Diary: January, 2009.

January has been defined by:

- Intensely reading Les Misèrables; feeling all "shook up" by it. The unabridged version.
- I went to the Art Institute to see the East and Southeast Asian Art, as well as Ancient and Roman Art. It's getting bigger, that Art Institute. Afterwards I went down to Hyde Park to drink at the Falcon with some Scavhunt judges.
- I also went to the MCA, and willingly submitted to the luminous immensity of the LED lights in the Jenny Holzer exhibit.
- Throwing my my wife's dinner and my brother's bachelors party. He came into Chicago on a Friday and we went out with Sky, Emma, Armand, Reinhardt, and Sam. We went to an Italian place in Old Town, then out to the burbs to play glow-in the dark mini-golf. It was cold. The next day, we all dress to the nines and took my brother out for his "inauguration into marriage"... Sam, and Cody's friends Andy and Ryan and I all dressed up as cabinet officials. We went out for Mexican at Fiesta Mexicana, then a play about Chicago ghosts, then a piano bar, then bowling. We closed out the night at the Golden Apple diner, dropped off Cody's friends in Evanston, and got home as the sun was coming up. The next day I went to church at St. Ita's and finished reading Les Misèrables. The next morning, I said goodbye to Cody.
- Somewhat less intensely reading The Romance of the Forest.
- In Chicago, -15 below zero, Fahrenheit.
- The Obama Inauguration, which was somewhat more affecting than I was expecting it to be, although it was still far less affecting than the actual election.
- Fire drills at work.
- Work slowdown due to the rough economy.
- Picking up intensity on the Paramanu Pentaquark. I had a long and intense meeting with Sean, Sam, Sky, Amber, and Bill about launch potentialities.
- The night before this, Barb threw Gothic Funk Party #18: The Storyteller. We saw Jim Henson projected upon the walls at the Peter Jones gallery theater.
- Work was busy though, inostensibly. This was our busy time of year.
- I didn't blog.
- I did read about several nations: Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Republic of the Congo. And I read Wordsworth and Coleridge.
- Every Saturday I had an orientation session for the Chi·Town Daily News. I also have done some work for a congressional campaign, and have been published in the Flint free monthly Broadside.

Diary: What Has Happened: New Years 2009.

I'm going to clip along a little bit faster here, because I want to get back to the present and write about the moment again.

For New Years we drove down to Ohio, where we celebrated 2009's birth with dad J and some delightfully bitter IPA at the Weasel Boy Microbrewery in Zanesville. I got my wife a painting, which was a significant purchase, but the sort of thing you have to leap upon when you get the opportunity. We got home awhile after midnight and caught up on some sleep, which was much needed at that point.

On New Years day we celebrated (of course) with sauer kraut and pork. We went to church, finished giving out our Christmas presents and spent some time picking up a last few items at the Colony Square Mall. We did not, tragically, have a chance to stop at Nichols for a slaw dog.

On Friday, we visited mom alone (since Bill is out of state), and Julie came with us. Then on Saturday we swung up toward Canton/Akron and went out to a Mediterranean place for lunch with Jeff and Chelsea. The town we were in was technically Massillon, which is comparable in population to Burton or Bridgeport. It's a big football town, and all around were gigantic murals situating the town in a divine order of athletic heroism ("and then God created Massilon"). Evidently each boy who is born in the local hospital is given a footbal. Weird as that is (after all, it is Ohio) the murals were absolutely visionary, massively scaled, beautifully executed, and diligently maintained.

Southeast Ohio is in the foothills of the Appalachians; it's gorgeous. We returned to Zanesville and visited with John and Sue for awhile, before spending the last night at dad's. The next day, we drove off past the giant basket of Dresden, saw Mandy and Justin on the way back, and got home late in the evening. It was a fun trip.

To be continued...