Sleepless Hours And Dreamless Nights Are Far Away...

Well, I am back. I can’t exactly describe what I am back from, but I am back.

Wednesday morning, Xan, Rebecca and I departed for Chi-town. They promptly plugged in their mp3 players and fell asleep. It’s cool. I carried on a very entertaining conversation with myself.

We got to the hotel with minimal screw-ups. We sat in the parking lot of the Econolodge in silence for a few minutes before I asked, “Does anyone feel safe staying here?” The dead silence that followed was a pretty clear no. There were hardly any signs indicating that it even was a hotel like establishment. The building looked a little too ‘run-down crack house’ for the white kids. So we were off to find a hotel where we might not get a STD, and one were they didn’t spell Jacuzzi with a ‘k’. Thankfully, since we were in the immediate company of O’Hare, our options were endless. We ended up at a very nice Comfort Inn.

After checking in, we were off on a food finding mission. I called Joe and he pulled up a map (you can view a transcript of the conversation here) and away we went. We drove around Chicago for a couple of hours discovering it our way. Meaning, lost and never actually making it ‘downtown’ but that’s cool. Rebecca lost a part of her soul in traffic, and had to be sedated. She is not a fan of the driver’s down there. Xan and I on the other hand, had a blast. I could not think of a better way to spend my last night with him. It was the night before life goes on, it had to be fun. We were pimping out to ‘music to shoot the white folk by’ and Mexican polka. Giggles and jokes ran wild for a few hours. It was perfect.

After quite a bit of driving, we voted on Chipotle’s for dinner. Did you know that Chipotle’s is in a land that only parallel parkers can get to?? Well, it is. And I am not one of those drivers. After driving around the block 40 times (give or take 35) and getting lost (yes, we got lost going around the block), we finally got there. The food was…eh. Ok, I guess. After dinner it was back to hotel. We had to be up at 5.30, so we had to get some sleep. It was a sad sleep.

Bright and early at 5.30, the alarm went off. The day began with a blaring alarm. That might have been the best part of my entire day. We sat silent on the shuttle. No one uttered a word. Silent tears ran down somber faces.

The check-in at the airline went way too fast. Before I knew what was going on, we were at the security checkpoint. We stood in line with him as long as we possibly could, no one wanting to let go or say good-bye. When the time came, the only thing we had time for was a hug and a quick ‘I love you’, and we had to get out of line. In a small way, I am thankful that we didn’t have more time for a more drawn out good-bye. It was hard enough for me walking arm in arm with him to the security checkpoint. I thought I was ready for it but I just wasn’t. Rebecca and I stood there crying until we couldn’t see him anymore. At that point, the only thing left to do was, get on with life.

Our attempt to catch a cab back to the hotel was an adventure. Our Russian cab driver…spoke VERY broken English and didn’t know where our hotel was despite the fact that I told him the road it was on…and the fact that he had a GPS on the dashboard. $22 later (it’s a 10 mile ride), we were safely back at the hotel. After inhaling some food, we both thought it best to get as far away from Chicago as soon as we could.

Cruising along on the toll way, I am talking to a friend to keep myself from crying (it didn’t work, fyi) and suddenly I noticed that I am in an ‘I-Pass’ lane. So yea, didn’t pay that toll. Wonderful, I ticket seems exactly what I need. Well, turns out you can fill out some extra paperwork and pay up at the next toll. After stopping for some food (and Starbucks, Cinnamon Dolche Latte. SO GOOD), we were back on our way. The trip up until about 70 miles from home, went without incident.

At which point, I started noticing that my car was jerking a bit. So I pulled over. After recently replacing the transmission, I wasn’t going to push it. I called my little brother up, he suggested to just park for awhile and try it again. It didn’t get any better. It was fine at like 40 mph, but anything over that was bad news. So I limped my car into Wausau and after running all over Wausau looking for a mechanic, I ended up at the dealership.

Rebecca and I sat there for a hour. During which time, I fielded about 300 phone calls. Including one from Xan. His plane had arrived safely in sunny California and he was in the arms of the man he loved. I tried not to let him know what was going on here…but that didn’t really work out so well. I tried to keep our conversation light hearted and brief, because well, I didn’t want to bum him out. Well, the mechanic came back and told me that they drove my car for 20 miles and nothing at all happened. That my car was fine, must have been a fluke and sent me on my way. Rock on.

I felt instantly better. Rebecca and I headed to the mall then. A few purchases later, we headed home. 35 minutes later I was calling a tow truck and my roommate to pick us up off the side of the road.

We get to town and before dropping Rebecca off home; we swing by the bank to settle up on room costs. At which point in time, I discover I do not have my purse. More then likely, it’s in my car. My car, that was sitting on the side of the highway unlocked, with the key in the ignition. Great. Amy calmly tells me that it’s no big deal; we will just go to the shop and grab my purse out of the car. And at this very second, the shop calls. The conversation started like this.

“June, we can’t find your car.”

No car means no purse. My purse. Credit cards, debit card, checkbook, iPod (which I would be heartbroken mind you), work keys, roommate’s digital camera…my life is in that purse that is now missing.

After an hour or so of waiting (and a panic attack), I couldn’t stand it any longer. I hijacked Amy’s car and was off to the shop. I pulled in as he was parking the tow truck. My purse was safely on the seat and my car had been located. After some light conversation with the mechanic, who I am really getting to be friendly with, I headed home.

After I had the chance to talk to Xan and re-tell my horror story that was my Thursday, and find out about his first afternoon in California; Amy and her boyfriend drug me to the bowling alley for a few drinks and to talk to Melanie. I wasn’t in the mood to drink, because I had to baby-sit this morning, but I did want to see Melanie. Except it was too busy to actually talk to her. Who goes to the bar on a Thursday night? A LOT of people evidently, so we didn’t really stay that long.

We stopped at McDonalds to get some food before coming home. I hadn’t eaten since like 9:30 a.m. and well, McDonalds was a bad idea. I threw it up at 3 a.m. I blame my nerves. I wanted to sleep on the couch again tonight, but because we had company I was forced to spend the night in my room. I slept on the floor until my ringing cell phone woke me up at 6:30. There was no going back to sleep after that.

So that’s what my Chicago trip shaped up like. I borrowed my roommate’s car for a bit this morning so I could get out of the house…it didn’t help.

Now, I sit and wait for the phone to ring. Waiting for people to call, waiting for the shop to call...

But I might go see Underworld 2 tonight.