Whurk

As soon as I moved in and internet was activated I started the job search. I had a window of craigslist open at all times and spent most of my days filling out job applications and sending in resumes to everywhere imaginable. The first people to call me back was Greenpeace but Japan considers them eco-terrorists so I never picked up. Then nothing happened for about a week until Banana Republic gave me a call. I know the thought of me working at a clothing store is hilarious to all of you considering I buy about two or three pieces of clothes every year but I was getting nervous about not being able to pay the bills so I went for it.

They've thrown me behind the register and since I have pretty high availability they give me a lot of hours, which at times is terrible but I am making consistent money so w/e. But surprisingly I enjoy work. Everyone I work with is within about 5 years of me in age and we all get along. Everyone's really freaking cool and helpful. Management is nice and understanding. They don't talk down to anyone or yell. So it's a good environment for someone as clueless as me when it comes to clothes. It also does wonders for my OCD. Having to fold a stack of clothes and make sure they line up perfectly on all sides is oddly satisfying. So I feel like it suits me and when I realize that I don't have enough winter clothes for when the weather starts to suck around here I can always get 50% off some really nice shit.

Since the store I work at is located in this mall on Michigan right next to the Hancock building we get a ton of tourists, namely internationals. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that about a third of our customers aren't from this country. Sometimes this can make for some interesting conversations. One time I had a Spanish speaker come up to me asking what sizes we have for bigger women. I asked him if he had taken a look at our XLs to see if those would fit and he then went on to tell me that they wouldn't work because his girlfriend/wife is "small and fat". He again asked me where our clothes for "fat girls" were and I had to point him in the direction of one of our other stores that carried petites. Another time at the register I had to have one of my coworkers that speak Spanish act as an interpreter for someone that was speaking to me in Portuguese. Just last week I swear I heard someone speak French and Italian in the same sentence but I figure they were using some dialect from NW Italy that would have a kind of combination of the two.

But yeah, overall work is good and it suits me. It keeps me busy so that I haven't had the slightest inclination to play WoW and I'm happy for that.

Karse

Living in the city has changed my life in a ton of little ways. I anticipated some of these changes but the ones that have come with never using a car were a surprise. I got word the other week that my parents had sold my car to one of our neighbors. Chicago has a great public transportation system so I really didn't need it but I think it's still going to be strange going back home and seeing it down the block. I've since gotten used to not riding in cars. I can even nap on the train and still wake up just before my school's stop.

But riding in a car has now become a novelty. I get a little giddy on the inside just at the thought of riding in this "car" to the point to where my mind was about blown away with excitement when I rode in one twice in the same week. It was strange trying to figure out what streets we were taking. When you're on a giant accordion bus you generally don't care about the other cars on the road or how you're actually getting to your destination. You really only pay attention to the ominous CTA voice that says what stop you're approaching. My mind felt like it was experiencing a sensation overload when I got in the car. I realized I had no idea how to give people directions to my place without having them just take my usual bus route. The whole experience was just startlingly strange and I still spend part of my day looking at a map of the city so I can figure out where the hell all the major streets are. So when I come home for Christmas, don't be alarmed when I get in the car and stay quiet for a little bit. I'll just be readjusting.

obligatory first post

At the drunken urging of my friends from home I've created this blog since I'm notoriously terrible at keeping in touch. Like most things I write, I'm really awful at getting things started so let's just just get through this first post with a couple of tidbits about me.

I recently moved from Memphis to Chicago to pursue a Master's in Public Policy from Loyola. I'm living by myself in Lakeview and trying my best to make ends meet working at a local Banana Republic. I was interning for a campaign for Lieutenant Governor but that seems to be a little up in the air at the moment. I miss things like meals that don't come out of the microwave, a dishwasher, little-to-no financial obligations, working out, and even my friends and family back home. But my sister and brother-in-law do their best to make me feel welcome by letting me piggyback to their social functions. Everyone at work is really cool and all the other students in my program are great so I don't dread spending most of my time at one of the two.

I used to have a LiveJournal but that thing was pretty shitty. I usually just updated it with some smorgasbord post every few months that was about as disjointed as the previous paragraph. I'm going to try to keep the posts here more topical and coherent so you don't stop visiting after two more posts like this one. I can't make any promises about frequency because I don't usually know my upcoming week's schedule until Friday morning. I'll try my best to be consistent.