Your Mode of Transportation/Where You Live

Another double post. Can you tell we're in mid-November? But I'm still at it.

Mode of Transport: These days it's the train. A few years back Trench and I had a car basically catch fire on the highway and that was the end of us being a two car family.

Trench usually has the car because he has to drive out to the burbs for work. I miss having a car, but I think I would still take the train to work because it's in a very trendy, boutiquey neighborhood and parking is difficult. At my old job downtown I happily shelled out money to pay for parking in the garage. Sometimes with me, it's less about the money than it is about time. If it takes twenty minutes to drive somewhere, and 45 minutes on the train, I'd rather drive even if I have to pay for parking. With my current job, all the time gets eaten up with looking for parking, so I'd rather take the train and read a book instead of freaking out over parking and traffic and construction. I do take the car sometimes when I work on Sundays because parking is a lot easier and the trains run slower. The feeling of leaving work and just walking straight to my car instead of waiting 15 minutes for a train? Glorious.

Where You Live: Trench and I recently bought a condo in the most northern neighborhood in Chicago. I didn't mean to move this far north, but the further you get from the trendy neighborhoods, the more affordable the housing is. We definitely lucked out. Trench and I spent almost ten years in the same apartment, mostly because our landlord let us do whatever we wanted and never raised our rent. It was a great apartment and I miss it, but our new place is so much more updated. Central air/heat! Windows that aren't drafty! Multiple electrical outlets everywhere you look! Trench and I both take decorating very seriously so we quickly dove in with paint and artwork to make it our own.

The neighborhood isn't bad. We were worried because it has a reputation for crime, but our place is off the main strip, so it has a very quiet and residential feel to it. We're across the street from a park and just a few blocks away from a beach. Right by the train station there's some evidence of gentrification...a coffeehouse/bagel sandwich place. A massage therapy business. An Italian restaurant. A wine store (our favorite). So we might be a little far out, but I'm slowly falling for my tiny corner of the city.

Your Siblings/What's In Your Bag

I missed my post for yesterday, which was "Your Siblings", but that one is easy. I'm an only child. Done and done.

So now on to "What's In Your Bag". Hmm...let's see...

- A lot of spare change that should be put into the spare change jar we have.
- My cute little going out wristlet-purse. This should be taken out too so I know where it is when I need it.
- Benefit Dr. Feelgood.
- Double pointed needles for a knitting project I was working on. Yet another item that can get out of my bag.
- Vintage glasses case.
- Various receipts.
- Sharpie pen (not a marker, the pen).
- Pilot pen.
- Two packets of Emergen-C.
- Burt's Bees lip balm.
- Three lip glosses.
- Seven lipsticks. (What? I like lipstick.)
- Purse-hanger (the kind you can use to hang your purse on the table at a bar).
- Spare keys.
- Sample of a solid conditioner from Lush (ooh! Forgot about that!).

An Inspiration

I think that instead of being all, "A poem! A beautiful sunset! My favorite song!" I'll discuss what inspires me as a writer. I've noticed I work really well with prompts. Case in point, right here. My inspiration could be a dry well for an embarrassingly long time, but if someone points to me and says, "Hey you! Write about such-and-such!" then I'll settle in with a notebook and pen and scribble away. Sometimes I can get there on my own, but for the most part it helps to have a jumping off point. You would think that just knowing this would make me a productive writer. It doesn't. It also helps to have a class or a group and deadlines. I've always wanted to go back to grad school for a writing program, but have never been able to justify the thousands of dollars that would cost. Maybe just saying here that "Writing prompts help to inspire me" will inspire me to break them out on my own more often.

Your Beliefs

This one could get preachy fast. I'm too tired to be preachy. I'm going to do stream of consciousness. If it gets preachy, don't blame me, blame the long day I had or the glass of wine I'm drinking.

I believe that wine is healthy and can be drank (drunk? drinken?) every day in moderation. I believe that the sulfites in red wine mess with me, so I drink white wine instead. I believe that white wine has just as many antioxidants as red. I believe that antioxidants are the key to staying young, as they fight the free radicals that drain the life from our cells. I believe that tanning is worse for your skin than smoking. I believe that alcohol (in moderation!) is a preservative, so drink up. I believe that you shouldn't try to wax your own eyebrows, leave them to the pros. I believe that cats are just as faithful a companion as dogs, and won't abandon you when someone else offers a treat. I believe that dogs are sometimes more fun than cats because you can take them out and play with them and get exercise. I believe that cats are better in winter when you'd rather stay inside and nap. I believe in rampant creativity. I believe in staying inside with a good book on a sunny day. I believe in dancing all night in a pretty dress and heels. I believe in buying good shoes that don't hurt your feet even if they are expensive. I believe in buying cheap clothes because who cares if they wear out? I believe no one should ever pay a lot of money for a purse, because it's just a dumb purse. I believe that a label slapped on a purse/shoe/clothing item makes it tacky and uninteresting. I believe in buying vintage designer clothing at thrift stores. I believe in chaos and that nothing is meant to be, it all comes down to the personal choices that we make. I believe that people can do anything they want...they just can't do everything they want. I believe in spirituality. I believe in science. I believe in the "poetic anatomy". I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I believe in energy. I believe that Mayan descendants don't believe in 2012. I believe in punk rock. I believe the Brits always make the best music. I believe that my cat loves me as much as a child could. I believe that children are wonderful...for other people. I believe in the healing powers of being outside in nature. I believe that I am a city girl and could never live anywhere else. I believe that it isn't wrong to eat meat. I believe that factory farming is a holocaust for animals, and it is wrong to eat factory farmed meat. I believe that eating healthy is delicious and more people should try it. I believe that people who don't like vegetables aren't eating them the right way. I believe in very salty french fries and potato chips...yum. I believe in feminism. I believe in pro-choice. I believe that if I got pregnant now, I couldn't have an abortion. I believe in birth control. I believe in gay marriage. I believe that my trans father in law is one of the sweetest, most gentle people on earth and that fundamentalist Christians only wish they could be half as good. I believe the most ethical people I have ever met have all been atheists. I believe that no one in the world knows what is out there after we die, and that is why I am agnostic. I believe that the friends that I have are like my family. I believe that you can make amazing friendships on the internet. I believe that no one "should" be such and such a thing, and that people can be anything they want...but they can't be everything they want. I believe in faeries. Clap your hands.

A Precious Item

Okay, I'm racking my brain right now, but can't seem to come up with anything. This might be surprising to people because I've always had a lot of stuff, and throwing things away can be hard for me. I think that's a bad habit that I'm growing out of. Trench and I got rid of a lot when we moved (turns out that's the best way to de-clutter...move out!). So I'm trying to think of the one precious item that I can't live without. Books? Music? My wedding ring is the easy answer, but it was my grandmother's setting, and believe it or not, she had a backup. The stone is an amethyst, which is precious to me, but I didn't exactly need to take an insurance policy out on it. Maybe I'll switch to a diamond after I'm forty, because according to Holly GoLightly, I'm too young for diamonds until then.

I think the item(s) that would hit me hardest if I lost it in a fire would be my journals. For years I kept paper journals in composition books. I tried having one for every year, which worked when I was in school, but after school they started blending together. I remember trying to find one for a specific period of time last year, and couldn't find it anywhere. I was really distraught about it, it was like losing an entire two years of my life. I found it when we were moving, right with all the others as if it had been there all along, even though I scoured them all multiple times looking for it.

Lately I've switched to an online journal (besides this one...it's out there, but no one can access it but me). After thinking I lost that one journal, I didn't trust paper anymore. If there's ever a house fire, the internet will keep my current journal safe, although it's the paper journals that mean more.

Your Oldest Friend

I met her when I was five, but we didn't really become friends until we were ten. We went to the same Catholic school together and then transferred to the public school in the fifth grade. We sat next to each other in a class and hit it off. Our personalities couldn't be more different, but the shy girl/loud girl dynamic is a good one. Two drama queens in a friendship never turns out well, and two quiet girls might have a lot in common, but won't be able to keep a conversation going.

As kids we fought and made up all the time. There was one legendary fight where we were at the public pool and she made me hold the locker key, which meant I couldn't go on the water slide. Big fight, promises of never speaking again, didn't talk for the rest of the day. Our moms made us say we were sorry, and we reluctantly did, then made faces at each other from the cars as we drove away. The next day she called me and asked me to come over, and I said okay. That's usually how it worked.

We stopped talking during freshman year in high school. The differences started to seem too big between us...the early bloomer and the late bloomer (guess which one I was). By the end of the year she wrote an apology in my yearbook, and we picked up where we left off like nothing ever happened. She was the tall blonde who had every boy in school wrapped around her finger. You would think this would have helped me to meet boys too, but I never cared for her taste in guys. My role was the mediator...I was the one who would call her boyfriend during fights to tell him her side and get his side.

Strangely enough, she introduced me to First Love. She worked with him, and offered to set us up. When we broke up, she introduced me to the next boy, who became my rebound. She was handy like that. When she broke up with her boyfriend, I counseled her for hours on the phone and then took her out dancing. We might go for long stretches without talking sometimes, but we've always been there for each other.

She's pregnant now, and I'm excited to see what she'll have. Will it be a boy like her brother who will have tons of energy and run her ragged? Or a girl like her, who will drive her crazy when she's a teenager? One thing is for sure...she got away with murder when she was young, but this kid won't get away with anything because she's done it all. And I'll be sure to tell him/her all about it.

Your Hobbies

Oh good, this post will be short. It's Saturday night and I could have gone out on the town, but decided to stay home and I'm writing my daily blog post instead. To be fair, I worked today and I work tomorrow, so really this is my Thursday.

Obviously, there's reading and writing. No arithmetic though, none at all. I also like to knit. I learned five years ago, when I first became an esthetician and had lots of time on my hands, sitting around and waiting for clients. I've made hats and armwarmers and scarves. I've made cables that criss cross like strands of DNA. I've made lace that look like falling leaves. I once made a cat toy for my cat that was shaped like an egg roll that I filled with catnip. He played with it madly, but he likes to drown things, so he dunked it in his water bowl and that's the last cat toy I ever made him. I've made sweaters and socks. There's a sweater in my knitting basket right now that only needs for me to finish the sleeves.

I haven't been knitting as much lately. When I come home from work, I'm so tired I barely have enough brain function to make dinner, watch stuff on hulu with Trench, and check facebook. Also our new condo has fancy lighting, and fancy lighting doesn't necessarily mean bright lighting. I definitely need an extra lamp somewhere. I kind of want a wall sconce in the corner above the couch. Hopefully that will get me to pick up the needles again, if I can actually see what I'm working on.