so i went to chicago last weekend (thurs-mon). took amtrak. no crashing fortunately but my train was delayed by 1h 40min on the way home but it was still faster than greyhound would've been. lol and it was wAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAy better than driving. so glad i didn't drive. so much more relaxing that way. not sure if i'll ever drive to chicago again. LOL

anyway, it was tons o' fun. met up with one of my friends down there....who was down from alaska (yes, the state) for a wedding.... i met her in NZ. small world. did shopping (browsing, actually lol), lots of coffee, went to the lounge in the hancock a couple times, sears tower, bahai house of worship (beautiful!!...albeit f'in freeeeeezing that day!)

i stayed in a hostel that was in a great location (just a few blocks from the art institute and a block off off michigan ave)...but my room was also literally 30 feet from the L. sounded like a plane landing everytime it went by. fortunately it doesn't operate at the odd hours of the night.

on sat night i went out with a group from the hostel to dinner (v.v.v. good vietnamese restaurant) and to a blues club. a very odd moment at the restaurant, tho. i was near the window. at one point this small army of 20-something year old guys walked past in snuggies. LMAO! so, of course, the random cute irish guy sitting next to me didn't know what a snuggie was (or about all the parodies and such) so i had to try to explain it. not easy. LOL actually what was even funnier, a few minutes later one of the guys in a snuggie ran back past the window...in the middle of the street...flailing his arms....chasing after a bus!!! it was the funniest thing i've seen in aaaaaaaaaaages. ROTFLMFAO!!! well, later we went to the blues club and for some reason brian dennehy was there...not that i've ever actually seen any of his movies/tv shows. but anyway.... good music.

hmmm...what else...oh, pizza.....mmmmmmmmmmm..... and went to some museums. art institute, contemporary photography and contemporary arts. actually took a free tour at the contemp arts museum. definitely worth it since i know nothing about contemp arts but i like looking at it. lol good to have some sort of explination for it.

well, i think that's about it. did some other restaurants and such but no exciting stories. still loads of fun, tho. :o)