So is blogging, and anything with "free" in it is pretty great when you are unemployed.

( Some blabbering about finding employment. )

In other news:

• My attention span is currently nonexistent, and despite the supposed brain stimulating benefits of doing the crossword puzzle on a daily basis, I find myself becoming increasingly distracted by such things as this small and somehow exasperating scratch on our coffee table, Dominic Monaghan's weird proportions, and a sudden craving for falafel. Mmm, falafel.

• It would be extremely magical if I somehow procured a Canon 5D. Mysterious benefactor? An early Christmas? Immaculate conception? Anything will do, I'm not especially picky. (Although admittedly, birthing a Canon 5D would likely be an exceptionally uncomfortable experience.)

• Lollapalooza is this weekend, and my goal is to refrain from passing out due to a.) Radiohead – my first and unabashed love, b.) heat exhaustion, and c.) the prospect of having to use a port-a-potty. Mostly I am pretty excited: Broken Social Scene, Wilco, Kanye West, and like 23423 other way awesome people, hooray!

Clark and Catalpa.
Chicago is now my home.
It's weird! Slash awesome.

I live in a pretty rad apartment in a pretty rad little neighborhood, with pretty much the raddest roommate of all. Currently we are both extremely broke, so we spend a lot of time sitting around with a crossword puzzle, a sudoku, and a bottle of five-dollar wine. (I also spend a lot of time cleaning, but this is neither new nor surprising behavior on my part.)


Clark and Forest.
In the week that I been here, I already miss a lot of random things about Minneapolis: the silhouette of the light rail train along the faux stained glass at the Lake Street Midtown station; my tea shop smell; the perpetually unreliable 21A. And I already have a lot of new favorites: my half-soy cold press from the coffee shop around the corner; the friendly, unassuming bell of the guy who pushes his ice cream cart down my street twice a day; the 12%, highest-in-the-nation sales tax. OH WAIT, just kidding about the last one.

My only apprehension is that I have yet to hear back from any one of the approximately 34809 jobs for which I have applied, so I am slightly antsy and restless about my current state of unemployment. I should probably remind myself to calm down – it has only been one week, after all, and I have a degree and experience to boot, so it should only be a matter of time before I hear back from somebody. I hope. In the meantime, I have questionable cooking experiments, the RedEye's daily double page, and frequent strolls along Clark Street to keep me occupied. Weird. Slash awesome.

These are some photos from a job I shot last week, of a band who had me cover the "playing music" part of their music video shoot. I spent most of this afternoon editing (five gigabytes!) on my back patio, during which I impressively avoided calamity when I accidentally spilled an enormous glass of raspberry lemonade all over myself and the table on which I was working, but managed to miss both my computer and the pile of CF cards that was sitting mere inches away from the epicenter of the lemonade tidal wave that was unfolding horrifically in slow motion before my very eyes. (Seriously, I am entirely too clumsy to be granted clearance around anything that has the slightest chance of being damaged by my lack of basic motor skills.)



( Don't worry, I promise there is significantly less than five gigs under this cut. )

Well, dang. Somehow, it has gotten to be that transitional melting together of days between spring and summer, when the "Chilly Weather Mix" has outstayed its welcome, and when my head is never in one place for more than two minutes at a time. It has been a while (January, oh my!) since I have blogged!

My life has consisted of a combination of Fancy New Ventures™ and Plugging Away at the Same Ol'™ since the last time I rambled excessively on LiveJournal. A small summary of things that have consumed my time over the last five months:

• surviving my final semester of school
• my internship with Lee Stanford, fashion photographer
• a fancy degree and graduation! (well, that was only one day, but you know.)
• lots and lots of tea

It took me a week to recuperate after I finished school at the beginning of the month, but I have since basked in the pleasure of being homework-less, and have also experienced a moment of panic or three at the prospect of facing the future ahead of me. I should feel lucky, I suppose; I've already done two freelance photography jobs this month – one shooting a band during the production of their music video, and another doing portraits for a dancer – which is far more than I would have ever expected within the first month of graduating. I was (and still am) convinced that I am going to rely on my stellar phone-answering abilities and find a job at a stuffy office and be a stuffy receptionist for the rest of my life, which I guess would be kind of okay, because I can rock a knee-length business skirt and mid-height pumps pretty well, actually.

I won't worry about it too much for now, as I have another pretty exciting thing to focus on: I am moving to Chicago at the end of July, as aside from wanting to move to one of my favorite cities anyway, I got some random money to study with some arty farty people there. (I have just realized that this is only two months away, ah!)

Please say "hello" if you would like to! It has been so long since I've LJ-ed that I have forgotten who a lot of you are, and as a result will likely do a friends cut at some point (which I have never ever done before, because I have a ridiculous guilt complex), which will probably be lame because I'm pretty positive that you are a totally fabulous person anyway.

IT IS SO FREEZING.

Thank goodness for the ridiculous amount of tea in my cupboard, and also the fact that "American Gladiators" makes me way more excited than it really should. (Seriously, why have I been so engrossed with this show? I get all shouty and flail with excitement during THE ELIMINATOR, and I am pretty sure that Wolf is the most hilarious incredible thing on television right now. Ugh.)

Bullets, because paragraphs require entirely too much work:

• Later this week I am meeting with a scary awesome photographer (Lee Stanford, oh my!) regarding the possibility of interning with him. I feel confident about my portfolio, but I'm still pretty nervous; I really want this internship, I know I'd learn asl;fkdsfsaljf A LOT from working with him. And also, what does one wear to an internship interview? AH.


• I have been way into over-the-top soundtrack music composed of sweeping orchestral and choral arrangements lately. My inner band nerd is the most excited it has been for like, five years, probably.
  • John Williams - Hymn To The Fallen
  • Vangelis - Conquest of Paradise
  • Leonard Bernstein - Olympic Hymn
  
  
• The outstanding balance on my credit card right now is $0 (zero dollars!). With my summer travels, which were immediately followed by my slightly ridiculous school-related expenses, it's been like six months since I've seen a "zero" on my statement. I've gotta say, though: every time I walk through Neiman Marcus to get to the Nicollett Avenue train station, it's a struggle to control myself and keep walking as I pass by the Elizabeth & James spring collection.

My resolution to bake more is going rather well, I think; last week, I made:

• oatmeal cookies
• asparagus quiche
• cake! (the chocolate kind, of course)

It is a good thing that Jakob appreciates baked goods and also has the metabolism of, well, a Swede, as I am sure neither my dentist nor my digestive system would appreciate it if I tried to tackle that plethora of flour and sugar all by myself.

In other news, it somehow got to be the first day of spring semester yesterday (which, incidentally, is a total misnomer; the Twin Cities are generally in a tundra-like state from January until early March, as evidenced by this week's ghastly, face-eatingly cold temperatures and the need for half an hour of pre-exit mental preparation and approximately seventeen layers of clothing in order to set foot outside my front door), something I was completely ill-prepared for. Despite the frigid temperatures, I found myself sweating in my seat during my media business class, as I suddenly realized that I am, in fact, required to be studious and attentive, and that it would have probably been a good idea to put a notebook or two in my bag before I left my house that morning. (That evening, I immediately went to Target after my last class and spent a small fortune on pocket folders, paper clips, and divider tabs, which made me feel a lot better. I can't front: I love me some brand new office supplies.) However, nothing – not even $37 worth of pencil lead and loose leaf – says school is once again in session more than a bunch of photo kids having happy hour at the pub twenty minutes before the start of a 5:30 p.m. Monday evening class. It is terrible, I know.

Also terrible: how come, when my fashion photography instructor asked us who our favorite fashion photographers were, all I could think of was "Nigel Barker, noted fashion photographer"? Oh, Tyra Banks, you and your ridiculous(-ly awesome) reality television show have ruined me forever!