Jungeland

My friend Chris is really good at making music. Guitar. Bass. Drums. Piano. Electric Piano. Melodica. Doesn't matter. If given enough time, he'll figure it out.

So when he asked me to come out to a blues jam session in highwood at Gabe's (conveniently located next to the Highwood Lanes), I had no reason to say no. I enjoy live music, and I didn't have a reasonable excuse to not show because I have no job.

So I went, and it wasn't overly crowded, but there were enough people there my age or younger that it had me feeling a little concerned. I immediately thought one of two things

1. Apparently there exist people in the suburbs who go out during the week.
2. There are more people who don't have jobs than I had initially thought.

(Thought not nearly as important, it needs to be mentioned that the Blues jam was taking place in a room adjacent to a bar and patio that appeared to be exclusively playing Flo-Rida and Chris Brown. Feelin' Alright, indeed.)





It's nobody's business but their own if they want to drown their sorrows on a Tuesday, but the bar running out of Miller Lite was at best, concerning. Personally, I'm not sure if I was more depressed thinking that townies exist from around where I live (one suburb over), or that I was among them (not drinking mind you). But perhaps more depressing than that was the fact that a lot of these people are undoubtedly in the same position I am in. Which may or may not explain why they wanted to sing the blues and drink Miller Lite, but I digress.

I bring this up because while recently applying for unemployment (Here's a fun fact- did you know that you can only apply for unemployment from a PC running Internet Explorer?) I went to google to find the Illinois unemployment website. Upon typing in "apply for" in the google search bar, the 4TH state option was "Apply for Unemployment in Illinois," behind only California, Florida and Texas.

At first, I had a sense of pride about this. "Look at all of my unemployed brethren uniting amongst our favorite search engine," I cried out to no one in particular. I felt like I was once again part of a fraternity, minus the whole getting yelled at and eating weird crap part.

But quickly excitement turned to apprehension. Roughly 10% of the country is without work, and that's a number that isn't getting much smaller. If anything, the fact I live in Illinois should have had me more worried.

In my few short weeks of unemployment, I have learned that

1) Most places won't respond to you.
2) Most places that respond to you aren't hiring.
3) Most places that will respond to you and are hiring can pay a more qualified employee a similar wage.



Oddly enough, these realizations, instead of discouraging me, only left me more motivated to find my way back into the advertising industry. It also ultimately led to me making this blog, which you are all so privileged to be able to read.

My parents will tell you that I am the first to avoid stress creating situations. This is why the fact that I enjoy tagging MP3 files correctly is not a coincidence. And as much as I hate to challenge myself if I don't have to, even I was able to realize that this situation is ultimately going to help me grow in the advertising industry, and grow more as a person.

I think the best time to learn about some one is when they're taken out of their comfort zone. Lets be honest, going to Illinois from Deerfield High School wasn't very challenging. Then I stayed at the nice dorm with all of the kids from the suburbs. Then I joined a Jewish fraternity with other kids from the north shore. Then I moved back home, and find myself going out in Lincoln Park with the aforementioned suburban friends. Needless to say, the transition to college wasn't very difficult, even if I remain alarmed with the quantity of Keystone Light consumed in Champaign.

This is the first real challenge I've had in a while (outside of trying to get myself to like coffee, which I lost) and while I'm only a few weeks into the job search, my confidence is high and I'm keeping a positive attitude about things because I know staying patient is paramount right now. I don't know when I'll find a new job, but I know keeping a positive frame of mind about the situation can only help. Whether it's a sign of maturity or not, I've realized that getting all worked up about the economy doesn't really solve anything, because we can't do anything about it (I suppose I could download less Wilco bootlegs and purchase more CD's in stores, but I'm just one man). The job market is going to get better, and in the meantime, I'm going to do everything I can to get myself ready for new work. At the very least, it's refreshing to know that unemployment hasn't brought my spirits down too much...that and the fact I don't have to worry about paying for a lease and my Dad pays for gym membership, which once again Lance, I'm very appreciative of.

I don't know what the future holds, but hopefully I won't be singing the blues in Highwood much longer.

And as my favorite band My Morning Jacket once wrote,

"Always starting over, but somehow I always know where to begin."

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