I'm settling into my second full day of having nothing to do.
But that's a lie: I've got tons of things to do. Mostly cleaning, lots of cleaning. So much of it to do. Car, room, apartment.
I have much to do, but have not really been able to motivate myself to do them.
I feel like that's alright.
I'm going to take a couple of days to settle in.
I've been oddly stressed lately, for some reason, I've been unable to be happy or feel confident about the future or anything really.
So I'm taking a few mental health days to breathe.

Tonight we're going to the midnight showing of the new Star Trek movie. (Lame). The boys are excited, though, and Emily and I can't help but agree to go.

PARKS

(this picture goes along with my story about my filmmaking adventure. this is the bag of unidentified white substance.
BELOW-
you may not be able to tell, but this a picture of scary crack needles)


Summer officially started for me today at 2pm.
My film final was a stretch. I took on the role of chief editor, which I liked very much, and in total we spent more than 15 hours working on the post-production of the film alone.
The parameters of the film were this:
short, Chicago-based film with less than three(ish) speakers.

And so I joined on with the group that I had worked with previously. Laura, a senior, is one of the editors of the Loyola Phoenix (newspaper), and Andre, a Polish student studying abroad for kicks.
We went to various locations throughout Chicago, including some rather interesting places. I don't spend much time west of Clark St. in Chicago, which basically means that I'm spending most of time on the very East side of the city. The northeast side, essentially, since I live in the northernmost neighborhood inside the city limits.
We went down to the far southwest side (I may have mentioned this previously) to Douglas Park. There, we saw the startling juxtaposition of raw, earthly beauty with the stark concrete inner city. The gas stations were all cluttered, crowded, dirty, small and all boasted a thick wall of bulletproof glass. There were no holes with which anyone would be able to reach a hand through to access the clerks.
On the corner, a crowd of twenty-somethings gathered. They stared us down as we walked past them, pale strangers stark against their landscape.
The park was beautiful, walkways, a lake, a small river, a bridge, signs tagged by local gangs, mostly the Bloods. I jokingly tell my companions that I can make the Blood gang sign (I can, but not easily. It's an awkward attempt, always), and they quickly shush me back into awed silence. The we're looking at says "Blood Town" although it's a bad attempt at territorial marking, and to my untrained eye, says "Blood Iowa."
We make a hasty exit, but not before we've stopped by the banks of this serene lake to see the needles scattered on the ground, little colored tops sticking out, marking their location. I step on a leaf and uncover a small (gram-sized) bag containing some unidentified white substance.
I was engrossed in my exploration of this place, so stunningly beautiful and yet so terribly realistic of the city, that they had to pull me away.
The other park, also on the South Side, but more to the east, near the lake, was beautiful. It reminded me of Denver almost. A path winding through a field, except that in Chicago, there is water everywhere. Puddles in the path reflect the trees ad the sky above. A little family of ducks swims up the river, right through my shot. Perfect.
Grant Park, in the South Loop, near where Hunter and Coupe go to school, is always beautiful. You'll recognize that name as the place where Obama celebrated his election, the place near where my beloved "Bean" sits, and where the city falls in love with art and itself all at once.

The project took forever and the five minute result is nice. You'll see it as soon as I can find a way to transfer the media online or until someone sends me the youtube link.


Have a wonderful evening!
Happy Cinco de Mayo.

I'm starting a new blog, a different focus. Think resume builder. Since I don't have a job right now, other than my meager earnings at babysitting (which are on the decline), I'm focusing my efforts on my writing, my as yet uncreated romance novel, and my volunteer efforts.
Think graduate school potential increase. All of this spare time will lead me to de-stress (sort of) and to let me flex my creative and volunteering muscles.
More info on that later. It'll be a place-based blog, with Chicago stories, traveling stories, etc.