bend to my will

I have this friend Jay from high school. We weren't that close back then but got close afterwards through the intercollegiate ultimate frisbee scene and then playing in leagues in Chicago. We both got invited to taste some wines at Rodan in Wicker Park before it opened. Little did we know that our friend's place would do so well. He used to marvel at how things worked out for me with, seemingly, little effort and would then retort: "Once again the universe bends itself to your will." And this was before the Secret got big.

I'm in Michigan again, but this is my last week here for a while. The weekend in Chicago was one of the more inspiring, starting with a mediocre Classical concert with Laura, which turned into me going with her roommate as his +1 to a sold out show at the Empty Bottle. That was Saturday. I drank more than I needed to, but I saw some pretty above average music. There's nothing like above averageness to make me think that I can do better--and need to.

Sunday started with dim sum with the Northwestern profs where I learned that, according to statistics, there is a correlation between high I.Q. and atheism. And between high I.Q. and promiscuity in women. And between high I.Q. and monogamy in men. Interesting food for thought. I think there's more to life than I.Q., which is a form of intelligence that we need but only in moderation to other kinds of intelligence. Just like we need atheism but not too much. Where we need it most is in government. Public decisions that affect *everyone* shouldn't be informed by faith; they should be informed by science.

Then I somehow ended up at Corbett's for dinner. He lent me an album by St. Vincent which sounds pretty good so far.

Somehow, by the end of the weekend, things seemed to be going according to plan--whose plan remains to be seen. At the coffee shop on Monday, a song came on that I liked. Thanks to Shazam, I found that it was the album Corbett had just lent me. I asked the barista about another song, and it turned out to be Victoire, a band formed by Brooklyn composer Missy Mazzoli, whose music I don't remember liking so much. And then, bookending the weekend, I rediscovered a song by Fond of Tigers that does basically what I want to do but more jazz/rock than electronic/rock. Good to have models. I just forget who they are sometimes. Or look for new ones.

Which brings up today and the way in which the universe does my bidding. My friend Nicole had said that I could stay at her place for the next few weeks, a notion that made me realize that I was getting burned out on solitude. A few weeks of city time sounds nice. Then, last night, I learned from facebook about another friend, from the co-op days, who was looking for a dog/house-sitter in Rogers Park. So now I actually can make some money for a change. The universe keeps outdoing itself.

Let's party like it's 1985 with one of my favorite songs from my Paris days.