Listen to the Rain

We're supposed to get six to ten inches overnight, but I'm dubious. The snow was also supposed to start earlier today and mess up the commute and, at least in Chicago proper, it didn't start until about thirty minutes ago. It's falling pretty heavily now and the street is coated but it's definitely not enough to impede driving. Fortunately, I have a long weekend anyway thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so I don't have to care one way or another.

It does mean I can use my Chicago icon with a double meaning once again, though!

ping816 was going to have his annual Space Dragon dinner tonight, but I was already wavering on going. I've slept terribly this entire week. After nightmares on Saturday that kept me up, I couldn't get to sleep on Sunday until one a.m., and then slept badly every day other than Thursday night, where I finally went to bed early and only woke up ten minutes before my alarm. And now I have an extra day off so I'm definitely going to get extra sleep. The only things I have planned this weekend are going to another Anime Chicago season sampler tomorrow and going to the Art Institute to see the ukiyo-e exhibit before it closes next weekend. I'll either go with lisekatevans on Monday or by myself. I'm not going to miss this.

On Thursday night I went to see a play called Cardboard Piano with worldbshiny. Despite some transit difficulties--I wavered between taking the bus and taking the L, decided to take the bus, and ended up having to get off a couple stops early and sprint to the theatre thanks to it taking much longer to get there than my transit app told me that it would--I arrived on time, a couple minutes before the show started, which meant that I didn't know what it was about or have time to read the program. It turned out to be about homophobia in Uganda, forgiveness and whether it's possible, and how much one should be trapped by one's past. I thought it was good but not particularly noteworthy. Not something I would ever have thought of going to see if I wasn't invited, though, so I'm glad I went!

I got out of work early today because of the holiday, but I haven't done much with the time. I started playing ゴッド・スレイヤー はるか天空のソナタ ("God Slayer: Sonata of the Far-Away Sky"), or Crystalis as it was called in America. Playing this is reminding me of how much of my taste in fantasy comes from it, and from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which it liberally borrowed from. It wasn't until I read the Nausicaä manga a decade ago that I realized where the original source for my love of fungal forests, ancient and vanished technological civilizations, desperate battles against a seemingly-unstoppable empire, floating towers, and saving the world. And yeah, the floating tower is from Laputa, but if you're going to plunder anyone's oeuvre, Miyazaki is a good choice.

And now, off to watch more Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara and then go sleep. Probably more either tomorrow or after I go to the ukiyo-e exhibit!