Blues & Music

Saturday morning, slept in quite a while. :) I think I ended up getting out of bed around 0830. Didn't have my plans finalized yet, but I did go to chow with my roommate and made it back around 1000. Brunches are odd on the weekends at the galley. You can get both breakfast items like made to order omelets and lunch items like hamburgers. Crazy.

I went to the Loft around 1100, and then left for Chicago around noon. I was with someone from my division at bootcamp who I hadn't seen in a long while and a group of her friends. When we got to the train station we had a bite to eat in the food court (grilled chicken sandwich and chicken noodle soup!) and then got a taxi to the Aquarium. It was raining cats and dogs (and blowing pretty hard) so we didn't want to bother with the buses, even if they were free. :)

I thought the Shedd Aquarium was neat, but it wasn't as incredible as I heard it was. They did have an indoor (Pacific white-sided) dolphin show (along the lines of sea world), but that was "holiday" themed, complete with a Santa Claus wishing everyone a "Happy Holidays! Ho, Ho, Ho!" I thought the aquarium in general (like many of the new/updated ones I've been to) are way to grand and too focused on being new and different than presenting the sea life. I guess I'm spoiled with the simple and wonderful Seattle Aquarium. I did enjoy it though. One of my favorite things was the ray tank downstairs that you walked on... And they did have two very cute otters. :) Hard to complain though! It was free for active duty military!

After the aquarium (my friends needed to go back to base), I made my way to the Chicago Symphony Center. Had to make my way through the rain in the picturesque, paved, lake-front park to the busy street for a free (with active military ID) bus ride several blocks north. Along the way I could see Navy pier (from my first weekend) in the distance, all lit up. Walked in the door of the Symphony Hall and I heard the chorus singing something beautiful... and then I purchased a student-priced ticket. The seat ended up being in the 7th row in the middle on the floor... probably a pricey one... but for me... $15. :)

Since I was there so early (5:30), I decided to explore the surrounding streets a little. I changed clothes from my jeans into my dress blues in a local Mc'yD's and then made my way back to the Symphony. They had their own little restaurant/bar, so I enjoyed a fancy cheeseburger up at the bar. The lady that sat down next to me struck up a conversation, and it turned out she was a regular symphony-goer, and showed me around a bit after we finished. What was neat was right when we got done it was time for the pre-concert lecture about one of the pieces we'd be hearing, and the speaker was very knowledgeable. He'd play examples from the concerto on the piano, or play a snippet on the radio. It was very fun!

But that was nothing, compared to the concert itself! My seat afforded a fabulous view of the soloist especially and most of the orchestra. The pianist had floppy hair and he moved with the music so suddenly that it would bounce all over the place. :) Hearing all three pieces was so refreshing. It was so, so beautiful.

I had to leave quickly once the final applause began though, because the last train left a half-hour after the show ended. I grabbed a taxi and made it to the Ogilvie Transit Center faster than you could say supercalifragilisticexpialadocious. Or however you spell that. :)

I sat with three other shipmates, going back for a late-night ride and spent most the journey on the phone while they slept, talking to Meg and Mike. I followed them back to base and I got in just after midnight. I think the day couldn't have turned out nicer.

Sunday, today, was my duty day. Right after getting up I had a watch to man in my dress blues for the first time. Pier Sentry... checking bags and pockets for illegal items, and making sure folks took their coats off when they came in. Wasn't bad at all! The Quarterdeck is the more interesting place to stand, with the most activity. And it was only for three hours because we had a scheduled "chow relief" for the last hour where we could go to the galley for brunch.

Upon returning from that, I went straight to my rack for three hours more sleep. :)

But at 1500, as I was waking up, they suddenly announced a surprise muster for my duty section. The Navy Band concert at the movie theater was short on patrons... so all the duty sections on base were mustered and sent over to fill in seats. LOL! I didn't mind too much... I had even thought about requesting the time to go. But then I fell asleep and forgot about it. So by the time I got there (again in my dress blues) it had already been going for 40 minutes... (about half over). But I did enjoy the Christmas music. They played as a wind ensemble and had a jazz band too. Felt just like a university performance, except this was the Navy.

They didn't make us sign out to go, so after it ended I went straight to chow in the 50mph wind. It was incredibly cold, but thank the Lord I had just bought a warm white scarf yesterday at the train station to replace my very thin bootcamp-issue scarf. It saved my face, for sure!

When I got back I was able to finish my laundry before duty muster at 2000. What a weekend!

Jp