Things I Miss About Pennsylvania

Yes, in fact, there are a few things I miss about my former life in a semi-rural area of northwestern Pennsylvania.  Here they are:

The post office.  No kidding.  I love almost everything about life in the city, but the post office is not so wonderful.  It has long lines, impatient employees, and very different ways of doing things.

I miss the man at the post office in the tiny town where I used to live, who’d chat with me while he rang up my purchases and whipped some packing tape on my boxes.  In Chicago, I didn’t expect the same level of friendliness, but I did understand the packing tape as just something that goes with the territory: you bring in a box (or buy a box), you fill it, you label it, and the cashier puts tape on it.

Sadly, in Chicago, you must purchase a roll of tape in order to receive approximately a foot and a half of it for your package.

I was not aware of this.  Live and learn, I guess.

My cats.  Okay, they aren’t really mine, they’re my dad’s, but I’ve been around them since they were kittens, over 13 years ago. 

Here’s Baltimore, rolling in a puzzle I did over the summer:

What a weirdo.

And here’s Ottawa, being unusually calm:



Mrrow.



They’re named for the Baltimore Orioles and the Ottawa Senators, two of my dad’s favorite sports teams.

Baltimore is fat, cranky, loud, and needy.  Ottawa is skittish and shy and never learned to meow properly.  I can’t really describe the noise she makes.  It’s sort of like the sound of a small door with rusty hinges opening very slowly.

Ottawa normally stays away from everyone, but when I was living with my dad last year she became friendly with me at night.  As soon as I went to my room to go to bed, she’d zip in there and curl up on the bed. 

If she had extra energy she’d make rusty door hinge noises at me for a while.  So comforting.

And finally, I do miss certain aspects of privacy and solitude.  As much as I like the hustle and bustle of this city, people do get close and it makes a person cranky.  This morning a man was rapping very loudly next to me on the train and there was no way to avoid it. 

These guys can appreciate a quiet summer night in the country:

There are interesting smells, too…not always bad ones, but I mean, you can usually tell what your seatmate on the train had for lunch.  And it often involves ketchup.

That is all.

Some Southern Hospitality, Far From the South

Today an awful moment turned into a wonderful moment.

For some people—many people—what happened would have turned an awful moment into an even worse moment, but for me it was sublime.

Let me back up.  For two days now it has been HOT.  And I mean insanely, disgustingly, I-want-to-die hot.  So after a night sleeping in a pool of sweat and spending the next day curled up by the air conditioner, I resigned myself to the fact that I needed to go to the university at which I am enrolled and pick up my UPass, the nifty little transit card that lets me go on any bus and any train in Chicago for a low price.

Today they were giving out UPasses until 6, and they wouldn’t be open again until Tuesday, so when it got close to 4 I decided to be brave and go outside.

I got to school and realized, right when I walked up to the correct building, that I didn’t have my student ID with me.  Gah!  I needed that thing in order to get my UPass, so I had no choice but to go back home (about a 20-30 minute commute) and get it. 

On the way home, because I thought it would make me more productive, I stopped at the grocery and bought a few things for my dinner (to be discussed at the end of this).  By the time I got home and dropped off my food and got my ID, it was close to 5 and I knew I’d better hurry.

Back outside, I hopped on a bus and then caught another train to campus.

All this time, I was very hot.  Sweating, my clothes sticking to me, the whole deal.  I was also getting very hungry and thirsty.  I was cranky about forgetting my ID before.  And then at one of the train stops on my way to campus, one million people got on who were coming from the Cubs game, including maybe 7 or 8 tourists.

These guys were from Dallas.  Most of them were very large and very loud.  (Sadly, I have been in Chicago for less than 2 weeks and I already feel snarky about tourists.)  They filled up the car and made me even crankier, but I consoled myself with the fact that I was getting off in a few stops.

So when I was almost to my stop, I stood up and politely said “Excuse me,” so I could get by.

And a Dallas tourist drawled, “Yes, ma’am.”

And then I was not cranky anymore!

The way that stranger from Dallas spoke to me reminded me of home and happiness and nice people, and got me through the rest of the day.  I am still feeding off it.

I got my UPass and went home and cooked these, with a few alterations (I’m not a big fan of green chiles or tomatoes), and it was one of the best dinners of my life.  The weather has also cooled off considerably since this afternoon. 

Some people, I understand, would not appreciate my adventure on the train today.  A lot of women my age don’t like “ma’am” because it makes them feel or seem old, and people who aren’t from the south might not like it at all.

But it sure made a difference in the life of this lady.  Thank you, Dallas stranger.  You made my day.

How to Live in Chicago

1: Do your first load of laundry in your new apartment.  Discover that the dryer does not dry clothes completely.

2: Decide that you need to buy a drying rack because there are not enough door frames and chair backs and coat hooks in the apartment to finish drying your clothes.

3: Look at Target’s website and find out that they have lots of drying racks to choose from.

4: Print out a map from Google with directions to the closest Target.

5: Take a bus and then a train to get there.

6: Get off the train and realize you are in the shadiest part of town ever.

7: Go inside Target.  Walk to where you think drying racks should be.

8: Find every laundry accessory known to man except for drying racks.

9: Ask a stock guy where the drying racks are.  Listen as he tells you to go back to the exact location you were just in.

10: Go back to that location.  Look around some more.

11: Call CVS and ask if they have drying racks.  Smile with relief when the guy says they do.

12: Leave Target.  Walk back through shady neighborhood to the train station.

13: Wait for the train and read the sign at the community college, which says that it is 84 degrees at 8:36 p.m.

14: Get off the train and decide to walk home instead of taking the bus so that you can save $2.

15: Walk past a cemetery in the semi-dark in the sketchy part of town and totally regret saving $2.

16: Decide that if you aren’t murdered or raped or overcome with shin splints, you are going to buy a ton of ice cream before going home.

17: Go inside the blessedly air-conditioned CVS.  Go to laundry section and do not be surprised that they don’t have any drying racks.

18: Buy toothpaste, face cleanser, and two boxes of ice cream products.

19: Go home, let you clothes sit damply on the bed, and eat ice cream in self-imposed peace.

THE END.