Accepted

I found out last week that I was accepted to the University of London SOAS to do a political masters. I'm amazed that I got in because my marks in Sydney weren't as good as I wished they could have been.

However, I'm not going to be able to go.

I've got a great opportunity to make some serious cash here in Chicago for the next couple of years. If I go to London I'll be about $40-60,000 in debt in 2 years. It's probably best to stay here and make that and then try to go again later if I want.

I'm trying to make the mature and responsible decision and believe me, it is NOT easy. I am hoping that I have fun working and living here for awhile before moving on to greener pastures. Thanks for all the support out there, I know it's disappointing to you as well as me, but this is the right thing to do.

The Break-Up

We've all been through break-ups and they're shitty. But what we try to take from these shattered relationships is knowledge for future use. Whatever we did wrong this time we won't do the next. I just saw the film The Break-Up with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. It was surprisingly good! For those who haven't seen the film, stop reading here! I'm really happy that they don't stay together in the end after all, that it doesn't stick to the predictable romantic-comedy genre and how disappointing those are. It was one of the funniest films that I've seen in a LONG time. And it was set in the city I live in: Chicago. It had some great scenery of the city in there! Everything was reminiscent of Chicago, actually...from the dive bar to the insanely bitchy-scary boss (my last one really was like this) to the shit blind dates. I'm happy that a story like this was told here especially since I'm still trying to find my own feet in this town. I recommend this film because it made me laugh so hard I choked on cherry pepsi.

The Year of Career

Over the last few weeks I've had some significant changes come my way. I finished a long-time temp job with a financial firm called Ariel Capital and until yesterday was unemployed for a couple of weeks. I'm now beginning a 2 year stint at a national real estate firm called Equity as a Customer Service Coordinator. I'm looking forward to it! But that also means that all my travel plans have to be put on a back-burner for a couple of years. I've realized that even though this is not what I may want I have to do it in order to be secure for my future. It's official, this is the year of career.

I just got back from London last weekend and I had a fabulous time! I really didn't want to leave especially since summer was just kicking off and people were gathered in the streets having parties! I got to visit with my English family and take lots of photos of gorgeous Louis who is 2 in July.

But since I've gotten back the summer has kicked off here, too! Parties on high-rise roofs over-looking the City, sunny weekends at the beach, and dance concerts are commencing (John Digweed on 16.6.06, Armin van Buuren on 30.6.06)!

Get this, I'm even going to my 5th year high school reunion! I think my school might be the only one to actually do this (5 year thing, I mean, not reunions in general) but I'm going to mingle with all those kids who knew me when I was 10! And even though many people (used to be me as well) find these reunions daunting, I'm actually looking forward to it!

There are many good things happening. Thank goodness for the summer! And now because of my lovely new job, I will be blessed with 2 more cruel Chicago winters! Ah, c'est la vie and all that, everything else is great.