A Simple Life

This evening, I was entertained by a little movie called Cinderella Man. For those of you not familiar or aren't too interested, it's a boxing story that takes place during The Depression. Parts were depressing for obvious reasons, but it also reminded me of a simpler time as far as style of living/way of life goes. I think the biggest thing that struck me tonight was the use of the radio. Radios were probably just as common back then as TV's are today, if not more. The radio provided endless hours of entertainment and news for families. The only time you ever watched anything was if you took a trip to the cinema. For a while now, I've known that I spend too many hours rotting my brain in front of the TV, just watching crap that takes my mind off of stress or worries or just plain boredom. While I was in Ireland, I spent a little more than a month without TV of any sort (excluding one night in a pub). It was refreshing in a way. The radio was on constantly in the house, whether is was the national Irish news station or CD's or records. I'm not saying that I always liked what I was listening to, but it was a nice break to give my mind some actual exercise. We would wake up, listen to the news while having breakfast, come in for tea around noon and hear the bonging of the clock to announce the hour, more news, some talk, and some music for lunch in the afternoon, and then all sorts of music in the evenings. After making dinner, eating, and cleaning up, we all (me, my brother, the Italian, the farmer and his wife) would take seats around the table and near the fire (see above) and read, play cards and board games, write letters, or study. I was rarely bored and I felt a lot better about the way that I was spending my time. While I was away, I compiled a list of things that I was going to try to do and change in my life in the upcoming year. So far, I have accomplished one of the biggest, which is taking a trip to India, but more on that later. I have a couple of other items on the list as well, such as watch less TV and listen to more radio. I know that this is going to be a difficult one for me to follow through with, but I would really like to make an effort towards it. While I make excuses for not doing it now (I'm not set up in my own place yet), I really need to start once I am settled into my new place. I think the first step I will take in doing so is to not subscribe to cable television. #1 - it will save me money, and #2 - it will discourage me from watching too much. I'll let you know how it goes. And with that, now back to Sid and Nancy.

I Love Science - Part Deux

This evening, I made my first trip out to a live show since I've been back. I saw the lovely band known as We Are Scientists. You may remember my previous post on such subject back in January. This time around, they played at Metro, which can probably hold at least 8 times as many people as the place that I saw them before. I guess the only good thing about Metro nowadays, is that it's a smoke free environment. Otherwise, I always find myself stuck behind too many tall people. Tonight's show was pretty good with the exception of it being an all-ages crowd. I would probably safely bet that at least 33.3% (I might even venture to 40%) of the audience wore braces and/or were fighting pubescent acne. They also snuck in fifths of whiskey and proceeded to drop at least one on my foot. (Note to self, what were you thinking when you donned flip flops to see a show?) Oh yeah, and I think my biggest surprise is that the show was over at 9:45...there's something wrong with that in my book... Needless to say, they were still as entertaining as ever, said such things as "pennies...the humblest of the monetary units" after finding one in Keith's shoe, and "yeah, my glasses are nice, really nice, they help me see things and read books" after some dummy yelled "Nice glasses!" to Chris. Who doesn't like a nice pair of safety googles on stage? (I will leave that typo in there, see how google has brainwashed us?). Oh yeah, and they are still skinny boys with wild hair, and still cute, but they don't beat out my main skinny and (former)wild-haired crush. And if said crush is reading this, your beach-eaten glasses beat their safety goggles any day of the week.

I know, I know, I said that I would update some more on my trip, I'm just lazy that's all. I'm really looking forward to moving into my own place again where I can freely be lazy and no one will notice except for me.

My job at the gym has been going well, and I'm still enjoying it. I don't work again until next week, but I'd better enjoy my freedom while it lasts. I start the other new job on Monday, it should be fun. What else? I had the opportunity to talk to a crazy guy while waiting on the bus, felt intoxicated by copious and fast water consumption yesterday, seriously, realized that I still don't have any money to spend freely, and still haven't listened to any new music. Such is life.

On the newsfront

I got some good news this morning. Can anyone guess? I'll just tell you anyway...I have been offered a full-time position at the company that I interviewed with on Tuesday morning! I was quite excited when I heard the news, but I can't say that it came as a total surprise, after all, they asked for my references two days ago, and then sent me an application and their drug policy yesterday, that they wanted signed and faxed back ASAP. I start working on June 26th, my medical/dental/vision insurance kicks in immediately, they have other great benefits, including plenty of time off, annual bonus, the salary that I asked for, summer hours, the list goes on... I am definitely feeling quite lucky, and the stars must have been aligned for me for the past month or so. I hope the upswing continues for a little while at least.

I also worked my first shift at my part-time position at the gym last night. I do have to admit that my first foray into the customer service world was a good one. The people were all really nice, I get a free membership to the gym, and I got two free falafel sandwiches from a guy that works at a local Lebanese take-out. My only complaint was that standing for five hours straight made my legs a little sore, but I guess I can live with that, or just sit in the chair next time.

Tonight I had a nice dinner with some old friends at Treat and did some good catching up. Tomorrow is going to be a scorcher, but I'm sacrificing my outdoor comfort levels and going to see one of my all-time favorite bands, The Black Keys, perform at an outdoor street festival and then head over to a party.

It feels good to be living a good life for the time being. Almost everything feels like it's in its right place. I guess I'll start looking for my own place in a couple of weeks, and have a move-in date of August 1st. If anyone feels like doing any moving of boxes and light furniture, let me know. Maybe I'll make you dinner or bake a cake for a reward and thanks.

Who knows what will come next...

Recap - Part I

I don't know the best way to go about this, so I figure that I will begin recaps by week of my fun adventure away from real life. It will make for many recaps, but that's a good thing, seeing as though it would take far too long to do it all in one post. Let the fun begin!

March 1-13th: (okay, so I'm deviating from the weekly format right off the bat)
- Caught a cold that started on my last day of work. Lasted for probably four or five days and really put a damper on my packing progress on the apartment.

- My brother arrived in Chicago with a couple of his friends. We hung out at cheap restaurants, listened to music, and watched bad TV. It seems like something else was going on at this time for me, but I can't remember what.

- Enlisted my brother's help to finish up the packing. It went smoothly at the beginning, but then I was up far too late packing the kitchen. I still think that I have too many belongings. I also had to send my brother on two trips to buy packing tape, and I almost ran out of boxes. My favorite box (and obviously last packed box) is labeled "X-treme miscellany". I opened it up yesterday and found shampoo, baking pans, the game of Life, a bag, coasters, and a few more random items.

- Moved all of my belongings into my friend's basement. I think it only took us about 2.5-3 hours. Amazing!

- Threw an excellent going away bash for myself at a bowling alley. Lots of people showed up, we drank plenty, and bowled a lot. I built a pyramid out of the beer cans that I was consuming. I also wore my Big Lebowski t-shirt in honor of bowling, and a few people actually caught the reference. I love it when that happens.

- Ate my annual St. Patty's Day dinner of corned beef and cabbage a week early.

- Left for good old Dublin, Ireland, still scared about what I was about to do...

Today was a good day...

I've been away for a long while, but have good excuses, such as digging up the "earth" in Ireland and gallivanting around India. Here I am, back in Chicago, the city that I missed tremendously throughout my months away. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things and trying to get a semblance of a life back. For the moment, I'm staying with my nearest and dearest friend, her husband, and their two kids. There's nothing like having friends you can always count on to support you in your times of need. It's been a good time so far, and I'm hoping it stays that way. The other good part about it is that all of my belongings are packed away in her basement, so if I'm searching for that shampoo that I've been missing for three months, or a cute summer top that I've been dying to wear, or the mysteriously missing iPod USB cable, all I have to do is pop the key in the lock, dig out some boxes, and away I go!

I guess the biggest news of the day is that I landed my first real job interview this morning, and I must admit that it went well. Since I was the first interviewee for the position, I probably won't know anything for the next week or so, but I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed. The opportunity actually sounds exciting to me, so that's a good thing. I also had job interview #2 this afternoon for a part-time position at a local health club. That was definitely a success considering they hired me on the spot! I start working on Thursday evening and am already scheduled for four days in the next week or so. It will be a nice break from the mundane "sitting in front of the computer" type job, and I'll actually have the opportunity to interact with people, not to mention have a free membership to the gym to maintain my svelte farming/porridge-eating/India sweating/beaches of Goa lounging figure that I've worked hard for.

I know that I have a ton of updating to do, and yes, I will get to it one of these days in the near future. Lots of pictures to post too!

My time away was a memorable, and life changing experience, just as some predicted. I am definitely glad that I did everything that I did, and I wouldn't change anything for the world...

Welcome back! And man, does that previous post about the blueberry yogurt cake look good or what???

Animals and Chapters

I am eating a donut that I picked up at the 7-11 a few minutes ago, and wishing that I had a microwave, so I could have picked up a burrito or some sort of biscuit with egg and sausage instead. It's a little after 2 am, and while the donut was good, I just don't think it's doing the trick. And no, I am not drunk, just tired and hungry since I just walked in the door.

I spend almost my entire Saturday surrounded by thoughts of animals. From animal themed baby parties to seeing a band named Animal Collective. Maybe it's some sort of signal to me that I'd better get used to the thought of thinking about animals a lot more than I usually do since I'll be coming into close contact with them before too long.

I went to a concert tonight that was a total waste of four hours of my life. The opening band seemed to just sort of howl into the microphones and play simplistic chords on their guitars. It kind of made me feel like I was in the jungle or something. Then came the headliners, Animal Collective, which provided one of the most boring shows that I've seen in a long while. I believe I spent 95% of the time with my arms crossed and just wanting to leave. I would safely bet that three songs into it, I was ready to go, but alas, my friends were enjoying it. At times I felt like I was at a Science Museum and was pretending to explore Mars. Let me just say that it was a bunch of noise, and not in the good way. Needless to say, I am writing off Animal Collective as something to never waste my time with again.

I am three days away from beginning a new chapter in my life. As of March 1st, I will be unemployed, with aspirations of farming and travel. I must say that I am having some "scared" feelings, due to the unknown of what my situation will be while I'm away, as well as when I return to the U.S. And for some reason, I spent the past week doing a lot of thinking of how nice it would be to settle down somewhere. It's just that for the past five years, I have had to pack up all of my belongings and move them somewhere else, whether it be across town or across a couple of states. I really would like to find an apartment that I know I can stay in for more than a year when I'm looking a few months down the road. It would just be nice to be in one place for more than a year, and I suspect that I won't be having any of those "settled" or "permanent" feelings any time soon. But then again, I think it's the "unknown" that is charging towards me that has me thinking about these things.

I need some sleep, and I'm still hungry.

Yogurt Cake with Blueberries

Well, the Christmas tree is still standing, and I am still hiding a body under my pile of laundry, BUT the dishes have been washed only to make way for a whole new batch.

I made the beef stew yesterday (silly me made it with filet mignon meat, as opposed to the usual stewing meat. I didn't have a choice, and if you call me and ask, I'll tell you why), as well as the blueberry yogurt cake. The recipe came from Clotilde, who runs a very fine blog about food, aptly named Chocolate & Zucchini. It turned out wonderfully, as you can see from the above pictures. I haven't tried a piece today, but yesterday when it was about 30 minutes out of the oven, it was great, especially since the outside had a nice crisp crust and crunch to it. Yum! I used fresh blueberries, although the recipe calls for frozen. I think both will work, and a hint to keep your blueberries from "bleeding" into the batter after they've thawed: toss them in a bit of flour before adding.

I had a wonderful brunch this morning/afternoon at the Four Seasons. I don't think I've seen a buffet full of such fine quality food before. It was a lot larger than I expected, not quite as big as a buffet that you would find in Las Vegas, but definitely more than enough choices. We stuffed ourselves silly, and I ended up with a plate of about five desserts all with only a bite or two taken and the rest to go to waste because I just couldn't take anymore. I came home, put my pajamas back on and proceeded to take a two hour nap to recover!

This weekend was a great one for relaxing, probably one of the last that I have left for quite some time. I definitely don't see myself able to lie around on the couch in front of the TV and napping the day away while I'm in Ireland! I'm glad I was able to make the most of it this weekend.

Off to wash the dishes for the second consecutive day, I don't think I've done this since I was a teenager.

What has my life become?

What has my life become? A big mess, that's what. As I have documented above and below, I have some work to do.

First off, it's February 18th, and my Christmas tree is still standing with all of its decorations. Why you ask? Well, I guess that putting up and taking down the tree is the least fun part of Christmas, and being the person that I am, I didn't really want to deal with a real tree that will drop needles everywhere, so I opted for the fake tree a few years back, and those can be left standing forever. At this point, I could leave it up all year and people would look at me just the same as they would if they walked in the door today. But, this guy, he's a whole different bird, and actually CELEBRATES Christmas every day of the year! I heard about him on Canadian Public Radio, aka CBC, a few months ago, and have never forgotten him. At this point, I'm just waiting to pack up the rest of my belongings when I move to take down the tree. Notice the errant sock lying on the floor? That's been there for a week now, but yet, I haven't felt the need to pick it up. It doesn't have a match. Oh yeah, and does the tree seem a little crooked? I believe that's a result of me sitting in a "dip" in my floor when I snapped the image rather than the tree itself.

Photo #1: A sink and counter full of dirty dishes. I don't remember the last time that I washed the dishes, it must have been a little more than two weeks ago. How did I get away with it? Well, all of the week before this last one (that would be Week #1), I wasn't really home at night, thanks to my wild and crazy lifestyle, and therefore, did not dirty any dishes until probably Saturday. It's been a downhill battle ever since, especially since I really hate washing dishes. I've gotten to the point where I don't have any spoons left, and I'm running low on knives and glasses. I think I could go at least another day before I wash them, but I won't because I'm running out of room to make more food... I actually have big cooking plans today, I'm going to make beef stew and a blueberry yogurt cake. Yum! I'll probably at least get the stew going before I wash the dishes, but we'll see if I have any cutting boards left to chop the veggies.

Exhibit #2: The pile of dirty laundry sitting next to a basket of clean clothes. I think I did my laundry three weeks ago, but yet, haven't put everything away, hence the reason why there are clean clothes in the basket and a mix of dirty and clean on the floor surrounding it. Judging from the depth of the pile, I could probably hide a dead body under there, oh wait, my suitcase is hiding underneath (still not fully unpacked from two weeks ago) adding to the bulk. Actually, I have a feeling that there's a lot of clothes in that pile that could be worn at least one more time before I had to wash them, but instead, they're just lying there, getting wrinkled and waiting for me to put them away. Poor things. I was planning to wash the laundry today, but listen up folks, it's currently 6 degrees below zero, and for all of you centigrade reading folks, that would be twenty degress below zero. Pretty cold, wouldn't you say? This is apparently the coldes that it has gotten in two years, according to the weatherman. Definitely not good motivation for packing up the laundry and walking up and down the stairway outside a few times over to get it done. Maybe tomorrow...

All in all, I have become a lazy slob apparently. No man will want to marry me now! Who will pick up all of their messes if I can't pick up my own?

Rocks, Manure, and Carrots - Here I Come!

Well, I finally had a turn of good luck today, and after making multiple phone calls and emails to Ireland, I have secured a farm for me and my brother to work on. I was starting to get a little worried there and had to come up with a Plan B and Plan C in case things didn't work out. I still wouldn't mind finding a couple more farms to work on in April and May, but if this first one works out, the guy said that we could stay there for as long as we'd like. Let's see, what will I be doing? They have horses, sheep, cats, dogs, bees, woodworking, knitting, and a garden. In our spare time, we can enjoy bike rides, walks, caving, and music. Sounds like a deal to me. It's in a part of the country that is known for its scenery, starvation walls, and poor soil quality, otherwise known as The Burren. Are you ready? I know that I am! Only 28 days to go!

Oh yeah, and I just happened upon a live performance of Athlete at Virgin Records this evening, which was highly enjoyable, and Supergrass is my Valentine's Day date tomorrow.

Uncle J.P.

Some days are better than others, that's what she tells me. Then she says that she always feels like something is missing, and that she doesn't have anyone to talk to the same way that her and grandpa used to talk. This is what really sends me downhill fast. I want to lose it right then and there, but I have to hold it together, well, because I don't want to let her know that I feel terrible for her and that I miss him so much, but not nearly as much as she does. After all, he was her heart for 50 odd years. The man that she gave everything to and got everything in return. I wouldn't know what to do with myself either. After holding back the tears and coming dangerously close to letting out a sob, I tell her that it will take time, and that I know that we're not exact substitutes for grandpa, but that we are here to listen and talk to her just the same. Then she goes and makes me feel guilty again by saying "I can't wait to see you this week, and I wish you would come out here more often for a visit." Grandmas seem to be good at that kind of thing. She also tells me that I need to go to church more often. I often worry about her and wonder what she thinks about, and hope it's not the worst. I hope that she still goes out and talks to grandpa everyday at the cemetery, even if it is a depressing thought. I wish I could talk to him too. I miss you Grandpa, and yes, the days are getting easier, but I still think about you as much as I used to.