I'm not leaving Chicago

I love Chicago.
I love the food.
I love the music.
I love the people.
I love the skyscrapers.
I love the bungalows.
I love the city layout.
I love the pride.
I even love the weather!

So with all this love going on, why am I leaving?

Let me start off by saying that I'm not FROM Chicago, but from one of the surrounding suburbs. I had to state that because people that are FROM the actual city are quick to look at you sideways if you try to claim "their" city. I'd love to get into my theories and feelings about that, but that's another post for another day.

I'm very proud to be from Wheaton, Illinois, which is about 45 minutes west of the Chicago city limits. It's a small suburban family town ruled with a heavy hand of discipline and the Bible. Evangelist Billy Graham is from the great town of Wheaton, which is home to the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. On the flip side, the Belushi brothers are also from Wheaton.

So with all this great lineage, why am I leaving?


Well, I'm NOT leaving Chicago. I never will.

It's a personality thing. Yeah that's it. My personality contains Chicago genes, with some Midwestern tendancies (pop anyone?).

All I've ever known is Chicago and I need to spice up my resume..ha ha. Now to those that have lived all across the nation, I'm sure this isn't a big deal. But to me, leaving Chicago for Las Vegas is a huge deal. All my family, contacts, culture, record stores (well, maybe not the record stores) are based out of the city of broad shoulders.

I don't feel like I'm leaving Chicago at all, I'm just adding Las Vegas.
Why am I adding the Sin City?

I'll save that for the next post.

My Car Wears Timberland Boots

Let me list the things I need to get done before we leave for Las Vegas:

- Pack up my CD collection
- Pack up my DVD collection
- Stuff my shirts, boxers, socks and jeans in a bag
- List our couch on Craigslist
- Call my sister Nicole and let her know I won't be able to watch her run the 8K
- Call my guy Mike for some moving help
- Add Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch Cereal to the grocery store list for road trip snacks
- Call my Mom
- Call Nevada Power to make sure our power is turned on
- Drive by our good neighbors and Kenwood residents Barack Obama & Minister Louis Farrakahn
- Call my Mom (again)
- Sack up all my winter clothes for good will
- Add Fiji water to grocery store list (don't i deserve it? it's good)
- Make an iPod playlist: JDilla, James Brown, 4Hero & The Beatles
- Call the rental office to see if satellite dishes are allowed
- Call my brother-in-law Travis for one more Domino game (Seven!)
- Stop by the liquor store to see if they have any extra boxes for packing
- Get some catfish from Lawrence Fisheries & a 6 wing dinner from Harold's
- Walk in to Dustygroove records one last time for some music
- Call the guy working on Mickey's oil pressure problem
- Email Melissa at Sun Belt Digital about some possible story ideas
- Take Mickey by Margie's Candies for some ice cream one last time (no sugar for me)
- Call my Mom (yes again)
- Stop by Garrett's Popcorn for Mom's birthday (march 25th)
- Call my brother Eric to find out if the hurricane weather in Florida swept him off the road
- Call my cousin Patti to cancel our vacation to the Dominican Republic (next year cous)
- Pick up the U-Haul truck from the northwest side
- Drive by the United Center one last time (next year deng)

But before I can do any of that...

- Pay the City of Chicago so they can remove the boot from my car.

1st Official Day Of Packing

BOOM!
BOOM!

Imagine a firecracker with the bass knob turned all the way up to eleven. In your brain, think of a sound that completely disrupts what you're doing that you pause and just... stop. The boom was so violent and exploding that I almost laughed thinking to myself, "I didn't hear what I thought I did, did I?" It's amazing really. We hear booms and explosions on TV, movies and now even the internet all day for entertainment, but this gun wasn't funny.



As familiar as it was to my ears, I really didn't want to believe that it was an actual gun.

The sound of a hand cannon going off less than 50 feet from my window.

It was that unbelievable.

I was in the middle of the first official day of packing for Las Vegas, and I had opened the windows for the first time since winter had started. It was one of the first warm days Chicago had seen after months and months of record snow, so the breeze was comforting. My girlfriend's cat heard the unlocking of the window and rushed from his deep slumber to take in the smells of the city.

Then the violent boom put everything on pause.

Convinced it was just a tire going out, I went on with my day.

That was Thursday afternoon around 3:00 PM.

I left my building to pick up my girlfriend on her last day of work and found a host of Chicago's finest surrounding the area. Yellow tape wrapped around Drexel Blvd kept neighbors at a distance. The deep tire track grooves in the ground from the drive by shooters left an eerie signature of the culprits.


I had already begun typing the first few paragraphs of what was to be the first post of this blog, but this event sort of changed things. This first post is dedicated to the young black man that I only know as Carlos. He unfortunately died tragically in front of my home on the first official day of packing. The past few days I've been thinking, what if today was HIS first day of packing instead of mine? What if he was the one that had an opportunity to leave? Maybe he would have been at home unhooking his stereo instead of walking down Drexel this afternoon.

1,768 represents the amount of miles that exists between Chicago, IL and Las Vegas, NV. I just accepted a photographer position with Sun Belt Digital, and for my first assignment they asked me to document my moving experience. What I see, you'll see. What I hear, you'll hear. Who I meet, hopefully you'll also meet. What I experience, you'll experience. That will all come later.

God, please watch over this young soldier. Please be with his family during this tough time.

R.I.P. Carlos

(The intended first post of 1,768 will come next. Thanks for reading.)