my problems arent really all that bad

well, i had a night. i guess i have a bit of a confession to make: i make all of the choices in my life. this snowstorm that came over this region really wasnt all that bad, i couldve driven away in it and i coudve slept in the back of my truck and things would have been fine. instead, i saw what was in front of me and made the choice to stay longer. i will own up to that.

snow in chicago!

i was getting down on myself a bit yesterday, after (again) running my destinations and mileage through a map and contrasting that with my current available funds. i was trying to make myself feel bad for staying longer in this city, living with opulence. and so it was like this when i connected with my old friend mike tsisrtsis yesterday. i was sitting at a bar drinking slowly, enjoying the drink but also making it last. he called me.

we had tried to get together before while i have been here, but our planets were not aligning. last night was different. he and his lady friend, vicki, came to meet me at the bar. we sat there for a drink, catching up. mike is another person that i went to high school with, it is nice that a number of the friends that i had in high school are still good people. and they are still into hanging out with me even though i havent made any effort to be a friend for the majority of the last twelve years or so.

the memorable bonding moment that mike and i had was shooting videos together in high school for some dumb class. i think i have expounded on how ridiculous i thought high school was and how i didnt really go and that, but this class asked us to be creative. i was into that. so, the two of us (along with whomever else had the misfortune of being paired with us) set off to make some hilarious commercial for fictional products. this experience certainly anchored our friendship. one of the videos was about shuttlecocks (becuase being 17 and in high school who wouldnt want to seize the opportunity to say cock a whole bunch of times), and when i was at the kansas city art museum i sent mike pictures of the shuttlecocks there.

the fact that he lived less than two blocks away from me certainly didnt hurt our high school friendship. we would smoke pot and do other drugs together often. you know, the things kids do. anyway.

so, i saw mike when i visited last time...but he didnt make very good company. he was very wasted, this time he was not. so it was nice to sit in the bar with him and vicki for a beer and catch up. knowing that i am on a budget he suggested that we go to a bar near vickis apartment where we could drink for next to nothing. i was down with that. i tried to pay my tab, but mike insisted on picking it up for me, i packed up my things and dropped my bag off at the apartment. then we drove away to the next bar.

the snowstorm had come upon us, it was snowing and there was plenty of snow on the ground. i was nervous to leave my truck, but i just figured that i could move it whenever i got back from this bar. i wasnt looking to be out all night and i have never really liked staying at random places or waking up in the morning and not knowing where i am at. probably the scariest thing for me would be to wake up in a weird room and not know where i was or why i was there. i would probably wake up and sit there for hours listening, trying to ascertain that no one else was around before i sneaked away. anyway.

we got the bar, it was called the lion head pub. and it was packed. almost immediately we were greeted by jill, mikes little sister. i felt bad because she remembered who i was, including my name, and i couldnt remember hers. had mike not

mike and i

told me it was his sister i would not have known. then we sidled throughout the bar towards the end of it where there were some seats open. i walked away to the bathroom and tried to get myself together a little bit.

it is true that i do well in social situations, but it is not without effort. so, in the bathroom - which had an attendant and everything, fancy - i discussed some finances with myself and worked out about how much i could spend and about how long i could stay at the bar with them. however, shortly after coming back i had to throw all of that financial planning away. mike illuminated for me the nature of our business here. vicki works there part-time as a server, in addition to being a kindergarten teacher. and mike was the manager of this bar for a fair amount of time up until very recently. next to nothing meant we were drinking for free. there was a beer waiting for me, i was still in sipping mode, but that shortly evaporated.

and i dont know what happened. it was only about 8:pm or so when we got to this bar and we didnt leave until almost 2:am. we talked, and drank, eventually food was brought to us, and i just took it all in and enjoyed myself. i just keep getting in line for the ride of life and am constantly amazed by how good it is. the bartenders kept bringing us beers. they would bring them to me while my current beer was still half full and i willed myself to drink faster. after i went outside to smoke i came in to a shot waiting for us.

i am not a big shot. i will just leave that sentence as it is, it looks good. i dont do shots very often, but it was waiting, and my friends were ready with their shots. i didnt think to question what it was until after i took it - it just made sure it wasnt a tidal wave. after drinking it i was informed it was some kind of flavored rum, with red bull. i am also not an energy drink person. i like to think i have plenty of energy without them and if my body says it needs to shut down, i like letting it. but not so this night.

around midnight, after two more shots and at least as many beers, i was curious about the upstairs. it was a place called the apartment and it had very good drink specials. not that we needed them, but $1 drafts is a good special for a fancy bar in the city. the apartment is a dance club, and it looked like it might be hopping up there. i wanted to go up there, i could dance. mike insisted that he was not a dancer, but vicki said she would grind me. so that was settled.

mike asked for the bill - we had to close out before going upstairs. with nine shots, 12-15 beers, and two rounds of food our bill came out to $12. i offered to pay, but again i was shut down. we gathered our things and went upstairs. it wasnt as packed up there as i thought it would be, and there werent very many people dancing, but i was into it. the place is set up to give the effect of being in an apartment, so there are couches and soft things all around as well as another bar. mike gravitated to this bar and we were awarded with another round of shots and more beer. jesus.

vicki and i

mike was determined not to dance, so vicki and i went out on the dance floor and engaged in some booty dancing. now, i am not very good at this, i dont know any of the songs and i cannot keep a rhythm for the life of me. but i did it because it was fun. i wanted mike to dance with vicki though, so we went over to the bar and i tried to show mike some of the moves. it was a bit awkward for me grinding on his lady, holding her hips, slapping her ass and such right in front of mike. eventually he got the idea. so i was left to dance by myself. that was certainly much less fun.

then we all danced together for a little bit, performing moves like the ever popular sandwich. luckily they were ready to leave after being upstairs for an hour and a half or so. vicki did have to go teach six year olds in the morning after all. by this time i was drunk. and happy. mike pointed me towards the brown line and then he and vicki walked in the other direction. when i got to fullerton, i was supposed to turn and walk to the brown line, pay the $2, and then get off after a couple of stops. this seemed ridiculous to me at the time.

i remembered driving here and it wasnt that far. and, since it was snowing, it wasnt even that cold. so i kept on walking up lincoln avenue. the snow was thick at my feet and my shoes are certainly not meant to be sloshing through snow. after a couple of blocks this seemed like a bad idea, i felt like i should have been much further along than i was. so i started running. eventually i came upon a group of people and i invaded them. i confirmed that i was walking the proper direction towards addison, but they informed me that it was much too far of a walk. one of the ladies buttoned up my jacket for me, i thought that was hilarious.

i assured them that a couple of miles would not pose a problem to me and with the knowledge that i was going in the right direction i trudged on. after a couple more blocks i was not a happy walker. i saw a cab and i just opened the door and started talking to him. after a moment i noticed that he already had a passenger so i asked him which way he was going. the light turned green and he drove away without telling me.

i walked on and i saw a lone person on the other side of the street. i yelled to him "ADDISON?" he said it was only a couple more blocks, then i yelled "DAMEN" and he said i was close. i thanked him. then i crossed the street and came upon a person shoveling snow. i asked him if he would walk in front of me and shovel a path. he said no. but that was okay, i could see the bar that i started the night at! i ran towards it and was satisfied that i knew where i was and that i was indeed close. finally i was back to the apartment, about an hour after i started.

but now i had a whole new dilemma. here is my dumb truck, parked on damen right under a sign that says "no parking if there is more than 2 inches of snow" i spent a fair amount of time debating what this sign meant. two inches of snow on the street? in general? would i get a ticket or would i get towed? setting better judgment aside i decided that i didnt want to risk having my truck towed, so i got in it and started it up. the heat felt nice and i think i fell asleep a little bit in there, but then i awoke and told myself i would drive down the two side streets and if there wasnt parking there i would just leave the truck to the fates of damen.

i drove around the block, and there wasnt parking. so i just parked the truck right back where it was and called it a night. i went upstairs and peeled off my wet clothes and reflected a bit about the night. and i got excited, since i hadnt spent any money this night i could justify going to see a show i wanted to catch tonight. i wasted no time in sending a drunken text message to a few friends that i would like to come with me. satisfied, i turned out the light and went to sleep.

in the morning my teeth felt disgusting. like i had just eaten twenty packages of smarties and the sugar residue was stuck on all of my teeth, i dislike red bull. i wanted nothing more than to brush my teeth. i gathered my things and went upstairs. but for whatever reason there was no water. this wasnt ideal - i wouldve like to wash my face as well - but i have been in worse situations, i got the sick residue out of my mouth and just had to settle with having some toothpaste left in my mouth until i could find running water. a small price to pay.