Archive for Daily Log

Sweet November

November 1, 2007 at 9:26 am · Filed under Daily Log, dating, job stuff, knitting, life, motivation

So, the buzz around the blogs is all about NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month.   I tried this a couple years, but like many things it fell by the wayside.

Last night I was thinking of making November something for myself, and the best I came up with was AngNoAnMo – Ang’s No(t gonna take it) Any More – with reference to the complete and utter crap I’ve been doing to myself lately.

 So, I guess inspired by not taking it anymore, I’ve just joined NaBloPoMo,National Blog Posting Month.  I’m aiming for the accountability of posting a blog that the world can access.  We’ll see how this goes.  Lately I’ve taken to posting in my less-public blog so I’ll have to remind myself to remain a bit more PG-13 here.

 Admittedly, my R rating is only for extreme cases of self-loathing and strong language to the effer who hacked into one of my email accounts.  Oh, and let’s add, for good measure, a few rude words for the first guy who actually stood me up for COFFEE on a SUNDAY.  The kicker to that anecdote is that he called to make sure we were still on AN HOUR BEFOREHAND, and still never showed. 

ANYHOW… Here’s what’s new since we last spoke:

1. I took a retail job.  I never worked retail when I had just a GED, and now I have a Bachelors degree and I work retail.  That was a hard pill to swallow.

2. I joined a knitting group.  We meet on the weekends and it’s super fun to get out of the house and talk with new people.

3. As mentioned above, someone hacked into an email account of mine and sent a lovely little note saying I was stranded in Norway and needed money.  Oh, and by the way, this email went out to every job recruiter in the greater Chicago area.  Luckily, most of them found humor in it.  How would I have gotten to Norway anyhow??

I suppose that’s it for now.  Today I drop off my coffee-shop applications so I can get a second job, as the first retail job is thus far paying less than unemployment did.  Well, as far as I can tell from my schedule anyhow.

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Another one bites the dust.

June 12, 2007 at 3:43 pm · Filed under Daily Log, Running, dating, ipod, life

Well, that was an interesting weekend.

I live in an apartment the size of a shoebox.  No.  Wait.  It might be smaller than a shoebox, but it does have its own kitchen and bathroom so it’s not as cramped as one might think.  Because of its small size, there are limited things I can do with my space, as well as limited places to store things.  Saturday morning around 8 I decided to flip my bed around, only to decide I didn’t like it there and had to move it all back.  This involved not just moving the bed, but unsettling everything I have stored under it too.  One of these days I will just purge some of the stuff, but… I’m a pack-rat at heart.

Saturday was also WWKIP day – or World-Wide Knit in Public day.  Andi and I hit Millennium Park running with our knitting needles in hand – she to work on lys and me to work on my own little iPod Nano holder thing for when I (get ready to laugh your ass off) run.  It was a beautiful day to be outside and lots of people asked us what we were working on, which was fun.

Saturday night into Sunday morning I spent chatting away with Zboy and… well… let’s just say there will be no big fat Greek wedding in our future.  I think 3 is usually the magic number for determining if things are going to click or not, and things definitely did not click.  (However, I didn’t tell him this until Monday morning because I needed to give my head some time to really process if I really had no interest.  I’m getting better at this…)

Sunday afternoon my good friend came into town and I was able to show him some tourist spots.  We hit Millennium Park, the riverfront, the Merchandise Mart (and a really awesome view was of all the furniture trucks sitting out in front… I think I peed my pants a little), hopped on the train to Chicago Ave and then hopped in a cab to go to the Hancock building.  Now, somewhere between that cab ride and the Hancock building I lost my effin camera.  I am SO pissed at myself for this because it’s the camera I managed to have in London for 2 months and not lose, yet one night on the town in Chicago and it’s gone.  I keep trying to call the cab company to see if anyone might have turned it in, but no such luck.

So, it’s back to the dating drawing board for me.  My mother keeps telling me to stop looking for ladybugs – they’ll find me.  I wonder if they’d be able to find me if I just decided to stay in my house all the time and knit with my cats at my feet. 

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Whop-bop-ba-lou-bop…

May 31, 2007 at 9:47 pm · Filed under Daily Log, life

Went to see “Sing-A-Long-Grease” tonight and let me just say I think this needs to become a cult classic much in the same vein of Rocky Horror.  I have not had that much fun in a long time… what a great evening!

And here’s a minor gripe, because I’m just not me without one:

When I moved in this building almost a year ago, I quickly made friends with neighbors… My friend Megan lived upstairs…The girl across the hall caught me the very night of my breakup (after several margaritas) and we had a nice bonding session… There were 2 kids down the hall who had kitties named Starsky and Hutch.  And then, there’s BDTH, or who I’ll occasionally refer to as “Bitch down the hall”.

Now, when my friends were here, they had their run ins with her and I was calling her BDTH mearly based on stories they’ve told me – up until about 3 weeks ago I had had no problems with her.  See, one Friday evening I picked up my house a bit and put 2 bags of trash just outside my door at about 10pm.  I was planning on being up and out rather early Saturday morning, but I got sucked into the sleep-o-sphere and didn’t wake up until 4pm.  When I woke, there was a lovely (not really) note under my door saying that it was rude to leave stinky trash in the hall to bother the neighbors.  OK, 1, yeah… I see her point, but 2, unless her face was IN the freaking bag, most of the shit in there was paper.

Anyhow, fast forward to me coming home all giddy from Grease, I step off the elevator and immediately upon setting foot on my floor I smell it.  I fucking detest the smell, I really really hate the shit, and I don’t have to pretend to tolerate it anymore: BDTH has her door open, as well as the door at the end of the hall open to air out the smell of just-smoked marijuana.  What’s even worse than the hallway smelling like pot?  Walking into my apartment and having it smell like pot.  I kindly walked over to her door and said, “Excuse me, but were you the one smoking?”  She and her 3 friends say yes.  I say, “I’m sorry, but I can totally smell that in my apartment.”  She looks at me with that look that I have a whole lot of fucking nerve (plus the look of ‘christ, it’s just pot’.. I know the look well) and says she’ll close the door. 

For 5 minutes after, there are several door slams throughout the hallway.  Why… why did she have to live up to her name with me?  And of all things, why do none of those lovely people that once lived here live here anymore?  It makes me debate the choice of renewing my lease, but this place has been SOOOO patient with my several times of not being able to make rent – I feel like I owe them a year of paying on time… plus, it certainly wouldn’t hurt my renter’s history.

Anyhow, ending this on a good note: If ‘Sing-A-Long-Grease’ comes to your town: go see it!  Sooooo much fun!

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3 years for what?

May 30, 2007 at 8:59 am · Filed under Daily Log, Maui Marathon, Running, life

Get prepared for a little bit of woe is me… 

It used to be, when I was working strictly admin jobs, that I could send out 60+ resumes, get a 10% response, and have a job within a month of looking.

Trying to get a job in the design industry feels like it’s next to impossible.  Part of me wonders if it’s Karma – I didn’t go to that interview in Seattle… I didn’t take the job that I thought was “too far” because it simply would have been an annoying commute.  I feel like I keep talking to these design recruiters and they just don’t seem to think I have enough experience for the positions they have open.  It’s that old circle of how to get experience when no one will hire you without experience.

And even though I’m applying for jobs outside the industry, the more I think about it, the more I don’t want something like that because I really enjoyed the job I had, while I had it.  Sometimes the people drove me nuts, but the work itself was great!  I remember the first time a client said that my space plan looked awesome I started dancing around the office.  I can’t see that happening if I write a good memo, or create an awesome spreadsheet.

And on top of everything else, I came to the realization yesterday that I cannot make the trip to Maui – the source of me starting this whole blog in the first place.  Delta will refund my skymiles for a fee of $50, and I can’t even afford to ask them to cancel my ticket right now.  I only just last Friday paid May and June rent, and while I did renew my lease for my apartment and my rent will stay the same, I’m unsure where money for July rent will come from, as I’ve got calls coming in from all my creditors and I’ve become an expert at ignoring my phone.  When I get my paychecks I’m paying my utilities so I can keep a roof over my head.  My fridge consists of Slim-Fast, sugar-snap peas, cheese, and crackers in the cupboards. 

I could get to Maui, but I’d have no place to stay.  And given all of the above, I have no way of saving up for a place to stay, and it’s too late to call the travel agent and have her book it because I couldn’t even afford the deposit at this point.

I might contemplate the half Chicago marathon, just so I’m still doing something in the running aspect, and I won’t feel like a complete failure for bailing out on yet another one of my grand ideas… but we’ll see.  Right now goal #1 is to get a job.  Goal #2 is to pay some stuff off.  Goal #3 is to live happily ever after – or at least happily without worrying where all this stuff is coming from.  I’m pushing 30 for crying out loud… shouldn’t I have shit figured out?

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Technology has its place.

May 28, 2007 at 9:02 pm · Filed under Daily Log, Maui Marathon, Shoes

I spent a greater portion of the day in my apartment, reflecting on how nice it was to be disconnected from most things involving communication over the weekend.  See, while I was watching Heidi the dog, I didn’t have internet access.  While I can check gmail over my phone, it was more for a reading basis than a writing basis. 

I really wondered what the point of having internet access in my home was, for a while, as I enjoyed my time reading, or repotting my plants, or (*gasp*) picking up parts of my apartment.  I wondered, that is, until I found this website:

http://www.ihatecrocs.com/

Honestly, I couldn’t tell you which I disliked more: Uggs or Crocs.  Both have got to be some of the ugliest footwear to be on this planet, yet those who wear either have a cult-like following.  The blog of I hate Crocs though…. that’s pure effin genius right there.   I especially love the clip of the blog owner cutting up a pair with scissors – I only hope they were donated, and she didn’t help fund that company.

Anyhow, that’s what I’ve got today – I hate crocs, I had a nice disconnected weekend, and I still have no earthly idea how Maui is going to happen (however, I do know that my rent is covered for May and June now, so I at least have a place to live.  Hooray!)

Less than 20 days till my “single-a-versary”.  I think this calls for a celebration.  Is it too late to register?

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And about Maui…

May 20, 2007 at 10:12 pm · Filed under Daily Log, Maui Marathon, Running, life

Me:I’m starting to feel like right now is not the time to attempt to make Maui happen.
Andi:You’re going to have to wait and see when you will get a job and how much it will pay, what your benefits will be, etc, before you can really make a decision about Maui.

So yes, the nay sayers are living in my head, infecting my thoughts this time.  More than anything, it’s a financial thing – I’ve got the plane ticket and the marathon fee paid, but the hotel and extra expenses are a different matter all together.  If I don’t get a hotel near the start or finish, then I need to either plan on a rental car or a taxi and both of those are expensive. 

But Andi is right… I need to see where I end up working for good before I make a final decision about Maui.  At this point, I have talked so much about it, I’m afraid that if I say I won’t be going everyone is going to be flashing big I told you so signs in front of my face… but if it’s not a financially sound move, then I guess I’ll just have to figure out some way to block out those views.

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Absolutely Nothing.

May 15, 2007 at 8:18 pm · Filed under Daily Log, life

Today I played hooky from everything responsible I was supposed to do.

I texted that exact sentence to The Lawyer* a few minutes ago and he asked what I did instead.  Absolutely nothing, was my reply.

I couldn’t get out of my own brain long enough to move myself out of this apartment today.  This, is pretty pathetic.

*You’ll learn that I tend to nickname everyone I go on at least one date with.  And no, they don’t all know what their respective nicknames are – it’s more fun that way.

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Mental Spew.

May 11, 2007 at 2:46 pm · Filed under Daily Log, Maui Marathon, life

I’m going to throw some random photos in this entry to make me feel a little less gloomy.  Get ready to be bombarded both visually and verbally.

This is Forrest and Willow actually getting along.  I was originally snapping this photo to show that this is as far as my suitcase from the Seattle trip has gone.  There isn’t much left in it, aside from some photos I nabbed from mom’s house and some books of mine that I gave her a while ago that I took home with me. 

A little sidenote anecdote for you:  My mom has this box of photographs that I’ve been through time and time again, yet it’s always fun to look through them because time has always lapsed since the last time I checked things out.  Anyhow, in all my 29 years on this planet, one thing I never saw in this box was an 11″x17″ colored pencil drawing (with wildly-attempted perspective) that my mother made around her 8th grade year of school.  What makes this drawing extra special for me is that she and her friend at the time found these large sheets of paper and decided they would draw their “dream homes” on them.  If you imagine the back-side of a dollhouse that’s how this picture is made.  I say this is special because it makes me feel like it wasn’t just a whim that brought me into design, but perhaps something I took from my mom.  Ok, I might be stretching to find a connection, but in all honesty, this drawing has to have been one of the coolest sentimental finds to date.

Now is probably a good time to mention I’m still temping, and I’ve moved to sending my resume to pretty much ANY available job out there – design or otherwise.   It’s not that I have any desire what-so-ever to throw away my coveted degree, it’s just that I need to pay rent.  What’s worse is some of these jobs I’m applying for, I KNOW I’m qualified for, but I’m not getting response on my resume.  Ok, fine, it’s only been a few days, but I need some instant-gratification!

 

This is how close we were to the Cubs’ game the other night.  You know, the Cubs’ game that went into 15 innings?  You know, the Cubs’ game that we heard Take Me Out To The Ballgame twice because there were 2 seven-inning-stretches?  You know, the Cubs’ game that they ultimately lost?

I understand Cubs’ fans.  They have faith in their team, even though they might suck.  They aren’t like the fair-weather fans who are now filling the Sox games because they won a World Series.  I blame Andi for this attitude whole-heartily, because she has instilled it in me since the beginning of Hockey season.  Her bank actually mailed her tickets to a Blackhawks’ game for free on a Sunday afternoon.  The United Center was so empty we could actually hear the hockey players on the ice - and we were in the highest level possible.  So there.  I’m opinionated.

Vegas (see above) and her mommy were part of my “walking” last night.  I can’t say we went far, or went fast, but the time out of the house was well spent.  Rumor has it that it is cold outside now, but I have enough stuff to keep me active tonight, and then over the weekend, the lakeshore path and I are going to have a little chat about my mood and the state of my life. 

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Today.

May 9, 2007 at 9:44 am · Filed under Daily Log, life

Today feels like one of those days where all hope is lost.

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The first Visual from the Nike Chip.

May 7, 2007 at 6:41 pm · Filed under Daily Log, Maui Marathon, Nike Chip, Running, ipod

 

My lazy way of updating today will be in the form of a chat with Andi, who, if you want to see some kick-ass knitting, you should check out her blog, knitstantgratification:

Me: 1.82 Miles
Me: 30:43 Min
Me: 16:50 Pace
Me: 294 Calories
Me: I did a little jog at the end to see what my pace was when jogging and it was 9:24

Andi: ah that’s a big difference :)

Me: So, I need to do this like, everyday because I can’t quite get through 8 hours on a 16:50 Pace
Me: especially since that was less than 2 miles and I feel like I could die :)

Andi: hehehe

Me: what was a huge help is that I got a giant bottle of evian and tried to drink the whole thing on the bus ride home then went out

I have so much more I want to say, but I can’t concentrate enough to make it all interesting.  Tomorrow, perhaps.

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