Last night Travalon and I stayed in, but we could hear the fireworks from downtown Chicago going off for almost an hour. It was kind of romantic, listening to the distant booms as we snuggled together. Here are the Asian lamps that were in our room.
And this is a Happy New Year picture of Mr. Swanky, sent by his owner Jilly Moose:
Travalon and I were concerned about the approaching winter storm, but we kept hearing conflicting things: that it would start at 7 am, that it would start at 1 pm, that it wouldn't start until the evening. At sometime after 4 am we both woke up briefly, we thought because a very long train went by, and I pondered saying we should leave then. (In the morning we learned that the proprietress of the B&B had to "evict" some people because they brought a whole party with them, which is strictly against the rules, and it was right at that time.) I did fall back asleep until having a dream that there was a huge snowstorm in Arkansas that buried twenty farmers, and the authorities said they would have to bring in equipment to save them, but an intellectually handicapped guy I knew (who is now deceased) just dug the farmers out because he didn't know he couldn't. So he was the hero! Then I woke up and realized Travalon was looking at me, and then I saw it was 7:37 in the morning. We quickly got on the road and encountered no snow, but it was very cold back in Wisconsin (it had been in the 40's in Chicagoland) so we walked at the mall. I didn't bring any money so that I wouldn't spend any, but then it occurred to me that I no longer have earrings that would glow under blacklight. (As a teenybopper I had numerous pairs that surely would have, but it was the 80's and neon was all the rage.) We found a pair with hot pink smily faces, paler pink smily faces, and yellow smily faces that I figured would do the trick. As you can see, I was two-thirds correct because the yellow smily faces don't glow under blacklight. (Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of them in regular light.)
Then we went to my OTHER choir director's annual New Year's Day dessert extravaganza, which was scaled down this year - a lot less people, and only three desserts, as well as fruit soup and chili. The promised snow finally started to fall while we were there, so Travalon and I headed home, and he watched the Rose Bowl while I walked around to get the rest of my steps. My phone told me that I was averaging a lot less steps this year than in 2021. Know what, phone? Eff you. The year was only eighteen hours old. I mean, it was only a quarter after six - I had plenty of time to get my usual five miles. And I did, but to my disappointment it took me twenty minutes to get that last mile, even though I was walking around at a very brisk speed to Pitbull and Prince. (My phone used to play my music randomly, but now it just does it alphabetically.) I had my annual check-up on Wednesday, and the doctor said if I can walk a mile in fifteen minutes, then I'm doing fine. Guess I'm five minutes too slow for fine...?
The video I tried to post yesterday of Christmas decorations in Oak Park is still not working. I have no idea what the issue is, and it hardly seems worth putting a five-second video on YouTube.
The Rose Bowl was actually very exciting this year - I did end up watching it after getting my steps. Ohio State was behind the University of Utah, but then they caught up and just barely won by a field goal. Travalon said it was the best Rose Bowl ever, "Except for when the Badgers won." He was kind of watching the Sugar Bowl, but that one is very low-scoring so far. Not sure if it's terrible offense or exceptional defense, since I wasn't watching it and he gave up on it. I think it's Baylor vs. Ole Miss, and I have always had a horror of Ole Miss ever since my college roommate told me that her high school friend went there and wasn't accepted into any sorority, but 90% of the women there were in one so she effectively had no social life. Ugh! I'm sure I'd be in that 10% way uncool crowd too.
Famous Hat
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