Moving, Loneliness & The Tipping Point

Last week I finished The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. I'm challenged to describe this book - it is so thought provoking that just when I have a coherent point to make about it, another often contradictory point overrides the first point and then I'm trying to reconcile them and on and on. Since I just moved, and seem to have just begun to come to terms with that fact, I am understanding the book within the framwork of the "just-moved" personality. As an aside, I think my eyes have actually become physically larger since moving here and taking everything in. There is a point where Gladwell describes the three key personalities involved in creating/disseminating information which leads to social epidemics (think of the way in which a band or restaurant will become an "overnight sensation." One of the personalities he describes is a collector of information like the best place to buy a stereo or where you can find the cheapest candy or something like that. The social currency of this personality is this kind of information. He describes this person as having a lot of magazines. Does this sound like anyone you know? I thought about how I related to Portland, and how so much of my relationship to it was knowing where to go and what to do and that I really liked telling people to go to my favorite places (like Pix or Stumptown) and that one of the reasons I liked it was because it was useful information. I realize that I relate to people in this way. I think this is why I am now having kind of a hard time in this new city. First of all, I don't have a knowledge base to draw on about this city. Just about every time I go somewhere, it is the first time I've been there. So even if I had someone to tell (which I don't) I wouldn't have anything to tell them. Of course, that's not really totally true but generally it is a cause of my lonelieness here. I know that I will eventually make friends, and that it will not be so cold, and that I will be able to recommend something to a new friend and really mean it soon. But right now, I can't deny - it is hard living in a new place.

The Joy of Giving

My b__g is totally boring. I know this. But! Let me show you - there is better content out there. The best happens at www.kottke.org, which is basically where I get all my interesting knowledge aside from overhearing things on the el. Today I laid down some $$ to support the Kottke.org venture, because I believe in self-publishing and the internet to do more than hawk crap. Take a gander, friends. I believe you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Ian got a milkshake. 

I also got a cupcake. 

I got a library card! In my sleeping bag! 

This is a sidewalk plow. Outside my window. 

How do I get better at this?

So much has happened since my last post. The big thing is that I got in a car accident which has been both a blessing and a curse. The curse is that the car actually belongs to Ian, and it is totaled and there has been some kvetching. The blessing is that now I am a bonafide metropolitan commuter on the El, and have seen Chicago in a totally new way ever since. The hour and fifteen minute train trip each way to work gives me time to read and listen to music and basically just gaze out the window and marvel. Or to look around at all of the other passengers and marvel. I miss home a lot, especially all of my wonderful friends & my mom & dad but I wasn't prepared to have a crush on Chicago. The CTA has a lot to do with my love for this place. I hope that everyone I know will come here for a few days and we can ride the trains all over the place and look inside people's kitchen windows and bedroom windows and peek into so many lives. Then we can go get a hot dog. That's the real deal. I'm going to put up some more photos now.

xoxo