Thursday, August 30, 2012
You Can't Spell Architectural Facade without 'Face'!
Weird title I know but it's all I have at the moment, clever-wise... Essentially, I'm posting this because I forgot to mention something in that last incredibly long post! I found the random faces that were carved into the building when I was walking around near the library the other day! Here are the pictures! These were on a building at the corner of Congress and Dearborn. I hope you find them as charismatically whimsical as I do!
When Life is a Beach, Start Jones-ing for Indiana
It's been a while since I last blogged. Part of the reason for that is because of lack of material and the other part of that is simple lack of motivation or time. The result is that this particular post will probably be a long one.
I never did hear any word from the place I staged at, I wasn't expecting it but it is still a little sad for me. It was such an incredible place. But Ce' la vie! If nothing else it was a great opportunity and I'm so glad to have had it.
The rest of my week was pretty cut and dry. School was good. So far sanitation class is super boring and my foundations class is all about cutting potatoes and onions. Starting yesterday, though, we graduated to carrots and celery so woohoo! The upside of boring classes at the moment is that is gives me plenty of time to be looking for a job and my next stage.
The career services at my school has tons and tons of job listings which is both helpful and overwhelming so it feels a bit like climbing to the top of the mountain every time I approach it but I'm steadily getting it all organized into a workable situation. I've applied to some jobs already but I still have more places I want to check out and possibly apply to so we'll see what happens.
Though the money I've saved before I moved out here is holding up, the lack of a job leaves me feeling super antsy. I can't tell you the last time I went this long without a job, honestly. I think I'm starting to get tired of my little 5 block radius world too. I primarily go between either school or my apartment at the moment and I really need a change of scenery and situation. Don't get me wrong, I get out and explore but it makes me nervous every time I do, not because of actual fear, but because going out and exploring usually means spending money which the thought of doing without having an income of some sort coming in to replace the money I've spent adventuring makes me anxious beyond reason. It's ridiculous, I know, but to each their own neurosis, right? If you think about it, too, having a driving need for a job is probably the least troublesome neurosis to have so.... Lucky me? ^_~
Anyway, this wanderlust with a dash if cabin fever made my brain stumble upon a genius idea! I'm going to Indiana for the weekend! Now, without the proper background information there are some among you that might read that statement as proof that I have officially lost my mind so let me explain. I don't know anyone in Chicago. Well, that might be a lie, I did visit Sara when she was going to school in Illinois so there is a high probability that some of the people she introduced me to live here too but as far as I know, I don't know anyone in Chicago. The closest person I do officially know is the magnificent Ms. Fox (who has not given me the okay to blog her name so this is the only name you get for the time being) who lives in...::drumroll:: INDIANA! To be more precise (without being precise, for the sake of privacy) about 6 hour drive. Since I don't have a car that makes it very difficult for us to see each other or hang out, until now. The answer? Trains! Yep, I'm getting tickets to take a train to see her! I'm excited! New scenery! Excellent company! An adorable puppy to snuggle in the absence of my own! Who could ask for more?! So, now I'm all jazzed and jones-ing for Indiana!
On a completely different note, I put an obscure reference to a no good, very bad, terrible day I had on Monday which at the time was very frustrating but now, looking back and having told the story a couple of times is actually pretty hilarious. See, what had happened was....
I woke up to go to school got dressed, thought I had everything in order an left for my foundations lab class. As I got about three-quarters of the way there I realized I was missing something crucial, my ID badge. This may not seem like a big deal, but it actually is. They make a big stink about how you need to have your badge at all times on campus, there are signs everywhere about it actually. What's more, that little ID badge has a little chip in it that unlocks the door to the building. Needless to say I had to turn around. By this point and time, there was no way I was going to make it to class in time, without my ID mishap I would have been on time, even a couple of minutes early, but since it became a factor I was pretty much decidedly late. Which made me soooo frustrated and angry. I'll be the first person to admit that I am not known for my punctuality, in fact, there was a joke going around my circle of friends for a while that made it quite clear that I was notorious for quite the opposite, but it always bugs me when I'm late. I have since worked on that and I am much better at it, so when I start falling into those late patterns I become extra frustrated. Eventually, I got back to my apartment, grabbed my ID badge and start out again. I remember thinking as I was heading down the stairs that I could just put on the lanyard that had my ID attached to it on my way to school it by some stroke of luck I figured just take a second and do it then. Lucky that I did too. Turned out that somewhere between my apartment door and where I was standing in the stairwell, my ID badge had decided to become unclipped from its lanyard. So I had to go back to find this stupid piece of plastic that had, by that point made me 10 mins late. I found it laying just outside my apartment door. So I grabbed it, secured it, did one more check that I was not missing anything else and double timed it to school. But the time I got there I was 20-25 mins late for class. I was drenched in sweat from all the running around in my long sleeve chef jacket. My Chef instructor took one look at me and asked me if it was raining outside. I apologized and he was very understanding and said something about how he understands that sometimes life gets in the way But wait! There's more! Not five minutes after I get there he asks us all to pull out our homework so we can go over it in class. What do you know? I forgot it.... Back at my apartment. Oi! I told Chef an he chuckled and told me to just bring it in the next day, no problem. Class went on and everything was fine.
Until...
I got home. I got in the elevator to go up to my floor just feeling beat up and upset about the other crap that had happened that morning. I get off at my floor put my key in the lock to let my self in, start to turn it, and can't. My key got stuck in the lock. I couldn't move the lock, couldn't get the key out, nothing. I fiddled with it for a minute or two, give up, go to the front desk and the doorman called maintenance for me. The maintenance guy gets there and starts asking me questions. The conversation went something like this:
"Is there anyone inside?"
"Nope, I made sure of it. I knocked a few times (but my all my roommates' class started about 10 mins ago so I wasn't surprised but I had still held on to the slim hope that maybe one of them had stayed home or something)."
"Are you sure?" then he proceeded to knock on the door. When he finished with that he started jiggling the key in the door and doing all the things that I had tried to do to no avail. Then, "Was the door all the way locked?"
"I don't honestly know, I wasn't the last one to lock it but it was locked enough to not let me in, so I put the key in and....here we are." He starts in on the explanation about how sometimes this happens because of this that and the other thing and the whole time I'm just holding my breath and counting to 10 trying to not lose it on this man. Eventually, he decides that the key is, in fact, stuck in the lock as I have told him and he goes to get his drill kit and proceeds to drill out not just my key but the whole lock too. Long story short, we all got new keys and I raised the white flag on the entire day and didn't leave the apartment for the fear of what else might just happen that day.
I was actually going to blog about it as it was unfolding and then realized halfway through that maybe blogging angry isn't such a good idea. Everything comes up all profanities and self-pity and who wants to read that?
My roommates and I also went exploring and the such this past weekend. Our building had a pool party BBQ which was alright, there was free food which is hard to complain about. Afterwards, we all went to the beach because, turns out Chicago has beaches! No ocean, but beaches all the same! Lake Michigan is huge though so it makes sense, I guess. The beach is really close to our apartment too, within 10 minutes by foot, actually. We ended up splitting up. They went to sunbathe and I decided to rent a bike and ride it down the coastline? Lakeshore line? Whatever. The path was lakeshore park trail so, there you go. It was a beautiful day and the views were superb, though the sidewalk path was a little crowded. We all met up again And waded int the water until we started getting hungry. Then we headed home, made dinner, had a dance party, and generally bonded more as roommates.
Anyway, that has been my week so far. I hope you found my bad day as funny as I'm starting to. I'll try to post more often so my blogs won't be as long but I make no promises on the matter. Allonsy!
The attached pictures are of the beach
I never did hear any word from the place I staged at, I wasn't expecting it but it is still a little sad for me. It was such an incredible place. But Ce' la vie! If nothing else it was a great opportunity and I'm so glad to have had it.
The rest of my week was pretty cut and dry. School was good. So far sanitation class is super boring and my foundations class is all about cutting potatoes and onions. Starting yesterday, though, we graduated to carrots and celery so woohoo! The upside of boring classes at the moment is that is gives me plenty of time to be looking for a job and my next stage.
The career services at my school has tons and tons of job listings which is both helpful and overwhelming so it feels a bit like climbing to the top of the mountain every time I approach it but I'm steadily getting it all organized into a workable situation. I've applied to some jobs already but I still have more places I want to check out and possibly apply to so we'll see what happens.
Though the money I've saved before I moved out here is holding up, the lack of a job leaves me feeling super antsy. I can't tell you the last time I went this long without a job, honestly. I think I'm starting to get tired of my little 5 block radius world too. I primarily go between either school or my apartment at the moment and I really need a change of scenery and situation. Don't get me wrong, I get out and explore but it makes me nervous every time I do, not because of actual fear, but because going out and exploring usually means spending money which the thought of doing without having an income of some sort coming in to replace the money I've spent adventuring makes me anxious beyond reason. It's ridiculous, I know, but to each their own neurosis, right? If you think about it, too, having a driving need for a job is probably the least troublesome neurosis to have so.... Lucky me? ^_~
Anyway, this wanderlust with a dash if cabin fever made my brain stumble upon a genius idea! I'm going to Indiana for the weekend! Now, without the proper background information there are some among you that might read that statement as proof that I have officially lost my mind so let me explain. I don't know anyone in Chicago. Well, that might be a lie, I did visit Sara when she was going to school in Illinois so there is a high probability that some of the people she introduced me to live here too but as far as I know, I don't know anyone in Chicago. The closest person I do officially know is the magnificent Ms. Fox (who has not given me the okay to blog her name so this is the only name you get for the time being) who lives in...::drumroll:: INDIANA! To be more precise (without being precise, for the sake of privacy) about 6 hour drive. Since I don't have a car that makes it very difficult for us to see each other or hang out, until now. The answer? Trains! Yep, I'm getting tickets to take a train to see her! I'm excited! New scenery! Excellent company! An adorable puppy to snuggle in the absence of my own! Who could ask for more?! So, now I'm all jazzed and jones-ing for Indiana!
On a completely different note, I put an obscure reference to a no good, very bad, terrible day I had on Monday which at the time was very frustrating but now, looking back and having told the story a couple of times is actually pretty hilarious. See, what had happened was....
I woke up to go to school got dressed, thought I had everything in order an left for my foundations lab class. As I got about three-quarters of the way there I realized I was missing something crucial, my ID badge. This may not seem like a big deal, but it actually is. They make a big stink about how you need to have your badge at all times on campus, there are signs everywhere about it actually. What's more, that little ID badge has a little chip in it that unlocks the door to the building. Needless to say I had to turn around. By this point and time, there was no way I was going to make it to class in time, without my ID mishap I would have been on time, even a couple of minutes early, but since it became a factor I was pretty much decidedly late. Which made me soooo frustrated and angry. I'll be the first person to admit that I am not known for my punctuality, in fact, there was a joke going around my circle of friends for a while that made it quite clear that I was notorious for quite the opposite, but it always bugs me when I'm late. I have since worked on that and I am much better at it, so when I start falling into those late patterns I become extra frustrated. Eventually, I got back to my apartment, grabbed my ID badge and start out again. I remember thinking as I was heading down the stairs that I could just put on the lanyard that had my ID attached to it on my way to school it by some stroke of luck I figured just take a second and do it then. Lucky that I did too. Turned out that somewhere between my apartment door and where I was standing in the stairwell, my ID badge had decided to become unclipped from its lanyard. So I had to go back to find this stupid piece of plastic that had, by that point made me 10 mins late. I found it laying just outside my apartment door. So I grabbed it, secured it, did one more check that I was not missing anything else and double timed it to school. But the time I got there I was 20-25 mins late for class. I was drenched in sweat from all the running around in my long sleeve chef jacket. My Chef instructor took one look at me and asked me if it was raining outside. I apologized and he was very understanding and said something about how he understands that sometimes life gets in the way But wait! There's more! Not five minutes after I get there he asks us all to pull out our homework so we can go over it in class. What do you know? I forgot it.... Back at my apartment. Oi! I told Chef an he chuckled and told me to just bring it in the next day, no problem. Class went on and everything was fine.
Until...
I got home. I got in the elevator to go up to my floor just feeling beat up and upset about the other crap that had happened that morning. I get off at my floor put my key in the lock to let my self in, start to turn it, and can't. My key got stuck in the lock. I couldn't move the lock, couldn't get the key out, nothing. I fiddled with it for a minute or two, give up, go to the front desk and the doorman called maintenance for me. The maintenance guy gets there and starts asking me questions. The conversation went something like this:
"Is there anyone inside?"
"Nope, I made sure of it. I knocked a few times (but my all my roommates' class started about 10 mins ago so I wasn't surprised but I had still held on to the slim hope that maybe one of them had stayed home or something)."
"Are you sure?" then he proceeded to knock on the door. When he finished with that he started jiggling the key in the door and doing all the things that I had tried to do to no avail. Then, "Was the door all the way locked?"
"I don't honestly know, I wasn't the last one to lock it but it was locked enough to not let me in, so I put the key in and....here we are." He starts in on the explanation about how sometimes this happens because of this that and the other thing and the whole time I'm just holding my breath and counting to 10 trying to not lose it on this man. Eventually, he decides that the key is, in fact, stuck in the lock as I have told him and he goes to get his drill kit and proceeds to drill out not just my key but the whole lock too. Long story short, we all got new keys and I raised the white flag on the entire day and didn't leave the apartment for the fear of what else might just happen that day.
I was actually going to blog about it as it was unfolding and then realized halfway through that maybe blogging angry isn't such a good idea. Everything comes up all profanities and self-pity and who wants to read that?
My roommates and I also went exploring and the such this past weekend. Our building had a pool party BBQ which was alright, there was free food which is hard to complain about. Afterwards, we all went to the beach because, turns out Chicago has beaches! No ocean, but beaches all the same! Lake Michigan is huge though so it makes sense, I guess. The beach is really close to our apartment too, within 10 minutes by foot, actually. We ended up splitting up. They went to sunbathe and I decided to rent a bike and ride it down the coastline? Lakeshore line? Whatever. The path was lakeshore park trail so, there you go. It was a beautiful day and the views were superb, though the sidewalk path was a little crowded. We all met up again And waded int the water until we started getting hungry. Then we headed home, made dinner, had a dance party, and generally bonded more as roommates.
Anyway, that has been my week so far. I hope you found my bad day as funny as I'm starting to. I'll try to post more often so my blogs won't be as long but I make no promises on the matter. Allonsy!
The attached pictures are of the beach
Monday, August 20, 2012
The First Stage in a Theater of Changes
Today was my first day of school which turned out to be both exciting and boring at the same time. My instructor gave us our introduction to Sanitation 101. It was pretty droll and he pretty much outlined the entire first chapter for us which was less than riveting, to be sure. Especially since he has a pretty monotone voice. It was all a bit strange because to listen to the man you'd think that he was short his morning coffee, or a hug, or maybe both, but then he kept saying things like, "I know it's sanitation but get a little excited about it guys." I kept thinking, 'I will if you will, Chef!' Ce la Vie!
The good news was that we got out of class early. This was fairly serendipitous for me because I had a stage (pronounced so that it rhymes with 'pause') line up for right after class. It was at a really cool restaurant whose name, as advised by my sister, I will not name here. Their whole concept is that they create menus based off what is in season, and if something is going out of season, they preserve it. But wait! There's more! They make their own bread, and all they're pastries are from scratch, they use their own roasted tomato sauce in dishes, they don't buy that precanned, they get in whole cow, pig, and even lamb carcasses and break all the meat down off of that instead of buying cutlets, then from that they make their own sausages, cured meats, and even salumi! It really is an incredible place, even the scraps that they don't use they compost so that it all goes back into the earth for the next harvest. It really is a really interesting idea for cutting down on food waste.
Anyway, I had the privilege to stage there for them thanks to a good word from a family friend. It was so different from anything I have ever experienced! The kitchen was huge, for starters. It spanned two floors and then some in the back. They had two walk-ins one for just produce, one for just proteins. Then they had a whole storage area for all their canned products, of which there quite a few, then they had a spot just for letting tomatoes and other fruits, like peaches, chill out until they were ripe and ready to be used or preserved. They had a whole pastry section with at least four employees devotes to just that and then five or six night crew guys for the line, three dishwashers who were always busy and countless moving parts. They also have a whole brunch crew, I guess, and they're saying that they are going to be opening up for breakfast soon, too.
The guy who I staged with was very patient with me, (he actually reminded me of a guy I used to know in London who we all called 'Fierce Pierce'. They matched all the way to the tie-dye bandanna on his head. ^_^) it really did feel like my first day at Union four years ago. I felt like I knew nothing simply because of how differently their kitchen ran. I worked on the hot appetizer station which was a lot of fun and my stage partner started out the night by letting me do one dish by myself, then it became two, by probably 8 he let me work the station pretty much by myself. He still was looming over my shoulder and corecting and refining the things I was doing.
And they kept feeding me! There was a staff lunch before they opened for dinner, then they kept making me dishes to try, partly because they were bored, partly because that's just what they do for people who stage. Here are all the things I ate tonight:
-Crispy Carnaroli Rice- brunkow cheese curds, smoked spring onion vinaigrette, pickled summer beans, three sisters pea shoots.
-Local Lettuce- basil pesto, fennel, whole grain croutons (they left these out for me because I'm glutarded), pickled tomato vinaigrette, mouton frais.
-Pan-Roasted Diver Sea Scallops-arugula, piperade, housemade lomo
-Crisp Slagel Family Farm Pork Shoulder Confit-fried chickpea panise, house summer giardiniera, curry yogurt, cucumbers, fresh mint
And a couple other sides of stuff, plus homemade chocolate ice cream, and I got to try a lot of the little components from my station. Speaking of which, here is what I was in charge of making tonight:
-Crispy Carnaroli Rice- see above
-Growing Power Russet Potato Gnocchi- slow cooked kale, bacon, sweet corn, pickled green tomatoes (which were incredible just by themselves)
-Whole Wheat Cavatelli- sweet and hot peppers, juliets (a kind of tomato, I learned that tonight too), garlic, onions, basil, Parmesan
-Local Tomato and Smoked Apple Butter Tart- prairie fruits farm moonglo cheese, klug farm summer apples, sorrel, sweet onions
All in all, it was a big night for me. I think I did okay. I felt really lost at first and I don't usually talk much when I'm just starting to get the hang of something, but I took the advice given to me, asked a lot of questions about what I was doing and what was happening around me, gave it my best shot, was honest with them about everything, held my head high, struggled to not apologize but just say okay and try to make it better for the next dish, and just tried to focus on the fact that I was being allowed to play in this amazing kitchen with some pretty decent guys, who you could tell were putting a lot of pride and heart into every dish that they were plating, while relishing the fact that they kept giving me all this exquisite food all night long. The sous chef and I talked afterwards and he asked me what I wanted, whether it was an internship or what. I told him that I would love to work there for them and he told me about some positions that they might have available because they were opening for breakfast. I'm supposed to call him at noon on Wednesday. So I'll hope for the best but I won't hold my breath. Tomorrow I have to go report back to the career service guy that I talked to on Thursday last week after orientation and probably hit up the wanted postings on the school site.
Anyway, it's late and I have school bright and earlyish tomorrow morning that I can't be late for! Goodnight!
This is a picture of me in my uniform for my first day of class. As dorky as it is, tradition is tradition. ^_^
The good news was that we got out of class early. This was fairly serendipitous for me because I had a stage (pronounced so that it rhymes with 'pause') line up for right after class. It was at a really cool restaurant whose name, as advised by my sister, I will not name here. Their whole concept is that they create menus based off what is in season, and if something is going out of season, they preserve it. But wait! There's more! They make their own bread, and all they're pastries are from scratch, they use their own roasted tomato sauce in dishes, they don't buy that precanned, they get in whole cow, pig, and even lamb carcasses and break all the meat down off of that instead of buying cutlets, then from that they make their own sausages, cured meats, and even salumi! It really is an incredible place, even the scraps that they don't use they compost so that it all goes back into the earth for the next harvest. It really is a really interesting idea for cutting down on food waste.
Anyway, I had the privilege to stage there for them thanks to a good word from a family friend. It was so different from anything I have ever experienced! The kitchen was huge, for starters. It spanned two floors and then some in the back. They had two walk-ins one for just produce, one for just proteins. Then they had a whole storage area for all their canned products, of which there quite a few, then they had a spot just for letting tomatoes and other fruits, like peaches, chill out until they were ripe and ready to be used or preserved. They had a whole pastry section with at least four employees devotes to just that and then five or six night crew guys for the line, three dishwashers who were always busy and countless moving parts. They also have a whole brunch crew, I guess, and they're saying that they are going to be opening up for breakfast soon, too.
The guy who I staged with was very patient with me, (he actually reminded me of a guy I used to know in London who we all called 'Fierce Pierce'. They matched all the way to the tie-dye bandanna on his head. ^_^) it really did feel like my first day at Union four years ago. I felt like I knew nothing simply because of how differently their kitchen ran. I worked on the hot appetizer station which was a lot of fun and my stage partner started out the night by letting me do one dish by myself, then it became two, by probably 8 he let me work the station pretty much by myself. He still was looming over my shoulder and corecting and refining the things I was doing.
And they kept feeding me! There was a staff lunch before they opened for dinner, then they kept making me dishes to try, partly because they were bored, partly because that's just what they do for people who stage. Here are all the things I ate tonight:
-Crispy Carnaroli Rice- brunkow cheese curds, smoked spring onion vinaigrette, pickled summer beans, three sisters pea shoots.
-Local Lettuce- basil pesto, fennel, whole grain croutons (they left these out for me because I'm glutarded), pickled tomato vinaigrette, mouton frais.
-Pan-Roasted Diver Sea Scallops-arugula, piperade, housemade lomo
-Crisp Slagel Family Farm Pork Shoulder Confit-fried chickpea panise, house summer giardiniera, curry yogurt, cucumbers, fresh mint
And a couple other sides of stuff, plus homemade chocolate ice cream, and I got to try a lot of the little components from my station. Speaking of which, here is what I was in charge of making tonight:
-Crispy Carnaroli Rice- see above
-Growing Power Russet Potato Gnocchi- slow cooked kale, bacon, sweet corn, pickled green tomatoes (which were incredible just by themselves)
-Whole Wheat Cavatelli- sweet and hot peppers, juliets (a kind of tomato, I learned that tonight too), garlic, onions, basil, Parmesan
-Local Tomato and Smoked Apple Butter Tart- prairie fruits farm moonglo cheese, klug farm summer apples, sorrel, sweet onions
All in all, it was a big night for me. I think I did okay. I felt really lost at first and I don't usually talk much when I'm just starting to get the hang of something, but I took the advice given to me, asked a lot of questions about what I was doing and what was happening around me, gave it my best shot, was honest with them about everything, held my head high, struggled to not apologize but just say okay and try to make it better for the next dish, and just tried to focus on the fact that I was being allowed to play in this amazing kitchen with some pretty decent guys, who you could tell were putting a lot of pride and heart into every dish that they were plating, while relishing the fact that they kept giving me all this exquisite food all night long. The sous chef and I talked afterwards and he asked me what I wanted, whether it was an internship or what. I told him that I would love to work there for them and he told me about some positions that they might have available because they were opening for breakfast. I'm supposed to call him at noon on Wednesday. So I'll hope for the best but I won't hold my breath. Tomorrow I have to go report back to the career service guy that I talked to on Thursday last week after orientation and probably hit up the wanted postings on the school site.
Anyway, it's late and I have school bright and earlyish tomorrow morning that I can't be late for! Goodnight!
This is a picture of me in my uniform for my first day of class. As dorky as it is, tradition is tradition. ^_^
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Lazy Daze
I guess I should do a quick profile of my roomies. So far we had been getting along great, three out of the four of us realized as we were getting ready to leave that we are only a Green Lantern or Aquaman short of being the Justice League! (I have a Batman shirt, Nicole has a Superman shirt, and Becca has a Wonder Woman tank top. We are really hoping E has a Green Lantern or Aquaman T-shirt already but if not, we'll make it happen) In fact, if B could have found her tank top then we would have been most of the Justice League just wondering in the grocery store. ^_^ Rest assured, when it happens there will be pictures!
My own personal roommate is E. She is a sweet girl of 20. I knew we'd be okay when I saw that she too had a stuffed animal dog. She is from Pennsylvania and came to LCB for a Pastry certificate.
My other two flat mates share a room with each other. Their names are N and B.
B is a lot of fun and a hell of an artist. She is from Indianapolis and is going to LCB for pastry as well. She says that she has been decorating cakes with her mom as a side business since she was about 9. Now, she's 20 and decided that if she wanted to open her own legitimate bakery one day a certificate from a pastry school was probably a good idea.
N is the last of them. She is quiet and intelligent and just as nerdy as the rest of us. She is also the youngest of us, weighing in at 18. She is also from Indiana from a town called Granger which, according to her is so small it doesn't actually show up on any map, it sounds a lot like Sunnyside that way. She, too, is a pastry student at LCB.
Thus far, we all share a love of comic books and their heroes, some anime, Big Bang Theory, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Bones, Leverage, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and as many other age of the geek things that you may please. I look forward to hanging out with them! TTFN!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Smooth Sailing
"Roads?! Where we're going we don't need roads." ~Back to the Future
So, its Fleet Week this week! Basically, the Navy is in town on shore leave. So my roomies and I went down to Navy Pier to see the ships, but it turned out that there was also an air show too! Woot!
There was also a simulator that we all went on it was kind of a disappointment but whatever, it was free.
Afterwards, we went to the library just to check it out only to arrive right as they were closing so we went on a quest for the stone faces I saw the other day to no avail. So, I think I'm going to have to do some research or something. I even went to a place for architecture tours and asked one of the 'experts' there and they had no idea what I was talking about. Haha.
We came back, I made some dinner and then we decided to go to the gelato stand a few blocks away and did some crazy lunges and aerobic jumps and stuff on the way to 'earn' it, needless to say we go some pretty weirds looks. It was worth it though. ^_^
So, its Fleet Week this week! Basically, the Navy is in town on shore leave. So my roomies and I went down to Navy Pier to see the ships, but it turned out that there was also an air show too! Woot!
There was also a simulator that we all went on it was kind of a disappointment but whatever, it was free.
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| Here are two of my roommates who I accidentally caught in my frame while taking pictures. On the left with her back towards me is Nicole, on the right, striking a pose, is Becca. |
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| Skyline! |
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| Skyline from next to the giant Ferris wheel that originally debuted in Chicago at the World's Fair |
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| Air Show |
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| Air show |
We came back, I made some dinner and then we decided to go to the gelato stand a few blocks away and did some crazy lunges and aerobic jumps and stuff on the way to 'earn' it, needless to say we go some pretty weirds looks. It was worth it though. ^_^
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| City skyline from Navy Pier |
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| Me as a Sailor. |
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| Sailor All Smiles! |
Ironing Out the Details
"Time to put on the last suit you'll ever wear." ~Men in Black
That's how I felt yesterday with my Chef Coat. It was so incredible to put that on and unwrap my knives for the first time, I was dancing around the apartment a little. I'll post pictures of me in my uniform on another post.
So obviously, I had orientation yesterday. The president of the college, Chef Kirk Bachmann,did the presentation and he covered a lot of ground. He talked about the history of culinary, the tradition of the uniform, the reason that the uniform is the way that it is, all of which I found super interesting and he was very passionate about all of it and then, he looked at some guy in the front row who was falling sleep and he stopped! I was so pissed! Oh well. He then proceeded to go on to talk about all the opportunities we can have if we work hard and how important it is to get an externship and stage for chefs around the city. This was all pretty interesting too, though.
Afterwards, all of us, my roommates and I, had an ironing party for all our uniforms. It was pretty fun.
This brings me to the subject of my roommates. They are awesome. They are all pastry students too, and absolute nerds so, obviously, we've been getting along swimmingly. We've pretty much been having nothing but fun bonding times ever since they arrived.
So that's what you missed last week on Glee! Just kidding! Haha ^_~
That's how I felt yesterday with my Chef Coat. It was so incredible to put that on and unwrap my knives for the first time, I was dancing around the apartment a little. I'll post pictures of me in my uniform on another post.
So obviously, I had orientation yesterday. The president of the college, Chef Kirk Bachmann,did the presentation and he covered a lot of ground. He talked about the history of culinary, the tradition of the uniform, the reason that the uniform is the way that it is, all of which I found super interesting and he was very passionate about all of it and then, he looked at some guy in the front row who was falling sleep and he stopped! I was so pissed! Oh well. He then proceeded to go on to talk about all the opportunities we can have if we work hard and how important it is to get an externship and stage for chefs around the city. This was all pretty interesting too, though.
Afterwards, all of us, my roommates and I, had an ironing party for all our uniforms. It was pretty fun.
This brings me to the subject of my roommates. They are awesome. They are all pastry students too, and absolute nerds so, obviously, we've been getting along swimmingly. We've pretty much been having nothing but fun bonding times ever since they arrived.
So that's what you missed last week on Glee! Just kidding! Haha ^_~
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Literally Awesome
"The world's largest public library is the Chicago Public Library, which has a collection of over 2 million books."
Today I finally got roommates which is both exciting and terrifying based off of my previous experiences. They all seem nice enough but moving in is a big job, add in that all three of them brought their parents and it begins to get a lot more complicated. I have a good sized apartment but that is still a lot of people. Heck by the standards of the lease it is technically a party! So, after I finished taking a shower because I was drenched in sweat from my workout I went out and about town. I did errands mostly to get ready for school but when all that was done I hopped the Brown Line to the Chicago Public Library, or as I'd like to call it, Heaven.
It is a building that is 9 stories tall and filled with every kind of book one could imagine. That actually isn't entirely true because the top floor is called a "Winter Garden" which must just be Chicago speak for big, beautiful, glass ceilinged, quiet floor for nothing but the enjoyment of books and reading, and according to the librarian that gave me my brand sparkling new library card (thanks to a letter from Sara whose mailing address proves my residency here), the southern side even gets the best free internet connection. Like I said, Heaven.
Before venturing into the library, I wandered around it a bit while talking on my phone to Apollonia and was pleasantly surprised to find that on building has architecture that is especially designed for the people on the sidewalk underneath it. If you look up while passing under it you will see a bunch of stone faces staring down at you, making funny faces. I don't know who made these wonderful things but I absolutely love their whimsy! Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to follow soon.
Introduction AKA Why I'm Doing Any of This
Hello!
I thought about it for a while and I decided that it just makes sense for me to have a blog. Chicago is a big exciting place and I am going to be having some big exciting adventures and this seems like the best way to inform everyone all at once about what is going on. I hope everyone enjoys!
I thought about it for a while and I decided that it just makes sense for me to have a blog. Chicago is a big exciting place and I am going to be having some big exciting adventures and this seems like the best way to inform everyone all at once about what is going on. I hope everyone enjoys!
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