Top 3 Most Interesting Gigs I've Had Through 8-24-17

Since Joni Mitchell was a lady of many gigs, as am I, here are the top 3 most interesting gigs I’ve had over the course of this last year and a half:


1. I have been in between jobs for the better part of time since February 2016 and have been living the gig life. This first brief gig entailed me selling Hello Fresh products aka meal kit delivery services similar to Blue Apron. How would you feel if you were randomly out on the street in the city and asked if you liked to cook by some stranger in an apron... when there was bad weather outside? Imagine being the stranger in the apron standing outside in the cold trying to play the hustle game? That's what I did for just under 3 weeks. When I walked in the door for this “job of a lifetime”, it felt like I was told, “welcome to your commission-only job, where the name of the game was, "have fun and make money". After arriving at 17 N. State Street in the morning, I walked into this standing-only room into a meeting called "atmosphere", where we would go over the pitch and do some training in the morning before going out into the field. I had a mentor who would work in atmosphere meetings with me to teach me the pitch. It took me awhile to learn the pitch, but after several days, I eventually got it down. Everyone was super helpful and kind to me the entire time, which was nice. After atmosphere meetings, someone would come to the front of the room for an "impact" meeting, which was a lesson on how to sell shit. Sometimes, there would also be conference calls with the top representatives in the US, which also explained to us how to sell shit. The field was a very rough and cutthroat place. It looked all smiley and dancey and like you have pep in your step, but it was getting cold since it was around November and the field was outside on the street you and your group were assigned to. Each day in the field on average I managed to make 1 sale a day. Some days I made 0 and one day I made 3, which is called “ringing the bell”; the next day at work, you’d get announced before going out to the field in “noise”, which is honoring the people who made 3 or more sales in a day. My dear roommate friends noticed how unhappy I was when I would walk in the door and would often pass out on the couch; I had also been eating out a lot and unable to work out as much as necessary. When it was time for my appointment with my therapist, he told me to get the hell out of there; that was a sign. After spending two and a half weeks at this place, I told the commission-only job I was done. I needed to make more than $150 dollars in a week period. No, this "experience" is not going on my resume. While I am now looking for a new full-time job that won't mysteriously end 2 weeks after my start date and driving for Uber/Lyft in the meantime, this gig of mine has told me I am a lot more worthy than asking random strangers on the street if they like to cook!

2. One of the places I’ve had some decent luck finding gigs is on Craigslist. I randomly found an ad saying they needed people to wear costumes by Wiener’s Circle in less than 24 hours for decent pay. I decided to contact the poster, not expecting a reply, and received a reply to my surprise. The person told me they wanted to call me via Skype at 5:30pm that day. I also had a performance at 6pm that night I had to get to and it was a 15 minute drive. I jump on the Skype call, find out I got the gig, and rushed over to my performance. I found out the gig was to wear a hot dog costume in front of Wiener’s Circle to advertise for a minor league baseball team… from 6:30am to 10:30am in the morning. RIP! I’m not used to being up that early in the morning, but decided to do it anyways for the money’s sake. When I arrive at the Wiener’s Circle at super early in the morning, I was given my hot dog costume and left to stand around for a little bit. Since it’s super early and there was a DJ at this event, he decided to play the Cupid Shuffle and the Cha Cha Slide. So here I was, dancing around in a hot dog suit at early o’clock in the morning with a bunch of other people in hot dog costumes. As the morning progressed, a bunch of news stations came to record us holding signs for the Chicago Dogs minor league baseball team and waving. They also recorded us playing wiffle ball in these costumes. A bunch of standing around happened in between all of the madness. When I eventually checked my phone, a bunch of people, including my roommate friends, said they saw me on TV. I had always wanted to be on TV and finally got the opportunity to!

3. I also got to be on TV a second time in the same week! This time, it was a bit more of a surprise! I had applied to another freelance gig on Craigslist and ended up getting a call back. I trek to Michigan Avenue for an interview and get a call a few days later saying I got a gig. The gig was at 1:45am to do what I thought was to “help set up for an event” at the Garfield Park Conservatory. When I arrive at the conservatory, I get there and see some snacks and coffee, balloons, and plastic silverware. After having some coffee and noms, I was instructed to help roll up silverware. After rolling up silverware for awhile and talking to the other people in the room because we were all artists, the man in charge of the gig told me to come outside into the hallway and put a vest on in order for the security guards to know I was allowed into the conservatory. I’m then greeted by a man named Mike who claims he’s worked with plants for a long time. He tells me to water these pods for awhile while we’re having a general conversation. While I’m watering the pods, Mike pulls out a “forbidden plant” from his bag that was one of his coworker’s babies, but he got fired for it because he wasn’t allowed to have this Cuban accelerator plant at the conservatory. Mike then touched his orange to the plant and the plant began multiplying in size and sprouting a fruit the size of an orange in it. He throws the plant back in his bag and steps outside to call his manager. His manager doesn’t answer because there’s no signal. Meanwhile I’m still remaining super chill and not having much of a reaction to anything because I don’t get scared easily. He then takes the plant back out of his bag to notice it’s multiplied even more in size and began taking human form. It was sprouting a face, eyes, nose, and even looking and blinking at me. I thought it was some kind of magic trick or illusion. He proceeded to tell me the plant was morphing due to the “Carbonaro Effect” and I’m like “whaaaaaa???” And then he tells me the Carbonaro Effect is a TV show and I’ve been pranked. I was like, “cool, I’ve always wanted to be on TV”. We both start laughing, he walked me out of the room into another room where I signed some waivers and showed my ID, was given $100 bucks for an hour and 45 minutes of my time, told I'd air in September or fall time, and escorted to my car. Someday I will be famous and now is my time to shine!

Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce with Spiralized Veggie Pasta

My first shape reclaimed cooked meal! Back on track again on the healthy bandwagon and I'm blessed to have cooking talent or this would be much more difficult. Recipe by yours truly :)

Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce with Spiralized Veggie Pasta

1/2 cauliflower
1 cup water
1 tbsp Better than Bullion veggie broth
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
10 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup almond milk

1 tsp of:
Salt
Pepper
Basil
Crushed red pepper
Italian Seasoning

Put the garlic and olive oil onto a sauce pan an sauté garlic until almost brown. Next, combine the water and veggie broth and pour into the sauce pan with the cauliflower and tomatoes. Let the cauliflower and tomatoes simmer in the broth for about 10 minutes or until soft.  Pour all contents from sauce pan, spices, and almond milk into a blender and blend until soft. Serve on top of your favorite whole wheat, lentil/bean pasta, or spiralized veggie pasta. Serve hot and enjoy!

My Flow Arts Story

Throwback to my very first glorbiting video with an Orbite from Emazing Lights and 1 mode gloves.

This is my flow story!

I bought my first pair of gloves from ACEN (anime convention) in May, 2014 after my friend told me about gloving randomly one day. I lost one of the gloves that night and ended up dancing around with 1 glove and an LED pacifier. A month or two later, I bought crappy gloves off of Amazon and would dance around waving my hands in cool patterns, not realizing gloving required more intricate movements. Around October 2015, I began finding gloving groups on Facebook, joined them, and started going to Emazing Lights hosted events. My ffjend also told me about Emazing Lights selling gear and I bought my first pair of one mode gloves. I then recorded my first video of me dancing around my living room with my karate uniform while waving my arms around to create cool light trails. In January 2016, I saw Allazo dancing around a dance studio orbiting and was inspired to go to Emazing Lights, purchase my first orbit, and danced around my living room with my orbit. Shortly after that, I saw that you could use your gloves and orbit together and thus started glorbiting. I soon after found the Facebook groups for orbiting. After watching many videos/tutorials and practicing a bunch in my living room, I began posting videos on Youtube. After I left my job, I was stuck having to work a lot and found myself unable to attend events, meetups and shows. I wanted to find a way to get involved in the community while still pertaining to my goals of performing and in May 2016, I booked my first live glorbiting performance in Chicago. I went to a few open variety shows and even got the opportunity to give a light show with one of my literary performances. In August 2016 with less than a year of glorbiting under my belt, I won my first local talent contest. I then found myself in another rut having to work a bunch and was unable to book any live performances or interact with any flow artists, but now it's time to give time for me and my passion for performing and have 3 live shows booked in a month span.

I may be a fully self taught flow artist, I may see flow arts through a different lens with my stylistic views, I may be taking an alternate route with my flow arts compared to what I mostly see around and I enjoy where this is going. I hope to continue to post videos, perform live on (Chicago) stages, win talent shows, and my want list is to maybe get sponsored by a light show or orbit company and become a part of a flow troupe/team while expanding my knowledge of flow arts. I also hope to attend more fests and flow meetups!

What's your flow story?

https://youtu.be/FlnPEv0KLZM

Kale and Northern Bean Soup

8 tsp Better Than Bullion Veggie Broth 

8 cups Water 

2 cans Northern Beans

1/4 cup of the following veggies: 

Kale

Chopped Fennel

Carrots

1/4 tsp of the following spices:

Salt

Pepper 

Italian Seasoning

Onion Powder 

Freeze Dried Chives

Put beans, veggies, and water in a large pot. Add spices. Cook until carrots and fennel are semi soft and enjoy the tastiness!

Zucchini Noodle Stir Fry with Spicy Peanut Sauce Recipe

Veggies
2 Zucchini
1 cup Stir Fry Veggies
1 cup Chopped Broccoli
1/4 cup Chopped Red Onion
1 Chopped Green Pepper
1 Sheet Seaweed for Topping

Peanut Sauce
5 tbsp Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 tsp Miso Paste
1 cup Water
1 tsp Veggie Better than Bullion
1/8 cup Lime Juice
1 tsp Minced Garlic
1 tsp Chili Garlic Sauce
1 tsp fresh Cilantro
1 tsp Sesame Oil

1/4 tsp of the following spices for the sauce:
Pepper
Onion Powder
Italian Seasoning
Freeze Dried Chives
Sesame Seeds
Crushed Red Peppers

Place veggies in a large pan and sauté them on medium heat. Once the veggies are done, pour the sauce into the pan and turn on low heat for 3-5 minutes to let the sauce cook into the veggies. Top with seaweed and enjoy!

Vegetarian Chili Recipe

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Here is the recipe to my el famous chili! This recipe serves a lot!

1 can of every bean you can find minus garbanzo (no more than 7 cans of beans)
3 cans black beans
3 cans tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
2 tsp better than bullion veggie broth
2 cups of water
3 cans of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup jalepenos
1/2 cup of onion (white or red)
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp hot sauce (Tabasco works)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp of: cumin, Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder, and cayenne pepper!

Topping with (sharp) cheddar cheese or taco cheese or cheddar cheese is optional!

Hear for about 30 min or until chili starts to bubble, but if you want to simmer it longer, go ahead! Enjoy the tastiness :D

"I Guess You Had to Be There" -- Chicago Apartment Life

I guess you had to be there the time I went through life after leaving my full-time job. For reference, I had a full-time job as a web developer at a large company, which I left on my own terms for a shot at self-employment. Now, I drive for Uber while being in between jobs, hoping someone gives me a job offer that can be permanent for me.

Let me begin by saying I became friends with both of these lovely people on interesting terms. I met my dear friend Kyle through a high school friend and several additional pathways later, our now mutual ex friend introduced us to each other at my very first apartment. He made some tasty drinks for us that's forsure! I met my dear friend Noah on an even crazier venture; Kyle met Noah through OkCupid and invited me over to a gathering at his apartment to meet Noah for the first time. After a series of events, I ended up in a fetal position on Kyle's bed while he was comforting me and Noah was looking at shoes because Kyle was gone and he didn't know anyone. Note none of us were sober that night... Fast forward a couple years after that and now we're all living together. Plus, with Kyle being an Uber driver too, he helped me be able to become one too by showing me the paperwork and going over how to use the Uber Driver app with me. Thanks for all the help by the way I truly appreciate it!

Both  of these lovely people have seen the before and after changes in me from about a year ago until today. A year ago, I was making good money living the high life, involved in many activities, and being willing to drive an hour and a half to go perform at a local talent show. Now, I am driving for Uber at insane hours, playing the hustle game, and crossing my fingers I make rent. They have probably seen my boobs, PJs, no makeup self, gross crying mode, anxiety attack, and all the works. They have also seen me bring back people who are pleasurable and ones who we want to get the fuck out immediately. Those who aren’t the best people range from not fully recovered alcoholics who acted drunk and belligerent to “friends” who end up causing me to emotionally over-drink on my birthday because they upset me and stole my phone to send text messages saying “I love pickles” to my friends while constantly making fun of me. Throughout the course of living with these two, they have seen several of these “bad friends” they didn’t like, but at least the good outweigh the bad and thankfully, both of you are still here! At least I introduced them to our amusement park travel buddy who I met randomly while playing Dance Dance Revolution!

While driving for Uber, there would be days I would come back over caffeinated, exhausted, post all-nighter, etc. and both of you ended up spending eons telling me I needed to sleep until my eventual wakeup call. Now I have slept basically every single day since Labor Day. I would sometimes be gone over 24 hours at a time without returning home except maybe to pee. Lately, I haven't been gone for more than 10 hours at a time and when it seems like I was gone for a long time, I would get text messages wondering where I was, prompting me to want to return home shortly after. I always want to make sure to at least see both of you for a little bit before going to sleep. Now that I return home at midnight or earlier, the chances of that happening are significantly greater. Thanks for convincing me to get myself as much of a sleep schedule as I can and sleep every single day instead of driving through the night.

I appreciate how much you both care about me and want me to do well in life. A lot of the time we have been living together, I always mention all the job interviews I'm about to have and how I am craving to get an offer somewhere. Many interviews and rejections later, I finally received an offer from a commission only job at a small outsource marketing firm in the Chicago loop. Both of you gave me multiple red flags after my first day and continued to urge me to quit, which I appreciate. I came home super beat in a non gratifying way and you noticed the difference in my mood and overall well-being immediately. I quit less than 3 weeks later. You know those moments where you know someone’s right and it takes awhile to listen to them because you want to see for yourself? This instance was one of those moments. I also like to see my dearest friends be successful too and celebrate accomplishments, such as new jobs and promotions. For example, taking a shot after each of you got jobs at Mariano’s and a shot after I received my job offer.

One of my favorite moments of celebration, besides of course being able to throw parties, is getting to go on mini vacations to ride roller coasters at Cedar Point. The three of us and another friend went to Cedar Point over the summer, 2016. Someone told how something to either expand or falter relationships is going on trips. On vacations, especially when sharing hotel rooms, you see the entirety of a person. For me, that’s how long I take in the bathroom, how slow I am at getting ready, and me with no makeup. Living with people and vacationing them presents a lot of vulnerability. Being at an amusement park also presents standing in line. I have been in past situations before where I was standing in line with my now ex boyfriend. He would pull the petty argument card while in line and I ended up on my phone ignoring him the entire time. This time, it was spent laughing, bonding, and watching my friends become gradually more afraid of the big rides as we approached the front of the line. We are definitely planning on going on another trip to ride roller coasters in 2017.

Growing up, I always had a difficulty becoming close to people. I had a couple strong friendships in the past, but I always felt like something was missing. There were also multiple experiences regarding failed relationships with roommates, like in college when I lived with someone I barely knew as opposed to knowing them for a couple years prior to living with them. It was definitely a hot mess. This time, the situation is way different, and for that, I shall be grateful.