Headphones On

A few days ago, it rained. Normally this isn't news in Chicago. It rains here. It snows here. It gets hot. Sometimes all at the same time. From out the window at the office it didn't seem like a bit deal either. Then the emails started flying and I discovered that my building was apparently filling with water like every other low point in my neighborhood. Eeek.

I should start off by saying that not nearly as much of my stuff is ruined as some of my neighbors. My downstairs neighbors in particular (those with a living space at or below street level) have been particularly screwed. Talking to my downstairs neighbor last night apparently the insurance company is calling everything on the first floor of her home a complete loss. Nothing that came in contact with the water can be salvaged. A few inches of water will be haunting many of my neighbors for weeks to come. In the grand scheme of things, i was SO lucky.

So back to my storage unit. Very little of my things sit at floor level so they were spared from the 7 or so inches that seeped into our basement. The things that were damaged though, break my heart¹. I spent last night throwing away about $1000 worth of hockey gear. My $200 skates are ruined. My shoulder pads, my spare jerseys, my beautiful Swedish hockey helmet, all trash now. The only salvageable gear... my street hockey skates, my gloves, the tool for adjusting my now disgusting ice skates and three hockey sticks. So I can still drop my gloves with the best of them² but while I stand on the ice in socks cos bye bye beautiful CCM skates.

This shouldn't really be a problem. Most people don't know me as a hockey player, they barely even know me as a fan of the game. But having to finally part with these things instead of lugging them from home to home as I move around Chicago³ feels like the ending of an era. Even though it doesn't happen very often, I can no longer just pop down the street to McFetridge and get out some anxiety or frustration on the ice.

¹ I also lost about 4 paintings I did several years back that I'd been storing in the basement and a tube of rare and precious-only-to-me concert posters. The poster to that Teenage Fanclub/Yo La Tengo gig in 1993 among them.
² I've never actually "dropped my gloves" in my life.
³ I haven't played hockey for seven years partially because of moving home to Chicago in 2000 but mostly due to an off-ice injury I sustained to my ankle around the same time.

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