Of all the places I’ve been, Boston’s the strangest. Not because of any particular quirk about the city, but because every time I try to remember any of my trips there the images seem…clouded over, as if inked by a surrealist’s pen. I’m pretty sure that even while I was physically there, it all felt like a dream.
I have a friend in Boston. I haven’t seen or spoken to her in so long. I wonder if she was just a dream, too.
Once home to Nike missile site C-03 during the Cold War, Montrose Point offers a taste of nature in Chicago’s front yard. Within the confines of the nature preserve, only the slightest hints of civilization rise over the modest foilage to the west and the gentle sounds of Lake Michigan can be heard to the east. The Magic Hedge, a collection of trees, shrubs, and grasses atop a small hill, provide a convenient resting point for migratory birds on their travels and is a popular spot for birdwatching. A small patch of dunes lies between the beach to the north of the Magic Hedge and Fishhook Pier, which extends into the lake quite a distance from the shore. Shorebirds make it a rest stop as well, with the lake providing fresh seaweed to coat the sand.
There’s an interesting ghost story associated with the area and the old Army base, but don’t let that stop you from paying this part of Lincoln Park a visit.
The nature preserve is a mix of open meadow and thickets of trees and shrubs, inviting the casual visitor to explore its nooks and crannies. On this day, I was in search of a letterbox, which gave me a good excuse to go diving into thickets and snaking my way through dense collections of trees and shrubs, but one can still explore the grounds without specific direction and still have fun.
Unfortunately, the clumps of trees also serve to conceal illicit activities–even in the very light of day! As I followed these clues in search of my quarry, I was sickened to find a spent condom, numerous condom wrappers, and even some “intimate lubricant” carelessly littered about the grounds. Add to that some skeevy characters just wandering around the paths, coming in and out of said hiding places, and suddenly I felt incredibly uneasy. I would dare say that, having been put into New York-style surveillance mode, I spotted a guy about to go down on another guy. So much for the illusion of being alone with nature.
That having been said, it seems as if this sort of thing is rather unavoidable. It just makes me…sad. It’s a beautiful spot of land. If only I had the power to make everyone else go away…
Despite this, I did have a good time hunting for the letterbox, and I did find it easily enough. I just don’t have a personal stamp yet, so I will have to return soon so I can sign the logbook properly.
1. Just when I was starting to embrace the notion of being a Chicagoan once more, life throws me a curve ball. It’s not a bad thing–employment’s good and the experience will be good, but all the same it’s like “Aww…!” One of the good things is that this means this will really be a fresh start. New place, new faces. What does this mean for my photography? Well, Chicago’s pretty well-photographed… I imagine there are relatively fewer pictures of the greater Milwaukee area.
2. This is the first time that I can actually consider laying down some roots. I’m tired of moving all the time. I want some constancy…sweet constancy. I’m even giving some thought to buying a house somewhere down the road, someplace I can live in and someplace my parents can finally retire to. There’s also the matter of “wuv” (with an Earth “W”), but that’s something I mention only to acknowledge its existence. Discussing it isn’t appropriate here. In the meantime, I’m going to live vicariously through Gene, who is apparently fortunate enough to be located in the #1 city for singles.
3. I don’t know what I should do to celebrate. I was thinking of buying this. I sat in one the last time I brought my car in for the maintenance. I could get used to driving one of those things… but I’d still need to keep around a utility car. In the meantime, I think I’ll go out for a nice dinner with my parents.
4. I recently acquired a 12″ PowerBook. I like it well enough that I’ll probably make it my primary computer and give my desktop to my folks (which involves backing up my data onto DVD-Rs and reinstalling Windows–aww!). After all, I did select it for its portability and its full-featuredness. The only things that bother me are its tendency to get hot (Hot enough to fry an egg? Maybe.), playing Warcraft III is choppier than I’d like (RAM isn’t the bottleneck since I’ve pumped it to 640MB, and people have said that WC3 runs fine on their 12″ PBs, which leads me to question what “fine” means) (Edit: it gets incredibly slow when playing on B.net… guess I’ll have to config a gaming box, no gaming for the PB), and playback of certain AVIs is skippy. I realize that I made some sacrifices when I chose the PB, but in the end I felt it was the best choice for me because of its full-featuredness and portability, the iLife applications (I don’t think there is anything comparable available for Windows), and Mac OS X (the BSD underpinnings appeal to a geek like me). It was fun running a Linux desktop for my primary, but after awhile I got tired of dealing with tweaking open source apps to run with my equipment without being paid for my efforts. I’ll probably keep around a Linux box to do fileserving and otherwise be the central hub for my home network.
5. I have been doing absolutely NOTHING lately. I’m incredibly bored and yet there’s so much to do to prepare for the job. They want me there yesterday, but since that’s not possible, they’re settling for the 23rd. Not sure what I’m going to do… probably go up to Waukesha, scout for apartments, find something that’s available for October (a mere pipe dream perhaps?) and do some short-term housing in the interim. It’d be easier if there were someone I could stay with in the area. Worst comes to worst, I could commute from Chicago… hmm… four hours a day in a car. Maybe not.
6. I still have to put together a compilation of pics from my high school five-year reunion onto CD. For that matter, I still have to email pics from Jessup week to people ’round the world; if not email, then snail mail. I’m such a slacker.
7. I was going to have a new site design to commemorate my return to the Midwest, but I’m putting it off until I get settled in Wisconsin. I needed something where I could feature certain photographs more prominently than my current layout allows. Right now I’m wrestling with either beating CSS into submission or giving up and using tables.
Caught the first game of a twin bill at Wrigley Field, Cubs vs. Cardinals, with Bob, Peil, and Peil’s friend Jack. We got pretty good seats on the third base side–under the upper deck but still close enough to see the infield well. It was a marathon, lasting 15 innings before Sosa clobbered a two-run shot to end it. Unfortunately, we left at the end of the ninth, so we missed it, but the part of the game we did catch was a fine example of good baseball.
Somewhere in the second inning, Bob commented on how well Zambrano was pitching… you know that’s just liable to jinx him. And sure enough, he gave up a run that inning, and a home run in the fourth. But a good rally in the fifth by the Cubs, sparked by Pujols booting a catch, made it a brand-new ball game.
Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two out, and pinch-hitter Ramon Martinez on a full count sends the pitch soaring to left–but the Cardinals’ left fielder managed to snag the ball in the ivy for the third out. I think we were all pissed (except for the sizable number of Cards fans in attendance). I was shooting some video clips with my camera, and I managed to record (halfway-decently) that last out–if you listen to the audio, you start to hear me say “YOU SUCK!” just before I stop recording, in disgust.
And that’s when we decided to adjourn for other settings.
Why do I find a whole stadium chanting “HEE SEOP CHOI! HEE SEOP CHOI!” to be incredibly amusing? (It’s a great name to chant.)
The Cubs lost the second game 2-0, so it’s a wash in the standings…they’re still trailing the Astros and the Cards by 1.5 games.
But it was a great day for baseball. Beautiful weather.