a long-lost violin

Today I learned from Emily that bears don't actually hibernate.

And that I don't like South Indian food. It mostly tastes like pepper. I hate pepper.

I also, along with Upekha, Zach, and Stephen, stumbled upon the most thickly concentrated all-encompassing net of ethnic neighborhoods I've ever seen. In West Chicago, near Belmont. We went from Israeli, to Afghan, to Russian (quite the geographic jump) and ended up in Pakistani/Indian territory. We ate at a place that (if I remember right) was called "The Indian Garden", with a nice slogan, something like "Nirvana Cuisine!" Everything was peppery-tasting, except for the chicken (which was magenta) and the bread. Those were pretty good. So was the water. All five glasses.

The aftertaste left something be desired, slash we just wanted cheesecake. So we headed for the John Hancock building... but not before admiring the irony of "Gandhi Appliances" and "Siddhartha Jewels".

We also heard Islamic prayer emanating from a building we walked past. It was actually really moving for me, somehow, just to hear. It sounded very.. deep, serious, meaningful. Almost gave me chills.

The rest of the night was pretty standard - cheesecake, dorm, talking. I was lame/overworked enough to think I might read some of my hum stuff tonight - the Metamorphoses of Ovid - but I don't know if I have the concentration. Maybe just a little.. but Karl Marx looms on the horizon, prodding me with sharp objects as a reminder that I have a paper due Wednesday. I'm a little tired of economics.. or economic social theory. Weird - this quarter is almost over. Only a few weeks left.