Chicago > Rush

It was Family Weekend, so EIU got a band to come and serenade us. Last year it was Kool and the Gang, and I contemplated going, because they're pretty cool (yes, I went there), but in the end, I did other things. This year, though, Chicago came, and the day before the concert, I broke down and bought a ticket; it's my senior year, so I may as well have some fun.

Perhaps I'm too used to Rush concerts; without someone smoking a joint behind me and someone else drinking next to me, it just doesn't feel like a concert. I suppose people can't get inebriated at a college concert, but still, it just wasn't the same. I didn't feel too out of place, though; I knew most of the songs (I was disappointed that they didn't play "Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?") and I got up and sang along at some points. It was weird going to a concert by myself, though, especially with this entire family sitting next to me.
In sum, I would prefer Rush, but I don't think EIU could afford them. If they ever do, I'll stop by.
~Sushi

High Water

Yesterday, Spock and I made the long trek to the Charter One Pavilion in Chicago, in order to see Rush. During the earlier part of the week, I meticulously planned out exactly how we were to get there, to the point of separating the money we needed into baggies. _{I shit you not.} We arrived at the pavilion about an hour early, to a torrential downpour that appeared nowhere in the weather forecast. After having our tickets checked at the gate, we were given ponchos, which was awesome. What wasn't so awesome was that everything in my purse, including our tickets and directions home, was soaked. And continued to be soaked as I had to pull the tickets out time and again to prove that we truly were in the venue legitimately.
After navigating through the drunks, stoners, swag-hawkers, and other assorted Rushians, we made it to our seats. From there, we watched as the rain cut through the crowd like rusty scissors as we huddled under our complimentary ponchos. We could clearly see the stage, and watched as someone who appeared to be Geddy Lee popped onto the stage, and then ducked under a curtain which presumably led to the backstage area. A half-hour after the concert was supposed to begin, a random guy came up on stage and told us that our beloved Rush was rained out. And we were pissed. Spock, who is always calm, was calm, but me... well, I swore up a storm with the rest of the Rushians. And we wished it was a joke, but it wasn't. We were to check our e-mail for messages from Live Nation. And this funny thing happened. The only thing I got from them was a link to fill out a survey about how much I loved the concert. Spock had to pull me away from the keyboard before I released an acidic tirade of angry fanatic bile. Our tickets said 'Rain or Shine', and I was livid about the venue going back on their end of the bargain. At least, I was until I understood what actually happened. I settled down after learning that our heroes may have been electrocuted if they had played for us. The only thing I wish had happened differently was if one of the guys told us, instead of some random dude. Mama Bear, though, thought that it may have started a riot. Such is life, I suppose. Rumor has it that the reschedule will be in September, right close to my birthday. The trouble with such a date is that I'll be in school by then. Looks like I need to establish my priorities.
Yours "In the Mood", "In the End", and anywhere "Beneath, Between, and Behind",
~Sushi

No Zombie Is Safe from Chicago Ted

On Saturday, June 5th, 2010, in a move that unequivocally proved to my family that I do in fact think that every day is Hallowe'en, I dressed up as a zombie and lurched my way through downtown Chicago. Otaku, her girlfriend [let's call her Squeak], and I had heard about Zombie March Chicago 3 through Facebook, which is where we hear about most fun things, and decided to give it a try. I kept notes throughout the day, in order to compile a checklist of...

Things To Do: Zombie March Edition
Spray fake blood on clothes, floor, etc.
Get fake blood all over tub, hands,
Take a ton of pictures - repeat as necessary
Learn how much I have in common with Squeak [it's almost ridiculous]
Load blood-soaked clothes into large trash bag
Load clothes, make-up, camera equipment, people into small car
Drive and yell at cars and drive and get Mountain Dew and drive
Listen to awesome tunes: Daft Punk, The Birthday Massacre, My Chemical Romance
Yell, "FUCK YOU BP!" because fuck you, BP
Close Squeak's bank account
Drive more
Realize that we are all using the same tone of voice, and all sound like we're seven
Go to Squeak's second cousin's eight grade graduation party; watch family shenanigans; receive free food
PRODUCT IDEA: T-shirt - "Don't touch me; I'm sick. _{No, seriously. I am.}"
See Hindu temple; freak out
Put on much make-up; get dressed in bloody, damp zombie clothes
Try to catch train; go to wrong train station
Fall asleep during drive to Chicago
Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. Stop. TURN!
Get to Chicago two hours after march has started; zombie it up anyway
PRODUCT IDEA: Bumper sticker - "I have a horn, too."
Park car; put on more fake blood
Look for other zombies
Find one zombie, one homeless person, get distraught, go to Starbucks
Explain esoteric American culture to Chinese tourists; try to explain what zombies are
Find nice zombies, asshole zombies, mohawk zombies, zombies with sweet pants
Here the phrase, "Can I ask you a question? I keep seeing all these zombies..." about two dozen times
Get picture taken twice by people who asked, a billion other times by people who didn't
See someone whip out a video camera as you lurch past them in full zombie regalia
Scare the shit out of small children, especially that one little girl who looked like she was going to cry
Realize that your feet hurt, because you've been walking/lurking for several hours
Hear the phrase, "Why are you doing this?" over and over again
Have one person ask you, "Do you dress like that every day?" Do not punch this person.
Cut bottoms of Otaku's pants off with a key and a pen; this takes skillz
Have a total Rush-gasm over Rush carpet, Quebec license plate, Ontario Street, Rush Street
Find car; drive to Squeak's house
Take shower to wash fake blood off
Eat ice cream and drink orange pop while watching True Crime channel until midnight
Drive home
Sleep.

For more information about the Zombie March, as well as other zombie-related activities in Chicago [there are far more that you'd think there would be], visit Chicago Zombie.

Next year, Spock and I plan to go as zombie Vulcans, complete with green blood. Don't take our idea, or I'll eat your brains.
~Sushi

Graverobber Does Chicago

On Saturday night, my Repo! shadow-caster friends, Spock, and I piled into Twin's car to go to the Music Box in downtown Chicago. Why? To meet Terrance Zdunich, the creator of Repo!: The Genetic Opera. This is the equivalent of a Rocky Horror fan meeting Richard O'Brien. It was quite an experience. Being downtown Chicago on a Saturday night, there was virtually no parking. Luckily, we found a spot just in time to be five minutes too late to go to the pre-show meet-and-greet.
The show itself was fantastic. The shadow-casters, 90 Day Delinquents, did a great job of interacting with the audience, as well as staying true to the heart of the movie. I have to admit my group was a bit raucous, but some people were just too quiet! On an interesting side note, it's been pretty much decided that I'm a shadow-cast groupie, and possibly our group's, You Know You Want It acting troupe, number 1 fan. I'm quite proud of that; they're good people, for the most part, and I've been friends with may of them for a while. I was pleased to see that the majority of the audience managed to get off their ass during the Genetic Opera scene; sometimes people just don't bother to "get up, get up."
After the movie, we got in line, this time inside the theater, to meet Terrance Zdunich. It took about 45 minutes to get there, but it was so very worth the wait. He was so receptive, and very kind to all of us; he even wants to see one of our shadow-casts! Terrance also signed Faythe's Chuck Taylors; she has vowed to wear only that pair in future performances. I suppose it's not as interesting, but he signed my DVD copy of Repo as well. He knew how to spell my name without me telling him! That's very important to me.
But I'm still fuzzing it out so the general e-public can't read it.

Still, pretty darn cool. I'd go again if it didn't take so long.
~Sushi
P.S.
Mr. Kistler's Uh Count

Mr. Kistler's *Uh* Count
Today	344
Semester	1297

Enlighten Me / CONTEST: Day, uh, I lost count....

My family moves a lot, and whenever we do, and even occasionally when we haven't, we do what my mom has dubbed "church shopping." We are Missouri-Synod Lutherans, and there are a lot of our denomination's churches in my state, despite the fact that it's not actually Missouri. Every time we go to check out a new church, there are always a gaggle of supposedly-Christian people staring at us like we're outsiders, unwelcome in the house of God. I'm a paranoid person to begin with, and having people that I'm supposed to be in fellowship with staring at me like I'm oozing pus does not help the fact that we change churches quite a bit. Add in the fact that my sisters don't know how to behave, and it's a nightmare to go anywhere.
I bring this up because today, Spock and I went downtown to Chicago to visit a Buddhist temple, as part of my world religions class. Instead of the glaring that I am so accustomed to receiving whilst "church shopping" in the Christian community, the Buddhists welcomed us, and were very accepting, even though neither of us had ever practiced before. As a part of their meditation practices, first-timers are required to go through a short instruction. Spock and I learned how to properly meditate, as well as the proper mudras [hand positions] to do at certain times, and then we joined the Buddhists in a 35-minute meditation period, followed by chants and a dharma talk. Dharma talks, from what I experienced, are the equivalent of a sermon, though instead of reading and interpreting one book of scripture, it would seem that Buddhists take lessons from a number of different books, by many different authors. More interesting still, these books weren't all written thousands of years ago; some of them are quite contemporary. For example, today's dharma talk was an interpretation and discussion of some passages from Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki; it was written in 1970. Following the talk, we all participated in cleaning the zendo, which is the place of meditation, as well as the rest of the temple. Each person does their part to clean the temple silently, in reflection. It's very peaceful. And then, in a tradition mirroring that of Lutheranism's "cookies and coffee in the church basement" tradition, we all had tea and cookies in the kitchen, which also serves as a lending library and fellowship hall. If you are picturing great amounts of people, you are sorely mistaken. Including Spock and myself, there were nine people present.
During the tea and cookies, I talked about my background, and asked the Buddhists about theirs. They were very cheerful and open about it; that was relieving. I've always heard not to talk about religion and politics, but religion seemed to be quite an wasy subject for them. They had stories about experiences with Christianity, about how they came to Buddhism, and even offered to e-mail me with more answers! This is definitely going to help me write that paper.
Spock enjoyed himself as well, and I think he was glad that I woke him up at 4AM so we could get there on time.



On a different thread, this contest is going very badly. There have been no new entries, so I'm going to assume that six is all I'm going to get. The poll will be opening on December 1st.
I'm not really up to a list today.
~Sushi

On the Boardwalk

Yesterday, I went on a field trip; yes, we still have those, even in college. I traveled with my fellow baccalaureate scholars to Navy Pier, to tour the backstage of the Shakespearean Theater. I felt very privileged to see a side of the theater that so few people can take in. After the tour, we wandered around the rest of Navy Pier, which was quit boring in comparison. Apart from the the outside attractions, which I didn't visit because of the fact that it was pouring rain, all there really is to do is shop and eat. Well, there's also the Chicago Children's Museum and the IMAX theater, but I didn't really have the time to go to either of those. Another time, maybe.


Just in time for Halloween:
13 Costumes I Would Wear for Halloween [If I Didn't Already Have One]


1. Spock



2. Misty [as if I haven't cosplayed it already]



3. Chewbacca



4. Shilo Wallace



5. Phantom of the Opera as the Red Death



6. Repo Man



7. Lolcat



8. Thing One



9. Catwoman [Michelle Pfeiffer version]



10. The Riddler [1960s TV version]



11. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac [only my hair would be way cooler]



12. Dr. Tran



13. Any of the twisted Transylvanians from The Rocky Horror Picture Show



May none of your candy be laced with cyanide or razor blades.
~Sushi