Chicago, you're a hell of a town

Chicago, you're a hell of a town.
www.davejennings.net http://dvj4.blogspot.com/

Hey Chicago, why do you do the things you do?

Tuesday marks my 5th month in the Second City.

This town is like an abusive boyfiriend. It smacks you around, but you know there's something good in there. It forgets your birthday, and then it takes you out to a really nice dinner. It draws you in, and doesn't let you leave.

I have been scraping away for five months, I was at the end of it all. I am down to my last dollar. It has been a roller coaster:

September:
Moved to Chicago, great apartment, great friends, no job.
Found two jobs, part time. Working 50 hours a week. Making ends meet.
Got into the Second City Conservatory.

October/November
Auditioned for a few things, did not get anything.
I could not get an "in" anywhere.

December
Worked a lot, covered bills, head above water--- but barely.
Got a partial lay off from the Museum of Science and Industry, and I had to watch some great people get laid off completely. THat sucked a lot.
My catering job dissappeared... I had no shifts from Dec 20th to Jan 20th
The city got cold, not frozen like Minneapolis, but cold.

January
Still cold.
Job searching sucked.
Broke up with my girlfriend, which sucked. I was so stressed about everything in my life.
Budgeting everything.
Can't even get an interview for a job.
Making plans in my head about how to move back to the farm
Get into a great show: Tarantino: The Improvised show (www.tarantinotheshow.wordpress.com)
Got into a student/independant film where I play a villain, which is great... a fun film. Great for a reel.
Obama became president.
Got an internship working for Second City in the Training Center.
Got an interview, got a second interview. Got the job.

As the ticking in my bank account seemed ready to explode, Chicago took me out to dinner, calmed me down, and told me that I was loved.

Fuck you, Chicago, fuck you. Ok, we can work this out.

Looks like I am here for awhile.

If you’re cold, get used to it…

If you’re cold, get used to it…
Davejennings.net or dvj4.blogspot.com

Hello All,

All right, it’s cold, we all know that. There is no way to get over it, we just have to deal with it. I am not going to talk about the fact that in Minneapolis right now it is -4 or that in Chicago it is the balmy 6 degree (Fargo, ND is a steamy –9 degrees).

Instead, I want to talk about how we get used to it, Say what you will, in October we start complaining about days in the 50s, but come March we are excited about 40s, or even April’s 60 degree weather has people wearing shorts.

We all have an innate ability to deal with the crappy weather. I have talked to people who have recently moved to Chicago from Texas and North Carolina, and a month ago they could not handle temps around 30, but this weekend we got up to the 20s down here on the lake, and they were excited and living it up.

I guess what I am saying is nothing new, but I am always impressed by how our bodies can adapt and grow resilient to the cold or the heat. During the course of only a few months each year we are able to withstand temperature changes varying from -20 to 110 degrees. Sure, we have heat and air conditioning, coats and scarves, but I believe we also have resilience and strength. We have Midwestern blood from pioneers who emigrated, traversed great distances, and then said “This is far enough. We are tired, and this is nice enough.” Then, like good Midwesterners our forefathers were just as stubborn as we are today, we have refused for generations to move to warmer climates.

And so, every year we convince others to move to this frozen land by saying “Come visit me this summer, you’ll love it!” and then once we convince people to move here they have no way to get out, and then the next year we are able to get them to get more people to move here.

So, here’s what I say: Keep playing this game. Misery loves company. It can always get colder. keep you chins up, campers.

That is all.