As you might have inferred, I enjoyed my day of self-indulgence muchly. I woke up at 5:45a as usual (I can't sleep thru Doofus' alarm no matter how loud my fan is) and then lolled about 'til 7:30a. Watched the news, caught a little Buffy and Farscape, made myself some breakfast, and realized I didn't have to be on the train until 8:30a. The sheer potential of that hour quickly turned into the sheer terror of 14 tasks in 25 minutes. I headed for the train, realizing that 8:30a is still considered rush hour by those who start their job at 9a (nine? I'm having my mid-morning break at 9a. I need to make some changes) so it was full of people-watching potential. I made it down to 26th & California, late for my check-in time--what were they going to do, send me home? It seems that there aren't a lot of Irish lassies down in Pilsen, or they're all easy floozies, since I was honked at and checked out repeatedly as I marched purposefully down 5 blocks of a changing neighborhood.

Settled in for the morning session, where we were shown a video telling us all the details that 8 years of The Practice glossed over. Then the waiting began, and that's fine with me. I brought enough reading material to stun a horse...or at least keep me busy until 4p. Wired. Rolling Stone. The Trib. Premiere. The Devil in the White City. I tell you, it's a mini-vacation for me. Heck, at this point I hadn't even conversed with anyone past a yes/no. Heaven. 90 minutes for lunch, marred by the fact that there was nothing decent to eat around the Circuit Courthouse. Hello, Chicago. This is the Cook County Circuit Court. Don't you think that the thousands of people passing thru its doors want some food? Popeye's isn't gonna cut it when all the judges recess for lunch together. I ate my sad little piece of greasy pizza next to a fountain that was drowned out by the constuction next to it--but it was pretty anyway. Unfortunately, there were only two options--outside in full sun, or inside in the full a/c. My skin hasn't bronzed this summer, so I headed back inside to start reading again. By 2:30, the head honchos decided we were done for the day, and pfft--we were done, $17.20 in hand. I wandered back to the office to tie up some loose ends and type this, and now I'm off to dinner with friends. Luckily, I looked in the mirror before I headed into the office. If I hadn't, the entire place would know I wear a size Medium shirt, seeing how the little M sticker? still on my shirt. Sheesh. I spent the entire day walking around announcing "M"! I'm such a dork.