I went to Chicago and all I got was this damn cold

I'm baaaaaaack. And I feel like crap. But I still had fun.

My Chicago trip started out early Saturday morning. 7:30am I was on Erin's door step, ready to be transported to the train station. After an HOUR delay, we were finally allowed to board the train. The Saturday of a holiday weekend? Yea-the train was PACKED. I was forced to sit next to this rather large, SMELLY gentleman who insisted on talking to me the entire time despite the fact that I exhibited ALL the non-verbals that mean I don't want to talk to you. You know them-1. eyes CLOSED; 2. headphones IN EARS and 3. reading a book. This dude just didn't get it. Then, horrors upon horrors, he says to me "you have pretty feet". WHAAAAT? I'm sitting next to a fat, smelly man with a foot fetish? Are you freakin' kidding me? I seriously had thoughts of hurling myself out the window since there was no escape, no other seats, nowhere to go. I was stuck and very, very uncomfortable. As soon as we pulled into Union Station in Chicago, I ran like hell to get off that train. Eric met me there and after waiting a bit for my luggage, we decided to go get something to eat. We had some yummy Greek food (mmmmm, saganaki! Gotta love flaming cheese!), dumped my crap off at his place then went walking around Millenium Park and down to Buckingham Fountain and the lakefront. The weather was absolutely perfect-a little chilly though at night, we actually needed jackets (LOVE it!).

On Sunday, we played "tourists". After brunch (yes Eric, the eggs benedict was good), we went to the art museum (it pays to have a friend who is a student at the Art Institute-we got in for free!) and then back to Millenium Park to take some pictures. After that, we went to Shedd's Aquarium and saw all the critters (loved the penguins!) and took more pics of the lakefront and the awesome Chicago skyline. Then, we took the L up to Evanston where some of Eric's friends had invited us to a picnic. Nothing like free food! :) I have to tell you about this woman on the L. OMG, is all I have to say. She was this rather large, African American gal who was wearing her clothes a good three sizes too small (and she had on a tube top, but whatever). She was loud, she was proud, she was obnoxious. At one point, one of her friends (two fabulous gay boys, by the way) squirted some sort of liquid candy into her mouth, she dropped some of it on her boob. Did she wipe if off? Uh.....no....she (I swear to God), lifted up her own boob and LICKED IT OFF. Wow. Wait-there's more. At one of our stops, this rather attractive girl got off the L-our Boob Licker started banging on the window saying "ooo girl, you so fine" and she started LICKING THE WINDOW. You can't make this stuff up people! Again, wow. Anyway, after Evanston, our day wasn't done there, however, once we got back into the city, we decided to go to this neighborhood bar and just hang out (I considered ordering an Old Style but just couldn't bring myself to do it-I had Miller Lite instead). Needless to say, I slept like a baby after that long ass day.....

Monday was Wrigleyville Day! Yay! We got up nice and early and headed down to what I call my "mecca". But first, the trip on the L (always and adventure!). It was going fine until we stopped for no apparent reason, then the L driver person dude says "we are stopped because the train in front of us is smoking and they need to make sure it isn't on fire". WHAT? The L is on fire? This seems to me that this would not be a good thing.....anyway, all was well and we made it safely to Wrigleyville. I was beside myself with excitement, I made Eric take my pic under the street sign at the corner of Waveland and Sheffield (holla!), I made him take my pic next to the Harry Caray statue too. He was laughing at me because I was so excited to be there-but I didn't care! We had ourselves some lunch at Goose Island, then headed on to our seats. I decided I was gonna buy a program and keep score (like I knew what I was doing). The only problem with the day was that I was starting to not feel too well. I'd been sneezing a lot, which I just attributed to seasonal allergies, however, by Monday, my entire face hurt, I had no energy and I was still sneezing. Not good. Anyway, things started out promising-the Cardinals were losing 11-0, the Brewers lost as well, so I figured there were nothing but good things in the cards (pun intended) for the Cubbies that day.....oh how wrong I was. It started out great-Alfonso Soriano hit a home run in the 1st inning, so I was thinking "great, the Cubs are gonna kick some ass today!". Uh, not so much. Long story short, they ended up losing 11-3. Yikes. Carlos Zambrano sucked hardcore, we even booooooooooooed him and he got all pissed off, when he got kicked out of the game by Sweet Lou, he held his hands to his ears and pointed to the stands-yea thats right-he heard us! Punk!(apparently, this was big news in the Chicago papers, Zambrano was for real pissed about it but later apologized. Good times) The bullpen was even worse than he was, it was painful all around. The bright spot of the day? The national anthem was sung by Wayne Messmer and his wife-remember them Red? Remember him singing at Blackhawks games? He has a very distinctive voice. I laughed my ass off at the fact that he was down there on the field singing-Eric must have thought I'd lost my mind!

After the disappointing loss, and me feeling like crap, we headed home on the L for some more fun (the best stories come from the L, have you noticed?). We got to ride with Drunk Guy. He tried to pick a fight with a guy wearing a White Sox hat, then began to inform anyone that would listen his views on the state of the Cubs and the world, really. He was obnoxious and I hated him on sight. Monday night was a chill night since I was not feeling well. Eric discovered this web site that shows just about any tv show, movie or cartoon you could ever imagine. What did we watch, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. Yes, that's right......we watched old He-Man cartoons (Oh the homosexual undertones.....did you know that when He Man was just Prince Adam, his outfit was PINK and PURPLE??? Hello.....) and......the Smurfs (to which I said I think it would be better to watch the Smurfs while stoned-I think they'd be less creepy then). It was freakin' awesome.

That pretty much concludes my Chicago trip, yesterday, Eric and I caught a cab to the train station, I hung out until my train left, I sat next to a very nice, not smelly lady who did NOT tell me my feet were pretty....it was fairly uneventful, thank GOD. I slept most of the way, with visions of NyQuil dancing in my head...Renee picked me up (THANK YOU to her and Erin for being my transporters-I love you girls!), I got home around 9pm and pretty much went straight to bed......I'm back at work today and actually have both jobs today (yay). I think I have a NyQuil hangover. I'll put pics up soon, promise! I LOVE CHICAGO!