...and we're back

I feel like more happened today than in my three week (OK,month) hiatus from this blog/school/chicago/life, but a quick summary wouldn't hurt. Right?

Let's see, since I signed off on December 1st, 2008 there was:

A final project
Creepy building tours
Bitter cold days spent wondering the Chicago streets
Final flush-inducing presentations
A holiday party with a splash (alright, a flood) of air guitar
A punishing migraine
Panic packing
A much anticipated return to NYC
College (with bangs) redeux
Another holiday party (crashed)
Death by brie
Brunch
A walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
A Baby visit
A stomach flu
An R visit
Cuddles with Lola
An early Christmas
A Jamaican vacation
Many a good meal
Evenings of catch up with far-away family
A delayed flight
More cuddles with Lola
Return of R
A short road trip North
Fantastic bouts of laziness
Bad movies
Good movies
Great movies
Old movies
Home cooked meals
Shopping
Shared lunches
Drinks with old friends and new
A blizzard
A New Years sake bomb
A New Year
No resolutions, but some goals
More brunch (what was that, croissant french toast?)
A vague anniversary
Wonderful sleep in mornings
A very early morning
An epic road trip
A speedy return (all things considered)
A sigh of relief
A day of organization
A good night's sleep
A first day of school
A first blog post of the new year

...and I think that brings us up to speed.

A new semester means new classes, challenges and, above all, a better commute! Yes. No more hour long thing. No more burbs. No sir. I'm up and at 'em and in downtown Chicago in 30 minutes or less! Yup. No more Evanston. It's glorious.

Our tuition 'includes' a transit pass that allows us to go all over this great city (woo hoo). The fine print being that we have to travel up to campus (aka Evanston. aka the hour long commute) to get it (boo hiss). So this morning I sucked it up (I have Monday morning free, ps. Jealous?) and traveled up to the Evs at my normal rush hour time (8 am). I got up there pretty swiftly, had an awkward hello with an administrator, picked up my pass and attempted to get on with my morning. Walking back through campus my eye caught a few newbies anxiously looking skyward and I felt good and nostalgic, even, for those early panic-stricken days when everything was (too) new. I felt revived and ready to take on a new semester, happy to be in Chicago and to be back at school. Yes, I may have been skipping.

That was, until, the transit system failed me (really CTA? So early into the new year?) with derailment problems or signal issues or something. There was no sweet express train bringing back downtown. Instead, I had a long and cold wait on a random corner with some angry and crazy commuters. There was the toothless guy who spit his words to the sidewalk. There was an older woman who 'knows a thing or two about the CTA and has a thing or two to tell them.' She also had a thing or two dripping out of her nose that tended to graze my coat. But, after 20 minutes of waiting on a cold, seemingly abandoned, stoop you really feel like you belong with these irate crazies. I may have spat a little myself. I may have added a 'uh huh' and a 'you tell him' to the pacing man's rant.

Though, when the bus finally did come I took my seat in the back and pretended to be terribly enthralled by the passing scenery. I have enough friends, after all. Many buses and two hours later I was back in my hood and rushing to get ready for my first day of school.

But, after all of this, maybe that's a story for another time. I will say, I am excited. The kind of excited that is laced with anxiety and makes me sweat a little, but that's not so bad (and not so unexpected, let's be honest).

Oh, and a muffin shout out:



She's so sleepy and edible.