Leaving Chicago, Going to Vegas & Back!

This will probably be the longest post that I will ever blog, but I wanted to let it all out. Why did I leave Chicago? Why Vegas? Why back to Chicago? Its one of the most common questions I get from people and I give the most basic answer that I can. All though, my choice to go to Vegas was a bit more complex than most people thought. Was it to party and have fun? I can do that in Chicago so no. Wrong answer.

When I lived in Lakeview from 2005-2009, it was definitely an interesting experience. I lived in a 5 floor mid-rise building on Broadway & Melrose. It was nice that it was walking distance from Wrigley and a lot of great sushi/thai restaurants which is my favorite style of food (besides Italian of course). I had several jobs, but the last one I had was for a company called CH Robinson. It was a decent job, the training was pretty intense and made me study like I was in college.

While I was working at CH, I went to Vegas for my cousins wedding. I originally invited this one girl, who I thought was one of my best friends, who eventually blew me off a month before for no reason. So now I was going to my cousins wedding, but alone. At this point, ive been to Vegas probably 5 or 6 other times so it wasn't really anything special besides going for a wedding. My Aunt & all my cousins all work and live in Vegas. Overall, I went out for the wedding and I had one of the most unbelievable eye-opening experiences i've ever had. I was happier than i've ever been. I met some really fun people through my cousin and literally had the time of my life while I was out there. I got back to Chicago after, and I KNEW that I was moving there. Nothing was going to stop me.

So at this point I looked at my current life in Chicago: I was living in a shitty studio apartment, where my neighbor above me would smoke weed constantly and it would blow into my ONLY window (I hate smoking & any drug). I had a job within a company that I knew I wouldn't move up in. I hated my commute, and I was just in a bad place in my life. My overall attitude back then might not of been the best. I was not the nicest guy, I was pretty much an asshole. I never went out of my way for anyone unless it effected or helped ME out. I definitely needed to figure out myself and leaving Chicago was the key to that.

So around my birthday, and on my birthday, I told people what I was doing. I was moving to Las Vegas in 2009. It was the only place that made sense to me, because I am very close with my family. It was the only place other than Chicago that I had family in. So I started plotting ways for me to be able to obtain my goal of moving. I set my move date in mid-May and then budgeted out everything that I needed to do. Moving costs, new apartment costs, bills, stuff I had to turn on & off, shipping my car, etc. Not to mention, I started being a very negative person towards Chicago via facebook status's, saying how much I hated Chicago, I wanted to get out of here, etc. I definitely feel bad now, looking back at what I did. But again, I was in a very bad mindset and place in my life at this time and I needed to work on myself. In the middle of December I decide to sell a huge chunk of my sports memorabilia to start getting some money together. I probably sold 600 photos and 200+ baseballs, bats, etc. I was serious about moving. I also went on a cruise to the Bahamas in December with a group of 13 people, and one of the guys actually lived in Vegas. We made sure to keep in touch as I was making my transition over.

January rolls around and mid-January I tell my parents what Im going to do. They don't like it but they obviously won't tell me what to do. My friends hated this idea and things started to change with my relationships with people. I go out to Vegas for Super Bowl weekend at the end of January to see friends & family and to just make sure that Vegas was a place that I wanted to live. I definitely had a great time that weekend, I looked around the neighborhoods and it was beautiful. I felt like I was in a world that resembled Scottsdale or Phoenix with a fantasy play land known as the strip.

Me at XS with Garrett (@Gnettz) & crew

So I get back to Chicago and now Im pumped. I somehow win a FREE week vacation in Vegas and book my room OFF the strip to find an apartment in mid-March. The hotel I booked was the Red Rock Resort which is absolutely beautiful. It is located in Summerlin (13 miles off the strip). I contacted my friend Kyle, who I met on the cruise in December and he told me about his area, Green Valley-Henderson which is on the complete opposite side from Summerlin. I really liked Green Valley and ended up getting a great deal on an apartment in his subdivision.

This is the entry to where I lived, which was on a beautiful golf course:

So April rolls around and everyone in my office finally finds out that im moving to Vegas. I changed my name on facebook so I wasn't searchable. I deleted most of my co-workers and clients I had been working with so they would not see my friends comments. At the end of April (2 weeks before I was moving), my boss calls me into her office and lets me go. She says she found out that I was moving and at least wanted to help me by letting me go on unemployment until I found a new job out in Vegas. Very cool of her, because I would of had to end up quitting anyways if I didn't get let go. I have my going away party at John Barleycorn in Wrigleyville to say good bye to everyone. I hit up my last few Cubs games. My car gets picked up, my apartment in Lakeview is packed. Time for Vegas!

Between moving out and heading to Vegas, I spent some time at my parents house. The morning of my flight out to Vegas, after everything has been shipped including my car, I was in the limo on my way to Ohare. So many thoughts pondering in my head. What am I doing? Am I really throwing away everything I've done in Chicago? Am I really leaving my parents? Am I really leaving my sports teams & giving up my season tickets? What am I going to do in Vegas?Im sitting at O'hare waiting for my flight trying to fight back tears. I was so lost and confused with everything, I had no idea what to think or do. When my flight took off, I definitely teared up and had no idea what I was doing. While everyone on the flight down to Vegas is drinking, laughing and having fun talking about their vacations, I was just sitting there in a trance. Not even my music could snap me out of it. It was the first time in my life that I was scared beyond belief.

My friend Amy got down to Vegas to visit her parents who live in Lake Las Vegas the day after I got there, which DEFINITELY made me feel better. I've never lived outside of the state of Illinois at this time and was mentally drained.

The area I lived in was beautiful. It had so many palm trees, the only sounds I could hear were people teeing off on the golf course, it was complete opposite from the city life that i led before. This was the biggest amount of change that i've ever had to embrace in my life.

So as weeks go on, I have tons of friends visiting almost every weekend. At first, it was so great to see people from home in a new environment (especially Vegas!). I would constantly go out to the clubs & bars & dinners with them. I would get the craziest facebook emails from people. For example, someone I havent seen since college asked if he could stay at my place when he was coming out for a UFC fight. Really? Are you serious? I haven't talked to you in 5 years and you have the balls to ask to stay at my apartment? Regardless, these type of emails, texts, IMs never seemed to stop.

Its always fun to meet celebrities and go to big event's and parties. I went to several UFC fights, the NHL Awards show & after party, the NBA Summer League games, among others.

Patrick Kane & I @ The NHL Awards After Party @ The Palms pool.

There were a lot of things about Vegas that I DID like however. 1 of the big ones was Wet Republic. I pretty much lived at this pool 6 days a week. It was such a fun, energetic place and I always had a smile on my face whenever I was there.

My Daily schedule for 6 months in Vegas (6 days a week) went like this:

12 pm - Wake up

1 pm - Go to Wet Republic, tan & drink mojitos, talk to girls, and listen to music

4:30-5pm - Leave Wet Republic & get dinner at In n Out burger, Del Taco or happy hour @ RA Sushi

6pm - 10pm - Watch sports, relax and get ready for the night

11pm - 4am Go out to the clubs. (Mondays - XS, Tues - Pure & Blush, Wed - Body English, Thurs - Tao & Tryst, Friday & Sat- Rain, XS, wherever my friends that were in town wanted to go.

Repeat.

How long can someone really live like this for?!

On some Friday nights, I would go see one of my favorite bands, who held a residency at Green Valley Ranch, Steel Panther!

The nightlife is for sure a good time. XS is definitely a fun experience in Vegas that everyone should check out. After being at all of these "mega-clubs" so much, I realized that the size of the club, how much money invested in it, means nothing. Its all about the people you are surrounded by.

The negatives of Vegas definitely out-weighed the positives. I did meet a handful of really good people out there that I still keep in contact with. Most of them I talk to on twitter or facebook on a regular basis and they know that we will see each other again. But a huge majority of people in Vegas have certain vices that just flat out bothered me. Im not much of a gambler and I do NOT touch any drug of any kind. I don't even smoke cigarettes. To much of a shock, while living in Vegas, I actually never physically even saw any drugs. I guess I got lucky if you want to call it that, but its not something that I want to surround myself with. The job situation in Vegas is absolutely terrible. There was literally NO sales jobs open, the logistics industry really didn't exist out there. Im not a bartender or club host (even though I was offered those type of jobs, its just not something for me). Being a single 29 year old I had to do something about it. As far as dating, that was an experience in itself. I did meet a lot of girls out there, some were from Northern Cal, even Wyoming! But there was no real connection with these girls. Some of them just had serious problems. If you think dating in Chicago is bad, you have no idea what dating in Sin City is like. I wasn't about to waste anymore time in a city that deep down had nothing to offer me.

I did make a few trips during that 6 month span back to Chicago. One for Cubs/Sox weekend at US Cellular, Bears/Steelers game, & for the USC/Notre Dame game. It made me realize how truely great Chicago is. From visiting, I also realized certain things that I wish I had. I missed my family & friends obviously, but the food was big. The food in the suburbs of Vegas was aweful. I actually never thought I could say this, but I missed the CTA. Cab fares from my place to the strip were between $30-$40 each way. So it was either don't drink, have 1 drink or pay a ton of money to get home.

I made the decision in the beginning of September that I wanted to move back to Chicago, and I do not regret ever moving to or leaving Vegas.

When I moved back to Chicago, there were a lot of changes that needed to be made. There were some people in my life that I knew were good people, but not good influences on me. Since moving, they have been eliminated from my life and I couldn't be happier. I vowed to myself when I moved back that I would be a different person, that I wouldn't be that conceited, arrogant prick that I was when I lived in Lakeview. All that is in the past and I can move forward and go out of my way for people and show people that I care about them. Being an asshole never made me a better person, it never brought anything positive into my life.

Ever since I came back to Chicago, i've been extremely happy, positive and a completely different person. Its like I have a clean slate and I do not plan on ruining that anytime soon. It feels good to be able to close this chapter in my life and move on. I have definitely learned a lot the past year, and even though I wont be moving anywhere, 2010 should be just as exciting of an adventure as 2009.