shave your moustache and get a real job

I can't remember a warmer October. Last year at this time I was bundled more than I was not. My then-landlady hadn't yet turned on the heat and I slept in layers of winter clothing. I'd just purchased an old army coat for $5 at the thrift store next door. I was in Wicker Park today and really missed living on that end of town. Did I mention how badly I need a haircut?

I spent the morning at Filter. All the coffee in Africa couldn't wake me, and I fettered around with the Nation crossword for an hour or two. It's one of the harder ones, even compared to the NY Times. A couple of young women wearing U of C garb sat near me and I eavesdropped a bit.

"Summer is OK, but she's really a bitch when Taryn's around," one said.

"No kidding, but her boyfriend's so hot. What's his name, again?"

"Eziekiel. He gets lots of coke"

I asked myself why I've never come across anybody from that school who has a normal name. Then I remembered my friend, brad, takes classes there. He's a grad student, though, so it may not count.

Having given up at the puzzle and any sort of legitimate caffeination, I left. I was stopped by a 20-something woman on North Avenue soliciting haircuts so she could pass some sort of exam for some unfairly high-end salon. She wanted $20.

"It'll be $60 once I pass the exam," she said.

I don't pay more than $15 most of the time, anyway, for a haircut. She was nice, though, and seemed earnest enough, but I was broke. I spent my last $2 on cheap pomade.

Columbus by Day

N & I recently watched a doc. about C. Colon's true origin. According to the program, the man was a Spaniard, not an Italian. Believable enough, though they'll probably never teach that in the grammar schools.

Before setting sail under Spain's flag, Colon was a mercenary. He had actually fought against Ferdinand and Isabella's throne, which is why some surmise he masqueraded as Genovese. Once he planted their flag on the islands of the West Indies, he enslaved the natives to mine precious metals. His soldiers tested the sharpness of their swords by lopping hands off of children and leaving them to bleed to death. Five centuries later we still give a holiday to this man whose faulty maps eventually led him to St. Augustine.

Christopher Reeve died. I don't think I was ever really a fan. I've long believed equestrian to be cruel to the horses. I remember when Superman II was released; I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Puerto Rico and we stood in a very long line at the Cinema to see it. People recognized my uncle and let us cut in front of them. I never thought Margot Kidder was a very good Lois Lane. I remember feeling what may heve been my first prepubescent hormonal pangs for Ursula Andress in that movie and thinking General Zod resembled John Entwistle of the Who. I must have been 9 or 10.

I'm tired. My stomach is a churning mess. The kitchen smells of ripe red onions.