Pre-Saint Patty's Day weekend

I want to state first that in no way am I aggravated at the parties involved in this story. This is just a very strange bit of instances that happened at one time. 

Well, Friday went smoothly. We had a work outing to go lazer tagging, which was fantastic. We played three games of 20 minutes (truthfully, 2 would have been enough, but it was still fun). The team I was on lost all three games, but still very fun to shoot "lazers" at your co-workers, and to be trash talked about it as well. Afterwards, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings and had a delicious "dinner." Courtney and I were observing no meat Fridays, which is quite the challenge at BWW's, but we were able to pull it off. The wings on the table were quite the temptation, but we stuck to our nachos and potato wedges. 

Saturday was where things got a bit sticky. Woke up, chatted with Richard, then with Heather. We had our plans set, she was going to pick me up at the train station, we were going to drive to Lincoln Park, meet up with Kim and Co for her birthday/St. Patty's day celebration. I then worked on her present (can't say what it is because she hasn't gotten it yet). Showered, and got all pretty looking. I am starting to practice doing some sort of up-do for the wedding, so I tried that out, and left for the train. I decided to drive the Nissan to the station, and leave it there. That way, my parents wouldn't have to pick me up on Sunday.

While on the train, Heather called. She had just woken up from her nap (because she had just gotten back from New York). She would not be ready to pick me up when I got in. Well, I will just call Joe and see if I can hang out with him for about an hour. He was home and that went smoothly. Got into the station, took the green line down, he met me at the El stop. Joe and I chatted for a while, I got some dinner, had a beer, and laughed lots. We looked at his pictures from his trip to Germany (none of the people I know! Actually, none of people at all).

At Joe's, I got another call, this one from Kim. She was calling to let me know that they were getting really tired, and would be heading home soon, so don't bother coming into the city. Umm, well, I am already here. Silence. She said I could come meet her, but I wasn't near Lincoln Park. It really wasn't a big deal, I would figure something out. She had been out since 10:00am, and I would be exhausted as well. Ten minutes later, Heather called, and then asked what we should do. Because of her nap, she was now quite awake. I said I would love to see her. I could go out to Tinely Park, and meet up. But the next train was leaving the station in 30 minutes, and I would not be able to make it there in time. And the train after that was in 2 hours. Awesome. So she came and picked me up (and is a saint for that). 

Heather arrived at Joe's (after a bit, and I got a little worried. I didn't want to call because she would in Chicago, and driving and cell phones don't mix in the city). I hopped in the car, said goodbye to Joe, and we were off. We missed the poorly marked exit for the interstate, got yelled at by another car, and got honked at. Really, Heather, you are awesome, thank you for coming to get me and putting up with all of that! But we turned around, didn't let the shouts freak us out (too much), and you always get honked at in the city. An hour later, we decided to go to Apple Bee's, because the local bars would be loud and really crowded. It was a really good evening, and we chatted about all kinds of things. 

Sunday, we got up, heather made some breakfast, and drove me to the station. I had decided to take the 10:48 train out of Tinley so I could catch the 12:30 train out of Chicago to get back home. I had about 40 minutes between trains in the city, and it only took 15 minutes to walk from one station to the next. Well, when we drove up to the station, there were lots of young adults wearing green, very excited and on their way to being intoxicated. The South Side Irish parade was today. Heather had hoped that all these people would be on the train before, but no such luck. They kept coming and coming and coming. Metra (the train company) had even booked two extra trains to take all of these people to parade. Heather and I were waiting at the end of the platform. The first train arrived, and it was already fairly full, and there was no way to get onto that train. I decided to take the next, which would arrive ten minutes later. We then went to the other side of the platform, which was pretty empty of green clothed persons. The next train was a little late, but not as much of a rush on this end to get in, and I even got a seat all to myself! But the train had to wait for the middle cars to get loaded. This happened at most stops, people were thrown off the train, there were fights (none the car I was located). It is supposed to take an hour to get into the city, it took an hour and a half, and that was with the train going express over the last five stops. It arrived in the city at 12:30. 

This meant a 2 hour wait for my train to get me home to Crystal Lake. It was a beautiful day, so I walked a bit, attempted to talk to Richard, but we had a bad connection, got a sandwich, and it was time to go. This ride had no complications or delays, and I finally got into Crystal Lake. I walked over to the car, crawled through the passenger side (because the driver side handle broke off during the cold winter) and put my key in the ignition. But nothing happened when I turned it. Looked down, and saw I had left the lights on. Great.