Like many of us hot-blooded Americans, summer brings out the hot weather and the need to escape the hum-drum existence that had become your daily life.
Couples with kids suddenly find their routine jilted into reality when they realize that they, not scholastic institutions, must now entertain their spawn.
Athletes (and those that like to watch athletes) hit the Lincoln Park trail for some much needed Vitamin D shot of the sun. The frat boys of Wrigleyville break out their cornhole and Buds and make childish remarks to the passerby Cubby Bear Chicks in their jerseys and miniskirts as they strut off to the bleachers of Wrigley Field.
And in an effort to conform to societal norms (because as much as we say we are different, we really just want to be accepted, right?) I have decided that my social life needs improvement, and contrary to popular belief, as much as I love sitting in my condo with Ollie reading a book listening to swing music, solitude can only get you so far. Sure, you become so comfortable with yourself that if anyone remotely looks at the TV remote they are doomed (that is assuming people are invited to my studio…where would they sit?)…and yes, I can now successfully give myself a manicure AND pedicure while watching reruns of House, at 3 in the morning, no less…and no one is around to say that’s weird.
So I’m sitting here and thinking, I am no longer fighting for that job because I currently have the one I wanted…so I don’t have to spend all my free time thinking about how to get ahead (although, let’s face it, we are a capitalist society, and we all must think ahead)…and my social life is kinda, well, stale (let’s just say I have more friends on Facebook than I do in real life..but who doesn’t?) So I started thinking, I need to join things…so first I join things where other people I know are involved, because frankly, to get me out of this rut, I need familia motivationa… So recently, not only did I join the Blue Ribbon Glee Club…but I also signed up for a swimming league with a friend of mine, not having swum in like, oh, a decade? Hey, I needed to venture outside of my comfort-zone and I’d rather be clueless in Punkville and too busy swallowing water to talk to anyone than wallowing in my own thoughts of how bored I’ve become…swimming starts tuesday, so if there is no post, I’ve drowned…
So I’ve joined these things and today, I was so inspired by my newfound need for society that I drove to the Home Depot in Lakeview!!!! I know, right? Well, here’s the deal…I know everything that is north of me…work, the Target on Peterson, the Walgreens on Wilson…these are familiar to me. So before today, I would have gone 5 miles out of my way to go to the Home Depot that I knew near my work…but NO! I decided to live a little and venture down Halsted to the Home Depot in the heart of Lakeview. Not only did I find it, but I almost hit a car in front of me looking at all these places I didn’t know existed off of Halsted! Granted, the Home Depot was small and had nothing that I was looking for, but still…the effort there was key.
So my next “become one with society” thing is to do something different everyday…be it taking a different way home from work, walking a different route with Ollie, or just eating at the other side of my table…its all about changing it up to avoid the routine rut.
Even if I have nothing to say, I am still going to post my “the world from a different view” commentary. So stay tuned.