Catawampus

Sabretooth and Wolverine arrive in Chicago looking like this:

But soon we were happy again.

Isn’t that a great picture of Gavan? So anyway, we decide to get a drink since all our cool, employed friends aren’t out if work yet. The location of the hour is a fabulously dimly lit bar called “Gilt” where we get beers and a scrumdiddlyumptious appetizer of toasted bread with roasted garlic, balsamic, and olive oil. Maybe a pinch of salt? Dash of pepper? Definitely to die for! (For which to die? Hm… How would one say that without ending in a preposition… Damn you, colloquial expressionism!)

Next, we met up with Gavan’s high school buddy Scott who is super smart and just BOUGHT this amazing flat in River North. After another beer and some brownies later (thanks to his medschool gf) we headed towards Improv Olympic, a comedy club with a free show on Wednesdays! Apparently it’s super famous for in-fame-inating celebs like

The show was not as funny as SNL, but combined with alcohol and a near fatal snorter behind me, the evening was all in all a success. More beer afterwards, during which Scott said, “You guys should write a blog about all the beer you drink across the way on your trip.” I told you he was super smart.

After a notsobad night on Scott’s air mattress (and a comfortable night in his free indoor private parking spot for Rudy) we awoke to meet April at Yolk for breakfast. Crepes, pancakes, English muffins, blueberries, blackberries, omelets, strawberries, oranges, potatoes, and lots o’ coffee later, we headed out to paint the town!

First stop, Mars! Or more specifically, a gallery of super sketch (not like primitive drawing, either) and pop art. Kinda cool but über small. Better was the next Catawampus studio, where the guy let us in even though he was closed. Actually, looking back, he wasn’t that cool either BUT the name was so WUNDERBAR it made up for the stupid droopy flowers of death and anatomically incorrect skeletal collages of antipretty. Anyway. The building it was in was this neat dilapidated artist overrun something or other… Dormitory? With showers in the bathrooms, doors to nowhere, and creepy widows painting people’s faces for crack money. Yup. That last one was hyperbole.

I spent lots of money buying books at a SICK bookstore: Hemingway collection, Ogden Nash, Freud, Guns Germs and Steel, and the Jon Krakaur book about when God told these two Mormon guys to kill a mom and her baby. Hallelujah! Praise The Lord! WAIT WTF#%^*£¥••••

We got around with a 5.75$ day pass for unlimited metro and bus use. Not bad.

Of course, no trip to Chicago is complete without a visit to the Bean.

And so, dear universe, we bid a big fair well to Lalapalooza Land, and hello ifuckinhatethatstretchbetweenchicagoandcolorado!!!!!! Woohooooo!!! Good thing we have Rdio- one of many free trial music apps about to run out on my new iPhone. Took full advantage tonight, though- for my 5 hours of driving, I chose to sing every word of Les Mis (twice), Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific, West Side Story, and the Last Five Years. God bless Gavan for not punching me whilst driving. He’s doin pretty good handling the last two hours behind the wheel til we hit Omaha, NE. Gavan’s got some family there who’re expecting us hopefully before our guesstimated 2AM but we shall see! Rockin it to Tom Petty. Focker out.