Seeing A Human Skeleton in Marina City, Chicago

This past weekend I was in Chicago for Pitchfork Music Festival.  In order to save vacation days, I worked from my company’s Chicago office.  The office is in a building off of State St. and is on the 23rd floor so every window has an amazing view of downtown Chicago.  The desk I was working at gave me a 360 view and  I couldn’t help but stare at Marina City, with the negative space in between the two buildings reminding me of a spine.  I snapped a picture,

The Penis Army: My Sister’s Bachelorette Party

This past weekend we threw my sister Theresa her bachelorette party in Chicago.  Three occurrences made me appreciate the attitude of always finding a silver lining and relying on the kindness of strangers and how typically, people don’t change.

Take chances, make mistakes

I rip out images from the New York Times and stick them on my wall. You are looking at photography by Irving Penn, a painting by Kandinsky, & some Bento Boxes

“Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”

Ms. Frizzle circa Magic School Bus

I used to be a shy, afraid, overly methodical girl who was never outgoing and never took a risk.  It was because of a fear of what others may think or if I would be the one making other people uncomfortable.  I also used to be overly concerned with what other people thought of me and if I was making the best impression.

Forget that.

These past few years I have learned to take advantage of opportunities that come my way, to say “yes” instead of “no” more often.  While this may get me in trouble by never being able to say no, I have had a better life experience by saying “yes” more often. To relate to my current situation, I find myself overbooked with school, work, and outside activities while running around trying to find a job after graduation.  Yesterday I booked it after class into Manhattan for a job interview about a marketing assistant position and then proceeded to run back for Hofstra’s Association for Graphic Artists’ “Not All Artists Are Starving” networking event.  Friday I have an audition at MTV and all weekend I am picking up extra hours at LICM.  My next three months are already halfway booked in my planner and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

More often than not, I feel that self-doubt gets in the way more than lack of experience or knowledge.  Everyone is their own worst enemy in that your perspective on any given day could make or break you.  When you are at your best and most confident, you produce better work, writing gets easier, inspiration comes from everywhere.  When I am at my worst, all insecurities surface, from wondering if that guy really likes me as much as he says he does to whether my friends feel they can still count on me to worrying about if I will find a job after graduation.

It’s the acceptance that life is unpredictable, unplanned, and unfair that will change your life.  We have just this one life to experience, so it’s fine to try anything and everything,  making mistakes along the way.  I would not be where I am today if I decided I was too afraid to apply to WRHU or move to Chicago for the summer or apply for an internship or speak up in French Literature or tell some one how I really felt.  With all that experience and insight on life you will get by saying “yes, i want to take chances and make mistakes”, you will be able to relate to so many more people.  You are simply being an active, passionate individual who takes the initiative to take their life for what it’s worth – as precious time to gain and grow as much as possible.

How can that be true?

god i miss having a working camera.  i would have much more interesting posts if i could take pictures myself.  so much for leaving the charger back in de.

These are some thoughts I had while perusing through Craigslist personals a few days ago:

It drives me crazy when people dream up their perfect match, down to the details of looks and interests.  If you are searching for that perfect match that you had dreamed in your head, you are going to be missing out on so much.  It’s like searching for the perfect book/painting/dress/puppy (puppy? No maybe not) It is not fair create over the top expectations.  There is more joy in being open to whatever opportunity arises and discovering something that makes your eyes open wide, you gasp slightly, and think “this is it!”.  To be fair and for fear of appearing conceited, in the past I have met guys who appeared to fit the mold of my perfect/ultimate/dream man.  None were worth the effort in the end.

I hate seeing cute guys in the personal section of craigslist.

What would be the tagline for my craigslist personal?

• “Let’s build a music collection”

• “I want us to grow a library together”

• “It goes both ways – must bake cookies”

On my tumblr I posted a list of things to do when boredom/brokedom hits.  Despite the list, I have found some great finds in this great city of Chicago.  One of my favorite places by far is Myopic Books in Wicker Park.  3.5 stories of used books + one extremely friendly cat.  Their hours go until 1 am on weekdays – especially for me.  I tend to get lazy and take my time when going to places.  Two guys that work at the front counter are a sight for sore eyes as well.

I was having a terrible case of the Mondays yesterday.  I recently came into a little money so I decided to spend it well on some new/old books.  After roughly a half hour in Myopic, I found three strays that needed a good home.

The Flounder by Gunter Grass (renowned German contemporary fiction writer)
this was one of those finds where the title of the book was what first caught my eye.  it was obscure enough for me.  it’s about both culinary history and sexual history – i’ll let you know how it is.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
this is my “conforming” book.  Everyone seemed to have read this about three years ago.  I’m finally jumping on the trend.  I used to use the Facebook application where you list your favorite books and “friends” on the app will recommend other books.  Because I put Milan Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being, this was recommended.

A Year In the Life of Andy Warhol Photographs by David McCabe and Text by David Dalton
I do have a fascination with Andy Warhol, The Factory, Edie Sedgwick, and the whole period of the “POP” art scene.  I believe Warhol knew before anyone else about how celebrity, art, culture, and media will affect one another in the future.  Warhol is a case study of how one works to portray an image of how they want to be seen and percieved.  I sometimes wonder how Warhol would fair in today’s society, with social media, celebrity culture, and information overload at an all time high.  This book contains photos that Warhol commissioned from McCabe during the year of 1964.  Dalton “narrates” the photos and does a wonderful dissection of how Warhol’s mannerisms changed once he became regarded as an icon.

…I’ve got a game for you

Among my adventures during my “Kerouac Summer” in Chicago, I took advantage of the free admission week at The Art Institute of Chicago.  It was in celebration of the opening of their new Modern Wing.

I was amazed at the variety and vastness of their collection.  I snapped a few photos of my favorite paintings and now I would like to test your savvy art history education and name these paintings.  The winner that names the most paintings with artist correctly gets a custom made mixed CD from yours truly. Wherever you are in the world, I will mail it off to you.  Everyone loves a methodically planned mix, let alone the fact it’s a trophy to show how cultured you have become.  Your ancient grade school art teacher would have been impressed.  I want to clarify the fact that I am known for creating great mixes with custom/creative packaging.  Keep in mind my credentials as WRHU Airwave DJ and Producer as well as being acknowledged for having creative artistic talent.

You have one week from when this entry was posted to give your guesses.  You can do so by commenting on this entry.

Here goes: