Thursday, September 27, was the annual Chicago Fire Dept Calendar Party. I knew I was in for a good time, but little did I know it was going to be one of the best nights of my life. The event was held at a huge bar called "cubbie bear", right next to wrigley. The event went from 7-10. The engineer of "my" company picked me up at around 645. In the car was michelle, the woman who lives next door and visits the firehouse just as often as i do. Awesome chic! We get there and sit for a while but eventually 3 firemen and the lieutenant(george) show up. We're having a great old time, they're all drinking. I'm sipping on my drink of choice, water. "My" lieu buys me a calendar so i can get all the guys to sign their pages. That was nice to meet all the guys and chat with them for a while. One of the calendar men is the fire academy fitness coordinator. I asked him if his nickname really was "Dr. Pain," he just laughed. I told him I couldnt wait to see him at the academy some day. There were only about 4 guys out of 12 that were actually hot. So whatever. My favorite guy, Mr. April, was such an awesome dude. Just the epitomy of bad ass. I got his digits and he told me i could come to his station and ride anytime i want. Awesome! And since the station is just a few block from my dorm, Lord knows I'm going to take advantage. The hottest calendar man, Mr. December, took my digits as we were all walking out of the bar. Who knew? Bout half way through the night i look across the bar and i spot my oldest brother, kert. I ran across the bar and was so excited to see him. He lives in wrigleyville and is an Arlington Heights fireman/paramedic. A fireman whom I haven't seen in a year was there with us so that was a great time. It was nice to catch up and everything. Bobby's a great guy. I was introduced to the union vice president, soon to be president of the chicago union, local 2. He was a really nice guy and was ecstatic for me when he found out my # on the list is 317. He said I was a "lock in" to get called. Even in the first class, he said. So that's always good. I also met a calendar man who had a big role in my favorite movie, backdraft. I knew he looked familiar all night and i couldnt pin point where i had seen him. Finally, i figured it out. I ran over to him just before he walked out the door and asked him where i knew him from. I asked him if he was ever in a movie and he said yes. I knew it! I got a picture with him and obviously his signature. He's the smaller of the two black firemen on Steven McCrafrey's(kurt russell) engine 17. So that's a pretty big part in the movie. I felt bad because i totally freaked out on his ass. It's my favorite movie and i was so excited. So shoot me! So later on in the night I went up to Darryl, the fitness coordinator of the academy, and told him that since i am going to school for sport and fitness management(personal training), I would love the opportunity to shadow him while he works at the fire academy. I was worried about there being any rules against that and he assured me there weren't any. So he gave me his contact info and i hope to set something up with him in the very near future. Can you imagine if i get to do my whole 400 hour internship at the fire academy?! Ugh! So basically it was an amazing night overall. It was so nice to spend time with "my" guys and feel like one of the boys. I owe them the world because they open up so many doors for me. It was a hell of a night and I can't wait for the next night spent on Cloud 9!

Oh, did I mention that I was asked to go home with an extremely attractive, yet drunk fireman? I gladly rejected him. I was there to have fun and enjoy the fire dept life with the rest of the firemen. I wasn't there for fireman ass like half the fire groupies in there!