howdy

Just a sec whilst I blow the dust off my blog. And collect my thoughts, filter them, prioritize them, compose them. I'm such a damned procrastinator!

In order of occurrence I've: been sick, went to Chicago, had fun there, came back home and gotten sick again. So logically - Chicago is the fountain of health! Must have been the burgers, beers, steaks, scotches, and lack of sleep. Or possibly, the food at the United Center poisoned all the germs in my body, for as long as I could stomach it.

The reason for Chicago (as told to family members) was because my brother was going there with a few of his friends and we like to party. The real reason for Chicago - my brother got tickets to the Big Ten Conference Men's basketball tournament, which we'd attended a couple years ago and had a heck of a good time. So we tried to repeat the feat. Ten games in 4 days - all in the same seats and the same arena with awful food (ok, the bratwursts were passable, and so was the hagen daz). But the pizza is vile - and this from the city that invented the most amazing deep dish "Chicago style" all its own. The vendors should truly feel ashamed. (My university's team looked pretty bad, barely winning their first game before losing the next day. My brother's team made it to the final game - then lost - so he left disappointed in the end too. But only on the basketball side.)

Things to see & do before, after and between games: rush to the nearest bar and drink bottled beers like we didn't know when we'd get another. Hang out at the ESPN Zone and eat, drink and watch more basketball games. Hang out at various other bars that had good beer selections (you see the pattern?). My brother is from Wisconsin and loves his beer. His friends are the same. So the only real opportunity to something completely different was the night I arrived - by plane a couple hours ahead of my brother - who came by train. By the time he'd gotten his room assigned and walked the couple of blocks to my hotel, it was 11pm and neither of us had eaten dinner. So, we had a beer in the lobby bar while seeking suggestions for late dining.The lobby bar then closed, forcing us into a taxi in search of a steak place I've always liked named Morton's of Chicago. They were closed for the night. But, across the street we saw Tavern on Rush which had been highly recommended by hotel staff. They were still serving dinner, and frankly we had two of the best steaks we'd ever experienced, all while overlooking the nightlife of Chicago and talking about European soccer with the waiters (I wore a Bayern Munich scarf - instantly recognizable to fans of the world's most popular sport).
As we started back out into the street, I spotted a club we'd been to years ago called Jilly's. They specialize in Sinatra song and cocktails, but on that Wednesday night they had some live jazz - no cover charge. Luckily we fit the criteria for "proper attire only" and in we went for a few rounds. Waiting for the whiskey menu, I noticed some very nice single malts that made my mouth water. One of them wasn't even listed on the menu, so I chose it. The bottle had never been opened, and the barmaid wasn't sure what to charge for it, so I just told her it was some "pretty good stuff." The portions were most generous, so we stayed until they closed at 2am. Of course, we inquired where our next stop should be, and were pointed to an Irish pub Dublin's just across the street (open until 4am on Wed, later on weekends). After an undetermined number of pints, my brother was calling friends & relatives on his cell phone to explain how drunk he was. I tried to stop him, but he never listens to me anyway. I did finally maneuver him outside after he got the name of a blond waitress from the bartender, and went over to her trying to get her to talk to whoever was on the other end of the number he dialed. She wasn't so blond as to agree, and before things got out of hand I decided we'd had enough fun for the first night. Hell, we had a game to attend in only 6 hours!

That's more or less how the rest of the nights went. Lateness varied depending on how many sleep-deprived people went off to bed each night. On the last night, I may have just missed making some new friends. Drunk & tired I arrived at my hotel lobby thinking I had time for one quick drink before bed (and my wakeup call in 4 hrs). As I walked in, I noticed 2 youngish and extremely well-dressed women sitting together, apparently waiting for someone. I said "Hi" as I passed them, they answered "Hi" and if I didn't mis-hear, one of them then said to the other in quieter voice "he's cute!." Needless to say, the first thought which entered my head at the time was - well, they must be hookers! (In my own defense I was extremely tipsy, sleep-deprived, and even under the best possible lighting conditions, hot women generally do not find me to be cute. I've researched this repeatedly over several decades now. ) Not long after, the women appeared at the bar, with their "friends" - two of the biggest, well-muscled black men I'd seen outside of pro sports. Dressed in black slacks and tight black t-shirts, they truly commanded all eyes in the room. And the women smiled at me while walking past, but didn't say a word. I was speechless as well. So I wonder what the night would have been like if I'd stopped to talk with them, been "introduced" to their dates, and stayed up the rest of the night. Oh well, I'm too fucking old to ever know

In other news, I've had an annoying ear infection for the past few days and it's driving me insane. All I can hear on the right side is my amplified heartbeat - from the fluid-filled chamber. And every so often enough fluid builds up that it drips out. Ewwwww! I'm not enjoying this one bit. I can't sleep soundly, and I have a lot more sympathy to how babies feel with a similar affliction. I think the bigger the baby, the fussier they get So I went to the doctor today to see if I could get some antibiotics. I get there early, but still don't get seen until well AFTER the appointed time. It turns out that my blood pressure was higher than I've ever seen too - so the doc immediately put me on medication for that. As for the ear, he prescribed something but the pharmacy didn't have exactly the right thing, so they had to okay a replacement with the doc - which took 4 or 5 hours, so now I'm finally home with my pills and ear drops and hoping soon all this annoyance will be a thing of the past.

Sorry. It's been a long day. Missed my nap. Maybe if I put myself to bed with a bottle...?

Edited to add: Next day - I think my sense of balance may be improving. So it's a start. Sad day though. Got a call I've been half-expecting and half-dreading. My best friend's dad died earlier today. He was a wonderful storyteller - best known for teaching his son slightly warped versions of common fairytales, which were then repeated at school to disbelieving students and amused teachers. I'll have to toast him tonight with the best scotch I have.