Chicago!

It's been a month since I went on my jaunt to the Windy City, and I've finally uploaded all the photos from the trip. So I feel like I'm allowed to talk about it now.



It was this girl's birthday!



She's in love with this guy!

Despite my flight being delayed two hours, we still made the most of my time in Chicago. On Saturday, we headed into the city for a gorgeous day exploring.









We went on the architecture tour, so I took approximately 20 bajillion photos of buildings...









LOOK AT THAT SKY. And this brings me to my first point about Chicago: It's deceptive. It's all well and good when you visit in August. Because let me just tell you, that city is beautiful. It's clean, the river is pretty, it has kick-ass architecture (see above), and it never feels over-crowded. So it tricks you, see. You think, "Oh how nice, maybe I'll move here." But come late autumn, the inevitable happens: winter. Renee says to buy a parka and suck it up, but no. I can barely stand winter in Philadelphia. In Chicago, I might have to kill myself during the winter.

Anyway. After the tour, we headed to Navy Pier, one of Renee's favorite places for lunch/dinner with Wildman Mike! And also: drinks.









Renee has a very real (and possibly valid) fear that Joe! will leave her for Wildman Mike. Joe! is listed in Wildman's phone as "God."



Ah, who are we kidding? His heart could belong to no one but her.

Chicago also gave me some opportunity at trying my hand at some Tilt/Shift photography.

After the Navy Pier we headed to Wrigleyville for more bars and drinks and fun.

We took the bus to Wrigleyville, and this brings me to another love of Chicago: Its public transportation. SEPTA could seriously do with taking a few notes from Chi-town's book. Like, the fact that the Blue line and Red line run consistently every 10 minutes. And they're reasonably priced, like $2.50 a ride. $2.50! It's $6 to Philly from Malvern (one way). And the buses are those hybrid buses that actually have oodles of room inside, allowing for – get this – personal space whilst riding. Also, trains run practically all night long. AND (I swear this was truly amazing to me), the Blue line was undergoing some construction so at one point we had to get off the train and take a shuttle. There were, like, 14 announcements, 10 signs, and actual transit employees available to answer questions and guide you to the shuttle. Had it been SEPTA (and I know this from experience), all you would have gotten was a garbled PA announcement followed by being dumped on the platform and having to wait 20 minutes for the shuttle. SEPTA, you are dead to me. CTA is my new boyfriend.

Anyway...





I had a great time in Chicago, albiet a short time. I need to go back, for like a week, and see so much more of the city. More Chicago photos here.

Yay or Nay?

I'm taking a poll here, you guys. Should I go to AWP in Chicago in February?

PROS

• It's in Chicago! Visiting with Renee, Joe!, and Wildman.
  
• I've never been to Chicago, and it would be nice.
  
• Gives me a chance to shmooze with fellow academics and such.
  
• Maggie will probably be there.
  
• Chance to bond with Rosemont folk.
  
• There's most likely going to be some good networking for the publishing industry there too. Which I need.
  
• There seems to be some good-looking panels and what-not.

CONS

• It's Chicago. In February. Brrr.
  
• I have to take time off work, after just taking 3 weeks off to go to UK.
  
• Technically, I'm not in a writing program. Or even a writer per se.
  
• I sort of can't afford it. Well, maybe I could. I don't know.
  
• I'll probably be heading to Chicago again a month later for St. Patrick's Day debauchery

RESPONSES TO THE CONS

• Suck it up, woman
  
• Yeah, well. It's not like I don't have the vacation time
  
• So what?
  
• I could probably arrange to stay with Renee and Joe! or Wildman, saving some moneys, so all I'd really have to pay for is my conference fees, flight, and food.
  
• Again, so what?

What do you guys think?

Oh, hey.

So yes. I am back in the U.S. of A. I made it home safely, jet-lagged but triumphant, and have been alternately running around like a maniac and desperately trying to sleep it all off. Gary keeps coming home to me passed out on the couch because I'm confused about time zones and think it's appropriate to go to sleep at 8:30pm (London time 12:30am) and then I keep waking up at 4:30am (London time: 9:30am), and then I hate myself for being a spazz.

Thanksgiving didn't help matters either, making me even more effed up on days. I kept operating on the notion that I was one day ahead than I actually was, thinking Saturday was Sunday, etc.

Still, I was glad to be home for Thanksgiving. It was a lovely holiday, filled with lots of food, family and happiness. I love Thanksgiving so much. It's such a wonderful excuse for my family to get together and hang -- we played board games and poker, my uncle made a fire, my cousin played some music, and we all chillaxed together. Not even a 4 hour political argument between my Dad and cousins could damper things (note to my cousins: Wanna know why no one else came into that room? Because we all know better than to argue with my Dad, who is impossible), and we were able to find a great deal of humor in the situation.

My trip was wonderful, you guys. And as glad as I am to see everyone again and as happy I am to not be living out of a suitcase anymore, I miss it there. I miss London. I miss Dublin. I knew this would happen, of course -- we all knew this would happen. I wish I could scoop all of you into my pockets and take you with me and we could all live in the UK together. Because I felt perfectly at home there, comfortable and happy.

But it's back to regular life for now. I have a butt-load of work to do for school (hey, who knew missing two weeks of classes would put me so far behind? Gah!), my apartment desperately needs to be cleaned, I need to sort through the photos I took while there (I'm only 200 frames in right now), I have a busy work-week, and I'm trying to catch up with all of you fine folks to tell stories. Plus, this weekend is Renee's Farewell Weekend, and I have to mentally prepare for saying goodbye to one of my favorite people. Last night I had dinner at Kelly's and we had this conversation:

"Kelly, Renee is leaving soon!"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I know!"

"What will we do?"

"I don't know! I can't imagine her not being around."

"I KNOW. Stop talking about it. I'm going to cry."

"For real."

It's so big and exciting though, what Renee is doing. So we can't fault her, we're just going to miss her. A lot. Still, gives me a reason to travel to Chicago. I've already made mental plans to head out that way for St. Patrick's Day, because Renee and Joe! have already promised to take me to the south side and introduce me to all the hot Irish boys there.

Meanwhile, I still have more travel stories for all of you internet friends, and sadly little time to post them, thanks mostly to my wireless internet being jenked up again. Verizon DSL, you're on notice. One more month of this crap and Comcast is my new boyfriend.

While on the subject of apples...

Tomorrow I'm headed to the Big one! As in New York. Tell me if this doesn't sound awesome:

• Taking the train to the city
  
  
• Meeting up with Jose!
  
  
• Eating lunch at a fab Mexican Restaurant where hopefully there will be margaritas the size of my head.
  
  
• Stalking Jon Stewart Going to a taping of The Daily Show
  
  
• Taking as many photos as my camera can take and probably annoying the crap out of Kelly, Christopher and Jose in the process.

I know right? I'm stoked.

Hop the pond

Sunday at Su Tao lunch with the Doc and the Triplets, I got what may be the best fortune EVER in my fortune cookie:

"You will soon be crossing the great waters."

Oh, HELL YES.

San Francisco: The Photos

Finally. It took me damn over a month to get my ass together, but I've just uploaded the photos from my trip to San Francisco.

Sadly, I didn't take very many pictures while in San Fran. This was for several reasons. First, I was experiencing a tiny bit of photography burnout from some small gigs I did for friends and outside stresses plaguing my mind. Second, the weather wasn't particularly photo-friendly. It rained often, not enough to damper the trip, but enough that I didn't want to take my camera out and get it wet (we know how precious I am about that thing). And finally, my lens broke.

You heard me.

My favorite lens, my 50mm, the one I use all the time since it's fairly awesome in low-light and non-flash photography, broke. Needless to say, this was pretty devastating to me. Sure, I had a second lens with me, my 28-80mm, but...If I want to use that lens, I pretty much have to use flash. Which I hate. A lot.

Anyway. No use crying about broken lenses. My favorites from what I did take:



Our hotel was right in Union Square. This street performer was there on our first night, sort of gyrating around. There was no music or anything. You know, I have to admire a woman who gets up in the morning and thinks, "I have to make a buck or two today. What to do? Hmmm...well, I have this silver bustier and helmet. I'll go to Union Square and twitch around for a bit!"



This guy sold me 5 mini zines for 2 dollars each. Meaning I gave him $10. Stephanie was slightly horrified at my willingness to fork over money to some dude on the street. Whatever, still like the portrait. Not pictured: The giant spliff behind his other ear.



Chinatown, where I spent a lot of time just walking around, window shopping, and exploring. Do you see the trolley? While I didn't ride a trolley while there, it gave my heart extreme joy every time one drove by and did it's signature "Ding, Ding!" It was hard, but I refrained from breaking into The Trolley Song whenever I saw one.









Taken on the ferry on our way to Azkaban Alcatraz. The day was quite chilly with off/on rain.





Because it was such a gray day, a lot of the Alcatraz pics converted nicely to black and white.



It was cold on that ferry. And yet, Stephanie braved the wind and spitting rain to hang out on the deck with my crazy ass while I took pictures. Bless. At least she was smart enough to bring a heavy sweatshirt and hat. Unlike me, Miss Run-Around-Without-A-Coat-in-Cold-Weather. Which is my Indian Name, apparently.



The sun trying to come out on one side, the dark rain clouds ready for a throw down on the other.







Stephanie, looking out a little peep-hole thingy at Alcatraz.





Right here, this precise picture, is where my lens broke. Damnedest thing. I had been taking photos, just like normal, when I heard this odd little click. Strange, I thought. Oh well. And then I took this picture. And just as I heard the shutter snap, the front part of my lens popped off and hit the floor. The back part of my lens remained attached to my camera's body. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what would cause this to happen. I took the lens to my uncle this past weekend, and after poking and prodding it for the better part of an hour, trying to snap it back into place, we declared it a loss cause. I need to buy a new one. Goodbye, 50mm lens. I loved you much. Thanks for all the swell photos.





The rest of the photos can be seen here. Big thanks goes out to Stephanie for prodding my ass to the other side of the continent, and for such a fun time.

San Francisco: I left my heart there

THINGS I LEARNED IN SAN FRANCISCO

1. Emaciate and Emancipate are two very different words meaning very different things.
   
   
2. Since I used "emancipate" incorrectly, I might secretly be a racist. (Not really)
   
   
3. The streets in San Francisco are not serious. They are joking. There is no way in hell the streets actually exist in a 90° angle like that. Only they do.
   
   
4. Chinatown may just be the most awesome place ever.
   
   
5. Al Capone was a "Scatman" whilst imprisoned.
   
   
6. You may tell yourself that you paid $10 for 5 hand-drawn mini-zines, thus empowering and fueling the independent publishing/zine culture while at the same time gathering vital materials for your thesis. But really you just gave $10 to a drug addict.
   
   
7. Olafur Eliasson is a pretty amazing artist.
   
   
8. Lightly grilled polenta served over fresh beans stewed with local heirloom tomatoes and covered with lightly sauteed broccoli rabe is so fucking good you will want to lick your plate clean, but will have to refrain from doing so because the restaurant you're in is sort of fancy.
   
   
9. Taking dessert (vegan chocolate layer cake) "to go" and saving it for the following morning so you can eat it for breakfast while watching Doctor Who is brilliant. You will want to do it every morning for the rest of your life. David Tennant + geek glasses + Chocolate cake = LOVE
   
   
10. Russell T. Davies is so going to get it if he ever meets us. The end of season two just slayed us.
    
    
11. Stephanie is so so awesome (But really, I knew that before I went to San Fran).