Greetings from Chicago

Contrary to what I told most people of my vacation plans, I spent nearly the entire long-weekend in Chicago. Got to Madison on Thursday night then left Madison Friday afternoon, so I think my time in Madison came in somewhere between 20 and 24 hours. Not nearly enough time to enjoy Madison, but it was enough to help me realize that Madison's only great between the ages of 18 and 22.

So Chicago's pretty cool. I'm staying with sister, and as we're both the artsy types, we've done a fair number of artsy things. I think we covered every category of art, actually. Visual, literary, performance, and music. And architecture if you count driving past, being in, and admiring buildings. And culinary if you count eating.

Dave and I drove in on Friday evening and met Beth. We had dinner at El Taco Rodeo, a fastish foodish taco place that's slower than Taco Bell or Chipotle, but faster than Don Pablo's or something. The name still confuses me because it's like saying the Taco Wild Horse-Riding Bonanza. Or, since Spanish reverses the adjective/noun order, it's like the Wild Horse-Riding Bonanza-flavored taco. I prefer the latter.

On Saturday, Jenna (my sister) and I went to the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) and saw a contemporary photographer (Wolfgang Tillmans)'s exhibition. It was very good and very thought-provoking. There were many times where I felt like the art, and that was weird. Also, it seems like he doesn't do anything that's supposed to be liked or disliked. It all just is, which is a fine thing for art, but not that interesting to talk about on my irreverent blog. My favorite was one of people blowing bubbles in a park.

I also met Jenna's psychology grad student buddies, all of whom are cool. Most interesting, though, is their fascination with text messaging. They don't really "communicate" via text, though, as you and I would communicate in real life. For instance, they sometimes just send their canned messages like, "The meeting is canceled," or "I'm busy." And yesterday, Jenna and Sarah were texting 80s lyrics back and forth. And a lot of this happens while they're in the same room or sitting right next to each other. This is excellent, and I think we should all start doing it. If we can't afford text messages, we should all carry notecards and pens.

Sunday (yesterday) we went to see a play and a concert. The play was entitled The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and it was by one of my favorite Irish playwrights, Martin McDonagh. It's your typical slice-of-life story, but then there are a few crazies, and someone gets murdered. Perfect recipe for engaging drama. The concert was Bloc Party, headliners of the Intonation Music Festival. We only went for Bloc Party (though we also saw Dead Prez's whole set...and it was not good), and twenty buckaroos for that one band is money well spent. They played some new stuff too, which is good, because I probably won't buy their new album.

Now today I am at Jenna's apartment alone while she is at school. I will soon go get a calzone, and soon after that will meet her at Millenium Park, which I know nothing about (other than that it wasn't finished until four years after the millenium mark). And then a Cubs game. Fun? Why, sure!

And tomorrow I head back to Minneapolis, for which I now have a greater appreciation. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I definitely don't buy that crap, but Minneapolis is still pretty good, I guess.