How I Spent The Second Week of the Rest of My Life

As of this morning, I am officially unemployed.  I mean, obviously, I was two weeks ago or this blog would have been a pretty silly way to spend my work time.  But, I finally got around to filing a jobless claim with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) (http://www.ides.state.il.us/) so the next time the numbers come out, I am one of the statistics.

Why did I wait so long?  I guess it's my personality.  Not just to be lazy, but also to not lie about this fact.  I didn't do a thing to look for a job in the past two weeks.  But, now that I've applied (since it's the rules to receive the payments), I guess I've reached the next phase of joblessness, a tentative job search.  IDES actually requires as part of their application process to fill out a job placement form on the Illinois Skills Match system (http://www.illinoisskillsmatch.com/).

The funny thing is, when I left college I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life so I've never taken a test like this.  It could be fun.  Tomorrow.  I feel as though applying was a good task for the day.  That and doing a lot of reading.  Barring something crazy happening, I will not leave my apartment today.

Though I did a lot last week and here's the wrap-up (a day late, since I'm lazy).

TUESDAY, JANUARY 11 ($3.00)

• 5:37 p.m. The Southern - $3.00.  I had planned on going out to the suburbs to a Yelp event but, thankfully, a friend of mine reminded me that there was a Tweetup/apprecial party much closer to home.  Vodka drinks were free as was a macaroni and cheese buffet (the party was to build up hype for their forthcoming macaroni and cheese truck).  I had four drinks, but forgot to tip on one.  Oops.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12 ($7.00)

• 5:02 p.m. McCormick Tribune YMCA - Free.  I was hungover all day.  I had planned to run errands but the gym was as close as I got.
• 6:50 p.m. Margie's Candy - $7.00.  Someone on the internet, and I'm not naming names kept saying they craved ice cream. This made me crave ice cream (a three scoop, old school banana split sundae to be exact).  So much that I got it before dinner.  It seems like I have to stop letting the internet give me cravings.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 13 ($19.00)

• 2:42 p.m. Logan Theater - $4.00.  Part of me wants to pick up and go on a road trip (combined with job hunting, of course) to Washington D.C.  I figured that wasn't practical so instead I went to see Due Date to satisfy the urge.  It didn't work.  I now want to take a road trip more.
• 7:21 p.m. Small Bar Division - $15.00.  They were celebrating winning the Best Soccer Bar in the U.S. award.  I had to go to help them celebrate.  And to get some veggie chili for dinner.
• 9:26 p.m. The Whistler - Free.  My friend Kyle was playing a jazz gig here and since it's yards from my apartment I made it my free concert of choice for that evening.  I ended up only getting water since the Lion Stout that I had at Small Bar was habving me feeling a bit ill (even though this place specializes in fancy cocktails).

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14 ($55.00)

• 10:58 a.m. El Charro - $5.00.  I used to go to this place so much that I was the Mayor on Foursquare.  This was the first visit this year.  I had breakfast at home, but I wanted to make a quick start to get to the museum.
• 12:55 p.m. Museum of Science and Industry - $2.00.  I finished seeing the exhibits I had missed the week before - only paying for coat check and for a donation.
• 7:37 p.m. Lincoln Hall - $30.00.  This is where the wheels kind of came off my spending habits for the week. Their sister venue, Schuba's, has really good macaroni and cheese.  And I was with some people who like to drink late into the night.  I was supposed to leave for a dive bar after dinner, but the company was too good.
• 1:42 a.m. Clarke's - $18.00.  $8.00 of this was the cab home since the 74 bus doesn't run that late.  But most of it was the fact that I was really hungry and their North Shore Potatoes taste really good.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15 ($40.00)

• 3:32 p.m. Michael's Original Pizzaria & Tavern - $40.00.  I was there to watch the Pittsburgh and Green Bay NFL games with fans of the two teams.  How I spent $40.00 is kind of a blur, but I know it involved a lot of pitchers of Miller Lite.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 ($15.00)

• 11:30 a.m. Small Bar Fullerton - $15.00.  Going back to the bar for the Bears and Jets games was probably not a great idea but, besides getting brunch, I only had one beer the entire Bears game.  We left before I could get a second and watching the Jets fuck up Tom Brady.

MONDAY, JANUARY 17 ($31.35)

• 11:31 a.m. Hot Doug's - $8.25.  Since it was a holiday, a bunch of people got a trip together to go to Chicago's #1 tourist restaurant outside of downtown (though that may be Kuma's Corner) and, even though I could go any day with less lines, I went.  I learned they'll make a veggie dog with the toppings of any of their special dogs for the regular price.
• 5:17 p.m. Walgreens - $6.15.  Even though I didn't fill my prescriptions, I did get other necessities.
• 5:58 p.m. Aldi - Milwaukee - $16.95.  It was a fitting way to begin my third week of unemployment to get cheap groceries again after all the unnecessary spending of the weekend.

So that's $170.35.  That's not going to work at all.  In a week that barely included any groceries (and didn't include my precription (this week's total will be higher, but contains necessities).  If anyone ever sees me dropping $40.00 on Miller Lite again, please smack me in the face.  I'll write it off this time as a celebration of unemployment.  My total money spent since I've been unmeployed is $257.34.