Parking, Spiders, and a Bris

I may have not been born and raised in Chicago, but unlike many people who move to Chicago from a smaller city or town, I wasn't naive about the big city life. I had been to Chicago many times prior to moving and I knew how difficult parking is. Since I lived here I have always made sure I had garage parking. I didn't want to deal with all of the tow zones, snow zones, street cleaning, permits, Cubs stickers, fire hydrants, early meters, late meters, Sunday meters, rush hour parking regulations, loading zones, etc. When I do have to park on the street it has become second nature for me to walk up and down the block double chacking every sign posted to make sure I don't get a ticket, or even worse, get towed. Between my cautious parking techniques and garage parking I think I have only had to deal with two parking tickets since living here. I will admit, some areas of Chicago are better than others when it comes to street parking. I have also noticed though that the parking gets "easier" the further you delve into the ghetto, at which point worrying about car theft takes priority over a measly $50 parking ticket.

To make a long story short, I am always so concerned about parking when I drive somewhere I tend to forget outside of Chicago parking isn't an issue. A classmate of mine threw a "back to school" barbeque at her condo in the boonies (Wheaton to be exact) this weekend. I think I must have asked the poor girl 5 times if there would be parking. Even after she told me yes (all 5 times) I aksed if I had to pay or get a visitor pass. There was something about plentiful and FREE parking that sounded suspicious. Surely it was a plot to steal my car or something! Well, she later on laughed and made fun of me for being such a "city boy".

Yes, I am a city boy and proud of it! Speaking of the city...has anyone noticed the fucking huge ass spiders popping up all over the place?????



Now, I am not a big baby when it comes to spiders, but it's getting ridiculous. They are fucking everywhere and for some odd reason they seem to LOVE my car. Perhaps they want to help me park? Anyhoo, I have had two spiders take up residency in my car. You know, it isn't fun when I am driving 60mph on the expressway when one of those things suddenly falls on my face. Eeek!

And continuing with my big city theme for today, can I just say how much I love the big city life? Despite the headache of parking and spiders it is so wonderful to know there is always some sort of festival, show, or some other special event going on. I had no big plans for today (well, except to study and pack) when yesterday I randomly found out that a documentary made by a Jewish Chicago film maker would be showing at the Gene Siskel Film Center on State Street (just a 10 minute walk from my house!). As the website describes it, "Cut" is a new documentary film by Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon which examines the subject of male circumcision from a religious, scientific and ethical perspective.



The entire circumcision debate and whether or not it is an ethical practice in modern society has intrigued me for quite some time. The film was very well done and managed to present both sides of the debate in a very unbiased manner. I am not one to get teary eyed at a film (and I am definitely not a fan of little babies!) so it speaks volumes when I say I was literally brought to tears at the end of the film when an entire bris was shown completely uncensored. The screams of that little baby boy were unlike anything I had ever heard in my life. Well, at least that little baby won't remember anything as I can imagine just how painful the procedure is. Ouch. How cruel!

The trailer: