Chicago- Day One

Here I am friends, and it turns out that there is a wireless connection running through the building, but I don't know who it belongs to, so I am stealing it for now.

I'd like to tell you about my journey here, but I can't now because I wanted to use pictures, only it was too dark to take the right picture last night and I forgot to take the picture today. So instead you will get the details of what happened after I arrived.

Things I did not know before my arrival: 1.) The trains (my backyard) shorten their intervals during the rush hours. At least it is a good wake up. 2.) The person I am replacing ("this person") did not clean before I arrive. Right. So I spent the afternoon cleaning. Dusting and vacuuming with a very old vacuum and trying to feel more comfortable. I have never thought of myself as a clean person. I just thought of myself as a normal person in terms of cleaning habits. In fact, a bit less than normal thanks to my parents constant insistence that the house was fithy or my room was disgusting. But I am finding that I might just be a bit cleaner than most.
Now, to be fair, the areas I am living in were probably not much dirtier than yours or mine are right now. However, when guests are coming over, we all get a little more conscientious of mess and make an effort to make the place look nice. So, it is a bit of a stretch to imagine the person who does not even do that for the guest who will be living in that space. Now imagine that person's bathroom. Yes, that's right. That is what I spent the evening cleaning. I can understand why he is still single.

And earlier in the day, I helped this person move extra boxes and other things that he needed to get to storage. And I did that A) because I felt guilty saying no, B) because I still needed a set of keys from him, and C) To pay for all the mean things I am saying here.

Somehow, during our time together in my car, he was frequently able to offend me. Let's be frank here. I don't know how to politely correct someone who "warns" me about the gay areas of town. I am an avoider of conflict. I don't know how to deal when someone compares two kids beating up a homeless man and Brokeback Mountain as equal signs of the destruction of our society. But this person did this. I can't comprehend that. And there was more, regarding the impoverished and a variety of minorities.

Continuing our frankness, I did not correct him once. I am ashamed of that, but I don't know how to treat those things delicately. And he didn't say it all in the easily condemable voice of hatred and bigotry. No, he said it in the more sinister and less obvious and more defendable voice of generalizations and "you know what I mean." Those slippery words, the driving force of prejudice in our nation, are so removed from true negative feelings that they can't be directly condemned. Because the person is not being hateful, they are being ignorant. And yet I still failed.

Some of you are outraged by all this, I hope. I am. Looking back, though, I still don't know what to say or do in that situation. How did I get like this? And why doesn't mainstream Christianity bat an eye? Then again, why didn't I?

I did my first real round of shopping at Trader Joe's today. It was nice but I may never buy natural peanut butter again. It's just so much work. Besides, choosy moms never chose natural peanut butter. They always choose Jif. And I discovered a really great job opportunity here that I am really excited about. They're a children's media company that looks really cool. Wish me luck, I apply tomorrow.