this schizophrenic weather is truly toying with my emotions. today was warm, humid, 70s. Monday will be cold, 50s. I am simply requesting some consistency so that I may solidify my clothing mindset. all this swapping between winter coat, no coat, light coat, no coat, winter coat within the space of 30 days will not do. no sir, it will not do at all.

last night after a nice dinner with S&A we went back to their apartment and sat around chatting for a bit. then Amber suggested we all do a painting. she and Stephen both paint a bit, Amber moreso, and they always have a semi-finished canvas or two sitting around in their neato West Loop loft. so A dug out some blank canvas boards and we picked a single image to paint so we could see how differently each one turned out. the image? why, a photograph of David Bowie of course! I ended up being pretty pleased with mine, although my Bowie is without eyes for now. I just couldn't get them right--I'd always end up giggling wildly after making a new attempt, so my David looks kind of alien--just sheets of blank flesh where the see holes should be. it was really disturbing to S&A that I left my portrait just sitting there on the easel at their apartment without eyes. so to prevent any funny business I forbade them to add their own renditions. I will revisit the eyes at a later date. other than that, I think I did a great job on the mouth and nostrils. maybe once I finish it properly I'll post it, just for grins.

today I celebrated the weather with a lunch with Jen, who I haven't seen in probably two months. after that I took advantage of her vehicle ownership and we tooled around to places and stores I wouldn't usually visit since it takes too much time to get to them via CTA methods. I visited the Smart Museum for the first time. it's smaller than I expected, but their collection is particuarly rich in art of the first half of the 20th century so I enjoyed it very much. later, I exercised immense restraint at CB2 by not purchasing a $20 small, orb-shaped light that plugs into an outlet and sends changing washes of color over walls. I just wanted it even though it's kind of silly. and I just might go back to get it once my 4.5% (the maximum allowed) bonus comes through next month. how fun would it be to go into the bathroom in the middle of the night and have it be glowing a slowly-changing rotation of soothing magenta, blue, green...? or would that just be scary-trippy? either way, I need to find out. my only purchase today, apart from my lunch at Joy's Noodles and a brownie at Trotters To Go? a bar of $3 lavendar soap. good good girl.

April's mom is talking to me so so much right now. clearly I am busy typing. yet she feels obligated to share with me the story of how she accidentally hit a button on the remote that turned the screen to static while in my home alone last night and couldn't figure out how to fix it. ahhhhh only one more day. deep breath...and push on.

tomorrow I'm going to church, then eating a meal here with the roommate and the talker, then I will be making the rounds of telephone calls that a holiday such as Easter demands. on the schedule are my parents' house, Adrienne, and Grandma & Grandpa. and maybe Kelly if possible.

oh jeez the commercial with the dirty improv-er is on tv right now. oh will you look at his stupid, smug face with its way-too-delicate old lady skin. shudder and revulsion.

I really shouldn't end this entry on that grody note, so I will say that Jen's new 3-month-old kitty is just about the sweetest little thing I've seen in a long time. it's an orange boy tabby and he's soooo skinny and small! watching him is like watching a tiny kitty toy jumping and rolling around. I want to steal him for myself. hooray for little animals!