Day 1

Once again, I apologize for my absence. I have no excuses.

Now that that is out of the way, let me tell you what I am doing here. Today is the first day of my 101 Days of Summer Fun. If you know me you probably know that I live for the summertime. And this summer is going to be the best one yet...Paul's bachelor party, a week long trip to NY and Boston, three classic ballparks in three days (Shea, Yankee, Fenway), Milwaukee for Summerfest, kid sister's wedding (the sister...not the rapper), Pitchfork/Rock the Bells weekend, Lollapalooza, and all the Cubs games, street festivals, and barbecues that make summer in Chicago such a wonderful time.

So what could make the best summer ever even better? That's right...telling everyone else about it! So there you go...it is my intention to blog every day for the next 101 days. Hey, it's a pain in the ass...but it is better than actually studying or something lame like that. So consider this my great web memoir. My "webmoir" if you will.

So...I realize that I should have been hyping this up all along. But I didn't. Because I was busy not doing other things. But that isn't important. What is important is that my fantastic summer began today. And it wasn't exactly the kind of day that I will look back on and say, "That was one of the best days of the summer." But it was also not the kind of day I will look back on and say, "What a shitty day that was!" I would say, when all is said and done, I will probably rate it around the 63rd best day of the summer.

Pros...I didn't have to do anything lame all day. It is always nice at the end of the day to be able to look back and realize nothing really crappy happened all day. The closest I can come is the fact that the Cubs lost because Alfonso Soriano dropped a routine fly ball with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. But they are still in first place and coming home tomorrow so everything is still okay in that department. And I was not watching the game at the moment so that helped.

We don't talk about cons here...usually.

Actually, the more I think about it, the better today was. I slept until ten (always good), took a long shower at the house I am house-sitting at (another positive...they gave me a hundred bucks just to stay at their house for the weekend, leading me to wonder if their house is haunted and this is actually a dare...oh well, I'm still alive!), and then went back to my real house. And Paul (my future brother-in-law to the uninitiated...you will get it all eventually) was there because today was Krissy's (sister) boring ass wedding shower, which apparently featured something called bridal bingo and a deep fryer. So we went to Rock Bottom, had a couple beers, ate macaroni, and watched baseball. Great, huh?

Then I went to Oak Park and met up with my old friend Rob, who shaved his beard. We hung out outside, which is always a good thing to do in the summertime (IT'S SUMMERTIME). And did I mention...it was 80 DEGREES TODAY! But the most interesting thing of the day was at Chipotle. While we were eating outside (WHERE IT WAS WARM!) we were approached by a middle-aged Hispanic man looking for two dollars so he could take the train home to Cermak and Damen. Not sure what he was doing in Oak Park, but I gave him the two bucks and we had a long conversation about all manner of things. Here's what we found out...

Julian grew up in Chicago. As a teenager he was a golden glove boxer and at sixteen he traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana to compete in nationals (where he won.) According to Julian, he was all set to go professional. The papers were signed and all the arrangements made...but the alcohol won that bout and it was never to be. Instead, Julian got a job as a machinist (or something) and started a family. Eventually he and his wife split up, and three months ago he lost his job. Julian acknowledges his alcoholism as a problem, but says he "may as well just keep drinking now." His one great pride in life is in his two children. Julian is a survivor and from the start he taught his children to be the same. When his daughter was a freshman in high school she was harassed by one male student for about a month before she knocked him the fuck out, sparking a meeting between Julian and the principal. Julian claims he taught her to fight like this. He also taught both his children to use firearms...a skill his son put to good use as a sniper with the marines. He has served two stays in Iraq but he is currently at home, a fact that thrills Julian who was able to see his son, daughter, and two grandchildren at the same time last weekend. On May 28, his son will go to North Carolina where he will serve another six months before being discharged. An unfortunate fight with a superior (Julian looked both ways before dropping the "N" word) kept him from becoming a sergeant, but Julian is just happy that it appears his son will escape the war unscathed.

And this is how I spent my day. After talking to Julian I decided that the summer should be about meeting interesting people and hearing their stories. Everyone has a story that is interesting and worth hearing. And everyone deserves to have their story heard by others. People may say that they do not want to talk about themselves, but their actions say otherwise. It only took about two loosely related questions for Julian to share his entire life story. The 101 Days of Summer Fun are an account of my personal stories...I would like to use it as a forum for other people's stories as well. I'm going to try to find one person a day...though I fully realize that many days I will not meet anyone.

Finally...if you look at Julian's story you will notice that I included no personal analysis on his life and choices. I simply related to my readers the things Julian told me on the Chipotle patio. For the most part, I would like to follow this format. I am not trying to solve anyone's problems here...simply listen and relate the fascinating stories they have to tell. Now, I can't promise I will never meet someone that calls for a more in depth discussion, due to certain aspects of their lives that are just too interesting. But for the most part...this is about telling stories, and that is what I did here.

And what am I doing now? I am sitting on the back patio at the house I am house-sitting at. The sun just went down and I am having a 312 and writing this. There is nowhere I'd rather be right now (except maybe Sasquatch.)

Just 100 more days to go...