I’m trying something different this week. Instead of writing my response at the end of the post, I’m going to insert comments into the piece itself [TODAY: like this]. Hopefully this will flow a little better!
TEN YEARS AGO
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
It was a grand (but cold) day in the Windy City. Seriously…I had so much fun. Michelle and Jill are great people to wander Chicago with. [TODAY: When I was in Chicago with Kelly a couple weeks ago, I told her all about this field trip! I didn’t realize that it had been exactly ten years…cute.]
The three hour ride up was less than thrilling. We watched various Will Farrell stuff, and that was funny, but it got a little long. [TODAY: Cue pretentiousness.] Then we arrived at Navy Pier, where we (M, J, and Julia) ate lunch, took some pictures, and shopped a bit. At first it felt really weird carrying a camera around my neck, but I got used to it. It helped that there were 50 other kids in the near vicinity doing the same thing.
Around one we went to the art institute, which wasn’t very exciting at first, because we (M and J) didn’t know where to go. So we headed to the cafe and ate a brownie. [TODAY: Hahaha, when in doubt – EAT!] Eventually we found a section of paintings, which I really liked. And it was even cooler because there were students there painting…paintings. We took a couple pictures of that. Then we walked over to Millennium Park and took pictures of crazy art forms, people, and ice skating. It was freezing. I ended up wearing a hat, it was so cold. Crazy. [TODAY: lol, this is an incredibly strange comment to make, but you just have to know I hate how I look wearing a hat, so it really was a big deal.]
On to Michigan Avenue, where we were given 2 1/2 hours to shop and take night shots. Michelle and Jill and I went to the Gap and a couple other places. [TODAY: Ah, yes, the Gap. A classic place to take night photography in Chicago.] It wasn’t too fun for me, because I’m not a good shopper when I know I can’t buy anything. And the stuff was way to expensive for me without my mom. [TODAY: Sadly, this is still true.] But still, M and J made it entertaining. And we ate, which is always good. The last 45 minutes were spent taking lousy pictures of streets and Christmas lights.
The ride home was pretty terrible. A group of idiots were playing Truth or Dare directly behind Michelle and I, and they were loud, so I often couldn’t hear the movie…and I kept thinking about how stupid and immature they were. It was best summarized by Michelle, who said, “Back there are the ones who want to get it on, and up here are those who are doing just fine.” Not the best way to end a great field trip, but oh well. [TODAY: HAHAHA, oh no, where to start? The overwhelming bitterness and jealousy masked as superiority? The absolute denial and insistence that we were “doing just fine”? Oh man, I don’t think I could go ten minutes hanging out with 17-year-old Tricia without breaking my eyeballs from rolling them too hard.]
Possibly my favorite thing about Chicago were the Salvation Army ringers. They were all black guys, and they would sing carols and dance and get in your face and it was awesome. We gave money often at first, but there’s one at about every street corner. Still, they were hilarious, and they loved us because we’d laugh along and Michelle would dance too. It was great. [TODAY: This is all a lie. I was pretending to enjoy it because of my friends and because that seems like the right thing to do. In actuality, I hate interacting with people on street corners, and the idea that they would “get in your face” has me reeling back NOW, let alone when it was happening to my person. Mostly I remember being jealous of how carefree and generous Michelle was.]
I’m excited to get my pictures back. But I don’t really feel like going to school tomorrow. Ew.
“Actually, I’m a human, but I was raised by elves.”
“I’m a human…raised by humans.”
“Cool.”
[TODAY: I used to end blog posts with a quote that somehow related to its content, but this one….feels very random. I don’t think I was commenting on my feeling of otherness. It does happen to be exactly my kind of odd humor, though, so I guess it was from something I read that day.]
It Is Trish 