there went my vacation...

I have always said I was fortunate in my friends. I am doubly fortunate that most the ones who moved away chose to relocate to places I really enjoy visiting. Like San Diego, Portland, or even northern Indiana (OK, so Indiana wouldn't have been my first choice, but it is pretty cool, in a Norman Rockwell sort of way, and you have to go thru Chicago anyway.) What with having said friends, and the ability to wrangle invitations pretty much whenever I want, the only thing I really have to possess is money for airfare. Which, to any of those destinations, is always about $200 - $230. Which was what I just handed over to the plumber who came to fix the kitchen sink, snake the drain, pour acid down the ancient cast-iron pipes and cap off an old pipe thru which, I was informed, terrible things like sewer gas, rats, and ROUSs (Roaches Of Unusual Size) were entering the house.

Actually, $206.00 is really very little to pay for not having bilge and detritus from the dishwasher backing up into the sink and gurgling like one of Lovecraft's Elder Gods. Not too much at all.

But I really did want to go somewhere. Away. From here.

I might have to rethink this whole notion of home-ownership.