Have you missed me?

Hello...I'm back, sort of. I'm going to try to get back into a regular routine of blogging again. For some this may be a relief. For others, a curse but too damn bad.


So, to catch everybody up on what's been going on, I'll summarize. Early in October, my mom injured her leg but didn't quite know what she did to it. For two weeks she hobbled around on a walker, thinking it was a pulled muscle. Finally the pain was unbearable and I had to take her to the hospital. Turns out she broke the head off of her femur. The femur is the bone that connects to the hip socket. She had surgery to repair the break and was hospitalized from 10/19 to 11/3. She's home now, and able to get around the house with a walker. For at least the next month, she'll have a nurse and a physical therapist visiting twice a week. Her goal that she has set for herself is to be without the walker by her birthday, 12/11. It's an ambitious goal but a good one to set for herself.

Meanwhile most of my time has been spent going to work, then going to the hospital, then going home to cook or clean or just try to have a bit of quiet time. It has been a lot to try to process. I let my workout routine go, and my eating habits changed. My big meal for the day was lunch at work, Dinner was usually something small since I was geting home at around 8 each evening.

Not that there hasn't been some play time. I did enjoy the fact that I was alone, something I don't often get to experience. Mind you, for the most part I was too busy to care about entertaining. Still, it was nice knowing that I could.


For Halloween weekend, I spent the afternoon and evening at Dan and Luis' house. However, they weren't home. Our friend Tina was house sitting and taking care of Ozzie, the bulldog. Last year for Halloween, we learned that their block is very into the holiday so to get into the spirit (no pun intended) we all dressed as pirates. This year, since they weren't going to be home, they left it up to Tina, Denise and I to protect their reputation (and their home from eggs and toilet paper). Tina and Denise chose a witch theme, I was a warlock. Two of Tina's Valpo gal pals joined us and we had a good time handing out candy to kids, althugh I'm still a bit miffed that they wouldn't follow my suggestion and hand out broccoli and tomatoes to kids without costumes or ones that didn't say "trick or treat." Oh well... Over the course of 4 hours, I believe we handed out about 900 pieces of candy.



Two of the Valpo Girls (it pains me to say that I can't remember their names because they are super-sweet and so much fun!), Denise and I. Three Witches and a Warlock, or three Witches and the lead singer of The Killers. You decide. Tina managed to not be in this picture she took it.

On Thursday 11/5, Reeling - The Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival began. Over the course of 10 days, a bunch of theatres in Chicago will host screenings of gay and lesbian themed films from around the world. I attended opening night and saw "The Big Gay Musical" with my friends Steve, Vahona and Anthony. In the audience was Jane Wiedlin, who was in town for the Chicago premiere of her film "Stuck!". Afterwards there was a fun party at Architectural Artifacts with a performance by The Joans, a Joan Crawford tribute band. Visit their website here!



Friday 11/6 I attended the Chicago premiere of "Stuck!", a women in prison movie shot in black and white. As mentioned above, one of it's stars is my friend Jane Wiedlin. She invited us to attend the film and the after-party. Vahona, Anthony and my friend John were along for the festivities. The movie was really good (and I'm not just saying so because Jane's in it, I swear). Afterwards, the party was held as a club named Circuit, which on Fridays hosts a lesbian themed party. this one was billed as as "lesbian lockdown," so we didn't know what to expect. When we got there, it was nothing I hadn't seen before. It was actually a lot of fun. Jane came over and talked with us for a while. We did shots and took pictures. She thanked us for being there for her. Honestly, I would not have missed it.


Pictured left to right is Vahona, John, Anthony, Jane, and me. We're about to down a round of delicious lemon drops. Photo courtesy of Anthony Meade/Bear Lens Photography


Open enrollment for benefits began at work today. I held my first three meetings today. I fared better than last year, when I had to hold meetings on the same day I had to present benefits at orientation and participate on a conference call. I lost my voice that day. Not to say that it won't happen at some point, it usually does.

Did you miss me??