i love to move in here

fatigue is trying to overcome me. will. not. let. it. get. me.

i’m in chicago’s o’hare airport. or is it o’hair? o say can you see... i am on my way to columbus to be a productive member of society (read: work and pay taxes) and have a 3+ hour layover. this is after my 5:55am flight out of fargo. happily, its a short flight to cmh from chi. less than an hour. then i have to get my rental car, check into my apartment, unpack, get groceries, go to target, figure out how to get to work, etc. i love being busy. but not while i’m tired. i might have to take a nap or maybe the crisp columbus air will propel me forward! let’s hope.

so let’s just chat quickly about chicago. and chicago’s pizza to be specific. when i moved to boston, there was an Uno’s restaurant practically on campus and people liked going there to eat. i hated it. i avoided it whenever possible. why? because i was traumatized by chicago pizza in high school. when i was hmmm... either a junior or a senior, i went on a school trip to chicago for the national fbla convention (future business leaders of america). i won 1st place in the interview category at the state competition in minot, nd -- that was senior year i’m pretty sure -- and thus was allowed to go to the national convention held in chicago. it was my first time in chicago and i had a great time. i was with the north dakota delegation and we went to the aquarium and the boardwalk and shopping downtown. and one night we set out on foot from our hotel to find a place to eat. we ended up at the original pizzeria uno restaurant and i ordered a chicago-style pesto pizza. it sounded delicious. i had no idea what chicago-style pizza was, but it was pizza. could it be so bad? the answer is yes. it can be horrible. the pizza came and as soon as i lifted one slice out of the TRAY it came in, a puddle of water or oil or SOMETHING formed at the bottom. it soaked the crust of the rest of the pizza. and there was so much cheese and crust, it made me ill. it ruined pizza for me for a while. and almost permanently ruined chicago-style pizza and uno’s. i have not had deep-dish pizza since.

so today while i’m in the airport, i was looking for food. i had a delicious fruit smoothie when i woke up at 4am and when i landed i had half an auntie anne’s pretzel. i was lokoing for something more substantial but know to stay away from chicago-style pizza. i found a food court but they were mostly serving greek salads or cinnabons, neither of which i am fond of. there was one place that had no people in line - it was a pizza place with cute little pizzas. it said “famous butter crust.” i had no idea what a butter crust was, and the pizzas didn’t look greasy or super-deep dish, so i thought i’d try it. could it be so bad? the answer, again, is yes. i assumed butter crust meant they brushed butter on the crust after it was baked. no. this is not a butter crust. a butter crust seems to be made, in my opinion, by taking a stick of butter, flattening it, putting it between two pieces of crust and cooking it. it was nasty. i took one bite and thought, “what the hell did i get myself into?” the cheese wasn’t great, the sauce was uninteresting. i was sorely disappointed. i nibbled some of the cheese off the crust and stayed away. word to the wise: butter crust pizza is BAD. now i know why there was no one in line at this place. i hate wasting food. but i hate eating food i don’t like even more.

i just realized i think i’m at the wrong gate. crap.