Lazy

Hey, check it out, I'm still alive, and some of you are still reading my blog!

The summer has come and gone. It was a beautiful one, with plenty of hot days, and not too much rain. In fact, it still felt like summer as late as four days ago. But, alas, I think the cold is now here to stay, I had to pull out a proper jacket and shoes that covered my toes for the first time today in probably 4 or 5 months. How was your summer?

Well, I moved into a new apartment back in July. It's a pretty good one, large, comfy, nice roommates, cable TV, a dishwasher. No incidents, other than when I left the poor, old cat on the front porch on a cold night. He turned out to be okay, just a little thirsty in the morning.

What else? I went to Lollapalooza. It was fun, but really, really hot on two of the days. I saw quite a few bands, but only a couple of new ones for me. Highlights included The Black Keys, !!!, and LCD Soundsystem. But yeah, I've seen those bands in other places, with far less people, and less heat, so they didn't blow me away in the same capacity that they usually do. I did dance though, which is always a good thing to say about a band. I spent a lot of my time there alone, instead of trying to match up schedules and music tastes with other people. I guess it's a little hard to feel alone at an outdoor music festival with thousands and thousands of other people, but at the same time, you don't have a concert buddy that you can turn to and say "This stuff is blowing my mind!" There was one time where I felt completely lost and overwhelmed by the crowd. That happened during the Daft Punk show. They are truly a sight to see and listen to live, but I couldn't see anything. At all. People were nearly stepping on me, and it was annoying. I left the crowd, and found a spot on the side of the hill, where I could actually see some of what was going on.

Other highlights generally included friends and family coming to visit me in Chicago, taking road trips to Wisconsin and Indiana, and going to Colorado to celebrate my birthday, as well as my grandma's and aunt's birthdays.

I also ate at some really tasty restaurants, and went to some good concerts. Who really cares though, right? You probably already heard about them if I talk to you or see you on a regular basis.

I'm going camping this weekend in Wisconsin. I'm hoping that the leaves will be changing colors, so I can take some good pictures. We'll have some outdoor fun, including hiking, cooking hot dogs over a fire, eating smores, drinking beer, and trying to get some sleep while freezing and sleeping on rocks. I haven't gone camping in over a decade, so I'm excited about this trip, but at the same time, a little weary. I have only gone camping with my family on previous trips, and I don't remember ever having a good time. Hopefully this time will be different, now that I'm a little older, a little wiser, and can use alcohol to warm me up.

I'm also off to New York City in a couple of weeks. I am going to help my best friend celebrate her 30th birthday, and it should be one of the best birthdays she will ever have. I haven't been there for 7 years, so I'm sure it's different from my last visit, but also probably pretty much the same. I'm looking forward to good pizza, bagels, and of course, hot dogs from a street cart. Oh yeah, and I guess I should probably be looking forward to the fancier food, too.

That's my update. Nothing too new or exciting, I would say. I kinda was thinking that I haven't blogged because I didn't have anything to complain about and wasn't bored. But then I realized that I made 42 posts in 2006, so I must be blogging about good stuff too, cause I know that 2006 wasn't a terrible year for me by any means.

Thanks for sticking around and reading. I'll be back. When? Who knows, but hopefully a little sooner than December or January.

Moving

Here are some reasons why I am glad to be moving to a new place by the end of the month:

1.) I will be living in a new neighborhood, albeit one that is very close to another that I've lived in.

2.) I will be living a brown line only commuting life, and that, my friends, is much nicer than what I have to put up with now on the red line (i.e., men passed out in the corner seat smelling of shit and surrounded by a puddle of vomit).

3.) I will also be living a "I feel a little safer riding the train at 1:30 AM" because I will be on the aforementioned brown line instead of red line.

4.) My rent will be cut in half! Hello to the financial freedom that I can almost taste!

5. ) I'll meet some new people, and finally have someone to share meals with, and tell me how good my cooking and baking is.

6.) I'll have cable tv again, which is probably a bad thing, rather than a good thing.

7.) No more loud radiators that hiss and clang and pop and bang and wake me up in the middle of the night.

8.) Packing for the move forces me to take another inventory of my material life and get rid of a bunch of stuff that I don't need or use anymore.

9.) Did I mention that I'm going to be paying $400 less in rent a month???

10.) Last, but not least, and one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to: NO MORE NOISY FUCKING BATSHIT-CRAZY OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE I-VACUUM-THE-FLOORS-EVERYDAY-AT-1:15 PM AND WALK AROUND USING THE HEAVIEST STEPS I CAN ON THE SQUEAKIEST PART OF THE FLOOR OVER AND OVER AGAIN DROPPING HEAVY OBJECTS MUSTACHIOED LADY WE'LL WAKE YOU UP AT ANY POINT OF THE DAY OR NIGHT UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS !! I really do hate them, can you tell?


Plus, I think I'm getting back to that old and familiar "I'm becoming slightly bored with my life" feeling, so I guess that means that it's time for a change.

मेरे पास एक दिवाना बंदर है.

सुपर कूल!

अभी, मेरी ब्लोग हिन्दी में है! क्या आपको पसन्द है?

Good Morning

Here's a mini-update, seeing as though I've been extremely negligent over the last couple of months:

1. It's spring in Chicago, this makes me happy
2. I went to India, had lots of fun, read some books, went swimming, traveled by various modes of transport, came back, and wish I was there again already
3. The steady love of internet radio might leave me broken hearted, yet again. Do something people!



I'll write more and post some pics later, I promise.

Can you see it in my eyes?

Look out world, I'm feeling a bit jaded as of late...

"Hope" and "Wait"

Fantastic last words.

Reading those last words sort of gave me the sign to keep on hoping for what I'm waiting for. Or should it be keep on waiting for what I'm hoping for? Either way, it's fine with me.

True Romance

The fastest way to my heart is found here.

What more could I ask for? What more could YOU ask for by taking me as your date on the cheap!

Who, me?

I've been very lightly toying with the idea of becoming a flight attendant. Today, I was trolling around some airline websites, and took a basic questionnaire for one that is based out of Chicago. To my surprise, at the end of the "quiz", they have scheduled me for an in-person interview. You want to say "What are you doing?" right? Yeah, I don't know. Do I go? Do I skip it? Does anyone know any flight attendants?

Into the Open

Today is one of those days. A hellish ride on the train into work. Bad night's sleep. Deciding that the answer to all of my unanswered questions is "no" or "never". A weekend of contemplating job suicide (no, not real suicide). I read my weekly horoscope this morning in the daily news, and apparently, the moon is on the wrong side of my sign, so, basically, nothing will go my way. I give up.

BUT, then I finally get to work, and turn on the old stand-by, WOXY, and although the music is only putting me in a slightly-better-than-melancholy mood, it's making me feel better. Thanks music, at least I know that you'll always be there.

Dear Mr. CTA

Oh, I'm sorry, you said what?

You're telling me that I should allow at least 1.5 hours to get to work and 2 hours to get home from work?

You're telling me that there will be a slim to none chance that I will ever get a seat while I'm riding the train for an hour at a time?

You're telling me that you're going to take even more of my money away from me and give me nothing in return?

You're calling yourself a "rapid" transit system?

FUCK YOU.

You've already made my commute long enough with slow-downs thanks to tracks that are in poor condition, switching problems, and/or track signal problems.

It's time for me to get out of Chicago. It's time for me to find a job in a different area of the city. It's time for me to move to a different neighborhood. It's time for me to starting riding a bike everywhere that I need to go.

2007

2006 has come and gone, but I'm sure you all noticed that. I spent the evening alone, with a giant pan of lasagna, and a delicious pear and chocolate cake that I converted from a metric recipe that our old friend Lorenzo passed on to me. I watched a terrible movie, The Last Kiss, and then watched some old episodes of Grey's Anatomy. It was extremely satisfying, and probably the best New Year's Eve that I've had since 2000, and definitely much better than the disaster that took place last year. I took a peek at my post at the opening of 2006 to see what my thoughts were at that point. Looks like the usual year of ups and downs, no? I have to say that 2006 was definitely better than 2005. For the most part, I had tons of fun this last year. I mean, come on, I traveled the world, gave up reality and stability, learned some good farming techniques, told my old job to go to hell, met some really awesome people, got a new job (too bad it's incredibly boring), and took a vacation that seemed like a page out of someone's dreams. I really can't think of anything too terrible that happened to me in 2006, save for the time that I spent mending a trampoline net for a bunch of spoiled kids, when I should have been planting carrots or something.

I'm not going to make resolutions or anything of the like for 2007 because I just don't do that kind of thing. Here are the things that I am working towards and looking forward to in the upcoming year:

- Getting a new job (my interview went really, really well a couple of weeks ago)
- My trip to India in April (or sooner)

That's pretty much it, other than spending time with the people that I enjoy spending time with, but that's something that I always try to do.

Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, thanks for thinking of me. I've included some pictures that represent my life in 2006.