Chicago and Back....

In less than 27 hours. WARNING!!! Ultra-long post!! WARNING!!! So, my Japanese Language Proficiency Test was today in Chi-town. After realizing that I am broke and couldn't afford to stay in Chicago for the weekend like I had hoped, I ended up going only for Saturday night. Let me start off with the whole day Saturday. After seeing The Last Samurai, which was good DESPITE having Tom Cruise in it, I put on my Zen tunes and crashed on the couch-bed. I woke up at 8 to feed the kitties, who were starving to death.... Then I promptly went back to sleep until 10:30. Christina calls me and asks if I wanted to go to Fenton with her to see her aunt Barb and uncle Bart. I said yes because, hey, I had nothing else to do, I get free cookies, and I always got along really well with Barb and Bart, as well as their kids, Jessica and Julie. So we go up there, Christina driving since I was going to Chicago that night, and we get there as they are cookie-ing. As a matter of fact, there is an extra aunt up there. Her aunt Linda was there also. They are looking at these cookie-like decorations, where you make a tree out of increasingly smaller (is that right?) stars of gingerbread with spacers. It looked great in the book, with the icing around the edges of it to be snow on the branches. Since I knew how to use a piping bag and icing (Thank you Food Network), I got roped into doing it. It was actually kinda fun. Later on, Bart got home and we talked a bit, Christina lost at both Chess and Checkers to Jessica, who is about 9 or so years younger than us, and we got dinner. Bart made a tasty spaghetti for dinner, with the rest provided by Barb. It was around 5:30, and I was planning on leaving around 7ish, so we headed home. We almost ran out of gas, but didn't, thankfully. Jason got there right as we did, and he came in, I grabbed a quick shower to revitalize, and we were off on the road. Jason was kind enough to join me on this road trip since I would have had to drive to Chicago alone, and 4 hours in the car alone not knowing exactly where I am going would not have been good the night before a big test. As we're heading out, he gives me my Christmas present (a bit early, yes, but he'll be out of town) which is a piece of self protection that one hopes to never have to use. The drive out there is fairly uneventful, but now I know how much toll cash it costs to get to Chicago using the Indiana Toll Road. It costs $2.80, exact change preferred. Eventually we got to the hotel, a Holiday Inn. We were surprised by the nudity on the tv, but it was HBO and something like Real Sex, but not. Apparently there is a restaurant in Bavaria where they paint the menu on the waitresses' nude bodies. No complaints here. We decided it was time to hit the lounge and have a brew. Unfortunately, it was a ghost town, and there were maybe 4 other people there who were heading home. Jason had a Labatts as per normal, but I got a Boddington's Pub Ale, which was nice and creamy and smooth. First time I had that on draft! Around midnight, Jason mentioned he was hungry when I was flipping through the courtesy book they leave in the rooms. It turns out everywhere closes AT midnight, except for this one diner we were directed to. This place was a 24 hour diner that had alcohol. Not only that, but the food was homemade, and really good. The burgers we got were 1/2lb burgers served with fries, coleslaw, AND homemade soup. All under $7.50. Not too shabby. Jason also got an MGD, since, when else was he going to get the chance to get a beer at a diner? I decided to stick with water, since I had a big test coming. Back at the room, we were both insomniacs, so we watched True Lies on tv. Always a great movie. At 9am, we were woken up when housekeeping came in. She opened the door, and I said, "Sorry, we're still sleeping!" and didn't get up till about 10:30. We checked out and got breakfast right next door. We got skillets of food. They were pretty good, but I think I should have gone with simple pancakes. Theoretically, if the directions we had were accurate, I was going to get to my test with about 20 minutes to spare. Alas, that was not to be. Construction that rivals Michigan work held us up for 5 miles, and the directions ended at the stadium, which, like Eastern's, is about 5 miles away from the campus. We turned around multiple times, asked a few people, then got to the designated parking area. Using a handy map (How handy!) we got to the correct building by jogging. Where did I have to go? The fourth floor of course, by foot. Jason and I hustled up there, and I went to take the test, and he wandered for three hours. My test was to begin at 12:40, and I got there just at 12:42. Not bad with all the mix ups. The first part, the grammar, was rough, with the kanji. The second part was listening, which I did well at, as usual. The third part, Reading Comprehension was Ultra-Kanji difficulty. I'll know in March if I was able to pull a win out of my ass or not. I am hoping yes, but guessing not. At this time, I asked yet another co-ed for directions, and we were on our way to the freeway, after gassing up. The drive home had more traffic, but was yet fairly simple to navigate home.It took under 5 hours to get back, so I was pleased with it. Jason said that if we got to Famous Dave's before it closed, then he would buy dinner. We got there with 20 minutes to spare. So, I got back safe and sound, and all under 27 hours. It was crazy good times, with a numb ass on the car seat, but it was worth it. And if I passed the test, it was WELL worth it. I think I am going to sleep soundly tonight!