south of the loop

Try as I might, nothing that has happened in the last week can be fluffed or fleshed out into a proper narrative. I’m in neither a bad mood nor a good one; the weather is gray and rainy; I run, I commute, I work, I sleep. I think it’s a symptom of the changing season: the gray is pervasive, and there have been several days in which being indoors is no different from being outdoors. Office Space calls it a case of the Mondays. My friend Tim calls it terminal malaise.

Of note is the spectacular storm that rained down on Chicago on Monday night. I’m going to try to get some pictures of the carnage–Hyde Park is littered with huge tree branches, some of them split jaggedly from their trunks, leaving behind slabs of white splinters. Westbound 60th Street is badly flooded under the viaduct, and the nearby parks reek of standing water. At least it’s a sign that something exciting happened, and that our ‘hood was rocked by more than the bass from pimped out cars.

Although the gray feels like it’s been in my veins forever, Sunday was actually beautiful. A friend and I went to Kristoffer’s, a great little cafe in Pilsen, and read and wrote over breakfast, coffee, and coconut tres leches cake. Unfortunately for us, it was the final day of a Pilsen gallery walk, so Kristoffer’s was louder and more crowded than usual. But the sun shone till nearly 6pm and the sky was blue and the weather was crisp but warm. We drove by my murals–I always miscalculate the distance to the first ones, the soccer players and the glowing Virgin–and I thought for a moment they’d been whitewashed. I’ve never loved those first murals (I prefer the older ones further west), but, to my chagrin, I was upset at the thought of them being whitewashed. These murals figured prominently into my master’s thesis, so I (re)wrote about them for nearly five months, thinking I hated them. Funny how writing about something over and over changes it. It’s hard to maintain my vigorous distaste after attempting to get under their skin, under their paint.

Also funny that writing and thinking about the murals just bled a little of the gray out of me. Perhaps a happy autumn after all…

* * *

current book: I’m nearly done with Blood Meridian. Its bleakness makes the seasonal malaise feel all the more terminal, and yet it becomes more compelling the further along I get. I’d like to re-read it within a few months–now that I know I’m capable of liking it–and see if it gets any easier to keep my finger on the plot.

current music: What Made Milwaukee Famous’ Trying to Never Catch Up and Cafe Tacuba’s Unplugged. Oh, and I fucking hate the new America’s Next Top Model theme song. But did you see the “—– must go” blues song the judging panel sang? For THIRTY SECONDS?

current socks: I wore my crabby socks today (the black ones, not the turquoise ones), although they’re not completely accurate. Think they make Office Space socks for those days when I’ve got a case of the Mondays?

Posted 4 October 2006

Filed under: art, life in general by admin2

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