Road Trip
So I went traveling over Labor Day weekend. I took off 9/1 & 9/2 and after work on 8/31 I headed west to South Bend, Madison & Chicago. Here's what went down:
W 8/31 - Left Cleveland after work and arrived at Amanda's place in South Bend around 10pm. I was starving so we went out for food, except as soon as we stepped into the chosen eatery I started feeling ill. Very ill. Gut-wrenchingly ill. Made it back to Amanda's and threw up for 5 minutes, then promptly passed out for 10 hours. Fortunately, Amanda and her housemates Jeff & Rachel are very tolerant wonderful people.
R 9/1 - Amanda & I left South Bend headed for Madison. I felt a lot better at this point and assumed that I'd had some sort of food poisoning. We pulled up at the lovely apartment of eirias and Graham around 5pm. Once Graham got off work we got dinner at a Laotian place, where I was able to eat fried rice. I felt pretty ok, but still was a bit out of it. After a few spirited card games ( eirias is sick good at a game called speed? ) and some music listening I passed out again.
F 9/2 - Woke up late, picked up eirias from her office and met Graham and Gabriel for lunch. Afterwards Amanda, eirias and I walked around Governor Nelson State Park for a while. Around this point I started to feel seriously ill, to the point that I took a nap while everyone else got dinner. How lame is that? We left for Chicago after a run to State Street for ice cream. On the way there I started to freeze.
Yeah, you read that right. *I* got cold, and I never ever get cold. I actually turned on the heat, to the point that Amanda, who is one of the tiny little girls who is always cold, begged me to turn on the A/C. We arrived at dmw7's and I promptly passed out again. I woke up repeatedly throughout the night as I froze and melted. Woo.
S 9/3 - We had breakfast at Walker Brother's, where I managed to eat some pancakes. Then Amanda & I took the train downtown and then cabbed it to the Hotel Allegro. This place was really... funky. Weird paint schemes, including disorienting black & white stripes in the hallway, were everywhere. The room was uber-tiny. Combine this with my hallucinations and I was having a great time.
Jenny's wedding was fun. I said hello to her parents ( her mom approves of me having hair again ) and actually met the groom :-) I even managed to have half of an alcoholic beverage and to eat my filet mignon. Of course, I threw it all up back at the hotel but it tasted good at the time. The wedding was on the Odyssey 2, docked at Navy Pier. We got to watch some really good fireworks from the deck late in the evening, and the waiter was absolutely hilarious. When the ship returned, I was in no shape to go to the after-party, so Amanda graciously agreed to hit the hotel. We watched Back to the Future on TV before I passed out, again.
Su 9/4 - I still felt like crap, so we skipped the brunch and took the train back to dmw7's. Then we drove back to South Bend, I dropped off Amanda, and I headed home. I spent Monday not moving and drinking tea, and went to the doctor on Tuesday. She said I just had really horrible food poisoning and that the effects would go away in time, which they did by Friday.
So the scorecard: I was in Madison ( still one of the most beautiful cities I have been in ) and Chicago, but wasn't well enough to do anything over than the 'minimum requirements' - ie, a few meals, chats and a wedding. I lost 15 pounds from Wednesday to Tuesday because I basically couldn't eat at all during that time.
On the bright side, I saw eirias and it wasn't at a wedding. I saw the always elusive Gabriel. Amanda had a great time and thinks that all my friends are really cool ( which is true ). I learned how to play Shanghai, sort of. I was able to expose Graham to some of my CDs - I forgot what he ripped but I think the WeakerThans were in there. I saw more of Madison and if I ever want to leave Cleveland that will be the first place I look for a job, even after eirias leaves to be a world-famous pyschologist in a pedestrian-friendly city. Oh yes, and I showed you can get from Madison to Cleveland on a single tank of gas.
Thanks to everyone who hosted me & Amanda, who played doctor ( no, not like that! ) and who was nice to Amanda even if they didn't know her. Next time, I promise not to be deathly ill when I visit you.
W 8/31 - Left Cleveland after work and arrived at Amanda's place in South Bend around 10pm. I was starving so we went out for food, except as soon as we stepped into the chosen eatery I started feeling ill. Very ill. Gut-wrenchingly ill. Made it back to Amanda's and threw up for 5 minutes, then promptly passed out for 10 hours. Fortunately, Amanda and her housemates Jeff & Rachel are very tolerant wonderful people.
R 9/1 - Amanda & I left South Bend headed for Madison. I felt a lot better at this point and assumed that I'd had some sort of food poisoning. We pulled up at the lovely apartment of eirias and Graham around 5pm. Once Graham got off work we got dinner at a Laotian place, where I was able to eat fried rice. I felt pretty ok, but still was a bit out of it. After a few spirited card games ( eirias is sick good at a game called speed? ) and some music listening I passed out again.
F 9/2 - Woke up late, picked up eirias from her office and met Graham and Gabriel for lunch. Afterwards Amanda, eirias and I walked around Governor Nelson State Park for a while. Around this point I started to feel seriously ill, to the point that I took a nap while everyone else got dinner. How lame is that? We left for Chicago after a run to State Street for ice cream. On the way there I started to freeze.
Yeah, you read that right. *I* got cold, and I never ever get cold. I actually turned on the heat, to the point that Amanda, who is one of the tiny little girls who is always cold, begged me to turn on the A/C. We arrived at dmw7's and I promptly passed out again. I woke up repeatedly throughout the night as I froze and melted. Woo.
S 9/3 - We had breakfast at Walker Brother's, where I managed to eat some pancakes. Then Amanda & I took the train downtown and then cabbed it to the Hotel Allegro. This place was really... funky. Weird paint schemes, including disorienting black & white stripes in the hallway, were everywhere. The room was uber-tiny. Combine this with my hallucinations and I was having a great time.
Jenny's wedding was fun. I said hello to her parents ( her mom approves of me having hair again ) and actually met the groom :-) I even managed to have half of an alcoholic beverage and to eat my filet mignon. Of course, I threw it all up back at the hotel but it tasted good at the time. The wedding was on the Odyssey 2, docked at Navy Pier. We got to watch some really good fireworks from the deck late in the evening, and the waiter was absolutely hilarious. When the ship returned, I was in no shape to go to the after-party, so Amanda graciously agreed to hit the hotel. We watched Back to the Future on TV before I passed out, again.
Su 9/4 - I still felt like crap, so we skipped the brunch and took the train back to dmw7's. Then we drove back to South Bend, I dropped off Amanda, and I headed home. I spent Monday not moving and drinking tea, and went to the doctor on Tuesday. She said I just had really horrible food poisoning and that the effects would go away in time, which they did by Friday.
So the scorecard: I was in Madison ( still one of the most beautiful cities I have been in ) and Chicago, but wasn't well enough to do anything over than the 'minimum requirements' - ie, a few meals, chats and a wedding. I lost 15 pounds from Wednesday to Tuesday because I basically couldn't eat at all during that time.
On the bright side, I saw eirias and it wasn't at a wedding. I saw the always elusive Gabriel. Amanda had a great time and thinks that all my friends are really cool ( which is true ). I learned how to play Shanghai, sort of. I was able to expose Graham to some of my CDs - I forgot what he ripped but I think the WeakerThans were in there. I saw more of Madison and if I ever want to leave Cleveland that will be the first place I look for a job, even after eirias leaves to be a world-famous pyschologist in a pedestrian-friendly city. Oh yes, and I showed you can get from Madison to Cleveland on a single tank of gas.
Thanks to everyone who hosted me & Amanda, who played doctor ( no, not like that! ) and who was nice to Amanda even if they didn't know her. Next time, I promise not to be deathly ill when I visit you.