It has returned from Chicago and is once again safely ensconced in "the lattice factory".
Always good to get home from a long trip.

My place was being painted while I was gone so it looked like the holocaust when I got in from the airport.
I immediately had an OCD induced panic attack and paced around in circles for 53 minutes and 37 seconds, trying to figure out whether I should start cleaning, re-hanging all of my photos, putting away my luggage, or just set off the booby-traps I have carefully placed in case of:

A.)     Zombie Apocalypse
2.)      Alien Attack
L15.)  Return of Hellbeast

Eventually, I came to my senses and went for a beer.

All better.

As Thanksgiving Day looms ever present, I thought I would share some random cool things that I've found jumping about on the interwebs.

Hope you all have a good day and hug your people for me!

A very cool narrow house in Japan.

http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/now-what-you-call-narrow-house-3.html

A very cool small wooden home.

http://tinyhouseswoon.com/tiny-wooden-house/

ESPN sponsors these short documentaries.  Great stuff.

http://espn.go.com/30for30/index

Treasure maps in Paris from Messy Nessy.

http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/26/10-treasure-maps-to-secret-paris/

Interesting people from Vimeo, posted by Nessy.

http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/06/21/the-sole-resident-of-the-worlds-largest-abandoned-building-other-tales/

I'll add as I find other cool stuff to share.

Luvulongtime,

EPPdF

I've been in Chicago for the last couple weeks working a large project.
Gotta say - I love this town!
Almost everyone I've met here has been really friendly and pleasant to interact with - there was one cabbie that irked me so much that I wadded up a $10 and threw it at his head - but outside of that it's been a great experience.

"The Source of the Trouble" arranged a couple of condos for the month for me and the guys which has been pretty awesome.  Staying in a hotel for a month stinks, even when it's a nice one.
Renting a condo lets have a bit more space and you blend in with the locals a little more.

Places we like:

http://www.thefrontierchicago.com/
Whole smoked alligator.  For Reelz.

http://doritedonuts.com/
I know I've gained 5 pounds eating these little bits of heavenly cakes.

http://www.delilahschicago.com/
Great dive bar.

http://stocksandblondesbar.com/
Ditto.  And right under the stairs to the L.

http://www.chicagobluesbar.com/
Love this joint.  Like Northside Tavern in Atlanta.

http://www.hugosfrogbar.com/
A little more upscale than I normally go for but the bartender was entertaining as hell.

http://bavetteschicago.com/
The guys and I had 2 fantastic meals here.  Order the bone marrow.  Seriously.  Incredible.

http://www.thefryecompany.com/frye-flagship-stores/
The Frye Company Chicago Flagship store on North Rush Street.

http://shop.nordstrom.com/st/nordstrom-michigan-avenue
Turns out that the high price you pay at a store like this is worth it when you also get excellent service and a friendly, helpful staff that will find just what you need.

The Parsons Chicken & Fish El Camino.

http://www.parsonschickenandfish.com/
Excellent fried chicken and butter-beans - north of the Mason/Dixon line!!

http://www.speakeasycustomtattoo.com/
I met the owner, Patrick, and talked to him about getting another piece.  Nice guy and amazing artist.  The shop itself is gorgeous too.

If you come to Chicago, the area around Wicker Park is pretty amazing.  Wander around; you'll find something.

"I'm livin' for givin' the devil his due"

Michael the Archangel by Guido Reni, Santa Maria della Concezione, Rome, 1636.

This picture has been swirling around in my mind for the past few weeks for some reason.
It seems like a good metaphor for my internal world.
We all have our demons to contend with and the moment you slay one dragon it often seems like another one sneaks up to roast your buttocks.

The good news is that very often that roasting tush is exactly what you need to get you moving and to help you grow beyond whatever current situation you've found yourself in.
Nothing motivates a body to push forward like a giant pain in the ass.

Today is the 8th anniversary of my diagnosis of Clival Chordoma.
November 18th, 2005 Dr. Hill over at Emory University Medical Center gave me the news.
A couple days later when I told a friend's mom about the diagnosis she burst into tears before I could even get the "-oma" in Chordoma all the way out.
It was a trying period in my life made more trying by the divorce I was going through at the same time.

I've been out of town working for the past couple weeks and it's been a good thing to be out of the neighborhood, much as I love it, and to reflect a bit.

And since I had a strange dream about DumDum last night, I might as well start there.

"Hel-loo, DumDum."

The truth is, while I've given her a bit of an occasional tweaking on this here blog-o-sphere, and as much as it truly pains me to say this, I was pretty much head over heels for the girl after the first date.
By the end of the second month, I knew exactly when, where, and how I was going to propose.
(Don't be scared: I was going to wait a year to do so, but that's where my head and heart were at that time.)
But that's not how things turned out and I spent the money set aside for the ring on my Harley and the subsequent trip cross country.
And while the trip truly changed me in ways I might not have predicted, and while I absolutely had the time of my life, it wasn't until I got home and was once again just down the street from her, that I slowly began to realize how angry I still was over that lost relationship.
That was a large part of the reason that Ms.X and I broke up.
I just wasn't done with the grieving and occasional bouts of outright fury.
Ms. X is an absolute angel and deserved much better and it's not hyperbole to say that my very own dog, Mikey, would push me in front of a bus to be close to her.

We all have our own journey and we all make our own deal.
"Ya' buy the ticket, ya' take the ride", as a wise man once said, but sometimes the ticket you buy is not for the ride you get and things get just plain weird.

Last night I had one of those dreams that make you believe in the "out of body experiences" the hippies love to talk about.
In it, I floated down to DumDum's house, still seeking that most basic answer to the question we all have when your heart is broken, "Why couldn't it have been different?  Why didn't it work out when I was trying so damn hard?"
And sometimes the answer is so completely unhelpful that you wish you hadn't asked the question in the first place:
"Because."
That's all there is sometimes and honestly, it's not that different from having cancer.
Why you?
Because.
Why not you?

You have to fight to keep in the game whether it's love or literally your life and it wasn't until a good friend gave me a stern "talkin' to" that I realized how immature and selfish I had been this last year as I worked thru my various feelings.
I had been doing a version of "well now I'm not gonna care for anything if that's all I'm gonna get in return".
Not healthy and definitely not fun and sexy and there for a second, I had to consider that I might need to nickname myself DumDum for not catching on sooner.

But the "talking to" helped and I feel as if I'm moving in the right direction again.
There are good things on the horizon and this project I'm finishing now is a part of that.

I looked up at the full moon tonight and thought of all the people I've been fortunate enough to know and love over the years and I'm thankful that I had them with me, if only for a brief moment, and I'm grateful to still be here to write about it.

There are things worth fighting for and you're one of them.
Keep fighting.

I'll see you out there soon friends.
Thank you all for reading along.

XOXO,
EPPdF

The Catholic Prayer to St. Michael approved by the Pope Leo XIII in 1886

Saint Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle; 

be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. 

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: 

and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, 

by the power of God, 

thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

Luca Giordano's painting of St. Michael the Archangel and the Fallen Angels,Vienna, 1666

Claudio Coello, c. 1660.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_%C3%96yster_Cult

Contemplating Those Ancient Japanese Masters of Haiku While Remembering a Dream About Taking Communion with My Mother as I Gaze out on a Crisp Fall Day in Atlanta and Eat a Peanut Butter and Jelly Lunchable Under a Dogwood Tree:

I feel there must be some trickery
under those ceremonial kimonos.
After giving you the time, location, the weather, and sometimes the meal of the day,
all in the title,
even I could guess their emotional state
with just 17 syllables.

In what must seem like a lifetime ago to you,
I made a simple request as we gazed up at the moon
from our singular places, in our singular times:
"Take me with you under the moon
and let me run thru your dreams
as you run thru mine".

But the weight of my wanting was too much
and I watched with increasing horror,
that heavy moon sink into the darkest of seas,
never to be heard from again.

And me, from my watery bed,
still looking up saw only the light
and could not know that I was gone.
I could not understand why the sailors crossed themselves
when I approached to ask if they knew you,
had seen you,
would let me follow them back home.

And even now, when time is of no more use to any of us,
I am still gazing thru this carnival glass
seeing only the reflection of what once was
and the wanting moon that keeps me under.