Thank God for Sundays. I think if I didn’t have them I’d just die. This week was like some sort of wretched roller coaster. Up and down and up and down. I’m not fond of that sort of thing. Nice interview Monday, annoying work meeting. Nice day Tuesday, then Tuesday night a water pipe broke in the upstairs neighbor’s bathroom and I came home to rain in my bathroom. Most of that is dried out and the landlord responded quickly to shut off the water, but my linen closet ceiling is trashed and I’ll probably have to clean out the closet until repairs can be made. Fortunately it hasn’t seemed to effect other ceilings… I’m hoping for the best.

Wednesday I felt generally blah. I left work early and went to the farmers’ market. That lifted my spirits. They had tomatoes, squash, and pumpernickel bread. Happy times.

Saturday was day of crappy work junk. Sometimes I hate being floor super on Saturdays cause everything goes wrong and no one else is there. Grr. However, all those were solved.

Today my pastor’s preaching cut straight to my heart. I gave him a little trouble (”Stop preaching directly to me like that! It’s scary!”), but I like that he really hears the Holy Spirit and preaches in a way that has an impact on people. It was all about looking for a spouse. I got some prayer, too. Really, really needed it. I cleared up some things with a friend and I feel better overall.

I have lots of wonderful books to read as I hide inside during this awful heat! I’ve also been playing FFXII. Doing lots of leveling and entering areas I didn’t dare to tread (aka The Zertinian Caverns) on a much lower level than I thought possible.

I also have use of the washer and dryer back! I did two weeks worth of laundry and, since my gas bill is low and should stay that way, have been rack drying my clothes again. It takes longer (about 24 hours per load), but is worth it.

Going to a Cards game tomorrow! I have tons to do in the morning, including cleaning the linen closet, copying my keys, and getting something with which to hang things on the wall. Also dropping books off at the library. But the rest of the day will be a fun day!

Whenever you say the phrase “big bridge,” “Clash on the Big Bridge” starts playing in your head and you’re like, “Stupid Gilgamesh, I’ma steal all your genji stuff!”

The main theme from an overworld map plays in your head when you walk around outside. Worse if it’s different because of weather changes. Example: FFVII main theme is perfect on an overcast, slightly drizzly day. FFVIII is good for rain. FFIV is a spring day. FFIX is a sunny summer day. I’ve thought this all out. Feel free to disagree respectfully in the comments.

You know this picture is FULL OF WIN AND AWESOME:

Day 3: Sunday was a gorgeous day in Chicago. The weather was mild and the sky was blue with some puffy, friendly clouds. We ventured downtown and parked in a strange underground parking lot that was like… under the road. Kind of weird. Not cheap, either. But we were parked on the viking princess level. Seriously. There was a picture of the viking princess to help us, too.

We went museuming. Even by the lake the breeze was mild, not the bitter cold of the day before. Went to Adler first. It was pretty cool. It was neat seeing an entire building dedicated to being a planetarium. Makes our planetarium look more lame than I ever thought possible. There was a nifty IMAX show about black holes. I bought a CityPass, but that was a terrible idea considering I get into a couple of those museums free. I’ll know better next time.

Next we went to the Field Museum. It was awesome. So awesome. I think I could live in there for about a week and just barely scratch the surface. We looked at exhibits about different cultures. Awesome artifacts. It was very much a traditional “look but don’t touch” museum, but I looooved it. We also saw just a bit of the birds. So many lovely stuffed birdies! I really want to go back right now and just spend days exploring that place.

Then we went back to the hotel and chilled for a bit before we went out to Giordanos for some Chicago-style pizza. This pizza means business, seriously. I took about half my small pizza home. Really, if we were smart we could have all split one medium pizza. Of course we all have such different taste in toppings that there was no chance of success. I liked the pizza a lot. (More than St. Louis style, but don’t tell anyone!)

Day 4: Since I finally slept for real Sunday night, I was totally ready for Monday! We went to Science and Industry. The parking was a lovely $14! Take that, St. Louis natives with St. Louis Syndrome! Things cost money in the real world!

The museum was really big. Really, really big. We hit the DNA area first. I like the design of things there. Very clean, professional looking, and lots of space between exhibits. Space makes a difference. If your exhibits are crowded together, things look cluttered. This place was absolutely not cluttered. Technology seemed more embedded in the exhibits, too, with actual scientific tools around the place. They had a little opinion poll thing that showed the results of what people thought about biotech questions. They had a nifty quote wall. They had a gene sequencer in their DNA demo area.

Then we saw a ginormous model train set. It was the coolest thing ever. Brought me back to childhood days of setting up my toys just right, only to keep others from playing with them at all.

Then we saw Dinosaurs Alive in their Omnimax, which looks just like ours. Saw a bit of the space exhibits before mom called, panicking about the supposed impending ice storm of all doom.

I’d love to go back and see the rest of the museum at some point. I was really intrigued by the demos. Would love to see one or two of them. I always like to compare. I’d also like to see their other galleries. Oh well. Next time!

The drive back was long. Very long. I slept a little, but by the time we reached that last truck stop and bathroom break I just wanted to be home. Thankfully, the ice storm of doom was rather overrated and I got home fine.

It snowed a lot here in STL. This was a scheduled day off anyway, so I’m using it for important tasks like taking hot baths, unpacking, and playing video games.

I will now attempt to describe my trip in a single blog post.

Day 1: Friday. Went to Trader Joe’s with my two redhead friends. We had a blast. Great minds tend to think alike, especially around great food. I got to Matt’s later than intended, but it was all good. We purchased some tasty beverages and snacks for the trip, picked up Jevion, and started the drive.

The first couple hours flew by and we were in Springfield before I knew it. We ate at a place called Cheddar’s. It’s one of those places that serves large amounts of homestyle cooking and then somehow implies that you will succumb to the dark and evil forces of their tempting desserts. With full stomachs we set out again.

By this point it was nearly dark. The last leg of the trip dragged on and on. We talked Final Fantasy trivia and opinion with Jevion. I played a bit of FFVI, but spent most of my time plugged in to my iPod. I slept, or kind of slept. It’s not easy to sleep in a car. Even with Dramamine I was a bit queasy.

We finally reached the hotel. We exited the highway and drove across a scary, scary bridge. This bridge is actually an exhibit about the life cycle of potholes. I think it just needs a text panel. Then they don’t even have to fix it.

At the hotel I discovered, to my dismay, that Matt and Beth got room 314, the pi room. Jerks. I got lackluster room 316, but it was sufficient. The only thing we were really interested in at that point was sleeping.

Hotel beds are always made up tight. And I was glad to have my own room because I am perpetually hot. I turned the air conditioner as low as it could go and threw all the covers off. Interestingly, they sparked like mad because of all the static electricity. I found this to be very amusing. The pillows left something to be desired and that something was firmness. I had to roll one up to sleep with my head more than a centimeter off the bed.

Day 2: We decided to venture downtown and be tourists. The continental breakfast included belgian waffles that were quite tasty. There was no peanut butter, but beggars can’t be choosers when staying for a decent rate outside of Chicago and still receiving free breakfast. The hotel was close enough to O’Hare to have the soothing sound of airplanes landing. Nice.

We set off toward downtown. Matt had his magical GPS phone equipped and used it at every chance. We found a parking garage with a decent rate ($15, you St. Louis people, this is a decent rate). We then set off toward the Sears Tower. Or so we thought. Matt had unequipped his GPS but was quite certain he knew where to go. But then we started looking up and around and realized that we were not, in fact, going toward the Sears Tower, more like away from it. We ended up walking completely around the parking structure before we got on the correct heading.

It was very cold despite my preparations and I was certain by the time we reached the tower that my face was going to freeze completely off. We waited in some lines and laughed at the sign that informed us that we would have no refund for visibility changes. Then we went in the elevator that goes really fast and makes ears pop. Lovely. The sky deck offered beautiful views of downtown Chicago along with fun and informative text panels about Chicago’s landmarks and history. They even had information for kids at their level. This is depicted better in my pictures, which are just on Facebook for now.

We took lots of pictures, including a picture of a car that looked very much like a cell phone. On the way down, Jevion was listening to more Final Fantasy music on his iPod. Someone on the elevator heard the music and asked if we were going to the concert. He was, too! It was funny. Then we went back down and went to the nearest Walgreens for scarves and ridiculous hats with earflaps. At first the only scarves we could find were either Cubs scarves or Sox scarves. Both would be completely unsuitable. Then we hit the jackpot and found plain, solid-colored scarves.

After I explained to Matt that yes, the concert was in fact in the evening and not the next day, we decided to save museums for another day and we found the proper subway line to go to Chinatown. We all got sucked in to the first cute little Asian gift shop we saw. We spent about an hour looking at posters, action figures, chopsticks, and dresses. Beth and I got lovely dresses for the evening and the woman who sold them to us even took the time to sew loose snaps and buttons before we purchased them.

We went to a restaurant and I ordered a chicken dish with a spicy peanut sauce. They weren’t kidding about the spicy. It was delicious. Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention very well and I almost ate an entire chili pod that was in the dish. That was not fun at all. It was like someone poured liquid fire down my throat. I drank water, knowing it would do nothing but increase the suffering, but finally after I downed two glasses of ice water I felt almost as if I wasn’t going to die. The rest was delicious.

Then we went back out to the subway. Our subway train got rerouted onto the El tracks. Oops. It didn’t put us behind, though. After some rather frightening leaning motions we stopped at a station only a few blocks from the parking garage. It was bitter, terrible cold and no shops were open. We wanted hot drinks! We went to a store that sold men’s suits hoping Jevion could find pants, but they were entirely out of our price range. It was a bit embarrassing. Oh well.

We went back to the hotel to freshen up. I decided to wear the dress I got in Chinatown. Then we went to the concert. There were lots of people. We took lots of pictures before the show. I had several people approach me and talk to me. I got lots of compliments on my dress and questions about where I got it. At that point I declared to my friends that obviously I had the most charisma of the bunch and I nominated myself party leader. We got in the long line and I got two copies of the CD. More NPCs talked to me, including a nice gentleman in the row in front of us. We had awesome seats. Then the lights dimmed, a spotlight came on, and my favorite composer of all time walked out of a door on the side, along the aisle directly in front of me. He sat two sections over from us. It was so exciting!

The concert was amazing. It was beautiful. I felt beautiful. There was a sense of belonging, being surrounded by so many fans all dressed up with even some eccentric cosplayers. They even had cool video clips from the games as they played the music. It was so, so awesome! And Uematsu-san is just fantastic! I wanted to just run up and give him a hug! I wish I’d gotten those VIP tickets. But that’s okay. Maybe next time.

Then we went out to eat. It was a bit expensive. The bathrooms had attendants. That was really weird.

Okay, I’ll describe the rest in the next post. I’m tired already.