Lacking a definite crystalline structure
For some reason I thought that Navy Pier ended at the Shakespeare theater. I've never gone past it. Apparently not.

I heard the fireworks tonight, as I do most Fridays and Saturdays, and decided to head out and people watch, as I was feeling kind of lonely, but didn't quite want conversation. Besides, It's always more interesting watching people as they clear out of a place, so I headed down.


I walked all the way down the pier, straight to the end. I didn't think that there was a place to see the moon anywhere in Chicago besides a rooftop, but you can there. It was lovely. I spent a good half hour laying on the benches, watching it, feeling a bit lonely, but not a bad lonely. It was a bit chilly, there was a bit of a breeze, but that made me more aware. THIS is the reason I love fall. It's just cold enough to awaken the senses, but not cold enough to be miserable.

After watching a while, I turned away, and was surprised to see the city lying there before me. This is the thing that I really like about this place. An experience is finished, and you turn from it, and then a whole plethora of experiences lay out before you. The night is never over, it just continues onto the next day. There were so many times when I watched the moon in Port Huron, then returned to the city to find that nothing was open and no one was out, and nothing more awaited but the dark, quiet roads back to Richmond. Or I would walk all the way home from town, a spray paint can in hand to ward off coyotes, (I kid you not, they scared me... Packs of them howling and gathering for a hunt not a dozen yards away, you'd pull out the most viable weapon you had on you as well...), and the moon and stars shining on the corn fields to find that there was nothing waiting at home for me but a pile of homework that needed to be completed for god knows what reason, and the family watching TV.

Here, even going home means progress. While going to Community College was probably one of the smartest things I ever did, (58 credits transferable almost anywhere for dirt cheap? Good as gold.) it still felt like I was spinning in a hamster wheel that entire time. Now, it feels like I'm doing something...


It's nice to have a purpose.