So sick of love songs, so tired of tears...

So, first of all TGIF. Don't get me wrong I love my job, but lets be honest, how can you not look forward to the weekend? Its just the most pure and beautiful of human emotions, this looking forward to the weekend. But anyways, as any solid Friday should have, I had the pleasure of experiencing a few quality "only in a big city" moments.

First as I was walking to the bank at lunch, a disheveled African-American man was riding his bike down the middle of Lasalle. And I say disheveled because he was. Im not sure he was homeless, he didn't give off that vibe, but he definitely gave off the vibe of I pulled these clothes out of my dirty laundry pile specifically for today. Anyways, that alone would not have been unique save for the fact that he was belting out Ne-Yo's "Sexy Love" at the top of his lungs. I mean with all the midday traffic and lunch crowd noise, you could hear his horrible off-key and tone deaf falsetto. I can honestly say, like One Republic, I stopped and stared. Ok, that was horrifically cheesy, apologies. It was quite surreal to be on a corner in the shadow of the CBOT building to my right and the Federal Reserve to my left, two tremendously important and powerful buildings, and to have this spectacle play out before me. Just amazing.

Then on the train home, Batman entered my Purple Line car at Fullerton. No, not Christian Bale, a man dressed as Batman. A pretty poor effort if I might add. He was wearing a cheap rubber mask with the pointy ears, black gloves up to his mid forearms, black pants, large black shit-kicker boots, and, wait for it...a ratty black T-shirt with the Batman logo on it. All of this while wearing a backpack. I was just flabbergasted especially when I noticed he was wearing a muffler or scarf or something to cover his mouth. Way to attempt to go all out but then fail because clearly Batman's mouth and chin area is uncovered. I was actually kind of nervous because if you are wearing that on a normal day on a mass transit vehicle, clearly you are a few crayons short of a box and who knows what you will do.

Finally, I have a question for the ladies. So here is a scenario I used to run into a bit at Miami and happened to me last night. So an attractive girl is dancing with a guy, who is clearly not her BF, but is absolutely staring down another guy. Over her partner's shoulder, when her back is to him, etc... Not a "help this creeper is all over me" look, but a smoldering attempt at seduction look. What the hell is that? My friend Tersee at Miami used to refer to this as a girl "doing too much." He hated that kind of nonsense, but then again this is the same guy who once described a girl as having an "aggressive face." Anyways, whats the etiquette here? Do you want me to come dance on you, tag-team style? Am I supposed to read your thoughts and snatch you away from K-Fed dancing up on you? If you are so intent on eye-fucking me, while dry humping him, why don't you make some effort to establish your interest in me while conveying your detachment from him? I just don't get it. Its not a bitter, girls suck, complaint, but more of a point of confusion.

Ive had Cartel-If I Fail stuck in my head all weak. Ill admit I was initially not a big Cartel fan. Mostly because I thought they were a little formulaic and didn't seem any different from a slew of other pop-punk bands. Also because of their singer's resemblance to Nick Carter. But I gave them another spin and noticed exceptional lyrical quality and some clever melody creation. So I went 180 on my assessment and eagerly await their upcoming CD this summer. Additionally, I have always thought cartel was a cool ass word. But check it out, Im sure everyone can relate in somewhere to the lyrics. And thank me later when you are walking down the street singing the chorus...cause you will be.

"If you feel the same way, then how can we be friends? He's right you know, it can't go on like this..."

JW