I decided what it is that I dislike about driving out to Joliet. I can't help but look at the development along Route 30 and think that at one time this was all the endless grassland Lewis & Clark saw in 1804, west of here, and we've gone and plowed it all under.
I know, there isn't much to be done about it now, and there's no easy way to chase the Burger Kings and Payless Shoes and Wal-Marts out of here and plant grass again, but I'm still disheartened to look at it. I went out, did my interview with someone from the National Park Service about some restoration work they're doing on a site, and came back.
When I got back, besides discovering about half a skein of off-white yarn unwound around the legs of all the chairs (thanks, Fargo) I found two messages on the answering machine. The first was from Marcy, one of the women I know from the University of Chicago. It alerted me to the other new message. And that, dear readers, was from an actual male individual! Apparently Marcy, after the Halloween party last week, had gotten a call from someone she knew from work, someone who'd been there but didn't feel comfortable about approaching me -- why, I don't know -- and asked Marcy if she had my number. After suitable interrogation, I think she figured it was OK to pass him along, and so she did.
I had gotten back from Joliet about 4:00, and the message was left about 3:30, but the number he left was, he said, his home number, and he'd be back at 6:00 or 6:30. I waited until 7:00 and called, and actually had a nice conversation. His name is Jeff, and he works in one of the bio research labs. He apparently knows the same people Marcy works for, and the whole net sort of fits together from there.
We talked for a while, and Jeff mentioned that a friend of his has tickets to see Rent, which is playing at the Shubert tomorrow night, and the sudden availability of the tickets had prompted his call. What was I going to say? Of course I said yes. I think it's interesting that both Rent and La Boheme, the opera on which the musical is supposedly based (according to the Trib) are both playing now. I'm almost tempted to see them both just to compare notes. I last saw La Boheme in Minneapolis when I was, I don't know, ten or twelve, I can't even remember.
So la, la, la, Princess Jeanne may have a social life after all! I should call Marcy and ask her more about this young man. Yes, I know we talked for a while, and I thought he was perfectly nice (although he's from Atlanta and a little hard to understand), but second opinions are inexpensive and valuable.
I then spent ten minutes unwinding yarn from all over the house.