Jen

Yesterday, I’m on the Blue Line going to Pat’s house. Joey Ramone* gets on and takes an open seat next to this older black lady right by the doors. Anyway, she keeps giving him the nastiest looks ever, scrunching up her nose and shaking her head. Right before the UIC-Halsted stop, she gets up and stands by the doors, still making the same faces. Then I start noticing this smell; a strong BO kinda thing. At the stop, right before she gets off, she says, “You stink! Take a shower!” Joey completely ignores her. This is the kicker- you think the lady would walk towards an exit or something once she is on the platform. But no! She stands at the window near his seat, still making the faces and mouthing stuff like, “you smell.” She is doing this until the L pulls away.

Tonight, I’m going to a 70’s theme party. I usually have big problems with theme parties, especially ones where you have to dress up. I remember one time, some friends had an 80’s party. Well, Bora** and I took all this time to dress up in 80’s gear and we get there, and approx. three people are dressed up. I even think that of the three, one always dresses like that.***

My problem is, I don’t want to go through the trouble just to be the only one there wearing 70’s clothes. Of course, when I looked through my closet, I found a skirt that would qualify for the party. The crazy thing is that I wear it to work. Hmmm. Am I as bad as 80’s girl?

Tomorrow, Pat will have some of his photos up at the Mission gallery in Elgin. We despise the Mission, because of the hoochie patrol that roams the grounds, but the guy who runs the gallery there just would not let my friends and Pat off the hook. So if you are in Elgin, you can visit me, look at some photos by Pat, Kevin and Pat W., and then hang with the hoochie patrol.

*He was a gooney-looking, tall and skinny guy with long black hair. A close look-alike.
**My old roommate from two years ago and good friend.
***I saw her at another one of their parties and she had an 80’s outfit on then too.