Home-ish, Alone-ish for the Holidays

While it's true that I call Chicago home, it's not really what springs to mind when I think of the phrase "home for the holidays."
I'm from Massachusetts and will forever consider that to be my home for the holidays.

Hence the -ish.
I'm in Chicago tonight for the last of this year's holidays.

Also alone. -ish.
There is the ever-present Spawn of Satan that I call my roommate's cat, Mia.
While Dave is out of town, I'm here, with the cat.

Have I mentioned she doesn't really like me all that much? Which is a shame, because I love animals.

However, I do have my fun with her.
She's a weird-ass cat to say the least.
Won't let me pet her unless I catch her mid-nap with nowhere to go, or if Dave is home and holding her at the time.
However, she will deign to allow me to give her treats, the good cat food that she doesn't otherwise get (you know, the wet kind, in a pouch) and catnip.

Herein comes the fun.
I know it's nothing unusual but, she still cracks me up.

Every time I come and sit in front of my computer, I turn on my desk light - a high beam halogen light necessary for me in my relative blindness.
Within two minutes, suddenly stealth-cat is there, five feet to my left. Waiting.

I then use my headphones and swing them around, casting a shadow.
She will chase this shadow around and around more times than any dog questioning if this is really the spot he wants to lay down in.
Cracks me up. I'll offer her the real wire to bat around. Nothing doing. She'd rather be fooled by the shadow and pounce on phantoms.

Anyway. Banal, I know, but having finished watching some pretty damn exciting football today (Go Pats!), it's kinda fun to chill out here, peruse the blogs, and fuck with the cat.
The stoned cat. Gotta love catnip.

In any case - here's to a healthy and happy end to the holidays for all.
And, as always, here's to the best for everyone in the coming year.

55 Degrees Farenheit

Have I mentioned it's December 22nd?
That's officially Winter and all.

Mid-fifties at the end of December kinda freaks me out.
While I love the benefits of Global Warming from time to time (and curse them in the summer) this is a little ridiculous.
It's raining for crying out loud!

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now.
Back with a real post later.

As Close as I Get to Faith

I'm not a religious person and, admittedly, not a terribly spiritual one.
I've long held that I don't believe in an afterlife, adding however that, my life extends as long as there are those who knew me or were affected by something I had done.

Then, several years ago, I read a short story in the New Yorker that crystallized it perfectly for me. It basically illustrated that thought exactly as I had thought it.

Then I lost the issue and forgot about it.

Since then, I've tried to track it down but couldn't remember the name or the author, or issue, etc.

Found it today.

Really is a good read. I've already printed it out to avoid losing it again, and am offering it up as my recommended reading for the day.

Here it is. Enjoy!

And oh yeah, Happy Hannukah.

In Absentia

Where's my best friend?
In a word: Absent.

And I can't really begrudge him that.
His life is going swimmingly lately.
New girlfriend. New job. Good shit. Really.

However....


Thursdays used to be ours days. Roommates night out, if you will.
Then he started training for his bike ride.
Then my favorite bartender stopped working on Thursdays so it all became moot anyway.

Then, thank goodness, football season came around and Sundays were our days again.
Out watching the games, even on Monday when our team played each other (ie: Patriots vs. Vikings).

But even then, that became a rarity.
Despite the inherent rivalry (his girlfriend's a Bears fan) he has become spoken for on Sundays as well.
So I'm a little sad. Crestfallen, if you will, for, even though we're roommates, we don't really spend any time with each other, at least, not on purpose, and it feels like the last excuse to has fallen by the wayside.

Of course I wish the best for him with this new love interest, and, admittedly, I do enjoy having the apartment to myself when he spends the night at her place but, nonetheless, I miss my friend. He is at least as much my brother if not more than my biological brother is, and yet, though my bio brother lives further away, I feel the distance is at least equal. Makes me a little bummed. Especially since, while his life is going well, my life isn't and I feel like there's no one close by to commiserate with.

I'm sure this will pass (my glumness mind you, hopefully not his happiness) and all will in some respect return to some flavor of equillibrium but, until then, well, I'm a little extra sad, ontop of my inherent, if medicated, depression.

And for those that know my to comment on the Red Sox - well, actions on their part have been to confusing for me to comment on of late.

Hope everyone else is doing well.
Go Pats!

Just how many teeth does a girl need, anyway?

Apparently, at least one less than I had yesterday.
I, accident-prone as I am, cracked a tooth down the middle on Friday night and finally had it taken care of today.
Now, before you start thinking of wondrous ways this could have happened, sorry to disappoint. I cracked it eating a nacho chip.
I guess that's what I get for not steering clear of the junk food that night.

In any case, having spent the weekend in severe pain and having used up the last of my Vicodin to get to sleep, and then resorting to booze (football was on, after all) I was more than happy to shell out $250 (thank you, MasterCard) to have that bad boy ripped out.

Of course, one has to wonder why it costs that much to yank a tooth, but, as I sit here, still numb and a little drooly, I'm just glad it's out.

Typing in a Winter Wonderland

As I sit, we're about halfway through an early winter storm that promises between six and twelve inches of snow.
Thus far, very picturesque. Very clean.
I always enjoy the first real snow of the season, especially when I don't need to drive in it, as today. One thing is a certainty, with the first snow, the average driver completely forgets how to control a vehicle in said snow, be it one inch or seven, so, I am quite content to stay indoors and save my road rage for another day.

Anyway, Oklahoma. I was there last week for Thanksgiving, visiting my brother and his wife, as well as my parents.
It was actually quite a pleasant visit.
The weather was gorgeous, between 68 and 72 degrees each day, sunny and beautiful.
An interesting thing though. Since they tend to have thirty-plus days in a row in the summer of triple digit weather (and no, I will not be visiting in the summer) the grass everywhere is made to withstand that kind of heat. Therefore, once the temperature dips (sic) into the 80's and below, the grass hits hibernation mode.
Thus, while I visited, all the grass was brown/beige. Just kinda interesting.

Also, guns are legal and apparently everywhere. I didn't see anyone carrying one, but I did notice in various building entrances the "No Weapons Allowed" sign, specifically, the entrance to the law library building which houses my brother's office. Odd, and a little unnerving, but, as I was constantly reminded, it is the south.

All in all, a really nice stay. It's always good to see family, and much easier when there are several of us there to deflect conversations and discomforts. I always get along with my parents better when my brother's around. They tend to pay less attention to me then and as a result, I'm content. When I'm the only one there, we tend to focus on what's wrong with my life and, really, who needs that?

More later.