As it turned out, that someday was expedited when we found out that there was going to be a W00tstock in Chicago. We had heard good things about the 1.0 concerts, and then even better things about 2.0 in Seattle and 2.1 in Portland, OR. (Portland’s concert ran really long – 5 hours instead of 3!) So, we decided that we had to go. And while we were there, why not meet up with friends who live in the area? This quickly became more than just a “jaunt” out to Chicago for a concert. We decided that we had to stay the night if we were going to go, owing to the length of Portland’s concert. It took us a couple of days to get clear answers from work, but we both were able to secure that Monday off. We decided that instead of staying one night and driving out that same day, we would instead stay for two nights. That way we would have one day to travel and one day to see some of Chicago and have fun. So, we booked a hotel near the airport and figured out what time we wanted to leave. Voila! Plans!

On Saturday the 5th, I got up earlier than I had intended to get up. My alarm was set for 8:30AM, but I got up at 7AM. Oh well. C’est la vie. Johnathan didn’t get up until later, however, and even later than intended because he hadn’t set his alarm and I didn’t remember to wake him up at 8:30. Whoops. We got off to a later start than planned, and further delayed ourselves by stopping to eat breakfast. (I had french toast stuffed with vanilla cream cheese and topped with bananas and strawberries. It was totally worth it.) We got some car adapter charger thingies and some cash for tolls and then got on our way.  Lady Gaga was apparently our theme music for the trip, because we seemed to listen to her music more than anything else. It was easy and not bad to listen to, if sometimes a little weird.

Chicago is, according to Google Maps, 5.5 hours drive away from Cleveland. That’s fine. It’s a long drive but we survived. However, we were not in any way prepared for the traffic that we encountered as we came into Chicago. There were so many people! The first thing that occurred to me was that people were driving much less aggressively. We didn’t have to worry about how close to follow so that people wouldn’t zoom in to the spot assuming it to be large enough for a car regardless of whether it is or not. We saw more signals than we usually see at home. Still, it took us quite a long time to drive over near to O’Hare.

Google Maps was a bit misleading as we tried to find our hotel. It told us to go left when we should have gone right or vice verse at least twice. We did eventually find our hotel, which, for its cost, was really quite nice. The beds were squishy, which was nice after a long day in the car. And, hey, it was clean. I like clean hotel rooms. The first order of business was to find some food, and I wanted to do something that Chicago considers unique to, er, itself. Deep dish pizza “is” Chicago, right? So we found an area chain that did deep dish pizza and headed there.

Lou Malnati’s was our dinner destination, and we figured by how busy it was that we’d made a good choice. I don’t usually prefer deep dish pizza, but I was willing to sacrifice my preferences in order to try something new and local. I’m thinking that before then, I had never tried real deep dish pizza. We got one plain cheese and one sausage, mushroom and onions. They were both delicious! It certainly changed my mind about how I felt about deep dish pizza. Seriously, the cheese was so stringy and beautiful, and the sauce and oh the crust – I love crust and this was good. Okay, now I’m drooling. Moving along.

After that, we weren’t really sure what to do. We hadn’t made any plans for when we got there and given how long a day we were destined to have the next day, I kind of thought it would be a bad idea to try to go into Chicago proper. Johnathan had an inspired idea, though: IKEA. I’ve never been to IKEA and neither has he, but we’ve both heard good things and wanted to visit. The closest to Cleveland is in Pittsburgh which is about a three-hour drive. Other than that is Cincinnati and then, I think, Chicago. So it wasn’t ever really convenient to get to one.

How on earth have I lived 24.9 years without knowing the wonders of IKEA?

I had no idea, to begin with, that the store was so big. We drove up to it and I went slackjaw, just seeing that it was three stories tall and not skinny stories at that. Then we walked in. That place was enormous. We got our little paper tape measure and our little pencil and map and went up the escalators. Since the store was set to close about an hour or so after we got there, I wanted to start on the third floor – living room, dining room, kitchen, etc – since it seemed like it would be the most up our alley. I’m glad we did, too. We have been talking about redesigning our living room so that it actually has a design and I was able to see the ideas we’ve tossed about and help push those into a more tangible scheme with lots of the things that were on display. I loved the style of a lot of the furniture, and I especially loved that there were display rooms about for shoppers to get an idea of how things can fit into small spaces and how various things can be used. It was very clever and I was pretty much geeking out the whole time we were in the store.

As we walked around the store, I began to have visions of what our apartment could be with some of the furniture that was on display. I mentally redecorated our living room, dining room, computer room, bathroom, kitchen (even though there’s no way we could redesign it!), and bedroom. Basically, I mentally redesigned our whole apartment. The first order is the living room, however, as our bookshelves aren’t going to last through our next move, if they last even that long, and we really would like to tie everything together aesthetically. IKEA was a wealth of inspiration for that. We made it through both floors, although we did not browse as leisurely as we would have liked. They “kicked” us out at closing and we had browsed most of both the second and third floors, and only had a short while to gawk at all the flat-pack furniture available on the first floor before we left. There was such elation after we left that we went straight to the IKEA website after we got back to the hotel. We played with some of their planners (which were really fun, if a little difficult to use at times), and tried to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, knowing that we would very likely be out quite late the next evening for the concert.

The next morning we got up, well, not too early and headed out for the day. We met a couple of friends for lunch at Todai at a nearby mall, which was really nice. I was expecting to sit for maybe an hour and then go our separate ways. We ended up eating lots of sushi and chatting for about two hours, which was nice. I learned a lot about the Quaker belief system and we talked about nerdy things. As we do. By about 1:30, it was time for our friends to leave to go to a baby shower, and we wanted to get downtown.

We had planned to go on an architecture boat tour on the Chicago river at 2PM, but owing to how late our lunch went, the 2PM tour just wasn’t going to happen! The boat tour had a few more running until about 5:30PM, though, so there was nothing to worry about. We headed toward the CTA park and ride near our hotel. One thing I’ll say for CTA is how easy it is to understand. It’s one of the transit systems on Google Maps, which is very helpful, and, well, it was just pretty easy to figure out what we were supposed to do. (Easier than the NYC transit we’ve navigated, I’ll say!) Park and remember your spot number. Pay for the parking at the kiosk. Get a fare card. Ta da! You’re ready to get on the train! Even on a Saturday, the trains were running more frequently than the RTA trains usually do, other than maybe during rush hour. Anyway, we took the train to the station that Google Maps suggested and found our way to the street. Then we walked about three blocks to get to the boat launch. We missed the 2PM, and we just missed the 3PM (owing, I think, to the fact that we crossed the street on the wrong side before realizing we couldn’t cross the other way from that corner – lost a few minutes), so we got tickets for the 3:30 launch. Then we got in line, and it started raining. Pretty hard, too! We didn’t think to bring long-sleeve shirts with us, nor umbrellas. We had assumed that the weather in Chicago would be the same as in Cleveland: very warm and mostly sunny. Silly us. We should have known better. So all I had were tank-tops with high temperatures of 75, and then we got rained on to boot! Ah well. After a few minutes, they let us onto the boat and everyone crowded inside to escape from the rain. Just before the tour was going to start, it stopped raining! Thank goodness! Except that meant all the seats were wet. We wiped ours off the best we could and it was time to go.

The tour was very interesting. I didn’t know much about Chicago architecture other than that it had the Sears Tower (now known as Willis tower, apparently), and I couldn’t have identified it for anyone even if I had to. So I was definitely not well-versed on Chicago’s buildings. The lady who was talking had quite the accent. I suppose it could be considered “very Chicago”. Chicago is pronounced with an “aw” sound in the middle, apparently. That aside, the tour was very interesting. She was able to tell us the history of nearly all of the buildings (the interesting looking ones, anywa) on the river and how the social climate regarding the river had changed over the years. She talked about the varying construction styles, how certain buildings came into being and under what conditions some of them had to be built. The tour was an hour and a half long, and we went all the way up to the lake, as well as on both forks of the “Y” portion of the river. I learned for the very first time about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which is apparently surprising to a lot of people. What, I ask you, difference does a fire in Chicago make to someone in Oregon? It’s just not part of the regional history! So I never learned about it, and while I’d heard things said about Mrs. O’Leary’s cow in the past, I think I made little notice of it. Now I know about the fire and about the legend surrounding it as spread by a newspaper reporter. Anyway, if you’re ever in Chicago and have a couple of hours to spare, definitely try to see the tour. It was wonderful and I learned a lot. I think Johnathan got some good pictures, too, but I’m still waiting for him to process them.

After that, we hopped on a bus and rode over to Park West for W00tstock. W00tstock was such a huge undertaking that I’m going to have to write about it fully later, but I’ll give you a run-down. We rode a bus over to near where the venue was, and then walked to the venue. It was convenient that there was a Subway close by, because it had been a good five hours since I’d eaten at that point, so I was hungry! We ate, taking note of the W00tstock goers all the while, then decided to get in line. I think my favorite anecdote of this time was with Johnathan:

Johnathan: Hey, check out that guy’s shirt! I bet you he is going to W00tstock.
Me: Um. Did you see who it is?
Johnathan: Holy crap! That’s Wil Wheaton! He better be going to W00tstock!

So, Johnathan noticed someone’s shirt, but not his face. Ah well. It’s okay, Wil Wheaton, I knew who you were. We got in line sometime around 5:30, and then had to wait until 6:30 for the doors to open and let all the nerds in. By the time we lined up, we were around the corner of the building already, and we were there extra early! The unfortunate thing is that at some point while we were all waiting, it started raining. And then it started raining harder. Some folks had umbrellas but most didn’t. It was cold and I was only wearing a tank-top. The couple behind us was nice enough to share their extra umbrella, so we huddled under it while they huddled under their other umbrella and we waited for 6:30. The rain just kept getting harder and it didn’t let up before the line started moving, signifying that people were being let in. By about 6:35 or 6:40, we were finally inside the building. We were cold and wet, and the air conditioning was on, but at least we weren’t being rained on anymore!

The show itself was amazing. It lasted for 5 hours, even though the show is billed as “3 Hours of Geeks and Music”. So much for that! We saw Molly Lewis, Bill Amend, Peter Sagal, Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu, Bill Corbett, Len Peralta, Jason Finn and, of course, the four W00tstock founders, Paul & Storm, Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage. It was a wonderful night and I would do it all over again if I could. (In fact, if they ever go to Pittsburgh or something, we are so there!)

So, the show started at 7:30 and didn’t end until about 12:20AM. I was pretty thankful at that point that we’d verified that CTA runs all night. It meant we didn’t have to take a cab back to our car. We managed to pull together enough change for two bus fares, because we hadn’t loaded up our passes with enough money for the return trip, and we got on the bus. The next adventure was finding a working fare machine that took credit cards. We were tired, very hungry (we hadn’t eaten since the subs at about 5PM), and just wanted to get back to our car. The box in the station lobby that we went to first had a machine, but it didn’t work. We found someone whose only suggestion was to take cash out. Well, eff that! We weren’t putting $20 each on transit cards, and the machines didn’t give any change, so we were kind of SOL. We walked across the street to the other lobby where the man suggested we might find another machine that took cards. We must have walked around it five or six times and not found anything. I was ready to cry at that point because I was just so tired. We were going to walk out and try to find somewhere that gave change, but we spotted the card-taking machine at the last minute. Oh, thank FSM for that. Then it was just a matter of getting to the platform and getting back to our station.

The ride back was relatively uneventful. We listened to a group of guys try to speak German to one another (one of them, I gathered, actually speaks German fluently, possibly as a native language, but the others were n00bs at best, and even I could tell!) We saw a rough-looking guy go out into the space between two of the trains to smoke a cigarette – he was sandwiched between them, and there was absolutely nothing keeping him from falling off if the train jerked suddenly. People aren’t supposed to be out there. Ah, the things people do for a nicotine fix.

We got back to our car at about 1:45AM, and headed for food. There isn’t a lot open late-night. We could have gone to our room and ordered a pizza from the place that advertises that it’s open until 4AM, but then we would have had to wait for the pizza and we were too hungry to consider that as a first choice. We passed a McDonald’s which was not at all appetizing, and ultimately had to go with a Denny’s because, really? What else is open at 2AM? We at really bad diner food and went back to our room where I promptly sacked out. It was a long day.

We got a late check-out – which really meant checking out at noon instead of 11, but the hour helped. We packed everything up and headed out for some lunch. I wanted to eat something that was “uniquely Chicago” that wasn’t deep dish pizza, and it seems that there’s a certain kind of hot dog that’s considered to be unique to Chicago. One of the places that was recommended in a couple of sites online was Portillo’s. We decided to stop there for lunch. Once we got there, it was clear that this was no ordinary fast food joint. They had a double-drive through and people standing in it to take orders. It was amazing how efficient they were! Even inside there were two people standing in the line getting people’s orders, so that when we got to the register, we’d just hand someone our bag and be ready to go! I got a Maxwell style polish dog, and Johnathan got, I believe, a jumbo hot dog. We got cheese fries with chili on them (we ordered chili cheese fries when we really meant cheddar cheese fries – a fortuitous error), and a couple of drinks and we were ready to go. We only waited a couple of minutes for our order to come up. The trays had drink holders in them which I thought was very clever.

Words cannot adequately describe how good that dog was and how tasty those fries were. The fries were just what I wanted after a long day, and the hot dog was just delicious, slathered in mustard and covered with fried onions and peppers. Whenever we go back to Chicago, I will have to have another one of those because it was just too good to pass up. After that, we headed back east, bound for home.

The drive home was fairly uneventful, thought it felt painfully long, probably because of how tired we both were. We got home at about 8PM and were bombarded with needy kitties who had missed us in the days and days that we had been gone. Our kitties are not at all dramatic. Not one bit.

On the way home we ruminated about what we’d felt while we were in Chicago. It is city full of life. It is a city which is proud of itself, its roots and everything that defines it. It is not, like Cleveland, a city full of self-loathing. There were things to do, even late at night. The people were generally less suspicious, I felt, than people in Cleveland, who always seem to be suspicious of anything remotely friendly and who don’t know what to do if you’re trying to be polite. Chicago was night and day with Cleveland both in attitude and in city planning. Chicago has a plan! And they actively pursue those things which will breathe life into areas of the city which are currently not thriving. Cleveland needs to take a page from Chicago’s book, I think. Clean up the attitude, clean up the streets and make neighborhoods that people will want to live in, other than just Ohio City! That is, I think, most of what I came away from Chicago with. I had fun, and I definitely want to go back, but ultimately, Chicago showed me what a city like Cleveland could be with the right leadership and the right ideas applied to its neighborhoods.

For an impromptu trip with very little pre-planning, our trip to Chicago was, I think, one of our more successful. I really can’t wait until we can plan a trip to go back.

We got married in September 2008 with Johnathan’s biological parents (step-parent was conspicuously absent), and my parents and step-parents, as well as Allison, said best friend. That was our “guest list.” Even now, I feel like it wasn’t about us, or even really for us. It was for them. Is that wrong? Maybe. Weddings are supposed to be about the couple coming together with friends and family to celebrate a new chapter in their lives.

Part of the problem with my perception of this day is probably that I don’t feel like it started a new chapter. No magical change came over us and changed our relationship. We didn’t behave any differently than we had before we got married, and I certainly didn’t feel any different. The only real change is that now people sit there and call me “Mrs.” and coo at me when they realize we’ve been married a “short” enough time to still be called newlyweds. Thankfully, I no longer get asked incessantly when we’re planning to reproduce, but these seem to be the things that define marriage.

We have no printed photos of that day. My step-dad took some pictures, my dad and step-mom did, and so did Johnathan’s mom. I’ve seen a fair number of the pictures – even had some of them emailed to me, but I have really very little interest in having them printed and put into our apartment to “show off.” It was just another day along the road to me. I think I’ll be more likely to post a photo of us when we finish our first 5K (which we’re planning to do, when we’re physically able!), when I graduate from college, or of us on some vacation. Those memories seem like they’ll mean more than the day we got married.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t value our marriage. I love Johnathan, and our relationship is very important to me. It doesn’t define me, but it is a very important part of my life. I fully believe that we would enjoy the same relationship as we have now, even if we hadn’t gotten married. It’s just financially beneficial to get married, not to mention that it simplifies things legally if one of us should ever get seriously hurt or sick. It also helps to show others that this is a serious relationship. A lot of people see even long-term live-in relationships as transient, not lasting. So I suppose us getting married is as much for the lack of hassle as it is for the financial benefit and legal simplification.

I read so much about the drama associated with weddings. They seem to bring out the worst in people – all people involved, sometimes. They can be beautiful and lavish, but I often hear more people complain about the process leading up to the wedding, about the day of, and then about the clean-up and catch-up afterward than I hear people praising their wedding day. Most brides claim not to have eaten all day and many say they can barely remember the day at all. So what’s the appeal? It holds none for me, though I’m sure some can find the silver lining in all the trouble and possible drama. I know weddings don’t have to be any of that, but the sheer number of weddings that are exactly that helped me feel more comfortable in our decision.

So, our wedding wasn’t dramatic or meticulously planned. We didn’t get any spectacular photos out of the day. I didn’t even really want it, though it was nice to get our parents together, even if they may never see one another again, and it was nice to see my family, if only for a short period of time. And I was glad when they went home, too. We got married without the pomp and circumstance. If I had it to do all over again, I’m not totally sure I would, but I would definitely still get married. I don’t regret that at all. It’s interesting to think about how my perception of that day which is supposed to have been so monumental for us has changed in just a year and a half, and how it hasn’t. I think our marriage and relationship are good. I don’t think that a wedding is my cup of tea.

Oh well. At least we’ll never need to do it again!

1. It’s not as hard as I had it worked up to be in my head. I made a scarf to learn cables, and quickly learned to love them. I made a neck warmer to learn how to do herringbone stitch and did a practice swatch of what appears to be daisy stitch (according to some – elsewhere called a diagonal knot stitch). I’ve learned how to cast on in the middle of a project, create stitches where once there weren’t any, do a gusset for the thumb of a mitten… I know there are a lot of techniques that I have yet to explore, and I look forward to learning them as I go. No beginner projects for me – I’m learning new techniques by doing them.
2. Hobbies can get expensive, and knitting is no exception. There are some really gorgeous colorways out there, some handspun, some themed to interesting things (like Harry Potter themed yarns among other things), and lots of them incredibly expensive. I’ve found a happy spot where I get good yardage for my dollar, but yarns that aren’t scratchy and inflexible (like the Red Heart Superwash tends to be in my still limited experience). I do have to keep reminding myself that while it’s nice that some knitters can afford to spend upwards of $50 on one hank of yarn, I just can’t do that and I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I will.
3. Elitism is everywhere. It’s there in all aspects of life and especially in each and every hobby or interest I’ve pursued. I haven’t found anything yet that was free of it. There are some knitters who refuse to use anything but natural fibers, or even better, handspun natural fibers (which can get very expensive) and are fairly vocal about those who use anything man-made. Others swing the other direction and are fairly judgmental of those who don’t use man-made fibers. It’s inevitable that this would happen. It’s not a very nice thing to witness, but I think I’m getting better at blocking out the elitism.

I’m really enjoying knitting things up. I stayed up late on Saturday night to finish the mitten, and it was absolutely amazing to see how it ended up shaped like a mitten, without any truly complicated techniques. As far as finished objects go, here’s what I have:

• Sharfik for Allison: Nine feet and one inch of scarf pre-fringe. -faint- It took me just under three weeks to actually finish the scarf, mostly because I think I was losing motivation for it. Scarves take a long time. There’s no real sense of reward when it’s done becasue it takes so darn long to finish. I still need to attach the fringe, but I was waiting for it to dry after washing it. I should do that soon since she’s visiting this weekend. [Pattern]
  
• Coffee Cozies [1] [2]: Johnathan got coffee pretty much every day at his old job (he started his new (old?) one today, yay!), and I figured that since he wasn’t taking his own mug to get the coffee, it was ending up being pretty unfriendly to the environment. I had about half a skein (give or take) of yarn left over from the scarf that I made for his mom’s birthday, so I figured, why not make a coffee cozy? Can’t be hard, right? I made the first one in the same woven cable pattern that the scarf I made his mom used. I seamed it up very badly, and put a pretty button on it. Where the seam is, the cozy gets pretty bulky, so I’m a little disappointed with how it came out. The second one was much better. It was a herringbone stitch pattern (which I had just made a neckwarmer out of – more on that to come), and it knitted up just as quickly as the first one, but because the edges were more straight I had an easier time seaming it. I seamed it up while watching an episode of chopped, left off any buttons and called it done. It is less loose than the first one because I made it just a little bit undersized, to let it stretch. So, all in all, #2 was much better than #1. I still have probably a quarter or more of a skein of that blue yarn, so I figure I’ll make some more, unless I can figure out something else to make with it. Any ideas? It was nice making these, though, because I didn’t use any patterns for them, so I felt kind of original in doing it. (Even if both stitch patterns came from another pattern that I originally followed.)
  
• Herringbone Neckwarmer: I’ve had this pattern bookmarked for a long time. It was one of those “someday…” projects that I had no idea when I’d be able to actually make it. I bought yarn with my birthday money from Johnathan’s mom, and had no reason, at that point, not to make it. I started it on Tuesday night, and by Thursday night, it was totally finished, including buttons and buttonholes. The buttonholes were an interesting part for me. The pattern calls for binding off, then picking up and knitting fifteen stitches with doubled yarn. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to make it work the way the pattern called for it to work, so ultimately I ignored the instructions. I looked up how to make a one-row buttonhole, and worked it into the pattern instead. It turned out pretty well! The buttonholes were a little bit big, so the buttons don’t like to stay put, but I figure I’d rather sew them smaller than have to un-knit and redo the buttonholes because the buttons won’t fit through. I really like how the neckwarmer turned out. Now I just have to wait four more months until it’s cool enough outside to actually require it! Aw, man… [Pattern]
  
• Mary Sue’s Bella’s Mittens: I am not a Twilight fan. I read the book last year and more than once wanted to throw the book through a window. It’s horrible. However, when I saw a picture of a pair of look-alike mittens that a friend on LJ made, I couldn’t help myself. I was in love! These mittens are great. They’re long, which I like, and have a neat horseshoe cable going up the top side. I started the first one on Friday night, after acquiring a longer cable needle so that I could do the magic loop to make the mitten. It took me a few hours on Friday night to make most of the cuff, then a few hours spent on Saturday got me the rest of the way finished with the mitten. Unfortunately, I stayed up until 3:30AM to finish it, because I just wanted to see it completed. As such, I didn’t get much sleep, so didn’t knit at all yesterday. As of this moment, I have exactly twenty of the requisite forty-three stitches cast on for the second mitten, so today’s looking like a knitting bust, too. Maybe this is second sock syndrom, but for mittens? I’m not sure. Either way, I’m really happy with how it turned out. I just need to finish the second one now. [Pattern]
  

Before I started my mitten, I also threaded beads for and cast on for an Odessa hat (another pattern I’ve had my eye on for quite a while), so that’s “in progress”as well. Coming up, I have plans to make a couple of pairs of socks (my first self-made socks!), a couple of things for my mom for Chirstmas, a couple of things for a friend who is moving to a colder climate at the end of the year, and a pair of Space Invaders socks for Johnathan (don’t worry, he already knows about them!). I should have plenty of projects to keep me busy until I find a new job. (Hopefully longer than that, too!)

My only real wish is that I could subsist on knitting commissions. I have exactly one so far, and that one won’t start until finances are in the right place for her, so I’m not sure when I’ll need to start on that. I’m excited to do it, though! So, uh, want something knitted? I’ll do it for you! If you pay me, of course.

We have no real plans as to our recreation once we get to Pittsburgh. We’ll probably see if there’s a unique exhibit or museum that we want to see, and a couple of Johnathan’s friends will probably be here for the day as well. We may see if we can meet up with them, if they’re amenable to the proposition.

I’m really excited. The only real trip we’ve taken since I moved out to Ohio was to go to Columbus a few weeks ago, and I really enjoy our trips together. I think Johnathan and I just generally travel well together. It’s pretty darn pleasing, if you ask me.

We’re getting off the turnpike in someplace called Cranberry, which is not only a really cool name for a city (I like cranberries!), but also has a lot of hotels. We’re going to crash for the night and then see what tomorrow holds. Hopefully Pittsburgh will be good to us.

It is amazing to me how strongly music can bring up memories and evoke emotions of a time past. Back around the time I got my iPod I was pretty much a mess. I was recovering from being in a relationship that I should have identified as unhealthy, I was dealing with a lot of “I hate everyone” issues (more commonly known as “being emo”), and was generally struggling to find my place in the world.

The music I was listening to at that time was music I picked up from friends at the time- mostly the friends I went on roller coaster riding excursions with. Bands like Yellowcard, Something Corporate, Allister, Sugarcult were getting a lot of playtime. Hearing music from that time takes me back to things like a trip to California , a day at the Warped Tour, drives to a friends’ house in the country in the middle of winter, and getting airtime driving on the causeway leading to a local amusement park. Unfortunately, a lot of those memories I don’t want any more.

The people we spend our time with, like musical tastes, will change as we live our lives. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes for the worse. I’m in a much better place in my life than I was when I first loaded up the jPod (Yes, I named it “jPod”). I can’t help but miss some of those times. I haven’t had a coaster season as active and fun as the one I had in 2004. I don’t have as many friends, nor do I have somebody I can call my “best friend” outside of Laura. I don’t drive two hours in the middle of the night to play Dance Dance Revolution at a 24 hour bowling alley.

As strange as it may sound, I miss what I had then but am eternally thankful I don’t have it anymore.

In January, I went back to Scattergood MOO for the first time in probably almost a year. I went back at just the right time, it seems like, because when I did, I met Johnathan and after a series of really unusual conversational circumstances, we started talking quite a bit. My mom and I went to see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Keller theater. I loved it.

In February, I went to Kansas with my stepmother and my two half-sisters to see my dad. It ended up being a trip to see the inside of hotel rooms while I worked on homework and my dad lavished attention on the two little girls. I was the babysitter, they were the daughters. I came back sicker than I’ve been in years because my stepmother had the forethought and consideration to take two sick little girls on an airplane trip and expect someone who was not their mother to wipe snotty noses, change diapers and generally play mommy for the weekend. I do not have fond memories of the weekend. That month, Johnathan and I calculated that we logged approximately fourteen hours on Skype.

In March, I broke up with Jimmy, who was my boyfriend at the time. It was a long time coming and I think I put it off far longer than I should have out of fear and uncertainty. It had been over for probably six months already at that point. In late March, I flew out to Ohio for the first time to spend a few days with Johnathan. The trip was planned on a lark, but it ended up being one of the better vacations that I can remember.

In April, I was still in Ohio. We went to New York City and it was the first time for both of us. I met some of the original cast of The Drowsy Chaperone (which sadly closed on December 30 after a year and a half on Broadway), we rode the Cyclone at Coney Island and the Wonder Wheel in Astroland. We saw Avenue Q. It was a wonderful day, and let us both know that we travel and vacation well together. I went home to Oregon and took classes up again, only to have to drop them about a week later in order to move back in with my mom. My mom and I went to see The Light in the Piazza at the Keller theater. In late April, I started work at Comcast.

In May, I did very little outside of work at Comcast. My time was spent packing, cleaning, talking to Johnathan on Skype and on Gtalk, and working. It was in May that we decided that October would be the ideal month to move. I saw Chicago at the Keller theater with my mom.

In June, Johnathan came to visit me for my birthday. I turned 22 and we had a cozy few days. He explored Portland all on his own and discovered that it is nearly impossible to get lost as long as you can get to a bus or a train. We had dinner at Gustav’s, one of my favorite German restaurants and wandered down 23rd street, taking a detour into Moonstruck chocolates. Pear truffles are to die for. My brother, my mom and I saw Spamalot at the Keller theater.

In July, I worked. I did little else outside of work. I packed boxes and kept working toward the cleanliness of my room. I got very sick toward the end of the month and had to take time off of work for the first time. Johnathan and I created Bits of Existence and I revived The Golden Road for the second time.

In August, I went back to Ohio to visit Johnathan again. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Amish country and it was there that we got engaged. We toured a two-bedroom apartment on the first floor of the same building he was already living in, and by the end of the month, Johnathan had secured it for us to move in on October 1. At the end of August, I began shipping boxes of my things to Ohio. I bought a new car – a 2003 Chevy Malibu – and traded in the Jeep Wrangler that I had driven for five years.

In September, I continued to pack and clean, and by mid-September, I had cleared out all of my things and shipped everything that I knew I could live without for the rest of the month. I began to clean up the bedroom and pack the things that would go into my car. I purchased cat carriers, had the cats checked up at the vet – Beethoven was 19lbs and Isabella was 12lbs at last weigh-in: proof that my cats are fat! – and finished up most of the final preparations for the move.

In October, Johnathan flew out to Portland. We had lunch at Todai and spent the afternoon finishing up final preparations for the move. We played Mario Party 8 on the Wii with my family and at 5AM the following morning, we drove out of Portland. After three days of driving – during one of which we spent 21 hours traveling – we arrived in Ohio. Three days later, I was fully unpacked. The job hunt began in full force. I had one interview which came to nothing but continued to search. I met Johnathan’s dad for the first time.

In November, I met Johnathan’s stepmother for the first time. Allison and her brother stayed with us for a weekend and were the first overnight company we had. I met Johnathan’s friend Matt from Iowa who now lives in Pennsylvania. We had Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with his mom. I continue the very discouraging job hunt.

In December, I continued the job hunt. I had an interview at Borders which came to nothing. I had lunch alone with Johnathan’s mom for the first time. We decided that we were definitely getting married in April of 2008. A bunch of friends of mine from livejournal, namely Hogwarts_Elite at livejournal, sent me a large package of Christmas decorations, candies and other Christmas-themed goodies. Allison sent a small artificial tree and we had Christmas decor in the apartment where we had feared monetary limitations would prevent our being able to have any. We spent Christmas day partially at his mom’s house. We had lunch there and I ate homemade pirogies for the first time. We spent the evening at home, hanging out and playing video games together. On Christmas Eve day, we picked out engagement rings and ordered them. New Year’s Eve was spent playing video games, eating Chinese food, drinking a wonderful Riesling and some French sparkling wine. We rang in the new year by drinking wine and watching Toy Story 2.

And here we are. We have twelve months ahead of us, just waiting to be filled with memories. Overall, I would say 2007 was a good year. I found a man I love very much, someone with whom I have a great deal in common. I found new interests and continued to cultivate old interests. I made the biggest move I’ve ever made without my family and am now living farther from my family than I ever have in my life. I learned a lot, I grew up some, and I’m generally happier now than I was a year ago.

My resolution for next year? As Johnathan would say: to suck a little bit less this year than I did last year.

I wish everyone a happy new year, and I hope nobody got so smashed last night that they don’t remember what happened to them.

The long of it is so: I’ve been applying for jobs left, right and center and still have nothing, not even retail. I think after the holiday is over, I’ll contact a temp agency and get the ball rolling that way. I vaguely tried a few weeks ago but it came to nothing and I didn’t really follow up. That was my fault. It’s not a lot of fun, this job searching thing, and honestly it’s a bit frustrating for me overall. I will prevail, though. Somehow, I’ll prevail.

What I’ve been doing since Allison left is trying to keep up with the housework, and doing so poorly, fighting off several colds (Johnathan working in a hospital and all, and me not having any immunities to the exact cold strains that will have gone around over the years in Ohio, I’m very susceptible to basically anything that comes home), and reading books. I’ve gone through several over the last month or so. I’d say six or seven, at minimum. I don’t know.

Let’s see, Thanksgiving happened in the meantime. Johnathan’s mom came over the Saturday after and we had dinner and played Mario Party 8. Not a big to-do, but fun nevertheless. Christmas is next week, obviously, and we’re going over to her house for a couple of hours, but spending the majority of the evening on our own. We’re going to see his dad and step-mom on Friday, so that’ll get all the holiday stuff out of the way, and then we’ll be able to coast until the new year.

As far as Christmas, due to a constrained budget, we weren’t thinking we were going to have any decorations and certainly no splurging on gifts for one another. I bemoaned our lack of festive decor on my livejournal and some of my friends from there, particularly the people I knew in Hogwarts Elite stepped in and sent a large box filled with sweets, cookies, ornaments, lights and a few knickknacks like a reindeer with teeny bells on its antlers and some poppers which I put into the stockings that we put up. Allison sent a tree and a bunch of ornaments as well so we’re done up quite a lot with lights and our adorable three-foot tree. Incidentally, here are some photos of what we were sent:

So, we’ve got a fair amount up now. I haven’t taken pictures of the rest of it all done up yet, but I will before it comes down and I’ll share for sure. Unfortunately, we had to take the tinsel off of the tree because the cats decided it was incredibly tasty and I know that’s no good for kitties. So, we have a huge bag of tinsel that we’ll have to sort out something to do with for next year. Obviously we can’t use it because of the feline buttheads. Ah, well!

While we’re on the subject of Christmas, it’s been an interesting year what with our plans to get married in April. We want to get married this year, which means we’d like to go on our honeymoon this year, so all we’ve told anyone that we wanted for Christmas (with the exception of my drooling over a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer…) is money toward our ideal honeymoon trip. So far, my mom has pitched in, which I’m really grateful for, as has Allison. So as of right now, we’re at…

$210 / $4000

Super impressive, I know! But hey, a start is a start, right? I’m hoping we can afford it by April, but if not, we’ll have to put it off until September or so, or maybe as long as next year. I know his mom has something up her sleeve so we’ll see what happens. I’m really excited about all of that, too. (Of course, if anyone wants to contribute, you’re more than welcome. )

I guess I should mention that we’re officially getting married on April 25 of this year. It’s going to be very small – his parents and anyone important to me who can manage to get out here. I’ll be inviting my mom, step-dad and brother for certain – inviting my dad and step-mom is a bit more iffy because I haven’t heard anything from either of them since before I moved and really, I mostly don’t care – but I don’t know whether they’ll be able to get out here this April for a one-day, very small and unassuming situation. I’m planning to invite Allison as well, because I figure she’s close enough to come to it so long as school or work doesn’t interfere. It’s exciting to know that in about four months, we’ll be married. A Smith no more, hurrah! So, there’s that.

Recently, I picked up the His Dark Materials trilogy because I read about all the controversy surrounding it from religious groups. I want to write about it, but I haven’t sat down and done so as yet. Honestly, I loved them and I really don’t see where the controversy is coming from. Of course, after I finished reading, the immediate thing I thought of was how awesome it would be to roleplay in the world that Philip Pullman presents. Go figure, huh? Geeky ’til I die! That said, I’ve jumped in – well, not jumped so much as eased in – at HisDarkMaterials.org which is honestly one of the most attractive websites I’ve seen. It’s set up nicely and the graphics are pretty without being overwhelming. It’s not often I find a black-themed website that suits my fancy, so it makes me happy. Oh, incidentally, they’re having a book giveaway for a book about the Golden Compass books and I put in for it on a whim, because who doesn’t like winning, right? Well, I got notice today that I actually won! So I’ll be getting a free copy of the book, autographed by both the author and illustrator as well as a pack of Golden Compass cards (which are movie-themed, I believe).

Another new interest of mine is the Young Frankenstein cast album, which I recently acquired. The cast is very talented, and the songs are very amusing. I’m glad I have the soundtrack, and I think if it were to tour, I’d probably make an effort to see it. Oh, speaking of musicals, awful news! The Drowsy Chaperone which is by far my favorite musical right now (I say ‘right now’ because it’s always subject to change, but it’s been ‘right now’ for almost two years now…) is closing on December 30th. When it closes, it will have played 32 previews and 674 performances. It’s so sad that it’s closing after only a year and a half on Broadway. I’m sad that I won’t have seen it on Broadway before it closes, but I did get to see it on tour and loved it. Can’t be too choosy, right? I’m just saddened that it’s ending. Who knows, though. Maybe it will pull a Les Mis and have a revival in three or four years.

I’ve also thrown myself into the groups and talk area over at LibraryThing. I’m really enjoying that as well. I finally got my whole library catalogued there, and it’s interesting to note that even after parting with a fair number of books to make the move, I have 160 books. I’d very likely have over 200 if I hadn’t parted with some before moving. There are others that I’ve made the decision to part with as well, since moving here. So, I’m impressed with my own numbers. Of course, there are people with upwards of 10,000 books, and many people have between 2,000 and 5,000 in their libraries, but I’m still fairly young and just moved across the country as frugally as I could manage. I know I’ll get more books together once I’m fully settled and employed. At any rate, if anyone wants to friend me, I welcome them to do so!

So, really, I’ve been keeping myself busy, I think that’s plain to see. I finally met some more of Johnathan’s friends, including his friend Nicole, who we wanted to see when she was performing in Forbidden Broadway here but unfortunately we didn’t manage to do it before it closed this month, and his coworker Dennis. I think we’re going to start doing more social things – meaning more things outside the apartment that don’t necessarily involve computers or gadgets of any kind. It will be good for me, even though it still gives me a fair amount of social anxiety.

I think I’ve made this entry long enough, don’t you? So, I leave you with my dæmon and go back to … whatever it was that I was doing before.

Last weekend, my friend Allison and her brother stayed with us over the weekend. Allison drove in on Thursday night and her brother came in on the early early train on Friday morning. He left on the earlier early train on Sunday morning, and then on Monday morning, Allison drove out to Connecticut to stay with a cousin or a friend or somebody else that isn’t us. It was fun having them here, though immediately after, Johnathan and I both got a bit sick due to the very little sleep we got. This Saturday, Johnathan’s friend Matt stopped in on his way to eastern Pennsylvania and crashed on our couch for the night. Then on Sunday night, Allison stopped through on her way back to Southern Indiana. It’s been a bit of a busy week. It doesn’t seem like much really, but I’m not good at that kind of thing. It was a lot of fun having them here, but immediately after, I feel like I have to recuperate. It’s an awful time to realize that in some ways, I’m exactly like my dad. I’m not sure when it happened that I became so bad at the social thing. When did I get so anxious in situations where I don’t know many people, and why?

At any rate, Johnathan and I have both been terribly, terribly negligent with posting, which is probably because we don’t do much. I’m finding that except for things inside our apartment, on a tight budget there isn’t much of anything to do. Everything interesting involves a fair drive, really. There’s nothing in our area to do right now except maybe see a movie. It’s… not something I’m used to, but at the same time, I’ve spent most of my time hanging out at home even when I lived in Portland, so maybe it’s just that I don’t know what to do. Johnathan seems to be much at a loss, too, though, so perhaps not. Right now, we’re playing The Sims 2 fairly heavily and working our way through Kingdom Hearts 2 together. It’s really fun to play it together, really. I’m really enjoying it.

There’s really nothing else going on. We’re still cooking together fairly frequently, keeping the apartment mostly in order, although having company changes that because I don’t want to spend my time picking everything up; it seems rude to spend so much time cleaning while they’re there, and then simultaneously telling them no, don’t worry about it, just relax.

There are times here that I really don’t like it. The apartment is wonderful and so is Johnathan, but Ohio is sometimes maddening. People are idiots when they drive, and it seems like everyone is in a perpetually grumpy mood. Saying hello to someone or even smiling and letting them go first into a doorway seems to be a novelty here. Saying, “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry!” when you accidentally bump into someone is also a novelty. Best I’ve gotten is a mumbled “‘scuse me” and even that was disappointing. I’m afraid that the longer I spend here, the more like that I’ll become. I don’t want to be sour and apathetic. I think most of my frustration with living here is that it’s different than what I’m used to, and I read somewhere that it’s very common to have high stress after a move. I can’t remember where I read that, though, so maybe it’s a load of crap.

At any rate, we’re here, we’re alive, and we’re doing just fine.