Day 65 - Fixin' to vs. Finda'

Today at work, I was flexing my multi-dimensional skill set. I really ought to be employee of the month. I spent the majority of the day in the textbook department, learning the computer applications and helping customers. I processed web orders and was left a lone for what seemed liked the longest 30 minutes of my life when I was hit with a random barrage of customer questions. Hopefully it will get better in the days to come. One thing that the textbook department has over tradebooks is the limitless supply of random conversation. Today did not disappoint. Patsy is from Tennessee and she says I'm fixin to go to the store. She also has fixins with her big Thanksgiving dinner. Jimmy is from Chicago and he says I'm finda go to the store. They ask me which one have I heard more often. I said finda sounds a little more natural to me, but I try not to say either, because it may be difficult for the average person to understand. This led to my learning that a person from Michigan may call a shopping cart, a buggy and a water fountain a bubbler. Language variation is a funny thing.

The evening was uneventful. I have been riding my bike for the last few days, I think that my lock issues were due to the colder temperatures. Now that it has been a little warmer, the lock works fine. The store is open later on account of rush, so I had to bike home in the dark. I really wanted some pancit from Noodles Inc, but the night and my budget said go home and make ramen noodles instead. Not quite the same, but I'm not hungry anymore. I'm happy that Modern Family is back, and I watched Revenge, the newest Wednesday night drama on ABC. I also attempted to do a little background research on the subjects that Bea suggested from the DuSable Museum. I found out that my friend Lauren has purchased her tickets and will be visiting on October 14, that should be a good time. Exploring will be a lot more fun when one of my besties can join me. I'm off for the next couple of days, let the fun/retail therapy begin!

Day 64 - Bored Dialing

I was not feeling very well today, I came home during my lunch break, I took an hour instead of the normal 30 minutes allowed. Funny how no one noticed, if this bookstore was in a horse race, it would be the horse that never left the gate. That is how oblivious the management can be at times. My interview at Johnson Publishing Company was pushed back to next Thursday. I did get an email from the BMRC archivist about the paid position which includes working with the DuSable museum. It looks like the position requires the candidate to be in school, hopefully they will make an exception for me, especially if I promise to enroll in a certificate program in January. I haven't heard back from Coleman and Rebecca, and that is okay.

I can't tell if people are blowing smoke up my caboose or not, but Arlene and Evelyn think that I am a great writer. So great, that I should write more articles for the museum and help Arlene draft a letter to encourage Black sororities and fraternities to collaborate with the museum. I am supposed to supply a draft of the letter by tomorrow afternoon. I always read what I submitted and I can see all kinds of areas for improvement. I am grateful for the opportunity to add more samples to my curriculum vitae but I am not really excited about being a ghostwriter without any compensation. Why would I shelve books for minimum wage when people who have problems communicating their ideas in writing, are make twice as much as I have ever earned? I guess that is why I am hustling, so that it won't be like this for me forever.

After I watched the results show of Dancing with the Stars and couldn't tell anyone about it because of my time zone, I was bored. I also watched the New Girl, the new sitcom with Zooey Dashenal, it was so cute. I love it when she sings. She plays the same quirky character in Yes Man, one of my favorite films. I'm scrolling through my phone, I called my Aunt Vern, and she didn't answer. I called Christian and he was preoccupied with his own issues, and couldn't talk for long. Who else? How about the new nerd, Rob, from Lauren's Labor Day party?

Of course he answers. I learned alot about this guy in our 2.5 hours of conversation. As I am writing this, the themes that echo are his fascination with the Bible and the corresponding Middle Eastern history and his slightly veiled pessimism. He is so strange, he needs friends in the worst way. Someone to let him know that he doesn't have to be smooth and charismatic for people to want to be around him. For every discouraging notion that he had, I tried to give him something positive to focus on instead. He said that he appreciated my perspective, was glad it worked for me but he was not buying it. He's like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. He doesn't understand why people don't just accept the misery that is life, and he is not going to pretend to be happy for anyone's sake.

He's mad that life hasn't turned out the way it was supposed to, he's frustrated with hypocrites at his church and he tries to rationalize why there is evil in the world. There were times when I wanted to hang up the phone because he fixated on the same point even after I acknowledged that I understood but could never agree. It was like two people taking turns hitting each other with hammers. I told him he was like Silas form the DaVinci Code, an ascetic who berates himself to no end. He doesn't allow himself any leisure, no movies, no music...just documentaries and books. That is ridiculous. I told him that I would help him figure out a way to move to a third world country, find a simple way to give meaning to his life and to those of others, talk about it on TED Talks, garner funding, and use his MBA to create a business that will save the world and put a little change in his pocket. He doesn't know it, but I just solved all of his problems.

Day 36 - Bike Maintenance

Zach and I had an unnecessarily intense conversation about the existence of the Illuminati and who may be a part of it. These are our positions and I think that the evidence supports both ideas, but he is not trying to hear it. Zach thinks that Rupert Murdoch, Jay-Z, Rhianna and countless other successful people have bartered their lives for fame and money. He thinks that they are under the control of this super old organization, its in the lyrics, the decisions they make and the symbols that they use. I happen to believe that Jay-Z and his publicist are at least as smart as 18 year old Zach from Chicago and they are using the folklore to generate a buzz around his image. People spend so much time and energy investigating this conspiracy all the while increasing the fame of those celebrities. I would put a goat on my t-shirt too if I thought someone would be more interested in me and eventually give me more money. Besides how prestigious is your secret society when a Disney move (National Treasure) could reveal the majority of your legend. I ended with agree to disagree but he still seemed pretty worked up about it. Oh well.

I didn't feel the earthquake here today but there were some rain storms rolling in this morning. I forgot the plastic for my bike seat, but I managed to dry it off with my sweater. Luckily the rain had stopped so I biked over to the bike repair shop on 60th and Blackstone. This was the place that I went to buy a bike and they only sold bikes on Saturday, luckily they repair bikes on Tuesday. A nice little girl took the notes on what was wrong and 15 minutes later Chris came and fixed my bike in 5 minutes flat. Apparently the spring had dislodged in the gear shifter, he put it back in position and now the gear stays put. He pumped air into both tires and said that it was no charge. I know that their bike shop employs kids from the neighborhood to give them something constructive to do, so I insisted on giving him 5 dollars for his help. In retrospect, I suppose I could have given more, but it was an easy fix. If I made a dollar an hour, I would be living in my own apartment in Chicago, it was better than nothing. At any rate, my bike runs like a dream. I would take this over car repairs any day, two wheels are the way to go. The rest of the evening was uneventful but I am off of work until Saturday, looking forward to these blank canvas days.

Day 29 - Little Yellow Minions

The highlight of today was discovering that Patsy and I share an affinity for "Despicable Me". That is one of the best kid's movies that I have ever seen, and it is on everyday on HBO, I can't get enough. I spent the evening, doing laundry, watching movies and writing thank you notes to the individuals who wrote letters of recomendation for me. Rachna called to see if I wanted to get dinner, I had to shut her down. Isn't that terrible? Even if I'm in a new city, I'm still me..I like keeping my money in my pocket and relaxing on my own terms. Do you realize how much energy it takes to get to know people, more than I had tonight. I will call her tomorrow to see if we can go then. Rachna would be a nice chnge of pace, she is always talking to strangers when we go out. She may just be the wave I ride into a real social circle.

Day 28 - Bright and Early

This was my first early day at work, 7:45 to 2:15 and the morning flew by. I had terrible lunch, when the Lean Cuisine box says 9 minutes on 50% power, they are not kidding. If you can't change the power, it would be better to cook for a few minutes and then assess, then you might not end up with a burnt up mess like I did. After work I gathered all of my materials to take to Dominican University in River Forest. I made a quick stop at the post office, and then I made my way (in my car) over the 14 miles of freeway to the school. I wanted to check out the downtown Oak Park area, but there was nowhere to park and my drive down the street didn't reveal any store that I wanted to visit. The neighborhood is famous because Frank Lloyd Wright designed a few buildings and his studio is  located here. I've taken the tour before.

Lauren had a GroupOn for our local Mediterranean restaurant, Cedar's. I met her for dinner, the food was good. I had spare ribs with a pomegranate sauce, tika chicken, rice and vegetables, all for only seven dollars. Unfortunately, conversation took a turn for the worse, as we circled back to the well worn subject of her love life. Between her, my co-worker and several of my friends, they are determined to figure out what men think. As if men were babies whose signs we have to interpret....its killing me. Excuse my language, but I couldn't give a rat's ass about a man who can't communicate what he wants, or if his actions demonstrate something that I don't want. We probably could have a cure for cancer if we put these "man hours" toward something constructive. I'm stepping down from my soap box, its just that my patience is running thin.

Thank God for my friend, Lauren Smith (from Phoenix) who I talked to today, who also feels this way and has assured me that I'm not crazy. Let's all send positive vibes to Lauren Smith because she is planning a move to New York City to pursue her dreams, it's our time, 80's babies, prepare those rocket launch pads!

Day 25 - Shoeless Joe Jackson

I went to work at noon today and stayed until the store closed at 6. I now have a locker and I met the final manger, Patsy. She says toats instead of totally. That's cool, in retrospect, I think it is something that Paul Rudd said in "I love you, man". That was a funny movie, so she can have some cool points. Trent gave me all kinds of projects and then disappeared so it was a nice day of working at my own pace. I found time to read parts of the book, Chicago's Most Wanted. This book had all kinds of stories about the city's infamy. I read how Hugh Hefner started Playboy magazine in Chicago, after he graduated from the University of Illinois. I learned how the "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was baned from professional baseball after he was suspected of helping the White Sox throw the 1919 World Series. It was a nice format because all of the vignettes were short and to the point. After work, I returned my Red Box movies and ordered a calzone from "Pockets". "Jumping the Broom" was sweet but had the same format of every movie with an all Black cast, I am praying for a break from the formula. "Source Code" was not as good as my sister said it would be. It was like Groundhog Day with higher stakes, I actually talked on the phone for part of the movie. When I got home. I watched a couple episodes of "Frasier" and then had a marathon conversation with my travel buddy, Jeanetta. We have tentative plans for Thanksgiving in Charlotte.

Day 24 - One of those faces

Today I received a new assignment so the day went by really fast. On my way out, a woman who never had more than two words to say to me, talked for 45 minutes about her relationship woes. 45 minutes! This woman has been dating a man for 4 years and 2 weeks ago, he decided that he had enough on his plate with his job and his kids, so he didn't want to be with her anymore. She talked and talked about how much she had invested and how his family loved her and there was no way that it was over just like that. What am I supposed to say to this? Good luck, guilting someone into being with you. It was insane, I kept looking at my phone, backing away, I made it to the hallway and she leaped up and talked me all the way into the stairwell. I think that I might have one of those faces where people just feel compelled to share, or maybe she was just destined to spill her beans, and I happened to be the nearest pair of ears. If I'm so addicted to school, I need to sign up for Conversation Exits 101.

I biked to the grocery store after work. I used my Epicurian app to find a recipe for kale, Kale and White Bean Soup. Two new purchases included navy beans and parmigiano reggiano cheese rind. The recipe was simple but it took 2 and a half hours by the time I cooked the beans and let the soup simmer. It was pretty good, and very healthy. I will be taking a bowl to work tomorrow. On my way home with my groceries balanced precariously in my backpack and my right hand. I thought that only a new city could make the mundane seem so exciting. Living here is like shopping with extra money in the bank, relaxed and confident. I could get anything that I want, but it is fun to just a look around and find that one item that I can't do without. Living in Phoenix was like shopping when I am broke, frustration and anxiety, all I thought about was what I may be missing out on, the dog days are over.

One observation about The University of Chicago is that it is a stark contrast from Arizona universities. Keep in mind that this university has produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other university in the country. This is where they first split the atom bomb, where Barack Obama taught constitutional law, and where the writers of Freakanomics and Super Freakanomics received their schooling. Clearly the emphasis is not on the cover, it is on the content of a person. I have never seen so many fuzzy legged, frizzy haired, frumpy looking women in my life, but they don't seem to mind. The sun tanned, short skirt, mani/pedi and make up wearing population does not dominate the way that it does in Arizona. I can't say whether it is a good thing or not, but it is definitely a difference.

Day 23 - Bookstore Apathy

On the second day she learned that this is really just a job. I clock in, do mundane work, go to lunch, do more mundane work and then go home. I could shelve 200 books or 20 books and no one would notice. Don't get me wrong, my paycheck will be welcomed, this is just no place to rest on one's laurels. When I told Zach that I wanted a new job, he was like that's cool, I'll tell Erin that you were insubordinate we can terminate you during the probation period. He laughed but that would not be funny. This little job saved me from succumbing to my education addiction. As many of you know, I was thinking about going back to school a few weeks ago, but now I am re-focused on my "working" archives ambition. As luck would have it, there is potential paid position at the DuSable Museum to help process their collections. That would be perfect. This may be another sign that a little sacrifice and patience can be rewarded.

Day 22 - Everyone is an asshole...on their worst day

I felt like a first grader getting ready for school this morning. I made a hot breakfast, my bag lunch was in my backpack, and I rode my bike across a crosswalk, manned by a crossing guard. I start later in the day this week, so maybe I won't be juvenile stereotype in the future. First day of work, here is a rundown of the players. Erin is the assistant manager, she hired me and she has a very pleasant attitude about her job. Trent is another manager, he is not a morning person and he spent the morning training us. Zach is the 18 year old kid who has the same job as me and changes his name tag before he deals with customers, so that he won't get in trouble when they complain. Then there is Caitlyn who was also hired last week, she is a recent grad of U of C, she is also working in a lab on campus to pursue her interest in evolutionary biology.

Caitlyn and I did all of the HR paperwork, then we learned the layout of the store and spent the rest of the day shelving and straightening. This is very familiar from my time at the library, but there is no age old classification system that tells you where the books go. You have to look up every single item and there are subsections that aren't really labeled. On a positive note, I have seen some scarves, rain boots and some blank cards that I will want to purchase with my 35% discount. There are a lot of employees here and some other interesting characters that I am eager to get to know better.

When Trent had to take a phone call, he left the training to Zach. Zach was clearly not comfortable in this position and just started running his mouth on the more candid aspects of the job. He told us how relaxed the job was, so much that he didn't seem fazed that he was recently chewed out for being a no call, no show last week. He told us that we would always want to look busy when the general manger was around, because he was an asshole. I said that's kind of harsh, and he was like, "everyone is an asshole on their worst days". I suppose that is true, maybe Zach gets some points for seeing the situation from more than one angle. Another side note is that my (ahem..) "company", has a no blogging policy, so I'm a real rebel now. For real, I'm going to limit my mention of what happens in the store. Could you imagine if I was sued or fired for not following company policy? I'd rather not tempt fate.

Day 15 - Today's word, J-O-B

Today I had a an interview at The University of Chicago Bookstore. This bookstore is an affiliate of Barnes and Noble, and even though it has all the textbooks, its got a pretty nice general book section. Thank you Scottsdale Public Library for giving me all kinds of insight to reader's advisory. Erin, the assistant manager, was very friendly. We interviewed in a walkway, she asked me a few generic questions, she answered a phone call during the interview, and told me I was overdressed (for a regular work day). These are the highlights of course. I'm starting out as a part-timer in the "book" department, after she checks out my references. Victory, put it in a bottle and sell it to your friends!