11-04-25 02:53 PM
Read this post on my main website.
Been home from Chicago for a few days now and I'm dog tired lol.
Had such an AWESOME time in the city. My partner and I have visited a bunch of times. This time we went to a residential area away from the city center and it was amazing. Vibes were so good, everyone was super friendly (and the vegan food was AMAZING).
I also tried out a "one bag" (more like "1.5 bag") packing system with my Northseeker (see the "i love my backpack sm note" for more). I used it with a small Jansport sling bag. Tried packing lighter than ever and still found that I could've packed less clothes, so I'll be excited to try it again another trip. (I love minimalist packing haha.)
We definitely want to go back again. We're also seriously considering moving to Chicago after living in the UK for as long as it takes for us to save money and get my dual citizenship, after which it'll be Jem's turn.
I'll make a proper blog post with pictures and everything when I've got time. We got back Saturday night and I've been working straight through since Sunday, all the way to Thursday. After Thursday we're driving three hours upstate for my sister's wedding (which is why Jem visited in the first place); come back Sunday, then another day of work until Tuesday (Jem's last night here) and Wednesday, when I'll be going back up to Chicago to see Jem off.
Went to the art studio yesterday and brought Jem with me. I sold my first piece ever! I priced it super low at $75 just to see if it'd sell. Well, it sure did--only had it in the gallery for a couple days before somebody nabbed it.
I'm doing a whole new sort of work. It's really exciting. But also very stressful and nervewracking haha. I'm basically creating a new visual language to work with. It's figure drawings with collage elements. I'm cutting the figures out and sort of puzzling them together. The first piece I finished worked really well--and now I've got to figure out how to continue that momentum. Fearful of a sophomore slump, though.
Anyway, needless to say I'm pretty exhausted. Been going non-stop for a week. And I won't have any time off before I have to go to my sister's wedding. Trying to chill before/after work when I can and enjoy time with Jem.
Last night we watched Ali G Indahouse. It's one of Sacha Baron Cohen's earlier works. I've not seen his Ali G stuff before and I loved it sm. It's great. I will admit that I had to pause and ask Jem certain slang terms or ask what they said when I couldn't make out certain accents lmao.
Makes me wanna rewatch Bruno lmao. It also gave Zoolander and Pick of Destiny vibes tbh--both great flicks. I miss the golden age of comedy movies.
Gotta go to work soon sigh. It keeps getting worse there ngl lmao. I think I'm gonna try to find a new job after New Year's. I'm going to the UK for Christmas with Jem's family; after that we'll be too broke to visit for awhile, so it's not like I'm gonna need any special time off lol. Hopefully I can find somewhere that pays better too. We'll see.
Hope everybody's doing ok! Peace out. ☮ ❤
✘ Originally posted on — 11-04-25 at 2:53 PM
✘ Main site location — https://xavierhm.com/notebook