on Michigan Avenue you can always tell a tourist from a native because she’ll be wearing a mini-skirt and he’ll be sporting a trendy biker leather.  as any Chicagoan will tell you, winter is not the time to be fashion conscious!  keep the following in mind:

if you follow the above list, then you, too, can feel smug and superior while you’re waiting for the bus or the train and some fool has their hands shoved in their pockets, their shoulders hunched by their ears, and face red as a fire hydrant.  you, on the other hand, will be warm and toasty.

i didn’t listen to myself on Saturday and went out wearing just a sweater when i should have worn a coat.  now i’m paying for it because i’m sick and i hate being sick and i hate chicken soup and my cat’s tail landed in my bowl just before i wrote this, and that was what made me decide to post this tip today instead of Monday morning.  if i can save someone from having a tail in their soup, i’ll be able to rest easier.

once again, the cats have managed to dupe me into giving them a second breakfast.  i was fairly certain that Brian had already fed them, but when i woke up yesterday, they followed me around, meowing their chorus of "feed us!  feed us!"

if Angelo were human, he would make a perfect bouncer as he’s so good at guarding doors, especially to the bathroom.  the only time he does this is when Brian or i are inside it when he’s hungry.  if either of us decides to shower before feeding them, he’ll guard the tub by sitting on the tub mat and won’t move so we end up having to step around him.

Hopper and Hee Seop follow me around, mewing plaintively and stretching their necks towards me as i tower above them.  Hopper’s expression is one of desperation–eyes wide open, head cocked–an expression she knows is hard for me to resist.  and she’s the only one to whom i always cave in.  Basil croaks at me in his deep Siamese voice, flashing his eyes, blue as sapphire.

and i bought the act.  will i ever learn?

over summer vacation a few years ago, i brought the cats home to Chicago with me, from Columbus, OH.  at the time we only had Hopper and Basil.  while Brian and i visited his folks in Iowa, the cats remained at my parents’ house.  my dad was going to take care of them because my mother doesn’t like animals and doesn’t believe they belong in the house.  (keep in mind that she’s from a culture/country where this is the prevailing attitude.)

when i came back, she told me how funny the cats were:  whenever she sat down to eat breakfast, they would go to their bowls in the breakfast nook as well.  she was so delighted by this that she made sure they had food.

she routinely woke up before my dad and was already gone for work by the time he came downstairs–to feed them again!  he had no idea that my mother was also feeding them because remember–she doesn’t like animals.  sure, she doesn’t.

as promised, here’s the reply to the post immediately before this one, On Hot Abercrombie Chick’s Blog:  Is Race-Exclusive Dating Racist?  READ THAT FIRST!

click the link below to read my comments.

on a different note, if i haven’t replied to your comments on previous posts, i will soon.  i think i’m sick.  no, in fact i know i am but i’m in denial.

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out of curiosity, i checked out Hot Abercrombie Chick‘s blog, since it’s so popular. at least i’m assuming it is because it’s on tons of people’s blogrolls and constantly advertised on BlogSnob.

i came across the following post, which i’ve copied and pasted in its entirety in the “continue reading” link below. or you can read it at HAC’s blog: Is Race-Exclusive Dating Racist? this is an issue i feel strongly about and replied to, though i’m not sure why because quite a few of the comments (on this and on other posts as well) are simplistic and strike me as uneducated. but that’s beside the point and an example of my “intellectual snobbery” that you can read more about in the first paragraph of the “continued reading” link in this post.

anyway, i’ve decided to post my reply here as well, in a separate entry to follow.

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a leading cause of apartment fires in Chicago is the use of the space heater.  don’t ever buy one.  if you already have one–or more–get rid of them.  right now.

then call the gas company and make arrangements to have the amount of your bills spread over 12 months so you don’t suddenly receive a huge statement.  better yet, when apartment hunting, rent one with radiator heat, usually advertised as "heat included" in the classifieds.

click here for information on Peoples Energy’s Budget Payment Plan for residential accounts.