Dusting off this journal

I haven't posted in a while - more than 2 months. Part of that is because I haven't been good about remembering to update, but it's also because of ( being quite busy )

I'm leaving on a week-long vacation tonight, which will take me to Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis:

- I'll be meeting tanyad in Chicago and hanging out with her. While I'm there, I need to try some authentic Chicago pizza (sorry testing4l, but Pizz'a Chicago in San Jose is probably not the real thing) and check out the city - would you believe I've never been to Chicago before, even thouigh I've passed through O'Hare several times?
- On Friday afternoon, I'll be driving down to Peoria for the Old-Time Piano Playing Contest. It's my first time taking part, and I am a bit nervous about it, particularly since I'll have to play all my contest entries from memory! Fortunately, most of them aren't a problem since they're ragtime pieces I'm familiar with - the only one that might be difficult is Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me", which is the required non-ragtime entry. The other pieces I'm performing are "Queen of Love" by Charles Hunter (who is probably more known for "Tickled to Death"), "Kitten on the Keys" by Zez Confrey, and "Swipesy Cake Walk", "Peacherine Rag" and "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin.
- I'm meeting a friend in Carbondale on Monday, and will head back to Chicago to arrive on Monday evening. The reason is...]
- I will be taking a train to St. Louis! It's the first time I've taken a train since I took the Acela in 2007 (from Boston to New York), and it'll be nice to enjoy the countryside without having to deal with traffic or rest stops. :D
- I'll be spending an evening in St. Louis and have several places in mind to visit (thanks to some suggestions from reannon) before I fly out the next morning.

I'm going to miss Belle and Lillian, but I have a cat-sitter coming over to feed and play with them daily, so I hope they won't be too miffed when I return. Speaking of Lillian, I uploaded some new pictures on Flickr of her on the harness - she seems to like it more than she used to!

People and places I want to visit this year:
- samurai_ko and her hubby will be moving to Seattle, so I will definitely need to visit them more often.
- saraphina_marie and reannon - the best way to meet both of them would probably be at a con, but I also have an invitation to have breakfast with saraphina_marie at a Pfunky Griddle in Nashville. This makes me happy. :D
- I might drive to Vancouver to visit my aunts- I've been putting it off for the last 3 years, for no reason in particular, but this year is as good as any.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of this year!