couldn't even tell you what I've been doing exactly for the past week, but it's felt like non-stop stuff. I've kept myself busy.
I'm actually surprised that Greg didn't blog about the Chi-town trip we took to celebrate his birthday. Although he might have blogged about it somewhere that I don't have access to or a place I just don't know about.
We went into the Chicago trip completely blind. All we knew was that there were Halloween fireworks (weird, eh?) and that we wanted some deep dish pizza that you can't get anywhere else but Chicago. The way up was pretty good. Miles and time just melted away as we all thought it would. After you have been in a car from sunrise to well past sunset, a 4-5 hour drive seems like nothing. I think we only stopped once, kinda impressive considering I was in the car. I tend to slow down road trips, but I think I'm getting better at them now.
On the way down we basically shot the breeze having casual conversation most of the way. Closer to Chicago, Greg ended up telling us how his Kansas City trip went. It sounded like a blast, and I really wish I could have went with him, although the majority of it wouldn't have been privy to my eyes. It isn't that much of an interesting drive going up to Chicago, but the cities seemed more memorable than the endless pastures. I remember seeing a field that was absolutely full of windmills. Not old school ones, high tech, energy making ones. I actually thought that was kinda cool. There was also a mosque on the way too. I'm not sure I spelled that right, or called it the right thing. It seemed like a religious place, that had Arabic looking writing on it. It was the first time I've ever seen Arabic writing outside of the news on TV. I thought it was a neat thing to see.
When we pulled into the Embassy we checked into our hotel and quickly realized that our lack of planning might come back to bite us. We had no idea what we were going to do, but it wasn't much of a problem. We kept looking at what was right in front of us. At that time, that was hunger. Patrick had brought up a place called Gino's East that was only a couple of blocks away from the Embassy. He said it was featured on Man vs. Food. Frankly, I'd love to go to any place that they go on that show. I'm all about trying new things these days, and what better way to do it than by following a show on Food Network?
We walked down there and ordered what they actually told us to on Man vs Food, some Super Meat Deep Dish Pizza. They told us that it would take 45 minutes to make the pizza. That shocked me. I'm sure that my mom has cooked cakes in that time. Turkey dinners have been prepared in that kinda time. I think we just completed a drive to Chicago in that time! Well, those last ones might've been lies ... but that's a lot of time for pizza. About 3 times how long it takes for one of the pizzas I cook in my oven. In all fairness though, it's about 3 times as big and infinitely better. Well worth the wait.
While we were waiting, we took in the scenery from our seat. Quite the interesting place. I noticed when we walked in that there was a sign saying you could write on the walls, but NOT on ... and lists a bunch of things to keep pens off of. We looked around and noticed all the different markings people had left. Tags, symbols of love, sports logos, slurs, the place was just loaded. Patrick actually took a photo of one of the better ones. It had a picture of somebody (I forgot who it was), and above it in a quote bubble was "I'm wacked out on Scientology." Awesome. Signature of the Shop right there.
Anyway, time passed by, about half of required to make the trip, and we headed out. Again, we had nothing planned until nightfall, and it was something like 4 or 5 by this time. To burn some time and enjoy ourselves in the process, we then went over to the ESPN Zone in Chicago. I have wanted to go into one of these for a long time. It's basically a sports haven. Televisions everywhere, all tuned into sports. Sure, you may have been in a sports bar that had a lot of TV's, but I'm sure it pails in comparison.
We actually weren't there to watch TV, though, we were there to play games. On the second floor of this Sports Haven, is an arcade akin to Dave & Buster's (a favorite of mine). Sure, it had pretty much sport related machines, but still plenty for me to have a blast with. There was a mini-bowling alley in there, which we played a game or two on. It's pretty fun, even if it's hard to get in a bowling groove with 5 feet to throw from and a ball I can palm. It was an interesting experience though. I pretty much followed Greg's lead as he went to all the big ticket items. There was a hockey thing in there. You get a stick and a bunch of room to run around and shoot pucks no a moving, wooden goalie. I ended up slaughtering his score on there by two-fold. There was also a QB Challenge type thing in there. Two moving wide outs to throw to as (dated) references are spewed out by ESPN personalities. Greg smashed me by more than two-fold here. Just sayin. I'm not good at basketball either. If you were wondering.
After getting our heart rate going, we headed out to burn more time. Again, without anything to do, we ended up wandering a bit. Harley Davidson shop here, Michigan Drive there. With a bit of luck, we ended up finding a big map that had tourist destinations on it. We noticed a bunch of stuff we might have wanted to see were pretty far away from where we were, and some we were willing to drive to were also closed. (Fancy Pat's iPhone told us about those). We noticed the NBC Studios was listed on there and thought it would be cool to get a tour in there. After a quick pit at the hotel to gain coats suitable for the chilly Chicago night, we set off.
When we got a bit past Michigan Avenue, the city did something weird in my eyes. We kept going with the road, but there were a bunch of crossings above us, and as we kept going it seemed like an entire bridge structure was above us. The area we were walking through kept seeming to get seedier as well. Kinda like Midgar in FF7 (Yea, I went there), it was like the Chicago slums down there. Weird that there were two different cities on top of each other. Puts new meaning to the term "Second City" (though I know that's not where it comes from).
After we got to the NBC Studios, we saw that it was closed, but we were only an hour or two from fireworks, so we decided to hand out on the Navy Pier until then. Since the fireworks show was going to be from the pier, it seems like a logical choice. After browsing all the neat stuff down there, we grabbed a bit to eat at the Billy Goat place. It is apparently famous, though for two different reasons. They keep mentioning that it is from SNL with the Cheezeborger Cheezeborger Cheezeborger skit, though I have no idea where that's from. I saw on the walls that it was also home to the Billy Goat that ended up getting tossed out of a game in Wrigley Field (even though he had a ticket). I thought that was awesome. The place that is believed to have cursed the Cubs is still alive and well respected in Chicago. That really puts how messed up Chicago is into perspective.
With our bellies full of Cheezeborgers, we wandered a bit more around Navy Pier. They were having some sort of side show going on. A bunch of people were dressed up like freaks and walking around. Some neat stuff realy. It provided an interesting backdrop for our mini golf game. That, and the wet leaves around the entire course. I hadn't played for a long time, and it was nice to release some competitive juices.
After the game it was only a couple of minutes to the firework show. It was nothing to really write home about. It lasted about 10 minutes and was set to some Halloween music. It did have a clip from Rocky Horror Picture Show in it. So now I have a strong desire to see that movie again. I need to borrow that from Patrick soon before I forget about it. I wanted to watch it before Halloween, but obviously that didn't work out too well.
The trip was fun, although short, and it left me a bit drained. But I've gotten over that in the week after it. It was a great time, and now it will live on in the halls of the interweb ... FOREVER!
I'm actually surprised that Greg didn't blog about the Chi-town trip we took to celebrate his birthday. Although he might have blogged about it somewhere that I don't have access to or a place I just don't know about.
We went into the Chicago trip completely blind. All we knew was that there were Halloween fireworks (weird, eh?) and that we wanted some deep dish pizza that you can't get anywhere else but Chicago. The way up was pretty good. Miles and time just melted away as we all thought it would. After you have been in a car from sunrise to well past sunset, a 4-5 hour drive seems like nothing. I think we only stopped once, kinda impressive considering I was in the car. I tend to slow down road trips, but I think I'm getting better at them now.
On the way down we basically shot the breeze having casual conversation most of the way. Closer to Chicago, Greg ended up telling us how his Kansas City trip went. It sounded like a blast, and I really wish I could have went with him, although the majority of it wouldn't have been privy to my eyes. It isn't that much of an interesting drive going up to Chicago, but the cities seemed more memorable than the endless pastures. I remember seeing a field that was absolutely full of windmills. Not old school ones, high tech, energy making ones. I actually thought that was kinda cool. There was also a mosque on the way too. I'm not sure I spelled that right, or called it the right thing. It seemed like a religious place, that had Arabic looking writing on it. It was the first time I've ever seen Arabic writing outside of the news on TV. I thought it was a neat thing to see.
When we pulled into the Embassy we checked into our hotel and quickly realized that our lack of planning might come back to bite us. We had no idea what we were going to do, but it wasn't much of a problem. We kept looking at what was right in front of us. At that time, that was hunger. Patrick had brought up a place called Gino's East that was only a couple of blocks away from the Embassy. He said it was featured on Man vs. Food. Frankly, I'd love to go to any place that they go on that show. I'm all about trying new things these days, and what better way to do it than by following a show on Food Network?
We walked down there and ordered what they actually told us to on Man vs Food, some Super Meat Deep Dish Pizza. They told us that it would take 45 minutes to make the pizza. That shocked me. I'm sure that my mom has cooked cakes in that time. Turkey dinners have been prepared in that kinda time. I think we just completed a drive to Chicago in that time! Well, those last ones might've been lies ... but that's a lot of time for pizza. About 3 times how long it takes for one of the pizzas I cook in my oven. In all fairness though, it's about 3 times as big and infinitely better. Well worth the wait.
While we were waiting, we took in the scenery from our seat. Quite the interesting place. I noticed when we walked in that there was a sign saying you could write on the walls, but NOT on ... and lists a bunch of things to keep pens off of. We looked around and noticed all the different markings people had left. Tags, symbols of love, sports logos, slurs, the place was just loaded. Patrick actually took a photo of one of the better ones. It had a picture of somebody (I forgot who it was), and above it in a quote bubble was "I'm wacked out on Scientology." Awesome. Signature of the Shop right there.
Anyway, time passed by, about half of required to make the trip, and we headed out. Again, we had nothing planned until nightfall, and it was something like 4 or 5 by this time. To burn some time and enjoy ourselves in the process, we then went over to the ESPN Zone in Chicago. I have wanted to go into one of these for a long time. It's basically a sports haven. Televisions everywhere, all tuned into sports. Sure, you may have been in a sports bar that had a lot of TV's, but I'm sure it pails in comparison.
We actually weren't there to watch TV, though, we were there to play games. On the second floor of this Sports Haven, is an arcade akin to Dave & Buster's (a favorite of mine). Sure, it had pretty much sport related machines, but still plenty for me to have a blast with. There was a mini-bowling alley in there, which we played a game or two on. It's pretty fun, even if it's hard to get in a bowling groove with 5 feet to throw from and a ball I can palm. It was an interesting experience though. I pretty much followed Greg's lead as he went to all the big ticket items. There was a hockey thing in there. You get a stick and a bunch of room to run around and shoot pucks no a moving, wooden goalie. I ended up slaughtering his score on there by two-fold. There was also a QB Challenge type thing in there. Two moving wide outs to throw to as (dated) references are spewed out by ESPN personalities. Greg smashed me by more than two-fold here. Just sayin. I'm not good at basketball either. If you were wondering.
After getting our heart rate going, we headed out to burn more time. Again, without anything to do, we ended up wandering a bit. Harley Davidson shop here, Michigan Drive there. With a bit of luck, we ended up finding a big map that had tourist destinations on it. We noticed a bunch of stuff we might have wanted to see were pretty far away from where we were, and some we were willing to drive to were also closed. (Fancy Pat's iPhone told us about those). We noticed the NBC Studios was listed on there and thought it would be cool to get a tour in there. After a quick pit at the hotel to gain coats suitable for the chilly Chicago night, we set off.
When we got a bit past Michigan Avenue, the city did something weird in my eyes. We kept going with the road, but there were a bunch of crossings above us, and as we kept going it seemed like an entire bridge structure was above us. The area we were walking through kept seeming to get seedier as well. Kinda like Midgar in FF7 (Yea, I went there), it was like the Chicago slums down there. Weird that there were two different cities on top of each other. Puts new meaning to the term "Second City" (though I know that's not where it comes from).
After we got to the NBC Studios, we saw that it was closed, but we were only an hour or two from fireworks, so we decided to hand out on the Navy Pier until then. Since the fireworks show was going to be from the pier, it seems like a logical choice. After browsing all the neat stuff down there, we grabbed a bit to eat at the Billy Goat place. It is apparently famous, though for two different reasons. They keep mentioning that it is from SNL with the Cheezeborger Cheezeborger Cheezeborger skit, though I have no idea where that's from. I saw on the walls that it was also home to the Billy Goat that ended up getting tossed out of a game in Wrigley Field (even though he had a ticket). I thought that was awesome. The place that is believed to have cursed the Cubs is still alive and well respected in Chicago. That really puts how messed up Chicago is into perspective.
With our bellies full of Cheezeborgers, we wandered a bit more around Navy Pier. They were having some sort of side show going on. A bunch of people were dressed up like freaks and walking around. Some neat stuff realy. It provided an interesting backdrop for our mini golf game. That, and the wet leaves around the entire course. I hadn't played for a long time, and it was nice to release some competitive juices.
After the game it was only a couple of minutes to the firework show. It was nothing to really write home about. It lasted about 10 minutes and was set to some Halloween music. It did have a clip from Rocky Horror Picture Show in it. So now I have a strong desire to see that movie again. I need to borrow that from Patrick soon before I forget about it. I wanted to watch it before Halloween, but obviously that didn't work out too well.
The trip was fun, although short, and it left me a bit drained. But I've gotten over that in the week after it. It was a great time, and now it will live on in the halls of the interweb ... FOREVER!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
