Wrong Directions

 Meredith wanted to see the new exhibit at SAIC, which meant a day in downtown. First, we stopped at Chicago French Market. This time, the restaurants were open and it didn't feel like a ghost town. 

I went straight to A Taste of Philippines and was happy to see it open. The owner, Kathy, and the sous chef, Derrick, were really nice. I told them I was going to make a TikTok video and they were down to be in the video.

The breakfast sandwiches were sold out since it was late in the day, so I only got ube donuts and breakfast lumpia. The ube donuts are air-fried before they're served, which makes the outside crispy, and the inside a bit dry, but it's a decent donut. I prefer it cakey and gooey like DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. The breakfast lumpia was bomb. I called my mom to tell her we should try that at home.

@jmeprcn

A Taste of the Philippines 🇵🇭🍴##chicagofrenchmarket ##filipinofood ##ubedonut

♬ Feel Good Pilipinas - KZ Tandingan & BGYO

I also got dim sum and boba, while Meredith got sushi.

We went back to SAIC. I'm not sure if it was the same guard. He didn't seem to recognize us if it was. This time, we didn't set off any alarms. We totally got jipped our last visit. The exhibit rooms are huge. There was a room with a projector that featured sending money to the Philippines. I noticed a bunch of asian names on these exhibits.

There was also a dark room with tv screens that were psychedelic. I wish I could have had my own psychedelics to make it more fun. My favorite exhibit was Is This Desire by Lesley Bodzy. It was a sculptural project that used gold drapery to represent the "shiny veneer we each present to the world."

When you don't show up: drapes are in a full ball, floating. Energy is full.

And I wasn't invited: the drapes are grounded on a box, beginning to melt. Energy starts to drain

And I didn't say a thing: the drapes shrunk and are crumpled against the wall. Feeling cornered and unrepresented

And: Drape is a bit longer but still pushed against the wall.

The whole thing spoke to my introverted self.

I also really enjoyed a painting of someone under a blanket. It was on a giant canvas, almost as tall as the wall, and just as wide. The blanket was blue and the painting had such detail for each section of the quilt.

After, we went back to the cultural center. We sat under the dome for a while. It gives me a magnificent calm looking up at it and the lighting shining through. The quote around it felt random: Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn. 

I was inspired by a tour group that came to look up the history (also motivated since I couldn't understand the tour guide). The dome was originally built for a library in 1897, and was restored and moved to the cultural center in 2008. Its restoration included clearing out the enclosure cast around it in 1935, when some persons gave up hope on that dome.

I also learned that the roman alphabet only has 23 letters, and is missing J, U and W. Therefore, "genius" and "unborn" used V's. The w in "which" is two V's together. It's so very rude for them to exclude J. It's the best letter ever.

Grace's visit inspired coffee shop visits in the afternoon. We found one near UIC to visit next. From there, I took us to a place I had starred in my google map. I thought it was a giant door I had seen from the internet. The walk was nice enough, it was just the wrong location. We doubled back to where we were and found the door. 

Mere staged an optical illusion video, which turned out fantastic. Zach King, look out!

@jmeprcn

@zachking Did I do this correctly? ##bigmonstertoys ##chicago ##opticalillusion

♬ Beggin' - Måneskin