Kipworld

So last week at Otto’s recital, I promised Lia that I’d go see XMen 2 with her this weekend. But I couldn’t wait, so El and I went to see it on Sunday for El’s birthday (big 21!). Anyhoo, Friday, Lia called me while I was at work and said, “So, want to see XMen tonight?” I made some thoroughly lame excuse about being tired from having been drinking two or three nights out of the week (trivia and then Rick’s b-day dinner on Thurs). Said I was tired, wanted sleep.

Then I felt guilty. Ah, guilt.

So I called Lia back and told her that I’d taken a nap during lunch and that I was ready and raring to go. She said, “Why don’t you just come to the circus with me at 7:30 and then we’ll see?”

Circus!?! Alrighty, I thought. I called El, but she’d just made plans to do other stuff since I’d told her I was going to the movie. Ah, more guilt.

The circus in question was the Flying Griffin at the Actor’s Gymnasium on Noyes. “Will there be elephants?” I asked.

“No elephants,” Lia told me sadly.

We went to dinner at JK Sweets and I told Lia about my lie. She took this as license to berate me heavily.

The circus was excellent! I’d never seen some of the apparatus used, like the silks dangling from the ceiling. I’m going back on Friday with El, because it was so incredibly cool. There were also clowns. The silent clown was magnetic. I couldn’t believe how much he could convey with a look or a gesture.

Lia knew a guy performing and he came to the movie with us. Hi name was Anthony and I must say he’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met who sports big tattoos on his arms.

We were walking out of the parking garage and Lia was telling him what a jerk I was, seeing the movie early.

“I’ve seen it too,” Anthony said. Ah, the sound of Lia exasperation that ensued. How I’ve missed it.

Movie was great the second time too.

Saturday night, El and I went to a party at Blue that her friend Marissa had won. We were only supposed to go and make an appearance. I told her that driving down to Lincoln Park for just 30 minutes was silly, but when we got to Blue, I was reminded how much I hate club bars as opposed to lounge bars. Booo, club bars. The girls were upset that the free drinks provided as part of the party did not include crazy mixed drinks, just one alcohol and mixers, or beer. I had some vodka tonics to make up for the cover fee (making the free party rather not free) and since I was the only person tipping on these drinks, the bartender starting giving me better vodka.

Sunday, El and Jenny and I went to see A Long Gay Book at TI. It’s a musical adapted from a Gertrude Stein book. It was hard to follow due to the words and wandering plot, but I really liked the music. On our way to the car, Jenny and El started talking, you know that talking when you’re not sure how much other people liked whatever it was you just saw and then you realize that they didn’t get it either and you feel so relieved that you can just be confused together. I thought I had a grasp on it better, so they kept asking me all these questions as if I’d done Gertrude Stein research (which I hadn’t, so I covered my shaky facts with a calm layer of “artistic opinion”).

That night, El and I went to dinner with her mom and her mom’s best friend at Cafe Luciano. I was so underdressed. Mmm, dinner. Good stuff.

So, quite the weekend.