Day 39 - The Intelligence of the Universe

After Arlene's compelling pep talk at the last volunteer meeting, I decided to give her any time that I had available. On Wednesday she sent out an email asking for help with a DuSable mailing. I called her this morning to volunteer, she asked if I could come earlier to run an errand to the post office. I said sure, not realizing that this would be the most time consuming and convoluted trip on Earth. I found out that D'Angelo would be driving me to the post office in the museum van, I had to wait 30 minutes for him to get clearance to take the van, and then driving to and waiting at, the post office for this giant order took about an hour. D'Angelo was very cool, in the car he gave me all kinds of fatherly and encouraging advice about adjusting to a new city. I left as soon as we got back, because I didn't intend to spend my whole day there. Overall it wasn't terrible, but as a former event planner, I know that my time was not effectively used if they were trying to get invitations out for a September 18th event. One great thing about being a volunteer is that I am not responsible for the outcome of these projects.    

I went to Popeye's for lunch, and I am pretty sure that they are serving food behind bulletproof glass. In the drive thru and inside the restaurant, I know this because I paid in the drive-thru, pulled forward, and my food never came. I parked, walked inside and gave my best evil eye to the cashier. She apologized and gave me three extra chicken nuggets, yeah I'm kind of big deal around here. After I ate and watched the Conspirator (not James Macavoy's best work, but it was bearable), I walked to the grocery store. By the time I got back, Rachna had called and wanted to go to dinner. She came by my place and we decided to drive to Chinatown. We wound up at Jai-Yee, this restaurant with a spiral bound menu with 500 items, all with an accompanying photograph. We started with tofu spring rolls, I got chicken and rice, and Rachna had some spicy vegetarian dish with noodles. The highlights were the beverages, she had a mango smoothie and I had pineapple lemonade, so refreshing!

After dinner we wandered around Chinatown, Rachna bought all kinds of rice, dried mushrooms, seaweed and soy sauce from a Chinese grocery store. We pecked and prodded merchandise in random curio shops, and then decided to head back to Hyde Park because I had to walk Simba. Lauren is out of town until Sunday night. We were still pretty energetic and we wanted to check out our local bars. We went to the Woodlawn Tap, where they only accept cash payments. The place is small and noisy, so we had one shot and went outside to smoke, mostly her, I can't take more than a couple of puffs. We met these two random guys who were talking about all kinds of foolishness. After Rachna was sufficiently propositioned by a big eared, hairy chested, pock marked Serbian, we decided that it was time to leave. We walked down the street to the Seven Ten bar and had another drink, as we started yawning and conversation was winding down, we closed the tab and walked back to my place. Rachna got her stuff out of the car and I waited with her until the shuttle came to take her, to her apartment. This was a very nice day, a stiff and welcome contrast to yesterday. 

All throughout the evening, we TALKED. Conversation jumped from one random topic to another, it was actually hard to tell a story from start to finish because we moved from one tangential point to another. I suppose the major topics were Lauren (pros and cons), the ups and downs of creating a career, our families, and how much we miss our friends from home. I found myself talking about my mother alot, and even though Rachna looked at me with a face full of pity, she seemed to believe me when I said I was alright and I didn't need a therapy session tonight. I told her how my mom had thrown a huge engagement party for my brother, 10 weeks before his wedding and 6 weeks before she died, as if she knew what was going to happen. Rachna started to tear up and told me how her grandfather had died the day after her brother's wedding, she said that he had waited. Trying to lighten the mood, I asked her if she thought our relatives were negotiating with death and she said no, it is the intelligence of the Universe. I've always known we were living within a master plan but I've never heard it put that way. It's like a giant game of Wizard Chess, I may not understand every move, but the Universe is already thinking three steps ahead, maybe I should find a church with an altar to Bobby Fischer.