Friday, July 14, 2006

Day Off in Chicago

I was fuckin' steamin' mad by the time we got to Chicago. It was a three-and-a-half hour drive, during which I got not one wink of sleep. The people on this bus are fucking rude morons who have no respect whatsoever for the fact that there are other people on the bus besides themselves. I tossed and turned in my bunk all the way here, trying to fall asleep through their cacophony of alcohol-fueled stupidity.

Not long ago, I'd have rolled out of my bunk and somebody would have gotten a beatdown. Now, I try to get along with everyone. But this is bullshit.

When we got to the hotel, the chick who's in charge of the tour was so completely shitfaced that she lost her luggage before she could even get inside – it was sitting on the sidewalk by the bus door. She was ridiculously drunk and couldn't even form a sentence.

I spent 20 minutes talking to my bus driver, Danny. We both agreed that this had been the most unprofessional, rude, and disrespectful journey that either one of us had ever been on. If I wasn't gonna throw a punch, there wasn't much point in even talking to these dumbasses right then, considering how wasted they were. I'll save that for later.

So, anyway…

Got into bed around 4am, up around 9. Grabbed a shower and spent some time walking around. I've stayed in this neighborhood a couple of times already this year, including one other stay at this hotel, the Swissotel.

I wander over to the Pritzker Pavillion because I could see from my 44th floor window that something was going on there. Turns out that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was holding a free rehearsal, for the also-free show they're doing tonight. So I sat and listened to that for almost an hour and man, that was cool. Beautiful day, nice and cloudy to keep the sun from blazing on ya.

This is our only day off here, so I just chill in the room most of the late afternoon and evening. Dinner catered by Subway, entertainment courtesy of CBS.

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