From the backlog

3/30

A strong south wind blew air from Texas all the way north to Chicago today. The jet stream held strong far beyond our city, keeping the arctic winds at bay. It felt anticipatory, clearly not the real beginning of warm weather, but a taste of things soon to come.

A warm breeze blew in, and it blew a lot of bad news and anxiety in with it.

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Another earthquake in the Indian Ocean region yesterday (one of the strongest 10 earthquakes since 1900 according to the newspaper) did not result in a second tsunami, but did kill thousands in some of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami and sent many more fleeing to high ground in panic.

This is a moment that reminds me that the world is fundamentally incomprehensible to the mind. It's stupid to try and figure it out.

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I'm driving down Irving, it's dark. There are a bunch of emergency vehicles in the middle of an intersection, Irving and Kedzie or something. The pavement is soaked in something, a fire engine cranks out its hose.

I look around as i inch past the fire fighters standing in my lane of traffic. Some bystanders look on, i can't tell what's going on, but i imagine that the fire fighters are preparing to hose the pavement down; i can't see a car wreck or any fire.

That's the way this street is, emergency vehicles are a fixture. A state of emergency is just another way of saying all conditions normal.