Wednesday, July 23, 2008

a month of months.
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and by that i mean something, though lord knows what. it's been a doozy, and as cliched as it sounds, i can't believe it's already almost august. look at me, becoming one of thooooose types of people - you know the ones - they spew expected, polite conversational empties like, "where DOES the time go?", or "time flies when you're having fun". but the thing is, that's a great question, and time DOES fly when you're having fun or anything else, really. thankfully it's been an extremely fun month, and much dust (or is that sparkles & streamers) is settling, leaving me to contemplate the hell out of all of it.

just got back from a fairly epic trip to chicago. epic in that it felt long, but was only 3 days. epic because well, i was on a fascinating little journey - and while my actions weren't anywhere as heroic as a typical odysseus - they were enough to at least inspire poetic musings on my part. saturday started as a rainy trek from o'hare to the puddle-ridden neighborhood of lakeview and ended in sun-soaked, beer-infused bliss at the pitchfork festival, watching the hold steady joyfully tear through their set. in between there were pints and laughs and lovely conversation, sushi and tsing tao (because having american beer would be so...american, at least, according to our rather sexist waiter). later we hit a bar named 'jakes', where dogs are welcome. a black and white mutt trotted around happily, and i was happy too -

good town, good company, good lord, what a random little adventure!

sunday came with a stroll around lake michigan. well, not all the way around, but at least a small stretch of it was explored. the birds were out, and so were the caterpillars - fuzzy, exotic little guys who dropped from the sky (or possibly the trees) onto unexpecting laps. a nature walk of sorts, and it all felt very natural indeed.

and then there was the music. back at the park, we geared up to let les savy fav wash over. and wash over they did. it was so hot the sweat literally descended when they played "the sweat descends". tim harrington's command of the crowd is pretty legendary. at one point, he was being passed around the crowd in a plastic garbage can. amazing. from band watching to people watching, to lazing against fences, and sipping pints, a glorious afternoon / evening passed. after LSF, came bon iver, dinosaur jr, cut copy and spoon. beautiful.

after, we sat in a mexican restaurant, digesting the day's events, but not really the amazing food in front of us. over-ambitious ordering left us with far too much. but those 4 bites of enchiladas verdes were delicious.

monday morning went too quickly, of course, but that is to be expected in these sorts of scenarios. adventures, trips, experiences - they all come to an end too fast - but i suppose that just makes them even more perfect in retrospect. later i wandered the art institute of chicago, gazing at stunning 'this' after stunning 'that', and the loveliness of the weekend sunk in.

hats off to you, delightful chicago. and hats off to you, delightful everything else that's happening to me right now. there's so much to look forward to i feel a little guilty looking back.

but it's all very worth recapping.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

hot times summer in the city.
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and i'm loving every moment of it. there's a heatwave on and i'm right there waving back at it. hell, i'll even invite it up to my apartment for a beer. when the temperature rises to 30 and beyond, my eyes glaze over in content submission, my jaw slacks into a gap toothed grin, and well, i turn into more of a goof than i normally am, which is a frightening thought, really. but i adore this time of year. and this time in particular is in need of adoration. after all, i get the feeling that there won't be many more summers like this. or rather, that next summer will offer a different sort of adventure than this one is serving up.

and oh, the adventures this summer have been many. and as random as they have been plenty. which is a good thing. who wants order in life anyway? much better to greet each new day with willing enthusiasm, ready to have the conversations, meet the people, do the things, be the person you never expected to when you woke up, right? order be damned! ok, so i'm sure there's room for it somewhere. but on occasion, you have to give into the fact that you don't always know what's best for your own narrative. some larger force guides the novel along, and i accept the novelty of that.

how else can i explain the series of events that have left me bemused/amused/confused? my carefully laid out chapters just got all screwed up - like someone carefully removed the manuscript from my nightstand while i slept, took it outside, and joyfully scattered its sheets in the town square, the fountain and the river beyond it. and when i awoke, it was there, sure, but the tone was slightly changed, and there were new footnotes, new characters and plot developments. which can only lead me to believe that the ending might not be what i think it is. or, possibly that it will take a few more chapters to get where i always thought i'd be going.

talk about a page turner.