Recap

On my last trip to Chicago, I learned that I could survive taking a trip by myself. This time, I learned that I could actually enjoy it. I flew out on Friday afternoon and didn't reach Chicago until after 10PM. I had decided to stay at the Chicago hostel instead of a hotel to save some cash, and I have to say, I was totally impressed with the hostel amenities. Here's the scoop: you pay approximately $30 a night. The room is dorm-style with five sets of bunk beds and a shared bathroom down the hall. There is a lounge with pool tables, ping pong, wifi internet and a tv lounge with dvd player where you can watch a movie. There's a shared kitchen with dishes, microwaves and community fridges (you have to wash your own dishes when you're done, which was fine). Breakfast is free every morning, including coffee, cereal, muffins, toast, juice, fruit, etc. Also, you get all sorts of discounts at local attractions by showing your hostel key card.

So it was a pretty awesome deal. Sharing a room and bathroom came with the usual inconveniences, but it really wasn't a big deal (there was this one lady in a bed near me who kept screaming 'help! help!' in her sleep, but it was more funny than anything). The whole thing reminded me of living in the dorm in college and honestly, it was kind of fun!

So I got in after 10PM Chicago time on Friday, got to the hostel, checked in, and I was starving! Luckily I had arranged to meet two of my online friends, also COFRA members, also staying at the hostel, and they had some leftover deep dish pizza. Oh hell yeah! Even reheated, I could see what all the fuss was about. The cheese was about half an inch thick....awesome. So I ate, we chatted a bit, then we all went to bed so we could get up bright and early for the first day of the think tank.

Saturday morning we all had breakfast at the hostel and made our way around the corner to the Harold Washington Library Center. The turnout for this third think tank was a little underwhelming which was frustrating, but we still had a good group and got some good brainstorming done and had a great workshop. (There's also the question of putting the cart before the horse, because we are just in the beginning stages right now, just now working on getting nonprofit status, figuring out how our organization is going to work, what sorts of things we are going to do. Maybe it's better that we do all this planning with a small, dedicated group of individuals and push to add more members when we have more of a structure in place. Of course I didn't think of this on Saturday. On Saturday I was just bummed that I had come all the way to Chicago and local folks who said they were going to show up just didn't.)

We all had dinner together Saturday night at Flat Top Grill, a build your own stir-fry kind of place. I got a zipcar to drive us from the hostel to the restaurant, so that was fun (though if I'm being honest it's a little expensive for everyday use). During dinner, one of the other folks came up with the idea of going to a karaoke place where you can rent your own room and don't have to sing in front of anybody but the folks you came with, which turned out to be a super fun time. We sang a whole bunch of stuff, including Neil Diamond, Usher, Outkast, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Toni Braxton, etc. Incredible, the variety of song lyrics that decide to take up residence in your memory whether you like it or not. We went back to the hostel, exhausted, and crashed for the night.

I was on my own for Sunday morning because the library didn't open until 1pm so we weren't going to meet until then. I had read about Lou Mitchell's on a bulletin board at the hostel so I googled it for more info, then I got on a bus and took myself out to breakfast. There was a huge line outside the restaurant but it moved fairly quickly and soon I was seated with a menu. I ordered two scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, and a pancake. When my breakfast arrived it was much more food than I expected (there's no way that was just two eggs) so sadly, I couldn't finish it all. It was all great though, especially the pancake. I would go back just for a stack of those. I didn't even think about whether or not they take credit cards until the end of the meal (they don't, cash only) but luckily they had an ATM in the lobby so I didn't have to wash dishes. :)

I took the bus back to the library and waited outside with the rest of COFRA for it to open, then we got back down to business. We had another workshop and then more planning, and we got some things good and nailed down for next time. Despite the low turnout, both days were very effective and I feel much more positive than I did before the trip about our future as an organization.

When we were done, I had the whole evening to myself so I decided to do dinner and a movie. I walked over to the thai restaurant next to the Travelodge I had stayed at last time and had some really incredible red curry beef. Afterwards, I hopped on a bus again and went to the local multiplex where I saw Get Smart (not bad, though there were some pretty gratuitous fat jokes). On my ride back to the hostel, a gentleman on the bus attempted to 'get to know me better' so apparently it's not just a Portland thing. I am some kind of hot commodity to the bus riders of the world. Interesting. Also kind of creepy. Anyway, I got back to the hostel without any further incident and once I was finally able to turn my brain off, I went to sleep.

My flight back was fairly uneventful. I got here around 11 Monday morning, exhausted. It took me a while to get from the airport to home since I hadn't arranged anyone to pick me up and just took Trimet. Yeah, I don't think I'll do that again. I was sooo tired and felt yucky from the plan and all I wanted was to get home so I could take a nap. Anyway, I finally got there with just enough time to nap a little then take a shower before I had to get on the bus to go to my first graphic design class. I had to get on the bus at 4:03PM to get to a 5:30Pm class. That is messed up.

Class was pretty straightforward, though there were more than a few moments where I felt a panicky "what the hell am I doing here" kind of feeling. I think that's probably pretty normal...probably not a premonition about how much I'm going to suck in the graphic design field....probably.

we'll see.

:)

xo!