Now onto our May(n) event, The BBC. I have a lot of really great friends and a terrific family (the real one and the "Chicago" one), and a good number of them managed to come hang out with us on Saturday for a drink or two or twenty. My sincerest thanks to all of you (whether you found time to make it or not). I'm not someone who puts much thought or contemplation into my birthday every year, it's not something I consider to be very monumental. People invariably ask me what I want for my birthday, and my thoughts drift to all of the crap I already have cluttering my living space...I don't exactly want more of that. So all I really ask for, year in and year out, is that the people who make me smile and who's relationships I value are similarly able to enjoy themselves. I'd like to think we accomplished that. So enough w/ the reflections, on to the Birthday Bar Crawl recap.
Mickey's (#84) is our first stop. Figuring the weather would be unpredictable it was my idea to get the outdoor drinking out of the way first. They've got a huge patio here that's open year round thanks to the wonders of modern deck manufacturing. Roughly 9 bottles were on the menu's beer list and they were out of half of them. Rick and I start the festivities off with Amstel Lights at 2:14pm. Our waitress reminded us of the unabletosmilegirl from Fearon's earlier this year until we saw her interacting with an infant and Rick noticed a hint of inclined grinning. Both the Cubs and the Sox would blow late leads while we drank at Mickey's, only the Cubs would end up prevailing. This subsequently reminds me that "Go, Cubs, Go" is the Miller Chill of Victory Songs (ie, the worst). Mini Turkey Corndogs are consumed and the outdoor patio is great for people watching on a sunny Clark Ave day. Mickey's has a very disgusting bathroom that redeems itself with an above-urinal advertisement for our friend Joe's latest creation, The Warrior Dash.
Heading across the street to The Field House (#85) we're greeted by our first fellow revelers in The BBC -- Abby, Kelly & Kathryn (who flew in from NYC just for this ocassion). I bet Rick $1 that we'd end up with 9 or more crawlers before leaving the Field House...thanks to the arrival of Kathy, Carolyn, Melissa & Ashley I'm a dollar richer.
Also arriving to put the bet out of reach are Selfy, Tim (celebrating his ACTUAL birthday), Annie, Akita, and friends of T&A. Kate and I split a $5 entry into the bar Preakness pool which proves unprofitable (damn you, Luv Gov!). My first birthday shot of whiskey goes down smoothly.
Also of note: The Field House was the fourth bar we've been to this year with a dog present.
Rather than attempting to list out who came & went the rest of the day for each of the remaining 4 bars, I'll just list as many of the others as I can remember: Robert, Sarah, Ream, Martineau, Carolyn, Brent, Brent's Brother, Derek, Eickhoff, Bode, Matt, Internet Celebrity Baumer, Allie, Michelle, Dustin, Kafel, Kafel's friends, Nancy, Becky, and probably a handful I can't recollect several days later.
So Duke's (#86) is actually a pretty great place, and the perfect site for some food. Without the menu I knew I was getting a Bleu Cheeseburger w/ Grilled Onions. This most definitely hit the spot. Brent, for reasons unknown, remarks, "Actually, I'm kind of addicted to Gossip Girl. It's a really good show." Eickhoff, always misbelieving that our music tastes line up exactly on last.fm, keeps pointing out to me how (not) perfect their sound selection is at Duke's. It was ok, probably a little above average.
Sarah is wearing the t-shirt of the day - "Afternoon Delight" - which pictures a couple of unicorns forming the beast with two backs in front of a rainbow. Matt buys me my second birthday shot of whiskey. Moving on...
Crossroads (#87)...well, they had $5 pitchers. But the place, eh, how do I put this? I'll just go with Ashley's review, "...And let's be real, this bar really isn't that great." A bunch of my idiot friends play quarters (causing the recently arrived Internet Celebrity Baumer to quickly advance his levels of intoxication). Martineau tries to tap out of quarters in order for me to take his seat. I'm not buying. The rowdy table also attempts a power hour.
A big EBONY Thank You to Baumer for making up for a 4 month absence from these chronicles. Your legion of fans had missed you. WTF moment of the day: Crossroad's (a generic lowest common denominator frathouse bar with cheap drinks and no character...really, $5 pitchers?) has a bathroom attendant.
Quoth The Akita: I am 100% confident I will win the Summer Beer Mile* (7/11/09)
Ream determines that what had been loosely referred to as "Kylefest" has been redubbed "Kylepalooza". This is obviously before I rechristened it The BBC. Also at Duke's I began making illustrations instead of just notes in my official EBONY notebook. The additions? My fabulous Venn Diagram about Women and Problems, the cartoon entitled "No Place For A Paper Airplane in a Green Society", and a map I drew upsidedown illustrating how long it takes my younger brother to travel from Crested Butte, CO to either Chicago or Aspen. This notebook will certainly be going up on Ebay at the end of '09.
Now off to Goodbar (#88)! Better music, lots of dancing. We go into our customary "dance club" game of assigning everyone an artist and requiring them to dominate the floor while said artist is played. I, as usual, shoulder the burden of Michael Jackson...which is no match for Selfy's dominating footwork when Timberlake blasts through the speakers. Michelle & Dustin arrive, fresh off a nearby concert. Through the magic of poorly-lit nitelife, the bartending staff seems to think Michelle's concert wristband is the same color as the Goodbar "all you can drink" wristband...thus further enabling the deterioration of my motor skills via alcohol. One car bomb, a couple redbull/vodkas, a few more beers...
Last stop on the evening (aside from obligatory late night mexican food)...is our second and more successful attempt to visit The Tonic Room (#89). I failed to register any notes from TTR, mostly due to the late hour and my general state of unwell-being. Everyone made it home alive, ready to start 365 days of training before the next BBC.
*the summer beer mile may or may not be a fictional activity (presented by the OMTC)
