Wish Lists for the Future

About two weeks ago, Andrew and I came up with our own 5-year wish lists.  We were in the car having a conversation about the direction of our lives, a topic that comes up regularly as we both approach our 30th birthdays this year.  Having agreed that where we are now in our individual as well as united lives is not where we imagined we’d be at 30, we’ve been discussing how we might shape the next 5 years.

The wish lists, we decided, should be guides for how we orient our lives from now to 35.  The idea was that we’d come up with 5 things each, plus a bonus item.  The wishes could range from practical to fanciful and the only rule was that each item had to be something that would increase our happiness.

My list:
1. Visit Europe with Andrew
2. Extend our family (i.e., have a baby)
3. Buy a home
4. Play in a band
5. Write a book
Bonus: Run a half marathon

Andrew’s list had three of the same wishes as mine!
His list:
1. Travel internationally
2. Have a baby
3. Buy a home
4. Become more involved with family
5. (a) Become independently employed/not have an office job
(b) Become an official leader/decision-maker at work
Bonus: Do a fine art photography show.

I agreed that it was OK for Andrew to have a 5(a) and a 5(b). He’s happy in his job right now, but hasn’t really decided where he wants to go next in his career. I think that the two items on his wish list are things he’s still trying to figure out and I wasn’t going to push him into a decision while we were in the car having what was supposed to be a fun conversation.

Coming up with these lists are just the first steps in our re-orientation toward the future. I’m completing grad school this fall and after lots of reflection and consideration, I think I’m completing it for good, meaning I’m not going to apply to Ph.D. programs. Both of our lists include three items that require more financial viability and stability and the other items on my list require some free time, neither of which I will get much of if I’m in a Ph.D. program for the next 5 years.

So the question for me has shifted from, “Where will I be doing my Ph.D.?” to “What’s out there for a girl with a Masters in Theology and a leaning toward creative pursuits?”

Urban Life–The Negative View

At 6 a.m. this morning, I woke up to the sound of banging outside my window. I suppose I wasn’t fully awake because I thought someone was punching holes into the ground with what looked like a giant cherry pitter. Last night I pitted sour cherries. I guess it left an impression on me, that neat-o little unitasker.

I got back to sleep and woke up around 7:30 a.m., about 45 minutes later than usual. Andrew’s reply when I commented on how I “slept in” this morning was, “With all that luxurious quiet this morning, who wouldn’t sleep in?”

He was only sort of being sarcastic, because he forgot about the 6 a.m. noise. See, our apartment is noisy every morning, every afternoon, every evening.  It’s not in a sometimes way, like when a noisy group of people walk by late on a Friday night. Nope. Our apartment is noisy all the time.  We live on the corner of a quiet street and a busy street, and most of our windows are on the busy street.  The whole building shakes at least 5 times a day

We have stayed here for 3+ years because for the amount of space we have (though small, it’s a nicely sized 1-bedroom) and the proximity to things like a vintage movie theater, the post office, a gym, a grocery store, the train, etc. we feel as if we’re getting a good deal while we save up to do the supposedly grown-up thing and buy our own place. Also, with only one income as I finish up grad school, the cheaper rent allows us to afford to go out to eat once a week and shop at the farmer’s market in the summer and do other things over-educated white people like to do.

Lately though, I’ve been wondering if its worth it. Lately. Ha. It’s actually occurred to me almost everyday how distracting the noise is and how little I am able to accomplish on exceptionally noisy days. I hate to lay the blame on just one source of distraction, certainly Facebook and Twitter have done their fair share, but reading Karl Rahner is difficult enough without my concentration being thwarted by the rumbling and swaying of my building every 10 minutes. My other option is to run the air conditioner unnecessarily and shut the windows, but it only dulls the noise slightly. It never goes away.

Here’s the noise profile for today (gathered from the evidence that has made itself known just in the amount of time it has taken me to write this ranty post):

The constant din of traffic is regularly punctuated by the engine breaks of delivery trucks coming to a quick halt at the light a block away. Occasionally, the sound of cars speeding buy is harmonized by the car mechanic’s shop across the street; there is what sounds like a air house that is used occasionally and whatever other noisy, bangy, whirry tools a mechanic’s shop uses.

In other news, I’m making a cherry pie and strawberry rhubarb preserves this afternoon as my study break.

Overbooked

I’ve managed to overbook my summer. Oy.  Two family reunions in the past week and a half.   We took this picture at the reunion last weekend (with Andrew’s family). It took place over four days in rural Georgia. We felt this picture was appropriate!

Excuses, Excuses

(Rockport, MA)

I broke the everyday blogging streak! But, I did have a good excuse: I’ve been traveling. I flew to Massachusetts for a family reunion and spent a few days with my uncle in Gloucester.  I seriously covet his house and its location.  I mean,this is the view from his bathroom:

His deck has this gorgeous, unobstructed view of the harbor that he takes advantage of every morning and evening for sunrise and sunset. He complains that he can’t seem to get anything done because he always feels like he’s on vacation. What’s there to complain about?!

Anyhow, I had a nice time, but it’s also good to be back in Chicago. Tomorrow at 8 a.m., I am taking the GRE and I am terrified. If my practice test today is any indication of how well I’ll do tomorrow, I’m totally screwed. My decision as to whether or not to apply to Ph.D. programs will be decided for me.

Thursday, we leave for another family reunion, this time with Andrew’s family. I hear it’s relentlessly hot Down South.

You may have noticed

I have been posting everyday since Friday.  A very short streak, but a streak nonetheless.  Most days I don’t really feel as if I have anything worthwhile to post about.  But I’m hoping to get there.  That’s the idea, anyway: to shape contrary canary into a blog about things worth reading about that have less to do with my life and more to do with, well, things worth reading about.  But I’m pretty sure I’m violating the cardinal rule of writing interesting blog posts: do not talk about interesting blog posts. Or yourself.  Whatever. I’ll get there.

I recently refreshed my RSS reader with some girly blogs about the things girls like me like (not girly in the girls naked for guys way. EW.).  I’ve become noticeably more lusty for things like clothing and sweet and dainty housewares.  I like dainty housewares, but we did just buy a lime green Euro-mod couch.  Euro-mod.  I think I just made that up, but I’m sure a Google search will prove otherwise.

Anyway.  Reading these blogs is fun, but also dangerous.  Especially the ones where the girls share fashion tips.  Particularly the one that’s especially cute and unpretentious and likeable. (Sometimes these sweet and dainty blogs can be exasperating…they make me want to walk around with my cynic’s pin to burst their earnest bubbles.)

Hey, it’s a picture of our couch!

There’s a story behind that insane lamp. A story for another time.

Farmer’s Market Tuesday

It’s the second week of the Lincoln Square Farmer’s Market, and I begrudgingly got out of bed and out of the apartment before 8 a.m. to visit it. Without coffee. Which is a story that is still too painful to share right now.

I’ve decided to take $20 each week and spend it all on what looks good. Last week it was enough market-fresh produce for the week. This week I went $1 over the “limit,” which may not have been a good idea as I’m leaving town until Sunday tomorrow! Andrew will be here, but I am planning on doing a little preserving tonight to prevent spoilage of the mushrooms and strawberries (and maybe the rhubarbs). Here’s what I got and what I’m planning to do with the items:
• Kale (tonight’s dinner: sweet potato and kale burritos)
• Spring Onions (I’ll grill these up for Andrew to put on a pizza)
• Cremini Mushrooms (Like last week, I’ll pickle these in white wine with garlic, bay leaves and whole peppercorns. They are my favorite!)
• Strawberries (Strawberry jam be made and canned tonight)
• Rhubarb (This may or may not make it into the jam. I haven’t decided, but I’m leaning yes?)
• Globe Basil (It will sit in my window and hopefully thrive throughout the rest of the summer!)

And another thing…

…is that I wanted to share that this weekend there were fried potatoes for breakfast and spiced macaroons (with saffron and cardamom!) for snack. See:

Delicious carbohydrates, and my guy (who prepared breakfast) with the crazy morning hair.

A plate of macaroons, from which I stole and sneaked a bite.

That macaroon recipe and my thoughts about it are the subject of a forthcoming House Spouse post.

Mendeleev and Moses

This weekend I was jogging/running (depends on who you ask…I say running, based on how I feel. My speed says jogging.). As per usual, my favorite pod cast, Radio Lab, was playing on the iPod. The episode I had chosen for the run was Yellow Fluff and Other Curious Encounters.

There was a moment in this particular episode that made me stop running. When Oliver Sacks is explaining to Jad and Robert how he imagined Mendeleev as “a sort of Moses, going up to a chemical Sinai and coming down with the tablets of the Periodic Law.” In itself, it’s an imaginative and lovely image. But what made me literally stop in my tracks was what seems to be Robert’s reaction. He audibly gasps.

I gasped at the same time, because the image is so insightful and particularly salient for anyone with an interest in the nature of revelation, be it God’s or the universe’s. The gasp that I heard not only conveys a sheer delight, wonder, and amazement at the mysteries of the universe, but how this imagined idea bears an authentic and sharp insight into a timeless and well-known story. The “truth” of the story of Moses coming down from Sinai with the tablets containing the Ten Commandments resonates deeply (and it seems with Robert Krulwich, as well) when compared to scientific discovery. The laws of the universe never stop being revealed. (The rest of the episode gets at this question of whether or not scientific laws are revealed or constructed.)

There are many notable moments in this particular episode. Too many to describe here. So do yourself a favor this morning and download it and listen to it yourself. In fact, just start subscribing to the podcast. (The description of Mendeleev as Moses is at around 16 minutes.)

Parrots and Indian Food

Great Lake’s Pizza was closed last night for a special event, so we didn’t get to go.  We walked up to Devon for Indian food instead.  For $35 for each couple (total, including tax and tip), we stuffed ourselves silly with naan, kulcha, rice, raita, spinach pakoras, samosas, eggplant and dal, mushrooms and peas, eggplant and potatoes and peas, and spinach and cheese.  We were all starving by the time we arrived (we had planned on eating 2 hours earlier), hence the insane amount of food.  After a quick bus ride back home, I made some mango lassis and got a therapy session in with my friends collectively playing the role of shrink.   It wan’t the adventure I was expecting when I posted yesterday, but fun and food-filled nonetheless.  (It always is with Nadia and Steve.)

So, about those parrots… They really liked Nadia and their names were Buford and Sam.  The guy who owned them really liked talking about them and Nadia really liked hearing about them.  I took pictures of them because I had my little camera in my bag.  They seemed happy enough for parrots who live in Chicago.  And they were pretty.

Oh, this rain.

Enough already with the rain, Climate Control.  Blech.

On a positive note, it is good studying and cleaning the apartment weather. Which is what I’ll be doing all afternoon after Andrew takes off for the Chicago Media Future Conference.  This could be getting me down, a weekend day spent vacuuming and working on GRE vocab, but it’s not.  Do you know why?  Because we have plans to meet up later with two very special friends for pizza at a spot that gained some national attention when it topped GQ’s list of the 25 best American pizzas.

It’s a Saturday night and there is a street festival in the neighborhood which will certainly prove to make our evening a bit of an adventure.  Great Lake is notoriously hard to get a table at and really slow, even with take out orders.  But I’m up for the challenge.  Plus, the Hopleaf is across the street.