How to Get Rained On
2:20pm: I just stepped out of the doors of my dorm. I am actually doing this now. I am not a huge fan of long walks, especially ones that I can not listen to music on so we will see how this goes. It is not bad weather out right now. Pretty cloudy and humid, but I still feel a little chill so I am not complaining. The weather makes me tired so I would much rather be inside in bed but it is pretty nice out right now. The lighting is kinda weird. It looks like the whole city is backlit right now and the clouds are the cyclorama.
2:24pm: I just turned on Seminary and passed the quad. I am not off campus meaning the sights are more interesting. I wonder how many people that live on this street and all the streets around campus go to DePaul or graduated from DePaul. They have to have some sort of connection to the college. The houses are really nice and actually cute. I would not hate to live around the campus. At night having a bunch of drunk college students walk past your house most definitely would be annoying but I would get over it. The street looks really narrow and the sidewalks could use a good pass from the ol’ leaf blower. I am passing what looks to be a restaurant. I would most definitely go there. It looks really good but expensive. I really actually like this neighborhood.
2:29pm: I just crossed Lincoln ave. into this cute side street, that is still seminary, but this neighborhood makes me feel really relaxed and the whole overall vibe is very cozy. Not much has changed from this part of seminary and the part I was just on but I like this part more. It may have to do with the amount of leaves on the ground but I am not certain. On that note, the amount of leaves on the ground actually makes me happy. I do not get that consistently in Dallas so seeing it here is very heartwarming. One of the biggest things I like about this side street is the materials the houses are made with. Most of the houses are built with red brick and have white accents. Furthermore, I like a lot of the plants planted next to the street and by the houses. There is this one planter that I like, it is a tall grey concrete planter with red flowers and this light green plant with big leaves. I am further down the street there was this light blue vespa. Starting there I already thought it looked cool. But as I get closer the light is shining on it making it stick out. It reminds me of The Simpsons movie when god points out the motorcycle when everyone was under the dome, I know not many people will get that.
2:35pm: I am on diversey now and I miss the street I was just on. It was so comfortable if that makes sense. Also I just miss how quiet it was compared to every other street I have been on. I think the reason is it just seems like its own lil cut off neighborhood even though it is not. Back to Diversey now. This street seems a lil bland now to me. It is not obvious but it is back to being more commercial than residential, making it less home-y. Literally. The thing that stuck out most to me on this part is walking past the Potbelly on Diversey and Sheffield and thinking I should maybe try that. I did not write any notes in the present tense on this part besides about how everything is red and looks industrial-ish, even the few apartments that I noticed. Turning up Sheffield I knew I was for sure out of that small residential street that I liked so much a lil back. Almost wanting to turn back and walk through that more. But I like it more than diversey. The trees provide so much more shade, which as anyone would think, was amazing. As well as reminded me of home. My street at home had the best trees and I am just looking for that here.
2:40pm: I am a good way down Sheffield now. It is so absolutely positively absurd seeing Halloween decorations here. First because, I have only ever seen decorations in Dallas, and it does not seem like halloween decorations should be up at all right now. While it is the same month, it is a little early in my own humble opinion. This one house has such a bad halloween decoration that it makes it worse. Cause not only do you have your decorations up early but they are not even good. It is this weird dragon that just is not halloween vibes at all. Well, I did think that it was a cute decoration but it was not scary enough to be a halloween decoration. Besides that, my love for Sheffield grows more and more with each step I take. Finally I walk and feel like taking a right. I didn’t even know what street till right now.
2:45: Now that I am in Oakdale I feel in a whole new world. Sheffield was a busy street and was a big mix of apartment buildings on top of businesses and so on and so forth. There were these strange buildings and I didn’t quite know what exactly they were. Honestly they look like insane asylums or retirement homes and give kind of a creepy vibe. I would not at all want to live in these buildings. There has to be some sort of demon that is posted up in there. Past the creepy vibes I come past Weismann park and there is such a cool mural in this park I would love to take my future kids there to play.
3:00pm: I am not on the last leg of the journey on Halsted. I am walking up the street and can see the Pride party going on in front of me. Everything is looking up. I heard a scream around me and it was not a blood curdling one but loud enough for it to grab my attention. I look to my left and see a wall of rain coming towards me and think “Oh fuck”. Mind you I have no jacket, no umbrella. Just me and my backpack. I see this rain and it hits me and now I’m in this torrential downpour. I have one thought “Take a pic for the medium account”. Now that my priorities are checked off I speed walk to the Addison station and get the hell out of there and back home.
This grocery store was on Seminary Avenue right by where I walked in the 20's
