Chicago social life
The weekend didn't go too badly. I got to the clinic right when it opened on Saturday morning and was out again within 20 minutes. The nurse strongly counseled me to take the antibiotics on a full stomach and as someone who tends to have tummy troubles even with doses that don't bother most people, I listened. In fact, I blocked out the rest of the day just in case I felt terrible and it was a bit anticlimactic when I didn't.
She also warned me not to drink, which made hosting cocktails seem pointless. But I did have a couple of friends say they wanted to come over and hang out anyway. Having been cooped up all day, I was glad to have the company. Even though I wasn't motivated to do a full cleaning, I felt energetic enough to at least put the dining room to rights. They ate most of the lebkuchen stars I'd bought for this gathering, which was helpful.
Despite a reasonable bedtime I once again slept badly and sleeping in didn't help. Still, I dragged myself to the birthday brunch for Sad Cub. He seemed really appreciative (although that could have been the bottomless mimosas talking). I was glad Jigglypuff and![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
leiny were there to bring up the level of social awareness. The whippersnapper I was sat next to had no conversation and spent a good part of the meal reading comic strips on his phone.
After that, Jiggly was off to the ER to get his persistent fever checked out,leiny and I had parties to go to, Sad Cub went home, and the rest went to check out the dollar store. I swung by the house to feed the cat and return a few messages, discovering in the process that the skank from Touché I'd hunted down on FB to give a heads-up to had texted back. So that was another good deed accomplished.
At the party, one of the host's dogs had a complete conniption when I walked in. No one seemed too put out, so I figured I wasn't the first that happened to; I certainly wasn't the last. I immediately plunged deep into conversation with someone I remembered vaguely from FB and made such an impression that he avoided me for the rest of the night. I also made the name of one of the new guys I met into a topic of conversation so I'd be sure to remember it. And lest the hosts forget that I'd attended, I was also the last to leave.
As per usual, nobody offered me a ride or invited me to come with them so I skipped along singing to the El and rode it to North Chinatown. I wasn't sure where I wanted to eat so naturally ended up by Train Phở, where I noticed a new opening. The server said they'd been in business less than a month and the menu looked interesting so I gave it a shot. Their special weekend appetiser was bánh cuốn, which is essentially rolled fun noodles with ground pork. I didn't expect it to come with big slices of chả lụa. (I figured I'd just feed those to the cat when I got home but he wouldn't touch them.)
It was all the dinner I needed after three hours of snacking but they had an interesting chè with green tea jelly and longans, so I asked for a serving to go. One of the owners brought it to me and asked me three times if I had ice at home to add to it. (She was worried if she mixed it in now the syrup would become too diluted before I ate it.) I assured her I did and complimented her commitment to freshness.
She also warned me not to drink, which made hosting cocktails seem pointless. But I did have a couple of friends say they wanted to come over and hang out anyway. Having been cooped up all day, I was glad to have the company. Even though I wasn't motivated to do a full cleaning, I felt energetic enough to at least put the dining room to rights. They ate most of the lebkuchen stars I'd bought for this gathering, which was helpful.
Despite a reasonable bedtime I once again slept badly and sleeping in didn't help. Still, I dragged myself to the birthday brunch for Sad Cub. He seemed really appreciative (although that could have been the bottomless mimosas talking). I was glad Jigglypuff and
leiny were there to bring up the level of social awareness. The whippersnapper I was sat next to had no conversation and spent a good part of the meal reading comic strips on his phone.After that, Jiggly was off to the ER to get his persistent fever checked out,
leiny and I had parties to go to, Sad Cub went home, and the rest went to check out the dollar store. I swung by the house to feed the cat and return a few messages, discovering in the process that the skank from Touché I'd hunted down on FB to give a heads-up to had texted back. So that was another good deed accomplished.At the party, one of the host's dogs had a complete conniption when I walked in. No one seemed too put out, so I figured I wasn't the first that happened to; I certainly wasn't the last. I immediately plunged deep into conversation with someone I remembered vaguely from FB and made such an impression that he avoided me for the rest of the night. I also made the name of one of the new guys I met into a topic of conversation so I'd be sure to remember it. And lest the hosts forget that I'd attended, I was also the last to leave.
As per usual, nobody offered me a ride or invited me to come with them so I skipped along singing to the El and rode it to North Chinatown. I wasn't sure where I wanted to eat so naturally ended up by Train Phở, where I noticed a new opening. The server said they'd been in business less than a month and the menu looked interesting so I gave it a shot. Their special weekend appetiser was bánh cuốn, which is essentially rolled fun noodles with ground pork. I didn't expect it to come with big slices of chả lụa. (I figured I'd just feed those to the cat when I got home but he wouldn't touch them.)
It was all the dinner I needed after three hours of snacking but they had an interesting chè with green tea jelly and longans, so I asked for a serving to go. One of the owners brought it to me and asked me three times if I had ice at home to add to it. (She was worried if she mixed it in now the syrup would become too diluted before I ate it.) I assured her I did and complimented her commitment to freshness.