"That's My Ish" - A Weekend With My 21-Year-Old Twin

Wow, has it been a while or WHAT? Oh well! Let's get right to it, shall we?

You've likely seen a post here or there about the one, the only... Maria Thomas.

I've known Maria and her family for about 25 years and, simply put, they are the best. Maria is the middle child of three and... well, we take great pride in the twin-dom (in personality) that we've formed over the years. I mean, who else could have taught eight-year-old Maria the lyrics to such age-appropriate songs as JayZ's "Big Pimpin"? (I take great pride in the fact that, to this day, Maria does text me when she hears that song from time to time. Ahh, the legacy and teachings I leave for future generations...)

Maria is one of the few people I know that is more crazy (in the "my kinda crazy" sorta way) than me. I do believe she's learned a fair amount of her crazy ways from me and, to be quite frank, I'm quite proud of this fact. Again... that whole legacy I'm leaving behind and all that. ;)

In any event! I cannot tell you how excited I was when Maria mentioned that she was going to be gracing Chicago with her presence this weekend. Of course, I hadn't exactly planned out an itinerary for the two of us (unless you count "hugfesting it out" to be itinerary-worthy) but I figured we'd just roll with it and figure things out when she got to my place. Easy peasy.

Well, that whole "getting to my place" came a lot earlier than I expected. Come 8:30 AM on Saturday, Maria was ready and waiting in my lobby. I was a bit surprised to receive a text from her that early on a Saturday morning (I mean, she IS 21 and she HAD been out the night before!) and, to be perfectly honest, I was a bit of a zombie upon greeting her given my whole four hours of sleep the night before, but... well, nothing a little hug/gab-fest can't cure, right? Right.

After hugging it out and chatting it up for a bit, we talked plans for the day. We decided to start off by venturing to the Lincoln Park farmers market for some coffee and breakfast, then make an appearance at the Lincoln Park Zoo and then head back to my place for a nap. The fact that the nap made it on the itinerary right off the bat is just one of many reasons why I adore the one, the only Maria - we are two. of a freaking. kind.

After strolling through the farmers market and finishing up our coffees / breakfast, we made our way across the street to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It never ceases to amaze me that this zoo is literally three blocks from my apartment - it's just a whole different world...

Filled with lots of animals (which I may or may not feel a touch bad for)...

And/or lots of adorable children (I swear we're not creepers)...

As we were wandering about the zoo, Maria and I managed to cover a WIDE range of deep topics - from the frequency with which an average college student checks Facebook... to our love of mixed children... to a detailed discussion of "which" mixed races would evolve the most beautiful child... to, well, something related to Maria's love for Hispanic families (hahah - is this getting to be way too much information?)... to... well, Maria's use of such clutch phrases including, but not limited to...

"That's my ish".

Okay, to be fair, I've heard this term before, but DEFINITELY not used in natural conversation. I forget what we were gabbing on and on about, but when Maria just inserted that phrase so naturally to the conversation... well, THAT's when it became clear that I was hanging out with a 21 year old ;) I think my new goal is to try to start incorporating that phrase into MY everyday conversations (dream big and all that)... I mean, Maria taught me well - that phrase was only inserted into any and all conversations for the remainder of the weekend, let's be honest here.

Ah, but I digress. All in all, it was just such a BEAUTIFUL DAY that we got to spend in Lincoln Park!

After spending some time at the zoo, were we EVER ready for our naps!

Such a money idea if ever there was one. After a couple of hours (what can I say? We don't take napping lightly), each of us woke up nicely bright-eyed and bushy-tailed... and totally ready to start the "downtown" part of our day of fun.

We hopped on that 151 (God, it's been so long since I've ridden that thing and no WONDER - it is the slowest thing EVER) and headed down to Michigan and Wacker. Stop #1: Chicago's architecture tour. This is one of my favorite "touristy" things to do in Chicago because you get to be on the water, soak up the sun AND learn about Chicago's history / buildings... so many of my favorite things all rolled into one tour!

After the tour, we headed a bit further south to check out Millennium Park - it had been AGES since I'd been to Millennium Park and it was just so FUN to wander about it with Maria, who had never been before.

Okay, so maybe our idea of "fun" is a bit different from others... considering the majority of our time was spent... well...

Stalking Oprah...

And/or attempting to pose like FOBs in pictures. I mean, is this a new fad or something? Maria told me about how her and her friends make it a point to do this each time they go places and... not going to lie, I definitely just gave her a "What the f" look. But... well, turns out Maria knows what she's doing. I kind of want to do this each time I travel now too! ;) (Clearly, this whole "craziness influence" is a two-way street.)

Take 1:

Take 2:

Take 3:

I have to say, I was quite impressed. The girl's got the look DOWN PAT. All she really needs to do now is stick her index finger and middle finger in her pocket and she will be SET. Ah, for next time.

We tried to do another FOB shot on the lawn, but... well, the darn picture turned out a lot cuter (read: less FOB) than we were intending.

Noted: next time we attempt a "FOB sitting on a grassy knoll" pose, make sure we are NOT beaming and are sitting more on our hips with our folded legs slightly to the side... do you know what I'm talking about? Have we thought about this way too much? Moving on...

After spending way more time than was necessary posing for these pictures (which, ironically, was actually taken by a FOB couple we'd spotted from afar... sigh, shamelessness-personified), we decided to move on to... Pritzker Pavilion!

I love, love, love this spot! It's. Just. So. CHILL! And Saturday was no exception! I actually had just intended to show Maria the pavilion itself, since it's so "majestic" in nature. Upon making our way to the pavilion though, how much of an added bonus was it that we stumbled upon...

Oh, just a Saturday night symphony concert. God, it was so lovely. I haven't been to the symphony in AGES and it was just so relaxing to zone out to some seriously calming / soothing music. Sigh. After hanging out for a bit, we decided to continue on our merry way - next stop: the Bean.

I actually had never seen the Bean at night - and it was definitely worth it.

We couldn't get enough!

As if the love for this city couldn't grow any more...

Amazing, right?!?!

Anyway, after THAT photography session, we made our way back on the 151 and headed back to my apartment. By that point, it was about 10 PM and... well, you know me - if it was up to me, I would totally have just called it a night. But of course, I've got my 21 year old twin to keep me in check - she was the one who voiced the executive decision that we were going out.

Of course, I smiled and nodded along but MAN, inside I was just thinking "It's just one night with a 21 year old, Christie. You can do it. You can do it." Hahaha.

It actually ended up being a LOT tamer / chiller than I was initially expecting - we were going to start off with drinks at the John Hancock tower's Signature Room before heading out... well, somewhere lively and bumpin. We ended up getting into the Signature Room pretty quickly for a Saturday night and snagged a pretty money spot, complete with:

Some pretty sweeeeet views

Some pretty sweeeeet drinks

And, of course, some pretty sweeeeet company

I honestly thought we would be there for about an hour before peacing out and heading out. However, we ended up gabbing for WAY longer than expected... and actually ended up closing down the Signature Room at 1:30. I guess this is what happens when you get engrossed in some pretty deep convos about family... Facebook... friends... Twitter... life... Tumblr... well, you get the idea.

By that point, I was definitely ready for bed (that nap can only hold me out for so long), so we ended up calling it a night.

But MAN! What a wonderful day! What else can one expect when they spend a day with the one, the only Maria Thomas? ;)

*Special thanks to Maria for some of the pictures which were incorporated into this blog post.

Internet Gem of the Day: From Pi to Pie...

Today's fun Internet gem...


Isn't that crazy?!?!? When I saw this picture pop up in my news feed from one of my newfound Facebook friends, my mouth literally dropped open! I seriously can't get over it!

Maybe this is totally lame-o but WHATEVER! I'm sure your mind is blown as well... whether you care to admit it as openly or not...

Friendship - An Introspective Review

Hooray! I just submitted a piece for a blogger contest that I saw advertised a few weeks ago. In 300 words or less, I was supposed to talk about "Who I am most surprised to be friends with". When I first heard about this topic, I figured it would be easy peasy Mac n Cheesy.

But the more I got to thinking, the more I struggled with the topic. "SURPRISED" to be friends with? I've never been asked that question, let alone pondered it of my own accord.

It got me thinking about my closest friends over the years, and sigh. Talk about a sentimental sojourn, if you will.

I've always been a fairly social creature by nature. What can I say? I get a (completely natural!) high being surrounded by people! I used to LOVE a good social gathering of sorts. The larger the gathering, the more excited I would get. But as the years progressed, I quickly realized that, while I'm grateful to be one of those people who makes friends pretty easily, I am pretty much the worst friend with whom to keep in touch. I just lose track of time and, well, frankly put, I hate talking on the phone.

All I have to say is God bless the inventor of all things Internet.

Email...

Instant messenger...
Facebook...
TOTALLY my saving graces in this whole "keeping in touch" thing.

But still. There's something to be said about that personal touch that only a good old-fashioned phone call or, heck, a handwritten letter (remember THOSE?!) can bring. Who would've thought, right? The tools and technology at our fingertips to maximize our connectivity as inherently social creatures... inherently lending to just increased isolation.

Deep, RIGHT? Hahaha. But still, as I've grown up (and, I like to think, matured into a young adult), I feel like I am so much more appreciative of the quality of my friendships, rather than quantity of friends I have. More and more, I find myself making a concerted effort to shoot a quick email, send a quick text, send a quick Facebook message or (imagine THAT) even pick up the phone for a quick (or hours-long... if you're one of the Select Few!) phone call.

I just feel like I have a renewed value for LEGIT friendships. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm likely just getting lazier with age and don't feel like making small talk with newfound acquaintances right and left. I mean, the sheer EFFORT... sigh. Oh, I could go on and on.

See?? Isn't it amazing to see the introspective little treat this simple blog contest's topic culminated into? You're so welcome in advance for this week's edition of Deep Thoughts by Christie Maliyackel.

My ultimate goal? To ultimately have something like THIS...

Or this...


Or hell, even this... a girl can plan 80 years down the line, right?

Or, of course... something like this. Can't go a blog post without referencing The Oprah, herself, right?

Wish me luck! Off to start making some phone calls, touting my renewed appreciation for some of my closest ones and onlies!

I’m on Twitter… now what?

Alright, so here’s the thing. I’m all about social networking, making the world a smaller, place, befriending all the world, etc. That’s why I am a firm advocate of Facebook. Granted, I used to be unhealthily obsessed with it (is it normal to start twitching if one doesn’t check Facebook once every couple of hours? Oh well.), but once you realize your limitations and the healthy boundaries of social networking, you’ll realize just how powerful that tool is.

Okay, Facebook is one thing- it’s so versatile and dynamic and oh how I heart thee. I could write an ode to it. But then there’s Twitter, right? So you know how it’s like all the rage right now? I was firmly against Twitter because I never understood the point of it. After all, the implementation of Facebook’s “status updates” is one of the most annoying things ever to me (well, not EVER, who are we kidding here? I always briefly scroll through the status updates anyway! But still. You know what I mean.)… and that’s pretty much ALL Twitter is, right?

Anyway, power of persuasion and all that. I’m now on Twitter. That took about five minutes of discussion. Haha. I’m telling you, if you ever need to convince anyone of anything, you should hire Evan Fleming (no worries about that whole Internet security business… I already confirmed that he is comfortable with me using his whole name because, as he so eloquently put it, “ohhhh…. No I don’t mind… I’m all over the internet”… hahah KNEE SLAPPER). Granted, Evan is one of my favorite people alive (I heavily advertise him to all the world), so that helped in the whole persuasive component, but still.

Okay, so Evan was all about me getting on Twitter to continue to brand myself and just have another wider ranging audience to whom I can advertise my blog. This all sounded so amazing and monumental and like, wow, this is really going to be my big break in the blog/entertainment world. So, there I went, getting on Twitter.

And then… well, I just got lost and confused. I mean, how in the world do you USE this thing? Like, how in heaven’s name am I supposed to know who to follow? And how am I supposed to self-advertise that people should follow me? And then the whole use of symbols to “tag” people, etc. GOD, it is like the most confusing thing ever.

So, there I was… kind of forgetting that I even HAD a Twitter account… when I posted another blog entry (and advertised it on Facebook and Gchat, as per usual). What was I thinking? Dutiful, dear Evan made sure to get right on his follow up with me to ENSURE that I was planning to post my latest blog entry on Twitter. I mean, who does that? Haha.

So, now that I realize big brother of the Twitter world (aka: Evan Fleming) is totally all up on Twitter, I’m MUCH better about making sure I post my latest blog on Twitter as well… with all my four followers or whatever. Whatever makes him happy, I guess. Haha. It only totally motivates me more that Evan totally tweets me out from time to time. His last tweet about me? “pumped that my girl Christie @Maliyacular is going to be gracing #sf with her presence in a couple weeks. let the #tourdechristie begin!”

A #tourdechristie?!?!?! Alsdkfj;laskdjflkdsjf!!! THIS IS WHY EVAN IS TOTALLY THE PUBLICITY DIRECTOR OF MY SHOW!!!!!!!flkdajslfkdjsla! Who THINKS of something like that?!?!?!?

Anyway, so long story short, sure I STILL don’t really understand the point of Twitter (and if YOU do, please, by all means, do enlighten me), but clearly, CLEARLY, it doesn’t take all that much to get me to love it. God, I’m such a sucker. #hearttwitter! Haha or something like that…

let the General Hugfest Series begin...

you know what? i think im going to start trying to blog on a more consistent basis- ive received very positive feedback with my "increased blogging frequency" as of late, and i love doing it, so why NOT update this thing regularly?

unfortunately, my life is not all too exciting, let's be honest here. therefore, if im going to blog at LEAST twice a week, i think one post will be about whatever random shenanigans ive gotten myself into (you know, the usual) and the second post will be devoted to a new favorite person ever. okay, i know that if the "favorite spotlight" is done on a weekly basis, that kind of defeats the whole "favorite" nature of the spotlight, but whatever. im a walking hugfest, what can i say? so much love to share, so little time.

with all that being said, i would like to formally start my General Hugfest Series with the one and only... SUSAN T!!! (obvi, i will not be using last names, since internet discretion is my middle name. hahahaha. how many middle names do i HAVE at this point, given my other blog posts? but i digress.)

sorry to divert. let's get right back on topic. okay, so susan t is only like one of the greatest coworkers ive ever had. and you know what the funny thing is? ive only met her, face-to-face, once! isnt that CRAZY?!?!?! it's really amazing how such a great working relationship (aka friendship aka general team hugfest aka general... well, crazy SISTERHOOD, really) can formulate after one introduction. let's be honest, it wasnt always so... well, lkafdjslkf! (sorry, but that's really the only way i can describe the two of us. hahahah.)

i mean, initially, susan and i only communicated over work email! and man, if i look back to some of our initial email exchanges, i simply cant help but crack UP at how FORMAL they sounded! i mean, who are we KIDDING HERE?

i think the true love formulated around the time we exchanged AOL instant messenger screen names. for those of you who are reading this who are not my coworkers, our work uses AOL instant messenger as a primary mode of communication in order to get things done in a more timely and efficient fashion and... oh, heck, who are we kidding here? for general merriment and entertainment purposes as well. hahahaha. GOD, I LOVE INSTANT MESSENGER AT WORK!!!! it was TOTALLY like a dream come true when i came to this company and realized that it was pretty much mandatory to have instant messenger access. i mean, you do NOT have to tell me TWICE, people! how many of you remember college? who WASN'T obsessed with IM back in the day?! ugh, the neverending barrage of away messages, the constant communication with people about like absolutely NOTHING, the furiously frantic typing speeds which people developed... sigh. those were the days.

anyway, so susan and i initially started communicating on instant messenger about work-related things. i mean, duh. why else would we have exchanged screen names in the first place? but. well. i mean, it was SO apparent right OFF the BAT that we were totally like soul sisters. hahaha. it's really amazing the stories that we've shared over the lovely world that we call AIM. intermixed with our work talk, of course. ugh, it's been glorious, really.

while i know i crack UP at a LOT of things in life (oh, sorry. if you think everytime i type "hahahah" in an online conversation of some sort, you're special and privileged because you are funny... well, you're kind of wrong. i laugh at many a thing in life), susan t is one of those people that oh-so-consistently not only makes me laugh, but actually makes me crack UP so HARD at my computer screen, sometimes to the point that my stomach aches. seriously! i mean, this lady is FUNNY. hahaha.

here is a sample of what a susan t IM conversation could involve (and yes, that IS how her screen name appears on my AOL... per my "instant messenger alias" abilities... can you imagine if that was her ACTUAL screen name?!?!? hahaha):

(3:19:39 PM) SUSANalksdfjlaksjf!!!!: hhahahahahaha just kidding man - are you not wearing your happy panties today???

HAHAHAHAH. i LAUGHED ALOUD just READING that sentence AGAIN. how can you NOT?!?!

but it's CRAZY, right?? to think that we've only met each other ONCE, and yet we're like slightly obsessed with each other. in a good, healthy sense, of course. hahahaha. yeah- i guess that cackly type of "hahahaha" didn't really help in the validity of that statement but whatever.

anyway, i LOVE the friendships that can formulate amongst coworkers. i feel like susan and i come from such different worlds (i live in chicago and am focused on making it through my 20s somewhat intact while she she lives in an cozy, adorable town in missouri and has the most cozy, adorable children and lovely husband... whom i also have never met... but i feel like i SO know simply through susan's wacky stories and... well... who are we kidding here? facebook pictures. haha. OBVI. because you KNOW we became facebook friends like the SECOND we nixed the whole "professional email tone" for, well, the wonderful world of instant messenger, if you will). and yet we have TOTES bonded forEVER. sisterhood and all that. haha.

or just a general hugfest. who are we kidding here. because you KNOW anytime someone from the chicago office goes down to the missouri office for business, i CERTAINLY send along a hug for my dearest susan t. and you better beLIEVE i follow up with said hug messenger to ensure the message (in the form of a ginormous bear hug) has been properly delivered. i mean, hello. i will NOT be tolerating any of this formal, limp noodly huggy-ness. if i know you well enough to trust you with the oh-so-privileged Susan T Hug-o-Gram, i trust you enough to deliver it with the proper christie happiness/merriment/sunshine/well, you get the idea.

so, here's to you, susan t! thanks for making the workplace that much more... well, entertaining, to say the oh so very least. hahaha.

my snow day experience aka MY NATIONAL TV DEBUT!!!!

in case you've been living under a rock the past couple of days and haven't heard about the blizzard that IS chicago, please do your research prior to reading this blog entry... because this entry is devoted, in its entirety, to the SNOW DAY WE GOT ON WEDNESDAY. okay, granted, it wasnt a "snow day" in the traditional sense, as we were still working, but most people were working from home since it was a MESS out there on wednesday. i just went to the office because i live pretty close to the office and try to minimize the amount of time i work at home because, quite frankly, i dont like working at home.

anyway, wednesday looked like it was going to be a pretty mundane day, as there were essentially two people in the office (that i knew at least, and that was including me). of course, i should have KNOWN that wouldnt be the case since the other person in the office was only like one of my favorite people EVER.

if you remotely know me, you know i like to... dream big, if you will. my goals in life are to be the next oprah and copyright my smile. sigh. anyway, if you know me, you also know that i absolutely LOVE the camera... i totally eat it up. from my debut on romper room as a two-year-old, to my appearance in the audience on TRL, to getting my picture up on the Times Square digital screen, to getting interviewed for the Lakers fan cam in LA... well, let's just say, it takes a fair amount of shamelessness to have gotten some of these gigs.

anyway, our office is strategically located in one of the BEST areas of chicago (if i do say so, myself). among other things, we're right next to the NBC building. and thank GOD for that. i dont know if weather channel people would otherwise typically be taping right in front our BUILDING if we weren't right by the NBC building. who knows...and quite frankly, who cares?! i was DETERMINED to get on that camera, if it KILLED me. i mean, think about it. there were so FEW people traipsing about (i mean, when the city of chicago basically tells you to stay inside unless you absolutely HAVE to go outside, most people listen... clearly not me, but whatever) and there were QUITE a few news cameras... the odds were TOTALLY in my favorlkdsjflksdj!

i had my strategy all mapped out. and by strategy, i mean... well, just going up to the newscaster to get me an interview, thank you very much. scientific method and all that. thank goodness, my friend missy is such a good sport. haha. she totally waited out in the blizzardy winds while i stalked this weather channel man. i literally just walked up to him (well, what? he had a microphone!) and was like "so... are you guys interviewing people for tv?". he looked slightly blindsided (i guess people accosting him to get on tv doesnt happen very often...? whoops) but recuperated quite nicely and was like "why? you want to be on the show?" well, you dont have to ask me TWICE. duh. hahaha.

anyway, to make a long story short (believe me, this actually isnt the point of this whole story, ironically), it took a couple of tries to FINALLY get on camera (the mic stopped working, etc) but FINALLY, that third time was certainly a charm! in the midst of all these tries, i noticed a few people stopping on the street to ask him for a picture. which made me start to wonder just WHO i had actually accosted. anyway, do you guys know Jim Cantore? i hadnt heard of him, but i guess he's a pretty popular personality (hence, all the people stopping him on the street and all that). and there i was, trying to make small talk (to primarily distract myself from the cold) with questions like "so... how long have you been doing this... what show are you on... etc, etc". ugh. i really need to work on doing my research before deciding to accost reporters. duly noted... for next time.

ANYWAY, so finally, there i was, being interviewed for the weather channel by the one and only Jim Cantore. it was the BEST FIVE MINUTES EVER!!!! i knew the interview was going to be pretty quick, so i made sure to dump all my charm into every sentence i spoke. and you better believe i was flashing those pearly whites every two seconds. i even commended the city of chicago multiple times on how well they were doing cleaning up the streets and stuff (well, hey, it never hurts to get the city of chicago on your side and i was SERIOUS! i think this city is phenomenally efficient at cleaning up the city! i was shocked, personally). big ups, chicago, big UPS.

anyway, i was FREEZING after my interview so i jetsetted back into the office, while Jim (we're totes on a first name basis now) continued his reporting, so i didnt even say thank you for putting up with me and all that. im the most selfish person ever, i know. hahaha. but whatever. i get back to the office, share my little moment of glory with missy, and get back to work. well, a few minutes later, i was just taking a little break and doing a standard facebook perusal (you know, the usual) when i was SHOCKED to see that i had FIVE new friend requests (that isnt normal for me, considering i had JUST checked facebook like two hours ago... how much could change in two hours, really?). but wtf!! at first, i was like, "oh god, do i have a virus on my facebook account?" but then i proceeded to take the liberty of sending each of my five new friends a message asking how they found me on facebook. and omg, a few minutes later, the responses started filtering in and... you guessed it! they had ALL seen me on TV!!! nearly fainting doesnt even beGIN to describe my reaction. i mean, i guess i could have been more weirded out about the fact that i was on tv for like two seconds and that was all it took for them to find me on facebook but whatever. i like to look at the positive side of things... and MAN, these people were SO COMPLIMENTARY about my TV debut (um. can i just share... one guy said that i should be on the NEWSLkjflaksjd! (a DREAM OF MINE!)... another one called me OPRAH JUNIOR!Lkjfalksdj!... one guy was an old acquaintance from ohio state who randomly saw me while eating at a restaurant in texas!!)... well, it took literally NO time at ALL for me to get right on confirming them as my friends like right then and there.

sigh. so much for internet security. haha. and so much for humility. as i was sending messages back to them, you KNOW i was including a link to my blog for all the world to read! hahahah.

man, the day couldnt get any better. seriously! i was FLOATING on cloud nine by that point. anyway, so missy and i leave the office around 5 PM and she goes one way while i go to my bus stop. and who do i see, but good ol' Jim, my favorite weather channel news reporter that i simply couldnt get away from stalking earlier. hahaha. so while i was waiting for my bus to come, he was still taping. but then, he finished taping, so i FINALLY went up to him to give him a (very delayed, but better late than never!) thank you for letting me be interviewed. anyway, he was like the nicest person ever to me and told me i had such great energy or whatever in front of the camera today (well, that's all you really have to tell me for me to go off to cloud nine again. hahaha). anyway, long story short, we ended up grabbing a couple of drinks after his broadcast because it was his last day in chicago and, well, i should really just become a chicago ambassador or something. i love advertising this city and welcoming people to it.. Ambassador Christie. has such a nice ring to it, really. anyway...

it was all so very delightful and merry and Jim gave me some really great tips for getting on TV (well. okay, maybe it was more professionally phrased in terms of getting into broadcasting, but whatever. haha) and, well, it was all just such a grand self-confidence boost in terms of my future as the next Oprah. hahaha. anyway, ironically, that's STILL not the end of this tale. so we're walking towards michigan avenue, and the roads are like DESERTED and i needed my cab! anyway, so he sees one like across the street and he like hops, leaps, jumps over all these ginormous snow mounds (that's what happens when cleaning the roads/sidewalks involves shovelling the snow aside..) to grab me my cab. which was all very nice and all, except.. well, i CANT scale snowbanks like that! wtf. but he made it look so easy. so i was like, well, if he can do it, so can i, gosh darn it.

yeah, falser words were never spoken. i already have sensitive knees to begin with (they have been known to pop in and out of their sockets at free will) and last night was no exception. so yeah, in my grand attempt to scale one of those snowbanks, i totally felt that knee pop out of the socket and man, it was like a blinding sorta pain. but i barely knew this guy, so of course i just pasted my smile on as i got in my cab (politeness is my middle name, and all that. haha). it was only when i got home that i realized how much worse was the pain in my knee than has been the case before. maybe im just not as resilient as i had been in the past. or something like that. all i know is that i certainly had to take a darn day off work today to go scurrying about from urgent care clinic to urgent care clinic (MAN! the number of people that get sick/hurt in the course of one DAY is ridiculous!) to get my darn knee looked into.

anyway, thank GOD i was able to pretty quickly see a doctor at my second clinic and THANK GOD FOR MY PAIN MEDS! i am NOT a fan of taking medicine, but i have never been so grateful for medication in my life.

so. in conclusion. what a snow day. what a snow day indeed. i mean, what else is there left to say, really?