Things to do : Orlando's Celebrity Look-Alike Convention.
I saw some show on tv and it looks wild. Apparently, for $25 you can get in and recruit for your retirement village, bar, saloon, entertainment complex. The host of the show was the guy who sings ''It's not unusual'' and there were loads of Dolly's, Cher's, and Bill's (Clinton). Everybody performs and then gets in a line. The talent scouts all walk by and either give you their card or a cold shoulder. Let's go next year!

This week has been favorable. Thursday, Eureka and I went to get lunch. We were walking to the slew of buffet style Chinese places and I saw 20 pounds (2 tens) sticking out of an ATM machine. The machine was beeping. One other time, I was out and saw the same thing but everybody was wondering whose it was and the money got sucked back in so I didn't make that mistake this time. I grabbed it and then smiled at Eureka. We ran and then suddenly some weird short guy said "EXCUSE ME!! EXCUSE ME" really loud. I was pissed. He wanted his money back, so the money I was clenching in my right hand came flying out of my pocket and i said "OH is this yours", feeling really guilty. Him : "No, can you take a picture of me and my friend" (handing me the camera). I took a few shots and we carried on to our eatery. So that windfall for lunch and a caramel brownie . We had five pounds left so I played roullete and turned the remains back into 20. We went back to school and I finished my shirt.

OH, Tuesday I met up with Emma, who is a journalist, bought some of my W.M. like a year ago, and lives in London. We met up at a French cafe place but it was overcrowded so we looked for something else and ended up at the Sheridan Hotel bar. It was bottom-of-the-barrel-ritzy-casual. Beers were the equivalent of 9 dollars in the US. We shared a bottle of wine. A lady had me taste test it, then it sat in a silver bucket on ice as we discussed neighbor stories and our dreams of starting a world class badminton team. BIRDIE! She headed off to the bus after she complained about fault soap pump in the lady's room. I think she was hammered. She must have been considering her lapse of judgement - wrecklessly abandoning her New Year's resolution of not eating candy midweek. Emma is great.

The other night I woke up and the tv was on. The Australian Open final was on. What luck!!

Tinley Park, IL

Chicago, IL

Michigan

Amsterdam

When me and my grandma watch tv, she keeps pointing out that "they are all wearing long ties now." They = David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, ????, ????

New Years was the bomb. We invented a new game. It's called truth or lies. I am gonna play the game with things that happened on New Years. 7 are thruth, 3 are lies. You figure it out.

1: I found a nickel in my Shrimp Basket from Clark Dog.

2: Mike bought socks at the Alsip Flea Market.

3: Emily and Bob's neighbors won the 3-legged race in the courtyard at quarter til January 1, 2007. They did not stick around to see our sprarkler display.

4: Danielle insisted that Anne and I not put food coloring in our hay-tea.

5: The night before New Years, three of us went out to a bar with two lesbian band directors who ate 1.75 grilled cheeses. On the way out, Anne and the smaller lesbian were in the bathroom together when the lights went out.

6: The party zone (B + E's apartment) has a ceiling fan with 3 blades.

7: Abby's boyfriend drank beer out of his shoe while Abby was looking for a stamp in his wallet.

8: Bob pushed a plant cover at the Frank Lloyd Wright house and water went everywhere. A woman in a group photo quickly turned her head.

9: I made it to the Lasalle train station with 20 seconds to spare or else I would have had to wait for two hours. On the train, a dude talked about being drunk and puking all over his hotel room. His friend was also on the phone. He talked about poker tournaments and how it took 7 weeks to get a free teeshirt from Fulltiltpoker.com.

10: I used some hair conditioner to oil Bob and Emily's squeeky door hinge.