Mr. W and I have been playing LA Noire recently and are really having a good time with the thing.  Boy, I tell you what, once we got that walk through going and knew all the right interview questions that game has become a breeze!  That’s definitely a game that I don’t mind cheating on.  Not that my cheating bar is set very high.  I cheat on games just because I can, not necessarily because I need to.  Unlimited health?  Lots of money?  Where do I sign up?

Speaking of money, if I’m investigating a crime scene and find some money on the ground and make a comment like, “Not important” or “Seems irrelevant” then I should be able to put said money in my pocket.  I keep trying and the game just does not understand.  YOU TOLD ME THE MONEY WAS IRRELEVANT, SO NOW I WANTS IT.  Also we love being able to commandeer vehicles.  We will commandeer a car, then get back in our police car and drive off.  Suck it, unsuspecting citizen!

Again, speaking of money, every once in a while I just get this urge to spend money.  For the past week or so [and especially today because it is payday] I just want to buy something outlandishly expensive.  Like a laptop.  Or an iPad.  Or something.  I don’t even know exactly what I want to buy, but it needs to have the following three characteristics:
1. Shiny [this is almost always a given]
2. Expensive
3. Has lots of buttons [or touch-screen simulated buttons]

I should probably just hid my debit card until this urge passes, because no good can come from it.  I’ve been saving money for a little while so that next weekend, on my birthday, I can go to Barnes & Noble and splurge on books.  I am very excited about this.  I can’t wait to treat myself to a Cafe Vanilla Frappuccino and browse through books.  If you have any recommendations that I simply must read then let me know.  I might believe you.

Doubly exciting is that I will be doing said browsing with one of my best friends, Stephanie, who is coming into town that weekend.  Yay!  This makes up for Mr. W missing my birthday again this year because he insists on having a life and doing things.  Pssht.  I don’t remember giving him permission for that.

Steph and I had originally planned on seeing Coldplay at Lollapalooza, but what with her being pregnant and my being cheap I think we are going to skip it.  I will just play all my Coldplay mp3s really loud in the apartment while we play board games or something.  We can turn the air conditioning off so we are sweating.  Maybe the neighbors will invite over whoever it is that smokes weed at their apartment and we can leave a door open to get the smell in the apartment.  That’s most of Lollapalooza right there.

Friday night through Sunday night Paige and I tried one of those Acai berry 48-hour detox things.  If you’re like me at all, the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear "acai berry 48-hour detox thing" is "scam."

I didn’t do some online thing, ’cause those are all scams.  We went to a GNC store and bought a bottle of something that wasn’t too expensive.  While you do this particular detox you are only supposed to eat simple grains and fruit/vegetables.  So we went to the grocery store and seriously loaded up.  Our fridge is still a veritable farmers’ market.

The Acai berry mixture contained lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper and tasted just like you’d expect it to: fantastically terrible.  And we had to take it four times a day.  Blech.

I didn’t really feel all that differently though.  But today I’ve noticed that I have more energy than normal.  I’m skipping my morning routine of coffee, because I don’t feel like I need it.  That’s cool.  Especially on a Monday.  [However I got up an hour later than I needed to, so it could just be that and have nothing to do with the detox at all.]

Teri’s Conclusion:  It feels like you’re being super healthy by drinking tons of water and diluted juice while eating nothing but fruits and veggies all weekend, but I think you can achieve the same feelings/result without the icky detox drink. 

In more musical news, I just learned that The Killers will be performing at this year’s Lollapalooza.  I am so freakin’ excited.  They haven’t announced the complete lineup yet, but I already can’t wait to go.

And lastly, here’s a quote from when I was in California that I just haven’t gotten around to posting yet:
Me:  "What are you thinking about?"
Josh: "I feel like its the divine comedy in my head but trying to talk about it is coming out bloo-blah dishwasher hamburger."

Ah, gotta love springtime in Chicago.

April is going to be an exciting month. Paige turns 21 (good Lord, FINALLY) on the 7th. And then the Seattle trip on the 18th. Good times.

My cousin is getting married on the same weekend as Lollapalooza. How rude. She had better appreciate my sacrifice in attending because, rumor has it, Radiohead will be headlining. RADIOHEAD. Hmm, maybe I can just send a gift in the mail… The rest of the lineup will be released mid-April. If they somehow managed to get R.E.M., Counting Crows, Coldplay, Alanis Morrisette, or The Cranberries, I cannot be held responsible for my actions.

I feel like I’ve been gone a lot longer than four days. But that could also be because I’m pretty freakin’ tired. I have pictures from South Carolina to post, but it will have to be another day.

My parents got me a digital camera for my birthday. Everyone I know is now going to be so annoyed by the sheer volume of pictures I will be taking at all times. This is your warning. You will not be spared. Speaking of people I know–Josh, Cynthia, Paige, and Tim went in and bought me a new iPod. (Mine finally went completely and undeniably kaput a few days before my trip.) Thank you again, guys. I am really, really grateful.

Josh got a job offer in San Diego and is seriously considering the move. He asked Tim if he would come. Tim replied that he wouldn’t go without me. I have to admit that the idea of picking up and starting somewhere new does sound appealing. I’ve been jumping around so much the past ten years that it almost feels foreign to have lived in Chicago for as long as I have. But it’s all the way over in San Diego. I told Tim I’m going to have to think about it.

And now I’ll leave you with two of the pictures I took at Lolla.

See how close I was to Snow Patrol? Yay!

Tomorrow I’m going to a 311 concert with Paige and Liz. I don’t know how close we’ll be, but I will take pictures.

As a lover of all things music, Lollapalooza is wonderful.  As a worker in the hospitality field, Lollapalooza is utter hell.  I will now list some of the more humorous moments.

–An ambulance was called for a guest who was jumped because he owed the wrong people some money and couldn’t pay it.  The “wrong people” were then arrested by the Chicago Police Department.
–A group of underage idiotboys trashed a large conference room Saturday night.  They knocked over tables, sprayed some fire extinguishers, and broke dishes.  They returned to the scene of the crime Sunday to do the same thing and were arrested by the Chicago Police Department.
–A guy mugged another guy right in the hotel lobby and didn’t even bother trying to escape.  He was arrested by the Chicago Police Department who were in the same lobby, finishing up with the teenage idiotboys.
–Guests in a room kept partying despite mutliple complaints and warnings.  They were not arrested by the Chicago Police Department, but the police did escort the noisy people from the building.

And the weekend’s winner:
–A guest returned to their hotel room to find an Evian bottle filled with urine.  I am not kidding.

The entire hotel is trashed from these people.  I seriously think we would have fared better had we booked the hotel full of barnyard animals.