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I'm sitting around and getting drunk. It's been a week filled with travelling chaos.
Wednesday morning, I got up at 8 AM. Rob got up before that.  I was grateful he let me sleep a little longer. The night before, I got in one of my depressions about Jennifer's death, and couldn't sleep. When I did, the dreams were bad. What can I say? I miss her. So when I finally did get to sleep,  the dreams were a bit rocky. So I didn't want to get into bed.
 As a result, I was unentusiastic. We played music.  After a breakfast at the Michigan City Denny's, I felt a bit better. As we got into Michigan, I felt more relaxed and more enthusiastic. As we went into Kalamazoo, I admired the town and was finally starting to feel good, except I really wanted to go to fourth coast cafe for some espresso.
 We went to the first place, Dover Hills. Now, don't get me wrong. It was a nice. It had a pool, and it had a pseudo-health club (a few weight machines and a few exercise bikes, as well as a small washer and dryer in each unit and other amenities)and a two bedroom was only $700. a month. You can't get anything like that in Chicago. But it was very brown, very drab and we knew we could do better.
 Next we went to Willow Creek apartments. Now that was gorgeous. No washer and dryer in the unit but their clubhouse was gorgeous. Apparently they had little dance and exercise classes,  on site canoeing, and   the apartments were laid out to feel very homey. It was set back in the woods and felt like the great northern from twin peaks. It was beautiful. I was in love.  Additionally, there were some little shops right on the premises and a cafe/bakery, as well as a liquor store named "bacchus" right down the road.  Then, I reminded her of the cats. She explained there was a special building for pet owners, only one, and there was a long waiting list. Fuck. I knew the last place we were going to look at had openings,  and that the prospects for this place in our time frame was doubtful.
 The last place astounded us. A laundry room in each apartment, a fireplace, continental breakfast, a garage...and to top it all off, our apartment is going to have a great view of the duck pond! We took it. We signed the paper work, we have our new address in Kalamazoo. It's official.
 So we went out for coffee at fourth coast. I was feeling pretty euphoric but I was still in shock. So this is it? It's official? We have a great place and everything? Then we checked into our hotel room. We relaxed for a few minutes then agreed to meet the Kalamazoo kids at a nearby pub and grill. I had a delicious bow tie and alfredo. It was lighter than usual, but also had some nice spices, so it was perfect. Not too heavy, good food but light enough to fill me up while leaving room for booze. Then we went to a nearby watering hole. It was incredible.  The bartender was a really cool older woman, and the jukebox added to the experience. The booze was cheap and strong. I was impressed.
 The next day I went by Kalamazoo Valley and got more info.  Apparently, I should be able to get enough financial aid to be able to be a full time student. Yup, I'm not even going to have to work. Which means that I can actually focus on learning marketable skills in something that I love rather than working mediocre jobs to pay the bills while feeling I'm going against my grain.
 We stopped for lunch at a restaurant near where we're going to live then headed on the road to Bloomington, where rob had to take a certification test.
 After being on the road for six hours, I gotta say, Bloomington is damned depressing.
We stopped in Muncie. I waved at my friend, Liz and noticed there were a  lot of corn fields. Then we got to Bloomington, which is practically in Kentucky. The woods were pretty in that creepy sort of way. The town itself was drab. I mean, I guess if you had grown up in Indiana it might seem okay because it's better than the rest of the state, but that isn't saying much. It had a lot of  little shacks transformed into quaint businesses. We went out to eat at this place, Buccino's, which has decent food and wraps your food in tin foil shaped like swans.  next to us, were some collegiate pseudo intellectual types. It was scary. Every word they said was regurgitating something they'd read or overheard somewhere. I was sitting around, listening "how can you be that pretentious when you live that close to kentucky?" At one point, one of these fine fellows said (about the showtime series "Queer as Folk") " I thought the review was harsh....but deservedly so." As if that was all the explanation that was needed.  It seemed like pseudo intellectual fence sitting. Actually, I observed more shallow pseudo intellectualism in Bloomington than I have anywhere else, except maybe Berkeley coffeehouses.
 So we went back to the hotel. I went into a deep sleep, not quite as peaceful as the sleep in the Kalamazoo Radisson, but that's alot to ask (I slept very well that night) drank coffee and watched television. Rob got back and we got on the road.
 We got into Chicago around 6 PM. I am now counting the days until we move...

 february          pontifications