Saturday, June 11, 2005
If you can't take the heat (and you don't have AC) get out of your apartment as much as you can.
Hey thanks all for responding to my frustration that I was offering all these worldly insights and no one was commenting. I actually starting this blog in 2002, and posted an average of once every 8 months when I wanted a more cyberspace version of talking to a wall. I would not have started posting every now and then if it wasn't for Amy telling me she had a blog a few months ago. Because of that, I know the responsibility is on my shoulders to post something worth others commenting on, but I don't necessarily want to change the content of what I write to appeal to anyone other than myself. So that's my dilemma, and I've done enough grandstanding for thinking I have more than an audience of like 3 or 4 people, so moving on.
Even though I've resisted the attempt to get on a soapbox on this blog about how I'll all by myself in Chicago, Amy in a comment seemed to pick up on how all these great Chicago events that I'm recollecting involve me enjoying them alone.
Well, it's not a big deal, but for the record in order for future Jonahs questioning their likability, a fellow intern / coworker Aleksandra (interesting name, huh, she's from Poland!) invited me along last night after work to hang out at the Chicago Blues Festival. Having company is nice for those things except when you have to yell over the music to talk. I get a sore throat very quickly when I do that, although when I was at a loud bar for an afterwork get-together to say goodbye to the intern I replaced, I noticed that my voice carried well over the crowd without too much strain if I talked in a particular nasal register. Anyway, as is the case with things that are pleasant, there's nothing much more to add, other than it was nice to do stuff with somebody, especially since I was going to go the Blues Fest anyway, it just didn't register in my mind that I had enough of a rapport with anyone here yet to invite them to come along. There are advantages to doing some things on your own, the prime one being that you create and alter your own schedule at your own will.
Today was very eventful. I was to a new shul (synagogue you Gentiles) on the north fringe of Chicago. Other than the shuls along the Lake directly east and through very congested roads, this one was the second closest to my neighborhood. This Shabbat morning, the congregation was 1) much older than me, 2) the services were held in a basement chapel and not the main sancturary, and 3) it was a no-frills stick-to-the-prayerbook service. In other words its like most other non-Chicago Midwest synagogues I've attended, so it was very familiar. And the people that were below 55 were very happy to see some fellow younguns attend and introduced themselves to me and made me feel very welcome, which is what happens when you go to small synagogues. Inactive congregations have lots and lots of drawbacks, but that's one feature that makes attending them worthwhile. Although there was no one from age 20-40 there, the rabbi said he was putting together a young adult service in the future. I ended up passing of two of my business cards (don't think I'm all high and mighty, I got a discount from school), a record so far for any professional or social function.
The Blues fest was still going on this weekend, but that huge tourist-attracting event isn't enough for Chicago, no sirree. There was a large Book Fair which I attended but didn't buy anything, and then I decided to take a new (for me) CTA train line up to a Swedish heritage neighborhood called Andersonville, where there was your average weekly festival in Chicago with tons of tents, food, and stages with performers.
I have to mention this very funny/tragic thing. Andersonville borders or partially contains what is the most active and very visible gay community in Chicago. About a third or more of the crowd was noticably gay. Of all the types of vendors or organizational tents that you could imagine finding there, what would be the obviously most absurd and pointless given that gay people are everywhere? How about a U.S. Army info tent? Yep they were there. Now if you've been following the news you know that the military is falling tremendously short on their recruiting goals, so maybe they thought they have to show up everywhere to get that one recruit, even if they are wearing black leather shorts oddly tight for an American born-and-bred heterosexual. Still, I overheard some gay guys saying it was unusual that they were there.
On the other hand if they have to do blanket recruitment efforts at every public shindig (there was a much more elaborate "Army of One" setup at the Blues Fest with... a rapelling wall!!! YAY!) the good thing is that the soldiers manning the tents don't have to be over in Iraq or Afghanistan getting their limbs blown off or worst. So the more recruiters the merrier, regardless or maybe especially, because if their in bad locations and won't yield any results.
Awwww, what a bummer cynical post. :( Happiness will come out sooner or later.
night
Even though I've resisted the attempt to get on a soapbox on this blog about how I'll all by myself in Chicago, Amy in a comment seemed to pick up on how all these great Chicago events that I'm recollecting involve me enjoying them alone.
Well, it's not a big deal, but for the record in order for future Jonahs questioning their likability, a fellow intern / coworker Aleksandra (interesting name, huh, she's from Poland!) invited me along last night after work to hang out at the Chicago Blues Festival. Having company is nice for those things except when you have to yell over the music to talk. I get a sore throat very quickly when I do that, although when I was at a loud bar for an afterwork get-together to say goodbye to the intern I replaced, I noticed that my voice carried well over the crowd without too much strain if I talked in a particular nasal register. Anyway, as is the case with things that are pleasant, there's nothing much more to add, other than it was nice to do stuff with somebody, especially since I was going to go the Blues Fest anyway, it just didn't register in my mind that I had enough of a rapport with anyone here yet to invite them to come along. There are advantages to doing some things on your own, the prime one being that you create and alter your own schedule at your own will.
Today was very eventful. I was to a new shul (synagogue you Gentiles) on the north fringe of Chicago. Other than the shuls along the Lake directly east and through very congested roads, this one was the second closest to my neighborhood. This Shabbat morning, the congregation was 1) much older than me, 2) the services were held in a basement chapel and not the main sancturary, and 3) it was a no-frills stick-to-the-prayerbook service. In other words its like most other non-Chicago Midwest synagogues I've attended, so it was very familiar. And the people that were below 55 were very happy to see some fellow younguns attend and introduced themselves to me and made me feel very welcome, which is what happens when you go to small synagogues. Inactive congregations have lots and lots of drawbacks, but that's one feature that makes attending them worthwhile. Although there was no one from age 20-40 there, the rabbi said he was putting together a young adult service in the future. I ended up passing of two of my business cards (don't think I'm all high and mighty, I got a discount from school), a record so far for any professional or social function.
The Blues fest was still going on this weekend, but that huge tourist-attracting event isn't enough for Chicago, no sirree. There was a large Book Fair which I attended but didn't buy anything, and then I decided to take a new (for me) CTA train line up to a Swedish heritage neighborhood called Andersonville, where there was your average weekly festival in Chicago with tons of tents, food, and stages with performers.
I have to mention this very funny/tragic thing. Andersonville borders or partially contains what is the most active and very visible gay community in Chicago. About a third or more of the crowd was noticably gay. Of all the types of vendors or organizational tents that you could imagine finding there, what would be the obviously most absurd and pointless given that gay people are everywhere? How about a U.S. Army info tent? Yep they were there. Now if you've been following the news you know that the military is falling tremendously short on their recruiting goals, so maybe they thought they have to show up everywhere to get that one recruit, even if they are wearing black leather shorts oddly tight for an American born-and-bred heterosexual. Still, I overheard some gay guys saying it was unusual that they were there.
On the other hand if they have to do blanket recruitment efforts at every public shindig (there was a much more elaborate "Army of One" setup at the Blues Fest with... a rapelling wall!!! YAY!) the good thing is that the soldiers manning the tents don't have to be over in Iraq or Afghanistan getting their limbs blown off or worst. So the more recruiters the merrier, regardless or maybe especially, because if their in bad locations and won't yield any results.
Awwww, what a bummer cynical post. :( Happiness will come out sooner or later.
night
