I, Grant, You

Ah, big cities! Where fireworks happen and you don't even know why.

So, I'm in Chicargo once again and I could swear they've added floors since I was last here. What a towering, tower-filled place.

I'm sitting across from the giant head as people walk by. I turned down a guy looking to buy soup because I gave the last of my cash to a guy selling me his R&B CD. That was cool because I don't have a lot of black friends, so it felt good to help out my new pal Seven40Seven, but then his two homies wanted me to buy their CDs, too. Had to turn them down also. 

I don't give a shit if you're offended by 'homies'. Relax.
That guy may have just wanted to buy wine. I'm not sure he actually wanted soup.

I'm doing pretty well as the weekend's gay dad, and Grant is still alive after a day and a bit. Fussy, though. He's like royalty, this guy. First he's hot, then he's thirsty, then he wants to be carried, then he wants to walk, then he wants to walk balance-beam along the curb, then he's hungry (again), then he wants to leave 7-Eleven because a drunk man is speaking to him in the middle of the afternoon. Actually, the last one was understandable. I sorta wanted to get out of there myself.

They love those car horns around here. Oh, how they honk.

If one car waits for pedestrians to finish crossing the street (legally, by the way), the vehicle behind will start beeping their horn and then the car behind that will beep and so on.

It's a continuous convoy of first one motorist going, "What the fuck!?" before being joined by the others around them, "Yeah, he's right. What the fuck?! Just run them over!"

Those countdowns that they have at traffic lights? In Chicargo, those are considered fair warning. 

What a racket.

Otherwise it's nice to be back though, among the skyscrapers and their fountains.

My knees are really itchy and I have no idea why.

I'd love to fill you in on our trip, but I guess there hasn't been a whole lot to it so far. I believe I mentioned the scary fellow in the 7-Eleven.

We all got up early today and had some hotel fruit before heading out to get our Lollapalooza tickets. We walked, seemingly inches at a time, to the ticket kiosk before learning that they wouldn't be open for many hours.

So, we went shopping.

I bought some tight, constricting underwear that I can't wait to take off. We found an adorable headband for Grant while he wailed and tried to escape us.

Then it was nap time, which he and I tackled with gusto while Peter tried his best to get drunk. When we woke up we got our wristbands and then we went to the pizza place where they stuff the pizza...in the pizza? Y'know what I mean? The crust is on the outside. Think torte, but it's pizza. It was a tad gross, to be honest. It also took 45 minutes to prepare, during which time we ate an appetizer and ignored each other for a bit.

Grant ate exactly as much food as I did, to the point where I was feeling physically uncomfortable watching him finish his ice cream.

Oh! They're mosquitoes! That's what's making my knees itchy. So much time at home lately that I forgot there are still places where insects survive.

Alright, I'm gonna head back to the hotel, and I'll make sure to avoid eye contact with anyone who looks like they're out of hope or full of it along the way.

Oh, the giant head? I guess it's a sculpture. You know those styrofoam heads they have in stores that you can put hats on (or eyeliner)?

It's like that, but it seems to be about 20 feet tall.

People don't even seem to notice it, that's the fucked up thing. What's a sculptor gotta do? I'm amazed by people who could be so blasé about such an engrossing environment. In Bay Roberts people will talk about an intersection's new stop sign.

Ah, big cities.