Where I've Been Hiding Lately.

Florida.

I sit in the hottub and stare at the jungle behind the screen of my parents' backyard and think profundities. To whit: "Gee, Florida and Chicago sure are different!"

Yeah, and it's not like anybody's gonna accuse me of not mining that material dry.

I actually kinda like being in Florida now. I like not hearing gunshots at night; I like not hearing the jackhammers of Polish construction workers hired by land-raping scumbags hired to destroy my block in favor of high-density condominiums in the low $500's each weekday. (Why anybody would want to live on my street in a cheaply-built, poorly-constructed building for half a mil is beyond my ken, but then again, I never had much of a head for financial planning.)

I like visiting old friends in their backyards while their children run around. I like Florida supermarkets, especially Publix; such a contrast to the Soviet Union market w/ T.P. vibe you get when you're in a Jewel/Osco.

I like how when I'm in either place, the other place feels like Mars. I like how you can eat out in Central Florida, and see the people and know exactly what they're about (typcially: money), and not have my writerly curiosity poked and prodded like in Chi. There's a cocky and youthful stupidity to Central Florida I like now that I used to despise, a know-it-all self-assuredness like you need to just thank God everyday for being there. A contrast to the gallows humor of Chicagoans--manifested in discussions about the weather, the politics, the crime.

I like eating burritos with friends on the far-reaches of stripmalls where I used to skateboard as a middle schooler. I like the nature the developers will never destroy. I like the feeling of leaving myself behind in Chicago and to take stock of what I've done and if it even remotely matters.

Orlando's getting what it always wanted: Big City Status. Way to go, hayseeds. You always wanted to be Atlanta and Los Angeles...and you've become the worst of both. It's a deal with the devil, as they're starting to realize with the traffic and the crime. Despite the growth, it's still a one-industry town, not unlike Detroit. The traffic is on par with Houston and it's not improving.

I sit in the hottub and sing Steely Dan songs and stare at Constellations, not always buzzed on beer. I miss my Florida friends, and, yes, if prodded, I sometimes miss Florida. Not that I feel like I'm living some "Exile on Division Street" trip by any stretch...I just like that it's someplace I lived and goofed off in until I did as much as could be done for somebody w/ my interests in someplace as geographically isolated as our phallic peninsula.

I accept both places on their own terms now, and that's how it should be.