i finally signed up for a phlebotomy course! i was talking to bl and he was like don’t worry girl i got you, there will be a seat waiting, good thing i got all these connects. when they called me back they literally had ONLY one seat left in the next class. so three weeks, monday-thursday 6-9 i will be occupying a class to get a little diploma so i can perform phlebotomy in NY, CT, and NJ. that way i can prob get a job doing that on the weekends/days my present work wont fucking give me to work… watch by the time i finish they will give me 40 hours again. whatevs it will help my resume and my job search, which incidentally is shit since i either need 2 years experience (ive got since last july) or alot more certification/degrees. i need to finish up a year here. god please just let me get a year here!!!!

other than that ive not had anything really happen with me in the last day so I’ll talk about something random. i’ve finished reading Devil in a White City by Erik Larson which is about the Chicago’s world fair in the late 1800’s. It was called the White city in comparison to Chi-towns dark and menacing streets.

Also it was plaster and whitewashed. this fair was epic. in 26 months they constructed this amazing area, with huge buildings with heights that the world had yet to see. it brought many people to tears and brought people back time and time again, even with the exorbitant admission price of 50 cents. brilliant men and women were involved (even Walt Disneys father worked there which people believe helped to shape disney).

The previous world’s fair was in paris. Even today there is a very evident piece of it still surviving: the Effiel Tower. Now when Chicago got word that they could actual host the following fair (over the largest city New York) the lead architects knew that they had to “out effiel effiel.” they thought it wasnt going to be done but there was one man who had an idea, which was shot down multiple times until finally he got his chance. The man’s name was Ferris and he had invented a giant wheel that took passengers well over 200 feet into the air in trolleys that could fit over 30 people each (sadly it was sold as scrap after the fair was completed). It was the largest use of electric energy to date. They used elctric boats, outlined buildings in lights every night, and spotlighted the entire park.

Now since the title is Devil in the White City, you are lead to believe that there is a evil side story. It tells of a man that used the city’s allure to prey on youthful women who moved to chicago alone and very willing to leave their own chaperoned and quiet lifestyles in search of independence and adventure. However they met with Dr. H.H. Holmes (aka Herman Mudgett) who states in his confession years later: “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing.”  At this time Jack the Ripper was loose in London, but instead of discovering dead prostitutes in various areas of the city, his victims’ disappearances went unnoticed or he lead family and police on wild goose chases with planned stories to various other countries.  His charm not only managed to persuade the doe eyed youths he killed but also men held in high regard in society.  He had made a lifestyle as a pharmacist and hotel manager, employing mostly vulnerable women coming from wealthy backgrounds, and when the World fair actual began he turned many men away from his hotel in order to keep the rooms filled with only women.  He constructed a “castle”  which contained various airtight rooms that had gas valves located in his personal quarters, a kiln that could heat to extreme temperatures, and that guests always said smelled of chemicals.  He would kill them passively, usually chloroformed or gassed. He enjoyed the power he had over them. He would then disect them and sell their skeletons to medical centers for learning. It is not known how many people he actual killed which is intriguing. He never fully confessed to everything but he was known to kill at least 3 children, their father and about 7 other women. Some believe the numbers were in hundreds.

anyway i really enjoyed the book a lot and even though i kinda exposed most of it, it is really interesting to read about if you are into historical events. Every quote in the book is actually from a historical document. It is just amazing that in 1893, with terrible soil, fires, colapsing buildings, storms off the lakes, and so many deaths, a city could be brought up and compel people to visit even as banks crumbled around them.