March 20, 2010

Phew. These last few weeks have been really fascinating. Yesterday, the temperature was 65 degrees and sunny. However, it has not stopped sleeting/snowing all day today. After this week, I vow to never cater to the wealthy folks of the Gold Coast ever again. Working in the service industry is becoming a much more common career path for people than ever before. It used to be that you could get a good union job on the assembly line, work for 40 years and then live comfortably off your pension when you retire. I have been helping out a friend and decided to take his job walking dogs for a couple of weeks while he is gone. Walking Gold Coast dogs is definitely not a chore for the timid. The people who live in these high rises hire somebody to do nearly everything for them - house cleaning, laundry, dog walking, wiping their asses and it's really quite pitiful I think. After being bit by one of the dogs, I was supposed to meet with the owner the next day to talk about a way to remedy the dog's aggression. When I showed up at the proper time, she was on a "conference call" and was unable to chat. So I came back an hour later, and she was no where to be found. Well apparently the dog walker's well being is pretty low ranking in the daily happenings. Then I get chewed out by the manager of the dog walking company for not answering my phone when she called. A pretty healthy amount of shit for little reimbursement as far as I see it.

However, everything will be different in a couple of weeks. I have accepted a job in the Washington DC area and will be moving down there very very soon. After applying for dozens of jobs in Chicago, having several bizarre interviews, and a long list of let downs, I realized that it's high time for me to skip out of town and try something new. Then, low and behold, I apply for a job in DC and get it almost immediately. And it's going to be a really fun job - go figure. There's been a lot of unnecessary drama in this house in the last couple of months, and a lot of side-taking and shit talking. So basically, I'm ready to just walk away from the situation. Again, it's too much effort for so little in return. I'm really getting to the point where I am just focusing on myself and what I need to do to be happier. I also vow to never live with art students and pretentious hipsters again. It's not worth it no matter how you look at it.

My two day visit to DC was of epic proportions. So we'll see how the rest of the year pans out.

I've never been so ready to walk away from a place that I've referred to as my home like this. There's not going to be a big party, or a major announcement. I'm just going to pack my bags and take the train to DC. And it's going to be that simple.

February 28 2010 - Day four of a new anxiety

What would my book of revelations look like? Well, like everyone else, I look towards my dreams for inspiration. But what happens to one's aspirations when their dreams have been invaded by ghosts? Old spirits coming in and out of your world everyday. The phantoms that haunt you during the day persist, and continue through the night. I've had a revelation tonight. I also had one last night. The images in your mind while you're asleep at night are truly the most frightening things you will ever see. Because these visions are real, and really yours.

So what happens when you can't sleep, and you put the TV on? Space out. Oh, a science fiction soap opera. I hear the floor creaking with every step.

step. step. step. no peace. no peace. no peace.
no quiet. no peace. no quiet.

People will certainly treat you like a stranger, and then ask you to not be one. People also love irony, attempts at being clever, petty altercations, and half assed attempts of self education. See, I think the scene in "A Clockwork Orange" where the writer is sitting at his desk working on something and has no idea that his wife is about to be raped and murdered is a figment of the creator's own nightmares. The image is so vivid, that I can still see all of the details of the house. There's no other place that this scene could have come from except the bad dreams of the person who wrote the story.

Guess what? What?
It's quiet now. Oh.
Guess what else? What's that?
People have been consuming alcohol tonight.
Oh. So what?
Don't you know what that means?
No, what... they were exchanging
ideas with one another?
No. It means that they are morphing into something else.
An ugly shape, really. It's as predictable as false wood grain.

It's important that we all have little buddies. Somebody who needs us. We certainly don't need ourselves. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. They, meaning "anybody", care only about this damned system that they've developed and embrace.

But don't embrace the crazies too hard,
they might just bite your ear off.