2002-07-07   3:41 a.m.

it's been about 24 hours since i arrived home from the week at Brytne's. the entire week was spectacular, and i had an awesome time :)

we went to the taste of chicago, six flags great america, watched a couple of movies, went to a picnic/fireworks show, and went thrifting. i love it so much when i get to spend time with her..

taste of chicago was a little expensive, $7 for 11 tickets, which could be exchanged around the festival for food and drink.. problem being, nothing ya want ever seems to add up to 11, but whatever. the food was good. some white sox (frank thomas and kenny lofton included) autographed stuff, which we gave to Brytne's brother and cousin. there was an extreme diving show, too, which wasn't bad.. Brytne got extremely burned. she also convinced me it would be a good idea to walk around the thing shirtless, so i sit here sunburned as badly as i've ever been (which isn't really that badly).

six flags rocked. i agree with Brytne that their park is much bigger than the one near here in saint louis, though they're lacking the luxury of a waterpark.

the bourne identity was a nice (and cleverly titled) feel-good spy movie about a black ops secret agent losing his memory of events and, oddly enough, his identity, while retaining his super-elite crime-fighting and -committing skills. mayhem ensues.

men in black ii needs no introduction. i laughed a lot, and i was in constant awe of the rekindled on-screen chemistry between will smith and tommy lee jones. it's one of those movies that runs for two hours but seems like 45 minutes. the film short included before the movie (about the if the experience of watching this movie and returning to Brytne's house to read the tribune's tempo section review of it has taught me anything, it's the following: i hate film critics more than ever. what the hell is up the butt of a guy who writes for two pages about how this movie doesn't cut the mustard as a whole, while complementing every feature along the way? he said the acting, writing, directing, graphics, humorous gags, and characters were on par with the star-studded team's best work, but kept using words like "mesh" and "click" to point to its failings. my analysis? someone told him to give this movie two stars, and while he couldn't find a substantial reason to do so, he followed orders and gave vague justification as to why.

[/soapbox]

the chubbchubbs are coming was the hilarious and cute short film shown before mib2. it rules.

the fourth was sweet. good ol' picnic and fireworks, complete with corn on the cob(which i liked, though some people said it was too tough)!

my new policy shall be to have quiznos twice-toast my sandwiches, as i believe this will make them taste even better. clearly, the only way to beat a quiznos sandwich is to cheat! or, take a quiznos sandwich and toast it again. the broccoli and cheddar soup at panera is absolutely amazing.

but i should've gotten my usual tuscan chicken over the bacon turkey bravo... oh well, at least i finished it.

Brytne took me on my first good outer-suburban thrifting trip, which included about 5 sites throughout lake and mchenry counties, illinois. it was elite; lots of $.49 and $.88 t-shirts involved. the goodwill in cape is $3+ for t-shirts, and is smaller than 3 of the thrift stores we checked out up north. and to think, i had always thought this place was big. i guess that just serves to put things into a better perspective for me: such is the hillbilly in beverly.

on the trainride home, i only had thirty-five cents, a state which sort of nullifies the usefulness of such amenities as a diner car and lounge car. except, i decided, for the complimentary movie. can't go wrong there, eh? so i headed to the lower level of the lounge car to watch snow dogs with cuba gooding junior. talk about a white-washed black guy! (god, my jokes are awful)

anyway, there were these punk-looking teens in the car with me, who walked in with soup and drinks and the very pizza i so desired to (but as a pauper could not) buy. i could not leave my seat, as it was the comfortable elbow in a wrap-around both, with a good view of the tv ("telly"), but at the same time my emptying stomach could not bear the presence of so much food.

and then one of them, a rough hugh jackman meets beck-type fellow, sat down. his sideburns were a good two inches longer than mine, and thicker, and he was dressed like a sum41 member, but he sat like princess di (i'm sorry, is that still a 3-year sore spot?). so i decided he was either blatantly homosexual, british, or both. when he opened his mouth to address the others, at least the "british" possibility was verified.

their conversation was difficult to understand because of the movie's action sequences, but for the most part they were discussing something surreally stereotypical like how to get 9 new channels of bbc, including bbc news 24, or something. crazy brits.

i hope they enjoyed the pizza, though i'd have liked to see them with crumpet, or something.

peace

-jkw

imagine, if you will

the disturbingly catchy vocals

of zombie nation's kernkraft 400:

ohwo-oh oh-oh oh ohwo-oh oh-oh ohwo oh ohwo ohwo