After an hour or so, Howard joined us and we hung out for another drink – catching up about our jobs and lives, and talking a bit about the old neighborhood. I passed a Target on my way down Division, which was very new to me. I heard that Happy Village might not be long for this world.
In the same way that the number 13 is considered unlucky in the west, the number 4 is considered unlucky for the Chinese. The pronunciation of the word four (sei in Cantonese), sounds phonetically very similar to the word death.
Justin’s in town this week, and we met up after work at Rainbo. We also met up with Chris C, someone I haven’t seen in a long, long while. The three of us sat in a booth, and got caught up a little bit.
Stayed at work a bit late yesterday, as I was meeting up with Justin around 7PM. He’s a digital nomad these days, working off a West Coast time zone, and so he had meetings a little later into the day than the rest of us.
I’ve walked along this stretch a few times, many years ago. But this was back when there weren’t any steps up to the trail… and you had to find a low spot (like the one near Paulina and Bloomingdale Ave) and bring your own steps.
The apartment is located right on Milwaukee, right near where Myopic is located. I remember saying that this apartment is the kind of place I would have loved to have had, when I first moved here 16 years ago… if I had only gotten my shit together.
Xoco, which I didn’t realize was situated at the old location for holiday (where I once got to use a breathalyzer). It was a tequila bar after that, and maybe a few other things in the following years. It’s been a long time since I’ve been back to the neighborhood.
Justin, after many years of being a Chicagoan, is packing up and starting a new chapter in Detroit. On hearing this news, Alex and Linda decided to trek down for the weekend, to hang out during Justin’s last few days in town.
‘[Rhinehart] imagines that, in the future, “we’ll see a separation between our meals for utility and function, and our meals for experience and socialization.” Soylent isn’t coming for our Sunday potlucks. It’s coming for our frozen quesadillas.’
Closeup angel shot. I think this belongs to the same artist who has the Shit Fountain set up nearby.
On Saturday, Justin was kind enough to wake up early and accompany me to the house for a bit of work in the kitchen. We got to the house around 11AM (Bob had already been here since 7AM), and after a brief tour… settled in to some dusty work. While demo-ing the walls was pretty fast, moving to the ceiling…
I’d never been here before, but on walking in… the place just smells fantstic. As you would expect, I guess, being in a room full of exotic and fragrant spices. Everywhere the eye looked, there were baskets and countertops and shelves, filled with all manner of spices in containers, both large and small. If there was a bit of surface area, there was some kind of spice resting on it.
Met up after work with Justin and Meagan for a few drinks at Elephant and Castle. Originally, we were planning on having get-togethers like this where we’d work on our projects at a bar with WiFi – kind of a chance to just hang out, code, or chat, as we saw fit.
Several folks gathered together at the old B&B on Friday, to help celebrate Meagan’s newest job: working for Barack Obama and Organizing for Action.
Hung out with Justin tonight, and met up for a few drinks post-work over at Small Bar. Hard to believe that it’s my first time here, as it’s a great neighborhood place (and one of those staple watering holes that I just never got around to visiting). Had a nice time settling into the place, and chatting… getting caught up.