( 9:41 AM )
OK, so just like the 2Walls webzine for which this blog was created, I took a little bit of a hiatus this summer...and, yes, part of the fall. It wasn't like I was slacking though. What do you think, we're sleeping in Dusseldorf? We're napping in Cologne? No, we're up nights with sick children watching Muppet movies.
Actually, I moved not once but twice. My wife gave birth to our second son (Ben Casey to go along with Dean Martin making our household squarely the number one option for 1960's television viewers). And I spent a lot of time in Chicago.
The thing about having a second child is that, just like before you have any children, nothing anyone can tell you can prepare you for how things are going to change. The actual birthing process and all of that is much easier because this time you know what's going on, but man, no one can prepare you for what life at home is going to be like with a toddler and an infant. Tasks that you could manage with one child -- like cooking dinner -- become Herculean tasks with two. Since I've been typing this my 3-year-old son has interupted me 5 times which he can get away with because his mother is taking care of the baby and there's no lock on the door to keep him out. I'm not complaining, since I know there are plenty of people that want children and can't have them, etc., etc., but boy, is there a big adjustment period.
Chicago on the other hand took very little adjustment. For most of the second half of summer, I was staying at a friend's condo in Wrigleyville (or Boy's Town, depending on if you're a baseball fan or a clubbing enthusiast...I never did meet someone that was both, but I'm sure that there would be all sorts of wordplay about 'bats' and 'balls' if I had). I was about 4 blocks from Wrigley Field and had to walk past the ballpark every day, which is kind of like manna for a sports fan. I don't even like the Cubs -- as a Phillies fan, I still haven't forgiven them for hiring Dallas Green away from Philadelphia in the early 80's so that he could then pilfer Ryne Sandberg and Larry Bowa away from my Phils for Ivan DeJesus -- but there's something to be said for casually strolling by a park while a major league game is going on inside.
I hung out with the guys on Waveland with their gloves hoping to catch a home run (seriously, how often does someone put one out of Wrigley...can someone from the Elias Sports Bureau get in touch with me on that). I checked out the "W" and "L" flags on top of the roof as I got off the Red Line L at Addison. I was even enticed to go into Wrigley for a couple of meaningless late season games by scalpers trying to get rid of their wares in the second inning. I mean, if all you're going to do is watch television is there really any excuse for not going to a baseball game if someone's offering you a ticket for $10?
One night, as I was walking past Wrigley on my way home a lovely young lady handed me a full size Snickers ice cream bar as part of a promotion. The rest of the way, I munched on ice cream, listening to the sounds of a big league game, breathing in the summer breeze from Lake Michigan, and I spent not one thin dime for it. Try as you might, it's hard to top that.
But now I'm back from my self-imposed hiatus and hopefully back on a normal writing schedule. Please feel free to let out the bated breath now.
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( 9:03 AM )
My son is currently sitting in my living room in footy pajamas, playing with a toy garage and watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. So basically my son could at this moment be comfortably situated in any Saturday morning of the last 40 years. Well, except for the part where the Bugs Bunny cartoons are on DVD, but you get my drift.
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