Day three in Chicago.

I've just found a great new band: Die Antwoord. With the new music came inspiration to write more about Chicago. To help, I'm listening to their CD $0$ right now.

Day three:

Cam and I woke up with a slight hunger in our bellies that can only be filled by one thing: free continental breakfast. We went to the lobby, where we assumed it would be and found a small mound of chocolate covered donuts. There was also some hot water available, but neither of us got any, because we figured we'd get our fill of hot water in the shower... at least I was hoping to. We went back to the room and enjoyed our quaint little breakfast in our luxurious room.

Cam had taken a shower the night before, but I had passed, because the only ingredient provided, besides the shower, was conditioner. It's hard to feel clean with only conditioner. Cam and I scoured the halls for a maid and found a nice looking lady and asked her for shampoo and soap. The conversation went something like this:

Cam: "excuse me miss, do you have any shampoo?" (to ensure understandability, he gave the international shampoo sign language, by running his hands through his hair)

Maid: "shaampo? uh... oh yea. here." (she had dug through a bucket on her cleaning cart and handed Cam three tubes of conditioner)

Cam: "no, not conditioner, shampoo."

Maid: "yes, shaampo."

Cam: "no, this is conditioner. do you have shampoo?" (signing again, just in case it wasn't caught the first time)

Maid: "shaampo?" (a moment of silent thought and some more digging in the cart) "shaampo."

Cam: "yes! thank you!" (timidly he asked) "do you have any soap?"

Maid: (a little more digging in the cart) "soap."

Cam: "yes, thank you."

Davis: "thank you."

Maid: "yes."

There was a moment when Cam and I both thought that there was no shampoo in the hotel. I showered and enjoyed some hot water and some freezing water, fluctuating every ten seconds or so.

We bought a couple subway passes and headed down town. I listened to Sufjan Steven's album: Come on Feel the Illinois. It was cool. We didn't have any plans, so we walked around a lot. We ate lunch at some place (Cam knows the name, I'll put it in here later) and I had a chicken parmigiana sandwich and we had a little pizza. We bought had a couple Chicago beers. I think they we called 212. After lunch we walked around, bought some post cards and went to Sear's Tower. Which is called Willis Tower. No one told us about the change, and we were slightly confused. There was a $16 charge to ride the elevator to the top, but if you're in the military they let you in for free. So kind. At the top, which wasn't actually the top, it was probably a few floors down from the top, we looked out at the city. They had clear boxes that jutted out from the side of the building that you can stand in and look down and see the street. It was neat. Actually, I think we bought the postcards up there.

After getting high, we went back to the street level and walked around even more. We found a really nice bar called Billy Goat. One of the post card's that we bought was intended for our friend Bess who likes and has goats, so we figured that would be an appropriate place to write her card. I also wrote one to my mom. The best part of the the Billy Goat bar? This monologue by a fellow down the bar from us:

"At the bar, no bartender, watching Jeopardy, at three o' clock in the afternoon."

If I ever use that monologue in a play, I'm gonna add: "My wife thinks I'm at work, but I lost my job five weeks ago."

After some more walking we found ourselves at another bar: Lake and Union Grill and tap. When you first walk in it looks as if you've just enter a nice southern style diner. We were asked what we would like, and we said we just wanted some beers. We were then escorted to the back, where the bar was. The atmosphere was much different back there. Cam immediately sat down at the bar, but I had to go to the other side of the bar to get another stool. On my journey to get a stool, I noticed that the ladies in the bar were wearing their undergarments and fishnet coverings. I then saw that a couple people were intensely sucking face at the actual bar. I turn to the left and a lady was sitting on a guys lap. I quickly made my way back to where Cam was sitting, and could tell that he didn't realize quite yet how classy the establishment was. I told him to look around, and he just laughed. We drank a couple beers, were offered a dance, declined, and headed out. The bartender was nice. She asked if we had been there before and we said no. She said that it can freak people out a little bit at first, but she assured us the ladies are only working on Tuesdays and Thursdays. What a relief that we had come on a Tuesday.

We ate some pizza or something, and then went and saw Me Without You. They were playing with Buried Beds and Murder by Death. It was a very good show. It was cool to see MWY somewhere besides Atlanta. I also had a chance to see them in Springfield, Missouri when I was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood.

We couldn't get any good directions to the subway, so after the show we started walking the way we thought we should go, and it worked out well. If I missed anything that Cam remembers, I'll add it later.