The Summer of Our Content?

Over the weekend, I attended a couple of fests. I suppose there's going to be some sort of fest every weekend from now until the end of the summer. What I love most about summer in Chicago are the endless amounts of things to do, especially outside. But when the weather doesn't cooperate, well, there's a problem. Saturday afternoon my friend and I ventured to the Blues Fest. Of course as soon as we got off the train, it started to pour. We stuck it out for a couple of hours hanging out on the lawn and sitting there with umbrellas as the rain sporadically came and went. It's been so goddamn hot here. Seriously, it jumped from spring to summer, which I knew it'd do. The humidity has been the worse. On Sunday it stormed in the early afternooon then cleared up enough for Ribfest. Yes, me being a vegetarian (well, I eat chicken) went to a fest called Ribfest. I went because a couple of bands I wanted to see were playing. By the time we got there, the rain had ceased and the sun beat down. The fest was a block from my old apartment, where I'd gotten evicted, so it's always weird for me to be in that area. It's an area I'd rather avoid. A couple of my other veggie friends came out, too. At least they had free hummus early on. My friend and I got this pina colada drink that came in an actual pineapple. Unfortunately, it was non-alcoholic, so we went to CVS and fixed that. Everyone kept asking us where we got that. I think more drinks should come in a pineapple. You could put soup in there, too. I stayed to the bitter end watching Nada Surf, a band I'd never seen live before but liked well enough. It was a nice night for a while--the moon, Lincoln's head, the music, the beer, the guy. Afterwards, it began to lightning. Some friends invited us to go to a bar, so we hung out there for a while. Then the storms hit, of course. At least it cooled things off a bit.

On Friday, I went to the Not For Tourists book party. I contributed to Chicago's 2008 edition. My name is in there and everything. Everyone only got one drink ticket, but I'm like, "since I wrote for this, can I get an extra ticket?" And then they gave me one. Overall, I feel better about certain things. I know in a couple of posts ago I seemed really upset, but that's been cleared up. I'm not mad anymore. Everything is fine. For now.

So it's summertime, and it's gotten me thinking about what I'd like to accomplish. I want to take advantage of as many things as possible. I want to go to a lot of fests and movies in the park and just be active. I really want to get a nice tan, too. This will involve going to the pool and the Lake, something I need to do more of. I need to jog a lot and try to eat healthier. I need to buy some new clothes like maybe, gasp, a sundress. I hate wearing dresses, but when it's so hot out, it seems practical. I really want to travel, but with low funds and high gas prices, this might be an issue. Hopefully I can figure it out. I need to go home at some point, I want to visit my friend in KY, I still want to go to TN and DC and NY and I'd love to go back to CA and even down to FL, but all of these places are a bit ambitious. I also need to figure out what to do with my living situation. We've all decided not to stay in the current apartment, so I think we'll be going our separate ways. I just know I won't be living with either of them. Now the stress is on to find a decent place in the next six weeks.

I think this summer, I'm just going to try and go with the flow. I'm going to stay busy with my writing (maybe try to write more fiction), parties, going to concerts and hopefully working somewhere steadily. I want to see a lot of movies, go to a Cubs game and just have fun. I'm also going to focus on self improvement. We'll see what unravels (or comes together) this summer.