Again and Again and Again and Again...

I'm sitting here right now, in a rare non-planning, non-writing moment. I just wanted to say that I'm still here, that personal apocalypse has not occured and that I'm, as the saying goes, doing my thing. There is much to discuss, though, including my trip to Chicago, where I successfully played Mom for a day (I even had a Ford SUV), embarked upon the search for the perfect (open) pizza joint, and partied with the Shipshewana Amish; the oddity of seeing old friends on TV shows; why a martini should never be drank before the Oscars; and my Lenten discipline of silence in the car, which is probably the most difficult thing I've ever taken on and hits at the absolute core of my obsessing time. Also why, despite my best efforts, I cannot give up caring about American Idol.

As a preview, here's one of my favorite shots I took in a football-obsessed city: