Also this: It is going to rain on Sunday, so wandering around Chicago would not be as fun as it would normally be.

Home in Urbana at last. Summary of my travels with Greyhound:

Newark to Pittsburgh: Every seat full. I sit next to a 40 year old bald white guy who never seaks, never stopps sweating, smells like RANK B.O. and cigarettes and has no control over his right arm whenever he falls alseep. (i am of course, sitting to his right and unwanted touching ensues).

Pittsburgh to Cleaveland: sit next to cool dude from Newark who's pissed at Greyhound for losing his luggage with all of his clients' keys in it (office cleaning service). Dude also refers to the city as "Ku-Klux-Kleaveland."

Cleaveland: take a break. Bus will not resart. Wait an hour. Switch boarding doors four times. Hear an Amish guy drop the f-bomb. Tranfer all luggage and passangers to a new (ass-old) bus.

Cleaveland to BFE Indiana: I am the ONLY person who does not get a seat to himself but has to share... albiet with the cool dude from Newark who's now even more pissed because we're 2 hours late and they still don't know where his suitcase is. Heating and interior lights on bus fail.

BFE Indiana: (4 AM) stop for a break at Hardees. Bus will not resart after driver finishes his thickburger. Driver goes to sleep on Hardees formica benches. I consider calling Emily at around 5AM to ask if she can pick me up. Decide against it. Fellow passenger calls a mechanic Dude from Newark is FUCKING ANGRY. Three hours later, guy comes and recharges the battery. Heat still doesn't work.

Chicago: arrive 2 hours too late for my connecting bus to Champaign. Decide to wait 2 hours for the next one. Realize i cannot find my ticket for the last leg of the trip. Give up on Greyhound, walk 6 blocks to Union Station, hop on the Amtrak and go to Champaign.

Chambana: ride my glorious, foolproof, reliable and beloved bicycle home exactly 24 hours after i left.

Yes i would definately be happy with people coming to my house for New Year's Eve. Trains leave Chicago Union station for Champaign New Year's Eve at 9:15am, 4:05pm, and 8:00pm. Trains leave Champaign for Chicago New Year's Day at 6:10am, 10:14am, and 6:49pm. All trips are between 2 and 3 hours (one way) and cost between $12 and $33 (one way).

I'm still open to alternative New Year Eve plans such as dragging my ass back to Chicago if someone's got a place for us to hang out and/or crash.

Emily, your ice skates and polka-dotted, alcoholic, 4-foot-long pet aphid are here. Your half-couch and hoodie are not.

also... Pete, are my ice skates still with you in Chambana? Is my Knox hoodie there?
and for someone in Galesburg... is my half-couch still there? i don't remember what i did with it!

firstly-- Christina, here is Ari's email. I guess i thought somehow she was on again, but i don't see any posts from her, so voila: arillorens@yahoo.com or smarelster@gmail.com .

I am at home again, experiencing the usual conflicting emotions of happy to be home and feeling a little alienated. I am waiting to find out whether i have a job with City Year in Boston this coming september. i am planning on working on a ranch in Colorado over the summer. and sometime this spring, i think i shall take a nice trip to Brazil with the boyfriend. Until then, yet again, i shall be subbing, since the climate has grown hostile to my not-very-well-insulated body. (Read: overnight temps hovering at 0.) I also put in an application at a frozen custard shop in town for part time at minimum wage. It's very exciting :)

New Years! I vote that we have it at Pete's & Michaels. Pete said something about people would rather just have it in Chicago, but if we do that, we need a house. Jordan's is the only house i know of in Chicago. I dunno if his parents want that. If we had it at P & M's (PMS, for short), it would be much easier, because we wouldn't have to find some sort of hotel at New Years in Chicago. I don't want to have to do that, and i can't think that anyone else would want to, either. Would anyone be opposed to this?