Our Last Full Day
Friday 1 April 2005
April Fool's Day. Our last full day in the United States.
I love that the guys took my pair of sai and made them into a coat of arms.
Lunch at Potbelly's. Mmmm.
Stupidly, I decided to follow MapQuest directions to Purdue. Yes, I fucked up again. We wasted 45 minutes on little suburban streets before we hit the I-90. I should've just listened to Zach and taken the Lake Shore Drive-I-55 route.
Apart from the bad decision that started it off, the drive was relatively uneventful. I think Indiana should be known as the Armpit of America; it's just so fucking boring. Apparently some people like to defend it by saying, "There's more than corn in Indiana!" Perhaps. But not so much. I almost fell asleep, not from tiredness, but out of boredom.
Purdue looked suitably depressing for a school in the Armpit. The only sign of civilization seemed to be a Potbelly's. Jingli met his friend Eric, after some misadventures with switching cellphone providers between states. He seemed very Taiwanese, because, well, he's from Taiwan. Overall a real nice guy, and they seemed happy to be meeting up.
Not only did MapQuest give stupid directions to Purdue, they gave completely ridiculous directions to the outlet mall at Michigan City. We were told to get off the interstate 12 miles before the proper exit, and travel 20 miles on tiny shitty roads. Fuck you, MapQuest. Of course, it was so dark that once we exited the interstate we couldn't see which road to turn into. It was decided we'd do better following signs on the interstate instead, so we got back on. As it turned out, that was the right thing to do - finally I'd made a good driving decision!
It was the emptiest I'd ever seen that outlet mall; it was like a ghost town. Well, I guess it was a weekday, and close to closing time, but still. Every single time I visited previously it was bustling with life; it was especially crazy the day after Thanksgiving. Now we didn't have to walk anywhere, we could just drive from store to store. It's remarkable how the mood of a place can affect your shopping. When a place feels dead and the salespeople look like they'd rather be somewhere else, you don't feel like pulling out your wallet at all. We got shitty service at the Levi's outlet and everything looked disappointing. It was one of my saddest shopping experiences. We spent less than half an hour there.
Dinner at Steak 'n' Shake and back to E-town.
I'd planned on visiting some people and chilling, especially with Tim Brayton, but when I called he was busy that night. In the end I opted for a quiet evening at the apartment instead, swilling wine, smoking and packing. Karen dropped by, which was really sweet of her.
I wish I had one more week to see everyone. It was ridiculous and stupid of me to think I could somehow manage to show Jingli Chicago, drive him to Indiana, and still somehow see all my friends within the span of 3 1/2 days. Pure hubris, I suppose, and blind, silly confidence. In the end I saw probably about 20% of the people I wanted to see. They're all graduating and moving out in the summer. I missed my one chance, it didn't happen and I have to live with it.
I'd originally planned to spend the entire vacation in Chicago, and maybe only venture out to visit other people and places in the Midwest. Somehow, somewhere along the way the trip turned into an incredibly ambitious behemoth and everything just raged out of control. I guess I have no one to blame but myself.
I don't regret the trip, not at all. I just wish we had more time.
April Fool's Day. Our last full day in the United States.
I love that the guys took my pair of sai and made them into a coat of arms.
Lunch at Potbelly's. Mmmm.
Stupidly, I decided to follow MapQuest directions to Purdue. Yes, I fucked up again. We wasted 45 minutes on little suburban streets before we hit the I-90. I should've just listened to Zach and taken the Lake Shore Drive-I-55 route.
Apart from the bad decision that started it off, the drive was relatively uneventful. I think Indiana should be known as the Armpit of America; it's just so fucking boring. Apparently some people like to defend it by saying, "There's more than corn in Indiana!" Perhaps. But not so much. I almost fell asleep, not from tiredness, but out of boredom.
Purdue looked suitably depressing for a school in the Armpit. The only sign of civilization seemed to be a Potbelly's. Jingli met his friend Eric, after some misadventures with switching cellphone providers between states. He seemed very Taiwanese, because, well, he's from Taiwan. Overall a real nice guy, and they seemed happy to be meeting up.
Not only did MapQuest give stupid directions to Purdue, they gave completely ridiculous directions to the outlet mall at Michigan City. We were told to get off the interstate 12 miles before the proper exit, and travel 20 miles on tiny shitty roads. Fuck you, MapQuest. Of course, it was so dark that once we exited the interstate we couldn't see which road to turn into. It was decided we'd do better following signs on the interstate instead, so we got back on. As it turned out, that was the right thing to do - finally I'd made a good driving decision!
It was the emptiest I'd ever seen that outlet mall; it was like a ghost town. Well, I guess it was a weekday, and close to closing time, but still. Every single time I visited previously it was bustling with life; it was especially crazy the day after Thanksgiving. Now we didn't have to walk anywhere, we could just drive from store to store. It's remarkable how the mood of a place can affect your shopping. When a place feels dead and the salespeople look like they'd rather be somewhere else, you don't feel like pulling out your wallet at all. We got shitty service at the Levi's outlet and everything looked disappointing. It was one of my saddest shopping experiences. We spent less than half an hour there.
Dinner at Steak 'n' Shake and back to E-town.
I'd planned on visiting some people and chilling, especially with Tim Brayton, but when I called he was busy that night. In the end I opted for a quiet evening at the apartment instead, swilling wine, smoking and packing. Karen dropped by, which was really sweet of her.
I wish I had one more week to see everyone. It was ridiculous and stupid of me to think I could somehow manage to show Jingli Chicago, drive him to Indiana, and still somehow see all my friends within the span of 3 1/2 days. Pure hubris, I suppose, and blind, silly confidence. In the end I saw probably about 20% of the people I wanted to see. They're all graduating and moving out in the summer. I missed my one chance, it didn't happen and I have to live with it.
I'd originally planned to spend the entire vacation in Chicago, and maybe only venture out to visit other people and places in the Midwest. Somehow, somewhere along the way the trip turned into an incredibly ambitious behemoth and everything just raged out of control. I guess I have no one to blame but myself.
I don't regret the trip, not at all. I just wish we had more time.
posted by cinewhore @ 8:47 PM
0 mindfucks
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gimme some mindfuckery
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