Pearl.

During an otherwise pleasant afternoon with my friend Tor, I learned that my favorite art store - Pearl - is closing at the end of the month. This store is a turn of a corner away from Carl Hammer Gallery (where I've shown a few times), always has my special paper in stock, and has more than its share of my college memories housed within its walls.

I went today, in hopes of scrounging up whatever they had that I could use. The good news was that everything was 75% off, the bad news was that most of the stuff I like was picked over. There were 8 sheets of my paper left, enough to make 48 comic pages. That'll go quick.

I grabbed what I could, lugged it back to my car, and took a brief moment for reminiscing. Not too long, of course, as it's a quarter for every eight minutes down there. Just as well, I think I've mostly outgrown reminiscing. I find myself getting annoyed when people are living in the past, talking about the good old days, and saying that things aren't how they used to be. Of course they're not, the phrase itself implies a shift in direction!

Then I get more annoyed with myself for being so annoyed with others. After all, I will probably walk down Chicago Street one day, maybe with a kid who doesn't know anything, and say, "see that Jimmy Johns? That used to be my favorite art store."