Darn it. I caved in today & went and bought an air conditioner. After Sleepless Night #3, I just couldn’t take it anymore … if it’s gonna cost $300, I told myself, I don’t care, it’s just my credit card, it’s on paper, and I want to be able to be in my own apartment & THINK again. To have a clear head.

So first I went to the new Sears on State Street. Nothing. Nothing even under $350, and none that would have even fit in my window. I took the train to Best Buy. And I settled on the cheapest one they had, the smallest one. With tax it was about $275. I whipped out my credit card & gave it to the cashier with a slight grimace. Money I was saving for other things … there goes my retroactive pay raise at work, there goes the tax rebate check which hasn’t even arrived yet.

And then I lugged the thing over to Clybourn, the closest busy street. Sopping wet by then. Heat index of 100. Hailed a cab & spent $8.50 to take the thing home. I think it weighs at much as a nuclear device. I got it into my apartment & opened the box. After deciphering the nearly-useless installation instructions, I got it working.

It’s been running now for almost 5 hours. And it feels much better in here. I’m going to sleep UNDER THE COVERS tonight, WITH MY CLOTHES ON. I haven’t done either in a month or two. And yeah, I’m cranky at what it cost me, and just tired out. But I know I’m going to get some decent sleep tonight. And I’ll have some hot coffee after I wake up tomorrow, and I won’t feel weird about doing it.

Climate is a weird thing. If it’s good, you don’t think twice about it usually; it’s just nice and you go about things. But when it’s awful, it affects everything. And you can go crazy.The heat makes you freeze up, mentally. And you can’t be creative …

A $275 air conditioner is an expensive way to make sure that I stop procrastinating and finish my book. But it might just work. We’ll see tomorrow, which I have off. No work. Just a morning trip to get my Illinois driver’s license, which will expire on my birthday (August 22nd); and some time to write; and then tomorrow night, Jessi and I are going to see Jim White play at Martyr’s. I’ll get him to autograph my CD covers.