Making The Big, But Inevitable, Announcement

While I "promised" a pro and con type entry between staying in Chicago and moving to Washington D.C., certain events have transpired in the past week or so which have me ready to blow this popsicle stand.  Here are just a few:

• I just had a mouse run into my bedroom and run out.  Yes, I know they have those in D.C., but if that's not an omen, I don't know what is.
• I got a letter from I.D.E.S. disputing my claim and saying that I had "indicated on [my] application that [I] refused an offer of work."  I think I hit the wrong button on the phone certification because a friend of mine walked by the bus stop I was at while making the call.  I'm going to take care of it, but I'm out the check for now.
• It got cold again.  I refuse to be fooled by spring and summer this year.  I want to live in a climate where three inches of snow shuts down everything.
• Monster.com searches are turning up little to nothing that I'm interested in here jobwise.  I'm still looking every day, but everything that I've seen in D.C. and its environs looks more promising.
• The candidate that I think won't be bad for Chicago (Miguel del Valle) is nowhere near winning the Mayor's race.  That I even seem to care about someone beside Rahm Emanuel makes me think that D.C. would be a better fit.
• One other, Yelp related, thing that I probably shouldn't discuss in polite company.  Though those who know me know this situation though and what in the past week would remind me of it.
• Finding out that Seaweed is playing in New York City and pricing train tickets from Washington D.C. - $120.00 round trip.  And then seeing the excitement of my New York City friends that I'd be joining them on the east coast.  Though I had to remind them that I never want to actually live in their city, living a convenient train ride away will be kind of amazing.

Okay, none of those are good reasons by themselves, but they add up to the fact that I'm kind of ready to leave Chicago in the same way I was ready to leave (metro) Detroit about 12 years ago.  Now, of course, the starting over will be difficult - especially without a relative (my sister) and her friends already there like there was when I moved here.  But I think that I'll manage.


The only thing really keeping me in Chicago right now is my apartment.  Not only the fact that it's full and that it will be a pain to move or sell everything, but that it's kind of amazing.


I'm on a month-to-month lease (which is why I can leave at any time I want) and it's a one bedroom in Logan Square for $725.00 a month!  For that in D.C., I will be living in some outer suburb and being forced to get a car again.  Or I'll be back to a studio in a closer suburb (or with roommates).  Which I guess isn't bad.  I do like to live simply, after all.  But I'm also 35 now and the thought of a studio again is a little weird.  And my roommates in D.C. (besides the ones I'm living with in Woodbridge, VA while I'm job searching) would be strangers.  And I'll be forced to get a car again.  Though I did go to the auto show and I kind of want a car again (just without the constant worry about shoveling and ticketing that that entails in Chicago.


Though on a plus note, I found someone to take my futon today.  So there's that!


Anyhow, a while ago my D.C. benefactors sent me two links to get me started on the job search there (since I'm sure they don't want me living in their guest bedroom forever):

• http://usajobs.gov/: Government jobs.  And, naturally, in D.C. there are hundreds of listings.  In Chicagoland, there are a little over 50.
• http://www.idealist.org/: Not-for-profit jobs.

I'm going to thoroughly start checking these out tomorrow.  I mean, it's not like I've got job offers here throwing themselves at me for me to refuse.  Right, I.D.E.S.?