December 5, 1998: Real Christmas Tree

Katy and I drove up to the suburbs to get a real Christmas tree.  My parents never got a real tree, so this was quite a nice experience for me.     It seemed like a lot of work picking it out, putting it on top of the car, and dragging it into our apartment.     I have to say, though, the tree smelled so good.    Then, I helped Katy decorate the tree.    

November 26-29, 1998: Thanksgiving Weekend

As usual, we went to Steve and Charlenes house for Thanksgiving dinner.   I drove Grandpa's new Lincoln Town car over to Grand Rapids.  Charlene had made us ornaments with our pictures in them which were real cute.

On Friday,  Mom and I drove to Ann Arbor to see the Gonyos.   We went shopping and ran into Cheryl, Dawn, and Heather Klee in Hudsons.    We all had lunch together at Baker Square.   Then, we went to see Dawn's apartment.  

On Saturday, we went to Kensington apartments in South Lyon to help Wendy and Todd move into their new apartment.  

On Sunday, we drove to Grand Rapids to see Kelsey's new house and the kids.   Kelsey said she would call me 'Aunt Amy' which I was so excited about.   Had dinner with Grandpa and Grandma at Sam's Joint.  

November 14, 1998: Pow Wow

Beth, from my bible study, took me to see a pow wow down at the UIC Pavilion.   All of the different tribes did dances for a contest.   Their costumes were very colorful.     I got to try some authentic Native American food.   

November 3, 1998: Oprah Show

I was up early as I was going down to see a taping of the Oprah show.     I didn't find out until yesterday that I had the ticket to the show, so of course, I took off a half day of work.   It was hard to get a ticket to Oprah's show.    The studio wasn't far from my work, which was nice.  The topic of the show was about lying, which I thought was boring. 

Oprah was dressed in this grey pantsuit.  The production assistant told her to relax her breasts as they were sticking out and Oprah said they were just excited because of the audience. That was funny.   I sat in the 2nd row on the right side, facing the stage.  It was a fun experience.     I was disappointed that Oprah didn't come out to the audience to ask questions like she used to do.  The show was more focused on her.     

October 31, 1998: Halloween Party

I dressed up like Zorro for Halloween.  I had my mask and sword.   Took the 'El' to the North/Clybourn stop.   There were so many people in costumes on the subway which was funny.   I waited for Lilly to meet me at the station.   We went to Sedgwicks Bar in Lincoln Park where we met up with our co-workers, Josh Bulak, Alison Basista, Wayne Onak, and Tony Dragel.  Josh dressed up like the Chef on South Park. Tony was a Cubs player. Wayne dressed up like Clint Eastwood.    The guys were disappointed because many of the girls at the party were lesbians.   It was so funny.

October 23-25, 1998: Columbus, Ohio

After work on Friday, I took the orange line to Midway airport for my flight on Southwest airlines to Columbus, Ohio, to visit my friend Shawn Young.  This was the first time I had flown by myself, if you can believe that.     Shawn met me at the airport in Columbus.  She had bought a new Honda Civic, which was so nice.   She showed me around downtown Columbus, where she worked, and German village.    We ate at BW3.   We walked over to Banana Joes, which was a dance club.    

Her apartment was in the suburb, Pickerington.    We stayed up talking until 3 a.m.

On Saturday, Shawn and I drove around Pickerington and then to Columbus.    We stopped at this neat coffee shop and had hot chocolate.    We had lunch at this delicious Mexican restaurant.   We went shopping at the mall in downtown Columbus.   

On Sunday, we went to the same coffee shop. She took me for lunch at this delicious German shop. I had an Italian sandwich which was out of this world.    She drove me around Ohio State University to see what it looked like.     I flew out in the late afternoon back to Chicago, where my roommate, Katy, picked me up.  

 

October 3, 1998: Joe's Visit

It was a glorious day today.   I went to pick up Joe from Union Station.   He was dressed so fine.     He had on his black jean baggy pants and white Bosse polo shirt.   We walked along Canal St over the bridges.    We walked down Madison to State and over to Randolph St to the Garrett popcorn.  The popcorn machine caught on fire and one of the workers had to extinguish it out.    Then, we walked down Michigan Ave and I showed him my old apartment on Dearborn.  Then, we walked down Elm St to Lakeshore Dr, through Lincoln Park, and down Clark to my apartment on Cornelia.  He said he wanted to walk. He was exhausted when he got to my apartment. I was used to walking far distances, so it wasn't as big of a deal.    He got a kick out of my bunny slippers.

Showed him around my apartment.  We sat in my room and played double solitaire which was fun.   Then, we took the 'El' to the Chicago stop and had dinner at Joe's Crabshack.  On our 'El' ride, a couple got on at Fullerton and started fist fighting.  It scared me.  Joe said he felt like he was on the 'Cops' show.   

We went back to my apartment and he showed me tricks with my hands.   He remembered I was ticklish on my back.  I never laughed so hard.   We watched the movie 'Dark City' which confused us.   We watched Saturday Night Live and Abbott and Costello.  

Then, it was time for him to take the train back.  We took a cab back to Union Station.