All right, I'll be honest. I haven't actually hung out in Broad Ripple in ages. Not until yesterday. But it's not my fault, I swear!

My company sent me on a business trip to Chicago for a week. Initially, one would think, "Oooo, Chicago, sweet." Let me assure you, however, that being in heels for 10+ hours while going to various press conferences given by pharmaceutical companies provided me with a pair of blistered feet and enough exhaustion to miss out on the cool parts of Chi town. And going on a trip with your bosses - who are, indeed, cool people - can also tucker a person out and yearn for home.

By the end of that week, I was literally running out of Chicago to get back to Indianapolis. Who would've thought, right?

So last Friday, I decided I'd like to spend most of my day in the Village because, man, did I miss you guys. I met a friend of mine (who, coincidentally enough, is literally at this very moment in Chicago, as he just moved there) for coffee at Hubbard & Cravens. Sort of a little goodbye hang out time. Well, scratch that. More like a little see ya later hang out time. We talked of his lady troubles and why he no longer eats most meats and seafood: he spent time working at a company that tested meats for bacteria. I will do what my friend did not do for me and spare you the details that make me want to go back to that whole vegetarian thing.

After leaving him, I walked to La Piedad to meet another friend. I call her Einstein. Einstein's the type of girl who smokes cloves and quotes Dostoyevsky and Rilke. She's a little intense and bohemian, but in the best way. She also laughs at my jokes, which is why I keep her around.

On my walk through Broad Ripple to meet Einstein, down the strip, turning on to Guilford, I noticed something someone had written on the Rainbow Bridge which was actually featured in the last issue of the Gazette in the What I Love About Broad Ripple section. Someone had written "Who's City Is This Anyway?" I think I might be one of the only people walking across the bridge thinking, "Someone needs to teach that person the difference between 'who's' and 'whose.'"

Einstein had never been to La Piedad, but it's one of my favorite spots here. They've got some damn good salsa and, frankly, any Mexican restaurant with good salsa gets an A in my book.

From there, she took me to the Upper Room, above the Steakhouse. I'd actually never been there. Einstein kept telling me it reminded her of a speakeasy, all hidden above the restaurant, behind several hallways. Einstein bummed me a clove and we smoked together, the clove cigarette crackling, the smoke from it smelling of incense. And then Einstein, true to her nature, quoted a line from Dostoyevsky, proceeding to tell me of her new crush, which was spawned interestingly. While at work, they were all to sign their names on a sign-in sheet. Her crush, she told me, instead of signing his name, wrote, "April is the cruelest month." I laughed at her, told her she was the only person on the planet who could be wooed by some dude quoting that. Who knew Eliot's "The Wasteland" could encourage such lust?

But this is why I like Einstein. She's my reading and writing buddy.

From there, I took her to the Casba where DJ Paren and Scott Metallic were spinning for their Multiform evening (there were two other DJs there as well, whose names I'd forgotten) (also - notice in the previous parentheses the correct way to use 'whose').

And - would you believe? - I got my Dostoyevsky-quoting, Wasteland-loving, bohemian Einstein dancing. That's right. I got her to dance. Because when she looked at me blankly, said "I've never heard this song in my life," when Men At Work's "You Can Dance If You Want To" was playing, I knew it was time for Einstein to shake that bohemian booty.

So, Broad Ripple? I'm back. I missed you. Chicago was nice, but, oh. . . You take care of me so much better than that big city.