Chicago

You may have noticed the lack of posts lately. It's partly due to the fact I've been in Chitown for the past few days. It was my first trip to Chicago and I fucking love the place! It's kinda like New York and Philly combined and about 1000% cleaner. Seriously, I didn't see a single piece of trash on the street anywhere.

I got there on Saturday night and slept on a tiny little couch, which was not cool. The next day I woke up and headed to my hotel downtown. I pretty much just roamed the streets on Sunday and eventually ended up at Debonair. Which is the cool place to be apparently.

When I got there the place was filled with NYC kids. The first person I saw was Bronques. Anyway, I hear that at some point Danny Masterson was DJing and played an R. Kelly song, which prompted R. Kelly to stand on his table and sing along. I didn't see Danny and I didn't see R. Kelly, so I can't confirm this actually happened but that's what I heard.

On my way back to the hotel I was on some random deserted street downtown and few people were stumbling towards me. When they got closer I realized it was Franco from Shindig and High Class Elite. He was totally gone, as was most everyone in Chicago on Lollapalooza weekend. Except for me, I was a little drunk but hardly gone.

The next day I was in meetings pretty much all day and then hit some tapas joint which had some of the best grub I've ever had. And the next day I headed back to NYC, after missing my plane.

Other cool things about Chicago:

• Mass Transit - I've always had a grudge with the MTA but now that I know how great Chicago has it I really hate those fuckers. The entire time I was there I only had to wait more then 5 minutes for a train once (of course it was while I was headed to the airport).
• Cleanliness - So much cleaner then any city I've ever been to.
• Beautiful - Even the business-y part of town that looks like Midtown has tons of green space. Most of the buildings have huge outdoor plazas and courtyards open to the public. These are great if you're on foot because you can cut through the middle of the block.
• Booze - You can go to a grocery store and buy liquor, beer, and wine! All in one place. Why the fuck is this not the case everywhere?
• Food - Nothing I ate there sucked. I had the best hot dog I've ever tasted in my life. Then I looked up the place and found out it's only considered average by Chicago standards.
• Beach - They have a beach and the biggest lake I've ever seen. Not like we have Coney Island where you have to spend 2 hours on a train either. It's right there by the downtown area.

So yeah, I fucking dig Chicago. However some things are a little off putting. The hipsters there take themselves way more seriously then ours do. At least our hipsters realize at least a little that they're kinda goofy. Chicago hipsters also seem to love house music type stuff more then indie.

The other thing that sucks is the heat. It's not the same as ours, it's like when you open the oven and that cloud of heat surrounds you. And I'm not sure what elevation the city is at but it seems like the sun is way more intense there.

The airport sucks ass! Trying to find your way from the terminal to the subway is damn near impossible. The signs suck, if you follow them you will end up lost.

Otherwise I suggest you get on a plane and go to Chicago. Plane tickets from NYC are pretty cheap, like $250 round trip.