Return to Whatever

RAIN

My first day in Chicago was spent in the rain. Coming back from the airport, I hadn't thought to carry an umbrella.
Can you even bring umbrellas on airplanes anymore?
If there isn't a flight ban on umbrellas, there should be.
Imagine what would happen if everyone opened their umbrellas in the coach of a passenger jet- freekin' chaos is what!
Besides, if it's raining inside the jet, it's gonna take a lot more than an umbrella to help you.


I love Art, but I am not smart enough to know a great deal about it -or to even claim to understand it.
I'm not sure how I feel about giant electronic portrait monolith fountains. I had the urge to recreate the opening sequence to Kubrick's 2001- sadly, no one had thought to leave any skeletal remains for me.








Big Brother is watching you.
Many parts of Chicago have surveillance cameras- something I usually loathe- but I made a wrong turn Tuesday getting off the El and wound up in the Projects on State St., suitcase in hand. I've been in worse neighborhoods, but not often and not for long. This was one of the few such Public Housing Projects still standing.
Nice place.
Lots of cops, lots of cameras and all sorts of activity.
There were many young men ready to assist me should I need some rock, blow or pussy.
One helpful gentleman even offered me a ride in his taxi, which he kept parked in the alley behind a liquor store.
Follow me, he urged.
Did I need a hand with my suitcase?
No thanks.
Given the circumstances , I felt it best if I stood in plain view of the Police Cam.

I didn't take any pictures of the Projects. I am not that stupid.



We never did get Funkadelic tickets- Bryan said it was in the suburbs and didn't feel like going -his job was wearing him out and having me around didn't help, I guess.

The Mothership did land in Downtown though.
I really dig this giant jellybean blob. It's in the Millennial Park
It's like a still-life done in quicksilver.

The rain picked up a bit here, and I was really glad I had brought a jacket. Jackets are much safer than umbrellas, so bringing one on the plane was no problem.
Security on the flight in was a joke. I had a gel deodorant in my only bag and it went right through the X-ray without so much as a beep. As I was in the boarding line, I was singled out by TSA for a 'random' search. A squat and sour young woman in a crisp TSA uniform showed me her badge-OK-dig in, nothin' in there, I thought, hating every minute of this bullshit world of forced fear...but she couldn't get my bag's zipper more than an inch open.
It seems a sock had gotten stuck in it. I thought about offering to help unstick it, but was afraid that doing so might cause trouble. The deodorant, you know.
She flashed a penlight into the tiny aperature and said OK.
That was it.
I could have brought dope and hand lotion and not gotten caught.



Anyway, the next day I sought shelter from the rain by standing under the metal bean . This is what it looks like from underneath.








I am not sure what to make of this next pic. I stopped to have lunch at the Beef and Brandy, and after several coffees, I had to use the loo.



Upstairs in the men's room, I was confronted with this- a urinal full of ice cubes.

I have never before seen a urinal full of ice cubes. There were none in the sink or in the toilet, just the urinal and the floor in front of it.
Who pissed here? Iceman?

I was glad I had ordered coffee and not iced tea or a fountain drink.

One more pic- this is me at Wrigley. I gotta admit that being out at the old ballpark is one of America's Good Things.

More later- I'm wound up and sorta jet-lagged- gotta try to relax and get back to work tomorrow. My internal clock feels all screwed up- stayed up late reading most nights- Bryan has no PC, but he has an excellent collection of books- but also got up early most days.
Wired and tired, I bid you goodnight.