This. Is. Hilarious.

I always lose it when the elevator-music restarts. It is quite humorous! I'm not going to "FORCE" you to watch this video, but I highly suggest it. It is definitely worth the 1 minute and 9 seconds of your life. :)

I Less-Than Three Chicago!

I spent the majority of last weekend wandering within the "Windy City" wonderland with women. Okay, I was just trying to see how many W's I could get into that sentence. The 'women' I spoke of are my sisters Emily and Jenna and my friends Blessing, Annie, and Christina. It was a great weekend! To say that I had a blast would be an understatement!

On Friday we went to Chic-Fil-a for lunch. Yes; Chic-Fil-a! I had a large meal with their classic chicken sandwich (minus the pickles that is) and I added on another identical sandwich because I was feeling extra hungry. It was pretty tasty! Chic-Fil-a is hands-down my favorite fast-food restaurant. My taste-buds really wish they would put a Chic-Fil-a somewhere in Michigan near my house but my wallet would rather they remain in the surrounding states.

After lunch we ventured over to Water Tower Place to wander through some of the stores. My favorite part of Water Tower Place was the escalators! We just kept on going up, and up, and up, and... it was starting to escalate out of control. For absolutely no reason, I pretended like I had never been on an escalator before, all giddy and such. It was fun! The others wanted me to stop because I was quote "embarrassing" them so I stopped. They all stopped at Claire's to try on every pair of sunglasses and those clear-lens "I-don't-need-to-wear-glasses-but-I-think-they-look-good-on-me" glasses. You know which ones I'm talking about. They are basically a step up from the "COOL KIDS" who walk around in public wearing the 3D glasses from the theater. (No offense if you fit the description in the previous sentence haha).

We ate dinner at Giordano's: a pizza place famous for their Chicago-style pizza. It was really good! Chicago knows some things about good food. Here are a couple pictures from Giordano's:

I even managed to dig up an old picture of my family eating at Giordano's during a trip to Chicago from several years ago:

And, no, they have not changed the tablecloths. Not once. Okay, I bet they probably did but, hey, I can pretend! Wait. Why do I care about this so much?

On Saturday, we went to Millennium Park, famous for the chrome-ish "Bean" thing. I want to ask whoever designed this thing how they felt when they first saw the finished product because it must have been amazing to see his or her sketch turn into an astonishing piece of modern art. That was my random thought of the day. We took a bunch of pictures like any good tourists would.

Soon after the above pictures were taken, Annie told me she wanted to take a "typical girl picture" with me where one girl extends her arm forward, camera in hand, and points it back toward herself and her friend(s). She thought it would be funny because I'm 6'10'' and she's (Guess-timation Station >>>) ~ 5'6''. The end result, of course, was a picture of Annie standing next to my baby-blue mid-section. It was such a great idea! Also, this picture is basically the definition of the name of my blog. I love it!

After "the Bean" we went ice skating in Millennium Park. It was a good time! I love ice skating! I had one kind of bad ice skating experience in my resume where my skate caught on the ice when I was going pretty fast which ended with me falling flat on my face. I had to get 14 stitches above my left eyebrow. Despite my questionable ice skating history, I love it nonetheless. One of my favorite parts (oddly) is that I come in at a whopping 7'2'' (ish) whilst wearing ice skates.

After ice skating we ate at Portillo's: a restaurant famous for their Chicago-style hot-dogs. It was delicious, nutritious, and surprisingly (to me at least) not too rough on the pocketbook. I will definitely eat there again next time I go to Chi-Town. The Portillo's paper menus that they hand out have an extensive restaurant history printed in small font on the backs. When most of us were done eating Blessing read the entire thing out loud to us. It was really funny because it was really long and not that interesting in my opinion but she just kept on going. Five minutes later, we all knew way more about Portillo's than anyone could even want to know. If any questions about the restaurant come up on Jeopardy, I will be set!

"I'd like to wager infinity, Alex..."

Road Trip to the City that is Windy

Last weekend I went to the great city of Chicago with my friends Blessing, Annie, and Christina. We went up to visit my sisters Emily and Jenna as well as to check out the campus of Moody Bible Institute. Although the others had been planned on making the trip a while back, I was a late entry. I was planning on visiting them sometime during Spring Break so when I heard they were going up as well I decided to tag along. I was planning on surprising Emily and Jenna with my presence since they were still unaware of my plans. Little did I know, my little sister Kayla had already "spilled the beans" so to say.

We rode to Chicago via the MegaBus. The girls bought tickets from Ann Arbor to Chicago while I chose to purchase mine from Detroit to Chicago. Little did we know at the time the amount of drama that would come from this. The bus boards first in Detroit, then goes over to Wayne State University, next Ann Arbor, and finally to Chicago. I boarded in Detroit and was able to save three seats adjacent to mine. My main strategy was to overly recline to scare potential 'seat snatchers' away. I managed to save the seats all the way until Ann Arbor where the girls were going to board. Their initial lack of assertiveness lead to them ending up in the back of the line to get on making it increasingly difficult to save the seats. I redirected a few people who had their eyes set on the seats I was reserving to open seats on the other side of the isle. Most people totally understood but one individual gave me a disgusted look that was full of attitude. I didn't really think much of it at the time. I turned away a few people but I eventually gave up because they were too far back in the line. Long story short, Christina sat in the one seat the I was able to save while Blessing and Annie sat with strangers on the upper deck.

A little while later we pulled into a rest-stop area to do rest-stop related activities. I wanted to see if it would be possible for us all to sit together with a little bit of shuffling at the rest-stop along with the cooperation of a couple strangers who were sitting alone across the isle. There were two people in adjacent rows sitting alone. My plan was to ask them if they would be willing to switch seats and sit where Christina and I were sitting so that the four of us could sit together for the remainder of the trip. Most people exited the bus to go inside the little store area but I stayed in the bus so that I would be able to ask those two people if they would be willing to switch seats. This is where it starts to get interesting. Here is what happened when the first young lady (probably around 26 yrs. old*) got back on the bus:

Me - "Hi! I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind switching seats with me so that I can    sit with my friends."

Stranger - "(delay)... Sure. (pause) Sure... whatever..."

Me - "Thanks! Thank you so much!" 

Stranger - "(said with excessive 'sassy' neck motions)... But I just wanna let you know that what you're doing is EXTREMELY RUDE! It's so rude! You need to grow up! YOU NEED TO GET TO THE POINT IN YOUR LIFE WHERE YOU REALIZE THAT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO SIT WITH YOUR FRIENDS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!" 

Me - "Okay...(?)... Thank you! Thanks!"

It was a very interesting slash awkward confrontation. The content of said confrontation was enough to make it awkward but the fact that the ceilings in the bus were just above the six-foot mark made it impossible for me to  do anything that resembled standing up. So picture a ~26 year-old, maybe 5'8'' lady going off on the 6'10'' version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Yeah, it was awkward. But the way I look at it is now we have a good story to tell! :)

The other girl returned to her seat and very kindly switched seats with us. So in the end, we all were able to sit next to each other! The second half of the bus ride was MUCH more enjoyable than the first half!

Overall it was a great experience, although slightly unusual.

 *Approximate physical age. Not mental age. Physical age is not to be mistaken for levels of maturity.
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My Birthday/Christmas List

15 days until my birthday! 17 days until Christmas! I'm really looking forward to being with all of my family and seeing friends who will be home for Christmas break! I love this time of year!

Anyways, I thought it would be fun to put my Birthday/Christmas list on my blog. So without further adieu, here it is (in no particular order):

- 6 lb. Bag of Gummy Bears (≈ $6.00 at Sams Club)
I. Love. Gummy bears.

- DIY Music Box Kit (≈ $13.00 online)

This little kit allow you to make your own music box with whatever song you want. I know the perfect song... :)

- Star Wars Force FX Removable Blade Lightsaber (≈ $99.00 online)

As close to the real thing as you can get (and the real thing has yet to reach this galaxy). These are so cool! For real. (p.s. I want the Darth Vader one...)

- V-Cube 7 Supercube (≈ $45.00 online)

This is a 7x7 Rubik's cube. I have wanted one of these ever since I first knew of their existence. I looks like a beast but give me a half hour and I'll see what I can do.

- Rubik's TouchCube (≈ $70 -- $100 online & in stores)

Rubik's cube + touch-screen technology = the Rubik's TouchCube. Each square is it's own touch-screen. You slide your fingers across the layer that you want to turn and it turns. Pure genius.

- Shock Ball (≈ $14.00 online)

The Shock Ball shoots out random electrical shocks (obviously). It is ideal for a fun game of hot potato. If you hold onto it for too long, you will suffer the consequences. 

- Swedish FireSteel (≈ $15.99 online)

Makes really big sparks. Sparks make fire. I like fire. Need I say more?

- Nerf Stampede Automatic Heavy Blaster (≈ $44.00 -- $60.00 everywhere)

This thing is a beast. It is battery-powered, fully automatic, and it doesn't jam as much as similar guns. It comes with 18-dart magazines and practically enough darts to supply an army.

Halloween Over the Years

I love Halloween. I mean, come on, what's better than free candy? Not to mention carving pumpkins, eating pumpkin pie, and dressing up as whatever you can dream up. Those are some of the reasons why I love Halloween. Every year I want to dress up as something both unique, and something way better than what I was the previous year.

This year I was Optimus Prime for Halloween. I made the costume below out of cardboard, duct tape, spray paint, and some other odds and ends. When I'm standing up, I'm a robot. When I lay down on my stomach, I "transform" into a semi-truck cab. I won an award for best overall costume at a Halloween event at my church.

Here is a video of me "transforming":

Last year I dressed up as Vince, the guy on all of the ShamWow commercials. I memorized the entire commercial word for word so that I could spew out the lines, in the same obnoxious tone that Vince uses, at any time.

Two years ago I dressed up as myself, "Thinking Arby's". I got quite a few laughs from people when they saw this one. I made it using a pool noodle and a wire coat hanger.

I don't know how long ago this was exactly, but I do know that it's been a while. I dressed up as a dinosaur. I was scary.

Here is a pumpkin that I carved three years ago. It's Chauncey Billups' face. He used to be on the Detroit Pistons for everyone out there who is illiterate when it comes to sports. 

Here is a second pumpkin that I carved three years ago. It is a picture of Toby Mac. He was my favorite musical artist back then. This picture was the album artwork on one of his first albums.