My Dear Friend Steve

It's been a while since I've introduced you to one of my friends. This is Steve, and he's the only friend that I can say that I slept with before we became friends. And I do mean that we slept together.

We met a bunch of years ago, went home together, got naked, rolled around for a while and then passed out. Over the years, we would run into one another, chat and laugh about our non-romp. And then we would laugh some more. The key to our friendship is the fact that we always find something to laugh about.

Steve has a unique living arrangement. His partner lives in Miami, Steve has a good job here in Chicago. He spends 2 weeks out of each month here, then spends 2 weeks in Florida. Whenever he's back in Chicago, we hang out a lot. We've started having Martini Thursday. Sometimes we have Martini Friday and Martini Monday, too. Don't get me wrong, we're not lushes, we're just supporting the local economy.

Today, Steve started a a blog. It's called "Things I Know." I encourage you to have a look, enjoy his humor and wit, and leave a comment every so often. But don't ask him to sleep with you, unless you don't mind snoring. LOL

Andersonville Midsommarfest 2009

File Under: City Fun

This past weekend was Andersonville's Midsommarfest. What started off as a cold, dreary day turned into a lovely day. By 2 pm on Saturday, I was out for day 1 of the festivities. For the first part of my adventure, I was joined by my friend Jim. We walked around and took in the sights. Here are a few early images from the festival. Please click on the cute little thumbnails for much larger images.

One of many food stands. Lots of tasty treats.

A rather sporty lad, obviously thirsty.

More food. Feel the clogging of the arteries.

Oooh, amusements. Looks like a space ship. What's with the tail end?

Oh my, that doesn't look right. Not at all...

Uh oh...

It's a BOY!

Time for lunch. Stopped for an empanada at Ole Ole. Here's me looking both big and gay!

My favorite bakers, the owners of Pasticceria Natalina.

Jim and I stopped to chat with my friend Lynn, whom I've known since grammar school. After a few minutes, Jim departed and as if the next shift was checking in, I ran into Dan, Luis, Denise and Polo. Tina could not join us this weekend, she was in Ohio. Thirsty and ready to explore, we got drinks. Then we walked.

Dan met THE Hamburger Mary! They became instant friends!!

The handsome Dan and Luis.

Shortly after, we met up with my coworker Andrea who was just taking in the sights and sounds on her own. She joined us, but Luis insisted she have bigger hair, so he practiced his teasing technique as Polo looks on.

He didn't have much success so we ate instead. Mmm...funnel cakes.

Taking in a concert. Luis and Polo are discussing something important. I'm sure of it.

Dancing? I'm not sure.

Day turned into night and we gathered at the other end of the fest to see the evening's main attraction, Sixteen Candles. They're a great band who perform the best songs from the 80's. They're fun to watch. I don't really remember seeing them, I think at this point I had consumed at least 6 drinks and everything was just starting to run together. Yet, I took a few pictures.

Luis, Dan and Denise, in the crowd.

My coworker Sonny joined us. She had some catching up to do. We quickly set her up with a couple mojitos. After downing those, she found the beer tent near the north stage.

Cheers, Sonny!

Andrea. I've decided this may be her new ID picture at work.

Polo, looking serious. Perhaps looking for a light, or for another beer.

"Seriously? Where's my beer?" or "What do you mean you're still sober?"

The crowd. Yes, Sixteen Candles is a very popular band.

Dan, with some random guys. Another beer, Dan?

This is where my camera's memory card was full and I was unable to continue snapping pictures. Here's what you missed. The concert ended, Andrea, Dan, Denise, Luis and Polo went home. Sonny and I decided we needed to find a bathroom, a drink and some food. We did all of the above. We ended up enjoying some Mediterranian grilled chicken from Reza's. The festival was beginning to wind down for the night but we weren't (even though we should have), so we went in search of an establishment at which to continue drinking.

Our first stop was Cattle Call, a new bar in the neighborhood. It was crowded so we didn't stay long. We each had a beer, then decided it was time to move on. We hopped in a cab and went to Jackhammer, my usual hangout. At that point, it became clear to both of us that we were running out of steam. We each had a drink, said goodnight to our bartender, and hailed cabs to go home.

For obvious reasons, Sunday was a much slower start. I made a feeble attempt at going to the gym. Finally at about 2, I felt human enough to head back out for day 2 of the festival. It was a warmer day than Saturday, sunny and close to 80 degrees.

Shortly after I arrived, I met up with my friend Steve, his partner Bill and a number of their friends. We hung out and watched local band Cat Fight. I stuck to drinking water as I didn't think I could stomach alcohol. I did manage to eat a corndog (food on a stick - YUM!), and later I enjoyed some thai food. Below are a couple more pictures from Sunday's festival.

Steve and I, standing in the crowd.

Cat Fight, entertaining a large crowd of people.

A view in the opposite direction, booths of food, and assorted street fest goods (jewelry, clothing, odd things for your home)

Alas, all good things must come to and end, and so does this post. It was a great weekend, lots of fun with great friends. Festival season is off to a great start!

Friends, Family and Facebook

File Under: Facebook Fun

Pictured above are my friends Donna and Lynn. The three of us enjoyed dinner together last Friday night.

Flash back to September 1972. Kindergarten. I was seated at a table with three other people. To one side of me was a boy, Tony. To the other side...I couldn't tell you who was there. Across from me was Lynn. At some point during our first day of school, Tony spit in my hair and Lynn punched him. Lynn and I have been friends ever since.



Here's our Kindergarten class:

Can you find us:

We went through first and second grade together. We were in different third grade classes. At some point, Lynn left school because her family moved away.

When I was 11, I got new upstairs neighbors. I watched the stuff being carried up then I saw an adult that I recognized. It was Lynn's mom. Sure enough, Lynn and her fmaily were our new upstairs neighbors. Maryann told me that Lynn would be home tomorrow, and she would send her downstairs.

We had fun as neighbors. I got to know Lynn's sister, Donna. She's a year older than us. They have an older brother, he basically teased us when he was home but was out being social as he's a couple years older than us.

We never lost touch, even after they moved out and we went to different high schools. We didn't see each other all that often but we managed to stay current.

Lynn and my sister Georgette both had their first children at the same time. Somewhere I have a picture of the two kids, both about 4 months old, laying on the floor together, looking at one another.

Lynn and I have kept in touch via email these past few years. I've been to birthday parties at her home. She's married to a really great man and they've got 4 kids.

The most exciting thing was finding each other on Facebook. Finding her also put me into contact with Donna and we've all chatted constantly about getting together. Last Friday, we did just that and had such a fun time. It was the first of what will be many more and more regular gatherings. Some day soon, I'll invite them over so that my mom can visit with them, she'll be happy to see them and hear about all their kids.

Yet another happy connection, thanks to Facebook.

Sunday in the Park with Maria and Robert

File Under: Friends who lunch.





Pictured with me are my friends Maria and Robert. We worked together at Kindred a few years back. Robert was the A/P manager, Maria was our Staffing Coordinator. Robert and I had offices next to one another, Maria's desk was in an open space outside of our offices. We have another friend, Priscilla who could not join us for lunch but was part of our day to day routine. We were each others' sounding post and kept one another sane and laughing. They left, I'm still there. I've survived.

We still get together a few times a year. We catch up, we laugh, we hang out and eat and sometimes we drink.

Last Sunday was one of those days. We lunched at Grand Lux Cafe. Afterwards we went to Millennium Park and walked around, watching people and enjoying the scenery and the day. It was a great day.

Behind us in the picture, above, is the famous Cloud Gate sculpture, otherwise referred to as "The Bean." Maria had never visited it. We sat at the bar below it and had a drink.

It was one of those days that makes me smile when I look back on it. I love those days.

Meet Brian

File Under: Friends















The guy I'm hugging in the above picture is Brian. How we met is a funny story. Brian knows just about everybody in Chicago. He has lived here for a lot of years. About 8 years ago, I found his profile on an online dating sight. I sent him an email, hoping to initiate contact. I never heard back from him. I was disappointed but didn't lament (too much) over it. As I would review the site from time to time, I'd see his profile.

A couple years later, I was spending the day with my friend Chuck. We were having a yard sale at his place. A mutual friend of both Brian and Chuck came by and Brian was with them. We met, chatted briefly but I was at a loss for words because I didn't know if he remembered that I had written to him so I was generally just trying to be polite. He was nice though and I was glad that I got to meet him in person.

Sometime later, maybe a few months or so, I was out with my friend Dan. Wherever we were, in walked Brian and he and Dan, who were friends, began to chat. Dan introduced me and we acknowledged that we had met previously. Still I was kind of tongue-tied around him. At that point on, I started seeing him out a lot, Dan and I would run into him often, or I'd see him when I was with Chuck and we'd laugh at how our social circles overlapped. Things became friendlier between us.

As time went on, we became better friends. We would run into each other at a party and hang out and chat. I learned more about what made him tick, saw that he had some of the same insecurities as me. All the time that I thought he was just one of these great social butterflies without a care in the world, I realized that he had a vulnerable side and on a few occasions I was the one he would confide in.

We've had some great adventures out with our friends, some of our more memorable events were Cinco de Mayo 2007 (TEQUILA!) and the Pride parade 2006, among others.

Our most recent event was actually for a sad/happy reason. Brian was promoted and is moving to Washington DC this week. Saturday night (1/12) was Brian's going away party. A whole bunch of Brian's friends gathered at Crew Bar to send him off in style. It was a fun night, but a sad chapter for those of us who won't see Brian on a regular basis any more. Oh sure, he'll visit, and we'll visit him so he'll always be in our lives. I'm just glad I finally got to know the guy that I first saw in that profile picture, all those years ago.

Here's a few of us from Brian's party.

Meet Denise!

File under: Friends


Here's me with my friend Denise:


I met Denise shortly after I met Dan. This is an important part of the story because Dan and Denise were roommates when I met. They have been friends for nearly 20 years and lived together many of those years. So, meeting Denise for the first time, I was a bit nervous because it was like meeting a member of Dan's family.

I think for our first meeting, Dan, Denise and I went shopping together. Right away we hit it off. She's fun, witty and sharp. Over the course of time we discovered our shared love of Christmas decorations, fun stores, and The Food Network, to name a few things. We have such fun together whether it's reviewing the results of "Dancing With the Stars" or following our favorite cooking celebrities.

Denise has been on a journey over this past year. She's lost close to 70 pounds and she looks amazing. YAY DENISE!

Stay tuned for details from our most recent adventure, seeing Paula Deen Live!

Meet Vahona

File under: Friends

Vahona, aka Princess Whooosh, aka One N, aka 69-N's, aka Queen of Anarchy is one of those people who, the minute we were face to face, we were instant friends. Allow me to explain.

Vahona and I share a common interest. We love The Go-Go's. We became online friends when we were both members of a message and chat board. Every Sunday evening a group of us would chat. Since there would be freaks in the room, a few of us would engage in side chats to laugh at the freaks or think of ideas to inject into the conversation. Anyway, during chats, we all revealed where we lived. I found out that not only did Vahona live in Chicago, she lived about 5 minutes from me.

Ironically, we met in person for the first time at a Bangles concert. We also met one of the freaks from our chat at the show. We were all waiting to be allowed into the venue, in line together and the freak (we'll call her BAG) said something that had us in hysterics. We laughed so hard that Vahona finally tugged on my sleeve and dragged me into the gift shop at the venue. Well, to make a long story short, we began hanging out. We also began finishing each other's sentences, having similar thoughts and laughing at the same oddities that others wouldn't quite get. We decided that we were joined at the brain.

Vahona and I have traveled together. By plane, by automobile. Our most insane roadtrip happened when Vahona called me at work one afternoon and said "So the Go-Go's are playing in St. Louis in two weeks on Wednesday. She went on to say "we could work 'til noon, hit the road, be at the venue by 6, have some dinner, show starts at 8, we'll be back on the road by 9:30, home by 3." I said "That's just crazy." She said "I know!" I said "Let's do it!"

There was an opening act. We didn't get home until 5:50 am. We both had to work the next day. I was to work by 9, I think she got to work at around that time, too.

I did laundry that evening. I left all of my socks in the dryer at the laundromat.

Some day, I'll go into more detail about that roadtrip. It includes guest appearances by Bea Arthur, Angela Landsbury and "Blackula."

Vahona no longer lives in Chicago. She moved back to her home town of Portage, IN. She lives about an hour and 15 minutes from me. Not far by any means, but not "hey, wanna come over and watch a movie" close any more.

Back to Vahona. Here's some fun facts about her:

*She once dressed as Marie Osmond for Halloween.
*A Go-Go has fallen asleep in her breasts.
*Simply mentioning Simon LeBon makes her giggle and tremble a bit.
*She doesn't like mayonnaise.
*She was once employed by the big Mouse, working as a dancing waitress at a soda fountain at one of the Walt Disney World properties.

Vahona...she's good people!