Still, it's kind of nice.

I'm just puttering around here, getting stuff ready for my trip to Chicago with Mark Pritchard. (That link takes you to a lifetime's worth of photos of Mark. I love that page! I hope it isn't annoying him that I keep linking to that. Aside from all his childhood photos, which I love, my favorite is the second to the last one, from when he was 45  -- what an intensely smiley-smile!!)

Anyway.

I leave Thursday and as loyal readers of this lofty blog no doubt recall, I  will at long last be staying at the Palmer House! Yay!


At this point, I am actually much more excited about going to Chicago than to Paris. But I guess part of that is because I won't have to think in French while I'm in Chicago (unless of course I suddenly feel like spontaneously practising my verb conjugations!). And I won't have any business meetings, or feel completely stressed about having to be "on" all the time because I'll be meeting a lot of people -- all of whom are expecting me to speak & understand French, etc. And really all I can offer them is a finely-honed French accent that will only cause them to mistake me for someone who readily speaks French and so they will let loose with that rapid-fire, Parisienne-style French that, try as I might, I absoutely do not understand.

Okay. I digress.

Boy, I'm excited about seeing my dear pal Mark again! We haven't seen each other since, like, 2004, I think -- the last time I was in San Francisco. It's supposed to rain almost the entire time we'll be in Chicago, but that will be nice because rain makes great museum weather, doesn't it? Or staying-in-your-room weather, as the case may be!! The sad news is that I have lost weight over the last year or so and now my really cute Vera Wang cocktail dress -- that I have never yet worn, mind you -- no longer fits me!! I mean, I'm never sad about losing weight, but I had had my heart set on finally wearing the Vera Wang, but I didn't try it on until the other day, when it was too late to get it off to the alterations place.

But anyway, I'm guessing that Chicago will survive this catastrophe.

On another topic entirely... Mad Men is getting pretty intense, isn't it? Wow. I'm kinda glad the old geezer died, though, because that character caused me a lot of stress. He always seemed on the verge of doing something really disruptive and horrible. But the show is really great at causing constant angst, isn't it? A --what the hell are you people going to do next?-- kind of thing. I just love it.

Well, okay. I actually need to get some writing done around here. I'm sure it will completely surprise you to know that I am inching up on some serious deadlines here that I am in no way prepared for. As usual! So I need to kind of figure out, like, what the hell I'm doing. (Well, I know what the hell I'm doing, I just need to figure out how to get a ton of writing in there, too.)

So on that note, thanks for visiting, gang! Have a great Labor Day if you're on this side of the lofty pond! See ya!