Existance is a reproduction

Something to chew on.

In the introduction to edition of The I-Ching (or Book of Changes) I am currently involved in, Richard Wilheim (the author of the translation) states that '...every event in the visible world is the effect of an "image," that is, of an idea in the unseen world. Accordingly, everything that happens on earth is only a reproduction, as it were, of an event in a world beyond our sense perception.'

I read this on the train the other morning and haven't been able to get it out of my mind... Just thought I'd pass it along.

Art Extravaganza!

So - here is the internet premiere of my most recent piece of art. I like to refer to it as 'energy' although an official name hasn't been decided just yet.


I've already hung it on my wall next to my niece's painting...


For those of you who don't know, Sadie painted me a picture and gave it to me before I left for Chicago. I consider it a masterpiece and cherish it completely. I don't know if Sadie had a name for it, but I like to think of it as 'Paradise'. From the eyes and incredible talents of that amazing 5 year old, I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Anyway, today is art day on my blog. Enjoy!

Work and Play

Can't believe it's already been a week - Time sure does fly. This one will be a quick one, but more or less, an update. I wrote last week that I did end up getting a job at Zed451... yes, it didn't meet my expectations financially, but after a week of work, I can honestly say that this job is something I needed. Beside the fact that I feel really good about being there (let's be honest - trusting ones intuitions and feelings is probably the best thing anyone can ever do) - so that, in itself, has made working there that much better. Secondly, I think I got a little too caught up in the magical world of cakes while in Utah and got a bit rusty on my pastry skills - Nothing more humbling than being asked to make pate a choux, biscotti, marshmallows, and creme brulee base (all from scratch and all to be started and completed within a few hours) when I haven't done it for a few years. Good times. But I can say that I make a mean eclair now after a few days of practicing and getting it right. :)
So, I feel good about working. I like working - what is it that people say about idle hands? I don't remember - but I get bored very easily when I'm not occupying my time with work. Bless Scott's heart for having to entertain me for the past 3 weeks. :) Things are finally starting to pick up... we're getting into a routine now - this week especially since Scott is starting his school - doing tests and getting classes ready and me having a 40-hour work week. Since I need to have a little more flow coming in, I'm still looking for part-time work... something more simple and possibly retail... If you guys have any suggestions on where I should I apply, let me know. I'm up for anything. I'm thinking Crate and Barrel or Sur La Table... you know, somewhere that I can get a decent discount for items I need for my kitchen. :)
Anyway, tonight Scott had an orientation at school, which left me home alone for the first night since we moved here... which left me free to blast Ani Difranco, Jude and Janet Jackson from the stereo (some of my FAVORITE artists of all time that Scott can't stand) and I painted a picture.
A little background... I started this project in Salt Lake City about a week before we left. As I was packing things away, I found a folder with dozens and dozens of poems that I had written while I was on my LDS mission and the few months following. At the time, writing poetry was literally the only outlet I had, so most all of these poems were either horribly depressing or riddled with metaphors and symbolism for the sake of...well, being symbolic and metaphorical... but to the point that I can't even look at these poems with out getting a huge pit in my stomach and being instantly transported emotionally to the past. So... what did I do? I cut out a phrase or a word from each of the poems and pasted them to a blank canvas. I vowed to myself when I was feeling optimistic and artistic, I'd finish the project. Well, weeks later, here I was with a free night to myself and a canvas filled with past emotion. So... with my music blaring, I painted the entire canvas black and decided to do this painting with a chakra theme. So, I slit 7 lines in the canvas and painted each slit a color coordinating with each of the chakras. I will take a picture of this tomorrow and post it - I am actually quite proud of this.
Anyway, this didn't end up being short at all... See what happens when I get going?

Sunday Night Vent

It's Sunday night in Chicago - I can hear the neighbors through the wall laughing at their television, there is the sound of sirens in the distant and someone just took out their trash singing an unfamiliar tune to themselves... Perfect night for a blog.

There are a few things on my mind tonight. One of which is the fact that I found out earlier that I got the position at Zed451 as a pastry cook. While I was ecstatic to get the news, I was just as quickly crushed to know the pay for the position is substantially less than I expected (and need). Since this is the first position I've been offered after more than two weeks of being here, I took it with open arms - because let's be honest, something coming in is better than nothing coming in. But I've been kind of upset at the job scene in Chicago... Initially, I assumed there would be plenty of opportunity and that I'd come here and be swooped up by the fabulousness of the Chicago scene and fall into a great position and begin my career right away. But the reality of it is that I've been applying for jobs for months and since I've been here have been applying for just about everything that I am qualified for - with bare results. The job opportunities are there, but I'm just not getting them. It's frustrating.
And there are two things I would love more than anything. To start my career - not just have a job - and to be able to support Scott while he's in school. The later is due to the idea that he is in his graduate program and the last thing he needs to worry about is making ends meet with money - I would love to be able to have him work because he needs an outlet from school and home or because he wants a discount to a great store or something like that - not because he has to, to pay for bills or groceries. I really thought that I'd come to Chicago and those two things I want would just happen. But what I've been faced with is a lot of waiting and getting to know my apartment very well. Granted, it had been nice to simply be home with Scott and make 3 meals a day in our amazing kitchen - I just thought I'd already be involved in the beginning my career here and making my dreams reality. Maybe I just need to give it more time...

In other ideas that have been swimming around my mind, is the idea of my 'odd shelf'. One of Scott's best friends (and a very dear friend to me as well) Peter wrote a post a while back about an odd shelf - a collection of books in your personal library that don't just mesh with the other literary books on the shelf. But more further, it's your hidden interest that no one else really knows about you. After I read his blog a few months ago, the idea stuck with me and it wasn't until recently that I realized that my odd shelf is primarily centered around religious/spiritual/metaphysical studies. The other day, for instance, I got very involved online researching the missing years of Jesus Christ before his ministry account in the New Testament. There are accounts that say he traveled through India and Asia and studied with the great masters/teachers of those times before he started his ministry. I love researching things like that - so since I've come to refine (and reveal to you) what exactly my hidden interest is, I'm extending the idea along to you all to look at your life (and your bookshelf) to see what exactly is on your odd shelf and share it with someone.

I also wanted to share a link to Scott's blog for you all to check out our apartment in Chicago - odds are you have already seen it because most of you who read my blog, read his as well... but for the sake of reposting something he has already done so well, follow the link here.

Until next time...

Chicago

I'm back! (Well, not back as much as I'm here...) Odds are you've read Scott's blogs - but this is my (condensed) version of what has happened since Salt Lake City.

Scott and I woke up on July 25, finished packing odds and ends, then picked up the Penske truck (Wow. I can't believe it's been more than two weeks.) We had some help from one of his best friends Lisa and my sister's husband Kirk - and despite the fact there were only 4 of us, we were able to get everything packed in the truck in a little under 2 hours. One of my best friends Caitie came to see us off while she was on her lunch break - so there were some emotional good-byes and then Scott and I were set to go.

I drove the truck first - simply for the fact that I don't mind winding canyon roads and Scott gets a little freaked out... and it turned out to be quite a bit better than I expected. There wasn't a governor on the truck, so we were able to maintain a steady speed of 70-75. Scott had boughten a MP3 transmitter for the radio, so I was able to listen to all my music the entire time so time seemed to pass a lot quicker.

We only stopped a few times to rest and were able to make it to Scott's mom's in Des Moines by 1:00 the next day - Tired as hell, but excited to be there. The cats were less than thrilled to be out of the car. They were terrified when we first began in Salt Lake, but by the end of our trip, they had ventured out to walking outside of their kennel to check out their small surroundings in the car. But being at Collette's house was another story since she has a cat and ceiling fans - both of which we just found out, our cats are completely terrified of.

So we parked our Penske truck in her drive way and tried to relax over the next day and a half. Our plan from there was to road trip down to Chicago and get a hotel and spend Monday and Tuesday diligently looking for apartments. Luckily our roommate-to-be, Jessie Lyons, lives in West Des Moines near Scott's mom, so we were able to pick her up and have her involved in the whole process.

After a good 5 hour drive we arrived in Chicago - now... I'll spare dramatic details, especially because Scott has posted not one, but two blogs about this entire ordeal - but suffice to say, after two days and much drama, we were able to get a beautiful apartment in northern Chicago. (For the entire story, visit these links: Part One http://eveningchats.blogspot.com/2008/07/queens-queers-and-quandaries.html , Part Two: http://eveningchats.blogspot.com/2008/08/queens-queers-and-quandaries-part-deux.html - good stuff indeed)

We drove back up to Des Moines on Tuesday evening and we excited that we had that step taken care of. We were able to relax a lot more as a result and spent most of that time before we finalized the move to Chicago to catch up on sleep.

Scott and I started the final stage of the move on Friday, August 1 at 5:00 a.m. - after another lovely 5 hour drive, we arrived at our new place, got our keys to the apartment and loaded everything in the apartment. I was actually pretty impressed with us - it was only the two of us unloading the truck and we live on the second floor of the apartment building, so we had to climb up a flight of stairs each time... but we were able to get it done in about an hour and a half. Again, we were tired as hell, but since we needed to return the truck to Penske by a certain time, we choked back our tears and set out to get rid of the rental truck.

Now, I'm not sure if Scott blogged about this little experience, but we had nothing but great experiences with Penske right up until this point. But the address to the drop off location we were given, we soon realized, was directly across the street from Wrigley Stadium. And as luck would have it, the Cubs were playing a game that day. So hordes of fans and traffic added to the stress of driving a massive truck down narrow Chicago streets and after 3 failed attempts to make it into the parking lot of the Penske location, Scott called their company and asked for directions. It turns out the drop off location was somewhere else - they gave us the address and shady directions and we did our best to find it . I was driving the truck and actually found the location first - which was a large empty parking lot of a factory at the end of a narrow side street. There was no one there to give the keys to - in fact, no one was around at all - and if there hadn't been two other trucks there, I would've sworn it was a set up of some sort. The entire experience of simply dropping off the truck took about 2 hours - Needless to say, Scott and I were a little upset, but more so tired - so we went back home and unpacked briefly and took naps.

Scott's sister, Stacey, along with her husband, Isaac, and their little girl Eponine came down late Friday night to help us over the weekend to unpack our things and get everything set up. It was so great to have them here for those first few days... We were able to get quite a bit done and unpacked in those first few days as a result.

The big task at hand now is finding a job. Scott has a pretty promising situation with Gap on Michigan Ave. downtown, but as for me, I'm still waiting to hear back from positions I've applied to. There seems to be quite a bit of opportunity for me here - I'm just waiting now for it all to happen and fall into place...

It also didn't help that Scott and I didn't get the internet until this past Friday... so we had literally no connection to the outside world at all... But we're back.

All in all, Chicago has been beautiful - aside from a freak storm last week (The lightning was so intense that Scott and I were sure there was a strobe light outside) And we were able to meet new people last night at Chicago's Market Days on Halsted - which was, as Scott put it, a Pride festival, a gay bar and a county fair rolled into one. But I feel really good about being here... I feel that things are going to work out amazing for us both. Wish us luck!

P.S. As soon as I get the apartment straightened up, I'll be snapping some pictures and showing you all our new place...