Pieces of Advice

Last night as I was laying in bed I thought about where I am right now, where I've been and where I'm going. I thought about the people and the places that occupy my past. Specifically college stuck in my mind, and how truly awesome and care-free it was. You never know how good you have it, until you don't have it anymore. Ain't that the truth!!

I miss college. Thank God I still have my youth. [Ooh! I just choked on that coffee swallow!]

On the last day of my internship at Chicago Dramatists last summer the bosses took me and another itern, who's last day it was too, out to lunch. We got to talking about this, that and the other thing - as you usually do in conversations. As we waited for the check and let our food digest I asked each boss for a piece of advice they wish they would've known at 22 but didn't find out until later.

Here's what they said:

-- I wish that I knew what I know now... no, no, no, wait - that's Rod Stewart and The Faces.

1. If you want something you have to do it. There's no waiting around for someone to fill up your plate. You control your own destiny, your own path. Go out and blaze a trail, or just grab the bull by its balls.

2. Always pay your bills(!), esp. student loans(!), on time!! Even if you can't pay the full balance, something is better than nothing.

3. Take a financial planning class, and budget!! This makes it much easier to be a trail blazer when you have funds to get you places where you aren't already.

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Simple pieces of advice, yes, but good nonetheless.

Also, I don't know if I wrote about this before, but I remember after a drive to LBI I woke up from my car ride nap to my father singing Doris Day's "Que Sera, Sera" and it's probably my favorite memory of him from growing up. Because after he noticed I woke up he turned around and smiled as he sang, Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que sera, sera. What will be, will be.

Totally unrelated, but here are some interesting "in the moment" pictures.

Hindsight is 20/20 and my Eyesight is Not...

I feel like this song captures the moment of my life right now, the clouds keep rollin' on in.It's always so much easier to look back on something and shake your head saying, "I was so foolish to have done it that way. Everything would've been so much easier had I taken a different course of action." Ah. Such is life. You live and you learn. Lately I feel like this has happened to me a lot. The majority of my days are filled with good decisions, or at least easily fixable bad ones... not so much the case right now.

I feel like the big city is eating me alive. Everyday it takes something from me. Money, CTA cards, my iPod, my bike, my sanity. I wonder if I can hack it, or if I'm fooling myself into waiting for the inevitable failure.

Yeah, my bike. My bike that my mother and step father gave to me as a college graduation present. My bike that was really nice and had a smooth ride and a comfy seat - I need to stop or I might cry. My Schwinn that I would say like "SCHWING!" I'm actually still reeling from the situation/realization that the world could be so cold and cruel as to take this thing from me. That's what I'm trying to remind myself, it's just a thing. Even if it was a really, really nice, expensive thing, that was a gift, that is something I won't be able to afford for months, and by then I won't be able to ride it because it'll be -20 degrees outside. It's just a thing. They didn't steal me, so that's good. This is why I can't have nice things. I don't take care of them. My mother frequently reminds me of this.

Here's what happened. Friday I rode my bike to work because it was supposed to be a beautiful day. The morning time was great, but the clouds rolled in by the time I was leaving the office, and as it's already terrifying to ride bikes downtown - what with the crazy motorists/peds, lack of bike lanes - I opted to take the train to Pitchfork instead of ridin' my bike. I planned to run downtown and pick it up Saturday morning, but it was still raining... also, with the rain and biking, I'd be afraid to fall. I saw someone fall while riding in the rain and they skidded about 15 feet - in the road, in traffic! It was frightening. I didn't want that to be me, so I said I'd do it Sunday. There was no time on Sunday - or was there? It'll be there Monday, I said. No worries. Monday, Monday, Monday. I walk to work, I see a bike chained up, I assume it's mine. No worries. Why didn't I ride it home Monday? Was it raining? No. Tuesday seems as good a day as any. I decided to work from home so I could do some serious apartment hunting (that's another thing that I'll get to in just a moment). I woke up without an alarm clock and it was glorious, geared up and went out for a run downtown to get my bike. It was only supposed to be a 4 mile run (to the office is actually 3.5, but I was going to ride my bike so it'd be gravy), but when I got to the bike rack I didn't see my bike.

Are you fucking kidding me?! Harry Potter, please stop having sex with my bike (super silly side-note; I feel bad for the guy because it was behind closed doors... a little awkward, yes, and seemingly impossible, but people have strange fetishes, I hope this isn't what happened to mine - it was very good-looking) and take off your invisibility cloak!!


I wanted to sit down and cry like a baby. I wanted someone to tell me that everything was going to be alright. I wanted to scream, FUCK YOU, MOTHERFUCKER! I wanted to shank a biker. I wanted to steal someone else's sweet ride.

Running home I felt like all the bikers were mocking me. Oooh! Look what I have. Oooh! I'm going so much faster than you. Oooh! Look at me fly by on my wheels, and look at your stupid feet. 7-8 miles, a good training day, but I really wanted to ride my bike.

I was hoping I was wrong. I hoped that I would come to work today and I would see it. I didn't. My friend told me that abandoned bikes get picked up by the city and I should call them... I don't have the serial number that I know of, but I figured that I could describe it to them and if they have it, I could search the mess of my room for something with something claiming my ownership on it. Sheesh!

I can't tell my mother either. I wanted to when I talked to her yesterday, but I couldn't bring myself to it. One, because she would say, "What were you thinking?" and I would say, "I wasn't" and she would say, "That's right." And she would use my full name when talking to me, and I would know that meant she was disappointed with me, and she would say, "You've been doing this [not thinking] since you were a little girl. Remember when..." And I would sigh, say "I know, I know!" and get sad and eventually angry, but mostly sad because I feel like life keeps punching me in the stomach.

One good thing happens and then, like, 12 bad things follow. Not really, but it feels that way.

For instance, my friend was talking about her child-self thinking that becoming an "adult" was some sort of destination where there'd be a party saying, "YAY! You made it!" And I said, I'm still waiting for that surprise party. I think it'll happen with my next promotion. Everyone on the street will know and they'll jump up and down and dance as confetti rains from the sky. And there will be people walking around on stilts, handing out balloons and caramel apples. And everyone will rush up to me with flowers and gold and they'll say, "You made it! We're so glad you're here! Look at all these wonderful things you've done, just think about what's to come!" And they'll hoist me up on their shoulders and sing, Hip hip, hoorah!! Until the sun goes down, and then the crowd will disperse and we'll wave into the distance until we are all but mere specks on the horizon.
That hasn't happened yet, and all the time I feel like this is in front of me, but they're running away - because I'm not at that place in my life yet, I'm still struggling everyday - turning the corner right before I turn the one before. I see a flash of confetti here, a disappearing stilt there, but it's nothing big, and then I get the wind knocked out of me because I get blind sighted by the glitz and glimmer of the present moment, thinking about one thing too much then everything else builds up to bad and tsunamis me.

I did find an apartment that I really like, though. It was good, a 2-bedroom (1100) so I would need to find a roomie (550 + utilities would make 650-ish each - ah-nice!). The only problems, and these are slightly big... the entrance is in on the side, in between 2 buildings - kind of creepy, I would need to invest in some mace and have super fast unlocking skillz. Also, when the landlord was walking me out I noticed there was a note on the door from a tenant that reminded the other tenants to lock the door because a "trespasser" was found in the basement the other week. Well, well, well. That's just wonderful. So, I'll have a nice house but there's potential for me to be murdered while I sleep... maybe they were peaceful, just looking for a dry place to sleep, or nunchucks.
Also, the laundry machines were $2 a pop - OUTRAGEOUS!, but there is a laundromat right on the next block... I think I'm going to take it. I'm getting desperate, and hey! Maybe it won't be that bad. I think I'm going to take it.

Well, well, well...

I don't know what I'm doing in creating a blog, or why. I guess I've got too much time on my hands, to-to too much time on my hands. A-wicki-wicki-wha.

I've been in this Windy City for almost a month, which is weird for me. Weird in that I'm back in Chicago. I've had various stints with the city; birth to the age of 2, freshman year of college, summer before my super senior semester, and now to embark on the journey into my "adulthood." Being an "adult" is weird, I put it in quotations because I don't necessarily consider myself an adult, yet. I'll be a full-blown adult when I A.) have a 9-5 with health insurance and benefits, or B.) turn 25 - hopefully it will be A then B. Let's see.

Y'know, in thinking about my blog title, I have yet to consume a hot dog in this fair town, but I do enjoy exclaiming, "hot dog!" whenever something exciting or noteworthy happens. Such as today, when I returned a call for a potential job, and was granted an interview on Friday. I hung up the phone, did a high kick and shouted, "HOT DOG!" What a feeling!

I finally started volunteering!! Hooray!! Yesterday was my first day with after school drop-in tutoring. What an experience that was. I was really nervous before the kids came in, but it ended up being a pretty good first day. I had these two little sisters first, Kimberly and Catherine, and they were both in some seriously sour moods. Kimberly said that, "nothing!" was her favorite thing to do, and used it as a response to many other questions, but then I asked her about her necklace, and she went on and on and on about how her mother got it for her, and sometimes it gets caught in her hair, and then she was talking too fast so I just smiled and nodded and said, "Wow! It sure is shiny!" And Catherine forgot her homework at school, picked out a Magic School Bus book for me to read to her - which was surprisingly long compared to Kimberly's selection, "I Like Bugs!" - and then she wouldn't sit still. Kids! Also, she kept trying to make everyone spell their name with a "C," it was bizarre. We did some 1st grade math, and then Reina came in and needed help with her 10th grade biology!!! WHAT!?! NO way. But I tried my best to decipher the text book drivel, and I really hope we did the problems right... she was studying Mendel gene stuff, with the cross something boxes... phenotypes and such. Then, I "helped" her with a book report. It needed more editing then we did, and I should've asked her more questions about the format, but it was good. Hey! It was my first day, I'm learning, too!

Another thing that made me say, "hot dog!" yesterday, was this fabulous yellow spring jacket I purchased at GAP. It - oh my gosh - is adorable! I can't wait for the weather to warm up. And! it was on sale. You can't beat that!

OKay, so I believe I'm done with my first post. That was fun. Hope you enjoyed yourself. And, let's say I'll get better as time goes on. I'm like a fine wine, or a nicely casked whisky. Mmm! Alcohol.