Jho's Place

Reflections On My Trip to Chicago

I really didn't want to go. The day before, when I picked out my art, I found out that Anna had been in town the past weekend and she didn't even contact me. I was angry. When Anna and I met at the Silver Cloud on Saturday, in the Bucktown neighboorhood, it was like old times. We cleared the air and enjoyed the hour and a half of time we had together. I only spent Friday night hanging out with Dave and we watched coupling and had a bit of wine. When I was texting David, before I even left on my flight to Chicago, one of the first things he asked was, "So, what are you drinking now-a-days? I will go pick something up." I responded, "I am really not drinking anything. Wine is always good though." I was cautious of how close Dave got to me as we were searching for the website of Karen Wilcox, when he was trying to pour me more wine, and especially when his head was close to my lap when he changed postions on the couch while watching coupling. I did not visit Josh. My theory is that since I was not around things that could remind me of him I was less apt to be reminded of him. Here it really is a daily random thing that will spark a happy memory that makes me sad. My focus in Chicago was exploring. I love exploring and the city is massive. If you are in downtown Minneapolis you can walk both the length and the width in about a half hour. I walked home the other day from Hennepin and Washington in 50 minutes that is how small this city is. One of my favorite things to do was just walking. I walked by the new condo's going up and the beautiful walkways and fountains being installed in downtown Chicago. I walked on the Chicago River Walk and looked at the architecture that one usually pays a ferry fee for. I walked in Andersonville before I went to see 'Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" and loved how it was an area in transition. It has not been fully yuppified yet and if you walk far enough there are still bars on the windows and gates with locks in front of the doors. I loved driving down Lawerence Avenue and seeing how there were stores with some sort of Asian, or Hebrew like words for most of the shops and yet everyone walking around in the neighboorhood was Mexican. It was my favorite thing this trip to get lost and discover things and it made me realize just how vast Chicago is.

Yesterday was my last day and the most warm. Near my hotel was the Busse Forrest Preserve. I had rented a car for this trip, so I drove down to the first parking area and realized why Elk Grove Park is an appropiate name for the town. They actually have a "heard" of Elk. Really it's a zoo area where you can walk up to the fence and the Elk come up and let you pet their noses. I decided to walk around the trail. I stopped a random woman and asked how to get to the lakes I had seen on the park map and she said, "You will run into them. Just keep vering to the right. It's about a two hour walk and it's really nice." I walked, and walked, and walked, and it was great. I love walking, my ass feels great right now from all the walking I did this weekend. I then drove to the Botanic Gardens, and I am sure glad I did not drop $12 on parking. When that place is in full bloom, and everthing is open, and the water in the Japenese Garden is flowing I would imagine it is very impressive. I then decided I would drive down to see the show I had planned to see on Friday ("Too Much Light") which brought me to Andersonville. Dave lives in the area so I thought I would invite him to come out and join me, but he was hanging with a friend. "I will call you when we are done and maybe we can get a drink or something." It was here that I saw something that reminded me of Josh which was the bookstore we had seen "Harry and the Potters" last year in July with Eric, Allegra, Chris, and Karen. No missing of him though :) So, I stopped into a cafe that said they had ice cream and ended up getting myself a slice of yummy chocolate chip cheese cake with a chocolate cookie base. I had 'The Davinci Code' with me that I had bought in the MSP airport before I left for Chicago and read for a bit. The chapters are too damn short. That had to be said, and that said, I then went to Charlies bar and restaraunt which I had noticed had a lot of the gays. (Oh and that said, it was interesting to be in a neighboorhood seeing so many of the gays everywhere after not be in that environment the whole trip) I had a beer and read my book, tried to flirt with the guy ordering take out, watched the golf that was on TV and decided to walk some. I walked by two cememtaries one that was gated and one that was brick walled off. blah blah blah. I then got to the show. I usually go into things with no expectations, but I had heard rave reviews so I was expecting something I had never seen before. Honestly that did not happen, though I did laugh a lot and ponder a lot. It was scetch improve show that sometimes included serious poems and other written stories. I only had to pay $8 and it was the only thing I had paid for all day entertainment wise. I decided since I had not heard from Dave, and honestly I assumed he would flake on me anyway, I decided to head to boys town cause I wanted to go to Gentry. Gentry is a piano bar that Frank, Victor, Anna and I had a blast at once upon a time. This was the only time my heart raced because Josh works at Spin which is at the beginning of boys town and I was parking on Belmont. I decided I would turn one block before Halsted so I would not walk by Spin. Once I got into Gentry I had a great time. I sat at the bar and a very drunk older gentlemen intrduced himself and then introduced me to the small group of people there. I had so much fun. Everyone was there to be entertained and the pianist and the perfomer did not dissapoint. The older gentlemen told me of the history of Halsted and how he was around before Boystown existed, and how Minneapolis used to have a bath house, and how he was in Minneapolis' first Pride Parade. Basically reminding me that even though there is a long way to go for gay rights and such, we need to not forget those who have paved the way for our lives today. There was a guy that I fancied and after the older gentlemen left and the guy I decided to make eye contact and say hi to him on his way to the bathroom. He was interested, so he stopped and chatted on his way back to his seat. Who knew? He currently lives in Minneapolis, not far from me actually, and is moving to Chicago in 5 weeks. What luck, but we have plans to hang out on Wednesday. We might do the "Cheap Date Night" thing at Bryant Lake Bowl.

posted by makeisweet @ 6:31 PM