Chicago: Day 27

Dear Diary,

Turns out Steph had to work late yesterday :( His department had an informal gathering after work. So that pretty much left me with some extra time to crack my brains and think about what I to do over the next couple of hours. I was a little desperate to be honest cause I was running out of ideas!

But then again, being in a big city, surrounded by nature and little quaint eateries, there's always something to do for the plan-less single. I whipped up a bit of dinner for myself and left the remaining in the rice cooker. It was beef fried rice - I marinated some minced beef chuck with Steph's steak rub and fried it with some mixed vegetables and left over rice in sesame oil and soy sauce. It turned out a little too oily for my liking! But I couldn't stop eating spoon after spoon while cooking. I was just so hungry!

After dinner, I decided to take a walk down by the beach and wet my feet a bit. Along the way, I ran into a girl who was lost. She was walking around in her bikini wrapped with a beach towel. I saw her asking a few passers-by for directions. We ended up walking in the same direction. 

"Are you heading to the beach?" she asked me. 

"I'm hoping to find my way there," I replied. Then I pointed to a couple in front of us. "I think those people in front of us are heading in the same direction too. Let's follow them." I suggested. She smiled and nodded in agreement. 

After awhile, I decided to make some conversation. "How did you end up lost?" I asked, seeing that she was a little more relaxed.

"Some of my family members are at the park. But I got hot waiting, so I wanted to cross over to the beach and join my family on the other side,"she replied. "How about you? You got friends waiting on the other side?"

"Nah, I'm on my own," I replied. 

She drew closer to me and we were silent for awhile as we continued walking. After a few minutes, I couldn't help but ask "How old are you?" She gave me a sidelong look, pulled back her shoulders and said in as mature a voice as she could muster,"Fourteen"

I smiled to myself. "Fourteen? You sure don't look like it."

"I just said that to see what your reaction was," she confessed, breaking into a sheepish grin. "I'm eleven."

"Eleven. That's a good age to be at," I replied. "Guess how old I am." 

She looked at me for awhile."Twenty," she finally replied. I laughed and told her to add ten more years to that. "No way!" she replied, her eyes widening. Somehow, Asians always look younger here than we really are. I think it's because of our petite size and features sometimes. We walked further until we reached a water cooler and she had to stop for a drink. "Stick to the path," I advised,"until you reach the overhead bridge over there!" She didn't seem like the sort who needed handholding and she sure could carry her own. So I left her at the water fountain and made my way over to the beach. 

After the I hung around the beach for awhile, got my feet wet, watch families and kids play by the lake, I went home, grabbed some cash and headed for Annette's. I figured some icy treats would help cool the heat. To my surprise, I found a long queue just outside the stall! There were a lot of people, young and old, just queuing for some ice cream or Italian ice. I decided to try the Low Fat Frozen Chocolate Yogurt. It was absolutely yummy, like a soft serve MacDonald's ice cream!

Steph called while I was in the queue. He was on the way home and wanted to know what I was doing. He felt bad leaving me all alone:P I admitted sheepishly that I was beginning to grow bored and tired of trying to find things to do. Even blogging has become a chore.

Steph suggested getting me hooked onto a computer game or a tv series. He recommended a legal series called, Damages, starring Glenn Close and Rose Byrn, (he was sure I would like it) and true enough, now I'm hooked onto it. 

Tomorrow will be a better day - I'm off to making sack lunches for the homeless! Wheee! :)