The Land of the Blowing Winds

The 21st of August, 2026

Greetings! Indeed, I have been absent from blogging for many moons, but my absence has coincided with a very eventful period of my life. The most notable event of this era has been my trip to Chicago/Chicagoland.

On a dreary mid-August day, I flew to O’Hare International Airport, where I was picked up by my dear friend Mori. You can check out Mori’s website here: snail.zone

I stayed at Mori and 7666’s (surprise another Fediverse friend) place for about a week, and we had an absolute blast just chilling there. We watched movies and played video games! Of course, we also went to Chicago. This was my first time being in a major city, and I must say I’m in love with it! I’ve been dreaming of moving to Chicago since we first got off the train there. It really does feel like a place you could carve out a life for yourself. As you are probably aware you are on my website, so I will also share some photos of this.

Chicago is a breathtakingly beautiful city, huh?

While in Chicago, Mori and I had to have Deep Dish. We went to Pizzeria Uno, the most famous purveyor of deep dish and also the inventor of it. It’s a place of great history, as far as pizza establishments go, and it lived up to its renown. The pizza was delicious. As far as Chicago delicacies go, I’m also pleased to say I tried Malört… and I loved it! Anticlimactic, as Malört is quite infamous for tasting awful, but I thought it was quite delicious. Maybe I’m just a bit of a weirdo!

Chicago also has public transit, what a breath of fresh air this is.

I was so pleasantly surprised by how great the public transit in Chicago is. The L and the bus lines were simple to use and understand, they were extremely clean, and most importantly: extremely cheap! I’m also daydreaming about not having to own a car and pay all the massive related fees related to such a thing after witnessing the power of Chicago’s public transit.

Chicago is a land of prosperity, so many massive skyscrapers!

Towards the end of my and Mori’s Chicago adventure, we dropped by my long-time bestie’s place, Velveteen. You’ve no doubt heard of her if you’ve followed my site in any capacity; I’ve been linking to her personal site since around the time I first made my website. In the interest of accessibility, I’ll link it again here: velveteen.one

Meeting such a long-term online friend like Velveteen in real life was huge for me; I even got to pet her cat Gin. We got onto the train back to Mori’s place and went to Olive Garden. Having dinner at my favorite chain eatery with everyone was also a dream come true.

I'm in Olive Garden with Vel and Mori. This is a dream come true.

I said as much when I was there too!

After dinner, we all went back to Mori’s and played Nintendo Switch and had a big bottle of slightly sweet cabernet sauvignon that I’d bought at a winery a few days prior. This night of playing video games with my beloved internet friends IRL over some large glasses of wine was simply the greatest night of my entire life.

This trip was simply just wonderful, and it reminded me that a brighter, more joyful life absolutely exists outside of my dour little hometown.