I am still Alive (Hooray)

Well, it’s the New Year (thank god). I left Chicago on December 24th, after a very stressful last week at the magazine. We were working on a very big story on "The Great Chicago Families", which made me very appreciative of the fact that America has no landed Aristocracy. Many of the families had confusing lineages, and some of the writers were older and thus less familiar with some of the things the fact checkers need to do their job. For example, web facts simply came from "the Internet" as opposed to specific sites. This was very stressful to deal with, coupled with having to finish up my project and get my things to move out.
That week, I left the Magazine on the 23rd, saying goodbye to as many people as I could. We had had the Christmas party at the Billy Goat the week before, so I got to know people a little better. I did enjoy my time there, though some of it was stressing. The more important thing was that it gave me a lot of experience in a really good setting.
I left Christmas Eve morning, around 10 o'clock. I had stored much of my stuff in the car the night before, and got the last of it in the morning. I said goodbye to my apartment, as both Anthony and Patrick, my roommates, were gone. I headed out on Lake Shore Drive, though before I got on a car got rear ended right next to me, though it was worse for the rear-ender, and as I looked out I said goodbye to the City and to all of the things that had brought me through my 15 months there, my two old buildings, the zoo, the UPS store, The Cheesecake Factory, John's apartment, Tribune Tower, and the UBS building, where OCC is. Still, as the Sears Tower, the Hancock Building and Comiskey Park left my rearview mirror, a significant part was very relieved, because I simply didn't know if I would miss the place at all, or whether I would see it as a very depressing reminder of a time of my life I'd really like have back. Coming up on Indiana and then home made me feel much better, especially with the holidays coming up.
The holidays were enjoyable. I enjoyed our traditional Christmas dinner: filet mignon and crab legs. I also got to see Susan and Adam, along with Laura, for lunch the week after Christmas. I hadn't seen Susan and Adam in forever, and it was incredibly good to see the both of them doing so well and in such good spirits.
I am still doing my time at the studio. The Rose Bowl was great, though I was obviously disappointed. A lot of our callers have been calling for Jim Herrman's (the Defensive Coordinator) head. The defense didn't play well at all, but the offense was great. A lot of Michigan fans, typically, are basically making this out to be the worst loss in Michigan history, which it certainly isn't. It was a great game that Michigan lost by one point, not some huge blowout, like say, the Orange Bowl.

I wanted to let you know that things are going to change for me soon. My Aunt Mary has friends and relatives in DC, and I am headed there for about six weeks to look for work. Obviously, I've always loved DC, and even if I don't get a job in DC, which would be great, it will do something to recharge my batteries after my time in Chicago, which really drained me. I will be updating more often, not that that's difficult. I'll probably be doing some more looking for jobs outside of DC while I'm there, and I've really been tossing around the idea that, once I get set with a job, I would write a play again, just something that I could work on, and see how it goes.

Thanks for being patient everyone, and I hope you all had great holidays.