chicago today feels like a restless old metamaybe wanderer

"i just checked and it's 23.23°C on that dumb weather app-dry as a vintage iPhone screen, honestly. humidity’s 28%, which means my laptop fan’s been crying since noon. if you get bored, milwaukee’s about an hour out or detroit’s a rusted 2-hour whiplash. don’t ask me about detroit. it has a yelp page now.

turns out locals don’t believe in your ‘oh, this yoga studio’s quiet!’ delusions. someone told me that namasté place near the lake? they played eric clapton on loop.

as for gear," i muttered, staring at my overpacked rucksack, 'I’ve got my bamboo fiber board, a cracked VR headset for illinois museum tours, and a noise-canceling scarf that’s technically a phaser pedal. pro tip: chicago’s public wifi maps are a lie. the first time I tried connecting near the bean, my Zoom call with a tier 2 dad from Cleveland froze mid-sentence about his hernia.
"just a heads-up," I overheard a guy at the soup kitchen next to the 608 flicker, 'There’s this café in wicker park that’s basically a anarchist bohemian’s minor stroke. All baristas smoke clove cigarettes indoors. Try it. And if you wave to the ‘hipster,’ it’ll squeak back. It had cobwebs and pretentiousness."",

somewhere north of the river, a street artist wearing a ‘i’m not with the ‘protest’ part’ bandana was busy spray-painting a mustang emblem on a dumpster. his tag? ‘WE HEAR YOUR TED TALKS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED.’

i found a map that looked legit from that one independent travel blog-turns out the pinned location was a defunct karaoke bar. - tripadvisor says the blackstone riverwalk is ‘charming,’ but everyone there was either a resume-obsessed yogi or a guy selling iPhone cases painted like al capone.

moral of the story? chicago’s like that one ex who still texts you from 2012-nostalgic, but if you mention the futures, it gets weird. feels like home, but the wifi’s 3G and the neighbors are all auditioning for ‘the handmaid’s tale.’