make mine oktuba

Neesia recently blogged about adding a magical extra day into the week and christening it "oktuba". these days spring up like brigadoon when you're not expecting them. a sudden urge to give yourself a day of rest? call it oktuba. i stumbled into my own little eighth day of the week yesterday after making the error of trying to drink some wine on wednesday evening. LadyB had a little bbq to send her back to africa after a recent wedding visit. though i've long ago completely lost any and all urge for alcohol, for some reason, when i spied that bottle of sauvignon blanc chilling away, that was exactly what i wanted to quench my thirst. we were sipping out of those little juice glassy italian wine tumblers and i had a few which i'm sure could not have equally more than three glasses in standard stemware. my tolerance has obviously lessened and really, i feel now like alcohol is simply a toxin in my system in light of the constant nasty side-effects that spring up without voluminous intake. Mole was elected to drive us home from the 'burb wonderlands and even with a large glass of water and multiple aspirin, i still woke up with a ringing head and shrieking stomach. after attempting to fight off the ills, i decided it best to stay in for the day and thus, an oktuba was born.

it was a simple yet extremely fullfilling day. Mole joined me back in bed in the later morning and we napped with WeeBeastie being an absolute lamb while nestling under the duvet with her canine family unit. headed over to the montrose dog beach where WB had a small altercation with a very young chocolate lab. he really wanted to play with her and had her scooting around like crazy to avoid him, culminating in a series of indignant barks and nips after he was swatting her face like a fly. the dog beach is a place for WB to socialize with people -- not a bunch of sloppy dogs. they ain't her people. during our drive home, we passed through three blocks of a movie set, thick in filming mode of some scenes on a cta bus downtown. might be the keanu reeves/sandra bullock thing that my friends watched being filmed outside their apartment in wrigleyville. later, we continued oktuba with a series of money-making endeavors. within a few days of posting on CL, we managed to get rid of that monster a/c i'd been lugging around with me since i departed da lou, Mole's smaller a/c and the cable box that gave me the bootleg for a year or so. $220 richer, we decided to end our oktuba with dinner @ lula cafe in logan square. delightful organic foods in small portions = yum yum. Mole and i determined that we would be the best at being independently wealthy. we could entertain ourselves for years exploring and leisurely spending our days. he truly is the best company a gurl could ask for.

recent weeks have been giving me the blahs again about chicago, until i received a bit of a perspective lesson from Neesia. he and his friend Gnosis were visiting from da lou last week and stayed with us for a couple of days. we were standing on my back porch checking out the skyline and Neesia was expressing his amazement that a city like ours exists in the thick of the midwest and how wonderful it was to be in a city that actually *is* a city, alive with arts, people walking and taking public transportation to and from things to do. as often as the congestion and heavy traffic has been driving me nuts as of late, i had to step back for a minute when he said that and acknowledge that yes, i am very lucky to be living here. it's expensive and a royal pain to get around at times, but it's still thriving with alot of people who don't want a stagnant lifestyle. i'm fortunate i took the step to leave my hometown when i did and that the trials i've faced while shoving my way through these last four years have been worth it. what price can you put on your life's happiness? it's trite, but it's true. chicago hasn't made me happy every single day, but it was the best move i could have made out of da lou. this city will not be my permanent residence and in fact, it could be part of my past as quickly as next year. but it's still greater than many evils i could have been tangled up in. and regardless of SanFranPushy's edict that nothing compares to the ocean, having this enormous lake in our backyard during the summer is the very best thing about enduring eight months of hideous cold. more beach, please.