i'm dreaming of a white christmas *singin*

ok well not anymore cos i've got one. i went to memphis from chicago (i'll fill in the gap in a minute) and i thought it would be nicer whether here, less cold, less snow. well i brought it with me again. memphis doesn't get snow, well MAYBE twice a year and thats a MAYBE. well today (the day i get here) is the coldest day they have had so far. ok i'll do things in order now and we'll get back to memphis... this is like my own little quentin tarrentino film.

so i left for chicago from philly as mentioned in the previous blog only our train was delayed for 2 hours before we left.this guy starts talking to me who turns out to be a 26yr old christian computer programmer. i dont undertand why the christian part is part of the job discriptoin but apparently it is. so we are laughing at the train and how the people update the lateness of the train every 15 mins but only after that 15 mins is up. when we finally board he sits next to a young black funky kinda guy and i am 2 seats behind. 2 seats behind him is a long haired rock musician who looks a bit rough but is really nie and comes over to talk to me. so i make friends with him, the christian makes friends with the funky guy and we combine our group and take over the cafe car drinking and having a really good trip. we end up dragging other people into the fun, including a soldier stationed in iraq home for 2 weeks on leave. he was my favourite. it was a damn good thing we made friends and got drunk to pass the time cos the train ended up being delayed another 4 hours making it a 21 hour ride. so we all swap details and say our goodbyes at chicago and wala... i'm in chicago.

so... what does chicago have??? well, nice buildings (gothic looking things in the middle of the city), really cold weather and lots of snow (-15/-20 degrees), and jerry springer. thats right folks, those of you that put up with me on a daily bases know would be aware of my obsession with jerry springer, well i dd it, i went to a taping of the show. it was so unbelievably funny. i only got in cos i was australian and had to sit on the step but t was hilarious. people got naked, they fought, jerry made fun of them, they fought they crowd during comments, we had a hoedown on stage, i got a photo with steve which he signed... it was the best free ticket i ever had. the next day i did touristy stuff... saw the biggest and most complete T-REX at the museum, went to navy peir, walked around a lot, chicago is really cool.

so i get to the station for my memphis train and its delayed.. again... by two hours... again!! this trip was less fun. the people were all older black people going 'mmm hmm' al the time and walking down the isle saying 'praise jesus'. it was delayed a further 3 hours though (again) and when we finally got to memphis the whole town was covered in a layer of ice. this meant taxis wouldn't come out and buses weren't running. some nice people i was talking too at the station gave me a lft to the hotel and it was seriously like the car was iceskating. Jamie from washington is in memphis for christmas with his family which is why i'm here... i'm crashing their holiday. so i've been over at his parents house with the whole famil and they are all so nice and funny. we had dinner and now i'm sitting on my king size bed in my fancy hotel typing on a wireless keyboard which in turn writes my blog and e-mails on the t.v. it thinks its a computer.

well.. merry christmas all, and to all a good night