A Day Off

So after working for 8 hours in the library (or, more accurately, after spending 8 hours in the library doing work some of the time), I felt that I deserved a day off. JP and I went to brunch at our very favorite place in South Loop (Bongo Room) and then walked over to the Shedd Aquarium. It was another beautiful day and the walk through Grant Park over to the water is always lovely. We had never been to the aquarium and had been giving admission to it back and forth as a "gift" for several holidays, most recently my birthday (something about getting married and sharing the same credit card makes buying expensive gifts not nearly so fun).

The aquarium was Amazing! If you're ever in the city and need a way to spend a few hours indoors, this is a great option- regular admission is only $8 and the exhibits we found the most fun were included in that. The "Wild Reef" and "Komodo Dragon" exhibits were included in our extra special ticket price and while they were neat, you could have a great experience without them. The dolphin show great fun- something about dolphins splashing around in the water is always entertaining. JP and I both thought about dropping our future careers and becoming dolphin trainers- we have the swimming background, we just need a few classes in zoology and marine biology.

I've been trying to figure out why I like aquariums so much more than zoos and I think it's because the fish don't seem sad that they're in a cage and they're so active. Most of my time at a zoo is spent trying to find the animal and then staring at it stare back at me. I end up feeling guilty for supporting its imprisonment and wonder what it would be doing if it was roaming free in the wild. The fish are in Huge tanks (at least at Shedd) and it doesn't appear that life is much different for them. (I could be wrong and they could all be like Nemo trying to escape but I don't feel the same level of guilt looking at them.) We walked back to our apartment- across Millennium park and through downtown. I thought about how much I love this city and how much I'll miss it. It was 80 degrees out and I tried to imagine what 100 degrees felt like (a typical Texas summer day). I couldn't remember and thought that 80 was plenty warm- being 8 months pregnant in Austin this summer is going to be all kinds of fun.

Now I'm back at the apartment pretending to work on my paper while internet shopping for gold heels for prom. I have complete faith that my paper will be written by the 30th, but I'm beginning to get a little concerned with my lack of concern about actually writing it. Why am I so sure it will get done? And how will it get done while I peruse www.zappos.com? Hmmm, these are cute aren't they?