No girls allowed on the internet.

I downloaded Tucker Max’s book because someone was talking about it. I didn’t realize it was just stories from his site that I read (and he wrote) 7 years ago. I still think the guy is a tool. I went to his site because it linked to the special ed teacher’s blog which I could identify with (on a professional level, of course). I’ve tried to write about my clients but most client based entries are venting or sharing some horror show story in attempts to purge it from my mind. No one wants to read a book about crackheads.
Recently, I was working a career fair and I got placed right next to the Disney college internship program. When I was in college, it was widely known that Disney takes anyone, gives them summer jobs making fries and calls it an internship. These suburban kids must not have got the message because they were swarming Disney all day long. One of them even said to me, as he was waiting in line and blocking my table, “Can’t compete with Disney!” Do you think they’re going to hand you a pen (or computer) and say “Make the next Bambi, kid”? No one wanted to get down with the crazy people.

So I need another stupid book to read. I’ve been reading a lot of Buddhism books lately so I need to throw in some candy type books, too. Last one was The Game. Before that, something about zombies. Sometimes I do chick lit but I’ve had enough whiny bitches in real life to read anymore of that right now.

Clinical stuff-my sessions with my clients were pretty good and I think I’ve engaged them enough that they won’t bail. I start a new client next week so I will be back up to 3.

Parts and stuff- I saw my girly doctor today and insurance rules have changed since last year. I can get my tubes tied at the hospital’s outpatient clinic which makes me much more confident in the whole not dying thing. I might be able to schedule in a few weeks. I’ve even told my mom about it since I’m doubting my ability to walk up flights of stairs to my apartment after surgery. Staying at home to recover will make my mom feel nice and…motherly.
My dad suggested my mom email me instead of call because I don’t like the phone. Her first email was all in caps and a big run on sentence. I emailed her about the tube tying and she called me to respond. Almost got it.

I went out with the ladies tonight. It was nice, not too mommy focused, a lot of discussion about the election and politics. There was one other non-mommy there, making it split between moms/non-moms even for some of the night. I think the trick is just to not be the only non-mom. Don’t go to the playroom. Go to bars.

Also, I want to live in a warehouse with a rooftop garden and bands play in my basement and I make spray paint and gravel mandalas in my barren front yard.

Shortly after the CNN announcement, McCain made his speech. They had reported earlier that McCain’s people turned off news coverage at his rally earlier in the night. I think McCain gave a good speech. I think it was even better that Palin didn’t speak at all.
When it was close to Obama’s speech time, the TV’s switched from CNN to the stage at the other end of Grant Park. A woman sung the anthem, then some canned music. Signed, Sealed and Delivered, some country song, Sweet Home Chicago, one more song I can’t remember. Too many songs. Too many shots of Oprah. I loved one shot of an older couple. The guy points to the camera to point out to his wife that they were on camera. She pushes his hand down, still smiling and looking toward the stage and not the camera.
Obama comes on with his family. Talks to his girls, kisses his wife, you can see him say I love you to her. He thanks his campaign staff, Biden, his family, promises his girls a puppy. He lists types of people and includes gay and straight. People cheer. He starts with the “yes we can” and I get a little teary again. He ends, music comes on and Biden and families come to the stage. Lots of hugs and smiles.
The walk back is amazing. It’s near midnight and the streets are filled. Lots of cheering, signs, high fives, sleeping children, vendors, police calmly watching the crowd. Further down there are some scary looking Federal police with rifle looking weapons and riot helmets strapped to their side. They were all just watching. The crowd was happy, wasn’t acting up or even pushing toward the CTA. I didn’t leave downtown right away but I heard the CTA did a good job of managing the crowds.

I tried to take pics but it’s hard to take pictures at night with either a big flash or tripod. Here are a few anyway!

Step 1. Mix everything in a big bowl. The directions say with your hands but I was reluctant to touch the meats. This is not one of my prettier batters.

Step 2. Grease and fill the cupcake cups with meats. The meat shrinks so it is good to fill the cups to the top and pack it in so the cups don’t detach from the meat.

Step 2b. While you are doing all of this, boil some potatoes. I boiled the hell out of mine so I wouldn’t have to work hard to get the lumps out. You want the mashed potatoes to be nice and smooth so they look like icing.

Step 3. While meat is cooking, make your mashed potatoes. I decided to use a few drops of blue food coloring to make it looking more icing like.

Step 4. When the meats are done, ice those bitches! I slopped on a lot of icing but it still looked cute. I chopped shredded cheese into small bits to look like sprinkles.

Keep them warm, mashed potatoes don’t taste great when cold. Unless you’re serving them to kids. The kids at the party shoved the cold cupcakes into their mouths like rabid beasts.

I’m not a big fan of meatloaf but these tasted pretty good. My mom is asking me to make them for Thanksgiving!

I think I am going to see the Muppet History documentary and Labyrinth.

Then I dragged my new (to me) bike out of the basement, decided to take side streets because I’ve never rode on a city street before and zoom! I was off. Slowly. So slowly. Oh god, why does this take so much effort to get not far? Why can’t I coast? I was sweating and half dead by the time I got to the roommate’s boy’s house. Roommate looked at my bike and pointed out that I was in the wrong gear. I thought
1=easy. Guess not. Also the guy that sold me the bike called it a hybrid but roommate thinks it looks more like a mountain bike.
I wanted to flop on the couch and sleep but it was time for My First Critical Mass! So we rode downtown in all of our zombie, bloody, whitefaced awesomeness. I really struggled with the hills. Yes, Chicago has hills. Small ones but my thighs really felt them when I was barely able to keep up on flat surfaces.
We got to Daley Plaza and it was filled with costumed riders of every sort and a few parents and kids trick or treating. I gave candy to kids, took a few pics and drank a lot of water. Then remembered I didn’t have a chance to eat dinner, maybe that was why I was feeling weak? No, I’m just out of shape.

So we rode through downtown very slowly which I didn’t mind at all since I was exhausted. We waved at people and the traffic cops made sure no one tried to run us over. We get out of downtown and it seems like a parade. The entire street is ours and people are coming out of their houses and businesses to wave and cheer at us. Ya, some people came out of their cars to swear at us but being toward the back of the mass, I expected to see a lot more anger. I read today that mass was estimated 2,000 people.
Then things got very slow and weird. We were close to the highway, on some small road near a bunch of warehouses. There was an ambulance that needed to cut through so we got separated from the rest of the mass. It was so slow that I got off my bike and walked it for a bit because it was impossible to ride that slow with so many people around. After all the slow down, we went back on big streets. I’m not sure why that route was chosen but when riding from Milwaukee & Halsted to Milwaukee & Ashland, why not just take…Milwaukee! Instead of whatever fucked up little streets we were going down. By the time we got to Wicker Park, we were separated from the rest of the group by a noticable amount. Streets were no longer being corked, more cops were seen arresting people than riding with us. I was exhausted and my roommate and her boy were disappointed that the mass got split up so we stopped to get food.
I heard from another friend that did the mass. He was near the very front and didn’t have as many problems. So it wasn’t that we were recklessly heading into trouble, trouble just found us somewhere along the way. With a group that large, I can understand it.
I was so sore that I took the bus home. My ass, knee and elbow still hurt. I’m going to try to ride the roommate’s bike to see if hers is better because I’m still not sure if I was so exhausted because I haven’t rode in forever or if it’s my bike’s fault. I would like to blame my bike because it’s easier getting a new bike than getting sexy new legs. I’m hoping the weather stays nice for a little while longer so I can get some riding in before winter. I know it’s crazy to expect the weather to be nice at the end of November but if by some crazy chance it is, maybe I will do the Nov Mass.

I came back and had an email about the Obama election night party. I didn’t click on it right away and I should have. By the time I got to it, tickets were gone and the waitlist was up. Already tickets are up on Craigslist, some people are asking $100-200/ticket.

I got a bicycle! Its a purple 15 speed hybrid. It’s a 16″ which I at first thought would be too small but it ended up feeling a lot better than the other bikes I’ve tried. The tires are bigger too which probably helps. When I get more stable on this one I can always trade in. The used bike shop I went to had some supercool old Schwinns that they had restored. I would like to rock the vintage banana seat. I stopped by Target afterward to look for a U Lock and they just had the stupid cable locks that are easy to break. So I went to Home Depot and got some really thick metal chain. I had a padlock at home so tada, $7 bike lock.

I kind of (emotionally) pushed my client today in session. She is having relationship problems and doesn’t want to talk to her partner because she is afraid of making her partner upset and angry. So I tried to get her to brainstorm things to say, find emotion words, use I statements, all that good fighting stuff. She was struggling with it and finally just said she wanted to talk about another subject. So I gave her homework, next session she has to bring in her I statements and emotion words. She seemed to like this idea a lot better and maybe writing the list will push her to have the talk with her partner before next session. But if that happens, I need to think of something else for us to talk about. Dammit!

I’m looking for Halloweeny things to do. It looks like I won’t be getting a bike in time for the Critical Mass ride. I’m still looking on CraigsList because I do want one but the cheap bikes go really fast.

Oh, and I went to The Whistler, a new bar in Logan Square. It’s small but I like it. They have a stage for live acts and a DJ table. They do the whole ‘craft cocktail’ thing that’s getting so popular in this area. It pretty much means fancy mixed drinks with rare ingredients that take more skill than sloshing bottles to assemble. One of their drinks comes with a candied hibiscus which is delicious. It’s very much the indie cool kid scene but not Wicker Park hipsters. Think cardigans and a slightly older crowd that still drinks PBR. I wore argyle and felt OK there.