ful house

Thre humns, two pets, a ful house.

Tiffany came home with Jordan and his dog today. It shal sufice to say that it has ben a very, very weird day.

Wet, wet . . .

. . . wet.

'Twas a wet day for George and I. We had two adventurs today, one of them sucesful.

First, (havng woken up late) we went out seekng parkng stikrs for our cars. This took us very west on Lawrence av, to anothr neibrhood we'd nevr ben to and don't hav any paticulr intrest in returnng to. We endurd a long, smely and crampd bus ride on Lawrence, and almost didn't make it ther in time (th place closed at 5 and we got ther at about 4:56). But lo and behold, we got stikrs. We restd in a Dunkin' Donuts (with a confusing bathroom with a buzr), then patheticly wandrd around in th rain lookng for th entrance to th Blu Line El station. (We had decided to take th trains home.) George found it, and off we went: Blu Line to downtown, Brown Line to Irving Park -- a nice ride.

Our second mision: laundry. Th first place we tryd: not a laundromat. Th second place: closing in 30 minuts. Th third: alredy closed. We walkd home grumpy and rain-soakd. Laundry tomoro, we decided.

We had an exlnt piza from a place next door cald Papa Romeo's. Then we cleand house in prepration for Tiffany comng home with her son and her dog. George is out now byng beer (I decided to stay dry this time, altho only in th litrl sense), and soon we'l be drinkng and playng bakgamn, tryng not to think about th caos that wil soon befal this quiet apartmnt.

anothr day

George and I slept in, and then he comensed preprations for his big job hunt tomoro, wich kept him at th computr for many an our lookng up cofee shops in Chicago. I ate, drew, and playd mandolin. It felt good to finaly start getng reaquaintd with th instrument. It got frustratng, tho, and aftr a wile, I decided to go for a walk, wich took me out to Lake Michigan. I wachd th crashng waves crash. George and I hedd out to his frends' apartmnt later, wher we met a new persn (Melissa), and ate delicius frend-cookd food. Now we'r bak, and he's messng with th cat using a laser pointr and grinng quite a bit.

Inner Town Pub OM 1

George and I met up with som of his frends (cool folks, Joey and Sheryl, good to meet) who had just moved out here themselvs, and we chekd out a bar in Wicker Park cald Inner Town Pub. We realy liked th atmosfere and such, and we intend to return, but we felt less than exited about th opn mic. It consistd of lots and lots of boring, depresng, pointless acustic gitar folk stuf. I was th only persn playng somthing difrent, and, for th most part, that crowd didn't care. Eh. It was fun anyway.

I playd:

.. 25% mor monstr
.. 5 songs of fish
.. 2 Gs

Hotti Biscotti & satrday in jenrl

George and I did stuf today (yestrday, actuly, satrday). Stuf like:

1 .. woke up late (me especialy)
2 .. chekd out a music stor in Lincoln Square & bot strings (he gitar & I mandolin)
3 .. napd
4 .. went west to a very Mexican neibrhood
5 .. met a nice yung womn named Sera in Hotti Biscotti, a bar in said neibrhood
6 .. chatd away with th bartendr in said bar about music (George especialy)
7 .. got lost and confused on th trains
8 .. got home tired and cranky at 4 in th mornng (ate PBJ sandwichs. I plan to very soon grab a glass of milk. Bedtime, I feel it a comn'.)

a house on N Wood st

George and I hav found a house! It seems a good house; we like it. We wil liv (wen septembr coms) at 822 N Wood st, Apt 1F, Chicago, IL 60622. Send us grapes! But don't send them until septembr 1, because if u do, som gy named Matt wil get them, and not us. He seems like a nice gy, and perhaps he wud enjoy th grapes, but don't send him grapes. Send George and I grapes. Not Matt.

We playd bakgamn for a wile this aftrnoon, then saild off to go syn a lese. (Our land lady cald our refrences, including my mom and George's best frend Chet, and decided we sound ok. She seems nice, a paintr. We realy lukd out.) Lese synd, we wandrd around th Wicker Park area in serch of mor piza. We found a place on Division st cald Metro Pizza and ate a 1/2 pi. We enjoyd. Then we wandrd about for a wile taking note of things in our neibrhood. We considrd going home, but decided to scope out a Chicago bar first. We found an entirely norml sort of place cald Pint on Milwaukee av, and we had drinklys. Nothng noteworthy hapnd here at al, but George and I did talk about music som more. We left, chekd out a recrd store (with lots and lots of good things we can't aford to splurj on: Reckless Records, very awsom), then discovrd we had to pe. We did so at a Jewel-Osco, th locl grocry chain. We busd bak to Tiffany's apt and playd casino and cribaj until a short wile ago, and here I am telng u about it.

At this momnt, we hav no plans for tomoro.

wen in limbo, drink

George and I continu to anxiusly wait to hear bak about th apartmnt we fel in lov with yestrday. Aparently, th land lady cald my mom (who I put down on my rentl aplication as a previus land lady), and at least one of my refrences. She's taking this seriusly. George and I hope for th best.

We did erands for Tiffany today: brot library items to librarys. (Tiffany owes ten dolrs in late fees to th main branch. Th womn at th circulation desk told us to let her no.) We wandrd around in th Lincoln Park neibrhood and downtown, somwat aimlessly, pasng time and seing stuf. At som point, wile hungryly walkng west on N Chicago av, we got a hankrng for piza; but piza parlrs seem odly uncomn in Chicago. We had gotn within fifty feet of th El stop we pland to take home and had just givn up hope of findng piza, wen sudnly, ther it was, a jenuine piza parlr, complete with sneeze gard and frendly Italian-lookng gy. We each tryd th cheese: George one slice and I two. It tasted plesnt, nicely spiced with basl and garlic. I wasn't crazy about th crust, but we considrd it mor or less a good meal, just wat we wantd. It seemd od that we found it th moment we stopd lookng, two doors down from our El stop.

We considrd going out tonyt to an opn mic, but wound up stayng in, playng bakgamn and casino, complainng about Jack White, blabng on about "art" music and "pop" music, eatng fresh popy corn (made with peanut oil and acidently ovr-saltd), and drinkng from a botl of sevn-year-old wine that our frend and formr manajr Meg gave us as a house-warmng presnt. George went to bed (a tired George), and here I go riting pointless details about th day into this here music blog.

O yes, and at som point I talkd to Amy and Beth on th fone, who I'm hoping can visit during their wintr breaks for yule tidings in Chicago.

I gess that sums things up for now. Much lov to al,
Androse th Chicagoan Nim

45 story 11-mile monstr

George and I had a long and exaustng evnng riting a long and exaustng acount of this long and exaustng day of adventur. Read, my frends, about our jurny into th west side of Chicago in serch of th perfect apartmnt.

George and I rote much of this long and exaustng acount. U hav him to thank especialy for entrys 25 and 26, but his obsesiv atention to detail contributed greatly to th wondr that is this entire long and exaustng acount, including this very paragraf, and especialy th last two clauses of this very sentence.

We began in Tiffany's apartmnt in Lakeview, intent on exploring th neibrhoods of Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village. We pakd tasty lunchs. George brot a list of afordabl places he found online, and I brot my map, wich I markd up rathr thoroly thruout th day.

Upon returnng home, I made an anotated map for this blog. U may refer to it as u read. Th map begins and ends with CTA bus rout 9, wich travls Ashland av:



1 .. Th frendly bus driver (he askd us for "action movi" recmendations; George sujestd The Professional and I sujestd Snakes on a Plane. I agreed with him that Hostel wasn't so good.) dropd us off at N Ashland av and W North av, and so our jurny began.

2 .. Aftr going south for a wile for no aparnt reasn, George and I actuly tryd to read our map and decided to go north-west on N Milwaukee av. This wud take us into Wicker Park, one of our areas of intrest.

3 .. Things realy got neat at this intrsection of thre big roads. We returnd to this strech later on. Som things we observd:

.. Bill's Shoes
.. Reckless Records
.. clubs, clothing shops, cafes, a wine bar, a used book store
.. yung "hip-lookng" peple
.. a shirtless bum shaking his chanj-cup (mony-maker?)
.. electric gitar sounds emnatng from a windo abov a clothng stor

4 .. We went south on N Damen av for a bit. We thot we'd take it south for a wile longr, but we chanjd our minds and startd squarely zig-zagng westwardly, startng on W Le Moyne st.

5 .. Went north on N Leavitt st.

6 .. Went west on W North av. (Wy dos North av. travl from east to west and not north to south? George and I hav pondrd this, and concluded (sort of) that a North av slicing thru th south side of a town makes considrbly less sense than a North av crossng thru th north side.)

7 .. Went south on N Claremont av.

8 .. West west on W Le Moyne st.

9 .. Went north on N Western av.

10 .. Went west on W North av. At this point, we observd feelngs of (1) hungr, (2) fatig, and (3) thirst. We had brot sandwichs for a picnic, and pland to sit and eat them in Humboldt Park, thus aleviating problms 1 and 2. Howevr, we hadn't prepared for problm 3, and we began scourng W North av for bevrajs.

11 .. Hooray! We found bevrajs! And, to boot, th helpful Chicagoan clerk gave us frendly advice, upon hearng of th natur of our quest.

Clerk: "O, New Yorkers, lookng for apartmnts, eh? Wel, then, take my frendly advice, New Yorkers! Take a look ryt outside my fine convenient store-typ establishmnt, and u wil find, yes, a syn, and not just any syn, o no, but a syn displayng information about an apartmnt for rent at this very spot! Can u imajin it??"

George: "Cool, thanks, man."

Andrew: "Yes, cool, cool I say! And thank u, kind sir!"

Wel, somthing like that. We weren't sure of th exact quotations, but we did our best to get it down exactly as we herd it.

12 .. We travld one blok south on N Maplewood av, took a peek down th next blok (to note fone numbrs of apts ther), and then continud west on W Le Moyne st.

13 .. Wat a lovly day for a picnic, I say! Wat a horibl park for anything. We wer duly unimpresd with Humboldt Park, but it was nice to sit and nice to eat. And who dosn't lov a lagoon?

14 .. Th next leg of our jurny (noted in purpl, just because), began with a lot of going south on N California av thru a neibrhood of which we wern't very fond. It was disgustngly hot in th sun, and this misrabl street ofrd litl shade, so aftr a bit we took refuje on W Thomas st, hedng east.

15 .. Went south on N Washtenaw st.

16 .. Went east on W Augusta blvd.

17 .. Took a brief excursion two bloks south on N Campbell av, then returnd to W Augusta. We wer chekng out places we'd noted on Craigslist.

18 .. Went south on N Western av.

19 .. Went east on W Rice st, lookng for an apartmnt we'd seen listd. It lookd like an awful place to liv, so we crosd it off our list.

20 .. Chekd somthing out a blok up on N Oakley av, also not very inspiring.

21 .. Now in th hart of Ukrainian Village, we walkd west, then east on W Chicago av for quite som time, noting that it was a relativly cool and hapnng place that smeld a lot like clean laundry. Then I became thirsty again. (I don't think it was th smel of clean laundry that brot th thirst about, but it myt be somthing to look into). So we slid into a cute and neat Ukrainian bakery. I bot anothr botl of watr, in this case, a cheap and delicius import that cost me 55 cents. Th Ukrainian (George thot perhaps they wer Polish because ther was a Polish daily newspaper availbl. Neithr of us ar geograficly talentd enuf to be sure of this.) girls workng ther wer cute. We noted this. George said th cashir gave me a "look". Th meanng behind th look remains unverifyd.

22 .. On N Wood st, we came across an apartmnt that George had orijnaly discovrd on craigslist that seemd too good to be tru. We cald imediatly and left a mesaj. This is th only place we cald. Th price was lo, th location was great, th house lookd real cute on th outside, and we cudn't figur out wat was rong with it. We stil havn't figurd it out.

23 .. We continud going north on N Wood st for a wile, and loopd around W Crystal st, N Hermitage av, W Ellen st, a nice neibrhood with nice houses.

24 .. Went north-west on N Wicker Park av, north-east on N Wolcott av, and north-west on N Milwaukee (our only jenuin zig-zag), returnng for mor adventur to a street we had previusly enjoyd (and/or enjoyd previusly. George and I cudn't decide wich).

25 .. We restd in a silvr bildng (with a silvr ceilng) wich seemd to be a cafe...George was impresd by the music this bildng emitd, as it remindd him of th music wich the bildng in wich he was employd as a barista bak in New York also emitd.

It impresd him paticulrly that th music playd here included such songs as those included on th albm cald "Entertainment" by th band cald "Gang of Four," ovr wich he had so obsesd during th week prior to our curnt adventur.

I enjoyd a multi-citrus smoothy (four dolrs and thirty cents), George a larj cup of cofee (one dolr and ninety cents).

On th way out, we noted th name of th cafe: Filter.

26 .. Movng on aftr a delytful rest, we encountrd a youth, maybe 18 or 19 years old, whom som myt describe as a "gutr-punk", blond, wearng a Metallica "Master of Puppets" t-shirt. He dond an acustic, poorly tuned gitar.. He ofrd us a performance. For one dolr, he cud play Slayer, naming at least thre songs that he new...At first we refused, but th lyt was red at North av and Damen av, and George aparently has a soft spot in his hart for such kids, havng worn such t-shirts and playd such songs and befrendd such folk himself many many years ago....so George askd if said youth cud play th song cald "South of Heaven"...as th yung man made sevrl il-advised atempts at th song befor stumblng into somthing completely incorect, George told th story of his eith grade talent sho, in wich he and his frends wer to play said Slayer song, but wer discurajd by a teachr, who sujestd they myt play "What I Like About You" by The Romantics, wich they did. Th gitar-slingr wondrd aloud, "Wow, how do you go from Slayer to that?!"...George gave th kid a dolr and gave him encurajng words as th lyt turnd green and we continud on our way north on Damen av.

27 .. Went east on W Cortland st.

28 .. Went south on N Winchester av.

29 .. Went east on W Wabansia av.

30 .. Went north on N Wolcott av. (stil too expensiv presumably, and, indeed, not for rent anyway).

31 .. Went east on W Cortland av.

32 .. Around Cortland and Hermitage we receivd a welcom cal from Lane (Lain? We puzl ovr th spelng of her name. Wich is prety ironic, wen u think about it.) She owns th apartmnt we droold ovr on N Wood st (se # 22). She wantd to sho us th apartmnt! We wantd her to sho it to us! So we aranjd a sho-ing for 5:45, forty-five minuts from that very momnt. George and I delytd to travl southward (on N Hermitage av).

33 .. Went east on W North av.

34 .. Went south on N Paulina st. George gave directions to sombody lost and lookng for Starbucks (not that George wud evr go to Starbucks!). George is oficialy a Chicagoan now.

35 .. Mor square zig-zags take us east on W Julian st.

37 .. (Yes, I no, I skipd th numbr 36 on th map. I am a fool.) Went south on N Wood st and east on W Beach av.

38 .. Went south on N Paulina st, stopng to chek out th adorabl N Dean st, wich sliced between Beach and Paulina.

39 .. Returnd briefly to N Milwaukee av befor hedng south-west on on a curvy part of N Paulina st.

40 .. We crosd Division for th third and final time on foot. This was a neat street, but we nevr actuly spent any time chekng it out today. Anothr time, I gess. We continud south on N Hermitage av.

41 .. With one blok to go and no moment to spare, we turnd onto W Pearson st and finaly onto N Wood st, wher we met Lane (Lain?) and "se" our first Chicago aparmnt.

42 .. Th apartmnt seemd wondrful. We had no complaints. We wer realy thrild about it, actuly, and fild out aplications. Th landlady was quite nice, th inside plesnt and bryt, th outside wel-kept and cheerful, and George and I had no idea wy th rent was so lo. I gess it's because th bedrooms wer rathr tiny, but we decided we didn't care about that. Anyway, Lane (Lain?) said she'd cal us bak by Friday, and in th meantime, we'r keepng our fingrs crosd. Lov us, Lane (Lain?), lov us!

43 .. So, satisfyd, we imediatly agreed to go home. Home, in this case, being Tiffany's apartmnt, wher we'r stayng for th week. We saw th neibrhood difrently, thinkng that it cud soon be our neibrhood. (north on N Wood st, east on W Walton st.)

44 .. Went north on N Ashland av to th bus stop.

45 .. As George and I sat restng our feet and waitng in th bus sheltr, a pik-up truk puld up drivn by a persn we thot to be a "blond bomshel". Was this our bus? George joked. But it was not. Th womn walkd from her car to th Chinese restrant next to th sheltr and askd if we'd evr eatn ther. She raved. Mostly about th food. I utrd som sentence with too many words in it thru th plastic wal as she walkd away. Wen she came bak out, she lamentd that th restrant was closed on Christmas. We ofrd words of sympathy, and aftr she went on about it for a bit and thankd us for humorng her, George heroicly chanjd th subject to our potential move to th area. We agreed that th restrant in question wud be worth exploring in th futur, and at about that moment, th actul bus came to take us away. George encurajd her to enjoy her dinr, wich we suspect she did. Th bus took us bak to Tiffany's blok (way too north for this map), and we almost imediatly began riting this long and exaustng acount.

soon to th Ukraine

Tiffany startd on her jurny to Vermont this mornng (to return in a week with a 9-year-old and a Corgy), and soon, George and I begin our first neibrhood-scoping adventur. We'r to hop on a bus and take a strol thru Ukrainian Village, a place with som cheap apartmnts advrtised on craigslist. He pakd som Mexican leftovrs, and I a tuna sandwich. (I did obligatory tuna-sharing with Vega, Tiffany's kity.) He looks quite redy, al bakpakd up and such. (He's wearng his cool brown hat as wel. Me: "George, I like yr hat." He: "Thanks. I like yr not-hat." Etc.) So off!

CHICAGO (chi chi chi cago cago . . .)

In a wee caravan of two litl cars, George Fero and I did arive in Chicago, Illinois. Thru Pennsylvania and Ohio and Indiana, our weels did spin. We stopd thrice for gas/cofee/candy, etc. and somtime this mornng around 1:30 AM Centrl Time Tiffany let us into her new apartmnt in Lakeview.

We enjoyd th drive. George led. Th sunset in Ohio fild us with good feelngs. We made good time.

Today, with Tiffany and her visitng frend Bridget, we hopd on th El and made a trip to th Museum of Contemporary Art. (We got som lame cofee on th way. At this moment, George prepares som GOOD cofee in th kichn, and I anticipate exitedly. He brot thre pounds of Daily Grind Kenyan AA from Troy to feed his hapy adiction. I wil partake.) Enjoyd art. We feel somwat exaustd and beat, but in good spirits. Chicago acepts us into its cluchs.

Th plan for th week (Tiffany wil leve tomoro for Vermont, wher she'l pik up Jordan, her son, and Sparky, her dog. George and I remain here using her place as a base of oprations.), involvs George and I APARTMNT HUNTNG and JOB HUNTNG. Also FUN HUNTNG, I shud think. Th soonr we find a place and get our things into it, th hapyr I'l be. Evrything I took to Chicago to liv with remains in my car untl we hav a pad to put them in.

A hot day, but plesnt. Th sun cheers me.

a Nimly farewel to Troy, NY

Tomoro, wenevr I manaj to finish pakng, away I wil go, first to Hamburg, NY for a few days, and then onward, to that wich one cals Chicago. Things to do, ther ar many. Then, away, away, away. I do lov Troy, and wil surely miss it. And surely visit.

My futur, watevr sort of futur it is, awaits me ther. Life. I think it good to go. I send my lov to those that stay behind. Do livngs in goodness. I wil miss and not forget.

315-657-6839

th Nim cald Andrew.

Coffee Planet OM 14 / library N&N sho / Grind OM 37

I must do cachngs up with Nimly things that go. I went al about to giv farewels to folks about.


tusday: Coffee Planet
[Nodal Nim]

.. fly this kite
.. hulo, wil u be my Sheep? > wow

{Fun was had. Goodness shared.}


wensday: Troy Public Library
[Nathan & Nim]

.. 25% mor monstr
.. Io [ritn by th good Nathan Stodola]
.. lov song 5

{On this day, Nathan and Nim also did recordngs of those songs listd abov. A mini-CD exists that u can get.}


thursday: th Daily Grind
[Nodal Nim with Dave Shaver on djembe]

.. 5 songs of fish
.. hulo, wil u be my Sheep?

and later .. in my poket

{'Twas th final Nimly Grind thing for som time ahed. I gave out Nathan & Nim diskys. I engajed in hugs, etc. Then I went to se m'f'ing Snakes on a Plane.

Chx of Eden / Chx of Ill / Muddy Cup OM 3

Th YAG sumr semestr finishd, and I feel larjly satisfyd. And since then, I'v enjoyd sleepng in. It turnd out wel. It felt good to do theatr again. I do not hate theatr; in fact, I'd very much like to find ways to do it in futur times in ways that I like. I cud hav actd mor agresivly to inform peple about th shos I was in, but I did not.

I very soon go to Chicago, Illinois. George and I now plan to mov next monday(ish), august 21, so we'l hav som time to find a good place to liv for septembr 1. It feels very weird to sudnly realize that I wil soon leve this place, this Troy, NY. Things I do becom th last things.

Tonyt, Nathan and I playd at th Muddy Cup, posibly for th last time. We had good fun. We did:

.. lov song 5 [premere togethr]
.. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish