What country would you adopt if you hated poor people?

Dear all,

Okay, as an explanation, yes I am basically out of it, but the title actually does have meaning. I'm writing a quick blog entry because I basically just got back from my trip to Wisconsin. Let me tell you...

Liz and I left Friday night via Greyhound... my first time on a Greyhound bus... and it was certainly a unique way to start off the trip. Maybe an hour into the ride, we discovered one of the other guys on the bus moved to a seat behind us and was making the most obnoxious snorting noises I have ever heard. Also, he was singing random songs (he had an okay voice... except that it was like a mediocre baritone singing tenor), tongue clicking, and apparently he felt up Liz's leg. *grumble* Anyway, after we made a pit stop in Tomal (some random town in WI), the guy was must quieter--we can only assume the bus driver had a little "chat" with him.

After that bus ride, we arrive in Milwaukee circa 4 in the morning. We meet up with Liz's mother and one of her godmothers (Liz has two godmothers just like me--crazy!) and since it's 4 AM on a Saturday morning, what do you obviously do? Go to breakfast, of course. It was a good chance to meet and talk with Liz's godmother (Jackie), which was nice because I really didn't to see her much otherwise. After the fun-filled breakfast, I went back to Liz's, met Taffy (the dog), and then finally got some good restful sleep.

Saturday... noon... I groggily get out of bed and change, and then wander into the front room to meet Liz's brother, also named Matt (just wait, it gets better). He was back home for Liz's birthday dinner (back story: Liz's bday was on Thursday and she wanted to see the fam this weekend), and he and I really hit it off. After some sleepy rustling though old comics and having pineapple for the first time, we all headed off to a long and very interesting (and famous!) trip to the Milwaukee art institute (or museum, I can't remember the actual name). All I'm saying about the trip there is that combining Liz's mother's spontaneous directions, Matt's forward-about-driving style, and a half-built-half-destroyed version of the Milwaukee downtown highway... not good. Entertaining, but I'm definitely fine to only go through that experience once in my lifetime. The art museum was very fun, especially the giant I Spy picture, the LCD quote ticker (that's where the title of this blog comes from), and of course, the chair park, which is a circle of replicas of chairs both old and new.

After getting back to Liz's in one piece (the trip back went much smoother than the trip there), I found my old-school all-time favorite party game--Outburst!! Nowadays, Curses and Apples To Apples are definitely high ranking party games, but back in ol' days (I feel so old), Outburst nailed the competition hands down. After a round or two of that, I got to meet Liz's best friend... also named Liz (oh wait, it gets better). Then, over a period of 20-30 minutes, all of Liz's guests/family members showed up. Dinner was definitely good. The main dish was this pasta tube filled with either meat or figota cheese and since I really can't handle much red sauce in my stomach, Liz's mom made some special pieces. :-) Dessert was this... creme torte?... anyway, it felt like a Styrofoam peanut but it was okay--just unique. Oh and the whole "oh wait, it gets better", without even attempting, I managed to sit between both Liz's and best friend Liz managed to sit between Matt and me. :-P After dinner, Liz opened presents and then the family (which was Liz, Liz's mom, Matt, Liz's grandparents, two sets of aunt/uncles, Liz's cousin and his wife, and Jackie), Liz and I dispersed into ping pong/flashflashrevolution in the basement and apparently girl talk in the front room? (then again, it wasn't all the girls--Liz, Liz, and Larissa--Liz's cousin's wife--were all in the basement) Oh, then we had Apples to Apples, and after everyone else left, Liz, Liz, and I pulled out a Broadway vocal/piano book and sang for probably a good two hours. Then, Liz and I watched some of West Side Story--one of her bday presents--(she's never seen it fully before!) and then we carted off to bed.

This morning, I finally managed to get out of bed and take a shower with some time to enjoy muffins before church. After church, Liz, Liz's mom, Matt, Jackie and I went to lunch at this nice soup/sandwich place and then ice cream/custard at this really good ice cream/custard place. After that, we headed to Best Buy for some office supplies (and then Matt showed us Guitar Hero!!!!--it rocks so much. it's basically DDR with a guitar controller and you have to coordinate both hands to hit buttons at the same time for it to work. if you ever get a chance to try it, do it. no questions.), and then back to Liz's to pack and some how we were able to find ways to pack Liz's presents in with our current stuff.

Ah yes, the trip back home. First off, the Chicago-MPLS bus was overcrowded, so we were taken from Milwaukee to Madison, because a lot of seats were emptying at Madison (don't ask me why). Then, we crammed onto a full bus (well, full after all of us Milwaukee travellers came aboard) and Liz and I almost didn't get to sit together but fortunately, one guy who had come from Chicago gave up his seat and as Liz said "this is the time I really love people"... or something like that. Now, this bus ride back didn't have one obnoxious man behind us--it had like four children that were being quite loud on all sides of us. We definitely were surrounded. Also, it's interesting to note that the trip to Milwaukee consisted of Minneapolis--Tomal--Milwaukee, but getting back consisted of Milwaukee--Madison--Tomal--Eau Claire--St Paul--Minneapolis. I just hope Liz was able to get some sleep. Well, we got back in one piece and were able to grab a cab (my first cab ride ever too--three firsts!) and go to Frontier to get Liz to bed. She certainly needed it. Then, I basically came back to the brook, threw my stuff on the ground, and am now heading off to bed shortly.

Outside of this voyage, life has been pretty well... except that tomorrow will have to be mad classwork for calc (another 3-4 sections due Tues) and studying for a Tues bio midterm (no comment). Things seem to have gone well without me at the brook this weekend, so I'm glad. Well, I really should get some sleep. Hope everyone is doing well. Talk to everyone later (although maybe Tuesday night at the earliest), take care and God bless.

--Matt