So I went home for my cousin's wedding and came back without a car. I was just borrowing it, in any case, and now that my mom is back from her vacation it was time to give it back.

I hadn't thought that I'd miss having a car, but recently I've had a change of heart. Now I'm pretty sure I want to buy a used car: something small, reliable, and fuel-efficent. Not because I really need one to get around this summer, or so I can shuttle my friends from place to place, but because I need that freedom... the independence, the many options a car represents. With a car you can just go.

I had to relinquish the car, but I came back with a heavy suitcase full of seemingly everything this apartment is missing, a coincidence that has a lot to do with the new-to-me "semantic packing" technique I employed when leaving Chicago two weeks ago.