It’s a slow day today, which is good considering the weekend was pretty busy.

First off, the court date on Friday went extremely well. I showed up about 45 minutes to the lovely Cook County 4th Circuit Court in Maywood. There’s were groups of courtrooms throughout the first floor of the building; looking at the schedule, I saw that the courtroom I was scheduled in was for Traffic Court for the Illinois State Police, 3rd District. The two courtrooms across the hall were scheduled for felony trials, which made me look at the other people waiting around for the courtrooms to open in a whole new light. The bailiff opened the courtroom door at 1 PM and I went and grabbed a seat and killed time for the next thirty minutes by people-watching and looking around at the courtroom. I noticed that only one state trooper was present and it wasn’t the officer who had written my ticket; that, coupled with the fact that I had a letter from my insurance company stating they had paid the damages on the other party’s vehicle, led me to think that I wouldn’t have any problems.

At 1:30, the judge came in and they did the “All Rise” thing. I was halfway looking forward to seeing some of the cases before the court, but I was called second. The judge called the name of the other party in the accident. When no one answered, he said, “Continuance denied. The case is dismissed. You’re free to go.” And that was it. I even looked at the bailiff, as if to ask “is that all there is?” and she made little shooing motions, sending me out the door. I walked out at 1:36 PM. Damn.

I drove over to Linnaeus‘ place, picked him up, and we hit the road. After dealing with some crappy Friday-afternoon-in-the-rain rush hour traffic, it was clear sailing all the way down to Urbana. We got to Mirko‘s place at about 6:30 to find that aeto had beat us there. We headed over to The Courier Cafe , where we were joined by Siegfried and Lycaos for dinner. Afterwards, we retired to Siegfried’s lovely home and chatted, as he graciously served us coffee and cookies. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

On Saturday, we grabbed breakfast at a little diner in Champaign and did some tea shopping. We were then joined by perro, darkwolph, and spunkler and we hit the road for Allerton Park. I love the grounds there, and the place is spectacular, even in the winter. The weather was rather chilly, but that only added to the atmosphere. After about an hour of walking we headed back to Urbana.

Not long after we got back, Packrat, Ricochet, QuasiSkunk, R.C. and hartree showed up. Mirko started prepping the copious quantities of food he had prepared, and much snackage did ensue. Then it was time for the Candlestick Lane lighting ceremonies. We all stood outside in the cold, and Siegfried turned on the Christmas lights on cue. We then strolled through the neighborhood (with several hundred neighbors and others) to admire all the decorations. Linnaeus had a good point – it’s really nice to see a pleasant, non-commercial celebration of the season. The rest of the evening was spent eating, chatting, and imbibing tasty beverages. Just a really great party.

On Sunday, the group of us hit The Original Pancake House for a fabulous breakfast, then it was time to head home. Linnaeus and I made a few stops on the way home for some Christmas shopping but came up empty handed, unfortunately. Sunday night was spent in an antisocial torpor, lying around the living room and relaxing. Not a bad way to end an excellent weekend.

And so, this week: Not a whole lot planned, really. A coffee night on Thursday (announcements to come soon). I believe I have a Christmas party to attend on Friday, too. Definitely still need to do a good bit of Christmas shopping, and figure out how I’m going to send some of this stuff to NC. Heh. UPS, here I come.

Looking ahead to better times and better weather, I’ve been having fun daydreams about going with a small group of friends for a weekend up to a nice place like this. Gay-owned (but straight-friendly, I’m sure), 70 acres, fabulous guest suites. Mmm, nice. The rates are a bit pricey, but it’d be worth it, I think. And surprisingly close to Chicago, too. Oh yeah, and some weekend in early spring, I think we’re kicking around ideas to maybe hit Paramount’s King’s Island, too. More on that as plans develop.