Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Couldn't Stand the Weather

Two words I've heard lately that I never thought I'd hear after leaving Dallas are "Tornado Warning". Yet here we are, going through another bout of severe rainstorms with my Weatherbug chirping at me at least once a day with this very message.
They say April showers bring May flowers, but Chicago is about two months behind. I love my new apartment, though—no matter how many cats and dogs fall from the sky, the depth of my windows keep the rain on the correct side of my walls regardless of the strength of the wind. I love it.
Everyone here says this past winter was the worst they've lived through in many, many years (if not their whole lives). I didn't think it was that unbearable. I mean, we only hit temperatures above 80 this past week, but honestly it never bothered me. Perhaps in a few years when the novelty of the snow has worn off I'll sing a different tune. Until then, I'm content J Maybe if I'd lost some weight things would have been different.
In the meantime, I'm quite seriously contemplating graduate school again. It took me so long to get a job once I moved here, and longer still to get on my feet financially, I didn't audition last February as I would've liked. But as much as I adore the Chicago experience, I'm looking forward to trying again. A.R.T., U.C.L.A., and CalArts are my top three choices, with A.R.T. standing WAY out in front. Not only are they connected to Harvard, but they're the sister school of the Moscow Art Theatre. If I got in, I'd get a taste of Moscow once more, this time for a whole semester.
I've no idea if I'm going to be in good financial standing between now and then. I work two jobs as it is, and I'm trying to hammer out the technical aspects of my home-based voice-over work for even more cash. Perhaps it's in my future, but whether I get enough money in my pocket or not, I'm going for it. I can't stand the thought of another year passing me by without reaching for my dream. Reach it I may, fail I might do, but fear is something with which I am through.
So there :P

Sunday, July 6, 2008

My Poor Brain

Work has been killing my eyes lately.
Currently our project is to enter all the data from June 25 to September 30th of last year into the NEW database using reports pulled from the OLD database. This used to be easier, because when we started this job last October, we had the ability to have someone hand us reports covering whatever span we wanted. Now, nobody has access rights to use the old system, and just before they lost it, they pulled an entire year's worth of data in each report. Not a bad idea.
To me, this means I have to edit down these documents to only show the information we're supposed to enter. Tis quite tedious; one group we work with has 25 clients, and for one client alone it meant trimming a 4,000+ page document down to about 500, searching EVERY PAGE for the lines we need and deleting the rest. It gives me a daily headache, takes several hours, and the 30 people we have on staff can't do their work until I'm done with mine.
But it means LOTS of overtime J I'll take a few headaches if it means I can pay off a few things. And I can work from home, so I don't have to spend all those hours at the office—laying on my couch to get work done is quite lovely.
It's especially nice now that I have a clean apartment. I took advantage of the long weekend to clean like I've never cleaned before. When I moved in I had a few spiders in my place, but I couldn't find anything specifically to kill them. But I figured as long as they didn't bother me, I wouldn't bother them. I was sure having them around was getting rid of everything ELSE I would worry about if they were gone, but they started getting too big and bold. So I got some fumigators for the bedroom and bathroom, locked the cat in the closet, and got rid of them hopefully once and for all; once I cleaned that, I took care of the rest of the place with a fever that took eight hours or so to complete. I borrowed a drill as well, and hung just about everything I've ever wanted to hang. I've been here nearly five months, and my apartment finally looks like a home. I love it.
So now I'm off to fill my belly with a breakfast base to absorb the $12 buckets of beer at The Claddaugh Ring (a hell of a deal, since one beer is usually $6 around here) and watch the ©ubs game. They have a Sunday drink to offer, too.
Guess I'm done being productive for the weekend.