Chicago I (CTA): The Oak Park Experience

I must wish a happy birthday to Kevin (buzzwords)! He's one of my favorite LJers, and I hope I'll get to see him again in person sometime.



Here I am at John's (blithwulf) house that also includes Sean (ombraorsa) and Lee, whom I haven't met yet. The house is in a northern part of Chicago. The lots between houses are very small, so the whole neighborhood seems very close and intimate. This town, from what I've seen so far, seems to have a lot of parallel parking. I'm glad I'm not driving, since I can't parallel park for shit.

I was picked up at O'Hare by Sean and John (John is trying to distract me as I write this...) and we drove a long way to go to eat. It was a local Italian restaurant and the lasagna was good. Then we drove to another area to get ice cream at Dairy Queen, and to a gaming store. I was surprised by how much driving we did. I guess I thought Chicago was all Els and walking, but this city is a little more spread out than I was lead to believe. We drove to another suburban city for dinner. Otherwise, we've been hanging around the house.

We had afternoon and evening showers, just like home, but the temperature is so much cooler. Sean's car doesn't have A/C right now, so he apologized. I saw that it was 88 degrees (at 2:00pm) and said it was OK, this was comfortable. I packed a lot of shorts and T-shirts, being on vacation and all, and last night after dinner with the high humidity after the storm, and a light wind, it was downright cold. Is it still July?

A topic of the day was the recent revelation about Christopher and his other personalities. We were all talking about it. I saw something Wednesday night, an anonymous post that seemed to be a mea culpa. Sean got a call from a friend and was given the news, and I said I had already figured that one out. I'll admit I was one who fell for it. I even wrote about the alleged deceased boyfriend. I'm not really mad, upset or even worried about the deception. I don't really know him. I know some of the people on my friends list, I want to meet others and get to know them better, but with so many people on that list, I can't say that I really know all of you. If anything, I'm more amused and intrigued by how it was pulled off. Well, enough about that.

Today we are going out to Lakeshore Drive, and then to Boystown, then tonight we travel to Grand Rapids. It looks like John and Sean need to get out of the city, so this should be good. I need to go get cleaned up and ready to go. I'm hungry too.


Oh, note to bobaloo, we'll see, OK?

Chicago II: Corrections and Deceptions

Apparently I'm in Norwood Park, not Oakwood park as previously stated. This was due to the fact that I don't know Chicago that well, and was mistaken, not that I was trying to deceive anyone here. I did tell my mother that I'm staying at a Holiday Inn, not at the home of three gay men, so this, this would be an attempt at deception. Mom also doesn't know that I'm traveling to Grand Rapids in a veiled attempt to meet other gay men, who just happen to be watching "Theater".

Apparently this whole trip is a ruse to meet many, many gay men, and not just to see Cubs games and such (though I would like to see some cubs playing games...can this be arranged?)

Also, since we are revealing several secrets here, Soylent Green is people. It's made out of people, man.


Otherwise, a trip to NorthHalsted was fun, looking at various toys made for adults, not kids. No way most of those things are getting close to me, thank you! Good Grief! And then out to Lake Michigan, my first Great Lake to see in person! I also saw that fountain...you know, the one at the beginning of Married...With Children. We'll try to actually get out of the car next time! Well, I'm packed and ready for GR and plays and such. Looks like we will be traveling to the other side of the lake for a while.

More later...