Yeah, it's been a while. My excuse: a combination of being busy with other things and having nothing necessarily out of the ordinary happen.

Ah, who the fuck am I kidding: I was just waiting for somebody to post a comment saying they were actually missing these postings. (Thanks duke, whoever you are.)

All right, I'll be honest it with you. It's technically neither of those things.

If you haven't noticed, I've attempted to make this project a little more interesting than one of those ridiculously self-indulgent "here's what happened to me today" blogs. I've tried to focus only on the truly unique and interesting experiences I've witnessed during my time in Chicago. And I suppose what was initially intriguing about writing a blog journaling all my unique experiences in Chicago was because, well, so many of them were unique. Everything was new.

Now that I've lived here for almost two years, the uniqueness has began to wane. Rides on the train and bus are no longer fascinating trips in which I'm observing all the minute details of the folks I'm sitting with. These days they're usually just frustrating trips from point A to point B.

I'm finding it more and more difficult to discover new and interesting streets/neighborhoods.

I'm getting burned out on many of the bars I used to find stimulating.

I take the skyline for granted.

I can start to feel myself morphing from a wide-eyed and eager newcomer to a grizzled old "been there, done that" veteran. Though this isn't such a terrible thing. I mean, I'm not un-happy, nor do I love this city any less. I know the place like the back of my hand. The tragedies and challenges it poses to me are fewer.

The one thing I've truly began to notice with this city over the last couple months, what I think makes this place truly great, is that I feel ultimately comfortable here. This city has taken me and and made me feel completely at home.

In turn — like many a writer before me — much of the raw inspiration I roamed this city with a year ago has been siphoned, and the chronicles of its stimuli have become fewer and far between.