good things

I really didn't do much this weekend, stopped by to see my parents and the in-laws for dinner, ran errands on Saturday and did some late-night painting, managed to make good fun out of yesterday's clouds and go out to Lakeview Cemetery again, this time with Lindsay.

We were looking inside the family vaults, attempting to piece together personalities and family history and of course giggling at the myriad obelisks and amusing names like "Elvira Nightingale" (sounds like it'd make a fantastic goth name or a writer of steamy vampire novels), and "Grover C. Good." We met up with Mukhtar and climbed up to the Garfield monument to get a great view of the city and the dramatic clouds.

Went to a party on the west side, good food, great hanging out and stories and I was laughing so hard. What keeps me here is the people, any magic that the city brings is secondary to that.

There are some people I know where I just want to give them a tape recorder and have them tell me stories because they've got incredible ones and the best way of telling them. Stories where you are thinking about the state of the world and laughing at its absurdity, stories about living in your city seen through the eyes of someone else, stories that get lost in translation when you try to explain them.

I broke my camera a couple weeks ago and took back the other one because the pictures came out so badly and I really wish I had it last night. The sunset over the lake was stunning, all the grey clouds turning purple and the city glowing almost neon pink. That and this song on the stereo and the euphoria of living and all the good things made me feel so thankful for where I'm at right now.