Day 12 - Arlene and Barbara

Today I volunteered to work the membership table at the DuSable's Movies in the Park program. They were screening Coming to America, that'd be 8 dollars :)Arlene is the volunteer coordinator, she explained everything and invited me to her church. Barbara is a docent, we were working the table together. Barbara's daughter lives in Scottsdale, AZ. Barbara was dressed up for the free "War" concert and she told me about the stepper's set in the neighborhood. I liked Barbara, I just stopped short of getting her number so that I could join her for the next concert. Hopefully I'll see her again and we can kick it. Lauren and Rachna were determined to celebrate part 2 of my birthday, so we picked up Ola and had sushi in Boystown. The northside is so different from the south. The traffic congestion and the demographics are just the start. We stayed there for hours discussing attitudes about homosexuality and hypothetical relationship debacles. Lauren had to take me to pick up my car because I had to park 3 blocks away, I hope that it isn't like this all the time when school is in session.

Day 11 - Maiden Voyage

Today was the Admiral's maiden voyage. I biked 10 miles from Hyde Park to Northwestern University's Law School. Lauren's job was having a summer fiesta and I was invited. They had all kinds of Mexican food in a buffet, plus margaritas and Coronas (alcohol at work, why not?) They played a trivia game and gave out kindles for prizes, not a bad working environment. After that I walked to the movie theater to check out Crazy, Stupid, Love...it was so GOOD. It will join the ranks of The Notebook and Dan in Real Life. I guess Friday is movie day in the city. The bike ride home was a little less strenuous, but I was definitely grateful to be home to eat and sleep. The verdict on biking into the city is, it is doable but I can't do it when my appearance matters. 10 miles one way, even with the breeze from the lake, transformed me into a sweaty mess. I will definitely use the Admiral more often for short trips in my neighborhood. All in all a good day.

Day 10 - The Admiral

I actually drove around outside of my neighborhood today. It is not as bad as I thought it would be. I made my way to Wal-Mart and found my new pride and joy, The Admiral! The Admiral is a white, black and red cruiser/road bike hybrid. It was on a serious discount, and I can't wait to ride it tomorrow. I have to give a shout out the the guy in the parking lot who showed me how to detach the front wheel, and helped me get it in the car. I also found a mall to wander around. I didn't buy anything frivolous, unless you call a portable steamer frivolous... I look at is as an investment, no more irons for me. I have stayed up late submitting a job application to Planned Parenthood. They have an archivist position that sounds pretty perfect, we'll see how that goes. Oh, and I met my roommate's mom, Mrs. Richardson. She was very friendly and complimented me on being so brave to move away from home. Then she asked when I would be finding a job at the Museum of Science and Industry, so that she can get free admission. I hope that she is not holding her breath on that one.

Day 9 - Photobook

My birthday present from my infinitely generous sister arrived today. It is a photobook of our amazing trip from Phoenix to Chicago a few weeks ago. The last page is a list of the 14 most memorable moments, including the 5 hour stretch across Colorado when the A/C went out...it came back before we stopped in Sterling, CO that night. I will put it on my bookshelf next to my well worn copy of Emily Griffin's Something Borrowed. I had my meeting with Samip from the South Asian Digital Archive today, he was very cool. He was telling me about the initiative, they are collecting any and all information about South Asian immigrants to the US. There is no other organization with this type of collection, so their work is pretty ground breaking. I am supposed to be thinking of which specific tasks I would like to be involved with and we'll meet again next week. I called the U of C bookstore to check the status of my application and I have an interview next Tuesday. In college I never thought I'd be that person behind the counter, going to find the textbook for BIO 225 or empathizing with students about a professor's insistence on the new edition, which costs twice as much as the used one. I'll keep my fingers crossed that this one will come through. My roommate sent me a few job postings, I'm going to take it as a sign of her supportiveness and not a growing concern that a stranger is lounging around her house all day.

Last night at Leona's with Lauren and Rachna!

Day 8 - Golden Birthday

Happy Birthday to me. I thought that I would find my brand new bike today, but the fates had something else in mind. I went to three different bike stores, one didn't sell bikes until Saturday, one had bikes that were too expensive, and the other was shut down. I was so disappointed, this is my first birthday without a gift from me to me, sad face. Perhaps the gift is freedom, freedom to explore, freedom to grow, have I surpassed my emphasis on the tangible..we'll have to revisit that one. Anyway, I did talk to the volunteer coordinator at the DuSable Museum of African American History. I will be assisting with the movie in the park on Saturday. The library/archives person is supposed to call me tomorrow about a more consistent schedule. Then I took a nap, and walked the dog. The best part of the day, my roommate and her friend, Rachna took me out for a late dinner and drinks. They brought a present and a cake! We talked about jobs, men and the differences between Oklahoma, Illinois and Arizona, we are planning to go out again on Saturday. Top night, it looks I am starting this year off right, :)

Day 7 - Pretzel Bread, Yummo!

The quote of the day is, I must apply until I die. I wouldn't know what to do if someone called me for an interview, all I do is submit applications. Today's job search monotony was broken up twice. The first was a dance break. The Michael Jackson Experience on Wii is amazing. I got the high score for "Will you be there?", which is not that impressive, its a pretty slow song, still fun for me. Later in the afternoon, I walked to the Hyde Park Produce, and found some watermelon, cherries, and pretzel bread. I know these things don't really go together but I ate them together anyway. I also bought ingredients for some chicken quesadillas, feels good to have a stocked fridge. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be golden....

Day 6 - Sleep is Cheap

I always thought my dad was crazy for sleeping his life away, I know he must be spending two thirds of his life, asleep. When I crticize him, he says that sleep is the only thing you can do for free. While that is not entirely accurate, when one is trying to conserve money and resources, idle time often leads to a peaceful slumber. I had a nice breakfast with the Lauren and Ola. Then I watched more Projet Runway and True Grit. I took a good nap, and then a nice walk to the Hyde Park Produce shop. I spent a few hours scrapbooking and listening to old playlists. I talked to Christian, and he gave me a large dose of tough love. Apparently I have to treat this situation like a war, and I have to be ruthless and strong (in my socializing and job seeking) in order to make it out alive. I came out of my room in time for True Blood, I would say it was a full day if not entirely eventful. "He can only hold her" by Amy Winehouse is in rotation, I think there may be something to this "Forever 27 Club", she joins Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix...I hope they are all in a better place.

Day 5 - Linne

I spent the early morning scanning the Dominican University website for information on their PhD program. I wound up sending a bunch of emails to faculty members, hopefully they will respond on Monday. The late morning was spent weaving around the roommate and her boyfriend in the kitchen. If I wasn't so stingy, I would have went out to brunch, rather than excuse myself for every spoon and skillet that I reached for. After three episodes of Project Runway, I went out for a walk which turned into an unofficial tour of the University of Chicago. There are so many ivy strewn buildings, buildings of the Gothic variety. It is beautiful during the day, but I think that I would be running like Scooby Doo if I was there at night. I sat for awhile under the statue of Carl von Linné [Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, inventor of system of biological classification of species on Midway Plaisance Park of University of Chicago]. I made my way to the bookstore and applied for a position there.I attempted to go to Harold's Chicken and Fish for dinner, but the menu and the clientele overwhelmed me, psychologically. I'll get over there one of these days. I got McDonald's and some RedBox movies, tonight life in Chicago is not that different from life in Tempe.

Day 4 - Hermione Weasly

Today, it rained. At first I was going to spend the day inside, then it stopped raining so I decided to go to the movies. The stop for the theater is the same as the one for the "Museum Campus". This is a huge complex that includes the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and Soldier Field. I walked around the campus, and mentally made plans to go back to each museum at some point. The walkways are perfectly manicured, there are views of Lake Michigan around every corner, and many concession stands. A very nice setting for a family outing. Next, I set out to find the theater, that took awhile but I made it in time for...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2! I recently read all the books, and then watched all the movies, so I was pretty excited to see the final chapter. It was amazing. The man sitting next to me cried on several occasions. I didn't cry but I clapped and cheered more than once! One odd thing about the theatre is that there was a VIP section that composed the best seats in the place (you had to pay extra for them) and I had to pick my seat when I bought my ticket. Assigned seats at a movie theatre seems a little extreme to me.

Afterwards I literally hopped on to a train. The ticket machine was broken, so I got a free ride. However this was not the train I had taken to get out there and didn't stop where I expected it to stop. The train was full of Cubs fans, and it sounded like they were headed to Indiana. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. Luckily, this South Shore Express train stopped, 2 stops later and I was able to walk to my place. It wasn't as humid as yesterday, but I was definitely grateful for the shower and pajamas that I had waiting for me at home,.

Day 3 - Sea of "Have Nots"

Spent the morning doing laundry and cleaning up. I finagled the student rate for the upcoming Society of American Archivists 360 conference. I am looking forward to networking with other archivists and some of my Phoenix folks at the end of August. Then I followed up with Samip about volunteering for the South Asian Digital Archive project. With a name like Chaitra, I think that I will fit in. I know there is a heat wave, but I was going crazy indoors, so I decided to drive around the neighborhood. I definitely roamed through some places where I was sure that my doors were locked. There were makeshift snow cone vendors set up on every other block. People walking across the street with rollers in their hair and fish or chicken take-out in their hands, without any concern for oncoming traffic. I was on Martin Luther King Drive, which seems to have the same demographics in every city. Is it strange that Phoenix barely had an MLK holiday, let alone an MLK Blvd? I found a Target and picked up a cork board, post its and some push pins. On the way home, I stopped by the DuSable Museum of African American history and picked up a volunteer application...

So, my roommate's tennis equipment was stolen off of our back porch, yesterday. She was thoroughly pissed off, but is hoping that the insurance company will cover her losses. I thought that was the end of it, but since it was classified as a burglary, the police are visiting with us tonight. Who would have thought that my first interaction with the Chicago police would be in my place of residence. These two cops remind me of the Blues Brothers, one is short and sarcastic, the other is tall and goofy. They make jokes, play with the pets and described the nature of out neighborhood. Apparently, Hyde Park is an island of Haves, in a sea of Have Nots, and people get robbed all the time, mostly between the hours of 8AM and 3PM. Nice, I feel all warm and toasty inside... If these are crimes of opportunity, we'll just have to reduce the number of opportunities. I'm still very comfortable and happy here, I'll just be keeping my things under tight wraps.

Day 2 - Lucky Purple Dress

I caught the end of Good Morning America, Robin Roberts and Sam Champion are still my favorite news personalities. Then the local news came on, I was more entertained by the Chicago quirky group of newscasters, then the Now at 9 clique on the ABC network in Phoenix. I found an advertisement for an Office Coordinator position at the Hyde Park Union Church. This church is 0.5 miles from my place, so I decided get interview ready and head over there with my resume. The humidity is good for my hair, and I was wearing my lucky purple dress. I spoke to Anthony who currently holds the position, asked a few intelligent questions, shared a laugh and thanked him for his time. I hope that comes through, but I am still looking everywhere. I thought that I could walk to the public library from there, but the heatwave had other plans, I was so sweaty, I gave up my perfect parking spot to drive to the library. This library is so old and dark, it looks like there used to be ladders to reach books, before the retrofitted scaffolds and staircase that make up the second floor. The classification system is mixed between Dewey and LC, I didn't know they could do that. I spent an hour and a half perusing a reference book for fellowship programs for students pursuing graduate degrees in archival science. I found a few that I will be following up on. Other observations from the day include a Michael's which is a grocery store, not a craft store. Hopefully my parallel parking skills will improve over time, right now it looks like a person with two broken arms has parked my car. As much as I love the walkable nature of my new community, early mornings or early evenings are the only times to be out to prevent the misery of this humidity.

Day 1 - Fireflies

In the morning, I took Tariequa and Tenaysia to the UIC-Halsted train stop so that they could take the train to O'Hare. I was very sad to watch them leave, because I am officially on my own. Tariequa said it best, "its time to do what you came to do". I got turned around on the freeeway but thanks to Sir Wellington (my iPhone) I made it back to my apartment. Today was for relaxation. After watching movies, napping and playing on the computer, I took Simba (the roomate's dog) out for a walk. The neighborhood park was full of kids, other people were walking their dogs, and the fireflies were lighting up the sky. I can't believe that last week I was living in a studio and now I am roaming around the most historic neighborhood in Chicago.