The Curse

I carry with me a curse, friends. It is a cruel curse... terrible... unfair.

I have with me the curse of magically shutting down any business I decide that I like in IL. It is inevitable. If I go somewhere and end up thinking, "Hey, this place is great, this is the place for me!" the axe will fall, the smiting will happen, and next time I try to visit this place, it will be boarded up, closed, gone.

Here is a list of places I've loved in Illinois that have closed up in the last four years:

-- McNally's (the best Irish pub in the West Suburbs, and just down the street from our comicbook store)

-- Chocolate Moon (a delightful coffee/ice cream/misc. nook that had a big chalk board wall for doodling)

-- The Twisted Spoke (fun bar/restaurant in Chicago that showed porn on Saturday nights and let you order from the breakfast menu... it was called "Smut and Eggs" night...)

-- Coldstone Creamery (within biking distance of me, the only really good place to ride our bikes to, and now it's gone. Apparently chains are not immune to my curse)

-- Hollywood Video (nearly killed the entire chain in this state simply by it being one of the only fun places we went for a year)

-- Rollypolly Wraps (gone a buried in Elmhurst as soon as I realized, "Hmm, I don't know if I could live without this Salmon wrap, it's so nice.")

-- Mitoodle Noodle (family owned noodle shop we should have never eaten at... poor folks)

-- Riley's (the best and only place to drink in our entire town, where everyone from my school went. I only got to visit three times before the curse hit)

-- The Book Cellar (an amazing little used book store in Naperville that we just discovered had closed yesterday)

-- Ice Delight (a little ice cream/misc. shop in the middle of Lombard that we rode our bikes to ONCE before it BURNT TO THE GROUND)


-- The Taco Bell that we used to go to because it was close to where Brian worked (and only that one that we went to... no other one...).

-- The Bakers Square that we get birthday pies from (closed pretty much ON my birthday, just to underscore the curse).

So now you see... now you see. Exaggerating? You may have thought so, but can you deny these numbers? Can you?! And this is just the stuff off the top of my head. All in only four years. And I know it's all my fault. Rest in peace, you delightful little stores. You're in a better place now, I'm sure.

Somehow this is a personal sign from Illinois to me. A sign that I'm not allowed to enjoy myself. Illinois is some sort of purgatory for me, a carrot on a string. So close to having fun, and then yanked away before I can get the smallest bite. I guess it's true, you can never have your cake and eat it too.

*shakes fist to sky*


(Originally posted on July 1st, 2008)