chicago
Quintessensual Chicago, chicago, it's my kinda' town. 991209
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deb
cruel grey clouds look harmless
upon the midday sky
as buildings pass and people stare
without knowing why
myriads drone and buzz about
without a single word
while others doze away on trains
that deafen little birds
buildings loom above our heads
some fifty stories high
the cars all speed; the people swear;
bus honks as it goes by
endless moving running walking
get out of my way!
tomorrow doesn't matter
just focus on today.
991209
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Allison the place i hate, the place i love 991209
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Tess my head reels when it thinks about chicago next time.

i'll bring back the goods, but i don't know when (bjork).
000104
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Marjorie That huge airport.
The one everyone could lose themselves in.
And then fly away by accident
And error
And wake up in Tokyo
Where you do not know anyone
But the flavor is delightful
000711
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moonshine Been there once. Where the taxi drivers are pushy like low budget hookers 000818
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misstree grounded, yet dreaming,
everyone that i knew in chicago
had a handle on the daily grind
but also drank deeply of the night
(though the drinking wasn't anywhere near as literal
as the infectous alcoholism of new orleans)
000818
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vix New orleans is infectious in every way and has my affections. I want to go back 000818
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birdmad colour my world 000819
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ass facely jim was from chicago. he doesn't talk much about it. 001007
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ass facely i'm thinking about terry kath. we should always remember him. colur my world too. 001022
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Raina as soon as I can go away from, I will... 001023
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amy i think i'm a little homesick.
i'll trade you for seattle.
001023
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Raina amy, just because my name is rain, it doesn't mean I'd like Seattle. 001031
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girl " da bearss!"
"da bullss!"



.....nevermind.
010823
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Tigris the distance from chicago to london always seems twice as far as it really is. 020406
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a trio of alkaline birds did i remember to sleep in?
take lots of pills
commit irreversible sins?
did i, did i
at least try
to kiss the prettiest girl
at the right time?

did i remember
to keep your beer
as full as mine?
did i, did i
remember to say cheers?

did i, did i
at least try
to make sure everybody
had a good time?
had the best time?

...in this house
on this street
Chicago .
020406
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starlette anyone go to UIC?? 020504
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silentbob she told me he called her from chicago and asked her if she would go out with him. she was disturbed and disgusted. or at least i was when she told me 020504
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unhinged i think it would be a cool place...i've only driven through it. he lives in chicago. hopefully, i will be living near by in about a year and a half. some place that isn't northeast ohio would be wonderful. take me away from the dead steel towns and the rolling hills where there are so many dead and abandoned. take me away. 020504
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silentbob friday friday friday friday friday 021030
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Elzbieta My home
My Love
My Teacher
My Prison
021031
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silentbob tonight tonight 021101
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no reason it was excellent.
it was all we could do not to sing out in the theatre.
030111
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no reason the only thing i regret is that they didn't use much fosse-style choreography. ah well. 030111
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Chilly D Fuckin' beautiful. The people, the view on the Sears Tower at night... everything. I love it. 030112
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megan i knew a guy they called chicago once. he was goofy, and smiled a bit too much. he was kind though, and that was all that mattered at the time. 030112
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imaskitzo It's where I'm from 041031
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unhinged scares me


going to symphony hall in a few months to perform

people
places
wind
in chicago scares me
041101
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53 minutes ago 9142005: Chicago calls for troops to leave Iraq 050914
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quotree "Well we had a mouse right in our house and were afraid to move
But I'd never trade that time we spent huddled up in the front room
No chill or rats or poverty can quell my love for you
Or for this dump we're standing in 'cause this is my home too

Chicago, Chicago, well there's assholes everywhere
Chicago, Chicago, where you're 15 pints from all your cares
Where your wallet's like a sieve
And that's where all of the gangsters live
Chicago, Chicago, is where we can afford to live

Well I sit out on my front porch step, watch the gangsters selling crack
And I call the cops when a girl walks by and they give her a smack
Oh I like to get my beer and sit on my front step or by the store
Hanging out where white folks fear to tread, yeah this is my home for sure

No gangsters can deface it 'cause it's still the same to me
Sometimes the bullets frighten me but I speak up you see
Oh I can navigate the subway sect just like a weathered pro
And anywhere I want to you know that is where I go

Chicago, Chicago, assholes everywhere
Chicago, Chicago, we are 15 pints from all our cares
Where your wallet's like a sieve
And that's where all of the gangsters live
Chicago, Chicago, is where we can afford to live

I'm going out all by myself, no victims role for me
No I'm not transgressed by lovers or friends or owed something you see
Well the new condo's they're coming fast and the rents have gone sky high
Just because we're seen as pioneers they start to build for all the whites

They fuckin' gentrified my home, they fuckin' gentrified my home
Left affordable housing there to roam, they fuckin' gentrified my home
They fuckin' gentrified my home, they fuckin' gentrified my home
Daley kicking ethnic vendors off the street, ordinanced nothing cheap to eat

No more vendors in front of restaurants
'cause Daley says they attract vermin to their haunts
But I don't think that's the targeted vermin that he wants

See the copper with his badge and his gun
He's not hiding from anyone
So you better collect your shit and run

New shopping fronts are popping up all around
Driving our affordability out of town
You'd think they no longer want us around

Public housing coming down by federal mandate
All of whom they promised to relocate
Rick Lazio's bill passed congress but they just segregated 'em back from where they came

Neighborhoods splits up by highways lined
Dividing different races by color lines
Old mayor Daley put 'em there in the ever old grand ol' time

Real world hype drives the rent sky high
Now MTV age yuppies want to buy
The city got the exorbitant tax
But in the real world in Chicago someone was shot outside the apartment and they died

So you better run, stand, fight!"

-tossers, chicago
(i miss you, dirty old girl. the *real* city that works.)
050920
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sisyphus a stopover in chicago is just as flat as you'd imagine 051222
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silentbob dear blather
i'm moving to chicago
love bobby
070827
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in_retrospect beautiful and cold and full of homework.

where I had the longest hair and drank the most.

oranges stuffed with cloves. Clarkes. Red line to Jackson. Bikes. Bubbleland. Layers and layers of clothes. Mad libs. Swipe that ID card. Watercolor sunset. Lake Michigan.

I miss it.
071024
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n_bloam@hotmail.com dear bobby

i'm still up in milwaukee, so if you're in chicago you should come visit again.

unhinged
071024
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amy beautiful and cold and full of homework, I liked that.

I only know about 20% of it, but I have a job for the summer that'll get me out a lot more. I stay way far away from the city, 45 miles, it's very green and I have to mow the lawn a lot.
080501
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unhinged did you really move to chicago bobby?


my best friend is moving there in june. and we will paint both towns red even like we did back in the akron youngstown days.
080501
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no reason i am going there in a few days, for a few days! in case anyone will be there or has any recommendations of things to do or see or etc. 110703
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re_alisma !! i would be happy to bum around an art museum or two (cause that's all i know how to do in the city) with you, if you want! i've been trying to get downtown lately (grandparents keeping me tied up) and this week i am free in the afternoons.... i think... i appended my email to this post. send me a line! and if we can't meet ( but i hope we can ) i say go to the art museums! and i'm told there are a million good places to eat but i don't have any actual recommendations.... 110704
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() (i am in chicago now, on business. i am on Jackson. i leave tonight on a 7pm plane. how strange that after Vancouver, i am coincident with yet another 'skite.) 110705
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unhinged hear chinatown has plenty of good spots to eat

not sure what day of the week they are but they have free symphony concerts in grant park and my friend's violin teacher is the concertmaster

millenium park (i think it is very close to, if not the same park, as grant park) also is a cool park in chicago
110705
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() (i am back in ny now, but i was in greek town all day yesterday. unfortunately, work kept me fro exploring. i did manage to take the blue line back to o'hare instead of a taxi. that was nice.) 110706
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no reason i'm staying right in greektown, and am definitely going to take the blue line back to o'hare when the time comes

re_alisma was a great tour guide/fellow tourist :)
110707
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re_alisma and I had a great time with no reason! (except the part where I left my debit card at that theory bar, but I wouldn't be attributing that to her, only myself....)

(), so wow..., your space coordinates locked on, but the timing off by a day. Next time! As for the blue line, I always park at the Cumberland station which is two before o'hare, but this time I didn't because of construction on the highway. I took the metra instead.
110708
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no reason millennium park did indeed have free concerts, and i caught some of a high school big band's performance.

chicago reminded me somewhat of toronto, and i felt comfortable there (in chicago). i later found out that the two cities were built off the lakes the same way and mirror each other. neat.
110710
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no reason i want to go back
maybe i'll make it a canada_day tradition, patriotic as i am
120529
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srealisma oh, please do! 120529
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srealisma oh, I'll be in Montana then, though, so I'd miss you. hrmph. 120529
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no reason when will you be away?

i feel comfortable there (maybe it's a toronto sister_cities thing), yet it has significant differences that i enjoy.
120530
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srealisma same old place, sweet home chicago-

I'll be away July 1-8. Come after! Like during a weekend since I'm working mon-thurs too long of days. I would be happy/ecstatic to find something to do with you fri-sat-or sunday

Of course if it doesn't work it doesn't work. Still, though, it would be cool.
120530
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no reason it would. i'll see what's possible.

i'd like to be there tomorrow, because patrick_watson is playing. everyone should go see patrick watson play live all the time. he/they are one of the few acts i would want to follow to different cities.
120531
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dafremen One of my friends got stiff armed to the face with a baton. He has a blood clot on his eye now. Another required 8 staples to his head to seal up the gash on his skull. You probably saw his picture. He's one of the nicest people you've ever met in your life.

Sweet..home..Chicago..
120601
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no reason july 1-4! sorry to miss you, re_alisma, but i bet this won't be the last time. (i just knocked on wood after typing that.) i couldn't make a later time work due to plans, costs, etc. 120609
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no reason i mean i bet this won't be the last chicago will see of me 120609
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srealisma Hey then I'll be seein ya next time : ) 120609
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no reason people seem to say what they think 120705
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no reason it was like a sauna 120705
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srealisma What all'd ya do?

What all did you do?
120713
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no reason i did a lot, and talked to interesting people, but it all seems so far away now 120714
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srealisma good time then? i heard it was pretty hot.

( whether or not my being in the to-be-or-not-be region of perpetual place disorient that i am. it doesn't matter where i am. i'm always the critic. do i make the ranks of chicago critics? probably on some weird level i do. )

anyway, if this year wasn't such a bad year i'd want to visit toronto. the last time i was there, an easter sunday in the late 80s or early 90s, probably didn't grant me quite the right kind of view. one year will be a good year. -i'll keep playing the lottery just in case.-
120717
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no reason a good time, yes, and yes, it was extremely hot. do you mean a critic OF chicago or a critic IN chicago?

i didn't actually find people to be too critical, but i found a lot of them to be forthright at best and rude at worst. which i don't necessarily mean as a criticism; it's just the way it was over there. it made me more comfortable stating and doing what i wanted, and i was oddly happier. (i'm sure being on vacation helped with that.)

there's more. there will be more. and i'll be back. and it would be neat if you came to toronto.
120717
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silentbob you should also let me know next time you're in chicago 120718
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no reason you're in chicago, silentbob?
i want to go back really soon. i feel inexplicably calm and at home there.
120718
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no reason i'm actually seriously trying to move there. but i can only visit, so far. anyone want to sponsor me to work? cool. 130904
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no reason i'm gonna make it work, at least for a little while, and i'm super excited about doing it/having my life turn upside down. it gets me through. 130927
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unhinged i don't miss you in the winter that's for sure 130928
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no reason i'm planning to come for an extended visit in the spring. by "extended," i mean hopefully for at least a month, and if i like it, maybe longer, and with an attempt to find work sponsorship if i want to stay.

in the meantime though, i need to find a cheap-ish place to live that is okay with me being an "alien" and working remotely/not full-time.

if anyone knows of anything? yeah, i dunno. maybe it's futile or silly to post here, but i be trying all the places and (good) people.
140113
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no reason i just feel happy and at home here. but staying for an extended period of time, for (canadian) me, is not necessarily possible.

it's frustrating, and disappointing, wanting things that are not very easily attainable.
141019
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nr ha. this makes it sounds like there's a non-canadian version of me. there isn't, that i know of. 141019
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