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From: Dave
To: Birthday Friends
Date: Saturday - May 5, 2004 10:38 PM
Subject: grief
Well this isn't any fun. I double checked the Grant
Park Minigolf info online this afternoon and it turns
out they pushed back their opening day by a week. The
chumps. So this means there won't be any minigolfing
tomorrow after all. But I thank you for your support
and enthusiasm. Perhaps someday the world will be a
better place and my birthday dreams
won't rain down on me like so much black confetti. Black like my broken heart.
I'll give you each a call tomorrow to make sure you've
received the bad news.
yours in tears,
Dave
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I got out of the house today, thankfully. I dropped off some videos at Blockbuster, and pointed myself south from there,
sticking to the areas just west of the Expressway. Seeing as yesterday was a rather cool evening, I threw on a sweater
before heading outside. BIG mistake. I got a few blocks, and started to really sweat it out a bit. Still - the sun felt
nice on my face, and being outside felt right.
Not sure what this was for, but I enjoyed how much information was communicated through an arrow and a balloon.
Shortly after I passed this church, I rounded a corner where some kids were playing. This small Hispanic
kid looks up and we catch each other's eyes. I wave to him and I expect him to say "Hi" or run away
or something. To my surprise, he asks me "Ni hau?" This kid asked me how I was doing, in Mandarin Chinese!
I was pretty taken aback, and tried to talk to him a bit more (in English). I told him his Chinese was
really good, and he sort of ran off, a bit embarassed, and a bit happy.
This is outside a Montessori school. I once did a paper on Montessori, when I was an undergraduate, for
a "Sociology of Education" class. I checked out a lot of books from the library. I had them in a pile
on my bedroom floor for a long time. I didn't crack open a book until the night before, and wrote the entire paper that night. I got a C- on it. Somehow.
According to my research, Montessori is either a small city-state in Albania, or some sort of very pungent
cheese. 
I had passed by a church where what looked like a wedding had let out. I ended up walking in front of
a small group of younger kids, and we kept the same path for a good number of blocks. At one point, I
looked over and there was this small boy who was sort of shadowing me, to my left.
I ended up spotting this statuette of Mary on a tree, and stopped to take a photo. Wouldn't you know it -
the people who had been walking with me lived at this house. If they thought it odd that I just happened
to stop in front of their home to take pictures... they didn't let on.
After this, I meandered over to Filter and
sat there for a few hours. Read some poems and tried to scribble out some notes for a new poem. It's
been the first time I've tried to write something new, so that was a good sign (despite the fact that
I stared at a blank page for at least an hour plus).
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Spotted this right below the Blue Line, right at the Damen stop.
Wandering around the Wicker Park Area.
Odd. Here's another Postal Mail sticker, with writing on it.
And another.
And another. Now I'm starting to get intrigued.
This I thought, was rather funny. I figured some disgruntled boyfriend/girlfriend did this.
But I was wrong! The "Loony" tags tie back in to the Postal Mail stickers somehow.
Loony sure does get around. 
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I followed the trail of Postal Mail stickers all the way down Damen, until I hit Augusta. There, I turned
and headed towards Justin's place (a bunch of us were meeting up to watch a movie). I look up at a nearby
stoplight, and guess what I find?
You are beautiful. Lots of 'em. I'm guessing someone got stickers
at the last show.
They're everywhere!
This is pretty close to Justin's place, just a few houses away.
When I arrive, we hang out a bit and go over the
Found book that Justin got last week. After
a bit, Dave arrives and the three of us
head out to pick up a movie and some beer.
I found yet *another* one, way up on a vent outside of
Inner Town Pub
And another one, a few houses down the street (keep in mind this is pretty dark by now).
We grab a few DVD's and decide we're going to watch Spellbound.
Picking up some beer, Dave was looking at all the various
snack items on display and remarked how he had never eaten a Zinger.
Well, seeing as how his birthday plans have continually been delayed for going on three weeks now, I decided
to splurge and get him a fancy gift. Raspberry Zingers. The pic (above) is Dave looking over the
ingredients. For some reason, I still remember that Zingers include Guar Gum.
And yes. We all agree. It should be spelled Gwar Gum.
Spotted one more, on Division and Damen.
We got some tacos, hung out in Justin's backyard for a while and Kristen ended up joining us. The movie
was great, and a very relaxing evening overall (Juliet ended up joining us a bit later). Before I
knew it, midnight had rolled around and I had spent almost 12 hours just roaming around the surrounding
area. Threw on my backpack, waved goodbye to everyone hanging/sitting on Justin's porch, and walked home. |
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