The Cloister at Night

Last night was kind of neat. For the first time, earlier than 9 p.m., I was able to sit down in my studio apartment, do a little reading and some computer work, listen to a couple of CDs (including a Lou Reed's Berlin and a jazz compilation I bought at Starbucks), take a phone call or two, and relax.

No t.v., no traipsing in late at night.

For the first time in quite a while, I was in bed by 10 p.m., asleep by 10:30 p.m. Rested, still slightly tan from this summer, and ready...As much of a bon vivant as I am, I enjoy a little solitude, some time to settle in, get comfortable, and enjoy some music.

The City with Big Shoulders

Chicago! A little more than two weeks and I will be landing at O'Hare Airport, setting up shop at the Hilton there, and then right away onto the CTA subway and into one of my favorite cities in the world.

A friend is going with me, and she has to meet folk at a local graduate program, so - being her urban sherpa - I shall get her to where she has to go, and then begin walking the streets of Chicago, perhaps finding a local watering hole...eventually meeting up with my friend again, and off we go.

I enjoy cities...simply walking, watching, waiting for something or nothing to happen. Chicago is particularly fun, because I love its food: the deep dish pizza, the Chicago style hot dog. And Wrigley Field...IF the Cubs make the play-offs, and IF they make it to game four in the first series, and IF they are playing at Wrigley Field on Sunday, then maybe I might go...IF I can get a ticket. My favorite baseball teams have a tendency to choke at the last minute (think Red Sox in 1977 or 1986), but what a joy it would be to sit in a ballpark, have a real hot dog straight from the grill and a real local beer. No prepackaged crap.

I also might try to find the HQ for Barack Obama. With Hagel out of the race, I am in need of a candidate to support, one who can unite the country and not use the politics of war to continue to tear us up. But that is a post for another day.

My mind is 800 miles or so away, in Chicago...steak, piano bar, visiting the graves of my great grandparents, lots of beer, and a good friend to whom I can play "sherpa."

Haiku: The Last Word

adieu, dear lover; farewell, my dear and sweet friend; don't know how this ends...

(c) fprm, 9-18-07

San Francisco 2008

The trip is all set. Rapid rewards tickets are bought (with me only having to throw in an extra $7.50), and I will be staying at the Adante Hotel for a steal, right in the heart of the city, a walk away from North Beach, Mission District, and even Haight-Ashbury (although that's a bit of a hike). What an appropriate way to spend the first days in my forties!

Getting Ready for Forty!

Thanks to my Southwest Rapid Rewards program and no need to go to Chicago betweeen Christmas and New Years Eve (as originally planned), I will likely be celebrating the weekend after I turn 40 in San Francisco. This time, I will likely stay in a hotel in town, so that I have 24/7 access to the city (and access to the bed for a nap), and I will likely spend my time up in North Beach, at City Lights and at Mario's Bohemian Cigar Shop Cafe. Spent hours there last June. It will be nice to come home again. Not a bad way to ease into what some people are saying is the beginning of middle age. I plan to be at least 108 years old, so I figure I have 14 years until my middle age begins.

Resolve

Last week was a tough one, emotionally, but I have had tougher ones. The loss of a relationship, the putting aside of a very new friendship for the short term, having to tell our daughter that I won't be living at home anymore. Tough week. At the end of the week, however, sitting on the porch and drinking a Steam, smoking a Sancho Panza, I have resolved to move forward and be positive...not with blinders on, but with a larger worldview. Positive and proactive. So, a toast to dead relationships, and a toast to a new road.

Haiku for a Pal: Victory

Eileen, trivia queen! Shiny shiny leather boots! She plays the fiddle!

fprm

(c) 9-11-07

A Very Nice Day

The tension of not knowing both what the response of my wife's parents would be upon learning of our separation and then what my daughter's response would be upon learning that I had a nice apartment was relieved when both situations turned out better than we thought. Yesterday, I brought my girls (they will always both be my girls) over to the cloister for a gander, and my daughter thought it was pretty neat. I guess she's had a bit of fascination with apartments lately. Lisa thought it was pretty cool, too. More pictures to come. Then we drove down to a butterfly conservatory (sorry, no website); the girls went in and I sat in the cafe and read some articles about Alan Greenspan's new book and his relationship to Ayn Rand. This October is the 50th anniversary of Atlas Shrugged, by the way. A great book...very abstract in its character development, but still a wonderful treatise on the greatness of humanity when it is left to its own creative devises. The girls are more science and nature-oriented than I am, so this arrangement worked well. It was important for my daughter, however to do stuff - even if it is a short little road trip - with both of us, so that she is aware that her family, at heart, is still in tact, that although I am living elsewhere, the difference in time spent with her will be marginal at worst. We are slowly edging toward our new reality as the McLain family evolves.