Vindication!

Recently Sean has been making faces every time I switch the channel to PBS when Keeping Up Appearances is on. He has always made fun of me for being an Anglophile, but I truly love this show. It always reminds me of my best friend Katie, who introduced me to the lovely Mrs. Bucket (pronounced "Bouquet") back when we were young teenagers.

Well, an article has been released that makes the score Kay: 1, Sean: 0. Apparently Snoop Dogg LOVES Keeping Up Appearances! An article in The Sun quoted the man saying that the show still "makes [him] laugh so hard." HA! Win.

However, I don't believe that this argument will change Sean's opinion of the matter... *sigh*

Positive Thinking

So while this whole job-search thing is slowly killing me (and making me break out! gross!), there is ONE benefit: I am getting to know the city through its lovely public transportation system, both El, and more frequently, it's buses.

So here's a quick shout out of thanks to all the lines that have been taking me around the past 3 weeks:

156
151
146
145
77*
76**
70*
56**
50*
22
9**
8

Red Line
Brown Line

And I think on Wednesday I will be taking two new buses as well... so, yeah.
Thanks, Chicago Transit!

* I took all these just today (09/30/09) -- during rush hour... not so smart
** 10/02/09 -- again, at rush hour... *sigh*

Lakeview East Festival of the Arts

Today, Sean and I ventured out early-ish to peruse the local art festival:
Six blocks were closed for the event, which featured over 150 artists of all types of media. And what a perfect day! The sun is out, and not a cloud in the sky. From the look of the fair, it seems that red poppies are back in style. Pretty much every artist had a least one poppy-inspired work of art.

Along with the art were booths dedicated to granola bars (which Sean was upset that I would not get him free samples), sugar-free (and taste-free) natural soda, school programs, and fitness centers. We both entered a raffle for $200 off any featured artist's work (which is a decent amount)... so here's hoping! At the Chicago Athletic Club booth Sean spun their prize wheel and won a water bottle (which he was actually hoping for, so, score!). I was hesitant to spin (cuz I'm weird like that), but after Sean's encouragement I spun it and received the prize of $0 enrollment to the Lakeview Athletic Club, which I was secretly hoping to eventually join because of their tennis lessons. So everyone was a winner today!

I also had some great conversations with a couple artists -- we chatted about where they worked, what inspired them, etc... There are some pretty cool people in Chicago.

Below are some of my favorite artists that were showing. The festival runs until 5pm on Broadway in Lakeview/Lincoln Park with live music and food all day! You should go!


Dolan Geiman, who I fell in love with
at the Renegade Craft Fair two weeks ago



Thomas Yano, who won Best in Show this year for 3D Art.
He needs a website -- he has all sorts of goodies to share!



J. Loren Reedy, a classy gentleman who does a lot of 'scapes of Chicago
(this is not one of them)



Pottery Boys (Glenn Woods & Keith Herbrand), this photo doesn't do their pottery justice -- they create their own crystals (those blue spots) by creating the right amount of heat while molding their pottery. Incredible.



Justin D. Miller, this kid's surrealist work is amazing.
In general all his work is good. I think he's got quite the future.



Raku Gold Pottery (Shawn & Jim Barbagallo), they had beautiful work that filled a large tent.

The really cool thing about these guys is that Jim actually had his wheel with him, so he was making a vase during the festival. He had a constant audience of curious children :)
Their website is currently under construction, but this is address for it once it's finished:
http://rakugoldpottery.com/

These 5 are by Jason Brammer,
part of his "American Time Machine, Revisited" installation...



This guy's work is amazing. Everything on the canvas is painted, but he attaches old rods, PVC pipes, knobs, pulleys, handles, and knick knacks on the sides to create a full piece of art. Innovative; renewable. I love it!

He is definitely one to watch.











I wish I was an artist :)

Lincoln Park Zoo

One of the best things about Chicago so far: Their zoo is FREE!!!

I went this afternoon with Sean, Caitlin, Sam, and Bob.

The zoo is absolutely beautiful -- I wasn't sure what to expect since there's no entrance fee -- but it's full of modern architecture, clean and paved pathways that lead around patches of natural woods, man-made ponds with all sort of birds a-flockin', and pavilions and stages.

We started with the Children's zoo because Caitlin was sad that every time she visits that area the wolves are never out. Well, go figure, there was one asleep smack in the middle of their padlocks. The brown bear was also quite active in that section. There's an activity center for the kiddies as well -- and we stood for a good 10 solid minutes watching the beavers swim around:

It's so crazy that animals like these beavers, platypus-es (platypi?), etc... exist. It's like 4 animals combined or something... These two were so adorable! -- spinning around, practically putting on a show. Sam made the joke of "Where's Aslan?"


We headed out of the Children's section to the Seal Pond for the zoo's afternoon training session. We stood along the railing as the zookeeps in their galoshes walked around with a Q-tip looking tool. It was actually quite the handy utensil -- the seal followed it and touched its nose to the end to be rewarded with a bucket-full of fishies. It was hard to follow where the seal was going -- they really do blend in, even in a pool. And they were so FAST. *sigh* it was adorable. I want one as a pet.

Then we started to make our way around the winding paths through the African section, Big Cats, Small Mammals and Reptiles, Birds, and the Ape House. The animals were surprisingly active. Usually when you visit zoos, the animals are either sleeping or are inside where you can't see them. But today (beside the lions) everyone was out and about, making some sort of an appearance or show. The polar bear was out for a joy swim, the tiger was bouncing playfully from side to side of his pen because a flock of birds had his attention (the tiger came right up to us -- 1 inch of glass away from us! it was incredible!), and the daddy silverback gorilla was playing with the baby gorilla -- tossing him around, chasing, rolling. It was a great day for animal watching :) Even as we were heading out to leave, the male lion decided to stand on his big rock and roar for the whole zoo to hear. Then he proceeded to go back to sleep.

Below are the rest of the pictures before my batteries died:
African Wild Dogs

Giraffes! (unfortunately I couldn't feed them here like at the Jacksonville Zoo)
The saddest monkey ever...

Meercats!!
And of course, the polar bear <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcQyrDt4NPhBD4e3cRzwEebjUIstSNRX6selXPFFszxFMla2QWW3ydRK_Alybhv8QgjYKwx4dQ2ANe5rq4IQHqSPxGK9euvI5FdkvURxFiGaaJFZ4xuBIWDPXyL4wFCMGMcwevnnAU1w/s1600-h/DSCN1504.JPG">


I can't wait to see Bob and Caitlin's photos -- they're the real photographers :)

Real Life in the Second City

So now that I'm out of the blessed state of college... I figure I should document it all.

Technically I graduated January 19th, but I didn't move away from my college town of Boston until August 30th. January-April was a taste of real life. I was supposed to have continued working at the Tsai Performance Center as an outside contractor, but because of the crash of the economy, BU couldn't afford to hire anyone that wasn't a student for student jobs. So I spent those 4 months dirt dirt dirt dirt poor looking for a real job... then any job that would pay me. It didn't help that I lived with 2 rich girls. They were off at class, eating at the GSU (student union), going out, or whatever. I spent my days walking or busing over to Harvard or MIT doing as many psychology or consumer studies as possible, usually at $10 a pop. Still, they were good times. I still did Theater for Everyone at BU, I still went to $1 draft night with my roomies, I watched a lot of ABDC with Paul :) , and I still had Sean over in Belmont, which helped a lot.

Then FINALLY in April, Tealuxe called me back! Because of my catering experience they said they would train me as a teatender (barista) and then as a server! That job ended up being my lifesaver. I made decent money as a teatender because of all the hours, but I made great money as a server. Summer at Tealuxe meant the patio was open, and all Newbury shoppers love to be seen, so we had a lot of foot traffic. (Despite June being the crappiest month of summer that I can ever remember). So summer ended up being great (jobs have a way of doing that for me).

But even so, after much debate I decided to move to Chicago with Sean. He wanted to move here because of the comedy scene. I didn't want to move here just for a boy, because that's so cliche... but that's what I ended up doing anyway. Ah well... Although, The Chicago School has a decent graduate program, and best of all the Chicago Botanic Gardens has a therapy program that I really really really really really want to intern for starting in the spring. They didn't accept me last summer, but I'm hoping by visiting a couple times, even volunteering if they'll let me, that I might have a better chance of getting the internship, especially since my address is of Chicago, and not Boston. So I have those two things that I will hopefully/eventually do.

However, it's only September.

So I've started looking for a serving job in Chicago. However, my only experience as a server in an actual restaurant is at Tealuxe which didn't serve alcohol, and no one has heard of it in Chicago. And my only alcohol experience has been in catering. So I'm already at a huge disadvantage. Also, there are thousands of people looking for the same job. I've been to over 30 restaurants already, and each time I go there's already 5 people filling out applications, and when I leave there's at least 2 new people. And then at the open applications -- where restaurants have set hours to have everyone come all at once and then they interview on the spot -- there have been 50 people (at least), all my age, all with my experience, or better. Shit.

And what sucks is that I know that I'm a better worker than 90% of those people. I'm serious. I don't screw around; I don't chitchat when I have customers to take care of; I work well with other; I don't cut corners; I'm constantly moving; I always try to help out other servers or coworkers if I have any down time; I'm thorough; I don't clock in until I'm dressed, prepped and ready to go; I'm honest; I'm friendly; I'm great with people and usually remember everything everyone ordered (usually); I get food service -- a lot of people work in food, but they don't know how to work well in it, even though people still continue to hire them (they're the servers or bartenders that suck).

*sigh*

It would be so much easier if people just knew me. I mean, I'm Kay Knight!

And what's worse is that I applied to a theater and I immediately got an offer to participate in an internship. What's "worse" about it is that it's unpaid. Lame. But I think I'm going to do it, even though I need money. They sound pretty flexible, so even if I do get a restaurant job (::knock on wood:: PLEASE GOD!), I think they will be able to schedule my hours around it... We'll see. Maybe with this internship I can forget food service all together and get a real job doing theater! That'd be kick. ass.

So this week is just another week of pounding the pavement, going from restaurant to bar to cafe, looking for anyone to pay me. And I'll probably get back to the theater this week about interning.

Yay for real life in the Second City!