casual ultimate » 2007 » November

miss casual is all over me about blogging, but i am crazy busy thinking of 10,000 ways to procrastinate so i’m going to relate a brief tale that has nothing to do with the bitchin’ week/end i just spent in chicago. that news is to follow shortly, and with pics of tanguay as the new bjorn.

so the day after i got back to school (yesterday) i had my interview for the school of management for an MBA (i’m applying to do the 3-year joint degree program). now i’m usually pretty good at interviews, or so i’m told. this one, however, i would describe as a debacle in three acts.

first, in prep for the big event i reviewed my application (essays, resume, etc.). while doing so i learned that i had made a typo on my resume - who the *@$& makes a typo on their resume for business school?!?! i’ve never made a resume or major document typo in my life. ugh. best of all was the word: “environmental finance” –> “environmental fiance”, with an accent on the ‘e’ and everything. unbelievable. the only thing worse would have been spelling “business” as “biznass.”

next step: the interview itself. there i go, in my fancy suit and all, and my interviewer is a 2nd year student who’s in one of my classes! so the entire time i’m thinking, what kind of comments has this kid heard all year? he had made marks all over my resume and circled my typo, so i had to crack a joke and play it off. he laughed but, you know, like b-school kids laugh: like he was judging me. the interview progresses, who knows how i did, i feel like i sounded like a ditz (carlo, feel free to insert blonde/professional woman/pillowfight comment here).

i have class with this kid 45 minutes after the interview, but in between i managed to grab a milkshake with my friend jed to calm my nerves. i walk into class with the milkshake, sit next to my interviewer, and start chatting with him and the guy next to him (who is a joint degree student). other guy asks how it went, i say ‘ask this guy,’ at which point my interviewer looks at me and asks why i didn’t bring him a milkshake. this is all background so far. fast-forward to that evening, when i email him a formal-like email thanking him for the interview, good to hear his thoughts on the school, etc. the note itself was quite formal, but given the fact that i know this kid in regular life i title it, “next milkshake’s on me.” tonight he wrote back but had changed the subject line - in his response and in the copy of my orig. email - to something generic like “SOM-Thank you.” Then he writes me a second email saying he edited mine because it has to get forwarded to the admissions committee. UGH again.

bottom line is, clearly i am not professional enough to get admitted to the business school. but the only reason i thought this would make good blog material is that he asked, “if you got your dream job but your boss gave you the day off, what would you do?” and of course i responded “play ultimate.” wait, shit, that was horrible. i should have said i would go home, turn on CNN and read the financial times. and i didn’t even tell him how mr. briefcase has an office theme! the more i think about this the more depressed i get. good news is, i’ll be back in chicago in two years instead of three!

wow this was long, i could have just written about this weekend. more to follow later in the week.

“The Pilgrims ventured into a new land bonded by a common past. On this Thanksgiving Vinnie and I have chosen to make an equally bold journey together into adulthood…or eachother. Whatever.”
-Doogie Howser’s Journal Entry from Thanksgiving ‘92

“You know, I was thinking the other day.”
-Kevin Nealon

“There’s only one b-tch in the world. One b-tch with many faces.”
-Jay in Chasing Amy

I guess I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone in Chicago and elsewhere. I grew up with you guys. R.T., I lost my virginity to your daughter, for crying out loud! Rob, you were there.

I guess you could say that nothing I’m saying is original. You could. You could also get a good look at a T-bone steak by sticking your head up a bull’s ass, but wouldn’t you rather take the butcher’s word for it?

I’m just sitting at work right now at 5:30 on Black Wednesday listening to Sarah-McLachlan. Sunday I was sitting in a tea shop in Piedmont listening to Sarah-Welsh. Next week, maybe I’ll be starting Sarah-P (read that name with a lisp). That would be nice; having someone who just listens. Why don’t you just sit the next couple of plays out, Champ? Stop talking for awhile.

Do you ever worry about nothing really at all? Low-level anxiety, I’ve heard it called. I have that. It’s like a knot in my stomach. Every single outcome is ok with me, but I’m still stuck in a worried state. The Wayside State.

I’m on the brink of being happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life. More available, more plugged in, more serene, less bullshit, less worry, less judgment. I don’t know exactly what it will look like. I think it’ll come though.

I’m thankful for:

Linda S.
Mama Town
Papa Town
Anger
Jessica
Frisbee
Idris
electric fans
Becky
Gunder
Jonny Rem
Grandma Rose
my house
my life
Stephen
Will
Pat
ankle sprains
gum
fiddle
bass
my childhood
discgolf
Frodo
Mader

Let’s eat until our hearts stop.

well right now as im typing ms. ultimate is flying across the country to come back to chicago for casual ultimate 60622: thanksgiving reunion special. hopefully this will involve some if not all of the following

- lemmings, piece, and quenchers (this is already in the works so if you’re in town wednesday night holler)

- brunch, manicures, and light shopping

- napping, arrested development, and live blogging the law and order mini marathon drinking game i have devised

- a battle of wits between slider and the door of tony’s truck

- more bulleted lists

also in an unrelated incident… i overheard a conversation this morning about oprah’s ‘favorite things’ show, which is on today. its the one where she travels around and gives people in georgia presents like new cars and diamond jewelry for taking her to the best hot dog place south of the mason dixon. the conversation in question was between two guys who decided she should say her favorite thing in 2007 is ‘making it rain.’

the idea of oprah saying ‘im gonna make it rain’ tio a bunch of old ladies in macon is more than i can handle right now.

well yesterday was not going all too well. work is especially brutal lately and i was having one of those ‘milk in the cabinet, cereal in the fridge’ kind of days. i wasnt sure if i had even washed my hair or just stood in the shower under the hot water thinking about light and vent schedules and how to get an obscure piece of the integrated headset for the new bike. i was sitting at work thinking about whether to just get up and quit a la half baked or whether to just cry and then throw my computer out the window.

and then someone sent me my first missed connection. silly as it is, and clearly from a friend whos messing with me, it still cheered up my afternoon.

‘Miss Casual m4w - 29
Date: 2007-11-14, 2:27PM CST

aw shiiiit girl, you don’t need that foo’ jdot. you gots me, baybay.

meet me at the altar.’

so thank you invisible romeo for helping me get through a tough week.. even though you are probably ms. ultimate. happy friday everybody.

i know it’s only tuesday, and not even noon on tuesday at that, but i can’t wait for this weekend and next weekend. first, on friday, i’m heading into NYC to hang out with bacers. we’re going shopping at the mythical century 21. i will probably come out of there with a lot of unnecessary new clothes purchased at bargain basement prizes. plus a new set of towels so that i can feel like i did something useful. i’ll keep my eyes peeled for a wool suit, because saturday is the yale-harvard football game and that’s what my grandma says i’m supposed to wear to football games on the east coast. apparently tailgating starts at 8:30 in the morning. i was thinking of finding a skillet so that i can fry bacon on the grill. has anyone attempted this before? bryan?

then on tuesday i leave on jetplane for chicago. wednesday is a bar crawl of some sort led by vijay. if history is any guide, i will not feel well on thursday morning. thank goodness there will be tons of food available. by the way, i couldn’t help but notice that that link to casual mayhem was from a nov. 20th post last year. i believe that was the weekend i was scheduled to take the gre but they canceled on me and treemboat saved my life with cupcakes. i guess everything worked out because i got into school. brown bear, can we head back to quenchers?

this is an illustration of what miss casual and i will be doing from thursday evening onwards, although there’s a pseudo-family dinner of some sort in the works. we will be happy potatos though, and instead of a bag of chips there will be empty cartons from penny’s strewn about. well, maybe there’ll be chips too.

well in the long list of violence done to my cursed bianchi, the insane huge dent and hole that showed up in my top tube at some point on saturday night while we were at the after party for the sadie hawkins day race is certainly the worst. ending the evening by biking home ever so slowly so as to not finish the job of ripping my frame in half was a little disappointing. i cant figure out if someone was trying to steal it and just destroyed the frame before they could get through the lock or what but i always make it a policy to put my bike next to way nicer bikes in the hope that thieves will look at the others first and it still got jacked up. go figure.

the party was great. huge fantastic loft space. everyone we know. tons of cheap beer. plus tbrizzle and sally took it to the house and made it in 10th place out of about 100 teams which is a fantastic finish. they showed those nerdy fixed gear hipsters for sure. its called athleticism and it comes from chasing a frisbee, not wearing tight jeans and a bandana. nice work peeps. also michelle (of chicks and drinks fame) and her new hubby won the best dressed award and jessi came in second at the skid comp. heres a pic of the newleyweds with aaron wearing his fake moustache as a unibrow. all around nice weekend especially dance party central courtesy of andrew.

thank god i made it through this weekend in one piece. things are shaking up at the office and the fact that im still employed and might eventually afford replacing the bike that was trashed is, in itself, a cause for celebration. if im going to get fired however, it might as well be for blogging. happy monday. and happy belated bday to dr. tanguay. and congrats to the hales-es.

miss casual

p.s. can we get a role call of who is in for black wednesday night mayhem thanksgiving weekend on the forum? i cant wait to see everybody.

ah the off-season, when we can stop the charade and blog about what we really care about: ice cream. last night my friend jed and i stopped for snacks on the way back from a show. we both got sandwiches, then came upon this gem in the freezer section: stephen colbert’s very own ben & jerry’s ice cream flavor. needless to say i purchased it immediately and let me tell you this people: he may not be running for president anymore, but he makes a damn fine ice cream. as it says right on the pint, “it’s the sweet taste of liberty in your mouth.” now if you understand liberty, and if you understand freedom, i suggest you go out and buy some of this now. eat it tonight during law$order and think about how much this country has done for you. we ate it while watching inane youtube videos with my very own stephen.

i also suggest you listen to some holly golightly, the lovely lady we saw perform. she’s british, but her style is sort of rootsy, slow-paced country with a little bit of the blues. her lyrics are top-notch. she played in this tiny bar called cafe nine, which was actually awesome and reminded me of the no-name bar across the street from the original tricks n’ drinks parking lot. same dimensions. once i finish my landscape ecology paper i’ll be spending more time there.

well fall league came to a close this weekend with the ledonnes (shakes fist) winning again. public news team did well in the tournament though winning our first game and then losing in the semis. im no sports strategist but im just gonna guess that it had to do with the round of walking beer schtick our team played on the break. drinking 4 beers didnt help our performance? go figure. i think it also added a bit to the hostility level in our semi game. the best part of the day was cheng coming by. her team, the dreaded syndicate, got knocked out by team ledonne in the first round. i asked how the game went and she pointed at her cup and said ‘well im drinking a bloody mary so you can guess we lost.’ as i looked across the field at my teammates slamming beers and walking very fast i thought ‘thats why cheng is a champion and we will nearly get into fist fights over bogus line calls in the next round.’

still a very fun day overall. hopefully a team dinner will happen this time as there needs to be more togetherness in the off season. yall are gonna need to drag me off the couch so that tbrizzle and slider and miss casual dont collectively weigh in at 476 lbs in the spring. i mean law $ order mini marathons are great and so is heroes and 30 rock but tv cant be your whole life. (can it?)

on another note… marc jacobs and bcbg are opening on damen right near the old vessel office. looks like miss casual and ms. ultimate will be shopping in beverly hills 60622 at thanksgiving. bucktown is the new soho? discuss.