shankar2k's Journal: Second Winter Break

I'm back in Urbana now and class just started yesterday. I can't believe that I've already spent seven semesters here. I guess time flies when you're wandering around aimlessly, unsure of what to do. Well that's not quite so true anymore, but I've been confused in grad school for so long, it's almost kind of scary to actually have some direction.

Here's what I've been up to since I flew back to Illinois.

• I spent a week in the suburbs of Chicago, basically zigzagging between my brother's place in Orland Park and my cousin's place in Bolingbrook. Back in the day my trips up to the suburbs used o be easy. I'd drive straight to my cousin's place and then play it by ear. But then my brother finished his residency and moved back to Illinois, and things got infernally complicated. I want to be clear: I love spending time at my brother's place. I enjoy playing with my nephew Yash, chatting with my sister-in-law, or watching my brother lose all his money playing online poker, but I also enjoy spending time with my cousin and her children. The problem is, it takes forty five minutes to go from Orland Park to Bolingbrook, and most of the travel is on a one-lane road, so if some punk decides to stay on the road at 25 miles an hour, you're basically stuck the whole way. It was a miscalculation of how long this drive takes that got me in trouble that week (Sorry Pammi!). Oh well. I'll figure it out eventually. Or maybe they'll make a special freeway for that route in a year or two.
• I met up with fellow Harvest House alum Tess in Chicago. We went to this lovely restaurant called Flat Top Grill where you can put together your own dish and they'll stir fry it up nice for you. The price is pretty reasonable (for Chicago anyway), it's all-you-can-eat, and very vegetarian friendly. I give it two snaps up!
• I went with a couple of relations up to Wisconsin to go skiing. I haven't been skiing in about four years, but it's like riding a bike. Sandhya and Avenash had never been skiing before, and they both did surprisingly well considering it was their first time. The slopes in Wisconsin are definitely not as rough as the ones in California, but what can you expect from the Midwest?
• I borrowed my brother's Jeep and helped Sandhya move some of her stuff out of her Chicago apartment. We were driving back down Lake Shore drive in the leftmost of four lanes going about 55 miles an hour, though most of the cars were going ten miles faster. This compact in the rightmost lane starts hydroplaning out of control and starts skidding to the left. The guy manages to skid across all four lanes and then turns around right in front of me with his passenger side door facing me. I slammed on the brakes and came within six inches of hitting him. After all of that the guy has the nerve to give me a dirty look! He sped off down some offramp and then we stopped at the next traffic light. A lady two lanes over rolled down her window and said "Nice driving! If it had been me, I would have hit the guy!" That made me feel good. Unfortunately, I didn't get to end the day still thinking I was a good driver, but we don't need to talk about that (Sorry again Pammi!)

That took longer than I thought. Ok, I'll write about Urbana next time.

Re:all the sorries

[shankar2k]

Oh don't worry. I banned myself from parking in your curved driveway.