Alexa Fifield Staff Writer Oh hey, Forum. It’s been a while. Two reasons why I haven’t been writing this column: 1. I’m a second semester senior. You have to cut me some slack, because I have slowly regressed into a comatose person. 2. My adventures in the city haven’t really been happening. I’m even thinking about changing the name on this column because of the unforeseen load of the college process and the emotional toll it has taken on my mental state. Now, now, don’t pity my pathetic, homebody life, because I sometimes do get to go out. Although, it’s usually at eleven at night when I walk my dogs before bed.  During that time, my almost-midnight walks provide me with a beautiful, lit up skyline view of Chicago and a respite from the “hustle and bustle of city life.” I think it gives me a chance to clear my head and kind of see the underbelly of Chicago (aka homeless men peeing in bushes in Lincoln Park). Luckily, the whole part about being a vegetable on the couch isn’t completely true (although the peeing man is), and during my very small amounts of free time I have been able to explore the city. Some of my favorites ventures have been going to the River East movie theatre to partake in some Chicago Film Festival fun. Yes, very LA of me, but when you get to see Like Crazy and talk with Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, and Drake Doremus a month before the actual movie comes out, it is pretty undisputedly cool. I think my ultimate adventure thus far has been getting to meet Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State, and Aaron Shock (otherwise known as the man with the best abs in Congress) for a nice little discussion on the North Side. I actually wasn’t bored to death by what they had to say (and that was a lot, with topics ranging from the economy to the upcoming presidential election to the economic crisis in Europe and the Middle East, and back to the upcoming presidential election which Condi kind of brushed off and refused to say the names of who she was supporting, but she’s a politician, so what do you expect?). There was definitely some awkward handshaking, and we took some cheesy photos, but otherwise, it was a really cool and memorable experience. If there is one thing I would change about that night, it probably would have been to ask her about Gaddafi’s infatuation with her and if she could hum a few notes from the theme song he composed for her called “Black Flower in the White House.” That would have really made my night. As teenagers, I don’t think we really get to be involved in politics as much, but as Alexa Hilton, Queen of Los Angeles and Chicago, I have definitely had my share. It actually started out when I was in seventh grade and yes, I was that politically involved back then. I lived on this winding road and it took some time for everybody to get to school. My family kicked me out of the house and told me to get a ride one morning, and just like magic, there was this huge, black escalade waiting for me outside my house. I opened up the car door tentatively and there I found Arnie Swarz, my chauffeur for the next two years. (P.S: If you don’t have a clue who I’m talking about, it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger.) I don’t recall ever talking to him except for one incidence where he asked me how many kids were in my family and I said five and he said “OH WA-OW” (that’s supposed to be an Austrian accent by the way). Little did the rest of the world know that he had five too. Too soon? Anyway, I found that I didn’t like politicians or their offspring too much after his oldest son (and future Hudson jean model) Pat completely blew off our Romeo and Juliet presentation freshman year. After spending hours on the speech, outline, and paper with no help at all, I wasn’t very surprised when Pat went on to talk, in front of the whole class, about how there was a distance between Romeo and Juliet because they were looking at each other between the fish tank, and the fish tank was separating them from ever truly being together. It was a good analogy, but it was too bad the project was about the play written in the late sixteenth century and not the Baz Luhrmann film, where they had neither fish tanks nor Leo Dicaprio. And that was when I decided I was done with politicians. So I think that’s it for all my adventures here in Chicago for now.]]>