• As mentioned in the previous post, I went to the Gals Guide Summit.  It was really good!  Very fun and informative.  Well organized, and some great swag! Seriously, free Dove deodorant? um, yes.  Also: pizza, chocolates, cookies, cupcakes, and vitamin water!  Plus a lot more.  Jenn’s review (in that last link) covers more of it.  She was there and I was pleasantly surprised to see Rabbit Write (aka Rachel W.) there!
• I had an interview for a job on Thursday.  It went well, and the store owner wants me to meet with the manager (happening on Wednesday).  I believe the phrase she used was “If you’re serious about this job, you should schedule a meeting with the L. Ave store manager.”  Um. YES.
• I got to go to Shedd for free.  I won tickets to the aquarium and to see their new Oceaniarum show, Fantasea.  3 hours of fishes.  Mennogirl and jrosei came after work to join me for the show.  It was a little over the top for me, but I know some young girls who would probably LOVE it.  We then ate at Uber Burger, and walked around downtown for a while.
• The kittens have started waking me up early again.  It’s either by walking on my face or by dive bombing the bed from the top of the window.  They’re either preparing me for a new schedule I don’t know about yet or they’re punishing me for buying crappy food.
• I’ve been hanging out and talking with someone I haven’t seen in a while.  And have thoroughly been enjoying it.
• Once I find out about this job, good or bad, I’m going to take a few days and go visit my dad, stepmom and sisters.

However, I am back in the Second City again… in the Midlands of Lakeview.  It was a good pick too.  I’m impressed with myself — choosing a prime place without really thinking about it or making much effort.  All the stores and shops and food I could want are all within easy walking distance.  There’s even a video game store there too.  (Guess who will be stopping by to check out the nerdy boys AND get new games…)  Plus, though I’m not near the train (or the lake) any more — a first since moving to the area — I am near buses… and the train is only a 15 minute walk.  But I can make it to the Northern Territories easily, and take a 30 minute bus ride down to the Southern Lands of Pilsen… No transfers.  Getting over to Wicker Park will be nice too.  Meaning I can stay out a bit later with my bandmates.

Now.  The place is small.  But it’s just me and the kittens.  And though I own a lot of crap (which I won’t get rid of), it pretty much all fits.  Granted, I’m not finished unpacking, and I still have stuff to go through at the old place.

There’s really only a few things I’d like to change…

1) A way to kitty-proof the doors; both to the outside door and to the laundry room (which is practically in-unit and free)… I’m just worried one of the girls will get outside.. or into the laundry room and I won’t be able to coax her back into my place…

2) A bedroom door.  Yeah I live alone, so it’s not necessary… and I will get a curtain soon… but well, there might be times when cute little kitten’s interruptions aren’t wanted…

3) Heat!  My place is pretty chilly right now.  Mainly that’s because in the winter I’d be relying on the pipes from the upstairs radiators (my landlord’s) and an electric heater… I’m also coming from a freakishly warm apartment in which I had the windows open practically all winter.  But until I get a bedwarmer (ie: boyfriend), I’ll be sticking to my large collection of blankets and sleeping in clothes.

I would also add cooking gas, as metioned above.  But apparently it’s just a pilot light — my landlord just emailed me.  So hopefully tonight I can actually make some hot tea… and cook some food…

Anyway.  The place is coming a long.  I’ve got Angel to thank for that… He painted it for me… and we’re going to talk about some custom art/murals.. But depending on the heat issue, I might only be there for 6 months and mirgate to another apartment that’s a bit warmer… and hopefully in the same area.
I also need to thank my amazingly awesome friends who moved all my crap.  Robert (one of my bandmates; tuba) really conducted the whole thing.  If it wasn’t for him, and Jason B., I would have been screwed.  Dani saved me by driving me to and from U-Haul… And I had the help of Becca and jrosei for all of it too.  jrosei’s youngest sister helped as well (so I’ve had both of her sisters helping me with a move), as did Weiss and Angel who showed up for the last bit.  Bec and jrosei brought the kittens over the next night.. in the rain.. with their freshly cleaned litter box… (THANKS!)

A last little brag of what I’ve got:
New place all to myself (bedroom door or not), awesome paint job, free cable, free internet, free laundry, all utilities but gas, a kickass neighborhood, and a pretty decent landlord.  … Win.

DRUNK.  plus psychotic kitties.
that pretty much sums up my weekend… oh, and very small visits from some out of town friends, movie with jrosei, and potluck.  So, DRUNK. plus psychotic kitties.

Libby made some killer, fall-off-the-bones ribs… and Becca made some really good garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli (seriously one of my favorite veggies — which I hated until I went to China… I don’t understand it either)… Jess made rolls and Abby helped her make the gingerbread pieces.  I supplied the wine.

After dinner… we went upstairs for gifts and gingerbread decorating… and silliness.
I decided for my gingerbread apartment, that well, I’d be a little non-traditional.  Basically… Well…  Here’s the video…

Yeah… Nothing says Merry Christmas like and inferno and dead candy people.  (I’d like to blame my weirdness on the wine, soda, and half-a-tin of cookies that I ate.. but it’s all me.)

This year we put a $10-20 cap on gifts.. and I tried to stay near the lower end… not because I don’t care about my roommates $20-worth… but because I got gifts for about 17-18 people this year.  Five of whom are 13 and under.  I went with books for all of them… A 365-recipe cookbook for Becca, two histories of Britain (by Austin and Dickens) for jrosei, the Secret Spy Handbook for Libby (in which I’ll post a video of the reading soon), and an amazing dating book for Mennogirl (entitled: “Dating Makes You Want to Die, but You Do It Anyway”)….

We had a lot of fun with gifts, and I can say… it’s easy to tell that we live together.  I could see a little of each of my roommates in the gifts they gave me, as well as knowing that they perfectly fit me too.  I’ll have a full list of loot after the holidays (it’s sort of a tradition from older blogs that mostly originated with JenJen!theamazing… one of the only people from my high school I keep in decent contact with.)

Anyway…  It was a great night of giggling, silliness, kitties, short skirts, weird faces, and love.

We’re lacking antennae to watch basics in our apartment (they’re upstairs at jrosei & libby’s — though they belong to my roommate)… and we’re currently lacking internet until the 9th (had to switch from Mennogirl to Libby)… so that leaves these options: movies, reading, cleaning, or games.  Or the other option of just sleeping all evening until you finally decide to actually go to bed.

So, I curled up on the couch and had a minor little pity party for myself.  I had gotten it in my head that I had/have absolutely no chance with this really hot guy I like, and on top of that the last string of rejections had more to do with me then the guy or the situation.  So I buried myself under my blankets.

And as to be expected, my kittens have a fascination with many things, one of them being tunnelling under blankets.  So first Kaija joined me, climbed across my legs then over my back and then cuddled in by my belly.  Soon Tuija was in there too, and it was a little kitty spoonfest.  So we all cuddled and the kittens nuzzled me and each other.. purring loudly…   It wasn’t long before I relaxed and decided not to care about my lack of a chance or my singleness.

I don’t know.  I feel like I might be getting mixed signals from said attractive male (whom I may or may not have a chance with)… Maybe he’s flirting, maybe he’s just joking around as a friend… I don’t know.   Maybe I’m just dense, like many people in these situations, and need something a bit more obvious… Like “Hey, you’re cute.  I like you.  Let’s go out some time.”  Or the ever popular slightly random make-out sessions… Or if you still want to be subtle, physical touch isn’t always a bad thing — a quick back rub or pat that maybe lingers, a little squeeze on the arm, holding hands even…. hell, just smiling, making eye contact and maybe a little flirty wink or something… I don’t know.  But at this point I’m confused.

At least I have my kittens to come home to and cuddle with.
and they’re damn cute.  (just like me)

I was in Edgewater for about 9 months.  3 of those months I was an unemployed hermit.  I only left my apartment for food about once every two weeks.  Occasionally I’d head off to the library.  Mostly I stayed home in my 11 x 15 studio with one window.
This really wasn’t a healthy situation for me.

Eventually I found gainful employment, and due to Steph’s marriage, was asked to move to Evanston with live with Becca, Mennogirl, and jrosei.  There’s two apartments, one on 2nd (mine) and one on 3rd.  I actually only live with Becca.

There are a few things I didn’t know about when I moved… The deposit was huge.  My half was huge.  It was more than my buy-out fee for ending my lease 15 months early (never, never get a 2 year lease).  Also, the rent was really cheap, but this was because our building is considered low income (or something near that).  I knew it was a co-op, and that we’d own a share in the building.  This means attending meetings, assisting with work days, monthly cleaning, and basically being proactive as apart of the building community (as well as planning to be there for a bit longer term).

I acknowledge that I’m a difficult person to live with.  I have my quirks.  And apparently, I have some sort of mild OCD-neurosis when it comes to the kitchen — the fridge mainly.  However, Libby’s assured me, this isn’t a mental quirk, this is normal.
Anyway… moving into this apartment was definitely a healthy and good decision for me.  Since Chrissy moved away, I really needed to be around people.  More so than just work.  So moving in with “the girls” was a good thing for me.  We’d all gone to college together.  Mennogirl, jrosei and I lived in China together.  I knew Becca, but well, honestly we never hung out in college.  Living with her has been the first time for me to really get to know her.  There have been some challenges — again, this is me acknowledging I can be a difficult person to live with.

With my decision to attend grad school, I decided that I want to move closer to that campus and have a longer commute for work.  (Grad school would be in the loop, work is on the northern side of the Northern Territories.)  All of the girls, Libby now included (Mennogirl moved down the alley and Libby moved in), knew I had planned on moving for school.  My goal was to convince Chrissy to come back to me and we could live together.  This is still in negotiations.

Anyway.  With the uncertainty of who I’ll be living with, I at least have the neighborhood picked out.  Right now I’m focusing on moving down to the Southern Lands of Pilsen.  Weiss, who lives there, is assisting in finding some reasonable dwellings.  Since Chrissy is being all academic at grad school now, if she were to come back it would be in June.  However, after more talks with a handful of people, and more time spent down south, I have been toying with the idea that if for some sad reason Chrissy won’t move back, then I’d be willing to move in March.

I hadn’t mentioned this to my current roommate until last night.  I didn’t feel the need to add stress when I really don’t have any of the details worked out.  I only told her last night because I just now found out that she will be quitting her job in January and at this point doesn’t have a plan other than to just find work elsewhere.  With this information, it felt wrong not letting her know.

Anyway… without letting this post get too long… I’m having an interesting time dealing with this whole living situation.  I enjoy the girls, and there are a lot of aspects about the apt that I like.  However, I won’t deny that this hasn’t necessarily been my ideal situation.  It is definitely better than where I was at in many ways.  I’m becoming ready to move on.  But as my excitement builds, I feel this dragging guilt.  That in some ways I’m a bad person for moving.  That I shouldn’t feel so happy to be moving.

It’s my personal decision to move, and I have multiple reasons.  I’ve had a small handful of people telling me to move to Pilsen for well over 6 months now.  And while I realize that my move will change things, and put Becca into a situation she probably doesn’t want to be in — everything’s sort of raining on my parade.  I’ve been in a rainy (and hail-y) parade.  It’s no fun.

It’s hard to know where to be.  I don’t want my roommates to feel that I am abandoning them.  I realize it’s probably hard for them to be supportive of me and excited with/for me when it’s going to bring new challenges to them.  But, with risking sounding too selfish, I need this change.  The Northern Territories were good for me, but I’m ready to get back into an active social life — just an active life all together.  The kittens and I are ready for a new phase.

my latest addiction

This beauty pwnd my saturday. Seriously.
I had thought about purchasing one for a while.  I nearly bought one while in NYC a few years back with WGCS — we were at a radio conference.  There was much win for the Globe that trip.  (We brought a Wii with us.)
Anyway.  DS.  Shiny.  I bought two games to start with — Brain Age and Mario Party — but will gladly take old used games off anyone’s hands.  Hell, I’ll take new games too.
I have a feeling my mom will buy me Super Monkey Ball for christmas…

Sunday was a national holiday.  Hopefully you didn’t miss out on it.  It’s too bad if you did.
Libby’s birthday.
Much fun was had.
I started my day with her, attending her church — which mostly made me miss attending Meeting.  I might start going again… After church was lunch at Buffalo Joe’s — which will be featured on Wing Chicks soon.  I played more DS… and then met up with Libby and her man Zach… and we all progressed to dinner at a tapas restaurant.  Becca, jrosei, and Mennogirl met up with us a bit later (apparently The Google can be wrong).  … I skipped out before dessert.

Eventually I found my way to a Pink Line, and was heading to the Southern Lands of Pilsen.
Potluck is always a good time.
I succeeded at spending more than 30 minutes with Dan too.  (And I’m starting to believe that he’s possibly one of my best dressed friends.)
My day concluded with good people, good conversation, and more wine.  (Oh. Yeah.  Zombie Zin = not half bad and pretty easy to drink.)   I’m thoroughly enjoying this attractive group of people and definitely am looking forward to Sunday evenings.  And well, I think it’s been decided that there will be a migration from the Northern Territories to the South… in less than a year.

*(asian) female drummer not found in deerhoof.. but in one of the openers…