My Midwestern Memorandum, Part I

"I was surprised, as always, how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility."
-Jack Kerouac (On The Road)

hey guys.

i write to you again, this time a refreshed man. i have now seen things i have never seen before and i write to share them with you. my latest sojourn took place in a wonderful city which would be the farthest west i have ever been. but first let's talk about how i got there.

i was on break from work on a busy saturday earlier this year when i got a phone call from my cousin, who was engaged to be married in june of this year. he and i were like brothers growing up, but because he moved to chicago, we didn't talk to each other nearly as often. it was for this reason that this phone call seemed a little odd. he proceeded to ask if i, in his exact words, would honor him by being in his wedding. i quickly said yes not knowing if he had any idea that the honor was in fact mine.

so i quickly went into the backroom at work and requested a week off. there was no way i was missing this wedding. but it was also exciting because i was going to see a city i had heard so much about but never had the pleasure of seeing up close. and a pleasure it would be.

me and my cousin's sister, who is like a sister to me, began the long trip on a wednesday in hopes to arrive on the friday before the wedding, which was on sunday. we drove through Philly and then spent the biggest chunk of the drive in long and windy Pennsylvania...and no, that wasn't a semi-elaborate Beatles reference, Pennsylvania is really long and winding...although i think i'm the only person i know that would have made that connection...

anyway, after the rolling hills and mountain scapes, we drove through ohio, which immediately greeted us with its indiginous brand of boredom so irrepressibly thick it made the viscosity of molasses seem on a par with that of chicken broth. just trees and road for as far as the eye can see...HMMM, I WONDER WHERE ELSE IS LIKE THAT.

after the sleepiness of ohio we were bombarded with vast fields of corn and amber waves of grain in indiana. it was like what i imagine a john mellencamp song might be like if expressed visually, which probably why it threw me off when n'sync came on the iPod. indiana hardly seemed like the place for a digital digital get-down.

before long, we were in illinois. i was pleasantly surprised to know that mike myers and dana carvey didn't make aurora up. sadly, shermer was made up, otherwise i would have insisted we visit.

we stayed in a hotel in schaumburg, illinois for the night before we met with my cousin in chicago the next day. i brimmed with excitement as the chicago skyline drew ever closer. this was the place i had heard so much about. at long last, it was within reach.

i lived rather nomadically during my stay. the first place was called Biddle House, a quaint historic abode that was a hundred or a couple hundred years old. i stayed there with a couple of my cousin's friends who quickly became my friends. together we saw some unusual things in our travels. we visited millenium park, which featured a waterfall-type thing(not the technical term, clearly, but if you saw it, this is as accurate a description as it gets). there were these LED screens showing faces that looked as if they were spitting water but it was just water coming from a black hole in the screen where the LED face's mouth was. at first glance it was the creepiest thing this side of me in lederhosen you had ever seen, but the little kids there seemed to enjoy it just the same. the faces changed periodically. as soon as i had accepted that, then the face changed to one that resembled martin luther king, jr. as i thought about the great doctor essentially spitting water on little kids, many of them black, i also thought about rain on your wedding day or a free ride when you've already paid and how while those situations are inherently unfortunate, they are just ironic enough to be a hit in six countries.

then again, it was 1996.

those were simpler times.

I loved visiting that park. add that to a boat near Navy Pier named "Viagra"(which just goes to show that compensation exists in more forms than one) and you have a pretty good day so far, which would only get better.

chicago might be the only place i've ever seen other than orlando where there is a two story mcdonald's. you know, because nothing screams "elegance and tiramisu" quite as loud as the hamburglar. then again, it wouldn't be a scream in that case, it would be more of a "robble robble" type deal, wouldn't it?

anyway, there's a bit more to get to, such as random saxophonists and bacon on a stick, that i will next post. see you then.