chicago: cavashawn, state & madison, and more

oh chicago. are you ever going to give me even so much as a chance to like you? first it was negative temperatures. this time, pouring rain and three inches of snow. lovely. someday, you shall redeem yourself. someday soon i hope.

i left st. louis saturday morning, drove the five hours on I-55, and arrived in chicago in the same pouring rain. what a drive, let me tell you. michele, amanda and i freshened up a bit and headed over to mojoe's for what was one of the best nights i've had in a long time. a great ska band opened, cavashawn rocked my face off next, and then state & madison. i think all three of us were done standing in a sea of smelly people by that time, so we ventured our way back to the merch/coffee shop area. [danger is my middle name and the frantic were up next.] the chicago scene never ceases to amaze me; i bet we stood around and talked to various important people, friends and band members for a good three hours. [and i'm pretty sure benton stole a solid hour for himself.] oh the gossip. it was certainly entertaining. we had dinner at steak n shake after the show with the cavashawn boys, jesse's adorable girlfriend chelsea, and michele's mom who is absolutely amazing and ended up picking up the tab for everyone. yes, everyone. she's amazing. we crashed hard that night, i got no sleep thanks to much snoring, and we were up at eight thirty the next morning to take full advantage of free continental breakfast. i was on my way back to columbia in the snow by nine thirty, not at all happy about the six or so hours ahead of me. but it went quicker than i thought, and taking some backroads proved to be a lot faster and far prettier than any highway i could have chosen. during those six hours, i fell madly in love with jack's mannequin again, had some profound thoughts that i have since forgotten, and ate an entire bag of chex mix. riveting, i know.

so now i'm back at school, trying to resist the inevitable groove of stressed out college life. i'm already behind, how does this happen? but i'm trying to keep my head up and continually remind myself of the mere six weeks left, and then finals. that's it. i can do it. ludo and my birthday this weekend, easter the next, cavashawn in chicago again three weeks after that, then finals, jack's mannequin and i'm out of here. i'm entirely capable.