Zio's Attic

2023 recap:

“If I had anything in 2023 it was stability and consistency. For starters, this is the first full Calander year the world was free of COVID restrictions. I am still married (thank God). I started the year as Campus Director and will most likely end the year as Campus Director. My address is the same (still renting) and my theater subscriptions have been renewed. Same seats, same days, and same times. I like me a matinee, so I have an excuse to take a Wednesday off of work. What can I say. I also have the same amount of credit card debt, same amount of money saved for the down payment on this house ($0.00), and same commitment to go to the gym (none).”

The theme to 2023 as you read the whole post, is that I did not feel any steps for personal growth. I am glad I reread that, because everything changed in 2024, and I am not about to have 2025 be a repeat of 2023. I will focus on making the correct choices as I navigate this new life that 2024 created.

Shortly after my 2023 post, I was approached about joining the education team as Regional Director of Education. This, among other times in my life is the pure definition of manifestation. It was the exact direction that I wanted to move in. Jan 29th was my official start date for this position. Finally working under Larry, an amazing leader and mentor, I began to grow in my role and with this company. My team is like a family, and I could not ask for more. This whole year professionally has been about growth, growth and more growth. I have realized my potential, and I have narrowed in on the things that I need to work on. I am responsible for 4 campuses at the moment and building their teams and holding their educators accountable to provide the education that our students pay for. I get to travel, which already is a little less glamours than in was in the biggening. Just depends on where I am going.

Let’s talk about some major growth opportunities that I had this year! First of course, would be my promotion to RDE. That has opened so many doors for me! I have met big time vendors which gave me the opportunity to fly to LA with Loreal to share my story! We went to Orlando and North Carolina as well for work. Hugo and I really dedicated our time to working on our house. It was tiring at times, but all the hard work paid off. So many changes from all the painting to the soffit coming down and everything in between. I am proud of the home we have even if I get worked up over money sometimes. Personally, we have not been able to travel like we used to because of the purchase of our home, however we managed to get away to some local spots and took a trip to NOLA for his birthday. Because of my hotel points through work, we were able to take the kids to the Palmer House Hilton for a weekend in Chicago which included shopping, museums and Chinatown! We now are members of the Feild Museum, and I plan to spend a lot more time there!

Some things to look forward to in 2025 would be some trips we want to plan. Ft. Myers to see Courtney, Glacier National Park with Carrie and Kate, and hopefully a trip to Mexico for Christmas to see the family. I am a lot more comfortable as of recently in my new role, so I look forward to expanding on that and also traveling with my team. I am looking forward to bringing it back to basics, pay off bills, eliminate some of these American chemicals from my food and beauty products. This year I will be turning 45 and will focus more on my health and body. Mentally, I want to be better to myself. I will always be a people pleaser; however, I am one of these people that needs to be pleased. Going to the gym, alone time at the Museaum and other things will keep me solid and whole. I better me will be a better Huband, friend and coworker. It was chaotic end to 2023, which ended up setting me up for a good 2024. I want to go into 2025 just fine tuning what I got and pay attention to myself and my needs. Cheers!!

Energy. This place has energy. Rogers Park is the magnet to my being. It’s that place you leave many, many times and the universe keeps bringing you back. It’s almost like a drug. You don’t want to go but as soon as you get there, you forget who you are and become a part of the fabric of the community. I can get lost here. I know everything here. I have had a lot of firsts here. Lasts. I say I grew up here. I became the worst version of myself here to later, 8 years after that, become the best. Rogers Park is in my DNA.

Rogers Park is the northernmost neighborhood of Chicago. Its boarders include Evanston to the North and Lake Michigan to the east, making the perfect neighbors. Now known as the most diverse zip code in Illinois, Rogers Park was once just a beautiful beach surrounded by white birch forests before it was ransacked by settlers, and we already know how that story goes. Barack Obama gave his first speech, announcing his run for congress at the now demolished Heartland Cafe. A mural is located there in remembrance of that now historic day. There is a lot of history and culture here, especially in a city that is so hard hit by gentrification, Rogers Park remains minimally changed, at least for the last 21 years I have known her.

Traveling back and forth between Evanston and the City, I was exposed to Rogers Park through Dave, AKA Big Poppa. If you are new to this blog, Dave was the “pimp” that owned “The Agency” Chicago and took me under his wing when my family wanted nothing to do with me. I fell in love with the natural beauty of the lake, the trees and all the old architecture that managed to survive. My first solo apartment was 1337 W. Greenleaf Ave. A 2 roomed studio with a separate kitchen. To this day, I still do not understand how I found the most perfect apartment of my life the first time around. I still remember my palm tree shower curtain and the first couch I ever purchased, from the Brown Elephant Thrift. Sofa bed. Heavy as hell. The funny thing is, I have pretty much kept that neutral warm style of decor in all my homes ever since. My apartment on Greenleaf was half a block from the beach. HALF A BLOCK FROM THE BEACH! This was the life. It was from that day forward, that I feel I began my true adult life. I learned everything I needed to know about being a man in Rogers Park. How to stretch a dollar, shit, how to make it. How to toughen up and show up and just do what you got to do. I was now from Chicago, for this is what created the fabric of the man I am today.

I left. Did some things, wrote a few chapters in my book of life and ultimately came back. This time, 1/2 a block from the beach “east of Sheridan” as you would say. This chapter turned dark but started out so light. Two new things came into my life almost at the same time. Jason and Meth. Crazy thing is, they both destroyed each other, and they both destroyed me. Meth opened a whole underworld I never knew existed. I truly felt like I was a part of a crew, a part of something no one else could understand. I loved being with Marc, Peter. I met Bryan. He passed away in the process. Bryan and I shared a moment at the Greenleaf Beach and that is also were Marc lived. I spent a lot of time over there. I was back on Greenleaf, just a 1/2 block away from my original apartment and I never felt more alive. I reconnected with an old friend Sean, as he was also living in Rogers Park. I really was solid with my life, but somehow, at some point, I just lost control of the drugs and lost control of my mind. I had to leave again.

At this point during my rehabilitation process from drugs, I could not go anywhere near the city, let alone Rogers Park. In my head, Rogers Park was a dark energy that I had no power over. That had the ability to suck me back in if I got the right look on the streets from a stranger. The fabulous dark hole of sexual exploration I have never been comfortable with until I was fucked up on Meth. I still desired that feeling of belonging. Desired the feeling of being desired.

Thousands of dollars invested in medical attention as well as education, brought me back standing on my own two feet taller than ever before. I was interviewing for the position of my career. The highest position I ever wanted to sit at with my company. I knew I would get it, and I knew it would require a transfer. Never in my wildest dreams was I prepared for them to tell me “You are going to Rogers Park.” Campus Director I was, and I spent a lot of days walking to the beach and checking out all the monuments of my past. As far as the drive was, as soon as I crossed the Chicago River, I felt like I was in another dimension. I changed. My mindset changed. Rogers Park was taking over. Everyday my memories were filled with events from the past. Good and bad. Sober and cracked out. “Play the tape through!” I thought to myself when the memory became too deep, and I could feel the rush of adrenaline through my groin into my toes. Just like that first hit. Play the tape through. This will not end well. I think I was stronger than my demons, but who knows. I lasted there 6 months before I was promoted again and moved to the NW side of Chicago.

I know enough and I know well that I will always be called home. I cannot help it and I cannot hide it. This is an energy bigger than anything I have felt before. I am always back and forth and the first to say yes when they need some help over at my old campus. That is just the energy calling me back and I will never ignore it. In the back of my head, I always know that Rogers Park will always be waiting for me. It will never turn me away. It also will never quit. The whispers of the breeze will always haunt me until it welcomes me back home forever.

As I will never forget: Zach, Marc, JJ, Twin, Bryan P, Peter, Chris, Mike NW, and so many others I can remember, but can’t come up with a name. The locations that harbor these memories: Unique, Marshalls, Man’s Country, Jackhammer, Greenleaf and Howard Ave. And Jason. You are a whole story worthy more than just a mention at the bottom of a blog post.

I could have waited 2 months and did my 2021 year in review, but Hugo just got us a shiny new MacBook Pro and I am sitting around recovering from surgery so here we go!

I have one more week left of the work at home model. It has been almost two years that I have been working at home and it has been an expierence that someday I will be able to look back at and see how it changed me. One thing I know, is that things are changing. Honestly right now my relationship, to me, is stronger than ever. I love my home, and I have a beautiful new truck. I have recently become very aware of my worth and know there is more out there.

Since I left rehab, for the most part, I have played my life very safe. especially compared with the way I used to be. I have taken my career with Tricoci very serious and it has proven well for me. I have played it safe with Great Clips because it was easy. I am a lot more aware of my bills and credit health. More or less, I don’t take many risks. Like I said before though, I know there is more! I feel greedy saying that especially when the universe has given me so much and playing it safe has provided these things for me, but now, 6 years in, I am comfortable and who doesn’t grow when they are comfortable? Me. No one grows when they are comfortable actually so it is time to start a new venture.

This year we got a new house, I got a new truck and we are in the burbs. Chelsea and I have plans for a better future. It’s time to just work hard. I have had 2 years of not living up to my potential so I am making a promise to myself that by 2022 year in review I will have a head position at Tricoci or a new job paying me a better salary. I’ll be not so much Great Clips but doing more with PMU. Whatever it is, I will be doing more, and I will be doing it before the summer comes because I cannot be working from home. I say change is coming but change is all already happening. Big changes are all around me. So I am already on my way to life after rehab part two. I am excited and ready!

As globally fucked up this year has turned out to be, I cannot say that this was “the worst year ever”. Actually, as the year comes to a close, I find myself blessed by the universe to be able to say I thrived and also survived having the ‘Rona. The symptoms were all manageable from home, and I don’t want to make light of it, but it always had been something that I considered to be an over exaggeration. Then, I did what I ALWAYS do when I get knocked down. I got up and continued to move. To LIVE.

This was my year! I got married and turned 40. I paid down some debt and got creative finding ways to keep things exciting when the whole world was closed. We shared a pool with Kristina and took advantage of it while the virus kept things closed for the summer. I was able to keep my job and top of that I have not had to go back to campus permanently since March. It’s been almost a full year that I have been able to take advantage to the world of working from home. I was blessed with the opportunity to further my education and get certification for scalp micro pigmentation. The world got to watch Trump be defeated and fear for the future as we watched the outcome of how his followers reacted. I didn’t know there was so much hate still left in this country. We took some trips, some GREAT ones actually- Cocoa Beach was a favorite and took several trips to the Dells. We spent Christmas in the Tampa Bay Area as well, and really organized the home. That was 2020. It could have been better but I did what a could with what I was given. Here’s to 2021, my 2nd year of marriage, 5th year with Tricoci, and 41st year of life.