stuck in reverse?
How do you know its the right time to let go of the past and move forward? I’ve lived in Chicago for almost 3 and a half years now but I just realized, while talking on the telephone with a friend from the Bay area, that I’ve never really said goodbye to California and embraced my life here in Chicago.
I often find myself reminiscing with people about times gone by. The company Christmas party where KK came out with her man and we turned everything upside down. The things I did to egg on the man that would, in turn, fire me from my job and give me an unwanted (and unpaid) 3 month long vacation. The trip to Amsterdam to replace the bottle of poppers seized by U.S. Customs. These milestones are revisited again and again, and retold with energy and reverence that my present life does not hold.
When living in the past is happier than the present, how do you stop and refocus forward? How do you embrace a place and a way of life that feels temporary and unwanted? How do you let go of the bright lights of your past and look at lighting new, brighter lights in your future?
Answers anyone?
The Quest for a room
The weekend is over and the workweek resumes.
Quite a weekend for me. Double D took me to a “Spa” for the weekend, at least, that was the plan. The reality was a whole different story.
We arrived at “The Pheasant Run Resort” in the far west suburbs of Chicago around 9am. He checked into his seminar and I tried to check into the room. Wasn’t quite that easy since Expedia never booked the room with the hotel so they had to find us a place.
*Warning to everyone, if you use Expedia, double check directly with the airline/hotel/car rental company before you leave on your trip.*
They would have a room for me by noon, so I headed to the quaint little downtown area and poked around the antique and junk shops that lined the street. In one shop, I stumbled across a series of books put out by Time-Life in the 1970’s. I had all of the books in the series except one. Do you know how much of a mind fuck it is when you see every single book that you have and get excited that maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to complete your set. They didn’t have the book I was missing. They too had the rest of the series but were, alas, missing the much sought out volume.
Having my hope quashed, I headed back to the hotel to check in. They found us a room, and in the new (luxury) wing. After getting to the room, I realized that this room had double beds and not the king sized we were asking for. (How can you have “mad hotel monkey sex(tm)” in a double bed?)
I’ll save the details of the 7 trips to the front desk just trying to get a room. Finally at 4:00pm (eight hours after beginning “the quest for a room”) they handed me the key cards. The room was a dump no better than a Motel. In fact, I think it was a motel that was enclosed due to the fact that all rooms had A/C units facing into the hallway and the hallway had A/C units trying to fight the heat in the hall. It was the hallway of battling A/C units.
The weekend wasn’t all bad. I had an AMAZING hot stone massage at the Marco Tricoci salon and day spa and I spent some wonderful moments hanging out with Double D. We travel well together I think. I’ll let him comment on that (if he so chooses).
Being without a place to go for eight hours taught me something important. I could never be homeless. I was out of my friggin mind just trying to find a place to sit and read the books I brought. I gave up on the hopes of Wi-Fi access as soon as we exited the highway so that was out of the question. So today, as the work week begins, I have a renewed sense of vigor in my job. I have new focus. I am dedicated and driven. Well, I will be as soon as I get back from Krispy Keme. This coupon expires soon and I want a doughnut.