Thursday, May 31, 2012

Journey Added to Basket

While in Lake Orion, I met up with my friend Kyle to work on some trip planning.
Obviously you cannot plan a trip to Chicago anywhere besides Starbucks.


Kyle is a great friend and probably a terrible influence. He's spent most of his college years beebopping around the world and engaging in adventures cataclysmically more daring than I.
Before this caffeine fueled meeting I'd gone back-and-forth about whether to take this journey alone or recruit another interested adventurer. A muffin and an hour of enduring undercutting witty remarks about the pursuit of my suppressed dreams later, I knew I had to do it alone.

Here's a short list of things I've never done:
-Hailed a taxi
-Taken a train alone
-Made it to the bus stop on time
-Seen a hostel
-Seen the movie "Hostel"
-Said "The L" outloud

Two days ago I wikipediad Chicago.

Such a cool button.

Yesterday I booked a MegaBus ticket. Last night I did the math and realized I'm going to be there for 17 days until I plan on moving into a residence of my own.

 But, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

After meeting with Kyle, my brother Nate and I went to the bank so I could deposit all the money I could find. Dad, if you're reading this, I may have taken the quarters out of the cupholders in your car. I'm sorry. And Thanks.

Nate and I sat down with a wonderful banker to cash in the savings bonds my grandparents bought when I was little. She was young, friendly and must've had really low social standards because she was very much entertained by Nate and I. We probably could've gotten the transaction done in twelve minutes. We were there for an hour and fifteen.

After a while, the bank manager, another woman in her thirties, wandered over to watch me mess up my password seven times. It was quite a crew. The four of us laughed and chatted about everything from Chili's to childbirth. One of us pleaded desperately for the bank manager's brother to let her nanny his kids in Chicago. Needless to say, we all got to know each other pretty well.

Banker and I talked about the best years of our lives. I gave it some real thought before confidently deciding my college years were the best so far. (Probably comes as a surprise because, if you know me, you know I peaked 8th grade). Banker told me that her best years would have been college but she ended up getting pregnant and lived in the dark, cave-like conditions of Burcham Hills Apartments. She'd wake up covered in welts from wolf spiders who lived in the walls.

Quick tip to help you fall asleep: picture this and remember it probably lives in your house!
Somehow amongst the chatter about scary things that can happen to you, I was able to articulate the thesis of my new outlook:

Everything will work out. Because it has to.

Ideally, I'll come out of this with a job and great apartment. But, when it comes down to it, all I really need for this short while is to be behind a locked door at night and not starving. That much, I can manage.
I have a place figured out for the first few days I'm there. Three down, fourteen to go! So, if you know anyone that would let me stay with them, message me, or comment, e-mail, hell I have an iPhone now so do whatever. Instagram it.

I'm going to go grovel for jobs.

Until next time, remember: "The porpoise of our lives is to be happy." -Dalai Lama

PS. Wow, I just quoted the Dalai Lama. This is such a blog now.




Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I Quit.

For some unknown reason I recently agreed to put my four year (approx $43,000) education to use by life-guarding at an inner-city beach.

(Note: I didn't take this picture. I don't know these people. I hope they don't see this.)

Don't let the serene picture fool you, devout reader. This place is fifty-one shades of gray.

For context, to keep busy today I played a game called "See how long it takes to spot a tattoo". The longest it took was Two Miss-iss-ipp.
As a challenge, I upped it to "See how long it takes to spot a tattoo of someone's face". Three Miss-iss.

Need more? I asked a toddler where his parents were. "His mom's not here and his dad's in prison 'cause he's a bad boy."
Oh.
By some stroke of genius, I put in my notice and am, at long last, free to move to Chicago and pursue my dream of "making it" in the film industry. I have nearly no understanding or familiarity with the city, am unemployed and don't quite have a place to live. But I'm blogging about it so it's guaranteed to work, right?

I'm applying like crazy the next two weeks and packing up my life in EL. After a pit-stop in Lake Orion in mid-June, I'll head to Chi-town (see I know a nickname at least) where I hope to couch surf for two weeks. The goal?  Officially become a Chicagoian (not completely sure if that's a thing) by July 1st.

If you've made it this far.
1. You are somewhat interested in my life: I'd like to Thank You. I often have mediocre follow-through when it comes to anything requiring follow-through, but I hope I don't let you down.
2. You are a very thorough possible employer who found this on my resume: I actually have great follow-through. And my only weakness is I care too much.
3. You are a detective and I am missing: Hopefully this gives you some sort of trail regarding my whereabouts. Knowing me, it probably isn't helpful. Good Luck.

Feel free to enjoy this musical interlude to make the next part even cheesier.

No matter what brought you here, I'm glad you stayed. Keep reading if you want. Hopefully it will get interesting. I'm about to embark on the most exciting weeks of my life and am thrilled to share it.

Here's a quote, just for you.
"To forget one's porpoise is the commonest form of stupidity. " -Friedrich Nietzsche