I just wanted to share two moments I witnessed on the way home this evening.
Moment one: A boy of no more than eight, sound asleep against his mother on the train. Out cold, as only little kids can sleep. His family got off at my stop. They started trying to wake him at the stop before. His eyes were closed and he was sagging against his father as they headed up the aisle to the door. I’m not sure he was awake when we all got off the train.
Moment two: One of the local businesses was having karaoke. As I left the station and headed home, I heard a man performing a rap version of Enye’s Sail Away. He did it quite well, but I can’t imagine an arrangement further from the original sense of the song. Made me laugh.
It’s a perfect night here. Perfect.

I have spent the last two days working on a project I’m late with. I was supposed to send it off mid-month, but I spent several days stymied. I would look at the pieces, move them around on my table, think, make considering noises and then go away again. Despite needing to mail them last week. Nothing I could come up with was right.
Then yesterday, or maybe it was the day before–I don’t know, they’re all running together in my head at this point–I had the urge to pull out the spray paint. I’ve been avoiding it since I moved in here because, well, my back porch isn’t really my back porch right now, if you catch my drift. However, I’d set aside an extra large moving box just for that purpose, and when the cravings were overwhelming, I pulled out the box, taped it together and headed onto the back porch with my art, stencils and spraypaints. The air was still and the box was a fantastic spray booth. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
Once I started spraypainting, I couldn’t stop. The ideas just kept coming, which was fantastic. I’d begun to fear they were gone forever. That I would spend the rest of my life being stuck because I couldn’t start anything new until this project was done, and I couldn’t figure out how to finish the pieces.
Now I’m just waiting for the final two to dry so I can add the last little bits. They I’ll scan them and send them off. And I’ll post the pics here so you can see them too. But not ’til they’re finished.
It’s taking them forever to dry.
Anyway, that’s what I did today. Art. And laundry. I was running out of dish towels, so I also did laundry. And dishes. Several times. Because that’s my life now. Dish washing. I have a bunch in the sink that I need to get to before I go to bed, as a matter of fact. (Late dinner, followed by laundry folding, so I haven’t got to the last of tonight’s dishes yet.)
And now I’m yawning, so it must be time to do the dishes so I can go to bed.
Makes perfect sense, Right?

Even though today is a good day to do laundry and take out the garbage, it may be an even better day to flop about on the couch and watch movies.

Suddenly and without warning, my life filled up. And I don’t even have a job yet. Mind you, a large part of yesterday’s schedule was spent in looking for a job. Hopefully, that time will soon be taken up by actual job having, which I find preferable to looking if only because looking doesn’t offer a paycheck.
But I also spent a chunk of my time yesterday figuring out schedules for working with actors on dialect stuff for a show that begins rehearsals in a couple of weeks. And grocery shopping. And worrying about the sick cat. (Who is vastly improved over yesterday, thank God. She’s 18. We never know when this is the thing that’s going to be the last thing, if you know what I mean.)
However, the majority of my time was spent looking for job postings. After several hours of hunting, I found eight that I both qualified for and would be interested in. Sigh. Though as Dave pointed out to me in our nightly phone conversation, my job is most likely going to come to me the way all of my jobs do, through someone who knows me. I have never yet got a job I applied for right off the bat. Never. Any long-term, permanent-type position I have ever had, including teaching, came about because someone either got to know me while I was temping or interning and liked the way I worked (and the fact that I actually did the work, that makes a big impression on people), or because someone who already knew what I could do either hired me to fill a need or told someone else about me and I got a gig that way.
Oh. I lie. My first teaching job, my TA-ship, was through an application. I had a phone interview and got hired from that and my resume. That is the only one, though, aside from the summer pizza and telemarketing gigs, in my 20+ years of employability.
So. Anybody who knows me and knows what I can do know someone who needs me?
Yesterday, I spoke with someone who clearly needs me, but her (dis-)organization is in another state, and waaay-ay-ay too far away for me to even consider commuting to. But to prove my point, let me give you the transcription of our telephone conversation.
SALLY: (Dials Professional Organization’s phone number as posted on their website.)
P.O.: Hello?
SALLY: Hello. Um. Is this the Professional Organization?
P.O.: Oh! Yes.
SALLY: A couple of weeks ago, I sent you a check and a registration form for an event. I was wondering if you’d got them.
P.O.: What’s the name?
SALLY: (Assuming P.O. is looking up her name on the registration list.) Sally Long-Hyphenated-Name. Spelled. L-o-n-g hyphen N-a-m-e.
P.O.: Oh. I don’t recall any hyphenated names on the list.
SALLY: ???
P.O.: But I’m checking the Post Office Box this afternoon. Why don’t you call back in a couple of days?
SALLY: Um.
P.O.: There are only 12 people signed up so far, so you shouldn’t worry.
SALLY: Um.
P.O.: Anything else?
SALLY: Um. No. Thank you. I’ll call back in a couple of days. (Hangs up. Texts Dave. Asks him to see whether or not the check has cleared. It has. With Professional Organization’s stamp in the endorsement box.)
Those people? They need me. If I was in their office, they would be able to find everything quickly and easily. They would have charts and schedules and files and cross-referenced explanations and lists of what has been done and when and what the next step is and procedural manuals and notification forms for registrants and good refreshments at their events. Their guest presenters would have complete schedules for their visits and updated weather reports and maps and anything else they needed.
And I could probably do it in 10-15 hours a week. Which would leave me free to do the same for another organization who needed me. And if they paid me $15/hr, it would still be cheap, because they wouldn’t have to pay me benefits and they wouldn’t have to spend their own time trying to sort through everything because it would all be right there at their fingertips.
So. How do I find the people here who need me?

Not in the sense that I’m terribly depressed. Just that it’s a deeply overcast could rain at any moment, David returned to Moscow yesterday, one of the cats is sick, I have to start looking for a job now kind of day.
Last week was lovely. Dave flew in for my birthday and spent three and a half glorious days here. We ate amazing food (Uncommon Ground, Over Easy Cafe, Leona’s, OH MY GOD the food in this city is amazing). We visited the Museum of Contemporary Art, where I got to see Dave come face to face with Picasso’s The Old Guitarist, which is one of his favorite paintings. We went to Ikea for the first time, bought some dressers and he built them for me. He also installed wireless, so I am now lying on the couch instead of sitting at my desk as I type this.
The weather was wonderful too. Sunny, slightly breezy, perfect temperatures. That shifted yesterday morning as we headed for the airport. It was lightly overcast then. When I stepped out after noon to head to a production meeting, I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but the skies were getting darker and a cold-ish wind was blowing. Amazingly enough, despite the weather getting greyer and colder and greyer and colder as the afternoon progressed, I made it all the way home before the rain hit. And once it started raining yesterday, it just didn’t stop. It paused a couple of times, but it didn’t stop.
Today is dark. Usually at this time of day there has been sunlight streaming in my bedroom window. The light this morning makes me want to turn on every single lamp and fixture in the house, to have it all BLAZING with light to dispel the gloom. This is definitely the kind of day where you want to stay inside and have fires and cocoa.
(I just lit some candles in the living room. Soy candles in small Mason jars. I made them myself, tinted purple and yellow and green with crayons and shavings from other candles. They burn FOREVER. Somehow those tiny flames help it feel just a bit brighter in here. Don’t ask me how. Though the coffee may be helping as well.)
Other lovely things about the past few days:
The production meeting went well. The director really likes the approach I’m taking with dialects and accents, so that’s fun, and the sound designer was looking at some of the same issues I was. Which I suppose is not surprising, given that we’re both about the noises happening on stage and how they support the storytelling. So I’ve sent emails out to the actors with important information and a meeting request. I’m looking forward to getting to work.
As I said earlier, we went to Ikea on Saturday and bought dressers. Big dressers. Because there isn’t much in the way of built-in storage here, I’ve been living out of the boxes I packed my clothes in, which translates into wearing the same five t-shirts over and over and over. But thanks to the Ikea trip and Dave’s unending patience, that’s changed.
Because I have So. Much. Stuff, we ended up buying two dressers instead of just one, and I think my clothes will all fit. Dave spent much of Saturday afternoon putting dresser #1 together while I transplanted my birthday gifts from my parents. They sent me some money, I–OF COURSE–used it for plants. I spent $80 on a spider plant, a chamaedorea, a lavender plant, three good-sized terra cotta pots, three plastic bases and some potting soil. And so I repotted all the new family members and also repotted the oregano and basil plants (that I started from seeds and brought all the way from Idaho) into larger pots. They were just outgrowing the tiny pots they were in, now they should be much happier and get lots bigger.
So now I have some lovely growing things in the living room and bedroom along with the kitchen. And I feel like I need more. I have a gift card that I got as a reward for using Rent.com to find my apartment. I was going to spend it on art supplies. But maybe a couple more plants?
But back to Saturday. After dinner at Leona’s (Dave loves their food, as I knew he would), I unpacked and broke down the boxes while he assembled dresser #2. It’s not completely full–unlike stuffed to to bursting dresser #1–but there is also one box of clothing left in the bedroom. We were using it as a bedside table for Dave. I’ll have to unpack it and make a bit more order from the higgledy-piggledy, “I want to go to bed now, let’s just shove all this in this drawer” mess I made of dresser #2. But it should all fit.
So now I have plants and clothes, and if I only also had Dave here full-time, I think things would be pretty close to perfect.
The one thing I don’t have is a job. Well, I don’t have a job and I don’t have any acting lined up. Given that I haven’t exactly been searching for either, perhaps that’s not as surprising as it might otherwise be. Today, though, that changes. Today I start searching for both. Actively searching, making it my primary focus, unlike what I’d been doing, which was applying for interesting things here and there and seeing if anything stuck. Now, I start printing out resumes and CVs and writing letters and emails and really working to find work. I brush up my audition pieces and print copies of my headshot and start pestering the local theatre companies until someone decides to hire me for that stuff. And maybe I also start excercising for real and on purpose, like possibly running and doing yoga in the living room, thought we don’t want to go overboard.
I am trying to do all this in moderation. Yes, I need a job. And yes, I need to start acting again. But I also need to not go overboard with things as I tend to do. So the plan for today is to do a bunch of job hunting and apply for a few things and see what auditions I can sign up for for this coming week. I’m giving myself a minimum of three job applications and one audition. And then I’m going to do the dishes and shower and hit the Museum of Chicago History because it’s free today and that seems like a nice reward.

I heard back from the people at Baja Discovery:

Actually, the lagoon communities did not suffer any major damage. The hurricane winds died down a bit and turned inland, so the direct hit they were expecting was lessened a great deal.
Other areas in Baja were hit much harder and I know there were large sections of road and several bridges that were damaged, not mention many people who lost homes. I don’t know of any organizations asking for money or assistance, but I can do some checking and if I come across anything I will let you know.

I’m glad to know that the communities that have touched my life were spared the worst, but my heart still aches for those who lost everything.

In February of 2001, Dave and I went on a magical adventure. We spent a legacy from my grandmother to visit the friendly whales of the Laguna San Ignacio. California Grey Whales go to the laguna every year to mate and calve, and in 1972, began physically interacting with human beings. I had wanted to visit the Laguna ever since I heard about it, and since Dave said I had to spend that legacy in a way that honored the spirit of my grandmother, that’s where we went.
It’s one of the most awesome experiences… There are not words, frankly, for how it feels to touch a whale.
We went with Baja Discovery, an organization that is still around, who I cannot recommend highly enough. I also worked on a sea turtle recovery program with them near Cabo San Lucas in September of 2002. They’re good people.
Last night, I was wondering about the sea turtle recovery program and how it fared after Hurricane Jimena and discovered that while Cabo was spared, the central coast of Baja, Baja Sur, was not. According to this article,

Following Jimena’s path, Punta Abreojos village and Laguna San Ignacio (whale park) took a direct hit by Jimena’s eye wall as a Category 2 hurricane. Shari Bondi in the Pacific coast fishing village of Bahia Asuncion reported that her village fared well but that Abreojos village and San Ignacio Lagoon were badly damaged.

And this article has more information and pictures.
My heart breaks for the people of San Ignacio. While we were there, we toured their community oyster farm and packing plant. These people have nothing. They live in shacks. Their greatest income is from the tourists who come to visit the whales. The pangeros, the boat drivers, don’t get to see their families much during whale watching season. They’re out at the camps–45 minutes to an hour away by boat–and their wives and children stay home.
As an additional source of income, the village built a plant to grow and harvest oysters. The men worked the oyster beds, the women worked the plant, cleaning and packaging the oysters. And because this is just the way they do things there, everyone worked part-time so that everyone could work. It’s about the community, not about individual gain.
And now that village has been flattened by the worst part of Hurricane Jimena.
I badly want to do something for these people. They took care of us while we were there, cooked for us, cleaned for us, took us out in the pangas. They are lovely, kind, warm, funny, hardworking people, and what little they had is gone. I could give to the Red Cross, their Mexican arm is working very hard right now to provide necessary supplies to people throughout Baja Sur, but that wouldn’t necessarily get to San Ignacio, which is specifically where I want my help to go. Having met them, having been touched by them, I feel responsible to them. So I’m looking into it. I’ll be getting in touch with the people at Baja Discovery, to see if they have any thoughts or ideas.
There are 35,000 people in central Baja, on both sides of the peninsula, without homes, food, water, electricity. Highway One is washed out in many places. Dirt runways have been destroyed, so that the main source of assistance is gone for many of these villages. Desalination plants were also ruined by the hurricane, so that many people are also without drinking water. Baja Sur is a desert between mountains and ocean, there are very few sources of fresh water. And it wasn’t just the Pacific side that got nailed, Jimena managed to also wreak destruction and havoc along the Sea of Cortez.
The point is, many, many people down there are struggling to survive right now. Good people, friendly, loving, generous people. In my two visits to Baja, I was fortunate to meet only wonderful human beings. Human beings whose lives are now in far worse shape than they were before when they already had very little. Now, they have nothing. So if you are moved to help, if you can help, please do something for the people of Baja Sur.
You can make a donation to the Red Cross.
If you live in southern California. Baja Bush Pilots and the Flying Samartians are flying emergency supplies in to various parts of the affected area. For a list of needed items and dropoff points, go to this article and scroll to the bottom. I know it doesn’t say so on the list, but I’d think some crayons and paper and colored pencils and sports equipment and nail polish wouldn’t go amiss, either. Morale boosters can do a lot for people in difficult situations.
I don’t have any clever or insightful ways to wrap this up. Just a request for your assistance. The media pretty much forgot about Jimena once they knew our vacation playground was spared. But there are many, many people in Baja who need the help desperately. Please do what you can.

It’s my birthday.
They’re FINALLY paving the street outside my house.
Dave gets into town late this afternoon. I cannot WAIT to see him.
I’m gonna go have brunch with my friend Heather.
(With whom I am going to see EDDIE IZZARD in January. WooooooT!)

I haven’t posted here in the past few days because I’ve been running about the city and getting the house together. Also, doing some art. (Though I’m stuck now and not sure what to do next with the pieces I’m working on.)
Anyway, as promised, I took my camera with me on my adventures around the city Sunday and Monday, and I’ve got a few shots to share with you.

The skyline from Grant Park
I went to the Celtic Festival for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon. It was fairly meh, though I suspect that has a great deal to do with my getting there around 4:30pm on the final day. Many of the events had finished, there was some music, but really, the majority of stuff had already gone. However, I did get to hear a lovely Irish band called Slide. They have a fiddle player who just can’t help himself and bounces around the stage like a madman when he’s really getting into it.
Anyway, that’s where I took the above photo.
Then, because I had the time and because I really feel like I need to get to know this city better, I spent about an hour just walking downtown, trying to get things to connect on the map in my head so I can start to be a bit more familiar with locations. In my perambulations, I came across this.

It’s a lovely mosaic, but one wonders about the wisdom of putting the Icarus legend on a skyscraper. Joke or warning?
Then yesterday (Monday) I went to City Hall to get my parking sticker. It’s a stunning building, a full city block, and just beautiful on the inside. The process wasn’t nearly the ordeal I’d feared, and I even remembered to put the sticker on the windshield of the car once I got home.
The point of my story, however, is that after I went to City Hall, I walked to the museum campus and toured the Field Museum of Natural History. Just so you know, the second Monday of every month is free basic admission thanks to Target. There was no way I was missing an opportunity to get in for free, and I took full advantage. I was in that building for about five hours. And since I saw the pay extra Pirates! exhibit and also had lunch in there, they got their money’s worth from me. Expect a Chicagosity post about my “Field” trip soon. AHAHAHAhaha. Ahem.
So after I visited the Field, I headed out for the Red Line Roosevelt stop. And on the way, I discovered this:

The piece is called Agora, and I don’t recall the artist’s name. Isn’t it stunning? It’s a bit of a trip to walk through, I must say. I do wish, however, that I’d had the patience to wait until the guy in the orange shirt got done getting his photo taken there. In my defence, I was tired, I was hungry and my feet hurt. I had walked for miles, both inside the museum and out of it.
I love living in a place where thought-provoking imagery seems to lurk around most corners.