Monday night I was walking home from work just as it was getting dark out and I noticed an unusual amount of cops driving around and parked on every other block. We live in a pretty safe area of Chicago, usually the only cops I see are parked at the 7-11 down the street, reading magazines and eating sandwiches (does that tell you how safe our neighborhood really is?). In a 15 minute walk home, I must have seen about ten cops. It weirded me out pretty good, I felt like every time I walked by one of their parked cars, they were checking me out to see if I fit the description of whoever they were trying to catch. Don't get me wrong, crime does happen in our area. One time I saw a 30 year old man steal a shirt from the Gap down the road. Oh, and there's this guy who tags "T-REX" on all of the churches around here.
This story doesn't end with any gun shots or convicted felons, so if you think this gets more exciting you should probably just skip this post. When I got home, I heard sirens so I went up to our roof to try and see what was going on. It was then that I noticed there was a cop car parked in a every visible alley surrounding our place too. All of the street lights outside our apartment aren't working, so everything feels really creepy as well. After I realized that I could be up there for a while and most likely nothing would happen, I decided that it was a calm enough night to sit up on the roof for a while. I'll never know who of what they were really looking for, and that kind of bugs me a little bit, but only because I'm such a snoop.
I crouched down in a corner and just listened to the city. It was a really clear night and I spent a long time looking for stars. I hate that you can only see a few stars in the sky here. I miss laying outside in my parent's yard, watching meteor showers and satellites with a pair of crappy binoculars. I miss feeling so small and insignificant and full of curiosity about space. In Chicago you are lucky if you can see the Big Dipper in the summertime. I always think of all the awesome science activities I could construct for the kids if only they knew what a bright star really looked like.
Slim Dixon is playing a show tonight, actually they're playing pretty soon. I'll write more later. I have the next two weeks off!! Time to get stuff done, explore, create, and find more schools to apply to. I'm only really excited for three out of those four opportunities.....
