Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago

Debauchery Report. Dateline: Windy City.

Friday. Easy flight into O'Hare, then take the Blue Line to Wicker Park. Get out, start walking up Damen. I get up to Armitage, and i realize: that I am tired, that my trip is long, that I am wasting valuable time. I needed the constitutional, but I call my friend/host Kelly to pick me up. Can't flag a cab for the life of me.

Off to Corcoran's for some catching up with the couple and my friends in town for the weekend. Kumars present: Anchal & Sonali. Rileys: Andrea & Bronson. Various Browns & Jonses -- bride's & bridegroom's families, respectively. At eleven, we had a junior high moment as we debated what to do next. "Well, Bar Louie is packed." "A table just opened up inside." "We could always go back to the hotel."

We opted for Bar Louie, split a chicken quesadilla. Call it a night.

Saturday. Wake up with the sun, do some journal writing, enjoy the early morning light. Enjoy the morning air, take a couple of pics with the new camera phone. Try to figure out a way to get them off the phone & post them here. Chuck [my other host, Kelly's fiancé] is off for a firefighter exam. Kelly and I take Sam [Siberian Husky] to the dog park & drink Starbucks. We talk about writing until it is time for her to run errands and for me to meet the Kumars for Brunch.

Go to the Bongo Room, check that our name is in, and head off to the Renegade Craft Fair for some pre-brunch browsing. Many, many cool items for sale. Handmade cards, screen printed posters, t-shirts that are embroidered, lots of jewelry for the ladies. Kickass apron with a skull & crossbones for $25 -- just outside my budget, I'll steal the idea and file it for later. Eggs florentine for me, pancakes for the Rupi & the Anch, lots of coffee and catching up.

Rupi's friend Molly shows up, as do Sonali & Andrea. Back to the craft fair. Lots of little purchases for friends back home who couldn't make it. Trying to take pictures w/ my phone & send them to Lindsy. Sprint tells me that I can't do it with my plan, so I call them up and upgrade. After much ado, they say I can switch my plan and do that in four hours. It still doesn't work a day later. Get some new fresh kicks at the shoe store where Rupi used to work. Lunch at a little Falafel joint that Sonali loves.

Almost go to a Sox game, but we can't get enough tickets. More errands. Trader Joe's. Back to Anchals for munchies, drinks and planning for the night ahead. Charge my phone on Rupi's charger b/c I forgot mine. [D'oh!] Figure out our next move. Dinner at the noodle bar & drinks at the Holiday bar. Several hours later, I'm taking a cab back to my place. Cabbie and I talk politics, the failure of the current administration, "He is such a liar! The rest of the world hates us. When i came to this country..." Call it a night.

Sunday. Check my mail on Chuck's sexy TiBook, then off to the store. Whip up a little breakfast for my hosts: fresh pineapple and eggs benedict -- smoked salmon instead of canadian bacon & capers to garnish. Whip up some hollandaise sauce for the fourth time in my life and it doesn't curdle this time. Thank god. Nice breakfast w/ Kell & Chuck. Anchal picks me up and we're off to Filter in Wicker Park for some coffee, finally. Pick up one more t-shirt at the Reneg Craft Fair, and call it good.

Anch and I tool around a bit, take some pictures of cool signs. Go for a drive on the lake instead. It's beautiful out again. Get ready for the wedding, then pick up Sonali and Anch gives us a ride to A New Leaf, where the wedding & reception will be. Flower shop & event space, it's beautiful. All finished concrete, bricks, floating candles & greenery. The couple scripted the whole wedding, wrote their own vows, and it's lovely. Will, the bridegroom, is a lot more emotional than Val, at least visibly. All the girls are drooling over the spanish-speaking guitarist & the waiters -- the Hearty boys.

What is up with the Brown girls marrying emo boys? Yes, Bronson, this means you, too.

Okay, sensitive new-age guys -- SNAGs.

Reception is a blast. Dinner is lovely and we get to know a few of their friends. Back downstairs for the cake cutting ceremony, which is civil. No cake smashing in the face. Then there is drinks & dancing. Will has his mp3 player set up with his own playlist. Let's hear it for technology. We end up hauling many heavy gifts & bottles of booze back to the couple's apartment, two blocks down. Catch a cab and call it a night. Cabbie tells me dirty jokes, including: Take the 'L' off 'Louisiana" and put it at the end of the word. What do you get?

Eww.

Monday. Up a little later, maybe eight am, and Kelly's off to work by nine. Notice this sign on the back door. Tool around w/ Chuck a bit and head downtown to check out Millenium Park. Stop at Demon's grill. Get some writing done in the meantime. Decide to paint my kitchen blue while reading the latest Dwell. Catch some sun in the park, and it's about naptime.

Take the Red Line up to Belmont and walk back to the apartment. Stop off to get some Arizona green tea to be kind to my body for a change. Stop in at Paper Boy, a wonderful little paper shop. I make it out of there only spending $42. Trinkets for the kids back home. Never sure what to get my dad. Pack up back at the apartment, watch my phone slowly die, and catch a ride from Chuck back to the Blue Line station in Wicker. Full circle. Good trip.

Flight home sucked. Tired. Middle seat [never again] and much turbulence. And, they're out of ginger ale. Apple juice instead and try and do a little pranayama to keep myself sane, and make it home. Phone officially dies as I try to get my messages to know who is picking me up. Nikki from the office owes my dad an airport ride, so she obliges me instead, and I pick up my car. Call it a night.

Call it a trip.

Comments

[max]

Man... I'm exhausted just reading through this post! Filled with thought-provoking questions no less, such as... is Bronson really emo? Can you be emo in Ohio?

[kate]

Fun weekend Ben!

Glad you made it to Renegade. Cliff and I were thinking about taking a quick trip that weekend to go and see it, but blah blah blah too busy etc. Glad you picked up some cool shit.

mmm...Bongo Room.