Spending That Feels GOOD
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...
Give a Hoot, #&!-Damn It
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...
Lipstick
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....
Christmas for Grown Ups
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...
New Job Doubts
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...
NC-17 Rated Job Performance
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...
To the Girls
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"...
Hope?
On Wednesday night I happened to catch the final episode of the latest "Bachelor" reality TV show on ABC. In this version of the romantic reality tv show, the "Bachelor" was Byron Velvick, a professional bass fisherman and as usual over the past few months he has had...
From Now on, I’ll Be French
From 2003 to 2004 I worked very hard to achieve a 15-pound weightloss. It was a long and expensive experience and was much harder than I expected (details here). I feel proud to be maintaining the weightloss, which I do with daily exercise and a relentless vigilance...
Come see me perform
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...
I’M HIRED!
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...
What Do Leftists Do Now?
Okay, now that Bush has been re-elected and the world has ended, etc. and I've gone through my despair-and-kleenex stage and then had my inspirational moment of "I helped make Wisconsin vote for Kerry. I am powerful. What can I do next?" it's time to actually start...