countdown: 3 days

eek! three days until chicago. i've been all sorts of geeked out and spastic about it, leading to me getting very little done in the way of actually getting ready for my trip. today at work i plan on making yet another list of things i want to bring, things i need to pick up from my house, places i want to go, etc. (i will probably invest in one of those little pop-up maps, just so i can always figure out where i am. i love those things.) so far, here is my list of absolutes:

• myopic books. sharyn clued me into this, and after checking out the website, i can hardly wait to get there. before i go, however, i'm going to need to make another list, this one of all the books i'm looking for. going into a place like that unarmed is a bit dangerous. you never know what i'd wander out of there with!
• rotofugi. another sharyn pick! i can never resist the urge to buy fancy toys in a new town. when my sister lived in alameda, we would go into san fransisco just to hit kid robot.
• vienna beef factory store. OH MY GOD. not only am i going to eat delicious, all beef hot dogs, but i'm totally going to buy a poster of them as well. i wll hang that poster over my bed, so when i sleep at night, i'll have sweet, beefy dreams. yeah, that sounds dirty. do i care? NO.
• occult bookstore. as much for me as for the boychild, who is all about the mysteries of the occult. i bought him a copy of the necronomicon the other week, with a stern warning that he is not to summon any old ones or demons while he lives at home. he rolled his eyes at me, but i think he understood.
• cocktails. with chicago peeps as well as with D. preferably, with all of you at once.
  

honestly, all i want to do is spend some time with my man, out of town, in our funky little hotel, and if we get to see the sights, then i'm stoked. i hear the museum of science and industry is amazing, and i want to see that, as well as some chicago art. i want to wander around, and take pictures, and hopefully get a little sun. i get into town early on friday, and am there until tuesday! that's such a long time to get out of town. whoo! any more suggestions? i'm open to them.

(insert song about chicago here)

ahh, travel. is there anything i love more than airports and buses and new places to have cocktails? in a word, no. before pop passed away, D and i were planning on going to chicago; him for a big food conference and show, and me just to tag along and get some quality hotel make-out time logged. we had been looking at tickets and hotels, but you know, stuff happened. for a while i thought i shouldn't go, that the expense was too much, and that given what's going on with my family i should stick to home. the more i thought about it, though, the more i realized a little trip might do me good. D got a scholarship to the show through his college, meaning his hotel and flight are paid for. he's splitting the cost of my ticket and hotel with me, which helps me out a lot. the show is about a month away, and so of course ticket and hotel prices were higher than the last time we looked, but overall, not by much. not enough to keep me home! we got my ticket and hotel booked last night, and i am now officially going to chicago for five days and four nights.

i'm pretty excited. more than that, really. it was hard for me to sleep last night, thinking about the stuff i want to see and do, the food i want to eat, the parks and museums and bars i want to visit. i have some cousins in town as well, and a good friend that lives in milwaukie, so i'll get to do some catching up as well. does anyone have any suggestions for things to do and see? bars you love? i'm all about doing typical tourist-y things, but i'm also all for doing more random stuff, seeing other parts of the city. i hear the weather there this time of year is spotty; it can be warm one day and cold and rainy the next, but i'm hoping we get a little more sun than not, and that part of my trip can spent lazing outside a coffeeshop, reading and drinking and watching people. i'm also excited for cable tv and hotel living. i'm telling you, if i could, i would totally live in a hotel. nothing pleases me more than tiny bath towels that someone else washes, random comforters, views of parking lots and miniature coffee pots with single serving packets of coffee to go along with them. plastic wrapped water glasses, remote controls velcroed to tvs, bibles in bedside tables. i can practically smell the disinfectant! like i said before, ahh, travel.