Spring in Chicago

The most amazing thing about Chicago in the spring compared to the other seasons are the tulips and flowers that bloom in the little city gardens on the sidewalk. I forgot for a minute that Chicago is an architecture city during the winter and landscape architecture is just as important as all the fancy and tall buildings that exist in the downtown area. It is a plethora of vibrant, huge, beautiful tulips that I wish I could just pick everyday after work and carry home with me. Resisting the temptation of city vandalism, I decided to photograph what I am talking about before spring passes. It feels a bit like a reward after the winter season  to see so many colors that mother nature produces while I walk home after work on the nicer days.

It has been 8 months since I moved to Chicago and as my lease is closer to the end, I wonder about where I am going to move to next. Living in Lincoln Park along Lake Michigan has been amazing once I started exploring my surrounding. I never want to live to far from the lake front if I can help it but the end of this year in Chicago makes me think about my future and goals for the coming year. This year was about establishing myself here and finding things to love about being here. Even so, I feel like I left half my heart in San Francisco. Every mention of "Why would you ever leave San Francisco?" from strangers in the city breaks my heart and is probably the most irritating of questions. It makes it harder to fully love Chicago. I wonder a lot about whether I would move back home. I didn't think I would want to, but now it seems like a possibility.

Chicago still has a lot of opportunities I need to explore, and perhaps when I find out if those opportunities will go anywhere or not, I will know where to go next and decide if I want to move home to California again. Anyways, my plan is to move into a one bedroom this coming year in Chicago and getting down to some serious business. The dreams I have about what I am going to do are going to be goals. It might mean moving more to a secluded area and spending less time trying to meet and socialize with people, but I feel that my time would be better used to draw, work on my website, learn chinese characters, pick up the keyboard again.

List of Goals:
Run 3x a week
Draw once a week (spend time at a coffee/tea shop, currently I am at the Loose Leaf Tea Lounge :D )
Read every night for an hour (pretty much anything)
Minimize hang out to only 3x a week
Maintain website
Network with computer programmers who want to develop games