I made a Big Decision today: I'm leaving DC and moving to Chicago on September 30 (less than two months away). I might stay in Chicago or I might move on to the Pacific Northwest; we shall see.
I have an amazing opportunity there to live with my best friend rent-and-utilities-free so that I can save for school (he has an extra bedroom and is paying for it anyway). If I go out there, temp for a year or so, and then go into an accelerated nursing program (and work part-time), I'll have my NP license by the time I'm 30 and can then essentially get a fulfilling job where-ever I'd like to go.
The other thing is that I'm stagnating here. It's not a stagnant place - I have incredible friends here who I'll miss immensely. It's just that I grew up here. My childhood self haunts my edges. I don't want to stay here any longer - I have growing to do, and in the shadows of decisions both fortunate and unfortunate I don't feel like I can. I know the resources this area has to offer, I have used them, and I am ready to move on.
Also, Chicago is an hour and a half from the town I'm writing my novel about, so I can do research.
Hopefully I'll have the bulk of it written before I go back to school full-time, because I won't have time when I start.
Save September 24th on your calendar for my going-away party (details forthcoming). I will hug you until you politely ask me to let go and I will blubber all over you about how much I love you.
reggie [email] said at 7:04 PM 08-02-2005: NO JESS DON'T GO!!!! Sike, go 'head wit yo' bad self! Everything tastes better with "free" on it nahmean? We'll miss you babe but DC's loss is Chicago's gain.
What's with Chi-town being Killoggs' midwest headquarters?
jess [email] said at 7:07 PM 08-02-2005: Haha, thanks! I think Chicago might be the only city in the midwest worth two shakes, to be honest. It is an island in a sea of soy fields and Wal-Mart Supercenters.
amanda [email] said at 9:11 PM 08-02-2005: Ah! You are leaving out Ann Arbor, Minneapolis, and...uh...
Hmm.
Even though the Midwest lacks decent cities, there's plenty of smaller towns along the shores of the Great Lakes that make up for the Wal-marted, paved-over hell of urban sprawl that has become most Midwestern metropolises.
That, and we're really into gigantic, gaudy tourist traps.
brandonr said at 9:43 PM 08-02-2005: Duck the amphibious vehicle? Or the duck-boats in Lincoln Park?
And, no, I didn't look that up. Don't ask me how I know off the top of my head what a Duck/DUKW is. Maybe they were mentioned in a book about Operation Cobra I just finished.
shauna [email] said at 7:19 PM 08-02-2005: BUT NO! we haven't even got to hang! i still haven't harassed your friends!
what's odd is i'll have just as much jess as i do now, what an odd thought.
good for you fer getting the fuck outta here. i love it here, but yeah, i was born here. run!
meredith [email] said at 7:24 PM 08-02-2005: Yay! Our ranks continue to GROW!!!! (Checks Jess off the list. Begins plotting to lure Chuck, Myriam and Julie.)
reggie [email] said at 7:28 PM 08-02-2005: You know I love you Mer, but I ain't gettin' nowhere close to those Chicago winters sweetie. I like being able to feel my limbs thank you very much.
reggie [email] said at 8:10 PM 08-02-2005: My next move will be westernly but it will be south, most likely to Austin but the call of N'awlins is pretty strong.
brianbibbly [email] said at 2:47 PM 08-03-2005: They are building a huge movie studio here soon Reg, and the movie biz is getting stronger here thanks to the tax incentives. Come on down. . .
rick [email] said at 1:57 PM 08-04-2005: The dirty dirty is one of the best cities in the U.S., period. So what if it is a dysfunctional city in one of the most dysfunctional states in the most dysfunctional region of the U.S. I definitely want to move back there someday.
meredith [email] said at 2:18 PM 08-04-2005: This is so weird. I never want to live in New Orleans again. I mean, I'm glad I'm from there and all, but I never want to live there again.
myriam [email] said at 12:36 AM 08-03-2005: This is preeeeettty much how I feel! Fuck the winter, man, I've had enough of that shit in Boston. Why do you think I want to leave??!
...oh wait, that's right, it's because of the nasty people who live here. Welllllll, the weather is a solid number 2.
meredith [email] said at 11:52 PM 08-02-2005: Oh, sorry, you are all on my C list. You see, my A list is for people who actually visited me. I might move Ben, Crystal and Huddo up to my B list because they actually stayed in town and met me at Run For Cover that one night I was in DC. Reggie gets to be on my A list because he was my first Killoggs Krush.
brandon [email] said at 2:35 AM 08-03-2005: If by fucktard you mean "Person concerned with keeping the white race pure by preventing miscegenation and the defilement of white women whenever and wherever possible" then, yes, I am aware that I am a fucktard of that sort.
cecil [email] said at 7:24 PM 08-02-2005: saddest Beatles song evar
Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more
She goes downstairs to the kitchen clutching her hankerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside she is free.
She (We gave her most of our lives)
Is leaving (Sacrificed most of our lives)
Home (We gave her everything money could buy)
She's leaving home after living alone
For so many years. Bye, bye
Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown
Picks up the letter that's lying there
Standing alone at the top of the stairs
She breaks down and cries to her husband
Daddy our baby's gone.
Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly
How could she do this to me.
She (We never thought of ourselves)
Is leaving (Never a thought for ourselves)
Home (We struggled hard all our lives to get by)
She's leaving home after living alone
For so many years. Bye, bye
Friday morning at nine o'clock she is far away
Waiting to keep the appointment she made
Meeting a man from the motor trade.
She (What did we do that was wrong?)
Is having (We didn't know it was wrong)
Fun (Fun is the one thing that money can't buy)
Something inside that was always denied
For so many years. Bye, bye
She's leaving home. Bye, bye
amanda [email] said at 8:18 PM 08-02-2005: Now I will definitely have to drive down for an autumn visit to the Land O' F.I.B.. Do you know when are you going to be all moved and settled in?
cam [email] said at 11:23 PM 08-02-2005: i am proud of you for doing this, and i support you all the way. i am glad to have shared this experience with living with you, i love you lots.
jess [email] said at 5:51 AM 08-04-2005: Man, I am getting sniffly just thinking about leaving you. Best lady roommate! I know, though, that we are both growing up through and beyond our experiences here, and that we both have our own art and changes to make. You have a place with me no matter where I am in the world, always.
jess [email] said at 5:49 AM 08-04-2005: Wait, I had no idea you were moving! Man. That stinks. I would have loved to make you tea and sit around discussing subjects both ridiculously large and ridiculously small. Maybe we can do that at some point anyway.
brad [email] said at 2:38 PM 08-03-2005: Damn, I had no idea you were planning on moving. Maybe I heard you mention that you were thinking about moving to Chicago, eventually, but I didn't think it would be that soon, if you did. Hope everything, works out for you, Jess.
Y'all are of course ALWAYS welcome to visit, and I'll be back to visit at least a couple of times a year.
I actually almost moved a little over a year ago, but didn't because I had things tying me here at this point that I don't have now. This has been brewing for a long time - and I guess the time is right now.
