Weekends annoy me. Why? Because EVERYONE has the weekend off, and thus EVERYONE is EVERYWHERE I try to go. For a great many years, I had a series of jobs where my time off usually fell on a weekday. It was occasionally annoying as far as making social plans, but for sheer relaxation and productivity it was unbeatable. For example, if I had a Thursday off, I could get up, go out for coffee (empty coffeehouse with everyone at work) or breakfast (quiet, unlike the madhouse rush that is SUNDAY BRUNCH), groceries (empty store), the post office (almost empty), perhaps even catch a matinee (nearly empty) and have dinner (no long waits). I could be as relaxed or as productive as I wanted to be. Chicago was my oyster. Now, of course, I’m an “adult” with a “normal” job, which means Monday through Friday I’m at work. And Saturday and Sunday are my “days off.” Just like every other fucking mainstream consumer. So anything I try to do, anywhere I try to go, anyTIME from Friday at 4.30 pm until Sunday night, hundreds of others are trying to do simultaneously. I hate having to plan the precious moments of my free time around what the “masses” are going to be doing.

So I can FORGET about trying to write my new book by going to Intelligentsia every Saturday morning, sitting at a table myself with a relaxed cup of coffee and my notebook. No siree. Every yuppie and their personal trainer would be right there with me.