I to the MAX! Watching Six Stories of Willy Wonka
This was a very interesting weekend, as Miss Katie and Miss Chelsey spent the weekend in Chicago giving the apartment they might move into a 'test-drive.' They arrived with special guest Miss Allison, on Thursday night... so I headed up to their place after class. The apartment being in the Roscoe Village area, it was quite a hike up to their place from Old Town. When I got up there Thursday night, I was given a quick tour of the apartment (huge compared to mine... just enormous!) and proceeded to sit, catch up, and watch a little television before I had to get going. The Brown Line stops running south of Belmont after a certain time (Midnight, I think), so I had to make sure I got a train before the Brown Line stops running completely to be able to transfer lines and make it back to my place.
Friday morning I had to finish sending out some applications before I could do anything. Do you remember how I felt overwhelmed earlier in the week? Well, having Chelsey here finally seems to have given me the motivation to get started on important things like the job hunt. Some possible good jobs I'm applying for include: IT tech; data entry at a law firm; and managerial assistant at a bank. I see that the Moody Bible Institute is looking for a full-time tech support assistant, so I'm thinking about applying there as well. If they pay enough, I could try to work something out with my building (potentially) where I could stay here instead of moving. That'd be nice. If nothing else, I know the area and I enjoy the MBI people a great deal.
Friday afternoon, I headed back up to the Roscoe Village area to spend some time with the ladies. They had walked around the area and gotten a feel for what was around them. Additionally, they had a Not For Tourists guide to Chicago which is something I wish I had when I moved here. It shows some detailed maps which include what is in the area... and each section of the city has its own maps. Very informative!
That night we went to the Navy Pier to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the IMAX theatre there. I was surprised to find that the IMAX theatre there has assigned seating (as if we were going to a theatre show)... and further surprised to find that I had acquired handsdown the the worst seats available. We were in the front row to the left of the screen. The entire movie was spent (by me) slouched down in my seat to see the whole screen, and craning my head to the right. Regardless of the high level of uncomfort felt by me (slouching also didn't work so well as there were metal bars in front of our seats which kept digging into my legs), I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! It was amazing! I think Jim is right in that those people who are saying that Depp is playing Wonka like Michael Jackson are pretty idiotic. Those people are missing the point. And one of the points being that Wonka is the voice of reason... he's just hidden under a shiny candy wrapper. Enjoy my metaphors? This brilliance is FREE... you should enjoy it. Anyway, I noticed that there is an element of the movie "Se7en" in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Every other character (besides Charlie) seems to be a personification of one of the deadly sins (Gluttony, Pride, Greed, Wrath)... and they all end their trip to the factory by indulging those sins. Depp's performance is interesting and hilarious in a "dark-comedy/Tim Burton" kind of way. I have to admit that I wanted Depp to sing while everyone is in the large "eatable" room... but no singing for Depp. The songs now, performed by the Oompa-Loompas (actually performed by Danny Elfman, the composer) are awesome. Elfman gave each song a completely different genre and feel... and the Violet song is probably my favorite because it's funky. Made me want to dance... almost as much as "Footloose."
Saturday I was treated to the free Lincoln Park Zoo for the first time. Yes, I've been here for almost two years now and I've never been to the zoo. I guess I'm not much for zoos... and it's not that I have some high and mighty, holier than thou opinions on caging animals, I just think I read body language well. And when we went to see the large apes (my favorite!), I came face-to-face with Jojo the silverbacked gorilla who was sitting, leaning his head with his hand, looking quite bored. And, before you can say "He was an animal, how do you know that you're reading his body language correctly", I will say "You should have seen him." You SHOULD have seen him... before you pass judgment on my skills. He looked generally disinterested in the "room" in which he was kept. So, yeah, no offense to the zoological community, but the zoo's not really my bag of nuts. Well, I do go back and forth, because I learned a few things too... and it was nice to see Seals swimming underwater, or to see how arrogant an ostrich seems to hold himself (I was surprised about that one... Ostriches walk with a lot of arrogance), I just wish they could be caged for a bit and then freed. But that's not practical, I know... leave me alone, I want everything to be perfect all the time.
After the zoo, we headed back to Katie and Chelsey's to make dinner. Some alcohol and burnt spaghetti later and we were ordering Chinese take-out (which was quite good!), and watching The Work and The Glory, the Mr. Alexander T. Carroll project. It was the third time I have seen that film... and I enjoy it every time. It makes me think of the first time I saw it in South Barrington in a theatre all to myself which, looking back on it, was an amazing and incredible experience. I was allowed all the freedoms of watching a movie at home; while enjoying the theatre-going, big f--koff room with the pop-corny smell, darkness, loudy bits. (Just watched Eddie Izzard... sorry about all that). That memory will probably always be great.
Sunday was a day of good-byes (as Sunday seems to have become) and I spent the evening at rehearsal, playing a character who I call the "back-up quarterback." That was fun, too. I have yet to receive my copy of Harry Potter (which is waiting for me at the Post Office), and I have the sneaking suspicion that I really should reread Order of the Phoenix before diving into the new one, but I know I'm not going to. But, for right now, I need to get going so that I can pick up my book, fill out some more applications, and get started reading. Cheers kids!