Chicago, Aurora, Naperville, Lafayette
Whee! Update time! (It was nice to visit, but I’m glad I don’t live there)
So, Wednesday I took the Amtrak train up to Chicago. Not really much of an adventure, but a new thing nevertheless. It was funny, ’cause there was only one passenger car on the train, and 1 other non-engine freight/baggage car. Kinda a pathetic little train, but at least it could move pretty quickly.
The train was reasonably comfortable … about the same as flying, both in the size of the coach seats and the smoothness of the ride. Saw some neat scenery, and the backsides of a bunch of buildings designed in ways that were never meant to expose their backsides to anyone, so that was interesting.
When I got to Chicago, I had to kill a few hours. So I walked, and I walked, and I walked some more. I walked from Union Station to Watertower Place, walked around Watertower for a while, then went over to Border’s and hung out for a while. Did a lot of meandering/sightseeing while I was there, it wasn’t quite a straight-shot walk. According to Mapquest, it’s about 2 miles that I walked, carrying my overly-heavy leather trenchcoat and a stuffed bookbag of clothes. A bit of a hike!
Took a bus back to the station, met up with Tim, had a brew and caught the commuter train home. That train ride was a bit faster and a bit more comfortable, surprisingly enough. All in all a nice, smooth trip.
Hung out with Tim for a lot of the afternoon/evening, and eventually made my way back home to unpack and chill out for the rest of the night.
Thanksgiving on Thursday, I slept in, ate some lunch, went over to Tim’s place for dinner. Chilled out with him and his family until 1 or 2 in the morning, watching movies, playing with dogs, etc. Then I went back and crashed. All in all, pretty lame I guess … but I had a decent time with it.
Friday I had dinner with my brother and his wife, and Mom and her husband, and his one friend. It wasn’t a bad meal (heck, it was great. My mom made it though, so I’m probably a bit biased). Had some bleh-desu riesling that Suwann brought, which was served very much warmer than it should have been (it was about room-temp, which is too warm to serve pretty much any wine. According to the guides I’ve seen, that wine should have been served at about 45F, instead of 70F … which would have made it a LOT better). Cold turkey too, which wasn’t great. But the bean casserole, the broccoli stuff, the sweet potatos … yeah, they were kick-ass. I sort of swung clear of the turkey all weekend though. Later on that night, went out with Tim and Nick, and went to the Roundhouse for a couple beers. Followed that up with the Pub on the Fox when Roundhouse closed at 1. That was sort of so-so: a generic, older bar with a decent atmosphere, if you’re into the bar scene. Too bad I’m not really.
Saturday, again a late-wakeup day, and a lot of vegging out. Leftovers with Mom and Sang, and then late-ish after 10 pm), went out with Tim, Nick, and Scott. Hadn’t seen him in a while … he’s sort of sunk into mediocre loserdom though … wasting the talents he had on crap jobs, with nothing really interesting going on in his life. What can ya do though? Went to a couple bars in downtown Naperville, had some drinks in various places, ended up in Quigley’s, where we burned time until a bit after 1:00. Then we bailed on that and all went home, ’cause there wasn’t much else to do.
That’s the history. Now for the philosophy :-p.
(1) Sang is a freaking baby. And a passive-aggressive one at that. He didn’t say one word to me the whole time I was there, but apparently he had a couple problems with me. In fact, he was so upset that I had 3 lights on while I was watching TV (small lights, because it’s a big room and it was freaking dark), that he felt he had to yell at my mom about it, and he WALKED OFF WITH TWO OF THE LIGHTBULBS! I mean … how childish can you get? Rather than confronting the problem, you take lightbulbs out of the lamps and leave them with empty sockets hanging there? What The Fuck.
(2) My brother’s still pretty tubby. While I don’t have room to talk, he could stand to lose the 40ish pounds he’s put on since he started seeing Jen. They make a cute couple though, and I think they’re good for each other.
(3) My tastes, I fear, have somewhat diverged from those of my old friends. Tim and Nick in particular seem to have a LOT of fun just going to bars and drinking and trying to pick up random chicks. While there’s nothing wrong with that, per se, I just don’t have much fun doing that. I’ve never been much of a fan of that scene, I guess, but whatever.
(4) Digital camera -> instant entertainment. Especially with lightly-toasted friends. I’ll post video when I clean it up a bit.
(5) Between 1 and 3, I’m pretty happy to be back home. While it means having to slog through the same old routine, it’s a nice life I’ve made for myself, and it’s mine. No putting up with stupid backwards stepdads. No feigning interest in going to another bar, no being stuck with clothing that’ll smell like smoke until the next time I do laundry. No crap water pressure, no stupid heat-nazis keeping the heat set below 60. No brightly lit bedroom with unblockable light. Sure, no 4-hour meandering discussions about interesting random topics (anymore), but I can deal with that.
Yeah, it’s good to be home.