Oh my god -- now I remember what life is like when you have a real job at which you can't just sit and blog all day long. Look at how many days go by in between postings! I feel terrible about this, but doubt there's any remedy. I started this blog last June when I...
Last Sunday I attended a little Christmas art fair at Old St. Pat's Church. I handled a shimmery-golden woodcut of a nativity scene from Bangledesh, marvelled at eggshells with miniature nativity scenes set inside them from Peru, ran my palm across bright green and...
I reached my limit months ago: I was sick of seeing people litter, specifically on the Red Line el train. This is what I did: I saw a woman unwrap a package of gum and let the paper fall to the el platform. It particularly bothered me because she had a child with her...
When I bought my usual lipstick at the Prescriptives counter at Marshall Fields, they gave me a free sample. I tried "Emperor" on and realized it was a shade I had been looking for. I had been wearing a lighter version of it that had never looked quite right on me....
Last week at my Christmas performance at Uncommon Ground, my theme was the experience of the holidays when you are single, have no children and have no family in the area. Many of my friends in the audience are in this situation and they appreciated my version of...
I worked a seven-hour shift tonight. I enjoyed it. I'm becoming more a part of the team and the work is more familiar. The restaurant was busy and I had several tables and served lots of people and never even had a chance to sit down and eat my...
Somehow I made it through college, graduate school and 11 years in Chicago as a musician, without ever once waiting tables. Sick of corporate America, I have recently taken a job at one of Chicago's fine restaurants. I'm grateful they hired me with no serving...
I had a great gig on Sunday night. It was my biggest audience yet, and included people who were neither my friends nor friends of friends, but bona fide FANS who just came out because they like my music. That was very significant to me. I called it my "Christmas Show"...
Regina's Holiday Set Sun Nov 28 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. Uncommon Ground Cafe (Wrigleyville) 1214 W. Grace (near Clark) Neal Alger on guitar no cover I have a gig this weekend. I'm worried that no one will come. I wouldn't have picked the Sunday after Thanksgiving for a...
Yes, it's true: my long nightmare of 9 weeks of sleeping in, staying out late, performing, dating, and throwing dinner parties with lots of leftovers, is over. TOday I re-join the ranks of the employed. I'm excited to begin my brand new career in the restaurant...
Sometimes people who have just met me say things like, "So you really enjoy music?" I never know what to say to this. To me this question is similar to "So you really enjoy breathing?" Singing is simply what I'm hard-wired to do. It's not a choice, I don't evaluate it...
I apologize for making anyone feel nervous with my suicide post. It was not a "cry for help," but a discussion of some things I think about. I appreciate the comments and emails of those who responded as if it were a cry for help. I know these things have to be taken...
My last day at my last job was in Septemeber. Since then I have lazily looked for work and applied to some regular 9-to-5 jobs, but I was very distracted by the election. After volunteering six straight days to the end of the Kerry campaign, I am finally ready to turn...
Okay, look: forget about the suicide thing. I'm beginning to regret having posted it. I don't mean to bring people down or make their lives more complicated with yet another nuanced subject to develop an opinion on. I just get angry sometimes that mental illness is...
Yes, it's Regina's "anything goes" blog, where anything on her mind ends up in print for the whole world to see. Even I feel self-conscious about how different today's post is from the previous one, but here it is anyway: what I've been thinking about today. This is...