CHICAGO

I'm currently sitting in a café called The Bourgeois Pig trying to work on my dissertation. The writing isn't really happening, though you can't say I didn't try. I worked on a few sentences, parsed out some parts where I really slip into some vagaries, and just overall tried to hone in my point(s).

Writing a dissertation is obviously hard work, but writing it in Chicago is exciting and even harder. I mean, there's so much to see and do, so many calls on my attention, that I really can't see myself doing much work in the next hour. I had hoped to get some good breakthroughs, but I really need to be more deeply immersed in the material before I can feel ready to write.

I obviously need to get rid of this insistence on controlling my writing conditions. Or I just need to write and not worry about other things, like Facebook and Twitter and whatnext.

My friend whom I met at SCT has just arrived to the coffee shop and we spent a good little bit catching up. She's a delightful and wonderful friend who has been very gracious in opening her door to me while she lived in Boulder. I stayed with her and her partner for a few days while I attended a conference. To this day, that experience has filled me with memories that I cherish. Does that sound sappy? Don't answer.

The year of 2012 brought a lot of profound changes to my life. And when I see friends I met during that year I am filled with a lot of joy, thinking at how people stick around and stay real and build memories.

I used to be so afraid of life and of love. I suppose I still am, after a manner, but now I feel a great sense of happiness and joy at the prospect of continuing to build awesome lives with wonderful people. So, tonight's Chicago and I feel very, very happy about that.