I can go down a list of places I love to eat at in Chicago; I have many spots. Yet, when I moved out to LA many, many years ago, I didn’t have one. I was in a brand new city and I didn’t have one solid spot to go eat; I missed my Chicago food. Everything I ate messed me up; my stomach couldn’t get used to it. It was like I had moved to another country. Finally, one day, I found my first spot. I found a spot where the food didn’t mess me up; I found a spot where the food stuck to my ribs. Finally, I felt like I had a touch of home.
If I wasn’t from Chicago, LA would have been pretty intimidating; this large metropolis spread out all over the place with freeway after freeway. This certainly wasn’t the city like I was used to; even New York and San Francisco reminded me of Chicago more than Los Angeles did. I didn’t like it, or at least that’s what I wanted. This wasn’t my home; I didn’t want to be here. Well, I DID want to be here; nobody put a gun to my head to come out here. Yes, I took myself majorly out of my comfort zone and did something I thought I would never do; I was living somewhere other than my sweet home Chicago. LA sucks; can’t hold a candle to Chicago. I fought it for a while… then, I allowed myself to enjoy it, and let me tell you… it was a lot of fun. It still wasn’t better than Chicago, but it was really cool. Heading back to LA on Monday for the first time in 7 years… I was really looking forward to it.
I was heading out for work, with a little personal fun on top of it. The little site that I used to manage is finally growing; it’s exciting. The three people who currently work there are part of the same group that was there when I moved there to take the job 18 or so years ago; they are truly my West Coast family. First thing I did when I got off the plane on Monday, which was about 2 hours delayed or so, was pick up the current site manager, my friend, Raider Nation. After saying hi to the family, we headed to that first spot I found in LA all those years ago… Tommy’s. Double Chili Cheeseburger with Chili Cheese Fries and a Coke for me please; biting into that burger brought me back, although I know a combo meal back then wasn’t 14.99…
Yes, back in LA… after the meal we headed to the casino, of course. Have to get our casino night in; it didn’t go well, but it didn’t matter. I did have pocket Jacks, which looked pretty bad when a King came on the flop and 3 people betting and calling ahead of me. My all-in moment came with suited AJ… I turned two pair, except the guy I was going against turned a higher two pair with AK; bust out. Like I said, it didn’t matter though… I was kicking it with my friend, back in my 2nd home. Welcome back to Los Angeles.
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