Vampire Vocab

In this heading, you have the reason why I didn’t post at all yesterday. After being rudely awoken from a pleasant dream (about vampires drinking Johnny Depp’s blood and then…well, back to the point.), I was foisted out of my bed and told to shower because we would be leaving in fifteen minutes. “To where?” I asked, but I was met with silence, at much silence as there ever is in my house, that is.

We went out to breakfast at a good restaurant called George’s, where we were endearingly called “crazy people” and furthermore froze our butts off because the A.C. was working overtime. The food was wonderful, though. I had a reuben that had more meat than I thought would be possible, and I also had sweet potato fries. Little didI know of the impending events.

As we approach the large sign that reads “Navy Pier” in cheerful letters, I mentally begin to kick and scream. Physically though, I cast a mildly disinterested look at it, then return to my book. (Keeping it Real by Justina Robson, more on that later.) Let’s just say, Navy Pier and I have kind of a rocky relationship, ever since that day…

Hordes of screaming classmates fill the halls as frazzled teachers attempt to direct them to their respective buses. While not screaming as they were, I was also in the hallway, prep[aring for the “special reward” trip to Navy Pier. I climb aboard my bus, staring impassively out the window, my friend Alice-marie sitting quietly next to me, reading her book.

We are directed into the IMAX theatre after those who wished to purchased their share of delicious empty calories. We are to watch “Monsters vs. Aliens”, which, on the Tomato Meter got a 72% . Not good. The Movie proved  to be just as depressingly corny as it was rated, so while my peers gasped at the amazing 3-d and cheered when to monsters won, I gazed of into the distance and considered my insignificance on Earth. Bad plan. Actually, terrible plan.

I left the movie theater feeling incredibly unhappy, and emotion doubled by the fact that it is now lunch time, and as soon as I smell food, I feel sick. Another bad sign, because generally I have quite the opposite reaction. Instead of eating, I read my book, Generation Dead. That was the high point of my trip to the notorious Navy Pier.

As you can tell, my first trip to Navy Pier was anything but pleasant, so you’ll understand that I was terrified of a repeat experience. My fear was doubled when I saw a Monsters vs. Aliens movie poster, but it proved to be for naught. We pranced along the pier, observing a wedding that was taking place, the pirates who were very unrealistically friendly, but sweet nonetheless, and the prodigious amout of stands selling fair foods: elephant ears, churros, cinnamon sugar almonds, lemonade.

We progressed it to the stained glass museum, which was lovely, and on to the maze which wasn’t hard, but it was very fun. We took a ride on the Swings, which led to me squealing with unrestained joy. It was fun, faintly nauseating, and led to a cheerful nostalgia for the times I’ve gone to carnivals with my mother and father. We rode the ferris wheel, and I joked and laughed with my siblings who complained that it didn’t move fast enough, I didn’t mind though, staring out my window at the cloud coated city, the proud spires of sky scrapers reaching out towards the dove grey sky. We took a boat to the Sears tower, stopping first for drinks. I had a creamsicle, which is two scoops of vanilla ice cream surrounded by orange slushie. It was delicious, and when I was halfway done, and it simply looked like orange polluted white slush, I joked to my brother “This is Antarctica in twenty years!”. He immediatly picked up on it and we spent tha boat ride laughing and discussing carbon emissions.

We threw away our empty cups and began to progress to the top of the Sears tower, ears popping as the elevator flew upward. I stepped out of the elevator, and gasped at the view. We were so high up that I couldn’t even see the people who were surely milling about far below.

That’s when it truly hit me. Nobody is insignificant.  Every one of the workers who created this building was just one person, but together they created a tower that stretched far above any persons head. Had just one worker been lazy or careless, it could have collapsed with catastrophic results. Some people say that in the shadow of something so revolutionary, they feel less important, but for me, it’s more so. The Earth is like a building: we all have to do our part to keep it together.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 9:46 am and is filed under Life, Ramblings.
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