« The Day I Fell Off the NaBloPoMo Wagon. | Home | The Day I Told Myself to Stop Whining, Again. »
The Day I Accounted for the Past Three Days.
By briantologist | February 15, 2010
Okay, so let’s see here.
Friday
Friday was The Day I Started Reading an Actual Book Instead of Playing Goddamn Video Games All the Fucking Time. Perhaps it’s best I didn’t use that as a post title, as it’s kind of long and unwieldy.
Yeah, so I’ve been in this infinite loop lately where I work all day, pause for dinner and loafing with the kid, and then play Modern Warfare 2 until it’s time to go to bed. I’m almost positive it’s made me a less interesting person, and I guess I’m getting old enough to start constantly asking myself, “Is this the person I wanted to be when I grew up?” That question invariably leads into an inescapable logic vortex, as clearly someone who spends 3 hours a night shooting his friends on the Internet can not, by definition, be all that grown up.
But let’s not dwell on this. After I read Henry stories on Friday I saw Regeneration by Pat Barker on Erin’s nightstand, saw that it was a historical bit about Sigfried Sassoon (I knew it was about World War I, but hadn’t realized it was about him), started reading it, and was instantly engrossed, which if you read the heaping mounds of praise on the book jacket is perhaps not all that surprising. Before I knew it, it was 11:00, I’d missed the opening clusterfuck ceremony of the Olympics, I was 50 pages into the thing and clearly hooked, and it was time to play video games anyway. Good stuff, though, is what I’m saying.
Saturday
Saturday was The Day I Did No Work on Purpose, which sadly makes it a rarity of late. (This stands in contrast with The Days I Do No Work Despite Mostly Meaning To, which are in fact not rare at all.) Henry and I caught Fantastic Mr. Fox a second time, which I was stoked about for the obvious reasons, but also because the first time we saw it he had to go to the bathroom and I missed the Whack Bat scene.
It was kind of awesome, too, because we saw it at The Logan (in Logan Square, y’see), which I’d never been to, and which is super duper second-run but also super cheap, and it’s also from this generation of movie theaters still operating here in Chicago that has somehow avoided closing despite having seriously none of the amenities whatsoever that we’ve come to expect from modern moviegoing. Amenities like sound or picture quality, or screens larger than a beach towel. (Yes, I know it’s got character, which new places don’t. I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t know that.) The Davis, closer to us in Lincoln Square, is very much of the same generation, and gets a whole lot of leeway for its convenient location right next to the Brown Line, and lots of restaurants and bars and whatnot; truth be told, the sound and picture quality are significantly worse there than at The Logan.
Seriously, though, this Yelp comment and the ones that follow it sum The Logan up magnificently:
- “Ok, sure, it always smells like piss in the place. But seriously, it’s $4 to see a movie.”
- “No self-respecting person pays $10 to see The Proposal. But $4 on a Sunday afternoon? Well, I’m in.”
- “Everyone’s covered the basics — I’ll just add this: Ladies should be sure to wear pants and closed toed shoes.”
I do love this town.
Sunday
Sunday was The Day I Found Out We’re Probably Getting Money Back From The Man This Year, a day I was absolutely certain wasn’t going to come, since I’d been doing contract work for nearly all of 2009 and hadn’t exactly been in a financial position to sock away extra cash for the withholding that wasn’t getting withheld.
Lucky for me, I was drawing unemployment for several months! Which isn’t taxed like regular earnings! Also Daddy’s Little Tax Miracle bumped us down into Earned Income Tax Credit territory! (LOVE that kid.) Nothing’s final yet, but wow, I would’ve been happy just to not owe anything. Thanks, America!
Topics: Chicago, Exciting, Possibly, NaBloPoMo | 2 Comments »
February 15th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Yeah, so I’m working on the recap of my three day weekend, except that it’s been four days because the kids got one of those stupid-ass “teacher-in service” days on Friday which meant I WAS “in service” – whatever the hell that means. You think one kid is good for the taxman? (Or bad, I guess.) We’ve got three. I’m thinking of having more just for the write off – and because they give you really good drugs when you’re in the hospital getting the baby out.
February 15th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
OH MY GOD, SERIOUSLY. Henry has had FIVE DAYS OFF SCHOOL IN A ROW; the two in the middle were the weekend, but seriously, for EXACTLY THE SAME BULLSHIT REASONS. Every goddamn week there’s a stinkin’ teacher development day! Not even kidding! He’s got like, *maybe 3 days of school this entire month. It’s fucking ludicrous.