the awesome/terrifying freedom

i woke up this morning with a sore throat. there are a bunch of possible reasons for this:

• belting my head off in the car, to u2 songs that are way way too high for me - for 10 hours.

• breathing the same air-conditioned, recycled air in that car for 10 hours.

• breathing the stale, recycled air-conditioned motel air all night while sleeping.

• kissing strange boy shortly before leaving on this trip.

could be any/all of those things. once i got some food in me i felt better, though it was a slow start. didn't get back on the road until about 12:30, and really took my time getting to chicago. stopped often to get water, food, and just to walk around. my back is starting to hurt. people who aren't from new york aren't used to all the walking; i'm not used to all the sitting.

those rest stops are fascinating. they are filled with the most irritating 'souvenirs.' it's fine, it seems like that stuff was created to sit on the shelf forever, until you see a woman actually -pick up- the glitter-filled blown glass dolphin riding an acrylic blue spray-painted wave and say without a trace of irony, 'this is perfect for the front room.' i wish i'd gotten a picture of the horrid thing.

i was zoned out for most of the drive today. ohio and indiana were green, but flat. not much in the way of scenery, and there are only so many photos of roads you can take. i listened to some tony robbins. he's insufferable. i mean, i want to be successful, but not at the cost of becoming insufferable. also listened to an hour of an audiobook of greek myths, read by kathleen turner, sidney poitier, paul newman, and matthew broderick. broderick sucks. i completely lost interest in every chapter he read. the other 3 were great though.

i also listened to the official 'lost' podcast, which i said a long time ago i was going to stop listening to. it got better, as the producers became a little more honest, and a little less snarky. this week's podcast is just a recording of the 'lost' panel at comic-con. some great tidbits thrown out. what a fantastic show. by the way, do you know how cool my former roommate is? she made me a road-trip care package in the form of picture perfect prop replicas of the dharma initiative food props on 'lost.'



it takes geeky awesomeness to a whole new level.

drove into chicago right at rush hour today where i crawled through traffic to my friend justin's house. the clouds were amazing, and the architecture of the skyscrapers is all glass, austerely reflecting the colors in the sky. i took out my camera and just started snapping pics, not even looking at the monitor.







day two: