July 5th - Cleveland to Chicago

8:57am. Sleeping makes time go by a bit faster. I'm almost in Chicago. The landscape is rather flat and unremarkable but nevertheless, it's always exciting to be in a new place.

Now, a few words for Cleveland before I get caught up in other things.

Tiff lives in a mansion - a huge 4 bedroom, 2 storeys + basement + 2 pianos type of house. And it's in the suburbs between the woods at the end of a long winding 2 lane road. all by herself. yes. all by herself. a lonely princess in the woods waiting to be rescued. And that was where I entered the picture.

I arrived with the early morning rays, following the deep hues of the sun. Her house, though primarily American, has a touch of Japanese and Taiwanese tastes, making me feel all relaxed and comfortable. Perhaps a little too comfortable because before I knew it I was ushered into a yukata and handed a wooden sword to march around the house with. Tiff also put on a yukata but we had a terrible time tying on her obi. it was in general a complete failure.

Tiff's the secretly crazy type of person. she'd sit in class quietly minding her own business and smiling agreeably when the teacher called up on her. and then would turn out essays on knives and family heirlooms, well written for that matter. Back in Japan she'd always told me oh, that's bad! but would still hang out and wait for me to finish lunch each day, despite my incredible slow chewing speed. She still tells me that's bad, shaking her head slightly, and then would laugh because it doesn't matter too much that I'm bad as long as I'm me. I always tell her she lives in a box and now that I've seen her house I sort of know why. it's a pretty box though.

We went to see Mongol and it made me want to gallop full speed to Mongolia and befriend a horse. then we spent the night chasing after fireworks across the city. never catching them and finally giving up and going back home to cook dinner. Tiff cooked, i ate. She spoiled me because I was only there for one day and I was happy. so very happy. to the point I considered staying another day, but that would have lead to something on the line of yeah, i try to be a good host and then finally I can't take it any more for poor Tiff. So i refrained and we ended up lying on the bed skimming through old photos and talking, and drifting off for an hour or two of sleep before the train.

the sounds of 4th of july fireworks came in gentle beats through the windows.