(I think I last saw them in 1998, maybe. Karen was still in the band, and it was before �Smile��the album with cover art so dreadful I was predisposed to detest it.)

Instead I spent an hour stuck in traffic, free show or no, because things weren�t working out, and it seemed best to get out. Earlier I tried to go to the Starbucks at Chicago and Franklin, but the door I attempted to enter wouldn�t open, and I saw no other option. But the kind folk at Seattle�s Best Coffee gave me a place to stew and a cuppa something tasty. We won�t even mention the expressway fiasco on the way home. Sigh.

The day was, however, duly laid to rest. I talked to our old pal, ewenorker (who�s departing for NY tomorrow, in an odd twist of, well, words), and then tuned in to hear the President horrify the world, as I drove through a smoky, fire-strewn countryside. Farmers doing controlled burns to clear away old growth and brush provided the most appropriate backdrop for the moment. When I arrived home, M & J and I closed the evening sitting out on the patio, drinking Guinness, speaking of the grand meaning of life and watching the eerie orange glow all around us.

I�m feeling lost, but I�m holding out for the weekend and beyond.