this is my blog

the move went well. actually, it was the best move i’ve ever experienced. my friend michael offered to move me up after i was getting moving quotes for over $1100. (I was not able to get my drivers license renewed in time to rent a uhaul truck. in indiana, if you have an expired out-of-state license, you have to have a learners permit for 60 days before you can get your actual.)

a few days before the move, i was calling uhaul to confirm my moving date and equipment, a small truck and a trailer to pull michael’s car. uhaul informed me that even though the website allowed me this equipment to be reserved, there was no tow equipment within a two hours drive. after a brief panic attack and some phone calls my friend bill offered his suburu for the move. it already had a hitch and he had towed many a uhaul trailer with it. so that was our new plan: michael and bill would trade cars and i would make all of my belongings fit into a mid-size uhaul trailer.

after a day and a half of intricate packing (with the help of my friends balu and jeff), michael and i pulled out of bloomington in the early evening of friday august 1st. we had both been awake and working since about 7 am, he at his job and me cleaning and packing. we got done unpacking the trailer at about 2:30 am. moving is known to bring out the worst in people and i thought our exhaustion, a long a day at the end of a long, hard week (i had already lost my voice and was on about 4 hours of sleep), would make us ripe for some squabbling. i also felt vulnerable because not only was i taking a big leap in life but i was very humbled by his generosity. it is not easy for me to accept help unless i know i can reciprocate. well, i could not have been more wrong about the move. michael handled it all, including a smashed toe, with so much grace. the last load of stuff up to the apartment was a juggling act because it was odds and ends but michael vowed it was the last trip. after getting this hodgepodge of goods to my apartment and setting it down, he grabs my teapot and its lid from the pile, goes into the kitchen and places it on the stove. 

he is a great friend and has been an invaluable support for me before, during, and since the move. he spent a good portion of his life living in and around chicago. his love of this city rivals my love of texas.

i live in a cool neighborhood that is close to wrigley field and the lake. i think i did pretty good finding my first apartment. no hitches yet. i am also really close to several significant public transportation options and bike routes. i am already head over heels in love with this city. i can visualize living here for a really long time.

i have been living in chicago for about a month. i have been on the job market since march, and i was getting no love from anyone, anywhere. i started leaning towards moving back home to austin and concentrating my job search there. i started to get some attention and was pleased. something still did not sit right in my guts and i was not sure why. austin has everything i want in a city except good public transportation. everyone around me and back home assumed i would move back.

since last christmas i have had the inch to get up to chicago. it didn’t work out largely because there is no direct route from bloomington to chicago that does not involve a car. i tried to get up there again over spring break to interview a photographer i was writing a paper about but it did not work. i figured before i move back home i definitely needed to get to chi-town. it was at this point i started entertaining the idea of living here.

i have had a crush on this city for as long as i can remember. my grandfather was born here so i used to hear stories about chicago when i was growing up. i have had extended visits to chicago throughout my life and have always had a great time. there is a palpable energy i feel here. during my visit this summer it hit me that i should ditch the idea of moving to austin, and move to chicago. this was a shocking notion to me and everyone around me because i am a very prideful texan. being raised without my genetic family, texan is the only identity that i feel flowing through my veins and it is the only undeniable heritage i have. when i finally got the guts to say that i was moving to chicago, whether or not i had a job there, i felt like i was turning my back on who i am. i knew in my guts that i needed something new in my life. austin would have been fantastic but every single person i know there is married and almost all of them have kids. it’s not that i disapprove of any of this activity i am just not in that place in life right now and may likely never be.

so…here i am in chicago awaiting new adventures.