Day seventy four. (Not the usual post. Here there be stories.)

Today may have been one of the best birthday celebrations I can remember. Last year was pretty fab, and the year before that also awesome, if a little awkward, but this was just...so many things happened. So boring bit: Worked in the store so mom could go to a meeting with a medical client, did some Python, actually was a little productive.

Then my evening of awesome:
I went out for my first drive alone ever to pick up Sam*.
Car was almost out of gas, so met mom at a gas station on the way to the train station so she could pay for gas.
Downtown for the Dvorak Requiem**, which I'd never heard. It was awesome.
Panda Express from the train station brought for a dinner picnic.

After intermission, a storm kind of came through. First just clouds, which were turned orange against the deep blue sky by the lights. (Bears woo! Although I didn't say that to Sam cause he thinks football is dumb.) Also there was a bunch of lightning. Awesome cause I love storms.
My obsession** with requiems outweighed my dislike of being in wet clothes and since it wasn't raining, we decided to stick it out. So there's awesome fire and brimstone text, dramatic music, orange clouds in a dark sky, and lightning with no rain while we're sitting out on the lawn at Millennium Park. Could that be any more awesome? I think only if a celebrity I loved showed up. And even then that'd distract from the lighting and requiem and there'd be a mob scene so...no. Not any better. Super fantastic concert.
It started to rain as we were leaving, so that was fine. We walked back to the train station in heavy-ish rain, and our fronts were wet when we got there, but it was fun.
Then we went to Spunky Dunkers for donuts, and Pirates of the Caribbean (2?) was on. The bit where Orlando is with the pirates in the balls the natives had them hanging in and the music turns into circus-like music and they try to launch themselves to the wall of the canyon. So we sat and ate donuts watching Johnny be silly as he tries to escape the natives so they don't eat him, and the other guys are swinging in a canyon. =)
Nothing could have added to that to be better. It was just amazing. So many fun great amazing wonderful things happened, and I'm just happy.

So thanks to Sam for putting up with my ridiculous happiness and making my day great. =)



*Backstory: Sam and I have been friends forever, and don't live right near each other. When we were younger, we always said once one of us could drive, we'd see each other way more often because we wouldn't have to coordinate a ride and it'd be great!! 6-8 years later, we're 18-19...20 years old and neither of us have licenses. So I've always had it in the back of my mind that after getting my license, my first outing on my own would be to Sam's house, at least to say hi and just be excited about it. I drove home from the DMV with dad, and mom did the driving this morning. So I got my first drive to Sam's house. Four years later than expected, but it still happened. =)


**NOTE: I LOVE REQUIEMS. Like...LOVE. More than is probably okay for a piece which is a mass for the dead...but...they're just gorgeous. I feel like a lot is put into them by composers because death is such a big emotional thing. Also, the text of a few of the movements is intense sinners and hell type stuff.