It's Thursday night and you are lying on the couch in your North Side apartment, recklessly tired because your boss tried to micromanage every last thing you did at work today. You are still in your work clothes, but at least your shirt is untucked and your shoes are kicked off, two signs that you haven't completely surrendered your life to your job. At the very least, working late today means you're not due in the office tomorrow until noon.

You look around your apartment and it is a comfortable mess. The kitchen faucet is dripping and won't stop no matter how hard you turn the handle, the smell of an unkempt litter box lingers in the air, your ceiling fan is turning at a languid pace because the final remains of September's humidity haven't quite yet burnt off and as you run your fingers along the cushion of the couch you can feel the hole where a cigarette burn from the party you hosted last week ate its way through the fabric. Thankfully, your roommate is out and you have a few moments alone to figure out what to do with the rest of your night.

It is nearly 8 p.m., which in your mind is that point in the day where there is no choice but to start your evening or give yourself over permanently to the couch. You consider your options. Your roommate has left a note on the refrigerator reminding you of dinner at nine at Rockit in River North , at 22 West Hubbard Street, with some friends although you're weary of whom else might be there. Your co-worker wants you to meet her at the Field Museum for the monthly Thursday night out event, because she wants to introduce you to a girlfriend of hers which may or may not be exactly what you need after your recent breakup. What you'd really like to do is pick up Thai food to go and rent a video, but this is after all Thursday night out in Chicago, the gateway day to the weekend. The day of the week that is neither a weekday nor a weekend day, but a night of possibility that has always been hard to pin down in this city.

The one thing you know for sure is that the time to get up and get moving is now.

You could probably hit the bathroom, shower and cab it down to River North in time to meet your roommate by turning to page 5.

You could indulge your co-worker's matchmaker fantasy and meet her at the Field Museum by turning to page 10.

If you'd like to avoid anything remotely resembling a night out by picking up food to go and renting a video then turn to page 18.