12/4

i'm thankful that i can decide for today's notes to be short because i don't want to pay for hotel wifi and so am writing them on my phone. i'm thankful for pitchforkreviewsreviews, who srote many wonderful things on his phone.

i'm thankful that our buses to get here were mostly on time. i'm thankful that the first bus wasn't crowded and there weren't bad bus smells on either. i'm thankful i didn't have to use the bus bathroom. i'm thankful that i thought i had lost d in the terminal when we transferred in indianapolisand was worried but that she just went to the bathroom. i'm thankful that in the transfer line, the tv was on syfy rather than cable news and that the end of the original 'westworld' was on. i'm thankful on the bus to have read more of anathem, which has appropriately becoming a road novel, and to hope i can convince d to read it.

i'm thankful that when we got to chicago we rode the train the wrong way for one stop but then realized my mistake. i'm thankful for our hotel, which is quiet and nicely furnished. i'm thankful after eating lunch we made a bee line to one of our favorite dim sum places, which has a new location north of the park. i'm thankful for the ecstasy of having dim sum after not having had it for a long time. i'm thankful, though i like cart service okay, for menu service, because sometimes the old chinese ladies pushing the carts make me feel like i should take things i don't want. i'm thankful that we stuffed ourselves (having not had lunch)-i'm thankful for the distinct difference in flavor between the shrimp dumplings with snow pea and the shrimp dumplings with scallion. i'm thankful for the textures of dumplings, which i might even love more than the flavors.

i'm thankful that when we stumbled out of the restaurant, it was already getting dark even though it was only like 4:30. i'm thankful for the streets and buildings full of christmas lights we walked through and by. i'm thankful we went to navy pier, even though it is kind of hellish. i'm thankful that on a whim we decided to ride the ferris wheel. i'm thankful that the line wasn't too long and moved pretty quickly. i'm thankful that though it didn't work out as i had fantasized, with me and d in our own car on the ferris wheel, the chinese-american family visiting from san diego (where d is from) were very nice and had adorable children. i'm thankful for d's slight annoyance that people think she is chinese because of her facial features, which happens often. i'm thankful that when we were talking about eating chicken feet at dim sum, the woman turned to me surprised and asked whether i was chinese, which has never happened (i am very white). i'm thankful for the weird but polite swerve into christian missionary-ing the woman did at the end of our convo and how she told has that jesus being number one in our hearts is important, especially in the first year of marriage, which is the hardest. i'm thankful to respect her beliefs, which were sweetly if emphatically stated, even though d is always number one in my heart.

i'm thankful that on our way back from the pier, we stopped at eataly for a browse and nosh. i'm thankful for the raspberry semifreddo d got and for the salted peanut tiramisu i got (even though the latter wasn't as good a choice as regular tiramisu). i'm thankful that on our walk back along the park, we saw the giant christmas tree, netted with thousands of colored lights. i'm thankful for the interesting optical phenomenon of looking through the branches and leaves of another tree at the lighted tree beyond it, which makes the tree in the foreground look like it's glowing with a sort of glitchy aura. i'm thankful that we got back to the hotel soon after.

i'm thankful for the pleasure of taking off your shoes and clothes at the end of a long day of travellng. i'm thankful for hot showers and for the little travel sized shampoo, which smells like mint and some kind of herb (rosemary, maybe). i'm thankful, the dirt of the world scrubbed off, to climb under the covers of a clean bed. i'm thankful to channel surf aimlessly, which i only really get to do in hotels. i'm thankful to have gotten really sucked in to a reality show about people who make moonshine, which i found surprisingly entertaining before i realized that probably all of them voted for trump, which made my stomach turn. i'm thankful to have made a joke about the show on twitter and am thankful that one of the funniest people on the internet replied that it had made her laugh out loud, which made me feel proud--i'm thankful for the generosity of that gesture.

i'm thankful to have woken up early this morning and to have bundled up and headed off to our favorite donut shop here. i'm thankful for the quiet streets i walked down to get there and back. i'm thankful for the donuts i just ate (cinnamon crunch cake and maple bacon glazes) and am thankful to have restrained myself and not eaten more than two. i'm thankful it's supposed to snow today.