I Live In Chicago

My house is a few city blocks away from the border with Evanston. My day job is out by O'Hare, in the township of Des Plaines. My sketch group performs three times as much on the road as we do here. Yesterday, though, I felt like I actually lived in Chicago for the first time in a long time.

My day got started nice and late- I rolled out of bed at noon, hopped on the el, and fought past hordes of Cubs fans to get to i.O. by 1. The office air was rarified for some reason- Wendy's covering for Jill this week, and Mason was in insatiably high spirits. I spent twenty minutes looking for a picture of Harrison Ford with his short-lived moustache (to no avail). Some guy was giving away cigarettes at the el stop, so everyone felt a little bit of that Christmas magic.

I rolled back home at 6, hopped in my car, and drove to the show. We performed in a weird joint, just north and west of the financial district. It was odd coming out of the theatre and there was the Sears Tower, glorious non-factor* that it is. The small crowd was appreciative. Good times.

Then I headed down to the loop to meet up with Kathy Scientist and her lot of friends for drinks at what can only be described as an oasis of mediocrity in a vast desert of excess and overthought. I didn't know I was going to see a band play last night. But I did. The lead singer was the love-child of Shane Portman (appearance) and Stefan Lawrence (dance moves). They even covered my favorite Kinks song ("Victoria"), and did a damn good job with it.

My day ended nice and late, around two AM, with Adaptation lulling me to sleep by three. Maybe it wasn't Ferris Buhler's day off (seeing as I technically worked two jobs), but it felt nice to be immersed in Chicago for once, rather than catching the odd glimpse of it in my rear-view mirror, or thought-checking it as I lay awake in the middle of the night, wondering what the hell I'm doing here.

*- when I moved here, I thought the Tallest Building in America would be a big deal, but as far as I can tell, no one cares about the Sears Tower. It's just as boring as it is tall, they overcharge for their observation deck, and it seems even tourists realize it's as "meh" as skyscrapers can get.