My Creepy Basement

In the duplex where I live, I have only been to the basement twice. The first day I moved in to see what it was like, and earlier this week to see if I could store my bike in there for the winter.

The first time I went there, I couldn't find a light switch, so I brought a flashlight and used the light from the one window. It was creepy enough that I only walked about 5 feet into the basement before I left because I didn't really care to see the rest.

This time, I knew where the light switch was, so I turned it on, and climbed down the narrow, rickety stairs, instantly realizing that my bike would never fit down them. But, I decided to check out more of the basement. It's actually kind of cool, for the most part. The walls are stone and mortar and the floor is gravel. The furnace, water heater, washtub, etc split the basement in half, but there is a big empty space on the other side of those.

I was walking in the empty room, avoiding cobwebs, when I noticed another door. The light from the bulb didn't reach past the door at all. I started toward it, when I noticed a single, withered, white rose above the door frame. I decided I should leave. Quickly.

How creepy is that? I am really curious what is in there. Could be a fancy wine cellar, with hundred year old bottles of wine. Or a root cellar, with some ancient potatoes. Or it's a tomb, with a dead body! It's probably just an empty closet area, but I am not going down there alone, in any case.

A Good Day and Whoa. Chicken Alert!

Today was an awesome day. I got up this morning and my lovely friend picked me up, and we proceeded to journey to Minneapolis. Well, she was late, and I needed to stop at the bank for a few seconds, and then there was a train, and then the stupid semi was slow and kept changing into our lane. In any case, our 9:16 bus from 3rd and Main in Anoka was barely caught, and included an epic dash and a leap over some construction in order to catch it. But we caught it. We were awesome.

Then we took another bus from downtown to the U, so we could go and poke around the Weisman Art Museum. In the Weisman, there is this creepyass hotel exhibit where you lean into the door frame and it triggers the sound recording. You are essentially eavesdropping in on people's lives. There is The Price is Right, a dog barking, sports, a party, a woman sobbing (or laughing?), etc. I dragged KT along in there with me. No way was I going in there by myself.

We then walked to the stadium village and ate some Bruegger's Bagels sammiches at a picnic table. Very delicious. I had a 4 cheese and tomato paninni and a mocha cooler. Came to $10.11 for a sammich and an iced coffee. Expensive. Anyway, we walked to a bus stop to go back downtown, and we were worried. Our transfers expired at 11:45. It's 11:44! Suddenly, our bus pulls into view. Oh no! A red light! We wait anxiously, counting the seconds. Will we have to pay again? The bus pulls up, and we get on with just seconds to spare. Another lucky break for us. : )

Anyway, we walked down the Farmer's Market on Nicollet Mall, bought a couple nectarines, and walked to the Walker Sculpture Garden. Of course, we took a lot of silly and artistic photos of ourselves with sculptures. We saw 13-striped gophers and geese. And art. We were stopped there, and given a pamphlet about the mnartists.org day at the Walker. It was today! How uncanny. So we head over there, and get free lemonade! Complete with lemon wedge and sprig of mint leaf. Delicious.

Then we bussed home again. Luckily, KT's car was not towed or ticketed while we were gone. Woohoo!

A good day, all in all. : )

Now for the chicken update: Angela is a he! Dwight is not the same breed as the others! I nominate Angela's new name to be Ryan, because he was just a lowly temp and then popped out of nowhere and became the boss. Hopefully, Angela/Ryan doesn't become addicted to coke. Of course, he's not my rooster, so I doubt I get to name him. I am worried about Dwight, though. He's probably the first to go now. I like both Angela and Dwight, but you can't have 2 roosters sharing a flock of hens. It's just going to cause fights. But if Dwight gets sent to the country (both colloquially and literally), he'll either be eaten or bullied. Plus his girlfriend Pam would be lonely.

Angela is more likely to stay, because he's of the same breed, so we know he's cold hardy and calm. I haven't been able to figure out Dwight's breed. He matured much faster and is much more aggressive than Angela, but maybe they'd both calm down if one of them was gone. I like them both. I want to keep them both. I wish gelding weren't so expensive and invasive for chickens. We could just neuter them if it weren't invasive surgery. Maybe I like them both because they flirt with me a lot. At least they don't bite my neck and mount me the way they do the hens.

CT and KT's Adventure in Uptown

Today, my friend KT and I went on a grand adventure. She didn't have to take her physics final today, so we decided to go to uptown and enjoy ourselves. We took the bus down there (we went down to uptown. haha) and whilst waiting for our transfer, made a short strange movie. : )

We had a lovely lunch at Namaste Cafe, which is a South Asian cafe that serves meat that had a good life (the only kind I eat). I enjoyed Chana Masaala Curry while KT got the Namaste Chicken. And we got various side dishes too, including momos for an appetizer. I highly recommend Namaste Cafe. It can be pricey for a college student's budget, but it's cheaper than Chapatis, and similar quality. Also, it has edible portion sizes, so there's no awkward leftovers.

Then we traversed across the road to the Tea Garden, one of my favorite establishments ever. While I don't always get bubble tea, the signature dish, if you will, of the Tea Garden, I always enjoy their drinks. I wish coffee places would serve more tea lattes than just chai or occasionally matcha green. I did enjoy my hot chocolate black tea latte today. The Tea Garden has tea drinks of almost any flavor or flavor combination imaginable. Well, that's not true. I'll rephrase that. They serve dozens of flavors and flavor combinations that people might actually want. It takes me longer to decide what I want than it does for them to make it, no matter how complex. I recommend going there to everyone who enjoys drinking. : ) There are Tea Gardens on Hennepin in Uptown, Washington by the Stadium Village (U of M), Grand in St Paul by Macalester, and now there is one in the Mall of America! How convenient! I'm glad my favorite place to get a hot drink or fruit shake is doing so well.

After we had finished off our desserts/drinks, we went for a short walk to Cheapo. I, who intended on buying nothing, left $20 poorer (but 6 CDs richer!) and KT, who wanted to go there in the first place, ended up putting all but 1 of the CDs she wanted back. I was saddened. There was not one Indian or Middle Eastern CD under $3, my spending limit per CD (what? an attempt to control your spending? unheard of!). I really like Cheapo, too. My goodness, this blog is just one huge advertisement! Cheapo can be very cheap, especially if you buy used. Of course, not all the CDs are cheaper than buying them (or stealing them) online, but you find some great bargains sometimes.

Then is was back home one the strange commuter bus full of people reading and lining up and being quiet and respectful. I'm still not used to it. It's strange to ride a bus without at least one annoying obnoxious weirdo on there. I love metrotransit, most of the time. One major suggestion for them: please have more busses in the Northern suburbs. The schedules are sometimes irritating and impossible. Thanks.

All in all, a good day, even if I am much poorer now than when I started out.