This is why I love my neighborhood.
I take my laundry over to the local laundromat to be washed because I have tons of it, and I don't mind giving this woman my money so she can take care of her adorable 6 year old daughter. Maybe this makes me your average lazy white person, but I hate doing laundry.
I walk towards the bank to get some cash. I see two older women, wrinkled faces smiling as they talk to one another in a strained language I can't even begin to understand. By the time I've gotten to the bank, I've probably already heard at least 4 different languages. A man is translating the ATM instructions into spanish for a woman. I get my cash and walk out. It smells like numerous kinds of ethnic food, roasting meat, garlic, spices. I realize how hungry I am, but I was planning on getting groceries. I stop by the pizza place near the bank to have a look. At least two different languages are being spoken - neither of which are Italian. I'm given strange looks being the lone white girl in the place. I decide not to get anything - they don't have pizza by the slice and I can make my own spaghetti. I take a paper menu for later and leave. I go to the grocery store and grab a variety of imported items - roasted red peppers, naan, a few different kinds of candies. I decide to get Ajvar, which I have never had before. The entire label is in a language I don't know, except for the one slapped on the back by the grocery store so I can get a feel for what is inside the jar. I'm excited to try it. Something new.
I grew up in small Kentucky towns where the number of people who didn't look like me I could probably count on both hands. Now I am the minority. And it is an interesting and educating experience indeed.
Wow, sorry about being such a terrible blogger lately.
Work is going okay. It's sort of boring right now because we haven't advertised much and we're still trying to figure out what is going to work best in the store. It's a growing and changing process, which is cool, but also means things are going to get off the ground slowly.
I've experienced some interesting things in there thus far though.
First, keep in mind that I work by myself like 90% of the time. So even my first full day, I was working a lot by myself. Which is cool, but occasionally unnerving.
On my second day of work this homeless guy comes in with his bag - now mind you, this apparently is not your average homeless guy. He looked fairly clean, but he reeked to high heaven of booze. But he asked to come in and warm up because he had been waiting for the bus. And I was like yeah, sure. Now mind you, it wasn't THAT cold out - we had already had much colder days and that day was actually warmer. And he started talking about how he wasn't used to living in such crap, and how he used to have a condo and all this stuff but then things happened. Apparently, according to him, he had to give his brother a bunch of money for something. And then he was working for Mayor Daley and his "runners" tried to kill him - and everyone else who knew what he knew had already been killed. And I was like uhhuh, ok...and then he showed me the "cut mark" where apparently the runners tried to slash his throat? I didn't see the actual cut but I was like...ok. And then he was like I only have to make it one more week and then my book is coming out and I'll be okay again. At this point he started telling me Oprah had read his book and really liked it and was going to publish it for him and so forth and after it came out Mayor Daley was going to prison, etc. At this point I was starting to get unnerved. I wasn't too afraid of him, but I was just starting to get uneasy being the only one in there with him. So we have a secret word we use on the walkie-talkies to indicate something is up but it isn't an emergency. So I radio, and two guys show up and start milling about the store, talking to me, and to each other and keeping an eye on the guy. Well finally the guy leaves and come to find out he is a regular at The Alley (which is a store owned by the same guy who owns the store I work in) and had crazy talked in there too, including offering to buy an old guy a hooker. So that was an interesting experience.
I've also had a girl come in to buy pepper spray because she was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend and the cops were doing very little about it and she was essentially coming up against a brick wall with them. So I taught her as much about deterring crime as I could before she left. I had two guys come in to buy dog-pepper spray because they had encountered several dogs that they were afraid were going to attack their dog or themselves. I had a guy come in and start talking to my boss about the fact that he was a personal body guard, and also did research on how to evacuate rich people in case of a terrorist attack. Then they started discussing the weak points in Chicago for an attack! Oy. That was an interesting conversation to listen to - hearing my boss tell about a time he was in the back of a cab that was wired up like crazy, and when he leaned up to pay he noticed that the GPS system on the laptop was not of Chicago but was of Washington D.C., so he later reported this to his FBI friend. Apparently he's in the right place at the right time and notices enough stuff to have like a good friend in the FBI to be an informant.
Crazy.
So my work, when something is going on, really is interesting. Beyond the occasional moments though, I essentially sit around and read. Which is fine because I've almost finished Redwall and the first book in the Crimson Shadow series.
Beyond that school starts today - HOORAY finally. I'm ready to go back.
I've been sick the past few days, but I think I'm finally getting over it.
And then my drag act was accepted into the show and is happening on Friday - WOO!
Beyond that, that's most of the excitement in my life.
ps- The title is the reaction of my friend when I told her that Wrigley Field was mentioned as a possible terrorist attack point. She's a Cardinals fan, haha.
I've been thinking a lot about Lafayette lately. I miss it a lot....more accurately, I miss the people there a lot.
Life at Purdue, not surprisingly, was far far easier. Spending 3 days alone in my apartment probably would have never happened.
I live in the second largest city in the world, but my social life was more active when I was attending a college in the middle of BFE Indiana.
I love Chicago, don't get me wrong. This city is amazing, and in so many ways it is exactly what I need. But...there is still something missing. I don't quite know what it is yet.
Nick says a lot of my problems stem from the fact that not only am I trying to adjust to a completely new situation, but I am also trying to adjust to a new me. I am changing, and at the same time, my world is changing around me. Entirely.
I feel as though there really is no home for me. Kentucky isn't home for me anymore certainly - it has been far too long since I was rooted there to be able to replant. Indiana will never be the same for me - the people are still there, but even if I moved back...for what purpose? People that are leaving in May? To walk around Purdue's campus like I belong there? And even still Chicago still doesn't quite feel like home yet. It still so new, so big.
It's frustrating because I just want to fall easily into life here. I want to make it okay, I want to be that city girl. I want the best of both my worlds, but I don't know if that is possible.
I'll figure this out. It will take time. As most things usually do.
< / ramble >
When I was on the plane flying into Chicago, I saw it suddenly break from beneath the clouds and fog. And there was my city, laid out in perfect shining lines. Little squares of lights, each a certain distance from one another, stretching beyond what I could see from my little plastic porthole. Life. Cars slowly poked along, some lights flashed - there were hints of the enormity of life beneath. And tears came to my eyes. These tears, I feel, can only be understood by one who has wanted to live so desperately in a city for so long. For one who has always struggled to be fiercely independent, and how the city - in its challenges and immensity is a representation of that independence. How it is something ugly and beautiful, something wild and tamed, something all together indescribable. This is home for me, but home is not easy. It is where my heart is, but my heart is not whole.
We came down closer, the buildings starting to show their true height. The faces of houses becoming more distinct, like faces when you walk closer to a person in the distance. I could tell it had been snowing. We dipped down into our landing and the bustle of the city exploded around us. Highways packed, people walking, stores lit up.
This city, so beautiful and so full and yet in the same night can be so desolate and empty.
This is an uphill struggle compared to the relative meadow I was crossing through at Purdue. This is emotional turmoil, this is confusion, and hammering out.
My life is a mishmash of steel, pavement, and glass. Twisted together to make structures that you have to see, you have to crane your head up at and marvel in wonder. Life is not set, it is not regular. It is beautiful and ugly, fierce and wild, and is something altogether indescribable.
So I went to the beach today.
I never really thought about the fact that I am so lucky to have grown up getting to go to the beach every two years or so. We went to my grandparent's house a lot when I was younger, so I'm used to communing with the ocean every few years. I don't like swimming, but I do love large bodies of water. They are so powerful and amazing. I very much feel the ocean has its own identity and sense to it. Maybe I'm just weird, but hey. Whatev.
I took all kinds of photos!
Anyway, I'm tired. Off to laze some more.
Why you should be jealous of me:
I am sitting on a screened in porch writing his entry in the lovely Florida sun while it is a nice 67 degrees outside.
Awesome.
I'm in Florida visiting my grandparents since I was supposed to see them back in October but wasn't able to because I was sick and busy. So now I get to come down for four days and stay out of the mid 20s weather that is currently going on in Chicago. Loverly.
But it isn't all sunshine and palm trees. My grandmother is not the sweet old "let's bake some cookies" type. She's overly critical, and can be downright mean when she wants to be. Both of my grandparents are in their 90s too, so that presents its own...challenges. So, it'll be a trial of patience. But it will be worth it to play in the sun for a little while. :D
Today we went to the Bodies Revealed exhibit. It's a smaller version of the one I saw in New York a few years ago. Still really awesome though, it was the reason I took Anatomy and Physiology my senior year of college - which almost killed me, but was incredibly enlightening.
Tonight is Thai food and going to see a play called Run for Your Wife or something like that. woo!
Man, I have been a terrible little blogger lately!
Erin came into town on Friday and we got to meet for the first time - even though we have been talking on the internet for over a year now! But it was great to finally get to hang out and take cheesy tourist pictures. We also got some classy hot chocolate and talked about Norwegia. Good times.
Today I finally was able to hang out with my Boi and Gurl Toiz, who I hadn't really seen in months! It was so great to hang out with them - I really am beginning to feel like a part of the family. After the mandatory meeting we had a photo shoot which was a blast. After that we all went out to T's to get some food, and CJ and I played some pool. I somehow ended up doing really well - and in our last game against this adorable lesbian couple, I sank the last three shots in like a PRO. It was awesome. Sometimes I am REALLY on it when it comes to pool, and sometimes it's pretty damn awful, haha.
Tomorrow I'm cleaning the hell out of my apartment and then packing, once again, to head out to Florida on Monday. I'm going to see my grandparents for a few days, then come back and start my job and get ready for school! Woo!
I'm going to base my next tattoo off this picture:
I decided to take up a photo challenge, in which you take a picture of yourself every day for a year. One year of self-portraits. I'm pretty excited about it, I think it is going to be fun.
However, since I don't know what the content of the pictures may be in the future, I'm not posting the link up everywhere. If you would like the link you can message me or leave me a comment. Those of you who are my friends on facebook can find a link to the album on my "About Me" section of my profile.
Woo!
Also, see the movie Provoked - it's pretty damn enjoyable.
