and the people fill the city because the city fills the people oh yeah

Sometimes I look around and wonder what the hell I'm doing in Chicago.

I'm happy enough: good job, good friends, decent place to live, and I've been staying out of busses and trains and riding my bike practically everywhere (which is easier to do here than anywhere I've been, although it's maybe not quite as exciting as in New York). And the theatre stuff that's in my life is actually in North Carolina and would be there no matter where I lived.

But still, sometimes I look around and wonder what the hell I'm doing in Chicago.

I wouldn't have guessed that I'd end up here. Ok, there was some stupid and possibly psychotic girl involved, but that's quite a while ago now.

There's just something about the energy of this place. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dumping on this city at all. It's a fine place, not at all a stupid city like, say, Atlanta. But the problem is that I lived in New York before I came here. And the energy of that place, the challenge of daily life (because everything is slightly challenging in its own fun little way) just suits me, you know? And the convenience, holy crap the convenience. It might take a little figuring out, a little maneuvering, but the city has whatever you need whenever you need it.

Except a circle of friends. I have a fair number of friends in New York, but none of them really know each other, which means that in social situations I'd be the hub and my friends would be at the ends of the spokes, but without a rim of anything in common. Which is okay, but it can get tedious in a hurry. In Chicago, I've developed somewhat of an actual circle, and there's a lot to be said for that. Which brings me around to thoughts of Asheville and DC, where I would also have nice circles, but then when I think of making another heinous cross-country move I mostly just think I want to live back in New York (it makes it easier that I'd already have a good job when I got there, too).

Anyway, I'm in Chicago at the moment, and I'm enjoying visits from my best friend(s, hopefully) this weekend, and that's good enough for now.

In other news, I got Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the mail on Saturday, and I'm about 150 pages into it and really enjoying it, but I was hoping that the first few chapters would be more of a review than they actually have been. I mean, I remember a character called Tonks and that she always said "Wotcher, Harry," but I know there's more to know about her and I can't for the life of me remember who she is in the larger scheme of things. And Harry's had a couple of love interests, right? Who were they? And where are they now? As much as I've tried to avoid any spoilers (minor spoiler alert here), I have heard that a "major" character dies in the last 50 pages of the book. The person who told me so was thinking it had to be Ron, Hermione, or Dumbledore (definitely major, much moreso than Sirius Black, whose death really didn't move me much one way or the other), but at this point I'm thinking it's Draco Malfoy or Severus Snape, or maybe Hagrid.