Fear

     They say all we have to fear is fear itself.
     But thats a lie, there's clowns, and needles, and heights, and one of my personal biggies, roller coasters. Lots of people like them, heck people pay lots of money to go on them when they are usually just 60 seconds of sheer terror. I have always found them horrifying, even as a small child I didn't even like the little roller coaster on out local FairyTale Town.
     For me though it was never the actual height or the speed of them, it was feeling I got when I went on them.
     Some people are adrenaline junkies, they crave that rush, the pressure in your chest as adrenaline floods your blood stream, and the euphoric lightness of being as your limbs become tingly as the euphoria melts away, that feeling; that some say is the closest they've ever felt to god, I've always hated it. It creeps me out, I feel as though I am having a heart attack, or dying or some other even more horrid inconceivable thing is happening. To me that feeling is the worst thing in the world.

Midnight Train

     As the summer turns to shorter days and longer sunsets, I begin to miss the nine o'clock sunsets and the allure of  summer, the outfits, the possibilities, the heat. But as the start of another school year looms closer, so does the re-emeergence of my school friends. One of my friends from New York came back this week and me and another mutual friend immediately took advantage of his return and whisked off to out favorite haunt, White Palace. A favorite diner of ours that is conveniently open 24 hours. It is always there for us at 2 am when we need a break from painting, or sewing, or weaving, or when we need food and there is nowhere else to go. I have been there so many times that I don't even need to look at the menu, its not like I can just tell the waitress, "I'll just have the usual."(I've always wanted to have a "usual"), but I almost always order the Midnight Train (a belgian waffle fries and chicken strips) and a strawberry shake. It is golden carbo-load deliciousness and I love it.
     We took his shiny white cadillac down to White Palace, and I realized I hadn't been in a car since spring break (thats like a bit more than two months). Even then I was only in a car from from the train station to a friends house. I haven't driven myself in almost a year when I got my license. I am not a big fan of driving, I prefer public transport whenever possible, and when you are driving its so much harder to absorb the scenery.

 Anyway I'll write more about our cadillac adventures later... once I've recovered from one.

Alone

     I like being alone. I like the peace and the quiet and the ability to think about whatever tickles my fancy with out hearing some one else's voice buzzing in my ear.     That being said its not like I'm one of those sad loner people who has no human friends and 13 cats. I just don't mind the calmness of being alone. I like not having to be considerate about other peoples opinions and feelings, I am a bit of a control freak, and not hearing about peoples relationship issues is always a plus. Trust me listening to someone squawk on for 30 min plus about weather or not he or she likes you and how every insignificant move they make could be symbolic of their true feelings, I have a solution to this problem and its called asking them.
     This is why I like sitting in Starbucks for hours reading a book, or wandering around AIC with my headphones on looking at Picasso, Liechtenstein, and Rauschenberg. Its not because I want all the boys to "holla" at me or because I'm a sad girl who wants to eat her feelings, I just like the peace and quiet, and the stress lifted off my shoulders as soon as leave Jones Hall.
     I am an RA for the summer at my college which would be tons-o-fun, but during the summer my building isn't full of college students, its full of high school students. So things can be a bit stressful and highschooley...
     I deal with kids who are constantly worried about their reputation, appearance, and the opposite sex. So lets just say life here is never boring even if we wanted it that way. This plus living in a city makes being alone like the search for the fountain of youth, the northwest passage, the lost ark. Searching for silence, and solitude in Chicago can make you feel a little like Indiana Jones. So lets just say I've had to re write the definition for such words. 
     On my time off I like to just be. Its never silent, even with noise canceling headphones, and I am rarely truly alone, but if I spend too much time here I get a serious case of cabin fever.
     Its not that I don't have friends. Its just the ones that I miss the most, the ones that truly matter, aren't here, and I don't feel like replacing my fleet of porsche's with pintos.

The List

     I love writing lists. Lists for my favorite songs, favorite designers and artists, favorite webs cites, inspiring people, even grocery and chore lists are fun. When you write something down be it a list, a story or a thought. its a commitment. A commitment made between you, and your pen and paper, (or in this case between me, my laptop and the internet...) writing forces you to acknowledge your thoughts, even if you never show what you've written to anyone you know it's there. But when it comes to lists I just like being able to acknowledge accomplishments and keep track of things that make me happy and appreciate what I have.
     One day while watching late night TV I saw a show called The Buried Life, it was on MTV so I was expecting trash, but it made me cry.  It is a show that asks a simple question:
      What do you want to do before you die?
Basically these kids hopped in a bus to travel North America and cross things off their list of things they wanted to do before they die, but for everything they cross off on their list they help someone cross something off of theirs. What resulted was a show full of people doing things they never thought they could do on their own, they have helped people reunite with relatives, conquer their worst fears, and even won thousands of dollars at roulette (which was donated to charity) for me it's one of those weird shows I cant watch with other people because it always makes me cry, I cry because im happy that these people are making other people happy and for some reason people being unusually kind to strangers always makes me cry.
      Anyway, since I was a little kid i've always had this list of things I wanted to do before I die, I wrote it down in a notebook in middle school as a nagging motivator to make something of my life and actually do them. I've done a few of them, go to college, go to Paris, go skinny dipping, but I know if I just bury my notebook in my piles of stuff one of these days I'll forget about it and not find it till im old enough to regret not doing the things on my list so I'll just leave it here (theres always a link to it at the header) so I can be reminded of my future adventures ( and my past ones) every time I log on.

the Weather

     When I decided to move to Chicago for college people told me the weather was going to be awful. Being from Northern California where its freakish if it's below 35 in the winter, but not uncommon for it to be above 100 in the summer, I got used to the idea. However it didn't even snow here this winter. Well it did, but it didn't stick and it was certainly no "Snowpocalypse"like the year before, it was just uber cold and windy. I had prepared for the worst, down jacket, snow shoes, costco packs of coco, tons of cute winter accessories, but it was never that bad. In winter Chicogans rock the Michelin man look with down jackets and puffy layers.  Even native Chicogans in winter remind me of the Lumpies in The Secrets of Droon books I read as a child. All puffy and pillow-like  they could lay in the street and use their massive jackets as sleeping bags and nap rather than face the frigid lake winds. I certainly wasn't used to the cold winter I experienced here, I never had a "mental health day" but I never had to trudge through snow.

Chicagoans look like Lumpies
in their winter wear

     The summer here is completely different. Its actually not that hot. Only upper 80's low 90's, but the humidity is what makes summer disgusting. If it were like this in Cali I know I would see wayy more girls walking around Raley's in bikinis and the micro short would be worn by everyone. But the midwest has a whole new fashion compared to California when it comes to summer. First off short shorts. In Cali it's the norm, they are so common there is no need for repetition, they are just shorts. Here in Chicago most women and ladies shorts reach to mid thigh, where as my shorts from home just cover what on most people would be my ass (but I am assless). Secondly lots of women wear huge sun hats, although common on the beach scene, wearing them while walking around Chicago forces people to give the hat wearer a very wide girth as if she was inside a bubble. Quite impractical for a crowded city. When the wind blows from the lake creating stroung gusts that blow through the canyon like streets these ladies look like blushing nude sculptures as they hold their dresses down and their hats on. Thirdly, people are wearing a lot of really long and over sized stuff, long jersey cotton maxi dresses, big parachute- like pants, oversize tees and mens shorts. Sure these are all the fashion these days, but when it comes down to it weather should be the deciding factor when it comes to fashion. Sure these people look cool and they got swagger, but it it really worth it to be uncomfortable all day? The humidity makes even the coolest cotton shirt stick to one's skin like temporary tattoos, so why make the problem worse. I admit it though, as a fashion student there are some occasions when I suffer to be beautiful. However I have learned that in such cases I just end up complaining the whole time. I personally detest and utterly despise complainers so I have learned to sacrifice fashion for comfort in certain situations, as to not be a hippocrite.
    Chicogans I say do, it adopt the Cali staple, wear the short shorts, and the bikini tops, if you can. The maxi dresses and oversize clothes are not functional in such a humid climate. You will be much happier in this sticky summer rockin' shotie shorts and showin some skin, I know I am.