April 27 marked the day I squawked into the world...since the 27th landed on a Friday...the weekend was all mine.On the morning of my birthday, I woke up to a healthy Miss Honey saying Happy Birthday! Later she was so happy to help me entertain my friends for pre-dinner birthday cocktails.
MEOW!On my way to work, I traveled through a misty rain. I wanted sun, but was happy there was not a down pour!
I read my "born today" horoscopes at my local bagelry. As I recall it went on about luxury, wealth, and destined for the good life!
Bagel man ended up giving me my bagel and coffee on the house, a birthday prezie! He ultimately proved the validity of the horoscope.Once I got to the office I was greeted with the CUTEST cards! I even got a birthday balloon!
I displayed my greetings like so: I was thrilled by the notes of well wishings, but I was really tickled that people really knew my style in cards!
Later on, after a very hard day's work....I had birthday dinner and drinks with friends. We got crazy! To prove my point, just look at my friend Amy... what is she doing?
Soon it was Birthday-Saturday…. A truly fun day!
Unfortunately there are no photos, but my eloquent words will do the trick!
At noon, my friends Amy and Ashley and I volunteered for the Glass Slipper Project, an
awesome charity that involves providing a teenage girl with all she needs to prepare for her prom, including dress, jewelry, make-up, and accessories. I was paired with the sweetest girl, Maricella, an 18 year-old getting ready to celebrate her prom on Chicago's Navy Pier. I'm not lying when I tell you Maricella is going to look like a knockout! I helped her find the most beautiful dress! It was so much fun!Later Amy and I left Ashley’s hood to walk home, stop at shops, people watch, and have margaritas at an outdoor café. Yummy!
Later in the evening Frank came over for popcorn and a movie. If you haven’t seen the documentary Grizzly Man, rent it immediately.
It is wicked, sad, a bit creepy, amazing and, most importantly, truly thought provoking.Grizzly Man tells the life of Timothy Treadwell, a man that studied and lived with Alaskan grizzly bears for 13 summers until he was eventually mauled to death by one of the bears.
What makes this documentary creepy is that all footage was done by Treadwell and pieced together by director Werner Herzog. The movie forces you to question Treadwell’s motives. While he dearly, and even somewhat psychotically adored these animals, some argued he was disrespecting their way of life, others praised him for his devotion of protecting these creatures. And all the while of looking at the pros and cons you see this man, how he was so truthful, and bizarre, in the footage because he was so alone and for such long periods of time. You learn that this was a man that truly wanted to live the life of a grizzly bear and leave the human world behind forever. Rent it now! Still curious, check out the trailer here:After recovering from the movie, I got a good night’s sleep and began my “birthday-Sunday”. I finally got my bike fixed!
Here’s Frank helping me get the bike to the air pump.
I went for my first ride of the 2007 Chicago Spring. The lakeshore was busy!
So I took a detour off the path and wound up in Lincoln Park. Near the Lincoln Park Zoo is a pond where people can rent paddleboats and terrorize the geese. Since I really don’t like geese I didn’t mind too much. But it was still sad.
Soon though, while walking along the path, I noticed this weird thing:
It’s a dead fish. Here’s what makes it weird:A: It was GIANT. Like if Honey was sitting next to it, and God help me, NOT trying to lick it along with the flies, and I snapped a pic, you would notice that the fish was twice as big as Honey.
B: The fish was on the other side of the walking path, on the other side of the pond. This evokes many questions….Did it jump? Did some kids catch it, pull it out and then let it die? Did the geese pull it out at night? Was the fish actually bought at the fish market in Seattle, flown to Chicago, kept in someone’s freezer, and then brought to the lake to be grilled, but then unfortunately disregarded due to a ‘fishy’ smell?
How could a giant fish have survived in this pond? Is the pond linked to Lake Michigan? Is there a tunnel from the pond to the lake under the walkway somewhere?
Why was there one black glitter Chinese slipper sitting 3 feet to the left of the dead fish?
And my biggest question:
why oh why was no one as enthralled with the fish as I?
After I snapped the photo I walked down the path, stopped and then watched as others walked by — I was dying for reactions of dumbfoundedness, amazement, and pure awe, as if they were seeing a dinosaur. Instead, while it was still exhilarating to see, I was mainly getting the "Ooooh Gross" and run reactions. This perplexed me, because when I walked by my first thought was “Is that a dead pig?” I was floored at the giant size. Am I that sheltered that I seriously think there are only cute small fish in ponds that are probably connected to one of the world’s greatest lakes?
Well nonetheless, I am happy to report, the situation got weirder. Fast forward 20 minutes and I’m onto to some other form of stimulation. After spending about three minutes watching the giant plastic swans wade through the pond I decide to call my Mom.
We are busily chit-chatting about what a wonderful mother she is and what a wonderful daughter I am and then out of the corner of my eye I see this:
That is a pedestrian of the park, a lady with Ipod earphones and sneakers, out on a daily walk, deciding to do a good, if not absolutely strange to me, deed. She is carrying the dead fish in a plastic bag. The fish was not in a plastic bag before! She had to put it in there!Because the fish was giant, she had to take many breaks. I have no idea if she knew I took this photo, she was literally right next to me and the flash snapped, so yes she probably hates me, but what the hell is she doing touching this bloody, fly infested fish!? Call a park ranger if you’re so concerned.
Soon she hoofs the fish up and walks past families — people with strollers, young couples — and plops the fish down on a bench. Finally I was getting the gasps of shock and dumbfoundedness I was so seeking 30 minutes earlier. Of course it probably had more to do with this lady carrying a giant dead fish, than the fish itself, but nonetheless I was thrilled with the drama. My mom, by the way got the play-by-play on the phone as it happened. Lucky lady, huh?
So the woman leaves the fish to retrieve a city park garbage can. She wheels a can back to the fish and dumps it properly in the can. I’d LOVE to see the look on the worker’s face that has to clean that can out! Dog shit and dead fish. Lord I am thankful there are people that do those jobs. God Bless them!
Afterwards the woman delicately washed her hands in the nearby water fountain. It was at that point I took a mental note: always bring bottled water to the park.
So as not to think the whole day was completely filled with dead things… here’s a look at these pretty swans I saw at another nearby pond; a pond that is also probably infested with giant fish.
