Today the Empress experienced something unprecedented...something she had never done before...yeah...you all WISH it was that...

She went to a Cubs game

Of course this is not the end...far from it

The journey to Wrigley We met in the lobby of a crusty guys' dorm. The characters involved in this are:
Josh-very friendly...with everyone
Clint-southern accent, played with a super ball the whole time
Allen-Into sports, knew where Wrigley was
Dan-every expression shows on his face...particularly horror
Sarah-she didn't do much, some quiet girl

As we were walking to the L Clint was still playing with his glow in the dark super ball, bouncing it all around and making it hit people "by accident"...uh-huh...and in one such case Dan grabbed it and threw it high in the air for Clint to catch it. So Clint grabbed it out of the air...just as he ran into a parking meter. The timing was impeccable. About 5 feet down the road from that there was this store that sells a lot of things that no one wants. There was this questionable Mexican music radiating from it and most of us did the natural thing...which was to either partially dance to the odd sounding beat...or to do an over the top crazy dance to make fun of the odd beat. I would have liked to see us from across the street...5 people walking perfectly normally when one person runs into a parking meter and soon afterward three of them break into random dance.

We all got on the L and started down toward Wrigley. Sarah, Josh and Dan were on one side of the car and Allen and I were on the other side. Josh turned to Dan and asked if he wanted to play, "Are you nervous?" Dan seemed nervous at the very thought of playing such a game with Josh. His reason? He knows Josh. So do I, which was why I laughed at that moment. "Uhhh...ok." Dan said, watching in horror as Josh placed his hand just above Dan's knee. "Are you nervous?" Josh asked. "YES!" Dan cried, practically yelling. We all laughed and Josh took his hand away. "So what is the game?" Dan asked when he had recovered, confused as to what had just happened. "If you just say 'No' you will understand," Josh hand, replacing his hand where it had been. I didn't think it was possible for Dan to look more nervous than he had before...but he somehow managed it. He tried to remain VERY still, but though he ignored it, Josh's hand did not go away. "Are you nervous?" Josh asked again. Dan bit his lip..."No, " he managed to lie extremely unconvincingly. Josh moved his hand an inch up Dan's thigh. "YES!" Dan yelled, absolutely panicking into this hilarious state of frenzy in which he felt it necessary to push Josh's hand away and slap it at least twice. It was ironic how effeminate he looked when he did that...

Fast forward a bit...we needed to switch trains in order to get to Wrigley so when we got off of the brown line we had to cross to the other side of the track to get on the red line. Well...Allen and Sarah were lucky...they went right up the stairs and were followed by the slowest woman in the world, I swear. She was JUST big enough to make passing her completely impolite so Dan and I had to step up...wait...step up...wait...watch Allen get off on the other side...step up...wait...exchange glances...wait...smother laughed...step up...wait... (and so on) Thankfully we managed to get to the other side right before the train or I might have had to knock the lady out of the way.

A random guy from our school joined us on the train and was ripping on the Braves for the benefit of the Atlanta fans around us... The rest of us kind of looked at our shoes and laughed.

After we got off the L we were walking pretty much two by two and the closest people to me were Sarah and Josh, in front of me and Allen slightly behind me. We are walking along toward Wrigley and there are a ton of people on the sides of the street selling tickets, food, baseball stuff...etc. One man in particular was selling peanuts and was trying to explain why it would be better to buy before getting inside, etc, trying to be like the pros inside...however, I did not expect him to say what he DID, just as we were walking by..."Grab your nuts!" Hmmm...Sarah looked at Josh, Josh looked at Sarah. I watched this exchange and then glanced back at Allen, who was carefully looking downward. Passing him silently, we only turned to conversation when out his hearing.
"What were YOU thinking, Sarah? That's gross!" Josh said. Allen and I just kind of shook our heads at Josh and I commented that if I still had it...the comment would go on the Insipid List (coming soon). He laughed. I did not tell him it would go on my website instead.

Once at the game it was FREEZING COLD. I just have to say that while Wrigley is the tradition and all...the Metrodome has DISTINCT ADVANTAGES! Anyway...having been a Twins fan, I have always seen the Braves as "the enemy" since they played in the World Series. So much to my utter delight and absolute SURPRISE...the Cubs WON 11-4. I only saw the game until it was 8-2, though, because I had to go back to track practice. It was super fun, though...the first inning they got 4 runs and when they also got four runs in the 5th (I believe) they turned on YMCA and the crowd was dancing. It was super funny. Thankfully, the Braves did get a home run while I was there so I got to see it thrown back :) In spite of the cold, it was a very good experience, but next time I am bringing a blanket.

NOT DONE YET!!!
On the way BACK after the 5th inning to get to track I had to catch the L twice. During BOTH occasions the doors opened RIGHT in front of me so that I just had to step forward through the center of the door. It is nice when inanimate objects like trains recognize my dominion.

I got back late for track, but it was worth it. Now I'm done.