Beginner Japanese, Courtesy of Styx

Screenwriting has been both my favorite, and my hardest class this quarter. Today, I got the first complete draft of my assigned screenplay done! And it's about time too. It's due Tuesday. No time like the last minute. But really, I'm happy mostly because it's one of only 2 stories I've completed, front to back. The first one has yet to be edited (and it really needs an overhaul, but that's a project for next month).

Animation History is my next crisis to face. I have a list of names a mile long that I really need to know. Or at least have notes on. The names range from as easy (Walt Disney), to easy to anime-fans (Osamu Tazuka), to "who the heck is that?" (Ralph Bakshi anyone?). My roommate is Japanese (her home was not in the path of Friday's Tsunami thank goodness). So after the lesson topic of anime, I came home and started trying to pronounce the names I learned correctly. She thought this was funny, not because I was mispronouncing things, but because an American was trying to speak Japanese. She also flipped when she discovered I knew what "arigato" meant (Styx songs can be educational. Who knew?).

One more week, and spring break will be here. I can't wait.

Catchy song of the day: Francesca Battistelli's "This is the Stuff"

Chicago

Life has been interesting.

I am now at DePaul University in Chicago. A quick Wiki-search will tell you that the name Chicago derives from an native-american word for "wild onion". The building with the most square-footage in the city is Merchandise Mart, which is so large it has it's own El station, and it's own zip-code. The two tallest buildings in the US can be found here: The famous Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and the Trump International Hotel and Tower. In fact, Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper, but you probably already knew that.

It snows and/or rains every other day here. Typically I go bananas over snow, but now it's lost it's charm. I really prefer the rain. I want spring to come. I'm tired of iced-over sidewalks in the morning.

Public transportation has been a blessing. I've yet to ride the bus, but the el/subway are so convenient that I really can't complain. When we were hit with a foot of snow earlier this year, I was still perfectly mobile. Others had to dig out their cars and drive through slush. I just had to walk and hop on a train like always.

The other blessing is the stores. There's a reasonably close Trader Joe's, and an Aldi right underneath (turns out they're owned by the same company!) It's a bit of a hike, 4 blocks maybe, but I need the exercise. Even more convenient is the Borders store, which unfortunately is closing due to bankruptcy. On the up side, their closing sale was the best excuse to get a really huge book on animals, a really cute greeting card with a frog, and a copy of Mouse Guard (which is becoming one of my favorite graphic novels).

I think I like Chicago.