can you believe it? i'm somebody just like you

yet again, being at the heart of the city has given me a measure of rejuvenation. it's nice to be able to just get on a bus, take a nice ride down one of the most beautiful roads there are and be downtown in a matter of minutes. i wish i had more reason to do so.

the quest today was for gold metallic elastic cord. i was headed towards blick's to try my luck, but for some reason i decided to get off at jackson instead of munroe, and realizing i haven't had anything to eat, was delightedly drawn towards the corner bakery at the intersection of jackson and michigan. the uptown turkey sandwich was every bit as good as i remembered it and, at just under 7 dollars after tax, a pretty good deal by downtown chicago standards.

then to citibank to make sure i had enough money to pay my phone bill, which was just 2 blocks down at the intersection of munroe and michigan. afterwards, down munroe to blick's, but first to t-mobile to settle the bill. blick's was a bust: they stopped stocking beading supplies, which would be the section that the cord would be under. fortunately, the sales assistant at blick's was kind enough to point me to a beading supplies store at wabash and washington.

so a few more blocks north. found the staples which was supposed to be adjoining the building i was looking for. into the lobby after finding out that the place was on the 7th floor. it's one of those old style offices, and somewhat daunting. got up to the 7th floor, turned right, and saw a restaurant, which turned out, pleasantly enough, to be the original 'heaven on seven'. found the beading supply store, and the cord, and then back onto the streets.

decided against getting a jamba juice, since it was so cold. spotted a new "asian" restaurant at state and lake, which was somewhat suspicious looking. bus came shortly, and before long i was back at home.

all in all, a delightful afternoon of running errands. being just one of many people doing the same things in a big city makes me feel somehow less lonely, as if all the bad things in recent days meant nothing, and i shouldn't let them get to me. and on the way home, listening to music while trying my best to finish reading a paper for class, i felt, for the first time in 7 weeks, genuinely happy to be alive.