View From a Hotel Window, 3/29/17: Chicago
Posted on March 29, 2017 Posted by John Scalzi 15 Comments
Not a lot of parking lot here. Hey, it’s downtown Chicago, you’re gonna get tall buildings. My event tonight: Volumes Bookcafe, at 7pm. It’s sold out! Thank you! But if you skipped getting tickets, uh, sorry. Next time for sure.
This is also the last View From a Hotel Window for about a week, because tomorrow I go home for a four-day break, in which I get to see my family, pets, bed and washing machine, and the next event is Monday, April 3, in Dayton, at Books & Co. No hotel then, I’m just driving in from home. I may write a couple of actual posts instead! Maybe! Or at least post a cat picture or two. We’ll see!
That’s a nice shot, John!
Mr. Scalzi!
Welcome to our secondary base of Operations (when we are away from Canada, Home of Maple Sugar, Bacon, and real Baseball – Go Jays!). Sorry to say, I do NOT recognise the building you are looking at (which is causing me NO end of consternation!). At any rate, have a GREAT signing. Maybe I can get down there NEXT time you are in town. Alternately, you could come to Toronto. All the Best – Enjoy the washing machine. I KNOW that particular joy! Cheers!
I vote for a cat picture, not that asked asked for votes.
Really, really glad that whoever scheduled your tour built in a few nice long breaks at home for you. Aside from the whole laundry issue, it must be exhausting to deal with that many people in that many different places. Even though you demonstrate a tremendous amount of ease and comfort in crowded situations meeting dozens/hundreds of people you don’t know, I still have to think you must get home and just turn to incoherent jelly for a day or two. Or at least I would in those circumstances.
Hope your event today goes swimmingly, and that the upcoming break with family and felines is restorative, sir. Safe travels.
Physical Graffiti . . . Chicago Style.
I recall the anecdote about Harlan Ellison writing a story in a bookstore and posting the pages in its window (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Writing). Perhaps there should be a Scalzi equivalent written from hotel windows?
“Day 17. Another parking lot. Surely this has some deeper meaning, and yesterday’s swimming pool was intended solely to break the pattern and lead the weak-minded to believe it doesn’t exist. It’s clearly the Vogons… even the fragments of graffiti on the asphalt cause a remarkable degree of gastrointestinal churning, akin to (but weaker than) the effects of contemplating the 2017 presidency. And there are no kittens. Clearly Vogons… but what to do about it?”
So long as we don’t get a picture of a cat being thrown out of a hotel window.
How do you know that behind one those windows with the blinds drawn there isn’t some one with an inflatable car? Just parked there in the middle of the room.
Some of those large buildings in downtown Chicago are actually parking garages. I stayed at one hotel a couple years ago, looked across the street, and saw cars where I’d expect to see curtains.
Tomorrow: View from a living room window, 3/30/17.
Lasts nights event was fantastic!! It was great getting to finally come to one of your signings after years of trying to make one. It was well worth the wait! I hope you have a nice rest at home before setting back out on the road.
Great event last night! Thanks for taunting my friend in your inscription. He appreciated the joke.
It was great to see you again, have my book signed, and hear that bit from the Lock In sequel. Can’t wait to read it!
Nice to see you and have another autographed copy of a Scalzi book in my possession. If for some reason you ever want to make people believe you are a native Chicagoan, next time you are doing a reading (or any talking) and an El train can be heard….stop talking until it passes and then pick up as if you simply had hit pause while the train was overhead.
— your doppelganger
i really wanted to come to Dayton but the 3rd is dissertation defense day.