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It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago-she outgrows his prophecies faster than he can make them. She is always a novelty; for she is never the Chicago you saw when you passed through the last time.

---Mark Twain, "Life On The Mississippi," 1883




My cell phone rang this afternoon. A vaguely familiar caller id: "So what're you up to tonight? Any interest in going to Hyde?"

Oops. Another person I "neglected" to inform. "Uh, I'm in Chicago. Moved back a month ago. Sorry 'bout that. I was in a rush to get out of town before my rent shot up 65%."

Yep. Five years in LA erased in the blink of an eye. [Or, rather, on a manic 36 hour door-to-door drive from LA-to-Chicago.]

"Do you have a job yet?" "Nope. Out and about interviewing. Using a couple different high-end recruiters. In all likelihood I'm going back to a firm; sell my soul for some much needed liquidity. It's not ideal, but I'm sick of poverty and lethargy."

"Where're you living?" "I'm crashing at my folks until I get a gig. Basically everything's in storage (including the TV) awaiting my newest semi-permanent address."

"Do you miss LA?" "Not really. First, I'm living out of a suitcase so it more-or-less feels that I'm just visiting (even after a month). Second, I'd genuinely been planning to leave town at the time I left the studio; although, I initially hoped/expected that New York would be my next destination, Chicago made much more practical sense given the variables in play at the time I had to depart. And, most importantly, I certainly don't miss the metaphorical "where" I was in LA. I've made way too many major mistakes over the past several years; this honestly may be my last chance to hit the reset button without significant repercussions or residual blowback."

"What mistakes? What the hell are you talking about?" "Not here. Not now. Maybe never. Then again . . ."