Dear Guy-sitting-next-to-me-on-the-plane,

You have got to be kidding me.

You wanna know why I don't want to talk to you?

Well, just to name few reasons: (1) you made mention more than once of your desire to physically harm all hippies, all Yankees, any guy that wears a pink shirt, all persons from California, and all persons from Oklahoma; (2) one of your life goals is to "talk to every person in Texas" (What?); (3) you prefaced more than four statements with, "This is going to make me sound racist, but..."; (4) as you got drunker, you edged your legs and arms closer to me, until I, trying desperately to just not have to touch you, found myself plastered against the wall of the plane, which was I guess a good thing; because (5) if I had been taking up my whole seat, you would have spilled your glass of whiskey on me and not just on two-thirds of my seat; (6) you stared at me while I was reading my book, and asked me each time I underlined something or made a note why I was doing that; (7) you stared at me for minutes at a time while I watched a movie and yelled loudly at me "Why are you laughing at me?" every time I smiled at the movie; (8) you woke me up to ask me "Do you prefer Mandy or Amanda?" and when I replied, "I'm not sure what you're talking about," you heatedly responded, with your face an inch from mine despite my desperate attempts to back away, "Listen, Erin, I want to see you again. I like hanging out with you, and I want to see you next week."

I don't like "hanging out with you," and I don't want to see you next week.

Very sincerely,
Ellen

'olidays for me

And some España también, but I don't have exact addresses for where I'll be there which makes finding Google satellite images for it a little less exciting.

"You're getting nothing, NOTHING FOR CHRISTMAS!"

pope dot el

I've been needing to do some exercising of my brain lately, so I went and checked out this exhibit at the Art Institute today. Pretty sweet. I was a little skeptical when the lady I talked to corrected my question, "How's that William Pope exhibit?" with "Um, It's William Pope.L," but his work is very cool.

(Click for more info on his performance art.)

Also cool is the photography exhibit downstairs, "Girls on the Verge: Portraits of Adolescence." You can't tell from this image, but the series of photos below, by Lalla Essaydi, depict girls and women dressed in and surrounded by cloth inscribed with Islamic calligraphy written in henna that also covers the exposed skin of each of the subjects. The placard at the exhibit said that the writing is typically reserved for the use of men only, but I'm not finding that specification here. Anyway, very cool. I'd recommend both if you're in Chicago!



(What intelligent commentary I've provided here! "Pretty sweet" and "very cool." A compelling review, no?)

Reality TV sucks.

I miss the writers.