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Ellie's Favorite Place


Today Ellie took me to what is literally her favorite place in Chicago. It's the place she's been the most excited to take me to since I got here. Ellie is absolutely obsessed with Costco. She will sing its virtues with every breath in her body. You can get everything you need there, she says, and in ridiculous quantities. Her favorite thing, though, is the food. We literally went to Costco for dinner.

I have to admit, it did not disappoint. I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture of the food, but I can describe it to you now. A giant hot dog, about half a foot in length but unfortunately not Chicago style, a medium soda, and a churro the size of my forearm all came to me for about three dollars. It was probably the cheapest meal I've ever had and by the time I was done with it my stomach was just barely edging toward the wrong side of full.

It was really solid comfort food. We went there from my latest attempt to get through to the voter outreach organization. Suffice to say, things still aren't going quite how I hoped they might. I've got one last Hail Mary attempt set for tomorrow, but I would be lying if I said my chances looked good. I've made my peace with that and all it likely means, but that didn't mean it didn't still sting a bit, and drowning that dreg of sorrow in beautifully cheap junk food.

After our wonderful but also a little bit terrible dinner, Ellie dropped me off at a downtown-ish El station, which meant I had a much shorter ride home than normal. I had a really good experience with the transit today, which I'm determined to catalogue at least as much as if not more than the bad. I was riding during rush hour today, so everything was much more crowded than I'm used to. I sat down on a bench near a nurse who had just gotten off her shift; I've found sticking near other lone women to be a good trick on public transit. I glanced over and saw what she was eating, and she apologized for it. I reassured her it was fine, that I was only looking because it looked delicious. She informed me it was mango dusted with spices, and it was sold on most corners of the street in the mostly Mexican neighborhood the station was over. I promised to try it if I was ever in the area again.

It was a good day. I know that I've done everything I could today to try to make it through to the voter outreach organization, and I got to spend some time exploring the city with one of my best friends. No matter the outcome of my final attempt tomorrow, I'm really happy with what I've done.



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