just a few short words...

the fifty-four vegan cupcakes for checkpoint one were really fun to bake while listening to architecture in helsinki.

i sat at a little dive for a long time with dan miller, but that's nothing new for me. this might also be remembered as checkpoint three, the billy goat cafe, yellow and green, the place where a large majority of players got caught...

so many sweaty people! one of the workers was really into whatever we were doing.

my favorite part of the entire night: seeing my friend robert really, truly happy for the first time in about two years. he claims running journey to the end of the night changed his life, and i absolutely believe it. halfway through freshman year of college he had to go back to tennessee because his dad died. his family's been going through a really rough time ever since. the entire reason robert was in chicago during journey was to try and get back to school and make a life for himself away from a place that didn't ever really feel like home and wasn't necessarily getting any better. after journey, i saw such a complete rejuvination of motivation and excitement in him; it was wonderful and contagious! he's back in tenessee for a bit, but i'm sure he'll be back when the next one rolls around.

thanks, dax, for setting up such a gloriously life-changing event! it really was a beautiful new view of things.