image the last time you and your significant other ate dinner with another couple... it was probably someone you knew, at least one of them, pretty well. you might have known their job or their home or their children or siblings. maybe you were related to them. maybe you disliked them but stuck it out for your significan other's sake.

tonight, scott and i ate dinner with two total strangers.

after i got done working a 7 hour shift at starbucks, i went down to the loop to meet scott. we were going to the berghoff to have a drink. i told scott that i wanted to take him out to dinner, but wasn't sure if i wanted to go the berghoff. he said we'd see how busy it was and we could always bail.

we walked down and stood in line. it was out the door, but not down the block, which was reassuring, considering it was the second to last day it was going to be open. i was talking about the world's exposition of 1893 (blah blah blah) and scott asked if that was when the otis elevator break was shown. a man in front of us heard us talking and said yes, that was true. this started a conversation that wound around architecture, history, the berghoff, suburbs, and round and round. he was older, with an intermitent hacking cough. he was waiting for his wife, who was to join him for dinner. i remember him asking if we lived in the city. i replied yes, and that i should have visited thie berghoff when i had the chance in the last 6 years (not that i didn't have them, either).

his name was paul. and his wife, who joined us shortly before going in, was carol. once we got inside, we chatted a little more. the hostess came by and asked if anyone had a party of 3 or 4. then paul said, "i'm not sure what you had in mind, but i was thinking that we might increase our chances of getting seated if we ate together." sure! we said.

so we had dinner on the second to last night at the berghoff with people that we barely knew. and it was totally cool.

how often do things like that present themselves? how often do you strike up conversation with someone and learn about them? i had just been telling scott that i'm meeting people i would have never known by working at starbucks. they encourage you to get to know the customers. and here we put into practice and we met two really cool people. and we may never hear or see them again. but for one night, we were two couples enjoying chicago food and history.

thoughts on blogger

now that i'm out of work, i don't have nearly enough time as i used to to surf the web. i had all of my favorite blogs bookmarked and i checked them often, sometimes twice a day. now that all of my free time is spent looking for a job or working on freelance gigs, i haven't been able to lurk as much. tonight i had some time to massage the "next blog" button. let me give you brief listing of what i found:

1. some "blog" for ringtones.
2. spanish
3. yo, dude! check out my blog! i just put it up today! s all over the place.
4. ANOTHER blog for ringtones.
5. a radio station blog.
6. an actual personal blog called "noah the stud."
7. another newly birthed blog. creatively named "ron's blog."

is this truly random? are they just trying to get those new blogs some hits? is there some way i can NOT see blogs that are in a language other than english? and what's up with these spam blogs? is anything sacred? i guess no open forum is going to be free of shysters and assholes looking for a buck.

now if you'll excuse me, i have to go read about spanish ringtones, dude.

word to the wise

don't work at starbucks when you have PMS. enough said.

i knew it would happen

there's this building on the southwest corner of fullerton and racine that i don't think has never been occupied in the 6 years that i've lived here. it's called the Rubens Baby Factory. instead of selling it and turning it into a loft, which was my dream everytime i walked past it, they're tearing it down. i knew they were doing something when they put up scaffolding. i was womdering what they were going to do when they starting putting up that glass monstrosity next to it. i told my sister, "we have to get into that building before something happens to it." but i never did. i never even took a picture of it when i had the chance, and i even worked across the street from it for 6 months. i always thought it would be there. now they're tearing it down and they're going to put a parking lot in its space. ah, a beautiful parking lot. thank god.

when i noticed it was coming down, i knew i had to get some picture of it by any means necessary. after work on tuesday, about 9:30pm, i took my camera and got in through an open fence. some people consider this to be trespassing, and boy howdy, it is. and while i was wearing my bright red jacket, i thought i looked like a snooping target. from parts of the building i was visible to the road, but no one was looking. i took about 80 pictures.

i wish i could have gotten in when it was still in tact. i'm the type of person who thinks, "i should really call that friend i haven't spoken to in years. i really should. i'll do it tomorrow." and tomorrow turns into more years and when i go to call, i find out they're dead. yes, this sounds harsh, but it's actually happened. it's the same way with these buildings. you thinkt they'll be there forever, but the wrecking balls of chicago know no sleep. it's tiring having to keep on top of it, but no one will remember these brick friends of ours if someone doesn't go out and capture their beauty when they're still standing. i think it's worth the risk.

what's it gonna take?

my life is full of maybes and sort ofs. i just want someone to hire me so i can tell starbucks my real availability. i know that for some people, working for agencies has been a godsend. but i find it annoying that MAYBE a company would like to have me work for them IF they can interview me. well, when the hell do you think that will happen? tomorrow? next week? what's the fucking point of agencies if they have to interview me and then the company i MIGHT be working for has to interview me? and then, for some reason, i never hear back from the agencies to set up interviews for these supposed companies. i must really suck. that's the only thing i can take away from all of this.

but what it really boils down to is no one can really know anyone from a resume or cover letter. or by a listing of what software a person knows. i meet these people in these agencies and they love me. but that doesn't mean shit. they aren't the one who's really ponying up the dough. but this is as good as i can do. maybe that's what pisses me off so much.

milwaukee

we drove up to milwaukee sunday night. scott had a gig with cains and abels. it was at the bremen cafe, which was a pretty cool little cafe with some ventilation problems. i left there at 11:30 smelling like smoke and panini sandwiches. but it was a good time. and scott got paid! woo-hoo! i seem to forget that milwaukee is only an hour and half away. we got home by 1am. which, for me, wasn't a big deal since i had to get up 9am. but scott had to work on monday at 8am. ugh. but we made it home in one piece. you can view the images from the night here.

organization and kitties

i helped my sister organize her studio apartment yesterday. i think she thought it was just going to be a "let's see how much stuff we can cram under the bed" kind of session (the answer to that, by the way, is absolutely nothing). so we went around the room, throwing away what we could and figuring out where stuff could go. it was exhausting. when i left at 9:45, it looked different, but not much better. we made a run to target to purchase a ton of plastic storage thingies (which we underestimated) and then came back and put those plastic thingies into action. i left, drove home, crawled into bed and passed out.

the whole reason we put so much effort into this seemingly never-ending job is this:


yes, folks, that's a cat. and no, she didn't come with the wire basket. scott recorded his adventure on his blog. this kitty was sooooo cute, we couldn't bear to think about taking her to a shelter. she was calm, well behaved, litterbox trained. she looks like she's younger than a year but not quite a kitten. scott was trying to think onto whom we could pawn her when a light bulb went off above my head. MY SISTER!! heh. so she went to meet the kitty and fell head over heels in love. but she was hard-pressed to find a decent place for the litter box (now that i think about it, we didn't even come up with a good alternative). anyway, the kitty helped by sleeping int he middle of the floor and playing with her food and getting it all over the kitchen floor.

she's sleeping in the middle of the floor. we had to step around her. she knew how to fit in and be as inconvenient as possible. it was astonshing.

so the adorableness of our circle of friends has increased significantly. welcome, kitty. as soon as you have a name, we'll break out the catnip to celebrate.

valentine's day

you didn't really think i'd let the schmaltziest day in the universe creep up without bagging on it, did you?

i hate valentine's day. oh, sure, i loved it when i was a kid. you got to cut out paper hearts in pink and red and decorate those bags for your classmates to put in their required valentine's day cards. sometimes you got candy. but as an adult, i'm against any holiday that makes the man feel like he has to one-up christmas. for some women, this holiday signifies how much their man loves them. men who have women like this should leave them immediately, of course. but they won't. they like to prove their love with a costly bauble. it gives them the right to sit around for the rest of the year, watching whatever sport is in season and have the wife or girlfriend pick up after them. "why don't you do the dishes, honey," she asks. "remember that 3 carat diamond necklace i bought you for that ridiculous holiday called valentine's?" he replies. she slinks away to get the dish rack, fingering the car payment's worth of rocks hanging around her neck.

i just don't get it.

i agree with dan savage's take on valentine's day:

"I get letters every year from women who think Valentine's Day is an empty exercise, but are ironically pretty exercised when their boyfriends neglect or forget it. There's this movement to form a day called Steak And A Blowjob Day, which would be the male version of Valentine's Day, where women would come through with a steak and a blowjob in return for the chocolate and flowers that guys come through with, and I support that holiday."

don't expect me to swoon with joy over the crappy construction hearts hanging around the subway restaurant by my house, or at any other establishments, this holiday. they'll only make me happy if they happen to run out of toilet paper.

a word to the women in the world

please assert yourself. i am watching the news and seeing this stuff about a murdered wife and baby by the supposed hands of the husband/father. they think it might be because they had a lot of debt, but the wife didn't know anything about it.

please, for the love of god, become involved in your life. i know it's nice to sit back and let the man balance the check book and pay the bills. if you stay at home to take care of kids, you might feel that you don't have a say in the family spending habits, but you are part of the family. you deserve to know what is going on. read your bank statements. get copies of your credit reports. see what your name is on, as in credit cards, car loans, bank statements.

please do not take a passive role in your life. stand up and be heard. it's so important to your future, and possibly your life.

and now let me bitch about what the hell is wrong with men these days? why are they killing their wives and babies? what is so hard about life and debt and kids that makes these guys turn to murder instead of counseling? or even divorce? it's such a terrible waste.

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things that i've learned from TV

this is what TV is teaching me:

1. lysol thinks that the toilet needs to be surgically disinfected.
2. lysol thinks that kids play in the toilet. regularly.
3. people must lick or play with toilet wands, as they have to be flushed away to oblivion once you use it. you can't even leave it in the trash can! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING LEAVING IT OUT IN THE OPEN? WHERE A CHILD COULD PUT IT IN HIS MOUTH??? here comes DCFS, thank god.

enough with the bathroom... here's more of what TV has taught me:

4. disinfectant companies cannot display a products use without explaining that the life of a child is at stake if you fail to use this product.
5. it's the same with car companies. YOU WILL BE CONSIDERED A TERRIBLE PARENT IF YOU DON'T BUY THIS MINI-VAN WITH STOW-AND-GO SEATS!! YOU HEATHEN!
6. only women care about the well-being of a child.
7. only women can clean or vacuum.
8. only women want to lose weight.
9. people cannot possibly meet people without the help of a third party. if you've met your significant other by means other than the internet, you're just living a lie.

ok, yes, i've been watching a lot of crappy tv. but let's face it... the only people who are home during the day are women breeders or unemployed losers. and i will admit this one thing: i would feel less useless sitting around if i had some spawn to take care of.

the ironing is delicious

so i am jobless. that's already been stated. and i am having a hard time deciding between corporate hell life or freelancing/part-time job hell life (insert rant about how money is a godless whore she-devil here). i have one client i am currently working with, which is cool. i would like to increase that to, oh, i don't know... two? three? enough so i don't have to eat ramen every night. and scott foresman didn't want me, so that corporate paycheck is fading into the sunset. i am hoping my decision will be made for me. what ever happens first is what i am going to go with. and the coffee shop hasn't been shitcanned yet. i met with annette yesterday to talk about logistics. the hard part is going to be getting the space for cheap enough.

anyway, onto the irony. in an attempt to be able to fund my freelance dream, i have been applying for part time jobs. i grabbed some applications from *gulp* starbucks. i filled them out and delivered one each to the three in my neighborhood. i did this today at 2:30pm. when i got home at 3pm, i had a message on my answering machine from ryan, the guy at the first starbucks i had dropped an app at. yeah, less than a half and hour later. so i went back at 5pm for an interview. and it went pretty well. and i got a free tall skim gingerbread latte with whip. for free.

and i found out that the name of starbucks was taken from moby dick. hence the mermaid logo. another one of life's questions answered.

so, i'm going to be honing my customer service skills and setting up coffee tasting sessions. but, if anyone asks, i'm planning on taking down starbucks from the inside. now who wants a venti skim half caf pumpkin spice latte with light whip?

i have lost all faith in marriage

my heart was broken by the break up of jen and brad (and angelina can choke on her adoption papers and pregnancy tests), but i think i've found a new kind of sadness.

heather locklear and richie sambora are calling it quits after 11 years.

ok, i was really depressed after valerie bertinelli and eddie van halen threw in the towel, but i'd always thought that heather and richie had that "something special." how is this going to affect Bon Jovi??? WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF JON???

now if you'll excuse me, i'm going to go eat a pint of ben & jerry's.

thoughts, continued

10. even the porn industry needs designers.

11. jewel is suprisingly busy for a wednesday afternoon, but dominick's is practically empty.

12. eating a whole bowl of raw brownie batter makes for a long night.

13. it's really easy to forget to brush one's teeth when one sleeps until 10am and then moves from the bed to the couch. showering becomes low on the list of things to do, as well.

14. i feel like i'm in college, without the roommates hanging around. but i have yet to resort to eating ramen.