burning hearts

One of my friends left for a 3-week trip and, in preparation, I made him a compilation of all the Spanish music I have loaded onto my computer to get him into the mood for his trip. While burning the disc, I looked through a few of my playlists and stumbled upon one that I compiled after the boy with fantastically curly hair stopped calling. Entitled "Sappy," it's got loads of songs that I love but that make me a little sad and wistful about missed opportunities and relationships that ended before I wanted them to.

I'm absolutely in love with "Burning Hearts" by My Favorite; there's something about the intro that makes my heart soar and then come crashing down. Makes me feel like writing bad poetry and watching teen movies. And it makes me miss my old friend in Chicago because it's something he would love to listen to and first introduced me to My Favorite.

At some point in November I decided that I have to mark the completion of this next degree with something special before I embark on a big girl job or get sucked into the job machine that will grind me up and spit me out if I let it. So I decided that, since I haven't been since 2001, I would go to Chicago and then try to swing up to Toronto for a week or two in May. There's no particular reason for wanting to go to Chicago other than I always love it there (even when terrible things happen) and one of my favourite trips ever was a 3-week stint during my undergrad that fell right around the time I'm planning to go. And, naturally, I'm hoping to see my old friend for a wee bit.

I realise it will put me in debt and is probably a stupid thing to do from a financial standpoint, but there are a number of extremely good reasons for such an endeavor:
1) I haven't been on a trip of any such magnitude for at least 2 years and I'm not getting any younger.
2) By scheduling a visit to Toronto, I can visit friends and see if Toronto is somewhere I want to live in the near/distant future.
3) May is a good time to travel because it isn't terrible weather, but is before trips get really expensive.
4) And, goshdarnit, I've worked myself silly for the last couple of years and just want to not work for a couple weeks.

In the meantime, I'll listen to sappy songs and watch teen movies set in Chicago, and dream about the day I can revisit the Windy City. I hope I can figure out how to get it done/organised.