sub zero temperatures, day 1.

my nose hair froze while riding today, seriously. it was between -2 and 1 degree today, unseasonably cold i'm told, figures. i met up with coyote for coffee at 1pm (yes. 1pm, weekends have been lazier than usual) and the inside of the door at swim cafe was frosted. we rode up to REI so i could purchase a full baklava and i was almost blown off my bike from the crosswinds. eek. this is some serious next level shit. just getting practice, really.

yesterday i spent more time at west town fixing up my bike. after friday, it was totally necessary. the worst is really the brown slush that is sprayed all over you when a car passes too fast and too close. ugh. i actually appreciated the "wait. you're riding your bike? today? in this?" question i got about six times. but i most appreciated the receptionist at 130 s jefferson who likes making me hot chocolate. matt mcdonald was right all along-the best part about winter is all the hot chocolate you suddenly have a right to drink, and a lot of it. while i had far too much stand by time, it was sort of well timed and i was able to chat with james about our valentine's day race. get ready!



during soccer tonight, i was hit square in the face with a soccer ball. that was bad enough, and then i realized the small cut i had on the right side was where the right arm had straight snapped off.



some of you may remember this stage of mine (and by stage, i may or may not be referring to a period that lasted around 5 months) a year or two ago where i accidentally stepped on my glasses and refused to get new ones until my insurance covered it again at the beginning of the year, instead opting to "fix" them with varying colors of electrical tape to reattach both arms.



i couldn't help be a little dramatic about it, so i think the girl who kicked it felt at fault. incidentally, by the amazing consideration of the other team, they did a small collection and gave me some money toward purchasing some new glasses. i felt really bad, but accepted at their insistence. hopefully i'll be able to have coyote make me some new ones, phew. i'm amazingly thankful for that gesture too, midwest hospitality i suppose.

we also attended augie's holiday sketch comedy act last night at an awesome little venue in pilsen. it was nothing i expected but a whole lot of fun. i need to continue to seek out different plans that vary from bars and hanging out, plus seeing augie do sketch comedy was hilarious.

it seems that more and more people are keeping blogs these days (which at times simply seems to be renaissance of high school livejournal with a more specific focus, and renamed to add more credibility, but who am i to be down on that...) still, i've been keeping up on a sporadic few. i caught this video tonight off hipster nascar:

VIMBY - Macaframa LA Premiere

c'mon dudes. bring it to chicago, i want to see this so bad. it'll probably make me cry seeing sf without seeing it there. still, i can't believe i haven't been able to catch it yet, sheesh.

and the best news of all, for four days next week, allison and i are the proud caretakers of scout, jason's most adorable dog while he is out of town. OPDs to the max, i can't wait.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

last week was quite the busy one--trying to get all the fun in before the holidays. and the many inches of snow. i also discovered the worst thing about cycling in chicago winters. it's not the freezing extremities, the rusty chain or the deep snow that doesn't get plowed. oh no, it's a little something weather.com likes to call "wintry mix"--when the temperature hovers around 30, you get a nice mix of everything you could possibly imagine: snow, sleet, rain, hail, all at once yes. yes. luckily we haven't gotten too many of those days, but there's more coming. wednesday we met up at the clipper for jason's birthday, which had quite a good turn out and i got to see some people i can't for a bit. also got to talk about some more reoccurring plans to get me through the winter months. i'm totally going to need it!

lately we've been complaining about our lack of new music, but chi-mix gear jumped in to save us! we met up at simon's on thursday night to exchange cd with some other kids, each choosing a track to play while we drank and lamented the fact we couldn't light simon's fireplace. everyone ended up leaving kind of early so coyote and chris convinced me to accompany them to bar deville (which was fairly simple, as they bought me drinks and it's about 8 blocks from my house) we all got a few more drinks and when i met up with coyote in the morning for coffee, we discussed our bizzare dreams from the night before. we checked out a few new zine/bookstores down in pilsen--i really like that area and need to get down there more.

FRYday. you heard me. we brought it. cait and jason fried it. kiwis, eggplant, melon, asparagus, bananas, wafer cookies. once we paired with cheap beer cait simply said "welcome to the midwest!" i couldn't have said it better. additionally, they also have two rats and the most amazing dog named scout who jumps on laps and spoons you. spoons you! so jealous. we left to check out the loft show jake and augie were at, but the fried food kicked in to full effect and we left shortly after to our warm beds.

so. the freezing temp and the snow isn't condusive to a lot, but it is good for one thing: holiday parties! i went to ira's annual holiday party on saturday night, including party-wide whiskey shots on the hour, decorations, holiday garb (ben wore a tie!) and a snack table. nate was spinning records and made me and ben really strong manhattans. everyone was super friendly and i even met a duo of acrobats. amazing.

sunday was more soccer--at which we lost again but got some new players, scored a few goals and still got our own private booth at the beer bistro. chris also told me he had crazy dreams after going to deville! we deduced the beer was to blame. crazy brooklyn ale. i'm going back for more.

monday dawned clear and sunny--which in my experience means good, warm days. here, no atmosphere means it's going to be bitterly cold and brutal. so i spent it drinking lots of coffee, cooking and buying more shoes, vhs and warm clothes from village discount. once christina got home, we headed out to goldstar for chris dlits photo exhibit. $2 pints and free popcorn along with stories of frozen eyelashes and nostrils freezing shut made for good times. shortly after, we headed over to sprints at the cobra. they tried to give augie a bucket anticipating his imminent vomiting--so naturally, he put it on his head.


tuesday was the real snow day--we got about 3 inches of snow and it was totally nuts out. we decided to stay in for vhs movies and dinner. all my co-workers think i'm totally nuts "you're from california and you're going to ride your bike in this?!?" i totally would have thought all chicagoans would be more accustomed to the weather, but each seems to deal with it totally differently--and are still freaked out by it just as much as i am. i do enjoy christmas carols much more this year though, with actual snow on the ground and christmas so imminent. we're still figuring out what we're doing to celebrate this year, so far from home. that's about it for now. hope everyone's happy, safe and warm!

winter is here to stay

saturday night was a windy city soul night up at heart of gold. i devirginized my chicago bus ridership, i hadn't even realized the stop was so close to my apartment. the djing was fun though and lots of good dancing with claire and molly. we stayed until they started turning lights on and not so discreetly encouraging people to exit. luckily, augie drove us home after. we tried to convince him that pizza was a good idea, but it seems most pizza places aren't still open at 3am. so it goes.

i also received many a phone call/text after the super market street sweep. ah, while i wish i could have been there, i definitely loved just hearing all about it. i fucking love the sf bike community, everyone's a winner with that race.

sunday was the last of the chi-cross series, and for once, was actually held in chicago proper. we headed out to montrose, but i some how ended up spending much more time in the cuttin' cruiser that outside. this 15 degree weather makes feet and fingers cold, real quick, especially when opening a cold-ish beverage on the bus and then venturing out. you find yourself quickly regretting that decision. anyhow, emily, matt, ruby, andrew, and many others showed up-a good time was had drinking cider, heckling, and cheering for all those way more hardcore than i. jake, chris and i wrapped it up before the end to get something warm at atomix before heading home.

my body has suddenly decided to revolt again me. last night i spent two hours at a clinic before i was finally diagnosed with tonsillitis, only after tests for strep and mono since the nurse initially said "oo honey. those are some of the biggest tonsils i've ever seen. how're you still breathing?" as for my knees, the doctor also told me the pain is most likely due to this, a really common issue in women involved in activities that rapidly build thigh muscles, ha. at least, although painful, no long term damage will be accrued by continuing to ride on it. ibprofen party. also, since the freezer isn't working, the peas have been going outside. outside, they more successfully make an ice pack than in my freezer, amazing.

today was some pretty fantastic weather. and by fantastic, i mean...rain on and off until 3pm-ish, when it got cold enough for the rain to turn into driving ice and then slowly into actual snow. brutal. i'm most scared of the pedestrians, i'm totally going to get an eye poked out from an umbrella.

time to get the dryer load and rest up, awesome.

i keep telling myself i'll be updating with some sort of regularity, but so it goes.

monday was the first day where snow really stuck to the ground. we only got a couple inches, but it was a total trip working in it. monday night was also gold IRO sprints at the cobra lounge, a lovely 10 minute walk from our house. it, of course began late giving the many, many attendees ample time to sufficiently get rowdy and take the sprints less than seriously. i had a lot of fun, an while the walk home on icy ground was a bit difficult, i'm certainly looking forward to the next two sessions on the 15th and the 22nd.
chris dilts took a ton of awesome photos that i'm going to co-opt:



(linked to his set from the night. good times)

tuesday, wednesday and thursday were busy busy at work, and i proceeded to totally overlook my slipping seatpost as a minor annoyance instead of realizing it was the reason my knees were beginning to hurt, real bad. so thursday i called it in early, and took friday off. friday, it was also 17 degrees out. sheesh. i'm a little worried, keep my healthy knee in your thoughts so i can work and provide for myself come monday.

tuesday night we traveled up north for another awesome dinner/watch the office party at andrew's house. that show simply rules. despite tempting invites for ice skating on wednesday night, i took it easy and fell asleep watching league of extraordinary gentleman. thursday night, jake drove (!my knee hurts, remember) me down to soul veg, an awesome all veggie place on the south side. afterwards, we checked out doc films, a small volunteer run theater on university of chicago campus. an older warhol film, imitation of christ was playing, and while it was super bizarre, it was still a lot of fun. i wish that theater wasn't so far south though, they have a really great schedule of movies and i've been falling off watching different/good movies without mike rec and mike a/video nasties keeping it interesting. netflix, i'll have to begin you again soon!
after napping through plans to meet at the handlebar, my knee kept me home. so jake, augie, claire came over as allison returned with simon, and ruby to all hang out for a while. it was a nice interruption to the hours of seinfeld i've been happily, but a little disgustingly been passing the time with.

we tried to take advantage of byob at flying saucer this morning and got admonished for bringing in orange juice with us, and additionally, there was a $1/person corkage fee, lame. awesomely tasty brunch though, yum.

a myriad of winter plans are in motion: chi-mixgear should be beginning on thursday in addition to tenative sunday brunch plans, some unscheduled idea of chili + 80s movies night, and hopefully a movie night. winter's coming on in full swing now, so hopefully i can stay occupied with good people to help it pass. more, but i think this comes with the irregularity of updates.

OH YES. and i am planning to be back in sf the weekend of february 14th. plans are in motion for valentine's day alleycat round two. all you sf kids better come, race, and visit with me. this is far away, make plans now.

i have never seen so many rollie suitcases in the loop. today was absurd-rush hour began around 2:30pm with everyone leaving for the thanksgiving weekend. it's a bit unsettling to realize this is the first time i've not headed back to thousand oaks for this specific holiday weekend. i received a text from pudge saying the group was getting together tonight and that we should come by. oops, i'm totally over 3,000 miles away. weird. but, the weirdness is largely mitigated by a number of other friends still being around-morningish brunch plans + a potentially amazing orphan thanksgiving filled with vegan goodies at ruby's. yum.

and since we're in chicago, the weather talk is a necessity. it's still really nice-it's bizarre how you adapt and i have truly been thinking that sunny 40 degree weather is utterly fantastic. a few flurries, but not even many rain days. my seasonless childhood leaves me totally dumbfounded as to the fact that, yes! that is snow. and it is coming out of the sky, now. but i'm sure the novelty will wear off. but all in all, chicago has been doing a great job of easing us in.



this weekend was the cranksgiving race. it a fairly traditional alleycat where the riders visit grocery stores and purchase an item from a list at each one that will, in the end, be donated to a local organization involved in food drives, etc. in all, its a great cause and usually a whole lot of fun. this one was no exception. allison, lara, and i all rode together and just had a blast. had the inevitable "i'm stuck in this line and the woman in front just pulled out coupons, shit" experience, but it's all part of why this race is so great. the after party happened at adam's garage, home of the cuttin' cruiser, a big art/warehouse space. super awesome although i think i need to begin keeping chris and his whiskey wielding ways an arms distance away at these events. a lot of good people though, good hangouts.

ben vc was gracious enough to drive allison and i all over north chicago to garage sales, etc. so we could better furnish our apartment on saturday. we found some really nice chairs, bookshelves, lamps, at this cafe's going out of business sale. on monday, jake drove me to finally get a mattress too, it's like we have a real home. yes!

for our indoor league, we lost our second soccer game too, and i have the gnarliest bruise on my inner thigh from all the ridiculous shots the boys on the other team were taking, but it's just so damn fun to play soccer again. our team plays hard, but no one takes it too seriously, its kind of a great balance. we've been getting after-game drinks at a nearby bar who is sponsoring our team, so its a really awesomely tiring and complete sunday night outing.

my bikes are both in working order now too. i've been at west town a lot recently since i seem to be breaking everything. even though it's no bike church, it's really great. i was talking to alex (the guy who started it-west town isn't a co-op, it's really still alex's shop, which is a primary difference. but he's super knowledgable and friendly, so it works well) on tuesday night, and he said we would help me weld together trash parts to make a front rack. ah, i'm so excited to do more welding, not spend so much $$, AND just plop canon boxes on the rack instead of the awkward balance procedures. good winter project plans!

work has been really good too. i'm finally learning all the messenger centers and docks and feel like i can really get into the groove of it all. plus, i abuse the use of my nextel and really enjoy the random chitchat with casey and grey and who ever else will give me their dc. the other night, i got paged at 4:15 to do two car runs in under an hour, one of which was a round trip. i really hustled and got it done in 45 minutes (and got to play with the cutest pomeranian in the chase bank) and my dispatcher told me i was wonder woman. it ruled. i also interviewed the other day with intercept. while they had just hired one on, the dispatcher told me to call back in a week. he told me i was exactly what they were looking for and that one of their current riders might be leaving soon. we'll see--they're still an IC company, but have a smaller staff, little turn over, and seem to have a better grasp on what you as an employee expect out of the job. so this could be really nice-keep your fingers crossed for me!

but yeah, happy thanksgiving to all! if only i could be in 4 different places at once...

its really winter

it snowed tonight! so not completely, since it wasn't really sticking to the ground, but it was all over the cars and allison + jeff both concluded it was something like riding in a snow globe. indeed. still totally weirds me out. i honestly think these next five months are going to be incredibly bizarre, honestly behind some comprehension for me.

in other good news, we just got back from playing our first official indoor soccer league game. emily and jeff organized a team of cyclists for a long time co-ed league. 6 v 6 and 45 minute games, all real fast moving. we unfortunately lost, but for once my competitive nature didn't ruin that i had a total blast. i'm excited for an indoor exercise with the imminent frigidness and its really awesome just to play soccer again.

in other other news: our freezer isn't working, so we can't buy tater tots or keep ice cream solid. i keep breaking things on my bikes: who knew a campy cone could cost $16. i sure didn't, but WHO really cracks them in the first place? freehubs don't usually seize after rain. *sigh* i also got stuck in an elevator for an hour on thursday. for realz. the company i was delivering to, felt so bad one guy offered to buy me lunch. i insisted i had to leave since i had to "orientate" the new girl. he instead slipped $20 into my hand and told me to buy myself a nice lunch. ha, or cheap pizza and a couple beers that night. augie wanted to know which building this was so he could get himself stuck in the same elevator. i don't know if it would work the same for round two though.

does anyone actually read this thing? as soon as it really snows, i'll get some pictures up.

a note to chicago runners...

don't do it. i'm serious. alright, well if you're on the lakefront path, or something equally sanctioned for running, fine. if you're downtown, you are asking to be hit. i'm even more serious on this point. there is a flow to traffic. even if you're a fast walker at 8:30am or 4:30pm (when everyone turns into a total speedster), you can mesh. it's always the fucking runners that think they can slip across four lanes, four giant lanes on madison and wacker while only looking the opposite direction. yeah, traffic is traveling east buddy, so when i yell at you, don't give me that ugly look. and besides if you were walking, i could've slipped behind you, but when you halt dead mid-run, it's a tiny bit more difficult to predict your antelope reflexes.

thursday was the first day i messengered downtown when it began raining. it was sunny in the morning, so i think most people simply weren't prepared. when it began raining around 3pm, 25% more pedestrians began running. 25% times a 3x slower stopping ability on freshly wet, oily pavement=uh, bad. luckily there was no actual contact, but i can just see it coming. speaking of stopping power, i really need to build a winter bike as soon as i have any disposable income which might be feasible sans NICA. ugh, i have to figure that one out, and soon. still messengering has been a lot of fun and figuring out the downtown (i know, its an insanely straight forward grid, but it has its quirks) is super awesome. for a city with such inclement weather, there sure is A LOT of metal in the streets. plate, grates, pothole covers, you name it. i will be a pro sidewalk rider by the end of winter, mark my words.

in other news, the sadie hawkins race was last night. a bunch of out of towners showed up, making for 60 or so teams. although there was a lot more warm/rain gear rather than fancy costumes, it was great to see the people who took the spirit of the style race too. while it was quite cold (35 or so, with especially gnarly wind while coming south on the last bit on ogden) it never rained/snowed as predicted, which was a really welcome surprise. the routing was pretty straight forward (its also geared to be a great first race, which is awesome) so there wasn't too much planning involved. coyote and i rocked it (well coyote more than me, but i hung onto his wheel the best i could). we were super close to the first place team for the first 5 checkpoints, but misrouted to goose island and lost some time. we still ended up second (!) to an awesome loft space in little village. allison and ben had a flat mishap toward the end and had to *patiently* wait for a tube delivery, but still arrived at the part in style. there were iro sprints, dance party, lots of happily tired kids, prizes and cheep beer, OH!&walking proximity to burritos. genius. kids that lived there also dumpstered a gallon of odwalla oj for me, winning night, really.



alright, well i am off to try and play some soccer in this 30 weather. whew. and maybe some more thrifting for wool, need more wool...