amer-i-can

i have returned from a trip to the motherland. i can no longer call it "home"; the word is now reserved for my east coast post-college life. i spent the last week in chicago/madison/milwaukee/wausau visiting relatives, being force-fed endless amounts of food, and sleeping.

a few highlights from the trip:

- 99.1's "top 99 from the 90's". a chicago radio station with what seems to be the strongest signal known to the fm airwaves decided to celebrate the 4th with a listener-ranked top hits from the last decade. i don't know how i feel about "mmmm bop" beating out the likes of "motown philly" and any song from the gin blossoms for #1 but it was still a solid road mix. plus if you missed out on any part of the countdown, 99.1 repeated the countdown ALL weekend. sort of takes the sting away from meg forgetting her iPod before even leaving NY.

- sultans. if you've ever gotten a falafel in chicago, this is where it should be from. if you haven't, your life is just that much worse. andrew promised us we'd "eat like princes" on our journey there and we did. twice. it doesn't hurt that the dirty hippies serving the food are so attractive that they make you forget that they are serving food in clothes that probably haven't been washed in weeks.

- ping pong. our friday night was planned to be spent by a night out on the town. one ping pong-challenge later, we ended up spending our evening in a round-robin tournament for the king (or queen) of the basement. think of your favorite nights in hs, sneaking beers and goofing off in your friends' basement while her parents are at the opera. luckily this time, no one had to flee from the house with an armful of empties and a half-consumed bottle of malibu.

- american flag apparel. milwaukee had a lot of it, and we found it. the best by far was the girl in the flag tube top. her chest was too large to keep all of the stars in full view.

- karaoke: not the kind where someone stands up by themselves like a drunken fool mumbling through a song solo. this is the dance circle, full-on belting out sing-a-long. choice favorites included "mr. jones" and "king of wishful thinking" (such a forgotten goodie).

- jello salad. ingredients are pineapple, cottage cheese, cool whip, and jello flavoring. it's whipped straight from heaven - especially for the under 12 crowd, or any of my friends from college.

- scooters. ordinarily i would give a snide, 'boys and their toys,' but i want one. definitely an upgrade from my schwinn cruiser.

i love my friends.