Orientation Day

I made friends today.   :-)

I live on a Cloud

This is the view from my window.  I got the keys to my apartment today.  It is awesome.  I’m up in the clouds like a princess in a tower or a kid in a tree house; two of my favorite ways to live.  The view out my window, which is actually just one of my walls, has been completely hypnotic every time I’ve entered the room.  I am literally next door to Second City, and love this little studio so much, I don’t even care that I presently have nothing to put inside but some clothes, my guitar and a ukulele.  

Truth in Cheese

Okay, so this is a little bit cheesy... but I think it is important for me to remember why I am doing this in the first place.  This was one of my application essays for the program, and while some of it is a little bit cheesy, its real cheese.  Cheddar Cheese.  No faux nacho cheese sauce here.

How do you see this program fitting into your college or future career plans?

            I’ve looked, I’ve hunted, and I’ve read the course catalog cover to cover; but there is no available degree in smart asserie.  Though many professors would vouch that I would be a perfect candidate, the cold and distant bureaucracy of Cal State Fullerton will not allow me such a personalized major.  The omission of this course of study has made finding a realistic choice of major more challenging.  Ultimately, I am sure the juice has been worth the squeeze.  I have traversed through classes and majors, and I have full confidence that everything I have learned, and continue to learn is a gift to my future. 

            I have explored several majors within the vein of entertainment, and have found in Radio, TV and Film the closest thing to my ideal major. This major gives me a well-rounded perspective on media, while allowing me to focus on writing and to participate in acting in student projects. It also allows a large number of elective courses that can be tailored to my interests. The Comedy Studies program is particularly suitable for me, as it would give me the opportunity to focus on what I am most passionate about while earning college credit.  At school I put a comedic voice to my writing, but being taught to write comedy by people who write comedy is a thrilling prospect.

            Through all of my adventure within my university education, I have been consistent in my study of improvised comedy.  Twice a week I brave Los Angeles traffic to learn and perform with ComedySportz: The College Team.  This group is my sorority, my study group, my most insightful professors and my friends.  Three years as a part of this group and I am still in awe of the talent that surrounds me. Though, I admit, I have a difficult time remembering this while I am scrubbing toilets to earn my classes, I have been very fortunate in the opportunities I have been given.  However, I am not content to learn from one point of view, I also take classes at IO West, and watch shows at any comedy theater I can find.  It is my hope that Second City will give me yet another viewpoint on comedy.  I am keen on investigating another angle for improvisation, but am also eager to dive more fully into sketch comedy.  Though I have dabbled in sketch writing and acted in several sketches designed by friends, I have not explored that side of comedy as thoroughly as improv.

 

There it is.  Exactly what I thought I was getting myself into back in August.  While laying on the beach... in the sun.... we'll see how it goes.

Chicago in French

We ate lunch at a place called The Bistro Zinc.  It was a charming little french restaurant owned by a charming little woman.  While chatting with her, my studying at Second City came up and from there I learned that Stephen Colbert used to work for her.  

I was delighted by this because Stephen Colbert is one of my personal heroes.  

She told me a little bit about his background, as far as she remembered.

He came from a huge Irish Catholic family that naturally lived in a loud and boisterous home, until it was abruptly silenced by the death of his dad and brothers.  From that point on, his skills as a comedian were honed by an endless effort to make his mom smile.  He had told her very candidly about his past, and while he worked for her, she knew him as a sweet, funny man and a devoted father.  He sounded like a good egg to me, and my admiration for him felt reaffirmed by this personal account.  She told me I had excellent taste in role models. :-)

While my mom was in the restroom of this same establishment, a woman tried to start up a conversation with her in French.  The woman asked her (in French) if she enjoyed her meal.  My mom just giggled and blushed until the woman translated for her.  When she got back to our table, my mom said she wished I was the one to talk to the lady because I would have enjoyed it.  I thought about this.  If my French tests last semester are any indication, the only French response I could have given the woman would have translated too, "Yes.  And I wear blue pants."

If the detailed account of the eating tour is a little too food oriented at the moment, I apologize, just know it won't last.  I honestly wish it could, but in a few days when my parents head back to California, I will be switching back to the starving college kid food plan which won't be interesting enough to write about... unless I find a way to make Top Ramen taste like a Spinach Brie Crepe...

The rest of the day was spent continuing the apartment search until the evening when I went over to meet some friends of a close friend back home.  They were delightful people, and gave me a glimpse of what it will feel like here when I am no longer in "vacation mode."

The Hunt

Apartment hunting was the name of the game today.  We wandered all over Old Town looking for a place. 

I love buildings that don’t have a thirteenth floor.  The people on the fourteenth floor have got to know what’s up.

I haven’t completely settled on a place yet, but I’ve narrowed it down a bit and have some good leads on where I’m going to get stuff to go in my (as of yet) conceptual apartment.

We went to an art supply store so I could buy supplies to start making my own decorations... we shall see how that goes.

The guy that worked at the store couldn’t understand why I had moved away from California to live in Illinois… that really put things into perspective for me.

When I think about the fact that I am in Chicago, that sounds totally cool, but when I look at the bigger picture: that I am in Illinois, that does not seem totally cool.  Anthropologically speaking I suppose I can infer that the culture allows the average Chicago native to see the world more broadly then the average California native… you know, or just me.

The Eating tour of Chicago continues:

-Big Bowl: Fresh Chinese and Thai

Three words: Ginger Crème Brule. Yum-o.

Today was my first day in Chicago.

We flew in last night, but today was my first official day.

I love it.  It is absolutely beautiful.  There are brick buildings everywhere, there are patches of snow on the ground, and for the first time in my life my excellent taste in winter fashion has a purpose. 

My parents are with me for a few days to get me settled, as I still have nowhere to live.  We’re staying in a hotel in downtown, so we did a little bit of exploring.  We mostly just walked around and tried to grasp the lay of the land.

Aside from self-discovery and anthropological research, the main reason I am here is to spend a semester studying comedy full time at Second City.  I saw the training center today.  I didn’t get too close, just flirted from a distance.  I will be entirely familiar with it soon enough, for now I’ll be coy.

 The eating tour of Chicago also began today, and I must highly recommend both establishments we ate at:

-Nookie’s

Nookie’s is a little café in Old Town.  It is fantastic.  They serve breakfast all day, and serve it right.  Rampant appetites at our breakfast table this morning lead my parents and I to order way more food then we should, but we still managed to make a lot of it disappear.  My mom was charmed by her Denver Omelet and my father thoroughly enjoyed his gravy, ham, and grits.  Personally, I feel that if a restaurant can convince someone they’ve enjoyed a pile of grits, they must be good.  Or hypnotists.  I had the king of breakfast: a sampler platter of assorted pancakes that follow in order of deliciousness:

1.)   Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2.)   Carrot Cake Pancakes

3.)   Bread Pudding Pancakes

4.)   Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

Aside from my hearty recommendation of their pancakes, let me also sing the praises of their coffee, which was the best coffee I’ve had in a very long time, and I drink a lot of coffee.

  

-Gino’s East

This Pizzeria is exactly what I wanted a Chicago pizzeria to be.  The walls are covered with beer logos and graffiti drawn and autographed by pizza fans.  The house salad dressing was delicious and the pizza was, of course, fantastic.  The one thing I was not expecting: the sauce was on top of the rest of the pizza.  I’m not sure if this is a Chicago thing, or was just that restaurant thing, or maybe they just do it to hide the spinach from kids on their Spinach and Cheese pizza.  I will have to collect more data to answer these questions.

 An Anthropological note I observed at Gino’s:

The whole place is completely covered, wall-to-wall, layer after layer of names and pictures and “so and so was here”s, except for the bathroom.  In the bathroom there were a half dozen paper signs that read “This is a no graffiti zone: please do not write on the bathroom walls” I was very impressed to see how quickly the Chicago natives got on board with this concept.  Not a single line was drawn on a wall, except for the several dozen hand written words that said “Ya! No writing on the walls!”  Chicagoans seem very community minded.

The Countdown Begins.

Today is the first day of the new year, and the countdown begins.  I leave for Chicago on January 16th, and am to live there for a semester.  This may not seem like a big thing to some, but having lived my full twenty years in the temperate environmental bubble of Southern California, for me, it is a BIG Thing.  

I am willingly throwing myself into "the tundra" (as my mother has lovingly nick-named Chicago) in order to immerse myself in comedy and music... and hopefully develop some immunity to low temperatures.

Will it be cold? Yes.  

Will I know anyone when I get there? No. 

Will it be awesome? You can bet your ass. 

Cheers :-)