Friday, Jun. 09, 2017 - 11:27 p.m.

SOOOOOO........

Been a while, eh? Eh.

I got that promotion! Woop woop! It's official.

I feel like it's more of a "raise". My old position's title was just changed, salary increased by a couple percent and I'm getting a small bonus payment on every check, which I highly appreciate.

I still HATE that the money held even a hint of a taint over such an awesome thing. That reaction is 100% under my control. I've gotten over it, for the most part. But it's still in the back of my mind. I've started revamping my resume and will be applying for other jobs in my industry, just to get a taste of what's going on out there and to see what kind of bites I get. We'll see.

I'm happy to say that I signed up for a retirment account!!! Did it yesterday. My older coworker has been trying to get me to do so for 9 years now - as long as I've been working at my org. She started in on me as soon as I started working about doing it, but I never got around to. Now, don't get me wrong: I've been saving like a maniac the past couple years. I have A LOT to show for that too, although my idea is that a great portion of that savings will go towards purchasing my great-aunt's home (will get into that a little later or tomorrow). But yeah, I have access to cold hard cash that I would not have had, had I socked it all away into retirement. So, this way, I'll be set on two sides - cash in savings and money going towards my retirement.

***********DAYS LATER***************

I forget where I wanted to keep going the other day, but I do want to finish this entry.

Went to Chicago last week. Had a m'f'n BLAST! Got in late Thursday evening due to flight delays (with an S). Went by Lou Malnati's on the way to the hotel. It was pretty good - would have been nice to have it hot and fresh in the restaurant but in the room was good enough.

Got up that Friday and went down to the hotel breakfast. The hotel was waaaaay outside of where we wanted to be because D did not pay attention to the location when booking. LOL But all ended well. The hotel had an AMAZING breakfast that we ended up being gifted with for our whole stay, which was very nice. So we went and had breakfast then went back to the room to chill for a bit. I'm used to hitting the ground running early but D was intent on getting some rest in. In the end, I appreciated the rest, so I'm glad she was firm about that. We got up and dressed and left to do a tiny bit of sight-seeing.

We went to the John Hancock building for the 360 view of Chicago. Loved it. I thought it was the building with the glass floor, but it was not. :-/ LOL Enjoyed it, nonetheless. From there, we walked the Magnificent Mile (we have a Miracle Mile here, so I keep wanting to call the Chicago one, that. But nobody walks our Miracle Mile. LOL). We stopped for lunch and I got a belt out of Forever 21. My cute jeans kept slipping down. That belt saved me the rest of the day! We made it to The Bean at Millenium Park and took a few pics. Noticed signs about a Gospel Fest happening that weekend. I wanted to try it out but D was more focused on meeting up with her cousin. I got to enjoy one of the performances while we waited for her cousin to get near. Truth be told, I could have stayed there the whole weekend. But, alas...

Her cousin came and picked us up then took us by her apartment. From there, we headed out to happy hour with some of her cousin's friends. It was blah. That crew was headed to another spot (karaoke, I believe). I thought we were all going but D was waiting on an old friend to show up. The friend took forever so the cousin & her crew headed out with the idea that we'd all meet up later. Finally, the friend showed up - Lina. It was her and her boyfriend. They were asking what we wanted to do. LOL D was like, "I am the visitor. Ya'll tell me what we finna do." I was like 0_0. LOLOL But Lina and her bf got themselves together and suggested a blues place. It was funny to hear that, because the day before, a coworker mentioned that Chicago has some great blues places. So I immediately got excited.

Man, we had a good time up in there!!! Lina & her bf were intent on showing us a good time, buying us drinks and shots. If I didn't keep getting up and moving around, I probably would've gotten drunk off my ass up in there. But I was moving all around, taking pics and videos, grooving to the music, peeing (LOL). I had a damn good time up in there. I was soooo happy! Loved it! The night was getting long so we headed out. Made it back to the hotel, knocked out.

I was waking up from 6am that next morning, for some reason. Kept forcing myself back to sleep. Eventually, we got up and did breakfast, then came back to rest in the room. We headed out to a "day party" for a friend of one of the cousin's friends from the day before. It was BLAH, again. *sigh* I mean, the people were cool but I would've rather had been moving around the city, drinking and eating in various places. Anywhoo, from there, we all headed out to a "festival". The summer is "Festival Season" in Chicago - aka street fairs. It was so funny to see people be so excited about being out in the streets. I mean, the city was BUZZING! I didn't see the big deal but, then again, I don't have to experience cool Falls and cold Winters every year. Couldn't relate. But the street festival was cool.

We rushed outta there to make dinner with Lina and her bf. They took us to a themed restaurant with bellydancers and such. It was a cool experience, food was no good though. But it was nice of them to think outside of the box in trying to show us a good time.

Overall, I loved Chicago! I could definitely see my great-aunt Jennette strolling around the city as she told us she used to. I would probably enjoy living there, except for the cold. I don't do cold, baby. No ma'am, no sir. But it's a beautiful city. There is music EVERYWHERE. And I liked the aspect of people gathering everywhere (granted, I only visited the "North Side", which is apparently hipsterland).

Ok, my day is done. My boss is gone on vacation, so I've lost all motivation to actually work. But I'll get it back on Monday. I've got to. LOL

Deuces.

the last - the next