"Are you looking forward to going home?"
I sorta have an entry going that recaps all the goo-reat stuff that has gone on since I last journaled, but the problem is that I never can seem to journal up to the present date. I've been so busy, and as Simone advised, I've been journaling less b/c I'm enjoying the moment more (not like I didn't before, but I've been having a "eh, I'll journal later -- I'd rather do this fun thing instead" mindset recently). I've been trying to "cherish the moment" and the fact that I'm still here in Chicago (I was in that mindset when I was in college and living in Loftus), but it's so hard to do that when you're trying to cherish your everyday life. It's easier to wish for those days after they're over (or when you go home for a visit).
I don't think it's hit me that I'm leaving here in a little more than a week. Even though my room has been pretty bare since my parents' visit out here and even though I've had to say bye to a few of the people that I see on a quasi-regular basis, it still hasn't clicked that I'm going back to NY life really soon. As I've been saying for awhile (and I'm too lazy to see if I mentioned this in any previous journal entries), my current life is measured in Tuesdays. I go to the shelter on Tuesdays (so it's been like, I have x-number of weeks left at the shelter), I leave Chicago on a Tuesday, and I leave for Charleston on a Tuesday.
People ask if I'm excited about going back. I'm looking forward to:
1) seeing my friends
2) having my party
3) [partially looking forward to] getting all my stuff sorted out (the continuation of my total room cleanout from last summer)
4) using my car again, except for the fact that I think my gas costs at home are higher than my mass-transit and gas-reimbursement costs here
However, I'm not looking forward to:
1) having my "do my own thing" routine disrupted by 3-5 dogs (even though I live where I work, I'm basically responsible for my own self and don't have to worry about dogs constantly barking, messing up the furniture, or having to let them in and out -- you have no idea how annoying it is to being woken up by barking dogs or dogs that paw at you to let them out, esp. if you haven't had to worry about that for awhile)
2) having EVERYTHING being covered in dog hair (and mind you, the dog hair strands are multi-colored, so it's not like you can hide them by wearing dark or light clothes -- I'd have to wear clothes that have a funky brown/white/black mixed up design to partially hide the hairs)
3) relying on dial-up (we have DSL or cable here)
4) sharing a room again because:
a) I like how I can currently stay up to whenever doing whatever in my room w\ the music playing (since my ghetto walkman stereo isn't loud enough to be heard through the walls) -- since Kath has a camp job, she needs to go to bed earlier than my usual 2am
b) it wouldn't be so bad if my sister and I didn't each have so much stuff -- hopefully it'll get more cleared out once I do some cleaning
5) actually having to go out to hang out w\ my friends -- even if I'm just sitting around here and talking w\ my fellow volunteers, it's still pretty fun
6) having to rely on one washer and one dryer to get my laundry done -- we have two of each upstairs and three of each downstairs, so I can basically do my laundry whenever I want, get a good amount of it done all at once, have it be close to wherever I am so I can hear when it's done (rather than having to go down into the basement to check on it every so often), and not having the cycles take so long
7) missing out on all the fun free things that Chicago has going on -- I gotta look into what New Rochelle has, although it can't be nearly as much as Chicago -- I can't afford to pay the $4+ that it costs EACH WAY to get myself into Manhattan (it usually costs me anywhere from $1.80 to $3.60 for a round-trip to go somewhere in Chicago, incl. if I have to make transfers along the way)
It's only for 7 weeks, and I'm sure it'll fly by pretty quickly, but still, in answer to the "are you looking forward to going back?" question, the answer is that I'm sad about leaving my Chicago lifestyle and friends, looking forward to the social/friends parts of being home, but really looking forward to what Charleston has in store for me!
I don't think it's hit me that I'm leaving here in a little more than a week. Even though my room has been pretty bare since my parents' visit out here and even though I've had to say bye to a few of the people that I see on a quasi-regular basis, it still hasn't clicked that I'm going back to NY life really soon. As I've been saying for awhile (and I'm too lazy to see if I mentioned this in any previous journal entries), my current life is measured in Tuesdays. I go to the shelter on Tuesdays (so it's been like, I have x-number of weeks left at the shelter), I leave Chicago on a Tuesday, and I leave for Charleston on a Tuesday.
People ask if I'm excited about going back. I'm looking forward to:
1) seeing my friends
2) having my party
3) [partially looking forward to] getting all my stuff sorted out (the continuation of my total room cleanout from last summer)
4) using my car again, except for the fact that I think my gas costs at home are higher than my mass-transit and gas-reimbursement costs here
However, I'm not looking forward to:
1) having my "do my own thing" routine disrupted by 3-5 dogs (even though I live where I work, I'm basically responsible for my own self and don't have to worry about dogs constantly barking, messing up the furniture, or having to let them in and out -- you have no idea how annoying it is to being woken up by barking dogs or dogs that paw at you to let them out, esp. if you haven't had to worry about that for awhile)
2) having EVERYTHING being covered in dog hair (and mind you, the dog hair strands are multi-colored, so it's not like you can hide them by wearing dark or light clothes -- I'd have to wear clothes that have a funky brown/white/black mixed up design to partially hide the hairs)
3) relying on dial-up (we have DSL or cable here)
4) sharing a room again because:
a) I like how I can currently stay up to whenever doing whatever in my room w\ the music playing (since my ghetto walkman stereo isn't loud enough to be heard through the walls) -- since Kath has a camp job, she needs to go to bed earlier than my usual 2am
b) it wouldn't be so bad if my sister and I didn't each have so much stuff -- hopefully it'll get more cleared out once I do some cleaning
5) actually having to go out to hang out w\ my friends -- even if I'm just sitting around here and talking w\ my fellow volunteers, it's still pretty fun
6) having to rely on one washer and one dryer to get my laundry done -- we have two of each upstairs and three of each downstairs, so I can basically do my laundry whenever I want, get a good amount of it done all at once, have it be close to wherever I am so I can hear when it's done (rather than having to go down into the basement to check on it every so often), and not having the cycles take so long
7) missing out on all the fun free things that Chicago has going on -- I gotta look into what New Rochelle has, although it can't be nearly as much as Chicago -- I can't afford to pay the $4+ that it costs EACH WAY to get myself into Manhattan (it usually costs me anywhere from $1.80 to $3.60 for a round-trip to go somewhere in Chicago, incl. if I have to make transfers along the way)
It's only for 7 weeks, and I'm sure it'll fly by pretty quickly, but still, in answer to the "are you looking forward to going back?" question, the answer is that I'm sad about leaving my Chicago lifestyle and friends, looking forward to the social/friends parts of being home, but really looking forward to what Charleston has in store for me!