there's a light on

today is the 11th. we set out to chicago on the night of the 8th. between then & about 3am this morning, we've been on a greyhound bus, crossing miles & miles through big old rock formations & truckstops where bald men with big moustaches fuelled up huge lorries. & there were other things too, but after a while, you kind of stop paying attention if you've only got three hours' sleep.

it was weird. we spent over 50 hours on this bus, not showering, surviving on pop tarts & fritos, getting a crick in the neck from ridiculous contortions trying to get comfortable on reclining seats that don't really recline a whole lot. but in spite of all of that, it was kind of a strangely enjoyable experience. you get a real sense, crossing the country by road, of the size of america. it's not like getting on a plane, going to sleep & waking up in another place. i don't know -- i was awake through a lot of the 50-odd hours, & it was just then that i realised how big america was, how much the scenery changes through the states, how different the atmosphere is.

now, we're in chicago, & again, it's completely different to the places we've been in before. the city has a really particular vibe about it, & we've all decided that it's already a new favourite place. collectively, today, we bought skeleton gloves, more batman grapic novels, pink vintage vans, a ridiculous but amazing noel fielding-esque faux-fur black jacket, & a drapey scarf ryan ross would be proud of. chicago has some amazing shops, but we've yet to hit up the clandestine store, it was closed for some reason today.

now, we're sitting in our motel. sara is watching house on tv, jen is reading watchmen & i'm trying to type out an update, but finding that words are kind of failing. i think i'm still tired from the bustimes. tomorrow, we might go see the dark knight in imax. again. this i find to be no bad thing.

& -- so. there we go.