This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here I am
sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do
As you know we’ve been hangin out in our tin can apartment now for about 5 days. It is extremely cramped and I am happy to know that the situation is only temporary. It’s a bit of a shock to go from living here:
To living here:
Somewhere along the way I also managed to acquire a new cold, which has probably not aided in brightening up my grim outlook on prospective jobs and a life here. I am attempting to apply for a few things, but haven’t really had any positive responses as of yet.
In an attempt to thwart the feeling of utter futility and worthlessness due to our unemployment, we have been volunteering a little bit of time at a local bike project in Rogers Park. There is a place about 2 blocks from us called The Recyclery where we are currently working on restoring a Raleigh 3 speed.
I am beginning to feel that Jared’s social incompetence has rubbed off on me. I thought that I was supposed to be the amiable one with a certain degree of social aptitude. Now I am questioning whether I am capable of reintegration. Maybe there is hope. If only I could be treated to think that it wasn’t all complete bullshit. Perhaps I should be placed in a straitjacket and forced to look at photos of mountains and wilderness while being injected with drugs to induce reactions of revulsion.
The city is not very topographically dynamic and there is virtually no exit to the sprawling urbanity. It would be easy for me to forget these things if I were busy working. However, when living in a city I guess I’ve become accustomed to spending my time off work away from the stress and BS. Last year, I spent a lot of my free time camping in the mountains north of Tucson. It was relieving just to know that anytime I wanted to, an escape from the city was easily accessible by bike. How many places can you live where you can be here within 40 mile ride from your doorstep?
A place where there are pine trees and bears fisting each other over a violet-orange sunset in the valley below…
A road that looks like a Dr. Seuss landscape come to life…
Maybe the thing is I just prefer the mountains. Though it has been fun to ride through all the different neighborhoods in Chicago, I know it won’t be long before I begin to feel trapped by the endless sprawl. There is only so much that amazing ethnic food and great live music will do to appease me, and only so long that my wallet will be thick enough to pay for it. Apparently the guys at Blvd Bikes refer to us as “the hippies.” It cracked me up to hear it as I have never really thought of myself as such, but I am beginning to think that there might be some validity to it. It is funny to me that Jared grew up listening to Dead Kennedys and The Cramps, but is now being referred to as such. It is also funny to be referred to as “hippie” given that part of the reason we are here is because of our rather recent turn towards misanthropy and nihilism.
-L
Reading the threads is just as entertaining as the blog itself.
remember: i have the rest of the cannondale fund waiting for you in my savings account. if you want/need it, let me know.
hey ariel- i will keep that in mind and might be calling you towards the end of the month when we move into our next place…thanks for reminding me and being the only person in the history of the world who pays people back for things!
Lauren, what’s your paypal address? I’ll buy you two dinner.
Jaredvotel at g mail dot com is the paypal address…
thanks boss you really don’t have to do that but i won’t complain! i’ll take photos of me stuffing my face and post it on the blog.
Done!
This is going to be one expensive dinner. Geeeeez boss…i’ll have to invite like 20 people!
THANKS ERIK!
Erik- I think you accidentally added an extra zero.
No I didn’t. Call it your meager Christmas bonus.
Did I tell you we filed on Tarantino? I wish you were back here.
E
THANK YOU THANK YOU!
What kind of food do you suggest we get?
Eric possibly accidentally added two extra zeros if his intention was for us to each dine upon a single item from the McDonalds dollar menu.
Damn.
bears fisting lolz, what about deer humping:
lol nice.
Hippies require more peace ‘n love and natural awe for the beauty and wonder of it all, plus a lot of laziness, plus ideally a big trust fund, than you two will ever exude, have, or enjoy.
Sorry to break it to you, but you aren’t hippies.
You’re tramps.
E
oh gawd. we’re the scum of society…the seedy underbelly. what’s NEXT we might as well start doing meth and touring on NEXTS.
GOOD CALL
Will you sponsor that tour, dave? I can make a crazy guy journal for it called Methheads on Nexts.
sorry lar,i’m allergic to nexts
it’s the beard
I figured you two were wintering in Chicago because you like the city – if that’s not the case, you’re surrounded by many much nicer places to ride out the winter. For instance, you’re only a day or two’s ride from the Wisconsin Dells area, which has pine tree, bears, and Dr. Seuss type rock formations galore. Further North than that, up at the point where Lake Michigan connects to the other lakes is the biketopia of Macinac Island, where no cars are allowed. Not sure about jobs though, since those are mostly tourist areas with a summer season. Just 60 miles West of you is Rockford/Beloit/Belvedere, which is sort of the industrial center of Illinois = easier to find work; no mountains but much more laid back and prettier than Chicago.
Well, I don’t dislike Chicago. The problem is that it’s a hard place for us to be without a job. You pretty much need dough here to be able to do fun things like check out music and international cuisine. It seems that we incorrectly assumed that it would be a piece of cake to find a job here.
Thank you for the recommendations, Scott. I’d definitely like to check out Wisconsin. I think we are also considering retreating to Bloomington, IN.
Speaking of Wisconsin, I hear Madison is really beautiful and a good place for cyclists.
I assume you tried the temp services? I did what you’re doing back in the 80s and early 90s; I registered with one of the big national services before I left, and whenever I needed to stay put somewhere and make some money, I just called and asked them to set me up with something in my current area. Sometimes “my current area” meant having to travel and set up in another town 100 miles away, but I wasn’t tied to anyplace so that was no problem. Granted the last time I did this was 15 years ago, and in a different field, but it worked well for me.
Hi Scott…We’ve tried looking into temp services, but haven’t found anything except for waaay south of here and not even in Chicago.
We’d be interested in temp work if there was anything within reasonable commuting distance.
I think I might end up working in home health care and Jared is trying to get freelance web oriented stuff.
Hi Lauren,
I just read you on crazyguy and decided
to continue on here. You two would love
Burlington, Vermont. It’s small, about 50,000
mostly hip people, great local organic
food, great local music scene, great landscape,
biking, Lake Champlain, easy accesss to it all,
did I say great people? Strong ecoonomy, too.
I’m planning on moving back there myself, just
to prove how nice a place it is! Although I’ve
been thinking a winter in the desert might be
what I need this year.Any questions, just ask!
All the best, Kim
hi kim…burlington was one of our initial possible destinations. i’m not sure why we re-routed ourselves…i think that jared was worried about going to asheville and me falling in love with the place or maybe falling in love with a different bearded hippie lol.
is that where they make coats?