Category: everyday life

It Could Be A Perfect Day…

Yesterday was a perfect day. A perfect first-summer-day, a day when I know why I moved to Rogers Park and what I love here.

It started from the long bike ride, and the sun is now up early enough for me to start biking at 5-15. I entered the Lake Front Trail at 5-35, and it already looked busy with people walking their dogs and talking to each other, joggers, and biking groups.


I had breakfast on my balcony, and then I had a very productive workday. During my lunch break, I went to the beach, lay on the sand, listened to the waves, and walked in the crystal clear water.


And then, my neighbors messaged me that they could help me to pick up the plants, and I got on Uber and went to the nursery and picked the plants.

The evening was balm, and I worked until 9 PM and could plant everything and clean up almost everything. So now my summer life is going to be perfect.

It would be a perfect day, if not for one thing.

In the morning, when I stopped to wait for a green light at the corner of Broadway and Granville, I saw a neatly dressed older man picking in the garbage. When I started crossing, I saw that he had a bun in his hand, and he was hurriedly eating it while crossing.

Joffrey Ballet

Last week was also ballet week. On Thursday, I went to see two short ballets: Balanchine’s “Serenade” and a modern ballet “Of Mice and Men” based on Steinbeck’s book.
I was cautious and skeptical about the latter; I could not imagine this book converted into a ballet, but it was fantastic!!!Below is a long segment about this performance here, which tells it all – I agree with every word of it!

On Saturday, there was a subscriber appreciation day. Subscribers were invited to have a late breakfast at the foyer, and then everybody was invited into the auditorium to see a rehearsal. It lasted an hour and a half, but it didn’t feel boring at all!

I renewed my subscription for the next season, but I decided to get only one ticket. If I have a company for some of the performances, I can always get an extra one. And this season, I had trouble finding anybody who would go with me!

A Year of Living by the Lake

I moved to my new home a year ago. On the one hand, I am still telling people that I “recently moved.” On the other hand, it feels like O already lived here for half of my life.

This week, the weather finally became warmer, and I biked a lot. The sun rises early enough for me to go for long bike rides in the morning.

Today, the temperature suddenly rose up to 89F, and I rushed to the beach as soon as I could get off work. It was way colder by the water, but still, I could lay down on my tarp, not moving, not reading, not thinking, just feeling the lake nearby.

“Seagull” at Steppenwolf

Last Wednesday, I went to see the “Seagull” in the Steppenwolf theater. I had four tickets left on my Black card, and I decided to use them all for this show. I figured that Igor and mom would go, and I will figure out whom else to invite. My neighbor was interested (she even thought about getting tickets herself), and I gladly invited her.

It was not only an all-new “Seagull” but also the first show on the Steppenwolf’s New Stage, and the new stage was fantastic! And actually, everything about this show was great: the translation was nearly perfect, nothing was cut from the play, and the actors seemed to be born to play these roles!


I was also glad that mom liked it. She could not remember the play itself (although it’s a Russian classic taught at school), and she could not understand what was going on on stage, but still, she was captivated by the action.

The Victory Over Nazism Day

Roe/Wade

I didn’t have time to blog about anything since returning from my trip; there was too much work. I still have a lot of photos from Lithuania, and I do not know when I will have time to sort them. And while I was so preoccupied with my private things and the war, I completely lost the situation with Roe/Wade. Now I blame myself for ignoring most of the protests, not being there, and putting these activities on the backburner. At the same time, I know that participating in Saturday protests completely doesn’t fit into my schedule. Unfortunately, this is not the last protest… not sure which emoji is appropriate here.

Homelessness

Because of my volunteering with homeless individuals, I immediately notice whether the situation there is better or worse than in Chicago each time I visit other cities. And if it is better, I wonder what these cities are doing better and what we could do in Chicago.

I think about this each time I visit Helsinki, but it was even more pronounced this time. I went to clinic escort on Saturday morning, and I had to go to the earliest shift because I was leaving the same day. It was the first time I ever ook the Red Line as early as 5-15 AM, and the first two cars were pretty much “sleeping cars” – I didn’t even try to get in and move to the third car right away. The next day, I read a letter of complaint from some North Side residents about the homeless encampment and how “they have too many defendants, like the Night Ministry…”

I understand people’s frustration, but I also know that, unfortunately, we do not have any solution in Chicago. It’s great, that the homeless problem in Helsinki is almost non-existent, and I wonder whether we will ever be close to that…

Impostors And How to Identify Them

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

Today, I want to talk about impostors. No, not about impostor syndrome, but impostors. Nowadays, you hear about “impostor syndrome” more often, and even when you start to google “impostor,” the “impostor syndrome” comes first. It looks like a more common situation when somebody feels like an impostor when they are actually not. You often come across a story where a female professional feels that she “does not deserve” a specific position, and others are trying to convince her that she does.

However, we rarely see stories about actual impostors in IT, although I know several people and organizations that fell victim to impostors. The damage ranges from poor people management to data loss to material financial losses. Organizations rarely admit that they made a mistake in hiring an impostor. I recall a situation when a person from the Technical Leadership teamaskedan impostor to find another job. He…

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Love To Ukraine – an Art Exhibit

Our local Greenview Art Gallery opened a benefit exhibit featuring the works of Ukrainian artist Anatoliy Khmara with all proceeds going to support Ukraine. Khmara came to the US on a special visa for persons with Exceptional Abilities over 20 years ago. Many of his relatives are still in Ukraine, and the exhibit opens with their portraits.

He paints magical landscapes and blooming flowers, but I was immediately drawn to his Chicago pictures. The picture of Montrose Harbor made in the most unusual colors caught my attention.

It did not fit either in my budget, or on my wall, but I could not take my eyes off it. When Khmara asked me which picture I liked, I pointed to this picture but added that I can’t afford it either way. He said that he should have smaller prints of it, but Igor and I told him we had already gone through the bin and didn’t find any. Then he asked one of the staff to check in the back because he remembered he had a smaller print. She fetched one but said it was marked as sold. But, she added, we can other another one. Khmara said – why, we can give her that one, and order an additional print for that other customer :). I could not say “no.”

My “war budget” for April was long gone, but the staff offered to pay in installments, which I gladly accepted.

This is the actual painting
And that’s the print I got

Harold Washington Library

Yesterday, the HWL hosted a meeting of the Society of Midwest Authors meeting – the first one in-person since the pandemic’s start. The UIC professor Dick Simpson discussed his new book, “Democracy’s Rebirth” with Mayor Lori (who wrote a preface for that book).


The worst thing about this event was that it went completely not advertised! One lady in the audience asked me how I learned about this event, and I replied that I was looking for something else on the library website. If I won’t looking to reserve a group room, I would never see it! The library announced that the number of participants would be limited to 300, but I do not think there were 300 people there. Those who came wondered how others would miss an opportunity to see the Mayor right in front of them on the stage :).


The conversations around me in the auditorium were even more interesting than on stage. Several people had some organizing/political background, and they exchanged their life stories. One gentleman said that after he retired, he took a crash course to become an ESL teacher and how he wanted to go to Sait-Petersburg and how now he is glad he didn’t go “because he won’t want to aid Mr. Putin.”

There is a special exhibit on the 9th floor to mark the centennial of Harold Washington. For some reason, they don’t allow any photography there, so there is nothing to report.

And I also checked out the Winter Garden – it’s gorgeous, and maybe next time, I will get a chance to grab a table there 🙂