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Rhubarb, Spinach, Cabbage!
Hey there, blog, how are you? I haven’t updated here in a while. Let’s just say that I’ve been busy keeping my toes warm, learning to knit, and setting up my online shop on etsy.
Last night we rode up to Devon Ave.
(Here, one travelling eastward will encounter, in succession, an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, a Russian-American neighborhood, an Indian neighborhood, a Pakistani neighborhood, and a Bangladeshi neighborhood.)
Sans bicycle, traveling to Devon is kind of a pain in the ass. You can either take a bus that goes far north or take the red line and then the bus. However, bicycling takes about 20 minutes from our house. We went to an amazing vegetarian restaurant, uru swati.
After biking at night in 45 degree windy weather, I am now a believer in the three layer method. That is, a wicking base layer, an insulating layer, and a wind-proof/waterproof layer. Last night I had these layers on my upper body and was perfectly warm. My hands however, were cold because I don’t have windproof gloves. Apparently, you should apply the three layer method to your hands and feet as well with glove and sock liners as the wicking layer, wool socks and wool lined gloves for insulation, and then boots and windproof coated gloves. The insulating layer can be adjusted for colder temperatures.
Friday night we got rained on during critical mass and my stegosaurus costume that I worked so hard on got completely soaked. I had to wring out my spiked dinosaur tail when I made it to a friends house in Pilsen. Then I biked home in more cold rain while wearing my friend’s flannel cupcake pajama pants, soccer cleats and chicago bears hoodie. I hauled ass from Pilsen to Logan Square in order to work up a sweat and keep my body warm. Now I am suffering from that poor decision with a head cold. I’m trying to doctor my body with pu-erh and manchego hashbrowns. Perhaps I should have taken my bike on the train to get home. Live and learn.
This is a photo of a person biking in the Chicago winter (this is what I have to look forward to):
We took the Metra to Harvard, IL and then biked to Williams Bay, WI. We picked apples at an apple orchard, drank apple cider and ate apple doughnuts. It was magical. And strange. Click on the link below to see where we traveled. We went everywhere on bicycle. More bike tours are in our future. Autumn in rural Wisconsin is stellar.
I got super duper promoted at work. The experience that I will gain from this new position is invaluable and it directly relates to the kind of work I want to do for the rest of my life. I would be a fool to pass on the offer. All of that being said, I feel a little weird about not applying to grad school this Winter. I’ve put so much thought into doing the process right and building my portfolio. And that work isn’t lost, it’s just on hold while I work on sustainable transportation issues in the city.
So, now that I have my sweet promotion and am no longer working 50+ hours a week, I am taking a vacation! Patrick and I are taking the Metra to Harvard and then riding our bikes to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We have a cabin by the lake reserved for the weekend. Glory be.
The whole point of this blog is to keep my various projects focused. Here’s the next big project: Applying to Grad School! It’s a project that has been going on for some time, since I’ve been taking art classes to prepare my portfolio. For the next few months I will put most of my project energy into the Grad school application process.
Now it’s time for me to seriously take the GRE. I took the GRE during my last year at New College, but I didn’t prepare for it except reading over how the test is organized and scored. I’m scheduled to take the GRE at the end of October. I’ve got a little over two months to prepare. No big deal, the GRE isn’t that important for M. Arch. applicants anyway. However, me being the compulsive over-achiever that I am, I want to rip the GRE a new one and this is my chance.
So that I can keep all of this straight, here are the schools I’m applying to, their deadlines and programs:
UIC Feb. 1st Master’s in Architecture- Green Urbanism
IIT Jan 15th Master’s in Landscape Architecture
UC Berkeley Jan. 5th Master’s in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
SAIC Feb 1st Master’s in Architecture
MIT Dec. 15th Master’s in Architecture and Urbanism
RISD ? not yet posted Master’s in Landscape Architecture
Those last two are my dream schools, and the first three are my top choices. SAIC is kind of stuck in there just because it’s a good school and located in Chicago. UIC is definitely my #1 because I could get in-state tuition and it’s Architecture program is one of the best.
When October rolls around, I’m going to try to work less so that I can spend more time pulling my applications together. Whew. I can do this.
Class went really well today. My instructor gave me excellent advice (again) about how to have an “organic artistic process”. I really like that he is so conceptual. It is very encouraging for the infant artist. I don’t like calling myself an artist, but I guess that’s what is happening if I’m taking classes at the School of the Art Institute and drawing and painting on a regular basis. Yeah, ok. Sure, I’ll call myself an artist- a life artist. Hah.
And how shall I begin?
Yesterday I rode my bike 32 miles after replacing the rear inner tube.
I’ve been so busy my head won’t stop spinning. I can’t even keep track of my life anymore. My activities are all in my google calendar. If it isn’t there, I don’t know about it. It’s when I’m really busy that I become absent minded. I haven’t even responded to emails from my friends.
The drawing/painting studio class started on Tuesday. My instructor is critical, but still encouraging. He gave me the best advice about my work, “I want to see you create the places in your mind on paper.” He opened up some doors for me with that one comment. I think I’m going to really excel in that class- grow in different ways, expand my repertoire. More on that later.
I’m tempted to give a laundry list of all the shit I’ve been doing, but I don’t think that would be productive. Instead, I will just say that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. Now I’m off to the park to draw for a few hours and then to a block party…….
As Junior Senior says,
“Don’t stop, (don’t stop) don’t stop, the beat
I can’t stop, (can’t stop) can’t stop the beat
I won’t stop, (won’t stop) won’t stop the beat
And GO!”
Thursday after work, a friend took me on the Bloomingdale trail. I’ve blogged about the trail before, and I’ve wanted to go on it for a very long time. It was more beautiful than I had imagined. We walked from Western to a few blocks past Damen. I randomly ran into a friend having a picnic with other people on the train tracks. This city feels so small sometimes. The tracks are mostly covered over with flowers and vines. Bombus and Apis abound! There must be hives up there. I hope that one day I will be involved in designing and building a similar project that transforms unused space into green space for biking and walking.
I saw Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (T.M.L.M.T.B.G.B) on Friday, a show that has been put on by the Neo-Futurists for almost twenty years. Patrick, Andrew and I all saw it for the first time and I can’t believe it took us 9 months to go see the show! We ran into Andrew’s friend from high school- small town, I’m telling you- who had also never seen the show. The premise is that they perform 30 plays in one hour with the order of the plays picked by the audience members. The audience is given a menu of play titles and corresponding numbers. When the performers say “curtain” to announce the end of a play, the audience yells out numbers and the performers jump up and grab whatever number they hear first.
Admittance to the show is $7 + the roll of a dye. Depending on your luck, you could pay anywhere from eight to thirteen dollars!
They do not adhere to the fourth wall, so they interact with the audience and respond to the audience in a very honest way. The shows on Friday and Saturday start at 11:30pm-making the play a very nice bar alternative. There aren’t many things going on in the later hours other than bars, parties, concerts and art shows (listen to me, I’m so spoiled after living in the city). Most free outdoor movies and concerts start by 8pm. If you live in Chicago and are looking for something fun to do on a Friday or Saturday, go see T.M.L.M.T.B.G.B. It’s worth the $8-$13.
On our way to dinner at Andies, I ran into my drawing teacher (again I randomly run into someone I know). He was coming from the Lights Out art show at Las Manos Gallery. We decided to go to the show after dinner. There were mobiles-excuse me, I mean “kinetic art”- lamps, paintings, and doll houses made into mounted wall lights.
After the art show and play, Patrick and I biked back home. I went over the Damen bridge for the first time. I had seen it from the Fullerton bus, and read about it in Chicago Architecture books, but I had never actually traveled over it before. The bridge was designed by J. Muller International, a firm that designs bridges and viaducts exclusively. The red steel beams illuminated at night make that bridge captivating- it’s modern and sleek compared to the nearby hot dog factory. The bridge marks the beginning of the real city- suddenly the loop skyscrapers are in front of you as you leave the north side neighborhoods. Bridges have been a metaphor for my life recently. I think about them a lot when I’m biking- pedal hard for 500 feet before the incline, downshift and continue to pedal fast up the bridge, enjoy 3 seconds of greatness, and then shift back to the hard gear and pedal with all your guts down the bridge. The key to biking fast up a bridge is to put the work in before you even hit the incline and use the momentum to climb the hill. Bridges in the city both divide and merge neighborhoods.
Each bridge is a transition point and an opportunity for success.
