But you can't take the country out of the mouse. As of today, I have lived in Chicago for one year. This city may not be my favorite place to live, but it's been a fantastic year.
Negatives
The root of my dislike is that it's just too darn crowded. It takes too long to get anywhere, and when you do arrive odds are it's going to be packed. These are usually small annoyances, but they bug me. Above all, my biggest concern with living in Chicago these days is that I am definately having to fight fib-ification. People here are rude, pushy and impatient, and I can see myself moving in that direction. When Maria and I visit Wisconsin, buy something in a Walgreens and are both delighted by how the two cashiers we spoke to said "thank you", you know our standards of dropped. I try hard to maintain my country mouse blood, and keep the cuntry mouse ways out of my brain, but I know I've become more short-tempered and aggresive since moving here. I don't like that. The bottom line, though, is that these things don't really bother me day-to-day. It's only when we do something a step outside of our normal routine (like see a movie, or leave town) that I'm bothered. Come to think of it, the fact that leaving or returning to Chicago is almost always a pain in the ass is probably part of what makes other places seem so nice in comparison.
Positives
I really like our apartment, our neighborhood and my job. Andersonville has been like a tiny bubble of comfort in a city that can otherwise make me nervous to see Maria out alone at night. Our stip of Clark St. feels like a place I'll come back to years from now and perhaps feel at home. My job continues to be a good fit, and I'm still impressed by the life that fell into place in just two weeks after graduation. Despite my issues with the city, my friends here more than make up for it. Maria is amazing, and to this day I feel a pang of delight when I leave town and remember that I'm only leaving her for a weekend, rather than only seeing her for one. All of our new friends here are great people (note that they're students from out of the city), and having some old Madison people around (Pat, Glen, Laura starting this weekend) makes things much easier. Chicago may not be my ideal home town, but there are too many good things and good people here to complain.
And so, to honor the past year of friends and traffic jams, I present to you:
The Top Ten Chicago Moments Thus Far
Honorable Mention: The day Pat and I moved in, featuring the nightmare of trying to return a 24' moving truck in Chicago when you don't know where the place is and you just have to drive around until you find it. At the end of the night, too tired to move, Pat and I were sitting at the kitchen table, and Maria arrived and brought us KFC. That dinner was one of the best anyone has ever tasted.
10. The day I bought my 360. Yes, I'm a huge dork, and yes I spent hundreds of dollars on a videogame, but carrying that thing home and driving out to Best Buy that night to buy games was sweet. Also getting to take the morning off the day it came out to (unsuccessfully) attempt to hunt one down was also very fun. That whole week was set to really nice autumn/winter weather, which makes it all the better when I look back on it.
9. The day Pat and I got lawn chairs. We were living together, with no furniture except for our beds and various dressers/tables. I had bought my television the week before we moved in, so that and the TV stand arrived, but we had no where to sit. The den-in-the-kitchen (as Pat was living in what is now the den) was in dire need of some sort of laid back seating. We also didn't have internet access yet, so while the plan of buying some sort of cheap chairs at Target sounded good, we didn't know where one was. The solution? Just get in the car and drive, man. We spent a couple of hours driving around the north side of Chicago, and we were just giving up when through the trees we happened upon a Target/Best Buy combo! (The one I now regularlly visit, actually.) We bought two plastic deck chairs and a few other things, and marched out to the two door neon and nearly broke them CRAMMING them in the front seat. I'm still not sure how we managed that, but they got in and out somehow, and we had our tv in the middle of the kitchen with a refridgerator within arms reach. At the time this day was infuriating, but in retrospect the whole thing was geat.
8. Dinners with Maria's parents. This isn't really one event, but every time the Parrotts come to town and we go out to eat it's quite the occassion. I never go to fancy restaraunts except with the Parrotts, and it's always a great time. When else am I going to sip wine and eat tiny steaks? Never, that's when. It's nice to get out and see what the big deal is once in a while. Those tiny steaks are damn tasty, I'll tell ya.
7. The night we all simultaneously admitted to watching Gilmore Girls. We were just starting to get sort of tight with our new arts institute friends, but admitting to watching Gilmore Girls is always a big step; one you can't take back, one you can't do in increments; it's all or nothing. I was shocked - SHOCKED, I say - when I finally mentioned my love of the show and was met by relieved agreement. This marked the beginning of true friendship with members of the Wine Night.
6. The Basketball brunch when Ellery tripped on the fence. The ball went over the temporary fence that was around the court when there was still snow on the ground, and Ellery was the first one man enough to try the leap (we'd certianly all thought about it and chickened out in the past). He lept like a bird, pulling his legs well up over the rungs, actually coming straight towards me (I had already run around the fence), but the toe of his shoe betrayed him and he clipped the tip of the fence and landed squarely on his side. This marked the necessary moment among guys where somebody does something awesome and slightly painful and funny that lets everybody share a laugh and stop worrying about looking cool around each other. It also gave us something to talk about later, "Oh man, you should have been here when Ellery jumped the fence!" Looking back, I believe this was the moment that Basketball Brunch really congealed and became an institution.
5. Euchre nights at McGee's. Our new Euchre night would do well to even come close to matching the original. Packed in with college kids, loud music, dollar burgers and cheap beer, three actuaries and I would hole ourselves up in a corner booth next to the Golden Tee machine and play cards until it got dark. Debates over the low-trump lead after the first couple of hands, watching Cardinals games on the little LCD tv above every table, and walking out just in time to see the mid-week party kids arriving. This was the anchor of the week dunring last summer.
4. Whenever we first got Art of Pizza. I don't remember when or where I was first introduced to this miracle of culinary superpowers, but whenever it took place, it changed my life forever.
3. The Basketball brunch when we beat the other pretty decent guys in 4 on 4. Ted, Ben, Pat and myself took down three random guys and our friend Brian in a full-court basketball game in one of the early Basketball Brunches. It was amazing; there were come backs, rallies, blocked shots, and shutting down loud-mouth a-holes. I was never so proud of us, and it was talked about for weeks afterwards.
2. The first Fire game. Hooooly balls, my friends. When Pat and I saw those first fireworks go up, or the first drum beat start, it was like a circus that just kept adding more and more elephants. This was the only time I can remember really appreciating that I live in a big city. This is the type of entertainment and culture that you don't get in smaller towns, and crazed fans are the type of culture I can get behind. As I write this, I suddenly remember that The Fire's new stadium opens June 25th. We'll have to attend a home game or two, and fly our Fire colors proudly as they battle to a 1-1 tie.
1. By far, my favorite moment in Chicago was the fall afternoon Maria and I spent in the soccer park by the lake. It was a perfect fall Sunday, sunny and crisp, we went down to the lake and stumbled across a huge number of kid's soccer games. We watched families and dogs and kids chasing balls for the better part of an afternoon, and I completely forgot the stress and headaches of the city. If we stood on the west side of the fields and looked out towards the lake one could almost forget that there were a couple million people standing behind you. It felt familiar and safe, and as silly as it may be, I don't think I was ever happier in Chicago than when I was with Maria enjoying a beautiful day watching kids run and forgetting all about the city itself.
I'm also happy to announce the savior of summer TV has arrived. Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia stormed onto the scene last night with Danny Devito in tow. I was somewhat worried his addition (coupled with the weird Friends parody promos) signaled a major change to the show and would be a bad thing, but he's great, the show is great, and he actually settles into the Sunny feel quite well. From the opening scene of the premier I was rewinding things to watch them again and laugh and laugh and laugh. Unforatunately my reflexes got the better of me and I erased it; otherwise repeat viewings would be in order. So set those TiVOs, people; summer TV may be worth watching afterall.
