I'm hanging out on the back balcony of a friend's apartment in Chicago, a lovely spot with plants and sunshine and warmth. The friend is Jason, aka Tiger, who is Lyrica's boyfriend. We'll be here a couple of days exploring the city before we head out on what I consider our "real" road trip, which is to say that I haven't been to those places and we'll be camping out rather than staying on couches. We left Oberlin yesterday. I originally thought we might stay a bit longer, but it just seemed like time to go. Lyrica tells me it gets better the second year out - I loved seeing all those folks, but after being in small town Vermont, it was quite overwhelming to see so many people I knew in one small space. I couldn't bring myself to go to the very crowded bars and parties because they're so claustrophobic. And it's just like after any break there, you've got your two minute shpeil about what you've been doing and what you're about to do that you repeat, with slight variations, to everyone you come across. Despite all of this complaining, I had a great time and was so happy to be back there. A couple of lists:
Sporting Events I Attended/Participated in: 1. USA vs. Venezuala Soccer match 2. Oberlin Alumni Frisbee game (or rather 4 games, all of which were difficult to sub in on!) 3. College Nationals a) Florida vs Wisconsin b) Stanford vs UCLA 4. Which inspired a Run with Josie and Lyrica 5. Disc Golf, both Friday and Sunday nights, although Friday I played very well and Sunday I played like sh*t.
Favorite things to do in Oberlin that I did: 1. Go to the Feve when Karri is bartending 2. Dance at Sam and Gideon's dance party 3. Dance at the steel drum band's illumination performance 4. Play disc 5. Take showers/play freeze out with lots of lovely ladies
Tasty Food consumed: 1. At Millers, a large (3 scoop) ice cream in a waffle cone 2. At the Black River, a short stack of chocolate and raspberry pancakes and a side of hash browns 3. At the Feve, a portabello mushroom sandwich and the insides of someone else's buffalo shistawouk 4. At Agave, a huge burrito 5. On North fields, a barbeque plate with hamburger, hot dog, salad, potato salad, chips and chocolate chip cookies
Things I wanted to do but didn't: 1. Go to the OSCA picnic 2. Go to A-level 3. Visit Jim LaRue in Cleveland and say hi to some of my professors 4. Be awake at Illumination 5. Dance a whole lot more, especially to Naomi's reggae band, whose show I missed.
Places I slept: 1. In Erica's house on one of her three spare matresses 2. In the back seat of Melissa's car parked outside of the Feve while everyone else was inside of the Feve - and then I set off the alarm as I got out of the car... 3. On the way to and from Nationals 4. Amongst the chair set up for commencement in Tappan Square during Illumination 5. In the car ride from Oberlin to Chicago
The weather was hot, the people were hot, and it was good to be there visiting and seeing people walk across that stage.
Plus, a big shout out for Jake, who was awesome about the whole thing, entertaining himself a lot of the time, and making friends with my friends when he joined in the activities.
Ok, back to porch sitting - my new book, A Million Little Pieces, a glass of water, and a square of cookie dough. Yum.