The Rut Supremacy

My apologies for not having written sooner, but I'm at the point right now where it seems like the winter will never end and the snow will continue to fall and I'll never see the light of day again. I've diverted my attentions with the Super Bowl, evenings at Nick's, mornings at the gym, movies with Marla and a sweet night of good-bye sex with Mar before she left for Colorado but in the end I always wind up with myself and the rut starts to take over and what Winston Churchill called his black dogs return to haunt their master.

Yesterday was Super Tuesday and Mardi Gras and when I mentioned via email that Barack Obama was holding a victory party Ted suggested that I try to attend and that it might be the perfect cure for the blahs. And, yes, several choruses of "Yes We Can!" would lift just about anybody's spirits.

Marla is an expert at getting into places that are hard to get into and she worked a connection of hers who was a reporter for Reuters but after making some calls he told her: no can do.

"This isn't a musical, Marla. This is History."

Not to mention that Secret Service were everywhere and the street was even closed off. We met after work at Redfish, a New Orleans themed restaurant and bar. Trouble is, once you've been in New Orleans, you've had the Real Deal and Chicago is just too far from the gulf to get the good shrimp and crawfish. Plus, if you accept and fully embrace Mardi Gras you have to accept Ash Wednesday, which I don't. Can't have one without the other.

So, I went outside to grab a cab and just by chance I grabbed Chicago's famous Singing Cabdriver. Sweet. I hadn't been in has cab in about ten years.

He began a very satirical song about generational gaps when Marla interrupted him with a question. I wished she wouldn't have done that, because he became taciturn and his song was a good one. But, I wasn't going to get upset about not hearing the Singing Cabdriver because I could always go to whatever piano bar he was singing at to hear him.

We got back to my apartment and watched the returns come in. A very politically astute friend of mine emailed me that he really didn't understand the whole Obamamania phenomenon. I knew where he was coming from---he's something of a policy wonk. I, on the other hand, often give free reign to my hunches about people, and to my feelings. I replied that there's always an element of kitsch in political rhetoric and you buy it or you don't. It fills a basic human need. However, true leadership is the ability to inspire people to their best and it's refreshing to hear a speech delivered with conviction, by someone who believes in what he's saying and is aware of its historic importance.

It's good to have faith in the possibility that the world can change. Because I'm struggling with a very cold Chicago winter and the easiest thing in the world would be to stay in bed one day and possibly all week especially when you realize how little control you have over your own life.....