Sniper at the Gates of Dawn

Curious transit day. Gorgeous sunrise, just stunning. I tried to capture it, holding my breath with each shot, sniper-like.

And, counting my commute home, I saw three urban primitives today -- not together, yet all with the ear disc thing going (two men, one woman). All with nose piercings, all of them white. All with their urban primitive tats going, too. Tribe. Word. Beautiful sunset tonight, too. Wanna see?

Pretty. While on the El, I heard one of the urban primitives talking to a gay woman who sounded kind of like young Ralph Macchio, and had a Ramones-era Punkish look going (peacock-tousled hair, black Doc Martens, black leather jacket). She had apparently just lost her job working for one of the Chicago mayoral candidates, who dropped out. Then the urban primitive guy asked if he could photograph her, and she hesitated, then said "Sure." It was supposedly for some class the guy had (I was walking away, missed the rest). Then I went to the grocery store for some stuff, had a petitioner ask me to sign for a mayoral candidate's run. Then, while heading home, I saw Exene heading out to get the boys. She didn't see me, and I didn't say anything. There were other amusements on the commute, but I can't recall them all, now. The confluence of the ear discs on one day was kind of odd. Oh, I remember -- the gal urban primitive (from Portland, Oregon, I gathered) was loudly marveling about Chicago's skyline, and then talking about how geographically clueless some gal was (while her hipster guy friend was pointing out buildings to her as the El went on its way). Anyway, the guy said "The lake's that way." and she's like "What lake?" and he said "Lake Michigan." Then she went on about how geographically clueless that gal was. Irony dies a hundred thousand deaths in America.

Punkin

Another Halloween has come and gone. The boys enjoyed their trick-or-treat throughout our neighborhood. Chicago's often characterized as a city of neighborhoods, and that's always most in evidence during Halloween, which is always wonderful in our area, since there are so many homes there, and lots of Halloween enthusiasts (and who are of the socioeconomic group likely least-affected by the Great Recession). Anyway, it was, as ever, a good showing, and tons of great costumes and nicely tricked-out houses. The boys got a good amount of candy. As ever, Exene and I (her sister was in town, too -- she made a marvelous old-school Bumblebee Autobot costume for B2), anyway, we bring a diehard 1970s trick-or-treat drive to the mix -- I always joke that trick-or-treating is like a commando operation: you don't dawdle; you do good recon and you get to your objectives quickly, with a minimum of fuss. The boys are not particularly adroit trick-or-treaters -- we have to kind of prompt them until they get the hang of it. And, of course, part of that is living in the city -- you don't just walk up to somebody's house begging treats. Not in the city. So, they usually have to kind of be walked through that at first. But, it's a nice spectacle, the neighborhood looks delightful, and the kids all have fun. I didn't dress up this year, as B2 gets a little spooked by some of the costumes (he wouldn't go to some of the spookier houses unless I held his hand), so I was just Daddy this year. B1 enjoyed himself, and his rather unique costume (he was a ghost ship -- I'd made him a ghost ship hat he could wear) got him accolades and instant recognition from classmates. That's his fourth year running with an offbeat and memorable costume. Lord knows what he'll want to be next year. It's always a manifestation of him saying "I want to be X" and me trying to figure out how to make that happen.

Halloweenies

I'm irked at the new incarnations of the ongoing (yet unreported) War on Halloween -- namely, the fundies going after sex offenders with legislation under the pretense of them supposedly using Halloween as an excuse to lure children with candy (basically, a cure to a phantom problem). I am confident that the real target of these efforts is Halloween, itself. The fundies know they can't directly go after Halloween without tipping their hand, so (not unlike the spiked candy myth that has haunted us for, what, 30 years?), they have crafted a new hypothetical Halloween bogeyman, the sex offender, as a roundabout way of targeting Halloween itself. Dicks.

Happy Halloween!

I can't believe it's Halloween already. Muahahaha!

Sunshine

Here are some of the sunrise shots from this morning. Even though it kind of looks like the Sun has already risen, it was still beneath the horizon when I took these...

So far, so good...

The day has had its share of joys already...a young Lab pup carrying a too-big stick (really, a glorified tree branch), dragging it along happily, ignoring its owner's urge for it to drop it. And then passed by a Great Dane carrying a tennis ball in its cavernous maw, looking at the pup like "Wow, you playing with DAT?" (gave the Dane a South Side Chicago accent, just for fun).

Then I saw a very cool sunrise that I captured with my camera; actually, before the sun broke the horizon, but seemed linger just beneath it overlong, creating a beautiful tangerine spectacle in the distance, over a calmish lake. It was wonderful, and I caught it in a dozen shots. Today is a Good Light Day, the sun being particularly generous with its luminescence, lending a golden glow to everything it touched, and I took a bunch of shots I can't wait to upload this evening.

The clouds were also pretty, just because so many different cloud shapes were evident at once, along with ample blue skies. It was wonderful.

I forgot to mention the amusing bus driver yesterday, who did a "chop-chop" clap every time passengers were too slow to board. That amused me. The pissed-off bus drivers are the most amusing, always. They also tend to drive quickly, which makes for a speedy commute!

I have to put the finishing touches on B1's Halloween costume, which I'll do the next few days. It should look pretty sharp, if all goes well.

Monsoon Season?

Today was a day of wonders. We got hit by what I'd call a monsoon this morning -- 50 mph winds and driving rain. I was taking the boys to their sitter, and we had rain gear on and still got soaked! I went back home, got changed, brought clothes for the boys, returned to their sitter's with the dry gear after the front wave of it had passed.

I found a 1955 dime among some change I had in my desk. Silver! Nice! I could tell from the look of it, the clink it made with the others. I put it in my wallet for safekeeping.

Saw a gal on the bus who looked like a cross between Kelly Bundy and Lita Ford or the singer for Warlock -- she was in all black, with either leather or faux leather black leggings, black ankle booties, a black leather jacket, and some skull rings. 

The wind is kicking up something fierce tonight -- really, really strong. I saw this ivory scarf get yanked skyward by the wind, and wrapped in the branches of a tree -- wish I'd had a camcorder to capture that moment!

Also, on the way home, I saw something kind of surreal -- the skies were lovely, storm-clouded, with swathes of slate-blue clouds and white and gray, and, looking downtown, I saw a couple of skyscrapers that were catching the distant sunlight around the margins of the horizon, so they were these reflective pillars of silver and blue that were embedded in this mass of gray, and for a moment, gazing in that direction, I had this impression of gazing into another place -- figure and ground reversed and the buildings looked like gateways, just because they were reflecting that distant light, not the stormclouds near them, and it was disorienting for a split second, before I reassembled the image mentally. It was beautiful and uncanny.

The sunset was absolutely beautiful. I tried to snap some shots of it with my camera, which wasn't being cooperative, kept autofocusing, so I didn't get the clear shot I wanted, but the colors were amazing...

Sleepless

Urg. I woke up too early. Gonna try to go to sleep again in a few. I rarely ever get insomnia. The wind is howling some outside, so I'm guessing our interlude of unseasonable warmth is fast fading.

Got an interview Friday. Can't get my hopes up, but I'm certainly going to try my best. In this dire economy, it's all one can do!

The boys are in a treehouse kind of frame of mind lately -- they're all about treehouses. Obviously, with an apartment, I can't do that, but then I thought I could craft a kind of set piece treehouse using their bunk beds -- I'm going to deck out their bunks and make it look like a treehouse kind of fort (including season-appropriate construction paper leaves). They loved that idea, were enthusiastic about it. I told them I'd do it if they cleaned their room. It should be cool, if I do it right. Not a treehouse proper, but not a bad compromise, given the circumstances. I might sneak glow in the dark paint on some of the cardboard tree branches I affix to the bunk, so they'll coolly glow. They won't expect that. Muahah!

Alright, gonna try to crash again in a few....

What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Mamma Mia!

This is an outrage, I tellya! What the hell?! What are they thinking?! The Times of India reports...

Italy going prude? Town to fine women over skimpy outfits
IANS, Oct 23, 2010, 06.17am IST

LONDON: In a move that appears to be an act of moral policing , authorities in a small Italian town have decided to fine women who wear miniskirts or show too much cleavage , a media report said.

The fair sex will face fines of up to $695 under new rules to be introduced in an Italian town, the Daily Telegraph reported . In a move sharply at odds with a country which produced the likes of Monica Bellucci and Sophia Loren, the town of Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, intends to prohibit women from wearing provocative clothing.

The town's council also wants to ban men and women from wearing low-slung jeans as part of a list of 41 new rules that "every good citizen must respect" , the report said. Luigi Bobbio, the mayor, said it was all part of an effort to "restore urban decorum and improve coexistence" by targeting people who were "rowdy, unruly or simply badly behaved" .

Playing football in parks and gardens and swearing in public will also be banned under new laws which will be put forward for approval at a council meeting on Monday. Italy has become entangled in a web of petty rules and regulations in the last two years after the government of Silvio Berlusconi gave councils extra powers to tailor laws to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

Across the nation, towns have banned a range of seemingly innocuous activities such as building sandcastles on the beach, kissing in cars and feeding stray cats.

Read more: Italy going prude? Town to fine women over skimpy outfits - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6796687.cms?prtpage=1#ixzz13BhskGmH

The article didn't include a picture, btw. I just did that for fun, googling "Italian woman" with "miniskirt."

Ahoy, Mateys!

So, B2's birthday went without a hitch. He loved his volcano cake and the pirate presents I got for him; he's allll about pirates lately. I made him (by request) a fake hook (using an old plastic clothes hanger I modified), since he wanted to be like Captain Hook. It was cute, watching him run around and say "Arrr, Matey!" Although he's quick to point out that he's a good-guy pirate.

Exene has the boys all day (and night) today; she's taking them to some friends who have an annual pumpkin-carving party. I wonder how that'll go. Hopefully without incident.

I'm going to take advantage of the peace-n-quiet to get a ton of writing done today. Beyond that, nothing more exciting than folding laundry and getting some groceries, as needed.

Shot

There's a plastic surgery business downtown that has these prominent window displays that amuse me, particularly these two windows...

The scale of those props in the display windows are particularly amusing -- that liposuction one (and what's with that, anyway? That looks like a syringe, not one of those ghastly liposuction wands) -- anyway, that thing is huge, looks like the kind of thing you'd stick King Kong with, so having that in the window is just surreal.

And the neoclassical/fascist bust in the other window is also amusing -- "You can look like someone Wagner would write an opera about!"

Bahaha...

This picture and headline had me laughing. It's somehow ONION-worthy, just this dreadfully abject photograph of this guy paired with that headline...