Phil ducks out of round-robin ping-pong in 636 at 6:15 and decides to get a quick run in before heading downtown. Meanwhile, Anna and Tolu drive from Normal to T'House and then head to the Green Line with Christine. This is Valentine's Day weekend, which of course is also the first anniversary of Nikki's mom passing away. So we're doing a special weekend for Nikki, including friends from Judson as well as Pharm friends. That's the original idea, anyway.
Anna calls just as Phil is leaving the office, so he decides to meet them at State & Lake, eating a bagelwich and a Boca en route in order to be able to live on a $7 meal. We four get to the Cheesecake Factory around 8:45, way later than expected. Nikki is at a table with a whole bunch of her friends, and we eventually get a separate table that Nikki joins. We meet her friends Angela and Aaron, but the conversation is difficult to integrate. Nikki's other party leaves except Nainita, who joins us. After finally figuring out the bill (N & N have been here for 4 hours at this point), we head up to the top of the Hancock (the same building we're in) as planned. The 95th floor, Signature Room. Remember that. The view is nice until we get seated at an inside table and Aaron and Angela stay only for a few minutes before leaving.
The waitress comes after awhile and takes drink orders. When Christine asks for a water, she informs us that everyone has to buy a drink. Her attitude is less than understanding, which annoys Christine ("$5 for water?"). Phil has already spent his allotted $7 (plus tax & tip) allowance for Lenten Friday eating out, so he is upset by this news as well. A tort explanation by the waitress that "you're paying for the view" prompts Phil to blurt "Yeah it's great." Most of us are upset at this point, so we decide to leave. Nikki and Nainita walk ahead most of the way to the train, and we ride together briefly until the four of us switch to the green line. We immediately start reflecting on the evening that could have gone better, and talk for several hours once we get back to T'House. Finally folks start getting ready for bed in the 4:00 hour, but the two of us stay up and talk even longer, turning off the light close to 6am.
Sa 12th We all get up in the noon hour, Phil runs, Tolu and Anna study and talk with Christine. Nikki calls and appears to be sulking at her dorm, so Phil calls her and encourages her to come over so we can all talk about a variety of issues that led to last night. Eventually she does and we have a productive talk. We make pizzas, Pete arrives and we eat. We play ImaginIff and Chrissy and Nathan arrive during the game. Chrissy joins, we finish and Phil wins. We all then begin to play Cranium Hoopla, but tired Tolu and Anna decide to head downstairs to sleep. The rest of us win (beating the clock) and Pete heads back to Kankakee. We talk with Nikki, Nathan, and Chrissy for awhile before heading to bed around 1:30. (Of course, the two of us stay up later talking, but we've got to get up for church!)
Su 13th All seven of us get to church (on time even). Harry's Sermon is called "A Beautiful Waste" about the woman who pours super-expensive perfume on Jesus' head. He ends up relating it to the "waste" of Christ's life for humanity, but along the way describes other seeming "wastes" that may actually not be wasteful considering what they mean to others as a gift to God. Among his list of examples is literally, "eating at the top the Hancock building, the Signature room-such a waste…"
Wow. That one really hit home. Our pew erupted in a reaction of bent-over sideways glances and startled laughs. Afterward, Nikki even jokingly trash talked, "You've been served." Whew, that was hard to swallow for Phil and definitely something to think about.
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