Thoughts and Updates...ish

I think I've discovered why I have such a terrible time writing in here.  It's because whenever anything exciting or 'newsworthy' happens, I write in my real journal first.  By the time I have finished writing about it, I'm tired and don't feel like (1) rewriting a 'public' version or it or (2) editing the already-written version.  It takes too much time, and I have it written elsewhere and that seems to be good enough for me.  Also, I don't know how much - or how little - to include in here.  I want to include enough so those who want to keep up with me will get the basic gist of what's going on, but I also don't want to include *too* much because I made that mistake in the past (high school) with one of those stupid "livejournals" and would prefer not to repeat any version of that.

But, I have recently discovered that people actually read this and want me to update them with what is currently going on in my life - especially now that I have moved to Los Angeles...

That being said, I will try to (a) be more frequent in writing these and (b) sum up what has happened each time I write.  Really, not that much has happened since I moved here.  I officially got here on June 9th around 9pm and pretty much hit the sack the second I got all of my stuff in.  The next few days I spent catching up with some old friends from Utah and Virginia.  I went on this massively long hike on Saturday morning in the ... Punch Bowls?  I really don't know if that's what it was actually called, but that's what everyone kept calling it.  Maybe it's "Punch Bowl Canyon" or "the punch bowl hike."  I have no idea, but in any event, I went on a 9-10 mile hike.  And I don't mean just some measly little trail-marked path either.  We had to climb up a ton of rocks, shimmy around bigger rocks in some places, cross streams/rivers multiple times, etc.  We finally got to what I'm assuming is the reason this place is called the 'punch bowl' because it was a small little "bowl" of water at the top that was deep enough for one to swim in.  However, it was absolutely FREEZING, so I didn't get in.  They also had 'cliff jumping' where you could jump from super high up until water that was about 16 or 17 feet deep.  No thanks.  Only one person from our group actually did that.  

On Wednesday, I met up with a friend I met when working on "Frozen" and we had a real good time just chatting and whatnot.  It's always fun when you have a friend you can talk with for almost 3 hours and not even realize that much time has gone by.  And I now have the utmost respect for him as well, because for the first time in my life, a 'swearing' friend of mine picked up on the fact that I don't swear and - get this - he himself stopped swearing!  I didn't even say anything to him!  He just did it on his own.  Sure, I don't like swearing and would prefer if others would try to keep it to a minimum when around me, but I don't exactly go publicizing that to the world; and I will only say something to a friend or acquaintance if s/he is dropping the f bomb multiple times in a short span of time.  Otherwise, I just try to keep my "filter" on and deal with it, because I have discovered that most people don't seem to care.  So I'm just floored that not only did he pick up on it, but he stopped without me even saying anything!  First-class is all I have to say... first-class.

Today, I found the perfect 'starter-job' out here, but the only problem is that I haven't gotten it yet.  The description is as follows: 

"You will do runs, transcribe tapes and mix audio on shoots plus whatever else comes up." Sweet, sounds good.  

Requirements:

Film / Broadcasting School major 
4-year degree 
Field mixing and booming experience 
Bright, Creative, Energetic, Passionate and Hard working 

Perfect!  And for those of you wondering, yes my degree is technically a Bachelor of *Music*, however, all 'training' I got was catered more towards film.  And all jobs I had while in school were all film and/or broadcasting related.  If they want the broadcast side, I did work for KBYU Broadcasting for four years... so see, I'm set!  Now the only problem is actually getting the job!  Oh, and it doesn't pay a whole lot, but it does pay and that's good enough! ($450 a week, regular M-F thing, but prob 10-hr days).  

Tonight I went to this dinner group thing some people in the ward do once a month.  Well, in the LA 1st ward.  I'm technically not in that ward seeing as I live a half hour away, but that is the area I plan to move into once I come back from filming HSM4 in Sept/Oct.  Plus, I really wanted to live closer to the actual city because I knew that the wards there would be more legit.  I have met a few people in the YSA ward here and well, most of them have lived in this area their whole lives and are still living with their parents.  And if you're still in college and home for the summer, fine... but at this point in my life, I am post-college and want to meet people who are more my age and who have real careers already, etc.  And tonight was awesome!  Pretty much everyone I met was originally from another place, and currently done with school and working in production, music, law, accounting, etc.  It was a breath of fresh air.  I definitely felt more comfortable in that atmosphere than around the YSAs I have met so far in the Agoura area.  

And by the way, I think I am 100% 'back to normal'!  Remember that massive change I had back in November?  Well I was real good at keeping it up for quite some time, but apparently got lazy at it when I dated Martin, or somehow unknowingly re-learned the 'back-off' vibe (probably because I was already dating someone), and it took a while to re-train myself into November's mindset.  But let's just say, I am definitely back!

That is all for now.  Consider yourself officially updated.  I'll be sure to post again once I get a real paying gig (or full-time job).