Hello peeps, I'm back. Did you miss me?

New user song is the Guadalcanal March, from Victory at Sea. Inspired by (e:dragonlady7) 's post. Random crazy family stuff, probably not worth going into. But enjoy it and feel patriotic.

Sigh... no offense Buffalo, but I love Chicago. I really miss living there. So much to do, so many young people, such great architecture, the waterfront....

I had a nice trip. Saw 6 of the 9 people I'd hoped to, so that's pretty good. Had a few mini-adventures (e:jenks,123) (e:jenks,124) , I guess.

Got in late Sunday (cancelled flight, grr), Monday wandered around and did a little shopping. Chicago is an awesome shopping city. Too bad I hate shopping. (good thing for my credit card though.) Had tapas and sangria with Vicki. Tues slept late, met my cousin Jenny and her kids and we took them too the beach. Then had dinner with Karl in the "Viagra Triangle", and some drinks, then many more drinks with Sarah and "uber-hot Charles". Spent all of wed hungover, until I went for a massage. Maybe I am just a perv, but the massage was oddly sexual. I don't want to say the guy was inappropriate, but I think maybe he was. Still nice though. ;) Then coffee in the hospital with Munee... Then had New Haven style pizza (screw Chicago pizza) with my married ex and his buddies, which was pleasantly not-weird.
Then this morning had room service (e:jenks,126) , and packed up and scrambled my way to the airport. Stupid airport shuttle never showed, so I was about to suck it up and take a $40 cab ride, when a jolly African doctor (from Canada?) needed to go too, and asked "would you be offended if I pay for us both?" And at least this time the flight went smoothly... Did not get to see Chris or Linda or Ellen. I guess I'll just have to go back...

Now just to figure out what to do tonight... and tomorrow...

Anyway, onto pix:


A cute tshirt at Anthropologie. But sure as hell not $78 cute.


My second cousin? first cousin once removed? I dunno. My cousin's kid Luke who I hadn't seen since he was 4 days old.






There was like a tulip extravaganza going on or something. They were ALL over the city. I like the pointy ones.


In case you're wondering what that ball of black fuzz is, it's a dog.


This little house was across from the hotel. I love it. I think it's abandoned or something.


This is not as cool looking as it was in real life. But what a scary alley- I have never seen so many fire escapes.


How fucking cool is it that this beach is in the middle of downtown?


It just looks infinite...


... yet it's RIGHT next to the city


the Hancock Building and the Drake


This is a super-zoom spy shot, but get a room, will ya?


me and "uber-hot Charles"


PMT, this "mansion" is for sale too... but Paul I think it's a little too far from work.


I've always thought this church was beautiful... Right on Michigan Ave.




This is part of the old pumping station I think. It's like the only building not burned down by Mrs. O'Leary's cow, or something like that.

See you tomorrow everyone!
-J

This is just a mini-interlude post til I get home and have pix and stuff. (besides I'm having trouble posting anyway since Safari is suddenly crashing q5min.)

But I just wanted to say- room service is out of control. I mean we all know it's expensive, but yikes. I decided to treat myself to breakfast on my last morning. Now the hotel restaurant is a pretty fancy place, and the room service is off that menu so I guess it's extra pricey.
But I ended up going with an all-time fave breakfast indulgence- eggs benedict. For $12. I actually didn't think that was THAT bad, considering that's how much the continental breakfast cost.
Oh, but that doesn't include juice. So one glass of "fresh-squeezed" (they'd better not be lying) OJ for $5.
Plus 2.75 delivery fee. Plus tax. Plus 18% "service charge" brings it to $25.
And then the guy that drops it off needs a tip too? What's the "delivery fee"? What's the "service charge"?

craziness.

but delicious craziness. :)

See you all soon.
-J

dammit.... Safari just crashed and made me lose my whole post. And I don't have the energy to re-write it.
Maybe tomorrow.

But thanks for the comments on the last one. You're all right. I had a fun time, and that should be enough. I just always want more...

later peeps.
-j

(to continue the thread of journals that makes me appear completely shallow and boy-crazy, I add:)

Dude!!!! Why am I SO incapable of closing the deal????? SO FRUSTRATING!
So, despite how I may make it seem, I am totally NOT about one night stands, random sex, etc. Sure, it's been a while, and I'd love nothing more than a good fuck, but the circumstances have to be right. And my standards are ridiculously (unrealistically) high.

But so I'm in Chicago. Trying to get in touch with my friend Sarah (from Buffalo). Finally we make plans to go tonight. And I get a text from her that says "my uber-hot friend charles may join us. he likes brunettes." And I reply "well he may be in luck, since I like uber-hot friend charles's."

So I meet her, we wait for charles. I see the blackberry email she sent him that called me "Dr. Surgeon McPretty". And I see his reply that says "can't wait". So he shows up- definitely cute. We all hang out. We go to another place. Drinks are abundant. there is small talk and chat. Including talk about how guys like what they can't have- i.e. as soon as you call (thereby expressing interest) they are not interested. Or the converse- we always like what we can't have. Like my date the other day. I wasn't even convinced I like him. But suddenly him not calling me makes me like "WHOA! Dude! I am so out of your league! And YOU are blowing ME off????? SO not how it was supposed to go."

But anyway, so we're all chatting. Sarah senses her moment and makes herself scarce. There is some definite bumping and grinding going on. I'm thinking "I so don't do this, but he's cute and I'm sick of striking out." so I'm kind of encouraged. Then I remember his words, and I pull away on the dancefloor (don't want to be all over him) to see if he responds- and he did. I pulled back, and he came after me. Still dancing close, etc.

So the song ends, I go to the bathroom. I come out, and sarah is back. He says "well, I have to go. Big meeting in the AM."

FUCK!!!!!!

But, in his defense, it WAS 3am, and he WAS in town just for 36hr to give this talk in the AM. So I can cut him some slack....

BUT, he was hot, he was flirting with me... I was (i thought) flirting with him in my little wimpy way, then he fucking gets up and leaves!!!!

Not that I would have known what to do with myself had it gone any other way, but still.....

Oy, drunk, time for bed..........

So I'm already starting to be sad that my date-boy hasn't called or anything. I don't even know if I like him, but now I'm kind of hurt b/c I think he's rejecting me. I'm too old, too boring, etc, (if my imagination is right.) The thing is, it's only been a day, and he knows I'm out of town. But I finally decided "fuck the 'rules'" and I sent him a quick email that just said "thanks for last night, had a lot of fun. Call me sometime?" And all my other emails have been answered in a matter of hours, and this one has gone untouched two days. Not a good sign.
Why why WHY do I have to obsess about this? Yesterday I was on cloud 9, today I'm totally doubting myself. Bleh.

But anyway, the reason I am writing-
I'm in chicago for a bit of a vacation. Probably can't get a tan and drink drinks with umbrellas, but this should be fun too, since I still have a lot of friends in town from when I lived here. But so I guess it was drizzling or something catastrophic like that in chicago today, b/c lots of flights were cancelled, including mine. So I had to kill a few hours waiting to find out if I would make the last flight of the day on standby. So I decided to go get drunk. (why not, right? I'm on 'cation!) So I went to the little restaurant/bar near my gate. And saw a blonde girl who looked kinda familiar... and I thought "I know (e:dragonlady) works in the airport"... So I spent a good half hour trying to decide how to ask "are you (e:dragonlady)?" Because if she were indeed NOT who I thought she was, my question would sound ridiculous. But so I finally asked and indeed it was her. So yay- stupid shyness overcome, and peep sighting confirmed. I guess the alternative would have been to post spy shots and ask for confirmation, like I did for (e:mike). ;) (e:jenks,49)

Then I had another bout of shyness... I was sitting and sitting and waiting and waiting at the gate for my flight. Listening to music and reading. And I noticed a very cute guy sitting one row over. And we kept almost-not-quite making eye contact. But I kept throwing glances, and I think he was doing the same. Then he got up to throw away some trash or something, and when he came back, sat in a different seat- two down from me. Did I say hello? No. Just kept peeking at him from behind my book. Finally a lady sitting across from us asked if we were from buffalo and we all started chatting. Then we finally got on the plane and I wasn't near him and couldn't talk anymore. But when we got off, I saw him again and he said he was glad I'd made it on the flight, and we walked towards baggage claim. Then we had to go different directions, and despite my little thoughts of how I would ask if he wanted to get a drink or something, I just let him walk away... He said "well I'll look for you in the city tomorrow" to which I just laughed, since that's sweet but silly. And there was another mini-pause, would have been the perfect time to say something, but did I? No. Just kept walking. Dammit! Now I don't know what I think would/could have happened, but I just wish I weren't so damn shy all the time!

Anyway.... I think I will take a nice long bath (I love hotels) and sleep way late, and spend tomorrow walking around michigan avenue and maybe checking out the museum. I love chicago!

Adios peeps.
-J

[user sound updated: Holiday in Rhode Island, by The Softies]