Well, it’s the last day of October. The month really went by fast this year, that’s for sure. It got cold sooner than any year I can remember. It was beautiful too. The trees really look like living flames out there. It’s interesting, walking around and noticing everything. There’s still that beautiful orange glowing light that allows you to see everything.

The first two days out in the field have gone fine. I’ve only dealt with a few wackos so far. But it’s true, West Town is really diverse. There are condos next door to buildings that could be condemned; you see an SUV parked near subsidized housing. My first day out I didn’t do any interviews at all. Most people weren’t home, some weren’t interested. Made a few appointments to come back on another day. Yesterday I conducted two interviews. One was a woman in her early 30’s, the other was a woman who was 27. Oddly enough they were both bartenders. I think everything went well. I went a bit slower than usual to make sure everything I was doing was correct. They appreciated the $40 they got for taking part. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the money then I think that even less people would consent to the whole thing.

I have my first check-up meeting with my supervisor this afternoon. Hopefully he’ll be okay with everything. I’m trying my best to stay very organized. It’s tough; there’s a ton of material. My backpack weighs at least 30 pounds. Slogging it all over town.

Found a cool little coffeehouse at Chicago/Damen, Atomix Coffee. I don’t think it’s related to the old Atomix Cafe that used to be next door to the Village North theatre in Rogers Park. Anyway it was nice to sit in there for 15 minutes during my break today. Since I’ll be back in the neighborhood about 5 times a week I think I’ll make it a regular stop.

I’ll get home from work about 9 tonight. Then Andy & I will watch some scary movie or something. And then, just after the stroke of midnight, we will start our NOVELS. I’m geared up. Made some notes and stuff but still flying a bit blind. Just jump right into National Novel Writing Month.

A note to everyone: seeing as how I will be needing to write about 1675 words a day on the novel, EACH DAY, I probably won’t be writing much here in my livejournal. Instead I will be posting the novel online as I write it. So bookamrk http://www.geocities.com/randomc75/bluefogsummary.html and go there often to read what I’m writing. It’s cheaper than a movie and less work than channel surfing. In fact, reading my novel over the course of November is your best entertainment value.

I’ve chosen a quote by Mose Allison to preface the novel, from his song “Everybody’s Crying Mercy”:

Everybody’s crying, ‘Peace On Earth, just as soon as we win this war.’