Hunting
So we've seen three apartments and over the next two days we have appointments to see three more. Hopefully that will cinch it. We are looking for: at least two bedrooms, preferably three; dog friendly; near the el; with laundry (in case you know of anything). Perhaps I will have good news to report in the new year.
Christmas was wonderful. I got some great jewelry from Nate (a huge tiger's eye pendant and matching bracelet and ring), some DVDs, and other goodies. I started off Christmas Eve by drinking some very excellent margaritas with my co-workers (another round!), then went home to have a ham dinner with Nate. On Christmas day we saw Lord of the Rings with two Texan friends. They are a married couple, both from Midland-Odessa, they moved here about a month before Nate did, AND I went to high school with one of them (what are the chances?). We have spent the last three Christmases or Christmas Eves with them seeing movies, since none of us has managed to make it down to Texas for the holidays. Next year, I expect it will be different for all concerned although I'd like to keep up the movie tradition. After the movie we went to Chinatown and had a great dinner of shrimp, lobster, fish, and chicken. Then we went to their place and had some Tecate and tequila. A little non-traditional but intoxicating.
And over the weekend I got my treadmill! It's already made a huge difference in my outlook. While we've lived in Chicago, I've gone up two dress sizes. (one each winter). I know it's not a big deal. I'm still in my BMI range, but it sucks having a closetful of clothes that are too tight. I didn't want to go up yet another size this winter, so it was either work out more or buy a whole new wardrobe. Number two was never gonna happen ...
Monday
Saturday
Restless
Several years ago, I read a book about Tennessee Williams. The biography focused on his work, his writing habits, his life. One thing that struck me was the description of his travels. He would arrive in New Orleans, then suddenly leave for Miami, go to Mexico, go to New York, go to California. He was often on the move. It struck me because often I think if I could, I would take off like that. It comes not from having a sense of freedom, but from feeling restless. Rather than sitting and facing whatever it is--doubts, problems, etc.--that plague you, instead you just take off and try to outrun them. Of course it never works, but by moving all the time you have the sense of accomplishing something.
Nate noticed this quality in me when we both lived in Austin. Even though I had set up my life exactly as I wanted it, I longed to leave. I had a great house, I lived near the greenbelt and the hike and bike trail, I had a 10 or 15 minute commute to work, I lived near most of my friends and favorite restaurants, everything was pretty ideal. And I thought about leaving. Now that I'm in Chicago, I think about leaving, too. Nate thinks this is a personality quirk, that it will remain no matter where I live, and I think he's probably right. Even though I am very happy, I think about other places and living somewhere else, and I just have to accept that.
The good thing is that we are looking for a new apartment at least, so perhaps that will help me for a while. Tomorrow we have appointments to look at a few places. We have outgrown our apartment and need more room. It would also be nice to live closer to the el. We'll see how it all goes. But moving and visiting a few places this winter will help my restlessness.
Several years ago, I read a book about Tennessee Williams. The biography focused on his work, his writing habits, his life. One thing that struck me was the description of his travels. He would arrive in New Orleans, then suddenly leave for Miami, go to Mexico, go to New York, go to California. He was often on the move. It struck me because often I think if I could, I would take off like that. It comes not from having a sense of freedom, but from feeling restless. Rather than sitting and facing whatever it is--doubts, problems, etc.--that plague you, instead you just take off and try to outrun them. Of course it never works, but by moving all the time you have the sense of accomplishing something.
Nate noticed this quality in me when we both lived in Austin. Even though I had set up my life exactly as I wanted it, I longed to leave. I had a great house, I lived near the greenbelt and the hike and bike trail, I had a 10 or 15 minute commute to work, I lived near most of my friends and favorite restaurants, everything was pretty ideal. And I thought about leaving. Now that I'm in Chicago, I think about leaving, too. Nate thinks this is a personality quirk, that it will remain no matter where I live, and I think he's probably right. Even though I am very happy, I think about other places and living somewhere else, and I just have to accept that.
The good thing is that we are looking for a new apartment at least, so perhaps that will help me for a while. Tomorrow we have appointments to look at a few places. We have outgrown our apartment and need more room. It would also be nice to live closer to the el. We'll see how it all goes. But moving and visiting a few places this winter will help my restlessness.
Monday
Back in the Saddle
I have a short break at work at the moment ... I'm waiting on some info for a grant I'm writing so I thought I'd write a quick update.
I don't know what to say about Mexico that would not be a cliche. The vacation was perfect and relaxing and exactly what I needed. There's a reason they film the Corona commercials in the area. I might post some pics later.
On the shuttle to the airport, I spoke to a 60-year-old woman who has lived in Chicago since her 20s and she told me if you plan your vacations well, it helps you get through the winters. (However, she also warned me that she has become less tolerant of the cold as she's gotten older. And she hates getting up early to shovel snow before work, but I digress.) The Mexico trip has helped tremendously in fighting the gray, cold days. And my gray, cold mood on those days. Having a tan in December doesn't hurt, either.
Add to that: Chicago at Christmas can be fun and we've been enjoying some nice parties, friends, gifts, etc. so right now we are enjoying la vida dulce. AND I bought a treadmill (will be delivered on Saturday) which should be a great help in keeping up my workouts in the winter. This will be especially helpful in the spring when I'm trying to wrap up the MFA, thesis, novel, etc.
I'm still writing the novel, but oh-so-slowly. I wish I were faster, but I'll get there eventually.
Back to the salt mines!
I have a short break at work at the moment ... I'm waiting on some info for a grant I'm writing so I thought I'd write a quick update.
I don't know what to say about Mexico that would not be a cliche. The vacation was perfect and relaxing and exactly what I needed. There's a reason they film the Corona commercials in the area. I might post some pics later.
On the shuttle to the airport, I spoke to a 60-year-old woman who has lived in Chicago since her 20s and she told me if you plan your vacations well, it helps you get through the winters. (However, she also warned me that she has become less tolerant of the cold as she's gotten older. And she hates getting up early to shovel snow before work, but I digress.) The Mexico trip has helped tremendously in fighting the gray, cold days. And my gray, cold mood on those days. Having a tan in December doesn't hurt, either.
Add to that: Chicago at Christmas can be fun and we've been enjoying some nice parties, friends, gifts, etc. so right now we are enjoying la vida dulce. AND I bought a treadmill (will be delivered on Saturday) which should be a great help in keeping up my workouts in the winter. This will be especially helpful in the spring when I'm trying to wrap up the MFA, thesis, novel, etc.
I'm still writing the novel, but oh-so-slowly. I wish I were faster, but I'll get there eventually.
Back to the salt mines!
Tuesday
Saturday
Really, I love Chicago
I think my last few posts have sounded very negative about Chicago. I should clarify that there are things I really love about this city and I like it more and more the longer I live here. The winter always brings me down, though, and it makes me focus on the bad things. I like the MFA program I'm in, I really like my job, I love my husband, and there are more good things in my life than bad ones.
For me, living in Chicago is like dating someone you're really attracted to but don't like as a person. I keep wanting to like Chicago because he's so damn hot, but then things keep reminding you: oh yeah, he's still an asshole. But at least the sex is really good.
I think my last few posts have sounded very negative about Chicago. I should clarify that there are things I really love about this city and I like it more and more the longer I live here. The winter always brings me down, though, and it makes me focus on the bad things. I like the MFA program I'm in, I really like my job, I love my husband, and there are more good things in my life than bad ones.
For me, living in Chicago is like dating someone you're really attracted to but don't like as a person. I keep wanting to like Chicago because he's so damn hot, but then things keep reminding you: oh yeah, he's still an asshole. But at least the sex is really good.
Friday
Chicago Grievance #3
I want to bring up the hell that is driving in Chicago. But before you read my complaints, please read this message board. There's a lot of rage in this city and it isn't all confined to the road. It would be funny if I didn't drive with these people.
There seems to be a bias against left-hand turn signals on traffic lights on the North Side. I don't know if it would cost too much to put them in, if it would disrupt traffic too much to replace the lights, or if the city is simply trying to discourage left-hand turns. Whatever the strategy, it doesn't work. People just wait for the light to turn red (and wait for the three or more cars running the red light) and then make their left turn. This delays traffic on the perpendicular streets.
Really safe drivers pass on the right-hand side, even if there isn't a lane there. They do this so they don't have to wait their turn at a light or stop sign. They zoom past you on the right (often into a bike lane, so be careful out there, cyclists) because they are very important and need to get to their destination one minute earlier than they would have otherwise.
To add to the fun, pedestrians just walk out into the street. Not in a crosswalk, not at a light or stop sign, but anywhere, anytime. I've seen two mothers push their strollers out into traffic, assuming everyone would stop for them. Good gamble with your children.
Several times I've seen men get out of their cars and scream at the woman behind them for such things as honking when the man had cut them off, honking when the man daydreamed at the stop sign, and in one case, just driving. The men are real macho here. That's why they yell only at women when they are alone.
Don't use your turn signal; Chicagoans speed up if they think you want to get into their lane.
Which causes this problem: drivers rarely use their turn signals.
This city is fond of double parking. I understand that sometimes it is a necessity. But it's hard to understand people who double park during rush hour and mess up traffic for hundreds of people. It's also hard to understand why one person will double park and then another person will do the same (in the opposite direction) almost directly across from the first car. It fucks up traffic in both directions. That is brilliant!
I want to bring up the hell that is driving in Chicago. But before you read my complaints, please read this message board. There's a lot of rage in this city and it isn't all confined to the road. It would be funny if I didn't drive with these people.
There seems to be a bias against left-hand turn signals on traffic lights on the North Side. I don't know if it would cost too much to put them in, if it would disrupt traffic too much to replace the lights, or if the city is simply trying to discourage left-hand turns. Whatever the strategy, it doesn't work. People just wait for the light to turn red (and wait for the three or more cars running the red light) and then make their left turn. This delays traffic on the perpendicular streets.
Really safe drivers pass on the right-hand side, even if there isn't a lane there. They do this so they don't have to wait their turn at a light or stop sign. They zoom past you on the right (often into a bike lane, so be careful out there, cyclists) because they are very important and need to get to their destination one minute earlier than they would have otherwise.
To add to the fun, pedestrians just walk out into the street. Not in a crosswalk, not at a light or stop sign, but anywhere, anytime. I've seen two mothers push their strollers out into traffic, assuming everyone would stop for them. Good gamble with your children.
Several times I've seen men get out of their cars and scream at the woman behind them for such things as honking when the man had cut them off, honking when the man daydreamed at the stop sign, and in one case, just driving. The men are real macho here. That's why they yell only at women when they are alone.
Don't use your turn signal; Chicagoans speed up if they think you want to get into their lane.
Which causes this problem: drivers rarely use their turn signals.
This city is fond of double parking. I understand that sometimes it is a necessity. But it's hard to understand people who double park during rush hour and mess up traffic for hundreds of people. It's also hard to understand why one person will double park and then another person will do the same (in the opposite direction) almost directly across from the first car. It fucks up traffic in both directions. That is brilliant!
Chicago Grievance #2
It gets dark at 4:30 p.m.
Can you tell I hate winter? I know it doesn't bother others as much as it bothers me, especially if they were born in a cold climate. I, however, have never lived anywhere that had less than 300 days of sunshine per year.
Luckily, we are going to Mexico next week (Cozumel and Playa del Carmen) for our belated honeymoon so that should help my state of mind. (We even planned our honeymoon for the winter, when I knew I would need it.)
Tuesday
A fight, a fight, a fight!
The Austin vs. Chicago debate is amusing me today, probably because I've lived in both cities. What do drinking habits and sleepovers have to do with someone’s critical abilities or whether or not Bookslut is a good site? Not a damn thing.
Austinites and Texans in general are very defensive when people talk shit about their city or state (myself included) in the “love it or leave it” sense. It’s a knee-jerk reaction and usually not very smart, as in the case mentioned above. Badgley didn’t help Austin’s case any and I’m surprised the column made it past his editors. Perhaps they gave him more leeway since it is a column versus an article. Either way, it was a bad call, Ripley. A bad call.
In any case, it seems like comparing apples to oranges. According to the 2000 census, Cook county has a population of 5,376,741 and the nine-county metropolitan area has 8,272,768. Austin, in comparison, has a population of 656,562, which has certainly decreased since 2000 when the city was home to many more techies and dot-comers. Compare those numbers. Of course there are more writers and editors and venues for publishing in Chicago. There are millions more people.
The quality of my literary life has improved since I’ve lived in Chicago, no question. I have had more opportunities to write and edit. I know more writers and editors here; I have access to more plays, more readings, more MFA programs, more magazines, more everything. That should be obvious, that a city the size of Chicago has more literary opportunities than a city the size of Austin. However, the quality of my daily life has certainly decreased. I spend much more time commuting; housing and food and everything else is more expensive; everything from errands to meeting a friend for dinner takes more time, effort, and planning. For me, that tradeoff isn’t worth it. For others, it is.
I could go into a very long rant about what I don’t like about Chicago. But what I think I’ll do is present one petty grievance per update to save your sanity and my own. That is not to say I think Austin is intrinsically better than Chicago. It was just better for me. So here we go:
Chicago Grievance #1
It’s damned cold. It starts getting cold in November and it’s often cold through May. May is part of spring here, not summer as I am accustomed to, which means gloves, jackets, and a hat more often than not. Last year, it was still cold in June (cold enough to see my breath as I walked to lunch on June 15), which is just plain excessive. When I am in a bad mood about Chicago, I call it the tundra. Or the wasteland. When it especially cold, I put the word frozen in front of those terms. Just a few weeks ago I saw a gaggle of geese stopping for a breather as they flew south for the winter. My first thought was: those birds have more sense than I do.
This is my third winter in Chicago. I layer with the best of them. I have multiple coats and gloves and I use different ones depending on how low the temperature is. October is a jean jacket sliding into a pea coat. November is unpredictable. I have a long wool coat for December. In January and February I bust out with the down-layer-on-the-inside-and-the-wind/waterproof-combo-on-the-outside. Wearing hats is fun. Having winter gear is fun. For about five minutes. Seasons? Overrated. Snow? Done it. I would prefer to visit the snow when I go skiing, not live with the gray sludgy stuff the pretty white stuff transforms into almost immediately in the city (I'm not even going to go into the yellow snow). But feeling cold for six or seven months out of the year is nice, you know, if you like that sort of thing.
The Austin vs. Chicago debate is amusing me today, probably because I've lived in both cities. What do drinking habits and sleepovers have to do with someone’s critical abilities or whether or not Bookslut is a good site? Not a damn thing.
Austinites and Texans in general are very defensive when people talk shit about their city or state (myself included) in the “love it or leave it” sense. It’s a knee-jerk reaction and usually not very smart, as in the case mentioned above. Badgley didn’t help Austin’s case any and I’m surprised the column made it past his editors. Perhaps they gave him more leeway since it is a column versus an article. Either way, it was a bad call, Ripley. A bad call.
In any case, it seems like comparing apples to oranges. According to the 2000 census, Cook county has a population of 5,376,741 and the nine-county metropolitan area has 8,272,768. Austin, in comparison, has a population of 656,562, which has certainly decreased since 2000 when the city was home to many more techies and dot-comers. Compare those numbers. Of course there are more writers and editors and venues for publishing in Chicago. There are millions more people.
The quality of my literary life has improved since I’ve lived in Chicago, no question. I have had more opportunities to write and edit. I know more writers and editors here; I have access to more plays, more readings, more MFA programs, more magazines, more everything. That should be obvious, that a city the size of Chicago has more literary opportunities than a city the size of Austin. However, the quality of my daily life has certainly decreased. I spend much more time commuting; housing and food and everything else is more expensive; everything from errands to meeting a friend for dinner takes more time, effort, and planning. For me, that tradeoff isn’t worth it. For others, it is.
I could go into a very long rant about what I don’t like about Chicago. But what I think I’ll do is present one petty grievance per update to save your sanity and my own. That is not to say I think Austin is intrinsically better than Chicago. It was just better for me. So here we go:
Chicago Grievance #1
It’s damned cold. It starts getting cold in November and it’s often cold through May. May is part of spring here, not summer as I am accustomed to, which means gloves, jackets, and a hat more often than not. Last year, it was still cold in June (cold enough to see my breath as I walked to lunch on June 15), which is just plain excessive. When I am in a bad mood about Chicago, I call it the tundra. Or the wasteland. When it especially cold, I put the word frozen in front of those terms. Just a few weeks ago I saw a gaggle of geese stopping for a breather as they flew south for the winter. My first thought was: those birds have more sense than I do.
This is my third winter in Chicago. I layer with the best of them. I have multiple coats and gloves and I use different ones depending on how low the temperature is. October is a jean jacket sliding into a pea coat. November is unpredictable. I have a long wool coat for December. In January and February I bust out with the down-layer-on-the-inside-and-the-wind/waterproof-combo-on-the-outside. Wearing hats is fun. Having winter gear is fun. For about five minutes. Seasons? Overrated. Snow? Done it. I would prefer to visit the snow when I go skiing, not live with the gray sludgy stuff the pretty white stuff transforms into almost immediately in the city (I'm not even going to go into the yellow snow). But feeling cold for six or seven months out of the year is nice, you know, if you like that sort of thing.