I start the day waking up around 9 and waste enough time on the internet to feel lazy, so I start writing, but then it becomes noon-time and I get hungry, so I venture to Grocery Outlet for a jug of cranberry juice and some batteries. Not exactly lunch. I play some videogames and smoke some pot and stay lazy for the afternoon until Jenny wakes up in South Korea and we have plans to watch "Like Crazy" together. It takes a couple tries to get the movie to synch, and then it doesn't, so we watch it separately, but together, and are equally befuddled by the abrupt ending. I see it a tad more positively than Jenny, but I think part of that has to do with loving the movie because I've loved it since the trailer was released. As the movie's happening, Grandma calls to leave a message saying she wants to go to New York for Thanksgiving and asks if I want to go too (and to look for tickets). Fuck yes I want to go to New York. I call her back after the movie and get some details (she's thinking Tuesday through Saturday). Tickets are about 650 per person. She's paying. Anyway, I look at tickets for like half-a-second before Brendan calls and wants to know if I want to help christen his new pipe he bought in San Fran, so I hop on my bike and head over immediately. He lives in a 14-person commune on I Street and I meet his landlord, Chris, and this couple, Nick & Jessie, before smoking on the back porch. Brendan offers me a partially-frozen beer and we play a round of Foosball before leaving for dinner. Just to be clear, I consider myself friends with Brendan, but everyone else I meet is a total stranger. I wanted Kelly to go so I'd have another friend, but she was busy, so I tried to put aside my shy tendencies and really connect with people as an individual. It worked out alright. I walked with Brendan to Chicago Fire to meet Nadire and Keilan, but they didn't have reservations and we couldn't wait an hour for a table. Instead we wound up at Pete's on the corner near Luigi's (where the show was) and we met up with Ivan and Chris for pizza and beer. Here, Nadire and Keilan gave me this big book about Istanbul and so I spent most of the dinner looking through the pictures and asking Nadire (who was raised there) about the city and what to expect. She, like everyone I've talked to about Istanbul, seems to love the place. Keilan has also been there and was excited to share his American view of the experience. I can't wait to go. The place looks fucking gorgeous. So then we finish dinner and head over to Luigi's. Here, still getting to know everyone, things get a little uncomfortable when everyone seems to know everyone else and I only sort-of know Brendan. But I get a beer and I join a circle and start chatting with this German guy, Flo, and conversation slowly expands to more people and then Brendan wants to go listen to one of the opening bands, so I head into the other room with him. Here, I meet his friend Sydney, this college girl who explains the differences between the four stages of Aquarius and confesses her troubled past that led her to a recent reawakening. I give her the best advice a 24-year-old can give, then she leaves to find her roommates and I make a trip to the bathroom. Afterward, I'm back by the stage and another opening band plays a few songs while I catch up with Emily, who bumps into me with same-old-same-old news and a smile that lets me know she's happy. I haven't seen her since I worked at Old Soul. I head back to the bar to get one more beer and then end up hanging out with Nadire, Chris and Julie again. Here I find out more about Julie and we end up talking about television shows. The group breaks when the headliner, Y La Bamba, starts playing. I do my usual head-bob-and-sway routine and the band is really great and I would've bought the vinyl if I had more cash. Great show. Afterward, some folks were going to Badlands for an after-party, but I wasn't interested in the plan and decided to head home instead. The end.
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