one more visit to Standee's

Standee's, Edgewater, Chicago
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago
I'm a little slow in posting about my visit Tuesday. Turns out they're open through this weekend, so I'll be going Saturday around noon, should you be interested/available. It'll be COLD here but I've got to visit one more time before they move (supposedly move--I'm still sad about Filter! though maybe they are opening? see the photo linked on the Flickr photo), probably not bringing the sign along.

edited to add: I meant for this to be an announcement I'd delete later because it's not "good" enough to be the first post of 2010 (but I'd repost the photo), but I'll leave it since I've been slow coming up with another post due to travel plans. That was why I turned comments off--wanted to save them for the "real" post. It's worth clicking on the photo to see the discussion of it on Flickr, if you missed that. Photos from my last two visits on the way...

my lucky day

it's lucky 8-8-08! here's a story. Happy Friday!
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I wanted to post here on 8-08-08 since it’s supposed to be a lucky day. And, you know, aside from that man who presumably wanted to rape me,* (okay, actually not, cleared up in the comments, but I still like the post I wrote, so continue) and that crowd of people watching to see if that other man was going to commit suicide, it’s been a SUPERFUN DAY!!!!!

Um, my vitriol levels are a tad high today, so rather than rehash those stories (and other frustrations) I will ask you to click on the Flickr photo if you haven’t read its caption yet. People may have missed the point, it’s not that it was an annoying day—it’s that it was a deeply upsetting day filling me with loathing of humanity. I guess.

Anyway, it’s also the start of the Olympics! And there’s plenty of places you could read about all the unfortunate things the Chinese government does re: Tibet, the environment, censorship, prison…I haven’t paid enough attention to the dirty details of what got demolished and who got displaced so the Olympics could happen there, but I should. Chicago’s schemes actually don’t seem that bad in comparison.

But they’re still troubling, and the reason I got out of the house so early was to take photos at a certain historic hospital that’s inconveniently in the way of the would-be Olympic Village. I didn’t get in (this was one of the day’s many frustrations) but still had an instructive walk around the site. Then, after the indignities mentioned in the first paragraph, I went to Chinatown for a bubble tea (actually, I got a cappuccino coffee agar), and it took me a few moments to realize why camera crews were around…oh, right, Chinatown, Olympics in China. I did little else except enjoy the Chinese zodiac plaques in the plaza. I don’t really believe in astrology, but I’ve always got to stop and read the one for my year, and perhaps for whatever friend or crush object I’m wondering about. The day picked up from then. A little.

*So, imagining the responses that telling that story might elicit on widely read feminist/political blogs that seem to attract lots of antagonistic/crazy/hateful comments, (thankfully this blog does not)—gee, is it unfair of me to consider the guy a would-be rapist because he wanted me to get in his car, and said horrible things to me when I did not? Perhaps it was just a misguided attempt at being “friendly”? (Um, sarcasm.)

For all the nutty stuff I do like go into abandoned buildings by myself, I have to say no one I’ve ever run into on my own there has been a fraction as scary as men I’ve encountered when I’m just trying to get around the city. But I continue going all over the city (Chicago, and many others) by myself, without a car, and continue going to abandoned places by myself when that’s my only choice. And then there’s my new summertime hobby of meeting explorer/photographer guys off the Internet and letting them drive me around, and drinking before going to/while hanging out with them at abandoned buildings, and nothing’s happened, and their intentions seem honorable (Katherine debates the inclusion of the following word… debates… debates… debates…), unfortunately.

Six months of Washburne, etc.

Green floor at the school
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

No, it's not six months since I first went to Washburne Trade School, my favorite exploration site in Chicago (one I've somewhat neglected recently while another huge trade-oriented school has been torn down), but six months since I first got photos there, including this, still one of my all-time-favorites. My first visit, with a group of Flickr people, was incredibly fun but my memory card quit about 2/3 of the way through the excursion, losing the 150 or so shots I've took. I definitely wasn't yet up to going in these places alone and had to wait for an online friend to offer to take me back to reshoot, and I first met him six months ago today.

Since then, I've spent a lot of time at WTS (I even managed to be there on Thanksgiving, New Year's, and Easter--the latter two were somewhat spontaneous trips with friends) and with that person. If you'll forgive the metaphor, I could say that both this place and that relationship have undergone changes and I've lost some of what I wished was still around, but what's still there is pretty cool, and important to me.

On a lighter note, this visit was also the first time I faced the dilemma of desperately needing a restroom in a place that didn't have functioning restrooms. My camera batteries were running out and that shortened the visit a bit, but still...There's still not an ideal solution to this problem, but I recommend visiting abandoned buildings with Burger King, McDonald's, or Starbucks nearby.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen it, here's my WTS set. I highly recommend photo sets by Noah and David; both have beautiful photos of parts of the building that were torn down before I first visited. We've all blogged about WTS more than once, too...

That pretty much does it for the quasi-anniversaries I've been celebrating (Flickr, UE, making friends)...until it's been a year. I think I passed the 3-year anniversary of this blog not long ago, but I didn't count it because I went two years without posting here.

This constant urge to commemorate could be related to another of my nerdy public radio obsessions--all the anniversary stories they run. In the past week, I heard stories about the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the subsequent city riots, the 100th anniversary of Bette Davis' birth, and the 75th anniversary of the end of Prohibition--or more specifically, Anheuser-Busch starting to produce beer again. So Monday I picked up some Schlitz and spent the evening having beer to commemorate that date, and eating ice cream to commemorate that I had ice cream around.

(Okay, I just checked my past "flickrphoto" tagged posts here to see if I'd used this photo before, and I realized that all the posts where I've since replaced photos on Flickr now come up without images, and I truly don't know how to redo these, unless it's to insert the actual photo in each post...)

A round-up of recent publicity

People going home from work
Originally uploaded by katherine of
chicago

I can almost feel myself getting back into the blog thing (which includes reading/commenting on everyone else's--I haven't signed into Blogger in well over a week at this point). Forgive me for not writing anything of consequence on the many important things going on in the world, and just putting up some links. The past few weeks--starting not too long after I fixed my photo sizes on Flickr (still just over halfway through replacing them in the photostream, though)--have been pretty cool photo-wise. The websites mentioned here don't always tell you when they're using your photos; sometimes you find out through the "Flickr Stats" function and sometimes people you know tell you. So, in chronological order:

A couple photos show up in this post on Chicagoist 2/26

The Time Out Chicago blog on 2/28 used my “Donut Doctor” photo, my first appearance there, as far as I know

Whet Moser's Chicago Reader blog used a favorite CTA shot of mine for
"You Shoot" on 3/5, and gave me some nice publicity for my other architecture/exploration photos. Also, City of Destiny and my explorer friend Noah's Dump Site are on his Chicago blogroll, among others I know.

Chicagoist on 3/13 used one of my photos large for the first time—the one on this post

The “Merge” section of Gapers Block on 3/18 mentioned Dump Site and some of my photos. Interesting stuff about the architectural salvage business…

And then, the same photo on this post was also used for Gapers Block “Rearview” 3/19. They were the ones bugging me the most about fixing my photo sizes, so I'm thrilled I did and finally made it onto the site. I'm currently working on an article/photo essay for them, more on that later...

Also, on 3/19 I hit 10,000 page views for my photostream on Flickr. It was stuck on 9999 for a while and I tried not to check it too obsessively. It's also been six months since I made my first friends on Flickr that became real-life friends. One first contacted me 9/18, which I much later learned was his birthday, so I joked that I should wish him a happy half-birthday 3/18, and I did. I also finally bought a Ladytron CD 3/18, after it's been the music of choice on so many drives with him to abandoned buildings and so forth. Getting into "UE" is another six-month quasi-anniversary coming up. Please excuse my obsessive streak of commemorating everything, okay?

Glued to the computer

Sunny day inside Donut Doctor
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I love this photo, but the place I took it in--Donut Doctor, a donut/ice cream place at Lawrence & Kimball--turned out to be quite bleak. I didn't have any donuts. But perhaps I'll check in on them again when I go out today to get shots of a beautiful building a block east. I'd noticed it'd become suspiciously devoid of businesses and now according to this great post at A Chicago Sojourn, it's going to be demolished.

Other than that...well, when I'm not replacing 100s of photos on my Flickr photostream (I'm 1/3 of the way through!) with larger-sized ones, I'm deleting 100s of duplicate photos from iPhoto so I have room to upload new shots to the computer (from a very fun Sunday of exploration...not to mention more of the shots from last Sunday's Gary exploration), or I'm combing through 100s of blogs to add a new non-Chicago culture/politics section to the blogroll. I've tried to take time away from these obsessive tasks to read books, and cook, and go out. But I've also been a little sick (cold, not flu). I'm usually only sick one or two days a year, but this has been five days, though only Sat. and Sun. (the days I ran around cold buildings, and interacted with actual people, not just the computer) felt truly unpleasant.

Yesterday Flickr seemed to go haywire for people using Safari, so I'm back to Firefox, which I'm pleased to see still works on my computer (when I last tried it months ago it didn't). Right after midnight last night the power on my block (just the north side) went out for 40 minutes. When the power came back, my small TV didn't work when I tried to turn it back on, so I had to dig through piles of junk to be able to unplug it and move it to a different place (works now) and when I did so, I found many of my winter clothes I hadn't properly put away last year, and now my winter wardrobe has almost doubled and I'm almost hoping it stays cold so I can wear all these sweaters and velvety pants and whatnot.

I'm sure I could give you many more examples of the bizarre and obsessive things I've been up to, but I'd better get out of the apartment now. Next post will be about additions to and reshuffling of the blogroll.

Victory!

Squares and rectangles
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I fixed my photo sizes on Flickr. I fixed my photo sizes on Flickr. I FIXED MY PHOTO SIZES ON FLICKR. I could go on and on...I'm in a state of shock, and ecstasy.

In my nearly 6 months of being a very active Flickr member, my photos always uploaded small and blurry, and if you clicked "All Sizes" they were never larger than medium. There were lots of details people couldn't see, and most agonizingly, certain websites said they'd like to use my photos but couldn't because they're too small. (The Reader, Chicagoist, and Chi-Town Daily News have used some, however.) I'd shoot with the biggest settings possible on my camera, and they came up large in iPhoto, so I couldn't figure it out. Well, seems I'd been uploading from the wrong place all along; now I know to upload from "Originals." I notice this photo shows up the same size as all the other Flickr photos I've blogged, but you'll see it's large if you click on it!

That's the good news. Less good? I have to replace the 1500+ photos I've uploaded already. I intend to fix every single one.

Fun with scanning

The Universe and Dr. Einstein (1948/50)
Originally uploaded by Mod As Hell

It's been an off week. I've really been down and unmotivated to write email I want to write, or to finally blog the story of the "Gary Glamour Gals" or the art show Saturday night. I have to get in a better mood to write some things inspired by yesterday (Roe v. Wade anniversary, celebrity death, 4-month "anniversary" of my urban exploring). It seems strange to say you need to cheer up to write about suicide (not saying that's what that celebrity did...it's just something that came up and I had some musings about) but there you have it.

But hey--Mod as Hell, my second account on Flickr, is finally working out. As of yesterday, people are favoriting photos from it, as of today, they're commenting. More importantly, today I figured out the scanner part of the all-in-one machine I've had for a year. Scanning was easy, but my HP Photosmart Studio is a mess--it keeps freezing and I've had to restart the computer numerous times. I'm trying to scan some hilarious old science booklets I found in a certain school getting demolished. Anyway, here's a successful scan, one of those books I bought for its cover (but could actually be worth reading).

New for 2008!

Colorful cabinets
Originally uploaded by Mod As Hell

A Flickr photo? Doesn't that mean I'm lazy, unmotivated, and depressed? Well, as for the latter--I was in an awful sleep-deprived misery last night. I'm feeling better now, but still feel bad because now TWO good guy-friends have gotten sick from food from a place on my block. (This time a restaurant, not a bakery.) Neither got sick from food I made, I hasten to point out. And at least this time, it wasn't on Christmas (yes, I inadvertenly gave someone food poisoning on Christmas, in 2005).

But if you'll notice, this photo comes from a NEW Flickr account. (It was a favorite on my main account, so yes, I've posted it twice.) This morning, I set up the second account I'd promised, one just for my collections of stuff. Mostly 1950s-1970s, hence the name. (I couldn't believe "Mod as Hell" wasn't taken, but then maybe I'm the only person who thinks that's clever anyway. "Busy Gal" [the name of an early Barbie outfit] was taken as an email name, but I'm using it for my "occupation.")

So, a little motivation. But lazy? Yes, here's text from Mod As Hell's profile, so you'll know what I'll be posting there:
"I just created this second account to serve as a delightful repository for photos and scans of my vast, vast collections of colorful and kitschy pop culture detritus. My apartment is filled with thousands of (not thousands of each, but thousands of things total) vintage things: pulp novels, home ec guides, beauty and dating advice books, recipe booklets, dishes and barware, dresses, hats, shoes, purses, ties, sewing patterns, Barbie and friends dolls, record albums, and so forth. And many other oddball things from thrift stores, dollar stores, yard sales, etc.: weird toys, Asian stationery, bizarre coffee mugs, bowling bags and trophies...I could go on and on."

Because really, how can I deny the world delights like the 1961 paperback "Monica": "Joe Came to Sell Storm Windows and Almost Perished in a Blasting Hurricane of Love"?!

Excuses excuses

Iowa City church demolition
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

Still in Iowa. Here's something I got to see on my Greyhound trip here a year ago. We had just 10 minutes or so at the station, which was conveniently a half-block from this tornado-ruined church. Of course, on my Aug. and Dec. 2007 trips, it was an empty lot.

Sorry about the previous post; I don't like sounding whiny on Christmas when I have so many...well, some would call them "blessings" in my life. Also, I'd say my Christmas was much better than that guy who got mauled to death by the tiger in the zoo.

I'm feeling hurt about some things, and being around my parents just brings up all my inadequacies (well, no comments about my weight this time) but I'm still finding a lot to enjoy here. Just not the internet connection.

Before I left, I uploaded some photos as a Blogger "draft," to fill in the text later. Including the Duran Duran show at the Chicago Theatre...well, due to my setup here I'm not comfortable writing a file offline, and I'm too scared to write anything long online (I got knocked off my connection TEN TIMES on Christmas Eve). But I'm listening to Duran Duran's Greatest Hits right now, and hoping the ancient wine with Cyrillic lettering on the label I raided from my parents' liquor shelf (I'm not sure I ever did that before!) isn't toxic. I promise to have a cheerier post from Iowa that isn't just personal rambling.

Iowa Christmas

ornament / Merry Christmas
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

More later. I'm using the worst internet set-up I've had in years, and trapped in those days when I can't call anyone for a few days (I guess Sunday was the last chance...I wish I knew who left me a voice mail on my cell phone Sun. on their first call, I'm unable to check it), and although I'm having a decent time at my parents', I still feel...well, I wish I'd contacted everyone before I left but I spent the weekend tense and confused about when I'd actually get here. Well, never mind, I guess I'm supposed to wish Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone, so here you go!

Three months of this

Checking the card catalog
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

September 22, 2007 I had my first trip inside an abandoned building (the Brach's factory). I didn't make it to anything particularly impressive today--the foundry I wanted to revisit had been torn down, and I was briefly in a trashed room of a building I haven't mentioned here yet. But I enjoy commemorating pointless "anniversaries," so here's a shot I like from my most recent "real" excursion, an abandoned Catholic school I saw Thursday with my exploring companion DK. (Actually, we hadn't taken a trip to an abandonment together since Halloween, and this was the first one that was new to both of us.) It brought up many melancholy thoughts (about abandoned buildings, not about the companion), but since it's holiday-time and all (and it looks like I'm going to be on the bus early tomorrow, yikes) I won't share them.

I'm supposed to be in Iowa

Christmas in Ames 2006
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

Just a short semi-depressed one. I think you now know this is what to expect when you see a Flickr photo instead of a photoblog entry. I'm anxious to get out here and get a few hours of sunlight, if you can call it that, to take photos. I'm supposed to be on the Greyhound to Iowa right now. For once, I didn't miss it--no, the problem is that because of snowy conditions, coming first to Des Moines and then to Chicago, my parents thought I should wait. They don't want to go through snow to pick me up tonight (45 minutes from where they live). I might not even go till Monday. I've got more time for reading, shopping, and blogging, then, but this is still discouraging. Thurs. was my day to hang out/say goodbye to people; I'm afraid it's going to be a lonely weekend. I also felt weird learning that my roommate (who I hadn't actually seen in 2 weeks, though I know he's been here at least once or twice in that time) was away from his MySpace update (it said "on vacation" and "warm"). Then he walked through the door today. Just when I'd gotten used to leaving laundry around, blasting Christmas music, etc. Oh well. Just goes to show you can't take those MySpace updates too literally...not that I've ever done such a thing before, mind you.

I made it a month

Empty
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

Without coffee or any other major caffeine-containing beverage! As of Saturday evening, it was 30 days. I had an attachment to the idea of a month, but not 5 weeks or 6 weeks or 2 months, so I'll probably have coffee after tomorrow's adventures. And then I'll probably cut back right before I go to my parents'. I have a number of coherent posts I'm planning, I just need to "check in" now and then. This is a spring 2007 photo. It's not meant to imply my life is "empty" right now although I'm in a holiday-time-down-on-myself funk and life is throwing some challenges at me right now. At least there's been one sunny day since my last post...too bad we're now in the midst of a snowstorm.

Three weeks without coffee and so forth

Depressed teen/abandoned factory
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

[This one’s personal, and political. There’s a new exploration-related post right before this one, with all non-Flickr photos, but they’re rather bland. In case you want to read about something else.] Personal: I’ve now gone three weeks without coffee, regular tea, or caffeinated pop. I stopped it on a whim, because someone I know (who’s never had coffee, and no, he’s not a Mormon, everyone asks) kind of suggested it, or rather, he pointed out how it’s easier to not start on caffeine in the first place so you won’t become dependent on it. This isn’t the first time I’ve temporarily given it up, so it isn’t just “changing yourself for a man,” as my friend Kate suggested when we were at Reading Under the Influence Wed. night, heh. I’m doing okay, even though I’ve been to many new (and old) family restaurant/snack shop-type places recently and I’d ALWAYS order coffee at them…it doesn’t feel right. The “herbal coffee” I got at Whole Foods the other day, (Vanilla Nut) Teeccino is shockingly drinkable, I’m having some right now. I’ll be back on the poison after trying a month without it.

Political: My favorite political blog Feministing is raising some funds now (to become more of a "community" site, which means I could try to promote this blog there); I should contribute. If they could reduce their recent dependency on ads, it’d be great. Kind of jarring to see a big Sears ad with the line “Get the ‘I’m So Happy I Could Cry But I’m a Guy’ reaction” in the midst of all the gender-stereotype-breaking. Anyway, I’m borrowing a couple links from them. No mainstream news about the death of Senator Henry Hyde (his funeral was today) will mention Rosie Jimenez so it’s up to blogs to do so. And if only the major media (especially NBC/MSNBC, who seem especially fixated on the story) would throw in a mention of, say Latasha Norman at least once for every 20 mentions of Stacy Peterson, please? The horrific mass shooting at the mall outside Omaha led to the obvious network TV pieces about “are YOU safe at the mall?” and the easy title, “massacre at the mall,” but I was particularly amused/horrified by some woman (possibly a therapist) The Today Show had on as an expert. So she’s trying to make the point that the U.S. has been all hopped up about outside terrorist threats for years when the real danger is right here (a point I mostly agree with). So what’s the real danger? “Our kids are killing us!...These teenagers are terrorists!” Is that not a tad overblown? Violent crime by juveniles (actually, this guy was 19, so this is like articles on teen pregnancy that don’t point out the largest number of pregnant teens are 18-19) is not exactly the majority of crime. Anyway, I’ve obviously been watching too much TV news this week (and listening to too much NPR, though they barely touched the mass shooting, not even to make a point about failures of foster care/group homes/the mental health system, all the things the shooter had much experience with).

I promise the next post will be cheerier. Sort of.

Update (yet another CTA photo)

Very old sign (also a "From City")
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

Wow, five days without posting, and I don't have time for a real one. This photo is now my second most "interesting"/popular on Flickr; I've had an amazing few days of comments/favorites/contacts over there. Well, I'm sure I'll sink into obscurity again soon.

I'm so happy my friend Mike called me Sunday evening to say he was hitting up the Damen Brown Line station, which would be closed for a year of construction as of Monday morning (Montrose reopened). I'm also glad I happened to date him for a while, and Damen is "his" station, otherwise I might never have visited it. I know I didn't properly observe many of the other now-rehabbed stations: Addison, Montrose, Sacramento, etc. Anyway, I changed my plans (which only consisted of a trip to Borders) to go photograph the Damen station for 20 minutes or so: one platform, then going outside, then the other platform. I wasn't out with a tripod so they weren't the best night shots, but I'm so happy I went, even if I missed Mike by a few minutes.

I will post about my amazing Thanksgiving soon, and some punk rock stuff, and the previous weekend's adventures. I haven't even posted about how I got into urban exploring yet, or my Critical Mass stories from summer, or how I was on TV last week...

Happy Thanksgiving

Rehabbed Sedgwick station
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

Here's the mural you can't see in the other photo of the new Sedgwick station. This will brighten my commute, and I'm not even being sarcastic when I say that.

I just wanted to put in something cheerier for anyone who might happen across the blog today, and I'll be back later to edit this post with a little on what I'm thankful for. Really. I'm off for my 3rd Thanksgiving in a row of solo Chicago exploration, and my 1st of abandoned building exploration. Most of you have the good sense to stay inside today; have a wonderful time whatever you do.

short and bleak

New Sedgwick station entrance
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I've really got to rethink what I'm doing here. Also, I've got to promote this somehow. Wait, I'm not allowed any more posts whining about who does or doesn't read this, and I'm trying to cut back on posting about stuff that happens on Flickr or MySpace or wherever. If I try to do a photoblog, I have to figure out what's wrong with my photo sizes. And learn to actually take good photos. If I try to focus more on urban issues/infrastructure/architecture/UE/whatever, I have to sound a lot more informed and opinionated. If I make that my focus, maybe my non-Flickr/UE friends (who aren't reading this anyway) won't read it. If I keep rambling about personal stuff or drinking (better not say anything about today), then those people won't take me seriously. Well, I can't make everyone happy, but if I could make a few people a little bit happy, that'd be great. I've spent two days at a mysterious factory (well, only mysterious in that I didn't know about it before; I do know what factory it was) that's the most depressing place imaginable, and today I did something stupid and got injured and was afraid I was going to pass out. But hey, last night, when I tried to do a Google search on the place by looking up "abandoned factory Chicago," I found out that MY FLICKR PAGE is the #1 & #2 result. Wow. I wish I had more actual information, but I guess I've just tagged so many photos "abandoned factory Chicago" that I'm #1. Sorry, everyone. Oh, and I must be the first to post a photo of this station in the Chicago Transit Authority group pool/CTA Tattler blog, because I've never gotten so many hits on a photo this fast. I wish it was a better photo, but I take an untoward glee in being first. Do I sound a little down? Well, it's only 8:45 pm and I think I'm going to bed.

I'm awesome, or at least my weekend was

Detail of giant head
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I got a little down in recent posts because of last week's bleakness and things just got worse late Thurs./Fri., but WOW, did things pick up. Even though I didn't get to nearly all the places I wanted to see this weekend or spend that long at them, even though none of the friends I called Sat. called me back (I had plenty to do by myself this weekend anyway), even though a lot of the excitement involves places I like getting torn down. I went nuts with three days straight of exploring and took more risks than usual. It so happens that the UE trip that changed everything for me--forced me to take risks, and not be afraid to be afraid in front of someone else--happened a month ago (wow, only a month?), Oct. 18, at the suburban silos. That was an incredible day (and I haven't even posted all the good shots to Flickr yet, or told the story here).

And my roommate's band played their first show, and I tried out two new (and one old) 24-hour restaurants, and I only had one drink all weekend and I haven't had any caffeine (except chocolate) since Thursday...I guess I'm into "clean living" and "natural highs" right now. (Well, except for all that diner food.) More on that later. Next up will be the story of how I might be briefly on "Chicago Tonight" soon... [UPDATE: Well, maybe I'll tell it if/when it happens; I don't feel like writing a wacky piece about dating right now.]

More demolition and (suspected) crime

New City (N. Halsted) Y demolition
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

[UPDATE: Apparently this is my 50th post on this blog, although it's hard to count the stuff from 2+ years ago as the same blog. Oh, and I forgot to mention the Jacob Riis school is totally gone, so that's three piles of rubble I saw this week.) The demo photos from Tues. (see below) weren't that great anyway; I had a much better shoot when I went by the Y Wed. afternoon; here's one that shows the colors of the remaining building and leaves too. I saw the gym get totally smashed in the few minutes I stood there; I swear, within 30 seconds of walking up they started destroying the section of wall that said "LOVE." What's that supposed to mean? I went through an hour or two of work last night to get these photos on Flickr, just in case anyone else out there liked this building enough to want some shots before it's gone. Oh, and it didn't seem possible to get any, you know, closer shots of this, but I looked.

Afterwards I went to the MCA for the last of their 40 Free Days (in honor of the museum's 40th anniversary), also the last day to get a $65 membership for $40. I signed up (mine expired last year), and got a commemorative book and another of those totebags that look nice but fall apart when you try to carry anything in them. Since I can come back for "free" anytime, I mostly skipped the art but did look at their always amazing gift shop, to see someone just put out the most glorious book imaginable, Transit Maps of the World.

The MySpace trouble fixed itself after a day. I'm watching too much TV as always, at least during the day, but I had the good sense yesterday morning to mute the Today Show Drew Peterson interview (if only I'd done the same during the segment on "cougars"). I guess this Missing Attractive Young White Woman case went national quite quickly (the last Chicago-area one, Lisa Stebic [still missing], took longer), but it does involve 1) a police officer husband 2) the possibility of TWO murders 3) a name (Stacy Peterson) that rhymes with another famous victim (Laci Petersen, of course). His comments were well-covered in the news I've watched since. Wow, I did not know an effect of PMS is wanting to divorce your much-older, abusive husband (who's already had one wife die suspiciously), but according to him (he's only a suspect and hasn't been charged with anything, I have to point out), it is. Not helping your case, pal... Okay, I've far exceeded my photo-to-rambling ratio for right now.

Today's freakout level: violet

Understatement
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

That makes no sense, but I'm on my 4th beer of the night. (Accompanied by Blue Diamond Bold Wasabi & Soy Sauce Almonds, so so good.) A couple weird Flickr things happened that I HAVE to mention. I made a promise to myself not to drunk-blog, but whatever. (Also not to drunk-Flickrmail, sorry about a couple days ago, NV.) My first 2 beers were hours ago at Reading Under the Influence, a great literary event I've gone to nearly every month since Dec. 2006. Tonight Alex (who I met that time, his first visit, he's read at it since, I haven't because I don't friggin' write anything substantial, just blog posts and snarky Flickr captions) and Lorraine (they're married) were there and I hadn't seen them since a nice house party they had with way too much beer (everyone brought some) weeks ago, so I spent much of the night talking to them.

I was tipsy enough to buy pizza at Philly's Best and a celebrity magazine at Walgreens. I love that I didn't recognize who's on the cover--Lauren (and "How far she goes on a first date," so important to know)--from some show I've never seen. Six pages of ads for hormonal birth control, only four of scary weight-loss methods. Teri Hatcher's daughter is named Emerson? Another guy's name crosses over to a girl's name now. (I know a [male] Emerson). Flipping through, I'm reminded of the 637 or so reasons I don't think I should buy these magazines, and I'll leave you with one: one of the outfits the "Fashion Police" are bashing is an outfit I genuinely like and would actually wear (it happens to be on Paris Hilton, amazingly).

Enough of that--I'm freaking out because after a slow couple days on Flickr, a stranger favorited 3 photos. And they happen to be the 3 pictures of myself I've posted to (oh, embarrassing) the "geek girls are sexy (but like our clothes on)" group (see, there's also a "geek girls are sexy" group, and many variations of sexy nerd/geek/glasses groups). I checked him out and yup, he hardly has any photos of his own posted, and has some scantily clad women in his favorites, and nearly all his contacts are women, and he belongs to a lot of filtered groups (man, I'm not even going to name them). I don't know, it's not like he wrote anything pervy to me personally, I guess I should be...flattered? It's less creepy that he found me in a "sexy" group than just randomly...right? This is what I get for daring to think I occasionally look slightly cute...isn't it?

Oh, it gets weirder. I got a new Flickr contact, which is always cool. Puzzled over the person's name for a bit, then realized...it's my downstairs neighbor! (Who works in a camera store, not exactly shocking she'd turn up there.) Anyway, nice photos, it's all cool, not like I ever wrote anything about things that happened with neighbors on this blog (cough) and if I did, sorry.

Relax, relax, my parents haven't found me on the internets yet...