Chicago and CFTC
Jul. 30th, 2005 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erilynYeah, I'm finally posting about Challenge. One of the downsides of being sick since I got home was having the perfect excuse for my natural tendency to be lazy and procrastinate. Doesn't contain interesting details you won't have read elsewhere, mostly for my own benefit *g*.
Tuesday
I flew into Chicago from Vancouver in the afternoon, and me and my large, heavy (I've had to expand it by this point of the trip cause of purchases) suitcase take the train from O'Hare to my first hotel. I hadn't counted on so many stairs, but a very nice man carried it up one long section for me, so yay for Chicago. I suspect this suitcase wrestling is the cause of the amazing collection of bruises that appeared on my thighs later in the week, cause it's not like there's a more fun reason.
The lovely![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cubby_bear met me at my hotel a while later, and we walked up to the Hancock building. That area, especially Michigan Ave, really is lovely, and she played tour guide along the way, orientating me, providing me with a transport map and we stop by the information centre. We skipped the expensive observation deck in favour of the bar, and sat back for a nice drink and a great chat, followed by dinner and more chatting. Great way to start off my 5 days in Chicago.
Wednesday
Top on my list of things to do in Chicago was visit the Art Institute. Spent about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, which is really the maximum time I can spend at one go looking at art, which is a shame cause there were areas I only skimmed through. Their Impressionist collection really is incredible. Then I did a hop on/off tour of Chicago on an open top double decker bus, which was a great way to see a lot of city in an afternoon. Commentary from the guides was pretty good too. Finished off with some shopping along Michigan Ave, though the only thing I bought was a very short denim skirt for $15 (I got it at least partially cause I fit into a size 7! I'm a 10-12 in Aussie sizes, and I'm gonna have to stop eating the way I have been since I got home if I'm going to fit into it again *g*.) Couple of pretty pictures of Chicago, here and here.
Thursday
I started the day with hotcakes at McDonalds for breakfast, and there's a stretched limo in the drive-through, so I amuse myself with thoughts that its a member of Nsync. I got the most fucking expensive half-leg wax ever, cause the only place I could find was a spa. Though as soon as she found out I was visiting from overseas, the girl apologised for Bush and said she didn't vote for him, which was an amusing way to start a conversation. Some more shopping on and around Michigan Ave, but no purchases. I cast longing looks at the huge Never Gone poster in the Virgin store window, if I'd been with someone they would have been forced to take a picture of me in front of it *g*.
I'd debated whether to take a cab or walk from that hotel to Hotel 71, and ended up walking because I didn't find a cab within a block or two. About 7 or 8 blocks, but it was flat, and my bag might have been big and heavy but it rolls smoothly. I checked in soon after midday, and knew I was in the right place as Papa Fatone wandered past me. My first someone-connected-to-Nsync sighting! My room was nice, I shared it (and the bed) withdeliberatehips and olivejz28 (who arrived Friday). Nice view of the river. Fortunately, I found fellow lj people in the lobby before I even found my room - thankfully I'd met escapist_xbq when I was in LA.
View from my hotel room
After finding the room (and showering, the walk may not have been too bad but it was warm), we ventured out for lunch (upon which I got amusing commentary from some random men about my "It's All About Me" tshirt), and I had my first Nsync sighting - Joey coming back to the hotel as we were leaving and leaving as we were coming back (or vice versa). Lots of hanging out in the suite with many people - some of whom may even have been staying in that room. Someone had the leaked studio version of "Who Am I" on their ipod, so I was able to finally hear it, yay! Much gossiping and meeting new people and general hanging out with fellow fans fun. At some point, it was justescapist_xbq, marrymehowie and I, so we all started taking our clothes off - and trying to figure out what to wear on Saturday night. Later in the afternoon, I was starting to get concerned about deliberatehips, but she finally got in after some delays, and we met in our room. Thankfully, she didn't turn out to be a psycho who killed me and ate my liver (in which case, I was blaming escapist_xbq - deliberatehips and I didn't really even know each other online before making plans to share a room *g*), but someone who I've been missing ever since I left Chicago :)
We were hanging around outside the hotel in the early evening, waiting for others to head off to karaoke, when Joey approached, and was taking pictures with people. I took a picture for someone of her and Joey, and took the opportunity to say hi and comment that I'd come from Australia, blah blah blah. Joey seemed torn between being impressed and concerned that I'd come that far, so I did mention it was part of a longer trip.simplyflyaway tried to horn in on my far travelling fan moment, but I countered that Australia was much further than England. Stupidly, as he'd taken a couple, I didn't ask Joey for a picture, and it was only later that I realised I'd continued to eat m&ms through the whole thing - taking the other persons picture, talking to him etc. But I think I was remarkably coherent, given the circumstances.
I think it wasdeliberatehips, daisydust, simplyflyaway and I who headed off to karaoke together via the El, and thanks to directions someone (not me) had remembered to post and bring, it was easy to find. I met so many fabulous people (thank god for nametags - those this led to a lot of staring at each others breasts, trying to read them *g*), drank a lot (various vodka concoctions and midori sours) and was completely ditzy (at least as much from being hyper at being there as the alcohol). canadiankracka, deliberatehips, glendaglamazon and I performed "I Want It That Way", complete with lots of pointing and overemoting. Even the non-lj people, who were completely bewildered by us, were singing along - everyone knows that song *g*. I was also up on stage at the end of the night, trying to remember the choreography to "Bye Bye Bye", and may have been up there for something else, I can't remember now. I ended up being asked about our group by two random people in the bar, and attempted to explain (I don't know how successful I was), and one woman almost broke my heart, cause when people did "It Makes Me Ill", she heard people saying it was an Nsync song, and as she didn't recognise it, she asked me if it was new, and I could only say "I wish". It was such a good night, many thanks to glendaglamazon for organising it!
Back at Hotel 71, we were in the bar for a while, but hunger pangs lured us away. That, and no interesting celebs were in the bar (even Donal Faison and Wrong Fucking Carter had left, and that that guy from AH seemed like a twat) *g*.deliberatehips and I joined divafits and babygotbass in their room to order pizza. This seems like an easy enough thing, even at 1am, right? WRONG. Two hours and many phonecalls, including Erin getting practically hung up on for saying we were inquiring about the pizza we'd ordered three days ago, deliberatehips and I were going to head back to our room, when we found the pizza guy in the hallway. But the time in between wasn't wasted, much fun fannish discussion took place (while I was wrapped under the covers of their bed, the airconditioning in that hotel was freezing).
Some of the stars of LJ Karaoke,canadiankracka and escapist_xbq.
Tuesday
I flew into Chicago from Vancouver in the afternoon, and me and my large, heavy (I've had to expand it by this point of the trip cause of purchases) suitcase take the train from O'Hare to my first hotel. I hadn't counted on so many stairs, but a very nice man carried it up one long section for me, so yay for Chicago. I suspect this suitcase wrestling is the cause of the amazing collection of bruises that appeared on my thighs later in the week, cause it's not like there's a more fun reason.
The lovely
cubby_bear met me at my hotel a while later, and we walked up to the Hancock building. That area, especially Michigan Ave, really is lovely, and she played tour guide along the way, orientating me, providing me with a transport map and we stop by the information centre. We skipped the expensive observation deck in favour of the bar, and sat back for a nice drink and a great chat, followed by dinner and more chatting. Great way to start off my 5 days in Chicago.Wednesday
Top on my list of things to do in Chicago was visit the Art Institute. Spent about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, which is really the maximum time I can spend at one go looking at art, which is a shame cause there were areas I only skimmed through. Their Impressionist collection really is incredible. Then I did a hop on/off tour of Chicago on an open top double decker bus, which was a great way to see a lot of city in an afternoon. Commentary from the guides was pretty good too. Finished off with some shopping along Michigan Ave, though the only thing I bought was a very short denim skirt for $15 (I got it at least partially cause I fit into a size 7! I'm a 10-12 in Aussie sizes, and I'm gonna have to stop eating the way I have been since I got home if I'm going to fit into it again *g*.) Couple of pretty pictures of Chicago, here and here.
Thursday
I started the day with hotcakes at McDonalds for breakfast, and there's a stretched limo in the drive-through, so I amuse myself with thoughts that its a member of Nsync. I got the most fucking expensive half-leg wax ever, cause the only place I could find was a spa. Though as soon as she found out I was visiting from overseas, the girl apologised for Bush and said she didn't vote for him, which was an amusing way to start a conversation. Some more shopping on and around Michigan Ave, but no purchases. I cast longing looks at the huge Never Gone poster in the Virgin store window, if I'd been with someone they would have been forced to take a picture of me in front of it *g*.
I'd debated whether to take a cab or walk from that hotel to Hotel 71, and ended up walking because I didn't find a cab within a block or two. About 7 or 8 blocks, but it was flat, and my bag might have been big and heavy but it rolls smoothly. I checked in soon after midday, and knew I was in the right place as Papa Fatone wandered past me. My first someone-connected-to-Nsync sighting! My room was nice, I shared it (and the bed) with
deliberatehips and olivejz28 (who arrived Friday). Nice view of the river. Fortunately, I found fellow lj people in the lobby before I even found my room - thankfully I'd met escapist_xbq when I was in LA. View from my hotel room
After finding the room (and showering, the walk may not have been too bad but it was warm), we ventured out for lunch (upon which I got amusing commentary from some random men about my "It's All About Me" tshirt), and I had my first Nsync sighting - Joey coming back to the hotel as we were leaving and leaving as we were coming back (or vice versa). Lots of hanging out in the suite with many people - some of whom may even have been staying in that room. Someone had the leaked studio version of "Who Am I" on their ipod, so I was able to finally hear it, yay! Much gossiping and meeting new people and general hanging out with fellow fans fun. At some point, it was just
escapist_xbq, marrymehowie and I, so we all started taking our clothes off - and trying to figure out what to wear on Saturday night. Later in the afternoon, I was starting to get concerned about deliberatehips, but she finally got in after some delays, and we met in our room. Thankfully, she didn't turn out to be a psycho who killed me and ate my liver (in which case, I was blaming escapist_xbq - deliberatehips and I didn't really even know each other online before making plans to share a room *g*), but someone who I've been missing ever since I left Chicago :)We were hanging around outside the hotel in the early evening, waiting for others to head off to karaoke, when Joey approached, and was taking pictures with people. I took a picture for someone of her and Joey, and took the opportunity to say hi and comment that I'd come from Australia, blah blah blah. Joey seemed torn between being impressed and concerned that I'd come that far, so I did mention it was part of a longer trip.
simplyflyaway tried to horn in on my far travelling fan moment, but I countered that Australia was much further than England. Stupidly, as he'd taken a couple, I didn't ask Joey for a picture, and it was only later that I realised I'd continued to eat m&ms through the whole thing - taking the other persons picture, talking to him etc. But I think I was remarkably coherent, given the circumstances.I think it was
deliberatehips, daisydust, simplyflyaway and I who headed off to karaoke together via the El, and thanks to directions someone (not me) had remembered to post and bring, it was easy to find. I met so many fabulous people (thank god for nametags - those this led to a lot of staring at each others breasts, trying to read them *g*), drank a lot (various vodka concoctions and midori sours) and was completely ditzy (at least as much from being hyper at being there as the alcohol). canadiankracka, deliberatehips, glendaglamazon and I performed "I Want It That Way", complete with lots of pointing and overemoting. Even the non-lj people, who were completely bewildered by us, were singing along - everyone knows that song *g*. I was also up on stage at the end of the night, trying to remember the choreography to "Bye Bye Bye", and may have been up there for something else, I can't remember now. I ended up being asked about our group by two random people in the bar, and attempted to explain (I don't know how successful I was), and one woman almost broke my heart, cause when people did "It Makes Me Ill", she heard people saying it was an Nsync song, and as she didn't recognise it, she asked me if it was new, and I could only say "I wish". It was such a good night, many thanks to glendaglamazon for organising it! Back at Hotel 71, we were in the bar for a while, but hunger pangs lured us away. That, and no interesting celebs were in the bar (even Donal Faison and Wrong Fucking Carter had left, and that that guy from AH seemed like a twat) *g*.
deliberatehips and I joined divafits and babygotbass in their room to order pizza. This seems like an easy enough thing, even at 1am, right? WRONG. Two hours and many phonecalls, including Erin getting practically hung up on for saying we were inquiring about the pizza we'd ordered three days ago, deliberatehips and I were going to head back to our room, when we found the pizza guy in the hallway. But the time in between wasn't wasted, much fun fannish discussion took place (while I was wrapped under the covers of their bed, the airconditioning in that hotel was freezing).Some of the stars of LJ Karaoke,
canadiankracka and escapist_xbq.
