moving day...

it's raining cats and dogs.

nearly insane

i'm nearly insane with impatience. so close that i almost stuck my arm through the phone this morning when i was talking to the poor bank employee who regretted to inform me that it was going to take ANOTHER 7 to 10 business days for me to get my new checks, which were supposed to be delivered to me a week ago..and that those 7 to 10 business days begin after i come in to show proof of my new address because she won't change it in the system from my word over the phone. they can't print out any extra checks for me either..."we don't do that"... i really almost stuck my arm through the phone and punched her in the face. well, considering that isn't actually possible. i asked "Well, what am i supposed to do, i have bills that need to be paid". and to her "i'm sorry maam, but you'll have to wait for the checks in the mail"...i said "this is rediculous" and hung up on her. i don't know if i was the talk of the morning, but i went there after work today to show them my lease, and the guy i spoke with said he could overnight me more checks to my current address, and still change the system to have my new address. i smiled and said 'thankyou, have a nice day'.

now i need to be just as bitchy with my landlords to make sure that the cabinets that have recently been water logged and smell are fixed and changed...i can be assertive, i really can...i have to be...

so, today...my boss and i were out on the job, as i've been shadowing my fellow team members since i started...she was the lucky one to have me with her today...we went on all our visits...has some good discussions with our members, and were starving, so headed to the polish part of town to grab some cheap lunch and head back to the office. a VERY polish grocery store also sells take-out food for lunch and it's super cheap an good, so we walked in to order our food.

now, just a bit of information about my boss. she is a very dynamic black woman. and i say this with utmost respect and admiration...because she will teach me a lot. she is the most positive and thoughtful person i've met in a long time and would give you her last dime in a heartbeat if you asked her. but she also knows how to get business taken care of, and is not one to be taken advantage of.

so, back to the story of the polish grocery store. so, we're in line to order our food...the two of us stand out like sore thumbs...she more than me, as a black woman, but me too, we're both obviously NOt polish, nor do we speak anything but English. so, my boss, bless her heart, begins to tell the employee what she wants in her plate, finishes her order and waits patiently for the girl to give her the food. as it's the first time i've ever been to this store, i'm not sure how things work, and am merely observing the order of business...but my boss quickly notices that the girl didn't weigh the food on the scale, but merely places a stamp on the container which has the amount of money charged for the food. it was $2.50...nothing to make any mention of...but my boss, having gone to this store numerous times before, is curious as to why her food wasn't weighed like usual, and asked the girl...who has limited English speaking abilities...and thought that my boss was giving her a hard time. my boss, in turn, started getting frustrated because she wasn't getting a straight answer from this girl...and instead of just taking a breath to make sure that they were both listening to each other, she took this as attitude and started making a fuss. the whole time, i'm like...ok, it doesn't matter...it's only 2.50...who cares if she weighed it or not..there are 12 other people in line, hungry and wishing you'd just hurry up and get going...it doesn't matter. but she kept on. at one point she asked the girl if she spoke English, to which the girl gave a look of deep insult and then was even harder to get anything out of. needless to say, my boss finally let it go, and said she'd meet me at the front of the store. meanwhile, other people were passing me in line, and i had to specifically ask the girl if i could be waited on b/c, by association, i was despised as much as my boss was, and they didn't want to serve me. all the other customers in line were speaking polish to the employees and it was obvious taht the girl was talking about us b/c in and out of their talking was "can you speak english"...they were mocking my boss.

needless to say...it was funny, and i completely think my boss was out of line cause she made a huge deal out of nothing, but it was really funny. i know my boss didn't mean any harm cause she said, the second i met her at the front of the store, that she was soo embarrassed by her behavior and she apologized over and over for embarrassing me. i just laughed and said not to worry about it, but she kept going on about how she can't believe she made such a scene. sometimes we can't help ourselves.

i think i won't be eating polish food for a while. my boss joked that when she goes back in there, she'll have to wear her hair down and do what she can to make sure she looks as different as she can. though another coworker reminded her, that a black woman in a polish store is going to stand out like a sore thumb no matter what she's wearing. i guess polish people don't like black people much...and this didn't really help that...

it was funny though.

another countdown

so, a week from tonight, i will be sitting in my new apartment...with all my stuff...still in boxes, but all mine...:):) i know it's only seven days, but when it's so close yet still not here, it seems like forever.

and i'll have another goodbye to make as well...to the amazing Scott family who has more-than-hospitably housed me, and offered so much help and care and support. i really couldn't've done all this without them. this weekend, ms. scott was in town, and i was invited to spend the day with her and Steph...Steph showed me around Naperville (another suburb near Wheaton) and then the three of us headed out to IKEA to do a bit of shopping, after which the Scott family, minus Jenny, and plus Steph's boyfriend and two of mr. Scott's former students...we all went to an Argentinian restuarant downtown Naperville. Wonderful food and discussion about whether Christians should be CIA agents was had...plus much more. after dinner included a competative game of Settler's of Catan...which i won, but i have to say, only with the helpful hints of everyone else in the begining as they taught me how to play. Wonderful fellowship with wonderful people:)

tomorrow begins another week, and if it was anything like last week, friday will be here before we know it, and i will finally be an actual resident of chicago. i look forward to settling down, learning my neighborhood, enjoying my dog and, as i've joked with a few friends already...taking as much time in the bathroom as i want...haha. You know you know what i'm talking about, so don't judge...

also, i've decided i either have to find better hobbies, or i have to get a part time job. i don't know what to do with myself with two whole days off every weekend. it's an adjustment, and i'm having difficulty with nothing to do. today, i took a walk, read a book, watched a movie and took a nap all by 3pm. so, to occupy the rest of my time, i drove around Wheaton/Lombard/Naperville, ending up at a mall, and spending more money than i should have. if i don't find a better way to spend my weekends, i'll have no money left. in all reality, i have purchased most things of which i knew i had to get...like more pants for work, pots and pans at IKEA..things like that. other than one more pair of shoes, i'm really done for a while...but still, this can't continue. i want to join a book club i think...but i'll have to find one to join...and maybe play softball through the Y or something. that will help meet people too...i feel too deprived of social interaction.

anyways, i'm out for another while...i think i'll read a bit more and then hit the sack...and remind myself that when i never had days off, all i wanted was some time to do nothing...i know i need to stop complaining, but the work-fiend in me doesn't want to let go...

6 days and counting...

sometimes things just aren't meant to work out

so, i think i got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, even though the other side of the bed is against the wall.

work went well, and i thought i was in the clear, but then craziness happened:

1. i have to get a Residential Parking Permit before i move in two weeks so that i can park on the streets near my apartment...but to get the Parking Permit, i need a City sticker...and for a City Sticker i need Illinois registration and License plates, and for them, i need a license, and for the license i need a proof of residency (aka...my lease). so..i've been slowly taking care of these steps, one by one...and all before all of the places where i can get these things close for the day, which means i can usually get one thing done a day. (also added were the tasks of opening a bank account, cash my paychecks...blah blah blah. so, last week, i got the bank account, picked up the copy of my lease and got my license...successful week. today...not so successful. i went to the DMV to get license plates today, and after a 45 minute treck there, (the closest DMV to where i work..it's all city driving time) the gates are closed and there's a large "CLOSED MONDAYS" sign. boooo..

2. so i decide to still take advantage of the afternoon and go to the bank instead and put some cash in my account, after having cashed my paycheck at a different bank last friday, i really don't want all that cash on me. all the branches i looked up earlier last week were downtown where my new apartment is going to be and were open til 6:30pm...but i needed a branch on the west side of the city, so i went to a gas station to get some addresses from a phone book. after picking the one that seemed the closest and on my way home, i began my search for my bank. only to find that 1803 Harlem Ave wasn't a bank but an apartment and no one in the area knew where the bank was. so i decided to head back north to the highway, and noticed that the numbers were goin back towards zero, so i kept going north, and the numbers, after hitting zero started going back up. i finally arrived at the bank at 6:03, only to find a sign that stated that the bank hours were from 8-6:00pm...arghhh

3. annoyed, and shouting explitives back in the car, i noticed a kinkos down the street, one which i despirately need because my annoying landlords called me friday to state that, yes, they had received both of my checks, but they don't have a signed copy of my lease in my file...stating that they don't believe me when i say that it was faxed to them, and 'oh, we need you to fax it again'...which involves me faxing my signed copy back to my father who had to co-sign with me when i was applying for the apartment without a job...and he then signing it and faxing it to my landlord. i was supposed to fax it from kinkos over the weekend, but i forgot...so i went to kinkos...press send, and ended up waiting over 15 minutes for the damn thing to go through. on top of that, i went to pay for the transaction, thinking that it would be maybe $.50 per sheet of paper or a flat rate of $5.00 for using the fax machine or something...oh no, my dear friends, it was nothing near that. the woman states "15.89 please" ...to which i almost chocked on my gum and said FIFTEEN EIGHTY NINE?????????. 'yes,' she replies calmly and takes my prized 20 dollar bill, as i start to cry a little inside. i honeslty almost started crying outside too cause i was so damn mad...again, explitives were shouted in my car and for about 10 minutes. holy shit.

my mom convinced me to buy dinner somewhere, sit and read a book, and relax...it's been a rough 3 hours.

and yet...i'd say it was a good day, and i'm still extatic about being here. though the prices of things continue to annoy the hell out of me, and i'm really looking forward to having all these 'new town' errands to be done and over with.

a good thing though, this weekend i called and finally talked to a uhaul employee (after making about 10 unanswered phone calls last week) and she refunded the amount that they had overcharged me when moving...good things do happen...really, i know they do:):)

ok, i'm out. steph needs her computer and room back:):) time to go watch the end of Motorcycle Diaries and read more from my book. cant' wait to do it all again tomorrow...or something like that...;)

free fallin...almost

so, my brother's roommate and a couple of friends went sky diving yesterday. i went with my bro to watch..and give moral support. he said he'd never be able to jump, but i've wanted to go skydiving forever, so they were trying to convince me to do it too. the problem was, really, money...do i have an extra 200 bucks to spend on skydiving or should i wait and use it to buy new pots and pans when i move in two weeks cause i threw my old ones out...hmmm...so i finally decided i wanted to jump out of a plane, but by the time i told the guy, he said they didn't have time for me to go too...booo... so i finally convinced myself to do it, but then i couldn't. but the three other people did it...and it was SOOO cool to watch...so crazy:) i'm soo gonna do it some day. anyone wanna go with me? apparantly there's a place to go in chicago and they go all year round, but holy shit would it be really cold in the winter..haha. they say it's 30 degrees colder up in the plane than it is on the ground. next summer, i'm gonna do it...

now, i'm sitting in my bro's apartment, listening to Aquaduct and Joel read Huck Finn to me and Tamar...soon it's time for me to leave. boo:)

back in gr

another weekend in gr...with the bro, and a few friends. two more weeks and i'll be back moving for real, and i get brayson back. soon, soon...:)

too tired right now to write more...just felt it was time to update.

a comment on 9/11

i wasn't going to do this, but...
www.slate.com

i'm going to cut off my nose and scrape out the insides

maybe THEN, i'll have some relief...

i never understood what my mom and sister went through with allergies until this summer...i figured i had gotten away with out ever having to worry about stuffy noses, headaches and allergy medicine. however, for the last two months, it has been nothing but non-stop, my throat has been sore for about 5 weeks from sneezing so much.

first i thought it was b/c of my dog...i hadn't cleaned my old aparmtemt much cause i was working too many hours. then i figured it was cause of the dust from my dirty apartment from when i was packing, and again, i bearly cleaned my apartment...
but now, i've been moved out from there for just over 2 weeks, and today is the worst i've had in a long time. it took over an hour for the allergy medicine to start to work, and even now, i'm constantly sniffling and blowing my nose. my new coworker asked if i was sick the other day...to which i replied...no, i just have really bad allergies. and even in saying it, it's so foreign to me, i've never had to worry about it. and i don't even really know how to make it better if the allergy medicine isn't working. do i go to a doctor? to i buy a special mask so that allergens can't make it to my nose, eyes and throat?? or do i just cut off my nose and scrape out the insides to clean it out, and start over? hmm...well, i don't have medical coverage for 90 days from 8/28, so i have a little longer to have to suffer, and at that point, hopefully the summer season will be completely gone from my system and my sinuses will be snot/allergen free.

(aside: allergies were so bad this year that even my dog got an allergic skin infection...poor guy)

i won't really look that weird w/o a nose right? good think i wear contact lenses...

a bouncer's life is not for me

me: um, excuse me, but i need to see your ID and there's a three dollar cover charge
first person to walk through door: (strange looks of confusion) um...haha
me: yes, there's a band tonight and there's a 3 dollar cover charge
first person to walk through door: (more strange looks at his wife)
me: HUH???
first person to walk through door: um, i'm the owner of this bar..
me: (open mouth, insert foot) oh...i'm sorry, i'm a dumbass

in all reality...after that moment of embarrassment, i was a 'bouncer' for another 30 mins or so with my friend tamar...and then i was relieved of my duties...

dumb bar managers who didn't have their own person to man the door...
dumb situations that make me feel stupid for doing what i'm told...

fun shows with my brother and friend playing and making music for 3.5 hrs...
fun after shows hanging out with the band and his groupies...haha

there's somthing great about

late night chats in the backyard with candles, beer, cigarettes and fun people.
sleeping late and enjoying a good breakfast
doing nothing all day

gotta love it:)