It's another one of those mornings.

I sit here, staring, aware that I have a jillion things to do before I even get into the office, but the usual early morning writing isn't having the jump-start effect on the mental battery it usually does. So let's see, I actually have to dig through my list of impressions / topics that I scrawl on the inside of my leg to use in occasions such as this.

I'm beginning to worry I write less clearly than I used to since people keep misinterpreting what I'm trying to say. Or am I just to assume that no matter what I write online, someone is going to put their own spin on it and react accordingly regardless of how many bases I cover or how completely I make / defend a certain viewpoint?

Hm. I wrote that a while ago but it seems appropriate given the dust-up my discussion of The Empty Bottle's inclusion on the 10 Best Rock Clubs in America list seems to have spurred. I'm not going to go into all the details here, since you can read (and comment) on the whole thing right at the original entry. After a bit of reflection I realize that what I wrote was clear enough, but it was on a subject lots of people have deep personal feelings about and those feelings are heavily influenced by individual tastes. The only thing that bums me out a little bit is that folks thought I was slamming one venue when I was actually trying to say that, "yeah, the place is good, but Chicago is so great there are places that are better now."

And, of course, there are a few commentors who will always fall in the latter category of eternal contrariness. Sometimes they are a bit annoying but I think, in the long run, they might actually be healthy for discussion, if for no other reason than they might draw another party in to more thoroughly examine their claims.

So there you have it. Thanks to my inner-leg list for supplying this morning's topic and thanks to you for sitting through it.

UNRELATED: Everyone waiting for my yearly (as Mark put it) "I hate those new assholes at the gym that make getting in shape a New Year's resolution and clog up the works and don't wipe down the machines and generally fuck things up for us year-round workout types for the month or two until, mercifully, they give up and go back to being fat assholes" and was placing bets on just when it would appear ... you are out of luck. I've already vented to the Chicagoist peeps via our Google group and have no venom left on the subject. Use the money you would've bet with your partner to go out to lunch together, but please don't use that money to join my gym. Thank you.