#tomskilling

Things I'll Miss (friends & family aside):

The skyline. Looks good in the day and better at night. Looks epic through clouds and from any direction heading downtown.

Wilson skatepark. I love Willy. Always a great crowd and the best skateboarding.

Skating downtown. Sunday nights in the summer. Cruising in the streets and running into friends on missions. 

Seeing the flag in everything. Fort Dearborn. The fire. The World's Fair. The Century of Progress. The north branch & the lake. The south branch. The north, west, and south sides.

Hot dog joints with Vienna Beef signs in front, no ketchup on the hot dogs, with sides of mozzarella sticks and pizza puffs. Yummy.

Bears games at Cornerbar. Cheers for every truck commercial. $6 pitchers and shots of Malort when the Bears win.

Tamale Guy. With his plastic lunch box. At the bar you're at right when you get hungry. He's everywhere. He's even got a twitter.

Brick wall views.The window in your apartment that shows off your neighbor's red brick exterior, vines optional.

Tom Skilling. You can't fade Tom Skilling.

Things I Will Definitely Not Miss

Traffic on the Kennedy. All the time. With dudes driving on the shoulder and taxis not paying attention. Gas brake honk.

Parking tickets. They'll get you. Two tickets a year, minimum.

Extreme weather. It's like the shower dial. Either extremely cold or extremely hot, with hardly any middle ground. It's cold, dark and windy in the winter and disgustingly hot in the summer. There is only a 3-week period in the spring and another in the fall when the weather is good.

The suburban sprawl. strip malls and subdivisions, whichever direction your drive. And cornfields beyond that.

Politics. Governors go to jail. Cops are corrupt. We still can't get the lights fixed at the skatepark.

Rosemont. The casino, the gated residential, the Toby Keith restaurant.