the 12-hour chicago adventure

the chicago office

it was a fabulous crazy trip to chicago last monday. left the office 2:15 PM. chauffer-driven to the airport. flew out of new york at 4 and got to chicago 6PM local time. took the shuttle to the hotel. got there at 7PM. dropped off my backpack. walked a block away to the euro office there for the art show which started at 6 (and which had 3 works of mine featured).

was a good art show. lots of good pieces. the chicago office is quite nice. has its own catwalk, pool and foosball table and a london-type phone booth (similar to what we used to have back in the ogilvy manila office). the awards were given out. my "spreek je filipijns" book got a first place ribbon. which was great coz i didnt think it would (as it was my prize-fishing animation that id thought would win but then turns out that the judges were actually real professional artists and hence my more "artsy" less "commercial" work won, which is great coz it's the more recent work anyway). not sure yet how much cash prize ill be getting for winning but the free trip and hilton hotel stay was good enough for me anyway.

the chicago office people were marvelous. reminded me of great dutch hospitality and fellow feeling actually. after the art show, they took us new yorkers out to one of the local bars. great atmosphere. none of the new york uptight crap (but none of the maastricht, holland dancing though). it was great to be drinking my brains out, in moderation. especially that they covered for the 2 stellas and 2 shots i had (over the 2 gin and tonics i had at the art show). it was very comfortable being around those folks, very nice friendly atmosphere, which i wasnt expecting.

left the bar at 2 AM. went for a quick mcdonalds pitstop. got at the hotel, checked email in my woozy state, fell asleep and woke up hour and a half later. showered and dressed up quickly. by 4 i was all checked out and on the train heading to the airport. flew out at 6 AM. got to NY 9AM, local time. by that time, i was really this close to puking. the last 30 minutes of the flight back was the bumpiest ever (and that coupled without enough sleep and a terrible hangover spelt trouble). 9:15AM was on the car service ride back to the office.

got to the office at 10. the driver must had been terribly scared coz i had already brought a plastic bag out in the car and showed signs that i was just about ready to puke. but thank goodness, never did. once in the office, immediately drank a glass of hot herbal kava tea—which is the greatest discovery drink ever. the urge to throw up vanished in 5 minutes and i was all relaxed and ready for the full day at work.

shared some fun stories with officemates. worked my ass off doing tvc storyboards the whole day. literally, coz i got home at 12 midnight. and went straight to bed. except i still posted a blog before that.

im hoping to visit chicago for a longer period of time some time maybe next year. but im planning on never ever ever flying with a hangover and lack of sleep again. ever.