This week is feeling like a transition week already...if only by virtue of the fact that I actually had time for a nap yesterday for the first time in longer than I can remember. With the weight of SUA off my shoulders, and the need to be on campus or thinking about school diminishing, I can truly turn myself towards the research side of the Chicago endeavor.
The problem is, with any research I do, I tend to get swamped by it and then can't consume it fast enough. It's the same way when I'm trying to learn new design stuff of illustration stuff...I just want more more more before I even perfect the old stuff.
I continued the apartment search last night, but...seriously folks...this shit is goofy hard. The more people I talk to, the further I'm narrowing down my best areas, but even then...trying to find a place to live when you're in a completely different city is next to impossible. I understand that I'm going to have to wait till I can actually get up there to get a good idea of what I'm dealing with, but...yikes.
I e-mailed a friend of Kait who lives in the city, and she gave me some clear, concise advice on the ups and downs of the different areas. Combing that with the advice of my cousin Todd, Alyssa, and various other people who I've bugged, and right now... Lakeview, Edgewater, Bucktown/Wicker Park and Rogers Park all seem like reasonable areas to look in, though the price is beginning to look more in the realm of 700/mo minimum for a decent place, as opposed to some of the 500-600/mo places I was finding before. Those, I've been told, are most likely shit holes.
But you know what's just as hard as finding a place to live? Finding a job. The suggestion was made last night, again by Kait's friend Kristen, that I may be best off going to a staffing agency to find work when I get out there.
This is the problem: I feel, without any real basis for saying as such, that I could do better than temp work at a staffing agency. I mean...I've got skills, right? I can produce reasonable quality creative work, I have a portfolio, I have marketing experience, etc and so forth. But then I realize that there are 19 million other people with probably the same, if not more, experience in any of those fields. I still believe myself to be savvy enough to pull this one out without the use of a place like that, but...I was given the name of a place called Creative Circle (by Alyssa's brother-in-law, thank you), which specializes in creative and advertising staffing. If I have to go that route, at least I have that as a reasonable compromise.
And you know what's just as hard as finding a job? Deciding which improv training center fits my style the best. I've always assumed that the Second City was the place I wanted to be...it has the history, the name value, I love the shows I've seen of them thus far...but in reading more and more on the community, I'm wondering if iO or the Annoyance Theatre wouldn't be good options as well. I'll tell you...while it's exciting to see the size of the improv community in Chicago, it's also humbling to realize exactly how little of a fish in how big of a pond I'm going to be for a very long time out there.
Again, I still have this nagging feeling that I'm savvy enough and skilled enough in selling myself and finding/making the right opportunities to be famous, and to make a name for myself in a reasonable amount of time, but...man. There are...a lot of hurdles. A lot.
I may be down, but lord I'm not out.
Next: the incredibly helpful gift I got from Lindsey
Helpful links (for my archival sake and for your use, if you need them):
Creative Circle
http://www.creativecircle.
Chicago Improv Network
www.chicagoimprov.org
Second City Training Center
http://secondcity.com/?id=
Performink - Chicago's Entertainment Trade Paper
www.performink.com
