Chicago

Sunday, November 9th.

The original plan was to get up early and go out to the Grand Canyon. I was really, really excited to get out there again, but as fate would have it, we did not go. We all got up early to find a storm in the sky. It was going to be raining and possibly snowing all the way there. Scratch that plan.

As a replacement plan, we went out to Ronald's, the vegan doughnut place. They were so good!!! It was almost worth missing the Grand Canyon for them! I ate two and took three with me.

Since I still needed to catch a train somewhere in Arizona, Liz, Winter and Elise decided to take me to Kingman. Kingman is a tiny town just two hours from the border of Arizona and Nevada. I was really tired and kind of fell asleep on the drive, missing the Hoover Dam and most of the scenery. Thankfully, I had seen it before.

We arrived in Kingman, where it was way too cold, windy and boring. We went to eat at a little Mexican place that didn't ask for ID when we ordered drinks and I'm sure most of the food wasn't vegan. You win some, you lose some.

I found a hotel to sit in while I waited for the train and said my goodbyes to the girls. The hotel is this awesome little spot just a few yards from the station. Its super haunted, as I found out. If you want to know that story, your going to have to actually call me for it.

The train was late, and came at 3:45am instead of 3:05am. Yeah! Chicago, here I come.



Monday, November 10th.

I sat on a train all day! Saw some beautiful landscapes, saw a lot of nothing, slept. Yeah.



Tuesday, November 11th.

The train finally got to Chicago in the afternoon. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, or windy. I made my way to Lowercase, the house I am staying at. It is a punk collective. I was a little apprehensive at first but they are really great kids and not nearly as pretentious or unwelcoming as the punk kids in Portland.

We made dinner and watched Summer Storm, which I highly recommend.



Wednesday, November 12th.

My SG set went up today. It was a weird feeling and I had forgotten all about it until I checked my email and had 91 unread messages. Hmmm... Still don't know how I feel about that. Anyway, its up now and I have gotten some good reviews.

I went with some of the kids that live at Lowercase to a Korean market. It was super rad. I bought greasy seaweed to eat and some vegan spicy ramen noodles. Yummy.

From there, Hugh took me to the Harold Washington Library! Nine floors of books! Greatest building ever! I really liked it and spent three hours there.

Once the glory of the library wore off, I decided to wander around downtown for a while. I of course got somewhat lost but quickly found myself again when I got to the train station.

From there I went to meet up with Andy, a guy from the wonderful couchsurfing.com. I don't think I like that website much. I have yet to meet anyone I would want to stay with for more than 24 hours.... He and his girlfriend were nice, really nice, in fact. Just a little weird. Whateves. Their friend Kelsey was pretty rad. I want to hang out with her again before I leave!

I got lost on the way back to Lowercase. I usually have a good sense of direction but the Logan Square stop is shit. There are three streets at the intersection and no way to tell which way is which from the stop! I called Jake for directions but that didn't help and ended up talking to a cop. He wasn't much help either. I finally called Kevin and he got me home. Thank god.

Back at Lowercase, people stay up really late. I got home and wanted to go to bed early but ended up hanging out in the kitchen until 5am.



Thursday, November 13th.

After waking up to an empty house and showering, I made my way to the Garfield Park Conservatory. Its just a really big greenhouse. Lots of exotic plants and cacti. The whole place smelled of fresh dirt and made me miss gardening.

It was getting late so I headed downtown to wait for the Art Institute to open for free hours. I stopped in a Borders to kill time and met two really nice women. They are in their late 20's and well traveled. We talked for a while and I plan to call they while I am here.

I don't really get museums. I know I should. And I still go to them but they just aren't that interesting. I wandered through the Art Institute for almost two hours. Its nice to say that I have been there, but I am not as taken with the paintings as I probably should be. They look exactly the same as they do in books. They are just bigger in person.

I like historical sculpture. They have some old Greek and Roman statues and a mummies coffin. That stuff was cool. And I liked the African art, but I guess I just don't care about famous paintings. I went. I wouldn't go back but I'm sure Ill end up in another museum before I am through.

This kid Austin met up with me at AIC. He is nice and we walked around killing time until a free string quartet concert started. It turns out the show was terrible and I should have gone the the Cunt Collective House to see the BeeHive Collective talk about their art. They are doing it again on Saturday but I think I might go to a Baroness show instead.

I went home after the concert and hung out with everyone until way too late. I am finding that I really like these kids. Not everything is about the movement and they seem to be a very welcoming bunch. Its not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

My only complaint is that they have a serious mouse infestation. Its a typical punk house where dishes never get done and there is always a mess. This does not help with the mice.



Friday, November 14th.

Today was a lazy day that almost felt like a holiday. I went to the store with Tega to retrieve pie ingredients and went back to the house. We made lasagna and pie all day. It was Taylor's birthday and Rugrat is moving so they had a party. Everyone brought food and the food and conversation were great. We played a game called the Village, which took way too long but proved to be epic in the end. Hugh managed to manipulate 20 people and turn them against each other and win in the end.



I have spent most of my time here feeling very indifferent and apathetic. I am not really stoked on anything but not really bummed out either. I like it here just fine. I want to come back again at some point but as far as feeling the way I did in SF...we are far from it. It doesn't help that I haven't pooped since I before I left Vegas. I know you wanted to know that. But I think I would feel a lot better if I could. Being physically uncomfortable, as well as socially and mentally, doesn't make for a good time.

I know I cant expect to fall in love with every place I go. And I have only been here a couple of days so I know the feeling would pass. It just doesnt make me terribly happy to be here. I am having a hard time getting excited about seeing all this new stuff. LIke the museums, I dont really seem to care anymore. I never want to see the tourist sights but I always feel obligated to. I am just not getting excited about the little things I think. (Although, I will say I am excited about the El. I really like the aesthetics of the public transit system here. I don't know why....)

Today was the first day that I think I really enjoyed myself. Making pie and spending quality time with the folks here really helped. I am hoping that tomorrow will be just as warm and that the Baroness show will be rad!