my god was chicago interesting.

I arrive around 9 am, ready to fill the early part with sightseeing and maybe spending some money. I take the train to the Belmont area, a really trendy/punkrock/hippy/artist commune place ; where big business and indie business reside in some sort of strained relationship. I can grab a donut at Dunkin Donuts then go peruse some soul 45's at the independent music store down the street.
You can see equal mixture of folks wearing abercr/expres/gap/diesel/bannana and folks wearing the same leather pants they had been wearing for months with their tattered and torn melvins t shirt on. maybe a few indie rock kids with too tight sweaters with 1/2 inch buttons covering every possible space of their bags . It was purely a sociological moment for me.
Anyways, I walk into this DJ equipment store and buy a set of cheap slipmats I've been meaning to purchase. My precious vinyl shouldn't take the abuse of a stiff rubber slipmat, these felt ones will do perfectly.

I then go to the Belmont Army Navy Surplus, 3 floors of consumer goodness, you will be able to find all the neat overpriced hip indie rock clothes and shoes you could ever want. whats cool is the 3 rd floor has army surplus and some random odds and ends. I added a black and red KISS belt buckle to my collection ( i'll take donations of belt buckles, its my new hobby) and bought a leather wristband for kicks. maybe It'll attract the attention of a cute girl one of these days..hahah

I then go to Evanston, to meet my colleagues for a few meetings of the Asian American kind. these people are great.. Its great to work with such hard working and dedicated people, we will definately make a few strides this year.

after that is over, I discover that Apples in Stereo and Clinic are playing at the metro! and guess who is opening up for those 2 bands, The Standard! (after the standard played in columbia a few weeks ago, Jennifer let them stay at her place, since they were too poor to afford a hotel. anyways we all bond as we listen to the thriller album)
I get in line and realize the show is sold out, i was pretty pissed because all 3 bands are great and I was pretty cold due to a lack of a jacket at 10 at night. just my luck that the standard's van pulls up to unload. I go up to them, talk for a bit and they get me on the guestlist! how cool is that? well, I think its pretty cool.
anyway, 4 hours and quite a few beers later, the show is over. Its about 3 am and I realize I didn't have a place to stay (mixup in my part) so I took the train back to downtown chi town and wandered around till I found a dunkin donuts (i guess they are open 24 hours) I eat my lemon donut and some coffee. i then go to the train station, its about 4am by now, and I realize that the trains are about to start up again. So i wait for a train to take me to the airport at 4:30 am. i get there, change my flight to an 8am and sleep .. I get on my plane and sleep.
I get home to KC and sleep, I wake up and drive to Columbia, and sleep...
wow...what a weekend.. chicago is fun, even better if you stay up 24 + hours...

Ok, onto this week.
I had 2 midterms so far, one I just got out of.. and I think I did quite well. I guess I'll find out next class time if I did well.
One more class to go tonight, then I do some good ol diversity training, then I get to see Koufax, the Burning Brides, and The Anniversary tonight! sweet... nothing like ending a stressful week with some music that truly makes me happy..

well, I hear of a few parties this weekend. anyone game to go? let me know.
wow that rhymed..
see you all later.  ¶ 10/17/2002 01:11:00 PM