andrew61

Confessions of a Slacker
2009-10-10 00:00:00 (UTC)

Today's Outing

My friend Silvija and I were to meet outside Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! just before 12:30, as that was the time our reservations were scheduled for. That would give us plenty of time to dine leisurely before catching the 3 pm matinee “Fake” down the street at the Steppenwolf Theatre.

<IMG SRC=https://andrew61.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/babareeba.jpg>

I arrived first, about fifteen minutes early. I waited and waited and got antsy because she was late. I knew she was taking the train in from the far suburbs and departing at Clybourn Station, from which she would take a cab the rest of the way (just over a mile). I knew that train station was in an industrial area and wondered if she would readily get a cab from there and if she would be safe in the meantime. I hoped nothing had happened to her.

Finally, she arrived. Her train was late, she said. It was supposed to pull into Clybourn at 12:12, but didn’t make it until 12:25. It only took a few minutes for her to hail a cab from there, but the cabdriver took some long way around and the ride ended up taking fifteen minutes, which I thought was rather odd for such a short distance. Traffic in Chicago, however, is often unpredictable.

But there was no problem. We were seated right away and still had plenty of time for a nice, leisurely meal. We ordered a couple of tapas dishes — Silvija the escargot, I the crispy spicy potatoes — which we shared. We also split a seafood paella — made with gulf shrimp, sea scallops, and green beans.

In addition, Silvija had two glasses of Sangria, whereas I stuck to icewater. We talked about her recent three-week trip to the UK to visit her daughter Larisa and son-in-law Christopher, among other things. It was great getting caught up.

Then it was on to the theater. “Fake” was about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Piltdown Man hoax, and was set in two different time periods, subsequent scenes going back and forth — the era just before World War I, and the era just after World War II. A rather critical review of the play can be read here.

(I enjoyed the play — thought it was excellent in its way — thought-provoking, witty, and even charming at times — but it left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied. Not bad for 55 bucks, I suppose.)

<*IMG SRC=https://andrew61.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/steppenwolf.jpg>

Afterward we took a walk down nearby Burling Street, down a rather long residential block which has undergone a complete makeover with the erection of many breathtaking new mansions (crammed close together in urban fashion, of course) over the past ten years or so. Here’s an example of one of the street’s more notable domiciles:

<IMG SRC=https://andrew61.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/burlingstmansion.jpg>

I got a kick out of how Silvija ooh-ed and ah-ed over the houses. I get so jaded here in the city, seeing the same sights over and over, day in and day out, that sometimes it’s refreshing to view things anew through the eyes of someone else who’s seeing them for the first time.

Finally, wrapping up today’s little excursion, we walked to a nearby Starbucks for coffee (chai tea latte for me), and relaxed for a bit, talking about politics of all things… Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as Rio winning the 2016 Olympics and how most Chicagoans didn’t seem to want the games held here anyway.

Another thing she told me gave me a little thrill inside when I realized it meant I had started a trend of sorts (the number of times in my lifetime I’ve been a trendsetter I could count on the fingers of one hand and still have a couple left over). I’d totally forgotten about this, but when Silvija and I used to work together at a telecom — our cubicles were right next to one another — I would sometimes employ the rather playful expression “See how you are?” It was a humorous, good-natured, lighthearted way to express exasperation at another person’s being difficult that I had subconsciously picked up from my dad when I was a kid. Well, Silvija thought it was a wonderful way to kid someone without being judgmental… she got such a kick out of it that she began using the expression too, with various friends and associates… and some of them are even using it now! I had no idea… heh.

When it was time to leave, I waited with Silvija on the streetcorner until we successfully hailed a cab for her — which took several minutes — gave her a hug, and then she was gone. I walked home from there even though it was freezing cold out. I learned that walking 2.5 miles in 39-degree temps wearing only a dress shirt and Dockers, no jacket, is quite doable if you do it briskly and have a warm drink in your hand.




Ad: