a selected list...

Oct 23- a reading with Sarah Vowell

Nov 1- The Duke Spirit

Nov 6- Paul F. Tompkins

Dec 1 - Amanda Palmer

The Silence Breaks

Sometimes I stop writing places for fear of jinxing the journey or process. 

I didn't get enough of my pre-move insights and reflections in, but I am here in Chicago, and more or less thriving. 

My apartment is better than I could have ever hoped for at this stage in my life, my roommates are pretty damn spectacular, and my neighborhood has a lot of charm. 

On Friday Michelle Tea and Cristy C. Roads did a reading at my neighborhood bookstore. 

Last night there was an acoustic show down the road at Uncommon Ground, a lovely place of which there is nothing like it in CA. 

I have a job... albeit, not an ideal one, but I have also secured a freelance gig or two to sustain me monetarily and creatively. 

It's all coming together, and I only miss parts of California. Though missing the people does not lessen. 

and I wanted to leave so bad...

It's been a rough day and I needed to take a drive. My normal route would just be too depressing (and, admittedly, too expensive at this point) so I drove up to the side of town I went to high school at and drove some of the windier, less populated roads and listened to pulsing, emotional music turned up too loud and tried to observe what was around me and not analyze everything looping through my head.

My observations: This town (Corona) will be hard to miss. I have spent more time here in the past month than in the past four years, and yet it still has not struck anything within me. I really have no reason to be here except to visit my parents and the few friends that still reside here.

Even though I went to high school here (well, grew up here. We moved here when I was 3), there aren't many public places or hang outs that I am nostalgic for. Corona is a nice town. It has its charm and comfort, but nothing else really sticks out. Most people have somewhere they can go to reminisce.

Most of the places I do miss, I've missed for a while, as they no longer exist or are so vastly different now that they are unrecognizable.

• Both the coffee shops my friends and I spent time in are closed up. One is now a subpar sushi place and the other is sitting unoccupied with it's gorgeous wood interior remaining untouched.
• Nadia and Justin's cars from 02-04. Nad's is totalled. I've never had more life and death conversations with anyone or life and death experiences than in her car. Justin's was just fun... even though he methodically plotted how to get me to scream about his driving, but he does this even now...
• The floor of Nadia's bedroom. Technically it is still there, but it has been throughmany reincarnations and since she is also leaving this summer, it no longer holds the same permanence.
• Laying or sitting on top of the desks in Mejia's or Picc's after school hours and creating or conversing or trading music.

The city is here for you to use...

I took my last final at Cal State Long Beach on Thursday. Now a large part of my energy will be focused towards the move to Chicago.

Today is a job search day. Here is a list of positions I will be applying for:

Writing


Chicago Blogger


Associate Editor


Educational/Advocacy


Program Associate for the Peer Health Exchange


Teacher Aide





Apartment


This is one of the places I'm keeping my eye on right now. I * really * love the Lakeview area of Chicago and just hope we can find something affordable and centrally located.

The Glass Menagerie

This is something that looks like a lot of fun. It's organized by some really creative and interesting people. By all accounts it has the potential to be a truly memorable night. But... unfortunately, the elements fail to line up and time after time and special events put on at Back to the Grind or The Menagerie (downtown Riverside's choice coffee shop and bar) are unable to live up to the hype.

Partly, any event can be enjoyable and worthwhile depending on the attitude you go into it with and the people you choose to surround yourself with. And thus, I've given many Downtown Riverside events a shot. I don't regret any of them, I just wish they had met my expectations and found their niche.

Good things about Chicago: As a large, bustling city, there is a built-in audience for almost anything, and a variety of interesting events to take part in on an almost nightly basis.

The Interstate Pulls You Away From Me

Though an obvious annoyance, traffic is not something I will miss when I leave California. There is something about the sheer static and frustration of being motivated to be somewhere and being forcibly restrained by the metal and rubber of vehicles clogging the arteries that invokes a physical response in me. 

When I see this in front of me: 

My teeth automatically clench and the muscles in my neck and shoulders are stretched and strained in disappointment. 

At least on the CTA of Chicago I'm not behind the wheel and the stress would be just a little less, even though I understand that there are train delays and bus rerouting and a thousand other intricacies I'll have to learn once I get there. 

But I will be able to ready a book or a magazine during my commute. Or listen to podcasts of Rachel Maddow and Randi Rhodes, or write in my journal. Or simply catalog the people on the train... 

Monday morning I left for school around 8:30 a.m. It normally takes me about 45 minutes to travel the 48 miles from my door to Long Beach. Yesterday, due to the three accidents that wreaked havoc on the infamous 91 Freeway it took me 2 hours and 5 minutes and cost me half a tank of gas and the beginning of a migraine.