And so the Second City Stories must come to an end...

My semester in Chicago was better than I could have asked for. Why? (1) My roommates were amazing. (2) The internship I selected provided a glimpse into the world of finance. (3) I went on many adventures. (4) I explored several neighborhoods. (5) I went to art events and got a taste for the arts in the city. (6) I conquered public transportation. (7) My Sunday mornings were spent attending a wide variety of churches and styles of worship. (8) It was the perfect end to my college career.

I will miss some things. (1) The interesting conversations at work. (2) My daily commute. (3) The same man and woman selling StreetWise that I saw every day. (4) The street performers. (5) Getting free cupcakes with my roommates. (6) And all of the above list.

And, there are things I won’t miss at all. (1) Spending twice as much money on everything. (2) Paying $500 monthly rent. (3) Seeing homeless people on the street. (4) Making mistakes and feeling stupid at work. (5) Being far away from home. (6) Eating peanut butter and jelly or bologna and cheese sandwiches every day. (7) Writing weekly journals for class.

But now it's on to bigger and better things. In roughly thirty-six hours I will be on a plane to Germany, where I will spend two weeks with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece. That shall be quite a big adventure. And upon my return I will seriously start the job search. The train of adulthood has arrived and I must board it. I think I'm finally ready.

So farewell, Chicago! I enjoyed our time together. Thank you for the adventures, the fun, the memories. Until we meet again.

Days 104 and 105

Saturday and Sunday, December 11 and 12

We got up early and were back on the road at 8am. At 11:30am we met up with my uncle, Delwin, for lunch at Country Junction in Dyersville. Two hours later, we got in the car and drove through some cruddy winter weather. The trip took longer than we planned, but we were almost home. In Clarion, twenty miles from my house, we stopped for a pit stop because it would still take a while to get home given the weather conditions. Well, the roads weren’t the best and visibility was nearly zero. We drove out of town and had to stop dead in the road because we couldn’t see anything, not even one foot in front of the car. As much as my dad hated it, being so close to home, we turned around and got a hotel room. He said that if my mom and I weren't in the car with him, he would have driven the rest of the way. I don't doubt that for a second. He's a truck driver at heart. And a Tammen. That's quite a combo. At the hotel we had nothing to do and it was only 6pm. The cable kept cutting out and finally quit altogether, so much for watching The Santa Clause 2. There was no way they were sending out delivery boys, but lucky for us, we had leftover pizza for the night before and I had some food from the apartment that we ate for supper. My dad went to bed at 7:30pm and my mom and I chatted and then went to bed a little after 9pm. What an exciting bunch. The next morning we got up, headed home, and breathed a sigh of relief as we pulled in the driveway. Finally.

Day 103

Friday, December 10

Happy 1: A lady at work has been sitting at Kerry’s desk when Kerry’s not there because her computer is broken. Today, nearly everyone was in the office, which never happens. Being the sweet woman that she is, Kerry moved all her stuff to the cubicle on the other side of me so the other lady could use her desk. Instead of sitting next to Joe, she was now facing him, eight feet away. Kerry said, “Good morning, Joe.” No response. “Joe, good morning.” Nothing. Not even a flinch. She looked at me and said, “I think he’s ignoring me.” That appeared to be the case so she proceeded to get on the telephone and dial Joe’s extension. Joe heard is phone, looked to see who it was, didn’t recognize the extension, got out the sheet with all the numbers on it, was still confused, picked up the phone and said, “Hello?” “Hi, Joe. This is Kerry. I just wanted to say good morning to you and tell you that I switched desks today.” Finally, he looked up and saw her. Boy, the people I work with are intelligent. But sometimes I wonder … These are the same people that debated for five minutes if Reese’s Pieces was pronounced with long or short e’s at the end.

Happy 2: I had my final internship evaluation with my supervisor and practicum group leader. Fun. We sat down and chatted about the semester, my strengths and weaknesses, what I learned, what my plans are from here on out. That kind of stuff. My supervisor, and two or three others that I worked with, got together and graded my overall performance this semester. They gave me an A-, which is “outstanding” according to the grading rubric. I guess I’m okay with that.

Happy 3: My parents came to pick me up this evening. They were behind schedule due to traffic, but this allowed for some last-minute roommate bonding at the apartment. Once they arrived, we (my parents, Rachel, and me) headed to Giordano’s for deep dish pizza. I lead the way and showed off my awesome navigation skills. No directions, just a general idea and an address. We stopped for a bag of Garrett’s Popcorn on the way to the restaurant. Well, it turned out that the particular Giordano’s we were looking for was out of business. So, Dad hailed a cab and we went to a different one. The food was good, but the place was busy. After, I found my way to a Red Line stop that would take us back to the apartment. I bade farewell to my roommate, we packed the car, and away we went. Granted it was nearly 11:30pm, but we left the city and drove for a few hours before stopping at a hotel for a short night of sleep.

Crappy: A client came into the office. He was an older gentlemen and a little strange. One, he brought his husband with him. And he had an issue with shaking people’s hands. Instead, he would give this awkward high-five-like gesture. Bizarre.

Day 102

Thursday, December 9

Happy 1: This morning, my boss and his wife (who also works at MainStreet) brought in their daughter because the babysitter was sick. She is probably three years old and she bobbled around the office checking things out. From my desk I could see into the boss’ office where he and his daughter were watching cartoons on his computer. A little later, when she was alone in the room, she picked up the phone and started talking to the receptionist. Absolutely darling!

Happy 2: In the office building lobby there is an Angel Tree. Katherine took / was given a tag. It was for a senior with a wish list consisting of a tie, shaving kit, socks, slippers, and robe. She looked at it and then said, “I thought this was for a senior in high school, but it might be for a senior citizen.” A debate ensued; Matt and I agreed that it was for an elderly man but Joe was convinced it was for an eighteen-year-old boy. She took it downstairs to ask the front desk. It turned out that it was for an old person and gifts had already been purchased. She came back with a new tag and told us that it was indeed for a senior citizen. Joe asked, “Why would anyone put socks on a Christmas list?” Matt replied, “Are you kidding me? Who doesn’t want to give socks to a stranger?”

Happy 3: There was a pan handler on the street near the train station and he was holding a sign. Generally, beggars don’t say much. This man, however, was praising God. He said, “God is good. He gave me a winter coat with a hood yesterday. God is good.” Now that's a good attitude.

Happy 4: My parents are picking me up tomorrow! The end is kind of bitter sweet, but I think I’m ready to be done with my internship. So, tonight I packed up all of my belongings. Three suitcases isn’t bad. Between packing and watching movies, Kristin and I prepared our last supper that consisted of all the random leftovers in our fridge. Yum? That’s debatable.

Crappy: My supervisor was out sick today so I worked with Joe. And well, I don’t learn very well from Joe. He showed me how to do a portfolio review on Inka and I was completely baffled. At one point I snorted because I was clueless and overwhelmed. Straight-faced and completely serious, Joe said, “Why is that funny?” Really? Do you have a sense of humor at all? While it’s nice to learn new things, it’s a little late in the game, considering my last day is tomorrow.

Day 101

Happy 1: Rachel and I went to Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) between classes. There was a display of 100 nativity scenes from all over the world, which were amazing. Some of my favorites were from Italy, Ireland, Haiti, and a really sweet one from the United States that was made with nails. Beautiful and symbolic. This particular picture doesn't include the wise men and shepherds on either side but it's pretty close. On the way back to the CS office, we stopped at Hershey's and got a free piece of chocolate at the door. Yay for Rolos!

Happy 2: Tonight was the "closing ceremonies" of the Chicago Semester Fall 2010. It was held at the Parthenon Restaurant, which is Greek. The food was phenomenal. We had lots of bread, gyros, stuffed grape leaves, eggplant and chicken lasagna, and baklava for dessert. I'm not one to try new things, so this was quite an experience. I filled up on bread, gyros (lamb with cucumbery sauce), and chicken lasagna. Nearly all of the dishes had nutmeg in it, so it tasted like pumpkin. And the wait staff had awesome accents; they're Greek, of course. The CS staff showed a video of pictures sent in by students other than me, since I don't take pictures. It was fun to look back on our time in the city and see all the places we've been. As an added bonus, we received a black Chicago Semester t-shirt and a large group picture taken during orientation week.

Crappy: I was late to my Metro class. I am never late. Here's what happened. Rachel and I were on the way back to the CS office after going to LUMA. This particular station, Chicago, is different than Clark and Division because the two train tracks are separated by a concrete wall. If you're headed toward Howard you stand on one side. But if you're headed toward 95th / Dan Ryan you stand on the other side. Well, we were chatting and ended up on the wrong side. By the time we climbed the stairs up and then down the other side, the train we needed had come and gone. Needless to say, I was late to class. Drat!

Day 100

Happy 1: I heard some very humorous things on the street today. A street sweeper lady was talking to the man selling newspapers next to McDonald's. She told him, "It's winter jacket weather. You ain't got no gloves. You ain't got no hat..." After work I saw a man and woman crossing the street and the man turned to her and said, "You're looking like a woman raccoon out here." Her response? "I don't care if I look like a bear." Apparently, being warm outweighed looking foolish. Smart lady.

Happy 2: My Fine Art Final Project is finished! All together, I probably spent twelve hours filming, capturing, transferring, editing, and exporting. For your listening pleasure, I included a link that will allow you to hear my masterpiece. Enjoy! http://cardboardboxmedia.com/cbm/anna.html.

Funny: At the beginning of the semester, CS gave each of us a gift card to Corner Bakery. Since the end is very near, I decided to use it up. During lunch, the sandwich was alright but the conversation was better. Kerry, bless her heart, asked me about the weather back home (and she knows I live in Iowa). It would have made sense to inquire about the amount of snow or the windchill or something. No, she wanted to know if we had the same seasons as Chicago. Really? Do we have the same seasons?!? She said, "Well, you just never know." Um, yes you do. Later in the day the office received a box filled with cookies; six unmarked packages full of them, actually. Andy walked into the kitchen, walked back out with cookies in-hand, and said, "What's with these weird cookies in here? It's like space packaging or something." While the bags were indeed unusual, it did not deter any of my co-workers from sampling the contents many times.

Crappy: Tonight will be a late night. It's 11:30pm and I have yet to write the artist statement about my project which I will present in class tomorrow, proof-read three weekly journals, finish two papers (Immersion Experience and Essay of Discovery), shower, and read my Bible. Sounds fun, eh?

Day 99

Happy 1: Today was my last Monday Morning Meeting. It was sort of bitter sweet; no more taking notes and listening to a voice on the other end of the line telling me about last week's mergers and acquisitions, and no more street slang and "What up, Dawg"s from BMac. At the end of the meeting, my boss (as in the co-owner) mentioned that Friday is my last day. They asked when I was officially done with school. I shrugged and said, "Friday?" They laughed. More attention was sent my way by the compliance officer, Andrea. I put together a trendy outfit all by myself (white button-down blouse with a thick black belt). There's a first time for everything. She told me, "You look cute today." For anyone that knows me well, I do not generally get complimented on my wardrobe. I'll take a t-shirt and jeans any day. But compliments are always good.

Happy 2: Outside my office building were two bright orange cones with a sign reading, "Caution: Falling Ice." It never occurred to me that ice falling from thirty-eight stories up would be quite terrifying. And fatal. This really shouldn't make me happy, but it did. Never have I seen a sign like that in Iowa. It seems that all sorts of dangers await city dwellers - crazy taxi cab driver, dark alleys, falling ice.

Crappy: After work, I headed for the Red Line and boarded the train. I tried to squeeze in where I could so others could get on. Unbeknownst to me because I'm relatively short, no one was standing in the aisle like they should be, so we were all smashed together near the doors. Some lady waiting to board the train yelled rudely, "Move down! Move down so we can get on!" People were not happy with her for being so snippy. One guy looked at her and said, "No one needs to talk to anyone like that." And someone else said, "The doors at the other end of the train won't open. Why would I go down there just to fight my way out again in two stops?" Good point! She was all kinds of worried about herself and no one else. We sure put her in her place. I just smiled to myself. No, I'm pretty sure it was written all over my face.

Day 98

Happy 1: My brother is in the military and is currently stationed in Germany with his wife and daughter. When they moved in August I thought I wouldn't see them for a very long time. But alas, due to many potential employers not hiring until the first of the year, my schedule momentarily opened up. It more than opened up, it presented the perfect time for an adventure. I will be done with college in five days and as a little graduation present to myself...I bought a plane ticket to Germany! Sure it cost a small fortune but it is totally worth it. I will be spending two weeks with them, from December 15-29. Never before have I been away from home for Christmas, but I still get to spend it with my family . Apparently this trip will be full of firsts and never befores and boy, I should remember to tell this to the grandkiddies.

Happy 2: My roommates and I attended our very last church service of the semester; "A Chicago Christmas" program at Willow Creek. This particular service was meant for families so there were tons of cute little kids running around. The band was rocking the Christmas music and everyone was jamming out. There was a short message but the main attraction was "The Clown of God," a ten-minute performance about a juggler. A story was read aloud and one man mimed the part of the juggling clown. The kids loved it. I may or may not include myself in that category. What a great way to end the semester.

Happy 3: In celebration of the Prison Break series finale, the roommates and I made a delicious dessert. Homemade chocolate sauce, chocolate brownies, vanilla ice cream, and whip cream on top. In order to earn such a high calorie, sugar-loaded, delicious-infused dessert, I worked out first. I'm not sure they cancelled each other out, but it was worth a shot.

Crappy: Practicum Group Retreat. All of the general Chicago Semester students got together for four hours to reflect and meditate on our time in Chicago. This was a nice idea, but it was not so nicely executed. Instead of treating us like big kids, we were treated like we were in grade school. For instance, they wanted us to form a line based on birthday, going from youngest to oldest. The trick was that we weren't allowed to talk. Before we started the process, they informed us that we should use our fingers to tell others our birthday month and date. Really? Then, we made a collage of "wonder, heartbreak, and hope," cutting and pasting pictures and words from magazines. When we got done they told us to pick everything up and put it away nicely. I swear I heard someone singing Barney's "Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share." So, the retreat was...well, it could use some work. There were some good and bad things about the evening. Since it was the first year they did anything like this, it can only get better from here.

Day 97

Happy 1: PB and Pudding. My roommates and I are near the end of our Prison Break journey. This semester we have watched nearly the entire series, equal to about sixty hours. True, this is a ridiculous amount of time, but really it's only one episode a day. If nothing else, it was a great roommate bonding. And tonight, I made Cook and Serve butterscotch pudding to go with it. What a combo.

Happy 2: Productivity. Believe it or not, my Saturday was well spent. I slept in until eight, worked out, took a shower, ate breakfast, watched an episode with Kristin, wrote two papers, started writing three Critical Learning Logs, continued editing my final art project, talked to my mom twice (briefly), cooked food and ate it, did a little cleaning in the fridge, and spent a solid chunk of time bonding with the girls. Not bad for a lazy Saturday, eh?

Crappy: Today marks the beginning of the end. One week from this moment, I will be back in Iowa. Done with my internship in Chicago and finished with my college education. It's bitter sweet, actually. Sad but exciting and full of possibilities at the same time.

Day 96

Happy 1: Today I worked with Zephyr StyleADVISOR, a performance analysis program. It involved selecting data, designing graphs and charts, and editing the information to match that of three years ago. The first hour and a half went well but then I hit a snag. I worked on it for hours, playing around in the program that I'm not familiar with at all. Finally, I succumbed to the fact that I could not figure it out on my own, and asked my supervisor to help. He came to my desk, instructed me a bit, and then he asked to sit down so he could mess around with it. Ten minutes later he had it figured out. As he walked away he said, "Don't worry, it wasn't just you." That's good to know. I'm not a complete moron, after all.

Happy 2: Rachel finally worked out the quirks and I was able to start working on my art project. After downloading Audacity, an audio editing program, I got to work. It was a little tedious to figure out, but after watching tutorials on YouTube and asking Rachel for some pointers, I began the long process. I sat for four hours at the kitchen table with headphones in, listening to the audio clips of street performers and everyday street sounds. The project isn't done, but I successfully edited the clips so that the best parts were saved and the not-so-best parts were trimmed.

Happy 3: Kerry is the lady I really enjoy working with at MainStreet. This morning she said, "I really like you and I want to stay in touch, so here's my address." I work with some super great people.

Crappy: My roommate, Kristin, came home with a terrible headache. She curled up on our wavy couch, huddled under a blanket, and finally went to bed at nine o'clock. Thank goodness I have never had a migraine; they seem pretty terrible. So terrible that they make it as somebody else's crappy.

Day 95

Happy 1: Chen's Garden. My roommates and I went to the Chinese restaurant in Wrigleyville that I went to during orientation week. That was a long time ago, ninety days, to be exact. Rachel thought I hyped up the food such that she would be disappointed. Boy, was she wrong. The food was just as delicious as I remembered. We shared an entree (sweet and sour chicken) and ordered two appetizers (crab meat won tons and maki rolls). The maki rolls were like sushi only there was no raw fish inside. I had a hard enough time gagging down the "dragon fly" and "tropical" rolls as it was. The restaurant was kind of fancy, with candles on the table, smooth plastic chopsticks, and cloth napkins. I generally like cloth napkins, but not when I would like to discretely dispose of some nasty sushi-like stuff. Our server, Andre, was funny. I tried the "dragon fly" roll per his suggestion, but the girls told him I had a little trouble with it. So, at the end of the meal he brought out the bill and our fortune cookies and said, "It's okay, these taste good." The best fortune of the bunch was: "The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be." Wait. What? Then, as we were walking back to the train, a car full of boys passed by and they yelled out the window, "Hey, ladies." Well, hello there. But it makes me wonder: who taught them manners? Apparently no one.

Happy 2: Kristin kept the wishbone from the turkey they had for Thanksgiving dinner. We broke it and I lost miserably. My side shattered into a million little pieces and went flying around the room, hitting Rachel. The great thing was that it sparked a stroll down memory lane. Does anyone remember the children's show Wishbone? Classic. Educational. Fantastic.

Happy 3: Continuing with the topic of Thanksgiving, Kristin and I taught Rachel (the Canadian) about the tradition of the presidential pardon of a turkey in honor of the holiday. I came across a rather amusing article titled, With Presidential Pardon, Two Turkeys are Safe (http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/11/with-presidential-pardon-two-turkeys-are-safe-this-year/). Here's a little taste: "Out of 20,000 birds born at Foster Farms, these two gobblers [Apple and Cider] were picked out of 25 finalists after strutting their stuff to an 'eclectic mix' of music. 'It's kind of like a turkey version of 'Dancing With the Stars' ... Except the stakes for the contestants was much higher,' said Obama, to laughter. 'Only one pair would survive and win the big prize: life.' " I don't particularly like the pardoner but his comments deserve a chuckle.
Crappy: Rats! Literally. I saw a rat scurrying along the "L" track. Disgusting. It sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it. But to be fair, it's the first one I've seen all semester.

Day 94

Happy 1: SNOW! I woke up this morning to snow floating outside my window. My apartment is kind of in the nook of the building, in a protected area, so the snow just floated down all pretty-like. There was even enough snow to lightly cover the ground and create a little winter wonderland.

Happy 2: Since my stay in Chicago is coming to a close, I went through the cupboards to see what I had to work with for the last week and a half. What did I find? Treasures, of course. Butterscotch Cook and Serve, Smarties. Mostly goodies from my mom that I saved for a special occasion. Well, there's no time like the present.

Crappy: Half of the students in the Fine Arts class presented their final projects to the rest of the class. The favored mediums were photography and painting, but a few of them used poetry and music. I was really impressed with the skill level. However, this poses quite a high standard on those of us presenting next week. Specifically me.

Day 93

Happy 1: I made a little man with Wikki Stix. While I was home for Thanksgiving, my roommates stayed in Chicago and went to the Festival of Lights. They got fun stuff like Wikki Stix - "the twistable, stickable, buildable, playable one-of-a-kind creatables! No glue, no stains, no mess." Lucky for me, my roommates shared and I created a little orange stick man. Be impressed. He even stands up all by himself. The girls also showed me these amazing 3D glasses that turn distant lights into reindeer. How cool is that?

Happy 2: It was chilly today. I even pulled out my mittens. Winter is finally on it's way! People in the city are such wimps; they've been bundled up for weeks.

Crappy: Long, long day at work. One of those days that never ends. Thank goodness for Pandora and the golden oldies station.

Day 92

Happy 1: Commedia Beauregard Presents: A Klingon Christmas Carol. Star Trek, anyone? Tickets are normally thirty-some dollars but tonight admission was only three canned goods. I can afford that. The whole play was in Klingon with English superscripts on a PowerPoint. It was pretty epic. I don't know anything about Star Trek but before the play started my roommate, who used to be quite a Star Trekian, gave me a quick course on Klingon 101; the history, the language, all the ins and outs. This was definitely an interesting, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Happy 2: It was wonderful to have a week-long break from work, but it was nice to go back to my routine. The Monday morning meetings, the morning greetings: "Good morning, So-and-so." "Good morning." How are you?" "Good. How are you?" "Good.", the sports talk, the boat load of work emails to read and delete. Welcome back!

Crappy: Remember my Fine Art Final Project, sounds of the city? I carried a video camera with me everyday for a long time and all I wanted was to record my favorite boy band. Of course, the one day I didn't have it on me, they were in the train station. And there was a sweet flute player performing cheery Christmas songs. Rats! Maybe I'll catch them tomorrow.

Day 83 - Day 91

Saturday, November 20 through Sunday, November 28

Where to begin? Here's the highlights.

MegaBus to Des Moines, picked up by parents, went to brother and sister-in-law's house, babysat my nephew, attended my parents' sixth grade Sunday School class, visited my old babysitter (she's practically my grandma), made Christmas candy with my grandma and my cousin, saw Harry Potter 7: Part I, got my passport (which cost a fortune), stopped by my hometown Fareway and chatted it up with the full-time ladies, Thanksgiving on both sides of the family, ate lots of yummy food, more candy making with my relatives, did some homework, hung out with my brother and his wife and their little one, church, Des Moines, MegaBus to Chicago, city bus to apartment, home.

Whew! What a vacation!

Day 82

Happy 1: I went out to lunch with my supervisor and another employee, Igor (yes, that's his real name). We waited twenty minutes to get into the restaurant, Sidebar Grille, but it was worth the wait. The food was excellent and expensive. Good thing the company paid for the meal.

Happy 2: At work, while listening to Christmas music on Pandora, the song Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas came on. I only had one ear bud in so I could hear what was going on in the office. At the very end of the song there are two final notes and someone clicked their mouse in time with the music. The sheer coincidence of this happening made me nearly burst out laughing. I don't know how it worked out so perfectly, but it did and it was fantastic.

Crappy: I hate packing. That is what I did tonight. Packed. However, it is for a very good reason. Tomorrow morning I am heading home for Thanksgiving Break. Most everyone else in the Chicago Semester program doesn't get to leave until Wednesday. But I switched some things around and get to have seven days at home with a half-day of travel on both ends. While I am so excited to go home and see family and relax, I am missing a lot of the festivities in Chicago. Parades and concerts and tree-lighting ceremonies. So, slightly mixed feelings: don't like packing, love the idea of going home, don't like six hours of travel time on a bus, love to be with family, don't like to miss stuff in Chicago, love to do fun stuff during Thanksgiving.

As I will be home relaxing and spending time with family and friends, I will be much too busy to post daily entries. Plus, I really want a break. It's tough to write this every day. Do you realize I've done this eighty-two times? So, don't be alarmed, I am alive and well. And I hope you are, too. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Day 81

Happy 1: Hot apple cider. What a nice surprise when I walked into my office building today. The building staff provided hot chocolate and apple cider for people like me that work in the offices. I chose apple cider and it was delicious.

Happy 2: More Art Project Footage. On my walk to work I filmed the clock tower playing a tune and then chiming the hour. Then on my way home I filmed a lady playing the guitar and singing some good oldies songs. I also recorded the sound of the train coming into the station, the voice from above that announces the next stop, and the general noisiness of my daily commute. It is all coming together.

Happy 3: Peter Pan! The very last Fine Art event. So sad. But what a note to go out on! The play at Lookingglass Theatre was amazing. Words can't describe it but I will try. Take Disney's Peter Pan, Hook, Finding Neverland, and mash them all together. The set was nothing like I expected; it was industrial and cold. It forced us to use our imaginations to fill in the rest. The audience was seated on three sides of the "stage," which was really just a cement floor, so we were on equal footing. The cast came in and amongst us, and I was very close to some of them because I sat at the end of the row. The pirates were scary cannibals; clowns, creepy doctors, and a woman with Freddie Krueger-like fingers. Peter Pan, Wendy, John, and Michael actually flew. They wore harnesses the whole time and swung around on ropes, right above our heads. A really fun part happened at the beginning as we were all waiting for the show to start. There were light bulbs above our heads, but they weren't turned on. The cast came out, acting like little children, and wordlessly encouraged certain people to pull the string to turn them on. A lady came up to a friend of mine and wanted her to pull the string. She couldn't reach, so a CS girl sitting behind her pulled the string. Well, this was not what the lady wanted. She scowled at the girl, turned the light back off, and encouraged my friend to do it. She had to stand on a chair, but she got the job done. The story, the characters, the atmosphere, the imagination of it all brought me back to the simple days of childhood. At one point they drew pictures with chalk and I so wanted to get down on the floor and draw too. Super fantastic, out of this world, words can't describe, leave you wanting more, type of play. This was perhaps my favorite art event of the semester, which is saying something.

Crappy: Messed up at work...again. My supervisor came over to my desk and explained something really hurriedly, which is unusual. Come to find out, he had a meeting right then. I got to work selecting certain account numbers and making pdfs. When he got out of his meeting he came over to show me the next step. Apparently, I had made all of them incorrectly because I chose "Internal Review" as opposed to "Client Deliverable." I'm almost positive we didn't talk about that. No matter, I deleted everything I had done and redid all twenty-eight pdfs, printed them off, and paired them with the appropriate manila file folder.

Day 80

Happy 1: Acting Exercises. My Fine Arts class is attending the very last event of the semester tomorrow evening (sad face); Lookingglass Theatre is performing Peter Pan. It should be pretty fantastic. You really can't go wrong when it comes to Peter Pan and Neverland. One of the founders spoke to the class today about the theatre company and the play. As an actor, he was quite animated and definitely not boring. Much to our surprise, he made us do a series of acting exercises. The Hey Game - stand in a circle, one person runs across the circle to another person, jumps up, says "Hey!" and gives that person a two-handed high five, then the person that was approached runs to another person, eventually five different lines are going and it is utter madness. Freeze Frame - get in a group of five people (that I didn't know very well), given a word, silently make a scene representing that word in four seconds, then freeze. Sculpting - sculpt a partner (in my case a boy) into a form that represented a given word. My word was "perfect" so I had him hold a halo above his head and look angelic. Numbers and Sounds - with the same partner, turn and face each other, count to three  (I say one, you say two, I say three, you say one, I say two, you say three, you get the idea), but then we had to make up sounds and actions to take the place of each number. We were selected to do ours in front of the class (Doink, Plop, Holla!); numbers one and three were my creation. These were actually really good exercises for me. It helped me to loosen up a bit and not take myself so seriously.

Happy 2: Accordion Mike. In between classes I went downtown and came across Michael, the accordion player. Of course, I saw this as a prime opportunity for my Final Art Project. I stopped and asked him a few questions (he was not very talkative) and filmed him playing a song. When I bent down to place my donation (for his time and cooperation) in his accordion case, he grabbed it out of my hand and stuffed it in his pocket. Well, okay then.

Crappy: Lousy Neighborhood Presentation. My Practicum group gave our Hyde Park presentation today. The people in my group were very hard to work with because they all have strong personalities. I absolutely despise group projects. Rather than have someone else in the group do a crappy job, I generally take the leadership position. This time, however, I just threw up my hands and let them do what they were going to do. When we met on Monday to make a poster and put the final touches on the presentation, I had a good feeling about things. But when we gave the presentation today (which we gave four times because every group rotated rooms), they just read off boring facts and figures about their topics. Lame. I talked about religion in Hyde Park and had a good time with it. (I took Public Speaking last year and discovered that I kind of have a knack for it.) The people in my group were competent speakers but they did a lousy job picking out and presenting their material. And they didn't tie things together like I thought they would. Whatever, it's over and done. But this is why I lead group projects.

Day 79

Happy 1: Grocery Shopping. Made grocery list, took the Red Line to Aldi, shopped, paid, sacked groceries (thank goodness I worked at Fareway), took Red Line back to apartment, made a pit stop at CVS, unloaded groceries, ate some of the new goodies. Done. One hour. Be impressed.

Happy 2: I may have made a new friend at work today. Who? The infamous receptionist. She was alphabetizing the file drawers located right next to my overly-large desk. I told her she could use my desk space if she needed somewhere to put things. She said, "That's okay, but thanks." Whatever, I tried. But then...she started to put piles of files on my desk. Later in the day I walked by her desk, smiled warmly, and she returned it. Can you believe it?! I had no idea it would all come down to sharing my desk. This is definitely progress.

Happy 3: More Window Washers. They scaled the building again today, this time on a different side. I was talking to the part-time gal that sits next to me when we heard the familiar sound of suctions on the window. We looked over and saw the dangling window washer. We were intrigued, so we watched for a little bit, but they're really quick. On his way down the rope to the next floor he caught us watching and flashed us a toothy grin. I'm sure they see some pretty interesting people in a day's work.

Happy 4: We're sitting here, me and my roommates, listening to a Relient K Christmas song; "Sleigh Ride," to be exact. I'm typing on the computer, bobbing my head. I look over and see Kristin and Rachel bobbing their heads too. The fact that we're each in our own little world, jamming out, is comical. Who doesn't love punk rock Christmas music?

Crappy: Problems with Zephyr. My task was to take numbers from four different Excel worksheets and type them into another program, Zephyr, for analysis. Easy enough. Well, there were complications. There are always complications. I had finished one of the lists and clicked "OK." A window popped up that said, "File such and such already exists. Do you want to overwrite it?" The only two options were "Yes" and "No." Of course I clicked "No." That was the wrong thing to do. It closed the window and took all my hard work with it. Trying to solve the problem by myself, I retyped the numbers. Again, the window popped up. Not wanting to redo the list a third time, I went to my supervisor for help. I found out that it was not my fault. The file name that he had me type in at the beginning of the project was causing the problems. We fixed it and away I went. Why does stuff like this always happen to me? Because I'm a Tammen, that's why. We wouldn't want anything to be too easy. What fun is that?

Day 78

Happy 1: Whistling Window Washers. This morning at the office, I heard a thump and when I looked out the blind-covered window, I saw a shadow. The rest of the office and I thought it was a huge bird hitting the window, which is a fair assumption since we're on the thirty-seventh floor. I'm glad it wasn't a bird because it would have had quite a large headache. However, it was some window washers. They were just wandering around on the plank like it was no big deal. I was impressed with their window washing and thirty-seventh- floor balancing talent. One of my co-workers said, "This is why I went to school."

Happy 2: I started my final fine art project today, due at the end of the semester. My vision is to take footage of street/subway performers, get a little background information, and put it all together. If all goes as planned, it should be pretty sweet. While waiting half an hour for the train after work (it was way busier than normal due to a power outage somewhere in the city) I talked to the musicians serenading the masses. Two guys: David on mandolin and kazoo,and Sam on guitar. I filmed them playing a classic song by Johnny Cash. They gave me a card with their contact information; depending how good the project turns out I may send them the file for their amusement. Later in the evening I was out and about again and came across three black guys rapping: Big Boy, One of the Greatest, and Rhythm (playing a box drum).

Crappy: A girl got sick on the train right as we pulled into the station this morning . The train was packed but people managed to make more room when the poor girl was clearly not feeling well. Thankfully, I was right next to the door and exited quickly. I heard some people say, "You've got to be (insert explicit) kidding me!" I take it they weren't too happy. In other train activity, someone was hit and seriously injured by the Red Line. Honestly, I'm surprised stuff like this doesn't happen more often.