In short, it was the highlight of the trip

My bad, but I overlooked the highlight of my trip. After a lunch at Hot Doug's, a friend was driving me down a major roadway to a pool hall on the northwest side. Up ahead of us was a midget pushing a car.
By himself.
Because the full-sized friend of his was steering, while he had to push the midsize car out of traffic.

A note about music

First, thank the gods for Itunes. For all the people who complain about how it dominates the industry, I can only give thanks as an overseas consumer. I can load up on LCD Soundsystem, Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire the moment they come out with new music, just like my friends in the states. If I feel like listening to BOC's Godzilla, I can do my impulse buy.
Second, I had toyed with the idea of going to Fujirock in Japan this summer, but then decided not to after realizing it would cost $10,000 HK to see three days worth of music after you factor in airfare, tickets, etc. That would pay for the two or three long weekend trips I want to take every year in this region.
But I got a pleasant surprise at work the other day when I found out my vacation sked. Unlike 99 percent of the other jobs out there, mine doesn't allow me to take off when I want. Instead, I have to put in for time off six months in advance, then wait to find out if someone up higher on the totem pole wants off the same time I do. The end result? Lots of time off when no one else is on vacation, because peak times are taken.
For this summer, I wanted three weeks off in a row, to fly back to the states and do an east coast trip. I was hoping to do it via a stopover in Tokyo, where I would roam for four or five days before heading on to the states. And I expected to be doing this in September.
Lo and behold, I got off the last week of July and the first two weeks of August instead. Yaaaay! I'll get to enjoy the Midwest and NY and Washington in summertime, instead of what could be fall. And even better, I'll get to to enjoy Lollapaloza in Chicago too, loading up on music like a camel at an oasis.

The CTA: Chicago's Travel Aggravation

Everybody's been in a relationship that's rotten, but you never realize it until someone points out all the crap it entailed a few years after it's ended.
That's the transportation for me in Chicago. Sure, I griped about the freakfest that was my #66 Chicago Ave. bus, and about how it took anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes to make the same 23 block trip from Michigan to Leavitt each day. But that was countered with my love of the #65 Grand Ave. bus, three block farther south; it was clean, devoid of freaks and always showed up every 15 minutes, like clockwork. And while the El often smelled like pee, it was my El, dammit.
A certain newspaper just did a story about how the CTA is on the verge of breaking. I was complaining about that the moment I landed on my flight from SF at O'Hare. I took the Blue Line back to Damen Ave., hoping to catch a cab there.
Ah, the Blue Line. Here's what a traveler sees. Not the arteries running into the heart of the City that Works.
Instead, I see a dirty, muddy, shell of a train that is sounds like a hellspawn being birthed by Satan himself whenever it goes through a tunnel. A train that keeps its doors open for four minutes in freezing weather at its first stop after the airport for no reason. A train that doesn't welcome you to the city, but one that depresses you and makes you wonder why you travelled to the city at all.
And then you get off and wait 15 minutes for a cab to show up at one of the busiest El stops there is, at North/Damen. Sure, I'm spoiled by the bounty of cabs here in HK; no other city I've ever been in has cabs as bountiful or as professional or as clean. And by that I mean on each count, not on all three as a grouping.
But I assumed I could easily get a cab at the El stop at 5:45 at night, in the middle of rush hour. Silly me.
Just like I assumed the following weekend, when I was back in Chicago, that when I called Flash Cab and did an automated reservation, it would show up in a few minutes, like the greeting told me. When I called back 40 minutes later, the snotty dispatcher said haughtily, "It's St. Patrick's day. We're not taking any reservations today. What made you think that?"
Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was your own phone reservation system.
She told me I was number 4 or 5 on the list. It would be 90 minutes to 2 hours before I got a cab to pick me up.
Because really, why would a city want to have cabs do residential pickups when you can ferry around suburban drunks all day? Uggh. I wandered up to Wicker Park and caught a random street cab after about 10 minutes. Then said cabby wanted to know if I wanted to take the expressway to my destination, which would have a) made my trip about twice as long, for no reason, and b) doubled his fare for me, for no reason.
I've forgotten how Chicago cabbies often try to scam you by taking longer routes for no good reason. Not that I see a connection between the Nigerian email scams and the Nigerian cab drivers that dominate the Chicago scene.
Chicago is making a huge push to host the 2016 Chicago Olympics. It's either amazing hubris on Hizzoner mayor Daley's part, or amazing foresight. Maybe he sees Chicago's transit system as a selling point, or as I see it, he sees getting the Olympics as an impetus to gut and revamp the transit system from scratch. Because the system, as it is, can't support an Olympic bid. But if it does get the bid, he's got the political capital to add more train lines, to revamp the bus system to what it needs, not what it's done.

Back home, you determine which

So I'm back, and posting late. While it's been the easiest adjustment yet from jet lag, I still am going to bed at about 3am each night and waking up at 11:30 a week after I landed. (This being about 2-3 hours later than normal.) I can't recommend my Zylitone or whatever sleeping pill it is more. The first four days or so, I would pop one about 12:30 and night and sleep soundly until about 10 or later every morning. Better living through chemistry! I know it's cheating on beating jet lag, and I'm all in favor of it.
People have been asking about the trip. Great of course. San Francisco was awesome; there's nothing like eating Mexican food within 2 hours of landing, and the Toronado bar recommended by friends was as cool as Delilah's, my old haunt in Chicago. Oakland was nicer than I ever hoped it would be, and I definitely would like to fly via SF again to spend some time there, though note to self: don't drink 5 or 6 drinks immediately after flying transcontinental.
My trip to Minneapolis, while cold, was equally fun, but in a more low-key way. Before I left the states, I never thought I would savor a trip to Chipotle's. Nor would I get jacked about eating buffalo wings. But while cravings change, friendships remain, and that's what makes a trip to the permafrost of Minnesota all worth it.
Chicago was Chicago; a few friends threw a great little cocktail get-together upon landing to greet me in style, and I got my fill of bars, Hot Doug's (twice) and funky breakfasts, though my usual honky-tonk the band is no longer the same now that their original singer left. The sad thing is the longer I stay overseas, the more friends will leave Chicago. It's like watching older people scanning the obits each day, realizing more and more of their friends are dying. Each day a little of what they held dear is gone, never to return. The one difference is I could return and replenish it, but I dunno if I will.
And speaking of which, I kept on getting asked while back home in Wisconsin, "When will you return?"
By that, they meant the states, let along Wisconsin. And at this point, it may be a while. I've settled into Hong Kong. Some things still bug me here: the meandering, the lack of music (more on that in another post in a little bit), the lack of other culture, and how I get caught in a rut here a lot. But it does feel a little like home now; I still feel like a stranger in a foreign land, but I have carved out a home here. I expect to be here a while, as long as my company stays in business, which is no sure thing with my industry the way it is. I freak out now when friends I've made here talk about moving to another country; before, I assumed I would be here a little bit and all things were transitory.
I don't expect to be in this job, this city forever. I foresee version 2.0 being in foreign service, if I can get into it. I really am not cut out for corporate life. But this city keeps it hard to stay here forever, for one reason: the pollution. I was looking out our windows at work the other day, after it rained at night. The windows were streaked with a murky dirt from the rain, and that's from all the pollution. It really is that bad. I could handle five, 10 years here, tops. But not a lifetime here the way it is. The conveniences of life are here (the restaurants, travel opportunities, decent places to live and shop, and most glorious of all, bountiful public transportation) but the quality often isn't, or it's covered up by a sooty haze that blows down from the factories from the north.

But before I leave.....

for my trip to the states, a few last minute notes
1) It's rainy and cold here, at least by usual standards. It's probably in the mid to upper 60s today. My first stop, SF, will be colder than that. My second stop, Chicago, is forecast to have highs of 44 when I land. My third stop, Minneapolis? I shudder to think about it, and I'm sure I'll shiver when I'm there. Yes, I have gone soft.
2) For the trip, I had to pull out my leather jacket from the bottom of the closet. It's the first time I'll be using it since I landed 16 months ago.
3) Not to make the cold-weather friends jealous, but I will probably be turning on the aircon when I land at the end of the month, at least to reduce humidity.
4) I'm bringing back spicy piglet meat jerky for my foodie friends in Chicago. I went back to Macau this past weekend to eat at Fernando's again, and to buy said meaty goodness.
When Dodger Blue friend and I landed, we walked over to a map to plan our attack for the day. Immediately, some guy walks up to us and asks us "Do you speak English?"
Dingdingding......warning sign of a scam artist, the infamous "Do you speak English?" question.
Then he asked us if we knew a good place to buy electronics. This sent me into warning overdrive. But we talked some more, and he seemed not like a scam artist at all.
And he wasn't; he owned a real estate business in Israel, and his wife let him go on a 3 week vacation to Thailand before the birth of their fifth (!!!!!!!) child. He was making a side trip to Macau, and only was looking for a place to buy a memory card, which we helped him do before we ate at Fernando's.
This is the second time in a few months I've travelled with newfound friends from Israel. Weird.
5) The movie situation in this town still perplexes me. After four weeks of showing nothing new but this godawful-looking Night at the Museum movie with Ben Stiller, Dreamgirls, The Queen and Letters from Iwo Jima opened last week in HK. I went and saw the last two because they probably will be gone by the time I get back, even though that crappy Ben Stiller movie won't.
Please tell me again how The Departed was better than The Queen or Iwo Jima. I still am perplexed by it all.
6) I am so going to overload on Mexican food and buffalo wings when back in the states. And microbrew beers too.