The Blues

One of my Chicago resolutions is to find and watch plays and shows and other kinds of performances. I've heard about the Blue Man Group show for several years and I saw billboards in Chicago. Tickets are kind of pricey but I was able to get an almost half-price ticket from Goldstar for a day show. Going for a day show is important and you'll see why in a segue later in this piece. So the show. The show is very entertaining. It starts with advice to text your bff, update your status, read wikis and more.

Folks in front few rows get to wear ponchos because the Blue Men launch a variety of liquids and food pieces at people. They also pick folks from the audience for parts of the show, which looked a little nerve-wracking. This picture (from the internetz, I was not a rule-flouter), shows them drumming after pouring a special liquid on them leading to a really colorful performance. I would like to know how they get the blue color on - you could see their ears inside but also absolutely no space between their eyeballs and the color blue beneath. There was a lot of loud music, a lot of fun at the expense of internet, social media, distracted people and the lost art of reading. They have these giant touchphone props that descend to the stage. There is a long butt-themed dance and the audience is encouraged to get up and shake it, shake it. In the end these giant colorful balls come down from the ceiling and the audience dances and pushes the balls around. They also spray toilet paper on folks. As you can imagine, they end with a lot of 'please give us our balls back. don't touch them too hard' sort of lines.

Also since it is for 90 minutes without intermission, they encourage you to use the bathroom beforehand (and there is a bathroom song playing as well to get you in the mood). All in all, I would say worth it. Even more so if you get discounted tickets. There were a lot of kids in the audience and you could hear chuckles and laughter.

Now for the segue. One of the ways to get home involves a train and a bus ride. Usually there is a wait for the bus because it is pretty irregular. Waiting at the station is not fun simply because someone or the other will either try to chat or ask for me. The former is street harassment and for the latter, I do whatever I can, but I try not to when I am waiting at the station because if I do it once, then it attracts more people asking. Anyhow, this means I am always standing at an awkward place. It was also raining today. I was by the entrance today and this man walks at me. So I sidestep him. So he walks towards me and says hello, hello. Then he says you have pretty eyes. I am typing on my phone and making minimal conversation with him. Then he is like, c'mon, c'mon I am just being nice. Tell me your name. So I say, no, I think you should move towards the train. He gets a little belligerent, I was just being nice but eventually moves on. It left me a little shaken (not to mention being watched by more people) and as a result I missed my bus. That was a giant pain.

It has been a good week - I went to the Taste of Chicago yesterday with some other fellows and it was a lot of fun. But today evening was a little but of bummer (including some misunderstandings and whatnot) and I finally just gave in and took a nap because I felt myself getting derailed. Job searching is on in the background and that uncertainty lingers in several things.