However, I was pretty quickly swooned. Chicago takes you in, flashes you w/it’s pizzaz and shine and before you know what’s black or white you’ve paid two months rent and are wondering what the hell just happened. I already did a blog post when I first came here, so I will only get into this for those just joining us now. I only planned to go steady with the city for a bit, Cover Riot Fest for the Monarch Daily, break a few hearts and be out before the month of September. A good house w/new friends and a nice spot to make mine caused a stay that ended up being a little over two months long. For a hot minute I thought of staying for good, but alas, the road calls. I can travel right now, so why on earth would I want to stay in one place? In the sage words of Stefan Brown, “I could stay, but I’m traveling right now.”

At 8-9 residents and about 5k sq-ft of space to dance around, Warren Blvd did me well. I had the upstairs living room as a bedroom and think I did alright with the place.

So to tell the end of this story right at the beginning, I have left, am currently on a greyhound from Boston to NYC. And as a side note I am really hungry and slowly getting grumpier. What factor is really scary here is I don’t have anyone to bitch at. Hmmmmmm.

Six weeks ago I thought I was staying. Two weeks ago I thought let’s leave at the start of the December. Then after a talk with old-ATX-roomie Ryan Simmons, I decided to leave as soon as possible. I told him I wanted to get into NYC the same I did into Chicago. Rather, wanted to live there for more than just a stint and see what the city was all about. Go live in Chicago for 8 weeks and bike everywhere you go. It’s a great way to see what a city is all about. I want this for NYC too. I went once in college and know I would never want to live there, waaaaaaaaaaay too claustrophobic. But, 600 million-ish people live there so some cool stuff must must be around ya?

So off I am. The Steevers, my mother’s sister’s family, were kind enough to allow me to keep Nancy (my fox of a ’01 Corolla) in their garage in Medfield, a suburb of sorts to Boston so I won’t have to worry about her vulnerability in the streets of NYC. I left Chicago around 11pm on a Monday night, bound for Cleveland so I could see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then off on my final leg towards Medfield, about 16 hours of driving all together.

Also in Cleveland is my old UF peep, Gloria, who was in carillon studio with me back in the day. She is, an absolute angel. Someday I will win some metaphorical lottery and get to marry a girl like that. Purely, lovely. In serious contention for the prettiest girl I’ve ever met. Inward and outward. She’s also working towards a Ph.D in the middle of med school, and getting the entire thing funded w/a living stipend for herself. Try reading that sentence again and not feeling like your life isn’t going anywhere. The R&R Hall of Fame was ok. Really it’s just a bunch of junk but there are some movies worth sitting through. The Stones are about to be 50 as a band (!) and the entire top area is devoted to them, and there was some great vintage footage of them chilling out and being cool in the 60s. Though, I’m pretty into all that old music and still thought it was pretty eh. Though I has spent the previous night driving from Chicago to Cleveland and was spending the day escaping to my car for periodical naps. As a result, I was in a pretty bad mood for most of the day and may be understating the presentation of the R&R Hall of Fame. Though, both guitars below I spent a tween-hood admiring: the white tear-drop Vox belonging to late, but founding rhythm guitarist for the Stones, Brian Jones and the combo electric guitar-electric mandolin as used by Robbie Robertson on and off, but most notably in The Last Waltz, a simply fantastic going-away show for The Band, a must see, really. Right below is a link to the The Weight, from the show mentioned. You can see Robbie with the half-mando right off the bat.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located right on the tip of Lake Eire in Cleveland, OH.

Also in between destinations was Niagara Falls. I had a day to drive from Cleveland to that of Medfield, MA, where I was leaving my car w/a cousin for the break. I didn’t want to get there super late in the night (though when I arrived it was pretty apparent no one would have cared) so I spent no more than an hour at the falls. I don’t think I can type anything better than what these pictures can offer, so we’ll leave it at that. Though, as a small note, it was an interesting perspective to simply gaze across a river and say, “Oh hey, there’s Canada!” The large spire you see just below is a Toronto mainstay. 

That brings you up to what I’m doing now so let’s hop back for a hot minute. Not much to report from the rest of my time in Chicago. I thought I was into this certain lady. Things (shockingly) didn’t really materialize and I wish her and her puppies the best. I had TONS of fun hanging out with cousin Lucy on many an occasion and shout out to her quite-cool roomies as well, Isaac and Michaeljit. I also exercised more in Chicago than I had in the past…I dunno, six years combined? As stated in these parts before, Stefan is an absolute athlete and it rubbed off. I wake up and  do crunches and push-ups, go running at least three times and a week and bike around tons. Go me!

The final hurrah was a little going away thing I hosted at Warren Blvd. It got pretty wild and in every good way. There were stuffed peppers, craft beer, a spades tourney and everyone learned how to roll cigarettes. I usually dislike blogs with all words or all pictures but there were tons of great images that night so I am going to lay them all on you.

Love all the great friends I made in that slightly-dumpy-but-shining-in-many-other-ways city.

Ethan, Banke, Julie, Brendon, Sam, Isaac and of course Stefan: Thanks for the laughs, you have a lifetime friend and keep the wings spread wide.

Outside of a restaurant in Cleveland, pretty funny I thought….

More to come…