Hey. I’m in Chicago. Today’s drive was nice and simple, which was a good thing, because I only got two hours of sleep last night. Somewhere between drinking too much Russian Imperial Stout, fucking up the remote control so that I couldn’t turn off the television or turn down the volume from full blast, and choosing the hard pillow as opposed to the soft pillow in my king-sized bed, I simply could not rest easy. Somewhere around four o’clock I began to drift away, but I was stirred less than two hours later by an explosion of TV sound and that was it, I was up for the day.
I left the motel at 9am and hopped back on the Interstate. It was only 59 miles to the Indiana border. I stopped to fill up gas (another $30 down the drain) and drove straight through to Exit-83 and Mishawaka, Indiana. That’s where I was scheduled to meet Jason to pick up my new guitar amplifier. We hung out in his basement talking shop for about an hour and playing around with the amp and his various vintage guitars and effects. Two-hundred dollars in exchange for a H|H IC 100S later, I was shooting straight into Illinois.
Since the Dan Ryan Expressway is undergoing construction that will last about another year and a half, I had to take a circuitous route to get into the city. Supposedly five lanes have shrunken down to one lane, which has led to multiple-hour traffic jams that I had no intention of experiencing. Instead I stayed on I-80 past Chicago and took I-294N to 55-N to Lake Shore Drive. From there, navigation to the northwestern part of the city is relatively simple.
I arrived at Jet’s apartment at about 2pm. Christopher was in the shower so Jet and I sat in the kitchen and discussed my drive and the book. She had a lot of suggestions and showed me some of her edits so I could get a clearer picture of what I need to change in the next draft. When Chris emerged the two of them made biscuits and we made small talk about travel and maps and Chicago and St. Louis. After the biscuits were done the two of them left so Chris could catch his train back to StL. I stayed behind at the apartment so the pair could enjoy some final alone time and I basically sat around reading, playing with Jet’s cats and checking my e-mail to see if Jason Molina had set up a date/time yet.
When she returned, Jet and I went to the Clark Diner and talked more about books and different approaches I could take when I sit down to do the second draft. That conversation dominated the majority of this first day. When we got home, we played some records for each other, geeked out and eventually I called Steve at Electrical to see if he had a time in mind. I got through to Russ, who informed me Steve’s still in Italy. Of course, now I’m kind of a nervous wreck wondering why didn’t he tell me he was going to be away these extra days. I left a message and I’ll call back Tuesday to see what’s up. Now I’m going to sleep. I didn’t have any opportunities to make up for sleep lost last night.
