Taking a Personal Day

Today was my day. I meandered all over the city to revisit some of my favorite places, including Chicago Comics, Myopic Books, Penny's for lunch, and then eventually Cheesecake Factory for a dinner of toblerone cheesecake. I sat outside to avoid the wait for a table and the mob of tourists and suburbanites. The dug-in alcove in front of the Hancock building was shielded from the wind, so I sat on the steps and watched people walk by while I ate. Being on Michigan Avenue during the dinner hour on a Friday is a good indicator you're not from the city, as is the magnetic compulsion to look up at the buildings. I haven't looked up since my first week here, but I still check street signs and duck into building foyers to check my map to find the right el station now and again.

Electronic Arts has a Chicago office now on the near north side of downtown, so I walked by the entrance hoping to see, well, anything. The front windows look in on a reception area with giant overstuffed sofas and a game room. Employees were playing ping-pong, arcade games, and air hockey. It was probably lunch hour, but if they wonder why crunch time is so brutal when they hit the end of their deadline; there you go, fellas. Granted, all they have to do for next year's NBA Live is design a new free throw system, update a few names, and wait for the millions. But I look at this lax atmosphere and I see how their Batman games have all come out crappy while their chief competitor, Ubisoft, has written and re-written the book on effective stealth action. If this studio is their flagship in their effort to develop original content games for once, they'd best get to work. Midway is fighting their way away from bankruptcy in the same city, and The Adventure Company is almost single-handedly reviving the adventure game genre out of their Chicago office. How big do you suppose their air hockey tables are?

This was the last day of my immersion. I've enjoyed myself and learned a lot, and I imagine that much of what I've learned won't occur to me right away, but in the coming weeks as I go back to work and my normal life, and try to repair the massive dent in my wallet from this endeavor. I'll put up pictures from the past few weeks that never made it to the site when I get home tomorrow.