Bus Trackers

I meant to write about this awhile ago, but kept forgetting. Ever since the CTA started its Bus Tracker, there's kind of a funny thing that's evolved at the bus stops -- CTA flash mobs! I'm a CTA empiricist; there are either buses coming or not. But lots of people rely on the Bus Tracker to get an estimate of a bus's arrival. And the result of this is that you'll often have a sense of a bus's imminent arrival because, out of nowhere, people will congregate. I mean, people do that, anyway, but the Bus Tracker folks will appear on less-trafficked stops, and that's how you'll know. You'll go from nobody there to suddenly a dozen people there. It's amusing to me, and it's entirely a result of the Bus Tracker.

Sunset

Yesterday's sunset. I enjoyed it.

Finally

Finally got iFucko to work. Here's that amusing Clooney shot. I'm sure they were high-fiving themselves at the Redeye over this headline, or else doing some Beavis & Butthead cackles...

90210?!

Hope everybody's having a swell 9/02/10 today...

Jesus H. Christ

Nice to see SLATE catch up with my August 21 post about the J. Crew Hipster Jesus.

Circadian, Cyclopean, Chthonic

My internal chronometer got me up right at 5:00. I haven't needed an alarm clock in at least a decade. Kinda funny, how circadian rhythms work like that. I just wake up instantly.

Had a dreadful dream about giant centipedes -- like those spindly-legged ones, only these were as big as my hand, with legs about as thick as pencils. They were in Grant Park, skulking about. I kept squishing them, but they kept appearing. Yucko! Frickin' giant centipedes! *SQUISH*

I've been reading Peter Straub's "Ghost Story," although it's been slow-going for me. Something about his style of writing, it's just heavy, ponderous. I mean, a 23-page prologue, for god's sake. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm about 123 pages into it, and I'm still not particularly into it, so I feel like he's failed me as a writer (I don't think I've failed him as a reader because I've persisted, despite not being moved by the story or the characters). I've tried to read Straub before, and there's just something about the way he writes that drags on me. I'm reading it because it's been touted as an exemplary ghost story (I remember the dreadful movie made from it), so it's sort of a reconnaissance read for me.

Bahah

I saw George Clooney on the cover of today's Chicago Redeye, touting his new movie, "The American." The article title: "Silent, But Deadly." I need to snap a picture of it.


(later)

I did, although shitty iPhoto isn't letting me upload it.

Hats off

I saw a guy come to my work today sporting a trilby. A trilby??! I know headwear is in fashion for guys, but somehow, pairing that with a golf shirt and running shoes, I dunno. Fail.

September

Rainy morning, super-humid and hot. More later, when I'm able (running late).

I did crank out 2,000 words this morning.

Lobby Pizza

Pizza Capri was having a promotional thing in my apartment lobby! Gotta love lobby pizza! Perfect end to a crazy-busy day!

Summer's End

Amazing that summer's nearly over, truly. You wouldn't know it from the heat and humidity, but there it is. Looking at my calendar, there are 123 days left in 2010. Another year, blazing by.

Swelter

Man, it's hot and humid again. I had been enjoying the milder weather, but looks like there's another heat wave coming through.

Fallen

I was productive today, got over 3100 words written for the long piece I'm working on (I still have that aversion to calling it a "book" until it's done; right now, it's novella length). Anyway, I was pleased I got that done, although I know I will have to revise the stuff as I'm going through it -- my drafts are very clean, but in terms of plot, I'll definitely need to go back and revise and QC everything and make sure it all sorts out properly, the pacing, all of that. Not the kind of thing I worry about at the first draft stage, but it's still something in the back of my head, as I work on it.

I cleaned up around the apartment; had to be done. The in-laws are nice enough, but where they go, chaos follows. I cleaned up the boys' room, the living room, and the kitchen. Much better.

I'm cooking potato gnocchi tonight, with a tomato-mascarpone cheese sauce, and Brussels sprouts, which I alone apparently enjoy. I really want to get the boys to eat more veggies. That's on my To Do List, without making it a big damned deal. I always loved vegetables; my mom always cooked with a lot of'em, and I had almost no vegetable aversions. I want the boys to have a well-balanced diet, to be good (and varied) eaters.

It still amazes me that B1 is nearly two inches taller now than he was a year ago. He's growing so tall so quickly. He takes after my father and me, definitely.

The boys were cute today -- they really, really didn't want to go with Exene's family. They wanted to stay with me. Both said that. B1 said "Nothing's fun without Daddy!" and B2 had his own version of that, saying he wanted to stay with me. I told them I was going to be writing, and that they'd have fun at Legoland, where the in-laws were taking'em, among other places. But they still really wanted to be with me.

The sun is setting earlier. It's filling the apartment with pumpkin-orange light. Fall is coming. I love Fall. My favorite season. This summer really flew by. It's extraordinary just how quickly 2010 flew by. Man. It's not done, yet, but Fall is fast approaching.

I'm going to go enjoy the evening light.