Okay... you may not think this is funny, but I thought it was awesome. Tonight, I watched "Space Cowboys". I hadn't seen it, and it was on Netflix's "instant play" (best $9/mo ever!) so I thought I'd give it a shot.
Overall, it was a pretty good movie. It had a huge cast, too. But the one problem I had with it was that one of the characters looked SO familiar to me and it was driving me nuts!! I could not for the lift of me figure out what it was that I had seen him in. I kept racking my brain because he seemed so familiar to me but I couldn't pinpoint what movie I knew him from.
As soon as the movie ended, I hopped onto my computer and pulled up IMDB. (one of the best sites ever! Punch in my name - as Marisa Kelley - and see how many films you find for me!) I loaded the cast list for Space Cowboys, scrolled down, and whammo. As soon as I saw the name I couldn't help but burst into laughter. I felt like a fool once I realized who it was and why he looked so familiar.
This is Wiliam Devane
I didn't recognize him from some film or TV show - I recognized him because I worked with him for over a month!! I've never seen a single thing he has been in! His name is William Devane and I guess he was a bit bigger 10 or 20 years ago, but most people now don't really know who he is so it's not that humorous to most people. But I just got the biggest kick out of that. I think it was mainly because Space Cowboys wasn't exactly a straight-to-DVD type of movie. It was an A-list film and I worked with an actor in that cast!
I just kept randomly chuckling throughout the evening just thinking about it again. What can I say - I am easily amused! :) Anyway, there's my random story of the day!
Well, here's a funny story... and slightly embarrassing, but not really.
I worked the BYU Men's Basketball game at the Marriott Center yesterday. We got there at 12:30pm and started setting up. At one point, I headed for the women's restroom and there was a sign on the door saying that it was Utah State's locker room. I was slightly confused, because that is the restroom that I always use when working games at the Marriott. I began my search for another bathroom and soon came across another one. The sign on the door said "Men and Women." I thought it was just a small little one-stall but it was a full restroom with two stalls. So, I used that one all day instead.
We finished setting up, had dinner, and before we went on-air, I went to the bathroom. A guy was in one stall and I thought to myself, "This co-ed bathroom thing is a little weird..." (though when you think about it, it's really not that weird - we're just not accustomed to it). He left before I came out to wash my hands and I thought nothing of it.
I exited the bathroom just like normal, but as I was exiting, I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye. The sign on the door had been changed: "Men's Restroom." I have no idea when they had changed it, because I had used it not an hour ago and it was still Men and Women... but I definitely walked straight into the Men's room and used it like it was nothing out of the ordinary! I suppose now that it's a very good thing that the other guy had exited before I came out!!
I was so confused, because I could have sworn that on my way to that bathroom, the other door still said "Utah State" on it, thus leaving the other bathroom my only option... apparently I missed the switch! Haha. It definitely gave me - and the other audio guys - a laugh though! I vote that they should have a restroom on that base floor that is just stalls - not stalls, showers, and locker rooms all rolled into one. It makes it really confusing!! :P Then again, I guess it can make for good stories, too!
I gave a talk in church today on renewing our covenants. I'm one of those weird ones who actually quite like preparing and giving talks, so minus the lack of time that I had (I wrote it during work last night), it was quite enjoyable to prepare. I'm pretty sure I have never learned more from preparing a talk than I did in this time around.
Also, ever since I took a religion class at BYU (from Brother Bott), I have prepared talks differently. He heavily emphasized that you should have a good solid outline, but to never write it out word for word. I have done that for the last 3 talks. This one, however... for some unexplainable reason, as I started doing my research I strangely felt the need to write this one out. I don't know if it was for coherency's sake or what, but I wrote this one out.
So... since I actually wrote it and since my 'research' had so many insights I didn't even know about, I'm going to include it here. Enjoy.
Last week, Brother Cowley asked me to speak on renewing our covenants. Let me start off by asking, what exactly is a covenant? According to the LDS Gospel Library, “A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions. When we choose not to keep covenants, we cannot receive the blessings, and in some instances we suffer a penalty as a consequence of our disobedience.”
The most commonly talked about covenant is our baptismal covenant, as that is the first of many covenants we will make in this life. It can also be argued that it is the most important because without this covenant, we cannot progress to make further covenants with our Father in Heaven.
In Mosiah 18, Alma discusses baptism by saying, “Behold, here are the waters of Mormon… and now, as ye are adesirous to come into the bfold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
Yea, and are awilling to mourn with those that bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.”
Brigham Young elaborated on baptism by saying, “They covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and cherishing the kingdom of the Devil and the kingdoms of this world. They enter the new and everlasting covenant to sustain the Kingdom of God and no other kingdom. They take a vow of the most solemn kind, before the heavens and earth, … that they will sustain truth and righteousness instead of wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God, instead of the kingdoms of this world.”
Now, when most of us hear ‘renewing our covenants’, we automatically think of our Baptismal Covenants. But as I started researching more on what exactly entails renewing covenants, I came to realize that it is much, much more than that.
Each week, we are given the privilege of partaking of the sacrament where we are once again able to renew our covenants with the Lord. Now, if it’s not just baptismal covenants, what else is it?
In the March 1995 Ensign, John E. Mackay stated:
“According to our latter-day prophets and leaders, when you partake of the sacrament you renew whatever covenants you have made with the Lord. For example, if you have been baptized only, that is the covenant you renew. If you have received the Melchizedek Priesthood, you also renew that part of the oath and covenant related to your having received that priesthood. If you have received your endowment, you also renew the covenants associated with it. Further, if you have been sealed, you also renew that covenant. In other words, when you partake of the sacrament, you renew all the covenants you have made with the Lord.”
Reading this article was somewhat of an “aha” moment for me. I knew the purpose of the sacrament was to renew our covenants, but I didn’t actively think of or review all the other covenants I have made with the Lord while partaking of the sacrament.
The three main things we are reminded of in the sacrament prayers are to promise our Father in Heaven:
1. To take upon us the name of Christ.
2. To always remember Christ.
3. To keep the commandments of Christ.
President Ezra Taft Benson said, “We go to our chapels each week to worship the Lord and renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament. … Our agreement to keep all the commandments is our covenant with God.”
Part of keeping the commandments of Christ includes keeping our personal covenants that we have made with the Lord… and sincerely renewing them each week.
In 1989, President Howard W. Hunter emphasized that our Father in Heaven knows us each individually and that the covenants we make with Him are all one-on-one. He stated,
“I have always been impressed that the Lord deals with us personally, individually. We do many things in groups in the Church, … but … the most important things are done individually. We bless babies one at a time… We baptize and confirm children one at a time. We take the sacrament, are ordained to the priesthood, or move through the ordinances of the temple as individuals—as one person developing a [personal] relationship with our Father in Heaven. … Heaven’s emphasis is on each individual, on every single person.”
In Virginia, I was one of very few members in my high school. A sneaky way I had of getting friends to come to church with me was “I’ll visit your church if you visit mine.” I remember going with my best friend to her church once. They also had the sacrament but the cups were passed around and each patiently waited until everyone had a cup in their hand. The pastor said a prayer and then, at his direction, they all drank in unison. It was a very weird experience for me to see 200 heads all go back at the same time. It never occurred to me until I started preparing for this talk just how important it is that we are given our own chance instead of partaking in mass numbers.
While we may all participate in the sacrament at the same time, it is not in unison. It is one after another… each with our own turn… each renewing our own individual covenants made with the Lord.
One thing we mustn’t forget though, is our attitude and our thoughts during the actual blessing and passing of the sacrament. I know I have been guilty on several occasions of letting my mind wander every which way while the sacrament is being passed. My mental checklist of to-dos, my hungry stomach, trying my hardest to keep myself awake… the list is endless. But the way we treat those few sacred minutes can and will make all the difference.
When I was in Young Women’s, one of my teachers taught an unforgettable lesson. She taught of the importance of reverence during the sacrament and emphasized that we need to keep our mind from wandering but instead focus on what it really means to be renewing our covenants. We should be thinking of our Savior and his atoning sacrifice; we should have the spirit of repentance in our hearts, and the determination to be better and rise from our past misdeeds. She recommended reviewing the words of the sacrament hymn during the passing of the sacrament to keep our minds focused. Ever since that lesson, I always keep my hymnbook open so I can re-read the words that were just sung.
The Gospel Principles manual also gives advice on preparing oneself for the sacrament. It states, “During the sacrament service we should dismiss from our minds all worldly thoughts. We should feel prayerful and reverent. We should think of the atonement of our Savior and be grateful for it. We should examine our lives and look for ways to improve. We should also renew our determination to keep the commandments. We do not need to be perfect before partaking of the sacrament, but we must have the spirit of repentance in our hearts. The attitude with which we partake of the sacrament influences our experience with it. If we partake of the sacrament with a pure heart, we receive the promised blessings of the Lord.”
Most covenants that we make are a one-time thing. Unless extenuating circumstances are present, we are only baptized once, we only go through the temple and receive our own endowments once, we are only sealed once, and so on. So how do we remember what those covenants are and what exactly it is that we promised our Father in Heaven if the ordinance itself is only performed once? This is one of the reasons the Lord has given us the privilege of partaking of the sacrament each week. If we forget our covenants, where does that leave us?
According to President Kimball, “Remembering covenants prevents apostasy.” What happened to the Nephites when they forgot their covenants with the Lord? There is a reason we need to be reminded so frequently of what we have promised. Our finite minds require immense amounts of repetition to stay on the straight and narrow. That weekly reminder helps us to better maintain those promises that we made last week, last year, or 10+ years ago. Our covenants don’t change, the Lord doesn’t change – only we change. And it’s up to us in what direction we change.
In the April 1989 New Era, H. Verlan Andersen stated, “If … you live a normal life span, you will probably renew the sacrament covenant more than 3,000 times before you die. That covenant must be highly important to the Lord or he would not ask us to repeat it so often. But… if we make the same covenant that many times and then fail to keep it, what will he say to us when we meet him? On the other hand, if we keep it, we will obtain those blessings which are ’the most desirable above all things.’ ”
It seems that oftentimes many of us get into such a set routine that it becomes nothing more than ‘just another part of Sacrament Meeting.” But the sacrament is the whole reason for this meeting! It’s not ‘just another part’ – it’s the sole purpose. We don’t “have” to partake of the sacrament – we get to…so long as we are worthy. The moment you are no longer allowed to take the sacrament is the moment you realize what you have been taking for granted.
I had a close friend who once slipped up and was working through the repentance process. She told me that it was the worst feeling every week knowing that she couldn’t take the sacrament and had to pass it along to the next person without partaking. She also had never been so eager to take the sacrament as she did the day her bishop told her she was once again okay to partake. She was absolutely overjoyed.
In a 1995 Ensign, Bonnie D. Parkin discussed the joys of covenants, and of renewing them. She asked, “How did you feel the last time you partook of the sacrament? Did you ponder those covenants made in fonts and within temples? The sacrament enables us to renew our covenants. Thus, if we keep those covenants with honor and exactness, we can feel as fresh and as pure as we did when we were first baptized. We can feel as committed to a temple sealing as we did as a new bride or groom. Covenants keep us new.”
Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of the opportunity we are given each week to feel clean again? Who wouldn’t want to remember the way we felt as we came out of the waters of baptism or after we came out of the temple for the very first time? The Lord blesses us with that opportunity – if we so choose – each and every week. It is our privilege given to us by our loving Father in Heaven to renew our covenants with him every Sunday.
It is my testimony that treating this weekly experience – this weekly blessing of being able to renew our covenants with reverence and with sincerity will help us grow that much closer to Heavenly Father.
(PS, for those of you VA people who know the Quantico ward, that YW teacher was Betsy Garner. She probably doesn't even remember the lesson, but I definitely do)
I am currently sitting in the BYUB truck working at the women's volleyball game... getting paid to watch it. :) I love working sports. Although, I would rather trade sitting on my rump during the game (and working my butt off setting up before the game) to operate a camera (which is pretty much vice versa of what I just said). But instead, I have been catching up on blog reading of friends' blogs that I have failed to look at in several months. :)
Audio in the truck - that's my boss!
It's kind of hard to concentrate in here, though. I am currently looking at 13 screens. I believe 8 of those are the different cameras, 4 are tape (basically, the people who are in charge of getting the amazing replays in a game), and 1 is the on-air camera that everyone else gets to see.
I am also listening to 6-7 people talking... mostly at the same time. We have our two commentators more in the background, the director, the producer, the occasional random additional voice from the truck, and a few other varying people. It's kind of loud and chaotic in here during games.
I may have forgotten to mention but I have to give a talk on Sunday. This past week I went to ward choir for the first time in nearly 6 years and a member of our bishopric is in the ward choir. After we ended, he cornered me and asked me to give a talk on Sunday. The weird thing though is that while I normally don't mind at all giving talks in church (weird, I know), I just really don't feel like giving one this week. haha. Partially just because I'm wondering when I'm going to get it done!
I work until 11 tonight, have to be in SLC by 8am tomorrow, won't wrap til 9 or so tomorrow night and home around 10ish. Then I work another 10 hours on Saturday (2-11pm) and I made plans to go to the temple Saturday morning and then IHOP for breakfast.
My initial thought was "Hmm... well... I do have 1-2 hours while the game is in play where I could do some research and at least get started..." Yeah, not happening! Too much stuff going on and the director keeps saying random - and funny - stuff that makes it hard to concentrate on anything when he's cracking the whole truck up half the time (usually unintentionally... which is half the humor in it).
My absolute favorite game was several years ago and involved the A1 (audio mixer for the game) and the director. One of the girls on the soccer team had a really unusual last name and the A1 thought it was awesome so he turned it into the joke of the night and he and the director went back and forth the whole night trying to one-up each other with ways the name could be used. (ie: "Oh man... my back has been killing me! I think I strained my Kakedelis." or "That was so Kakedelis I can't believe it!") Okay, maybe it's not so funny to people who weren't there. I also don't know if this post will sound coherent at all since I feel like I am listening to (and watching) 27 things at the same time.
Oh PS, in case you were wondering why I just get to chill for the duration of the game it's because I am the "A2" which means that after I set every single mic, cable, etc for the game (which is WAY more than you think), I am just the A1's backup. So if a mic suddenly dies or something happens on the court, I run out and take care of it. Sometimes a game is flawless and I sit in the truck the whole time, and sometimes I actually have something to do. Tonight I have had to go out twice and fix something... so that's good... sort of.
Let me give you an idea of how many mics we have set up for a typical volleyball game...
Pistol grip for shotgun mics
-L & R shotgun mics (ie a very directional mic) - one one each side of the net. These mics have an operator and their sole job is to follow the ball wherever it goes. It catches the audio of a lot of bumps, pancakes, etc.
-L & R camera mics - there are usually 2 handheld cameras on the floor and each of those has a spot on the camera specifically designed for mounting a mic. These are used when the cameraman gets up close and personal with stuff that happens on the floor.
-Near net and far net mics - there are actually two extremely tiny mics that are placed on each end of the volleyball net to capture any movement involving the net. They're used quite frequently to catch the audio of a really intense spike, block, etc.
-L & R team mics - we have a small mic pointed toward each team to catch any good audio the team may be saying... these mics sometimes pick up rather colorful comments
-High L & R mics - there are two cameras high up pointing toward the volleyball court and next to either camera is a mic pointed toward the crowd
-High game cam mic - this one is new but the A1 wanted to test out a stereo mic next to game cam to see how well it picked up the crowd.
ECM 77
-"Snoop Mic" - this one is also new as of tonight and the name was created by the A1. Last game we worked there was a huge (and LONG) argument between one of the coaches and a ref... most of their discussion was in the perfectly wrong spot for audio and we couldn't hear a thing. So for experimental purposes, we put a "snoop mic" (one of the tiny mics) on the side of a table... just in case we had another heated discussion.
The total? 12 mics. Not to mention, the entire booth that I have to set up (where the commentators sit and communicate with the people in the truck). So yes, I work my tail off before the game and thus don't really feel bad for some down time during the game. :P Okay this entry is already far too long because I felt the random need to explain all the mics I placed tonight. The end.
Well in a matter of hours, I went from having zero hours of work this week to almost 40! Tomorrow is only 5 hours ("Fresh Take" - a BYU TV show), but Thursday is 10 (BYU game), Friday is 13 (Utah's high school football state championships - one game after another), and Saturday is another 10 (another BYU game). So that's almost 40 hours! Sweet!
And aside from the hour drive up to SLC, I am so excited for Friday because I am finally working CAMERA at a sports event! For those of you who don't know, even though I am predominantly an audio person, I much prefer camera positions to audio with regard to sports events. They are WAY more fun.
Thanks to my friend Aaron who told me that KJZZ still does cover games and that it's just a different guy who crews. Lucky for me, I actually knew the guy already (from a year or two ago when I worked games for KJZZ quite frequently) and even luckier - he remembered me. Yay!
He actually called to crew me for a game last Friday, but I was scheduled for work for BYUB so I said no... about 2 hours later, BYUB called to inform me that the shoot had been canceled. But by then, the position for the football game had been filled with someone else and I was left with zero work. BOO! For those of you on facebook, that's what my status was about last week. haha.
I guess that's all I really have to say right now. Without work, my days are pretty boring (and annoying and restless and frustrating, etc). But maybe we'll have some good stories later in the week. :)
Wow, I have been severely lacking in the blog-posting area. Sorry about that. I guess life hasn't been exciting enough to write about...? Okay no that's a lie. Life is always exciting! Perhaps it has been TOO exciting...! :P
Well, the first two weeks of April I was working on a film called Snow Beast. Then I somehow ended up planning this absolutely MASSIVE party that ended up being at my house on April 30th (it was supposed to be outside at the park, but stupid weather forced a location change). Once upon a time, I had on my bucket list that I wanted to host a successful party of 100+ people or more... yeah, after that party I'm calling that one good. I don't know how many people total came, but it was crammed. I'd say at least 60 or 70. But I didn't really get to enjoy the party at all because I was constantly running around trying to fix things that had gone wrong (ie Rockband wasn't working, the live music area had some glitches, needed a new cable, etc; projector wouldn't hook up to the cable). *However*, despite all of that, I am still glad that I put it on.
The whole idea of having this party was to get the four 'older' wards in my stake to socialize a bit more. I feel like a lot of people in these wards have a harder time branching out and getting to know people if they are not at a ward activity, etc. So with the help of others in the neighboring wards, word went out and it was a success. I even had a friend come up and tell me later, "your party = huge success. Someone asked for my number and we're going out next week!" Well, that was the whole idea of the party, so I'm glad it worked!! :)
Aside from that... I worked on 127 Hours for two days, but that was it. I have high hopes for that movie. It will definitely be rated R (I mean hey, they film - in detail - the arm cut off. It's based on a true story - of the hiker in Utah who cut his arm off to survive) but I could see it getting lots of awards.
My birthday is tomorrow! Yay, I'm excited. Although, somehow 24 seems so much older than 23. 22 to 23 wasn't that bad, but 24 sounds like a bigger jump. Yeah yeah, I know - I'm still young and blah blah. 24 will be a good year. :)
Oh, and a random funny story from yesterday. So, this week I have been TRYING to get to sleep at a decent hour (ie sometime between midnight and 1) and each night something has come up and I have failed miserably. Last night was just so funny I swear it had to have been timed to happen like this. Around 12:30 or so, I was still talking with a friend and finally said that I really ought to get some sleep. We said goodnight and RIGHT as that conversation ended, another friend of mine messaged me. This friend needed advice on a few things, and it turned into a super long (but good) conversation. But it was past 2:30 and I finally said that I really should hit the sack. Agreed. But no joke, less than a minute after that was said, and AS I was reaching to click "go offline", another friend messaged me! Luckily, that conversation didn't last too long and I was in bed by 3... yeah, 2+ hours past my goal. Fail. Tonight will be better... I hope!
Well, I started writing this on April 9th, thinking I'd actually have enough time to write a full entry. Apparently I was wrong. haha. But here's at least part of it since I wrote absolutely zero about the film.
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So, sometimes I'm really good at posting regularly while filming... and other times? Not so much. This has been one of those not-so-much ones. Almost the entire first week was spent on top of a mountain (Aspen Grove area) in the middle of a blizzard. By the way, this was all outside. The first day was fine (wasn't snowing) and so I thought I would do just fine with the gloves and boots that I had. Boy was I wrong! Day 2 was a full on blizzard and by the end of the day, I seriously was worried about frostbite. My fingers were so cold that they hurt... and I couldn't feel them. Yet somehow they still hurt. I don't know how to explain that.
As soon as we wrapped that night, I texted Doug and Joe to see if I could borrow their massive snow boots that they let me borrow during "Frozen" last year. They're currently filming 127 Hours in SLC and I had no idea when they wrapped, but I didn't care - I would come pick up the boots at any hour. I wanted to maintain feeling in my toes the rest of the week! Joe called me when they had time (in between takes, etc) and Doug gave me instructions as to how to acquire his snow boots at his storage unit.
Day 3 was amazing. I had snow boots from Doug, snow pants from Brittany (one of our producers), gloves from Stan (in my FHE group), and winter attire from my own wardrobe. I was ready to take on anything! Of course, it didn't dump snow on us this time, but I was plenty okay with that!
One of the biggest events in Utah during the month of March is the Hare Krishna Festival of Colors. At the Hare Krishna temple thousands of people gather to join in the celebration/welcoming of spring by throwing bags of color in the air (more or less, powdered chalk). In the past few years, it has become SO popular that this year is the first year that they actually split it into two separate 'sessions.' And even then, I still feel like the session that I went to was JUST as crowded as last year - if not more.
I went for the first time last year (pictured to the left), but was not nearly as prepared for it. I had a dark blue shirt on, went with only one other person, and we only had two bags to throw. I have since corrected the errors of my ways this year and wore a light-colored shirt (I still don't own any white shirts - weird, huh?), went with a group of 10-15, and we all had at least 1-2 bags each! Oh it was such a blast. I got completely COVERED in color this year!
For those of you unfamiliar with this ritual, if you want to know more, go here. If you're ever in Utah the last week in March, I HIGHLY recommend checking out the Festival of Colors!!! :)
Anyway, here are some pictures from this year!! :) (PS, sadly, I took none of these. A girl in my ward did)
Man o man I have not done a good job at keeping up very well lately. In my defense, my computer is still dead. Thus, it makes it much harder to write when the computer I have will - without warning - turn off and anything unsaved (ie a blog entry) is immediately lost. PS, my computer is officially dead and I am quite sad about it. Well, dead but it can be repaired. I need a new hard drive - but I won't have any money until this film starts (I'll get to that). Sooo... I guess it's a few more weeks of using my 6-year-old computer! :P
Let's see... another quick update since the last time I posted:
--I came up with a great idea that works pretty well for me. I always have this problem of wanting to get all this stuff done, but never actually getting it done. Usually, it's because even if I make a list, I rarely see it. SO... I came up with the sticky-note idea. The walls in my room are pretty empty (normally, I don't go through the effort of decorating because I tend to move to a new place every 6-8 months), so I decided to plaster one wall with something: sticky notes! Any time I think of something that I want to get done, I slap a sticky note on there with the 'task' written on it. Once I complete it, I take the sticky note off. It's right by my bed and the markers are right there too, so that way even if I'm trying to fall asleep and think of something that I need to do, I can easily write on one of the stickies real fast (I have blank stickies on the wall, too). Anyway, it has worked pretty well so far. I highly recommend it. :)
--I caught up with a bunch of old friends, and made friends with a bunch of random people. Every week at Institute now, I make it a point to sit next to people I've never met before. It's way more fun that way because hey, I already know the people in my ward - why not broaden my horizons when given the chance at a stake function? :P
--I went to this party last week and started talking with this guy... only to discover that he was my friend's little brother (21). haha!
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Now the biggest piece of news: the FILM. I was playing volleyball last Saturday when I got a phone call. I think his name was Andrew and he told me they were looking for a boom for this sci-fi movie they're shooting in a week or so. The best part though is that this is a direct result of my unexplainable ability of "right time, right place" syndrome. haha.
A couple of weeks ago I was on the set of Den Brother (TV Disney movie that was being filmed in SLC) to talk with Doug (the mixer I frequently work with) and Joe (the boom I frequently work with). However, the day that I decided to come, another local mixer showed up as well. He and Doug are both mixing this film "127 Hours" right now and they needed to have a lil pow-wow about what all was going to go down the following week (Week 1 of 127 Hours). But a lot of the time Doug and Joe were actually working because hey, they WERE filming that day. So in the down time, Steve (the other mixer) and I had a lot of time to chat.
Though we have never actually worked together, both knew of the other through the grapevine and the most recent thing he had heard about me was to do with Hatchet (the slasher movie I quit in January). He said, "So... I hear you worked with Bobby for about two days..." At first, I thought "oh great... I blacklisted myself from Utah people too..." I hesitantly said, "Yeah... that was me..." But to my surprise, Steve's reaction was quite the opposite from what I expected! Not in these words, but he basically said "that must have been a tough decision, but good for you sticking up for yourself and your standards." Wow! Really? Cool!
Turns out, Steve is one of the oddities in this business who is actually still active LDS. He told me about a time where he signed on to work this film but after looking at the script realized he couldn't in good conscience work on this film because it was the exact type of film he tells his kids not to watch. So before it started, he respectfully declined and they used someone else for that film.
Anyway, apparently I made a good impression on him because HE was the one who recommended me to this producer! Andrew told me that he got my name from Steve and that they were looking for a boom operator, etc. Wow! I have still never actually worked with Steve and he's already tossing my name out there. Guess I made a good impression on him! It was funny too because a few days later when I went to the production office to talk with the director about the 411 of this film, the first thing he asked was "so you've worked with Steve a lot then?" haha well...
I told him, "Actually, I haven't. But I have worked with Doug a lot and I know Steve through Doug." I guess that was good enough for the director. haha. Oh and the day rate is actually decent this time. Finally!! So I start on March 30th and wrap on April 13th. At least, that is the tentative schedule. The only thing that worries me is HOW low-budget this thing is. They may be paying me a decent rate, but the rest of the production sounds really low-budget. I'm honestly kind of worried as to how it will all pan out.
Oh, but one parting thing for those of you who know who he is and would appreciate it, John Schneider is the lead in this film and I'm kind of excited about that because he seems like such a nice guy. Just FYI, he was the dad in Smallville, and played "Bo Duke" in the 80s Dukes of Hazzard. So starting Tuesday, I will TRY to keep you all a tad more updated now that I have something to actually update on. :)
Well so much for planning to post every day in March! My computer had other thoughts on that one, I guess! On Tuesday, it started acting up. It froze on me a few times and I thought maybe it just needed 'a day of rest.' So I turned it off and didn't really use it that day. Wednesday, I turned it on and it seemed to be working fine again... or so I thought. It started getting incredibly slow, and froze on me again! This repeated 2 more times before I decided to put it away for the time being.
Now, luckily I have been paranoid about my computer crashing since 2004. My freshman year my old PC pulled the "blue screen of death" on me and I thought I had lost everything. Mind you, I write my journal on my computer (and have now for 6-7 years) and at that point in time, I had no external source on which the entries were saved. When my uncle pronounced that computer dead, I thought I was done for. But miraculously, it came back to life and I was able to retrieve my data. But ever since then, it has left me uber paranoid that something could go wrong with a computer at any moment.
So now, I back up my files every month or two. As for my journal, I send myself the attached file nightly - as soon as I finish the entry. And all of my journals are on some attachment saved in a special folder in my email. My pictures are also in several places and because I back it up once every month or two, I always have *almost* all of my pictures. Same goes for the music. Those are the three most important things on my computer.
Now, back to Wednesday. I have a few 'computer nerd' friends who work with computers for a living, so I asked one of them about it and he told me he knew who could help. I was told that I probably needed to defrag and that would most likely fix the majority of my problems. So we started defragging it... but alas, the computer froze in the middle of what it was doing. Ultimately, the computer was turned off... and has not booted since.
You may wonder how I am writing this right now if my computer is still in a coma. Lucky for me, because I am such a big packrat, I have my 6-year-old PC still here with me today. Broken power source, missing keys, chipped edges, stained casing, slow-running, louder-than-a-hair-dryer, and all. I have never appreciated my Mac so much in my life.
Anyway, so my Mac was dead. It wouldn't boot. Now this is doubly problematic because (1) it is still very much a PC world (and thus most are unfamiliar with the dymanics of a Mac), and (2) Macs aren't supposed to die, so when they do... most people don't know what to do to fix it. I broke my 'facebook fast' for a day in order to post on my status that I was in desperate need of some computer help. Thank goodness for facebook - I had a friend over here within a few hours.
My uncle told me how to get to a command prompt screen and with that, Steve (the computer whiz friend) was able to start accessing my stuff. Luckily, because I back my stuff up on a regular basis, I was not stressed about losing my stuff because even if it was pronounced 'dead', I had my most important files. However, he discovered that he could mount an external drive, access certain files and folders and transfer them onto my external drive while in the command prompt setting. Awesome. So he set that up and we went our separate ways. It is still yet to be fully fixed (he's coming back again sometime today) but it will be back to normal within a day or two.
I am coming back a few hours later to finish this post and I just want to reiterate how incredibly grateful I am for my Mac!! Though it is awaiting some serious surgery, it'll pull through and will be up and running in no time. And this old PC is reminding me more and more how lucky I am to have the other computer!
Basically, this entry is to remind all of you to BACK YOUR STUFF UP. You never know when your computer will just go kaput without a moment's notice. Hopefully you won't lose any important documents in the shuffle!
I have decided that Provo is in fact the most "exercise-conscious" city in the country. It is not Los Angeles, nor is it New York. It is Provo, Utah. Never in my life have I seen so many runners outside (AND in the gym) as I have in Provo/Orem.
I was curious to the actual number I see on a typical drive, so as I was driving to the gym today I decided to count the number of runners I saw. My 4:30pm drive TO the gym consisted of 17 people. Seeing as how my drive is only about a 7-minute drive to begin with, I thought that 17 was quite a bit!
I got to the gym (the massive one in Orem) and like always, about 90% of the cardio-related machines were in use (there are easily 50 if not 75 or more machines there). Luckily, I went for Zumba, which requires no machine. Afterward, I did weights in the "Women Only" room where there were a good 10 or more women in there lifting weights as well. There was even a pregnant woman in the weight room! Also, the weight machines in the 'open area' were about 40% in use; I counted 6 people swimming laps in the pool and there were a bunch in the basketball/racquetball rooms, too.
I left the gym and began my 7-minute drive home. By this time, it was just after 6 and I was curious to see how many people I could spot running this time. To my surprise, I counted 23. ...and I thought 17 was a lot. And just like in the weight room, I even saw a pregnant woman running. Only in Provo, right?
I went to the smaller gym (in Provo) on Saturday morning and have discovered that it is apparently the place to be on a Saturday morning. I have never seen that gym so crowded! Just about every machine was in use, and the cardio machine that I usually use only had one open one left! Luckily, I claimed that one. :)
I have run into more people I know while at the gym than any other place in Provo (aside from campus when I was actually a student). Almost every time I have gone to the Provo Gold's, I bump into at least one person I know. I guess we are all 'staying fit' together. hah.
So take that L.A. and New York. I have FOUR Gold's Gyms to choose from - all less than 10 miles from my house - and SAFE sidewalks to run on if I so choose!
The Academy Awards were on tonight. Because of this, I had my computer out the whole time, with imdb open... just in case I wanted to look anything up. That somehow landed me on the main page for the disturbing film I worked a whole two days on. I think it was during that "horror montage" they had tonight, and something about it made me curious. I think I saw someone I recognized from that film. Anyway, I found myself on the imdb page and saw an interesting "trivia" thing listed, so I proceeded to click and look at the other random trivia they already had for it, seeing as it was only filmed a month and a half ago.
Most of the trivia dealt with pointless facts about the film, but then I saw the second to last 'fact.' I had to re-read it to make sure I had really read what I thought I'd just read. Yep, I really had. I had made it onto the trivia page. At first, I wasn't sure if that made me angry or happy. I mean, my name wasn't included, but I knew darn well that it was about me. But after about 5 seconds of "freak-out", I loved it. And this is why:
"It was reported on the horror websites that a crew member quit on day 2 due to "moral reasons" with what was taking place within the scenes."
Haha I love it. Yep, that's me! Yes, I was definitely 'morally opposed' to this film! It was so bad! And like I stated in earlier entries, it's not like it was an easy decision. I definitely needed the money (it would have brought me 4-5 grand). And I loved the crew! But man that subject matter... I can deal with most gore on sets because it is so fake when you're filming. I mean hey, you see the tube attached to the back of the guy's head and you see the effects guy waiting for the director to call 'action!' so he can press the button that will shoot out the fake blood. It's actually kind of cool...!
But the sex scenes were what did it for me. Day One and we're already filming those? Oh no way no how. And if I were any other part of crew, I could probably work around it because most crew members aren't actually ON set when filming stuff like that. So were I not in sound, I could totally disappear for those scenes. However, it is the exact opposite when you are the boom operator. You are in fact the ONLY crew member in the room with the actors during scenes like that... and it's days like those when booming suddenly becomes the worst job in the world.
Oh and this was another trivia: "[The set] was plagued with accidents, injuries, trips to the hospital, and a swine flu epidemic that took out almost half of the personnel on set." Sounds lovely... I think I'm glad I left when I did! May I remind you that this is the same film where I stepped on a nail and ended up at the hospital that night? Yeah, that trivia can technically include me as well, since I had to spend the better half of my evening that night being treated and x-rayed! (It took nearly 3 weeks to be able to walk fully normal again) Now it makes me curious what else happened after I left!
Anyway, in the end, that first trivia made me happy to see. Yes that was me, and I am proud OF it! Just because I work in film doesn't mean that I have to drop down to their level. If that confines me to TV Disney movies and the likes for the rest of my life, so be it. I love me some ultimate cheese. :)
A few weeks ago, my friend Jess and I were talking about how neither of us had ever done a murder mystery dinner and decided that we should do one. We looked it up online, found one that sounded rather entertaining, ordered it, and got a group of 8 together to do it. Tonight was the 'big night' and everyone came over to my place. Our theme was old western, so we all had to dress the part. The names alone were hilarious. They were as follows:
Butch Chastity
P'Elvis Swagarin
Helena Handcart
Chief Breaking Wind
Elvira-Lynn Fekshin
Wyatt Hertz
Dee Adela Muerte
Elias Truis-Heath
It ended up being a lot more risque than we thought it was, but honestly, I thought it added that much more to it when we discovered 'frightening secrets' of our characters' hidden pasts! Just about every character had a secret lover that was made known at some point during the game and the reactions were great. Anyway, I highly recommend doing and/or hosting a murder mystery dinner. We already want to do another one. Below are some pictures:
(Oh and by the way, I was "Butch Chastity" and was the only girl who got to wear jeans! Yeah! Believe me, I had fun with this one. I LOVE (and collect) knives, so I was packing six knives in various places, a fake gun, and a whip my friend let me borrow. It was awesome to have an excuse to wear all of this stuff!)
I think I can take another 10-year break from Alice and Wonderland after yesterday! haha. I'll admit, Alice in Wonderland was never one of my favorite Disney movies. It's a little out there, and doesn't really make sense. I honestly don't think I've seen the Disney version in 10 years or more. But last week a friend in the ward called me and asked me if I'd help host her birthday party - Alice in Wonderland themed. Hey, I'm always up for helping plan a party. I thought it was funny when I found out she wanted to have the party at my place, even though it was technically going to be her party. But I love coming up with crazy ideas, and it was actually easier to have it at my place, so I was all for it.
She bought 4 decks of dollar store cards and I hole punched about two decks and strung them up everywhere. We still have cards hanging all over our house. The other two decks are splattered on various walls, windows, and doors throughout our main floor. We also still had a bunch of red hearts still up from our big Valentine's Day party and since we have the whole "Queen of Hearts" thing in Alice in Wonderland, we just left it all up. Why not reuse them? :P I also wrote about 12 signs saying "THIS WAY" and "THAT WAY" pointing both left and right, and posted them all over. We made all sorts of goodies and labeled them "EAT ME" and bought mini water bottles, put food coloring in them, labeled them "DRINK ME," and distributed them all over the living room and kitchen. I know this is bad, but I couldn't resist - I put one of the yellow colored "DRINK ME" bottles in the bathroom. hehe.
We also had various shapes and sizes of teacups and had a bunch of herbal tea and hot chocolate for people to choose from. We hid two "Queen of Hearts" cards just for fun, but everyone ended up getting really into it! They were looking all over the place for the two cards! Eventually, both were found and the two who found the cards had a duel in Alice in Wonderland trivia for the 'grand prize.' It was actually quite entertaining. We also had in attendance our very own Alice, the Queen of Hearts, and the Mad Hatter. Below are pictures.
At about 10 o'clock, my friend called to see if I was going to see the midnight showing of the new Alice in Wonderland with the group from my ward. I really wanted to (I LOVE midnight showings), but I'm trying as hard as I can to say "NO" to anything that costs right now - I am beyond broke. She then proceeded to inform me that her brother (whom I have already met) had an extra ticket that I could have if I wanted it. Seriously? I am so there! So I left around 11:30 to meet up with this other group, and watched the midnight showing! Woohoo!
All things considered, it wasn't that bad! I mean, this is Tim Burton we are talking about... he is always bound to be rather "off his rocker"; but this is Alice and Wonderland after all. What better story for Tim Burton to re-create? My favorite character by far was the Mad Hatter. I know it may sound cliche, but Johnny Depp really is an amazing actor. Who else could go from Edward Scissorhands to Gilbert Grape, to Ichabod Crane (Sleepy Hollow), to Jack Sparrow, to James Barrie, to Willy Wonka, to Sweeney Todd, and now the Mad Hatter? ... he is definitely not a typecast actor. Although, I found it rather amusing to see bits of Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka come out of the Mad Hatter!
Anyway, it's definitely worth seeing at least once. I found it much more enjoyable than the 1951 Disney version. And maybe it was just me, but I laughed a lot in it...
About every week or two, I find a new song that I just want to listen to over and over on repeat. Last week it was Jason Reeves/Kara DioGuardi's song "Terrified." Luckily, my roommate shared the same liking for that song, so we just listened to it on repeat for over an hour while chatting.
Yesterday I was in Borders just perusing the shelves, trying to figure out how to spend my $25 gift card I got for Christmas when this new song came on. I had never heard it before, but I instantly loved it. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing the 'now playing' song. So... I pulled out my phone and wrote a 'note' to myself with part of the lyrics from the chorus of the song so I could look it up later (this is a frequent occurrence for me). I came home to discover that it was actually a song by Train! Train usually has a very distinct sound, but for some reason it sounded different when I was at Border's. I downloaded Train's newest album, "Save Me, San Fransisco", and I love it. Brick by Brick is still my favorite track, but really, the whole album is awesome.
Anyway, when I find songs I love this much, I want everyone to love them as much as I do! So, I am posting both "Terrified" and "Brick by Brick" on here for you to enjoy as well. :) The lyrics and links are below. :)
"Terrified" (as sung by Katharine McPhee)
You by the light
Is the greatest find
In a world full wrong you're the thing that's right
Finally made it through the lonely to the other side
You said it again my heart's in motion
Every word feels like a shooting star
I'm at the edge of my emotions
Watching the shadows burning in the dark,
And I'm in love and I'm terrified.
For the first time in the last time
In my only life.
This could be good
It's already better than last
And love is worse than knowing
You're holding back
I could be all that you needed
If you let me try
You said it again my hearts in motion
Every word feels like a shooting start
I'm at the edge of my emotions
Watching the shadows burning in the dark
And I'm in love and I'm terrified
For the first time in the last time
in my only
I only said it cause i mean it
I only mean cause it's true
So don't you doubt what i've been dreaming
Cause it fills me up and holds me close
Whenever i'm without you
You said it again my hearts in motion
Every word feels like a shooting star
Watching the shadows burning in the dark
And I'm in love and I'm terrified
For the first time in the last time
In my only life
"Brick by Brick"
The dust has finally settled down
The sun is shining on these pieces that are scattered all around
This house was everything we knew
Its where we kept our love and
every single memory of me and you
Every letter, every note, every dress you never wore under your coat
Thrown away
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor
If we hold onto each other, we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we will get back to yesterday
When I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
The sky has made it back to blue,
everything that's left is telling us the worst of it is through.
Home has never felt so right, there's nothing in the way.
There's nothing in between us
knowing where we're going is inside.
Every letter that I wrote,
every dress you never wore under your coat
Thrown away
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor
If we hold on to each other,
we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we'll get back to yesterday.
When I made your body shiver
and when you took my breath away.
All the pictures that we've taken
and the songs that we have played
They have all kept track and
followed back the love that we have made.
Now they're spread out on the
surface where we can try to congregate
It's not too late to believe that we can get it all again
Brick by brick, we can build it from the floor,
If we hold onto each other,
we'll be better than before.
And brick by brick,
we'll get back to yesterday
When I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
Brick by brick
We'll get back to yesterday,
when I made your body shiver and
when you took my breath away,
you took my breath away.
So the other day in FHE we were talking about the Ensign article “Learning Through Life’s Trials.” Normally our lessons are more or less ‘short and sweet’, but we actually talked about this one for quite some time. Everyone had a lot of insight on the matter and/or personal experiences to share and it got me thinking.
There are a lot of people who don’t fully understand “why bad things happen to good people.” And oftentimes, even if they say that they understand, simple actions prove that it still isn’t fully comprehended. I will be the first to admit that I definitely didn’t understand it until a few years ago. I constantly used to ask myself “Why me?” on so many different facets of life. I was a good person, so why did I have to go through so much crap? It took me literally years of the same trial before I finally figured things out: it makes you a better person. Well, that is… if you let it. That also took me a while to figure out. I was so bitter and angry for so long that it took me forever to be able to see any good that came from my situation.
In high school, someone deeply hurt me. I felt like no matter how hard I tried, this person only shot sharp words and insults in response. There were so many lies involved, so much deceit and mean games played that at one point in time, I truly did hate this person. But I hated feeling that way. Plus, it was hurting me so much more than the other person because I was allowing said person to get to me and to affect me so deeply.
So I did the absolute hardest thing: I began praying for this person. Believe me, this was not an easy thing. I was filled with so much pain, anger, and hatred, that the last thing I wanted to do was to ask Heavenly Father to bless the one who caused me so much pain. No good deserved to come his/her way. Yes, my view was very skewed at the time I began this, but that was all the more reason and proof that I needed to pray for this person. It started out rather lackluster, and in the very beginning was more of a “please help him/her be able to grow up” rather than something like “please bless this person that he/she will be able to become an even better person” or “please bless this person with good friends who will be able to help him/her in the future.”
In time, things began to change. I started to see this person in a different way. I no longer felt anger or hatred toward this person but instead, love and compassion. I began to see him/her the way Heavenly Father does – as a child of God. I know it may sound silly, but it’s true. Praying for this person really did change my views that much.
We never did resolve things because we both moved to different places and lost contact. However, I still think about this person quite frequently. I even anonymously sent a big “21st birthday” package to this person in 2007. I put no return address on it because I didn’t want it to be ‘credit’ for me – I wanted it to be simply what it was: a present from an unsuspected friend.
Now, I’m not saying that I did everything right in this years-long situation, because I was far from it. I had plenty of stupid and/or ‘speak-before-you-think’ moments of my own that I am sure only furthered the problem. In fact, there were a lot of those. Many of those stupid moments make me cringe just thinking about it. But what I am getting at here is that I learned from one of my own life’s biggest trials. I gained SO much from that experience. The end result very heavily molded me into who I am today. It was the absolute hardest (and longest) thing I have ever had to go through, but I would not trade it in for anything. I learned to see people in an entirely different light, I grew to understand that you don’t know anyone’s full story unless you talk – and listen – directly to the source, and I learned that the best way to forgive someone is to pray for and serve them. I promise that you will without a doubt begin to see said person as God does.
I also learned to look for the blessings within a trial. This particular one took me quite some time after the fact to see all the good that came of it, but the blessings from it are immense. Now, when I am in the middle of a really hard trial, one of the only things keeping me going is to take a step back and ask myself, “okay… what possible good can come of this?” and then think of all the blessings that may come because of the trial I am faced with.
Wow, I can't even remember the last time I went this long without writing! I apologize to those of you who follow my blog regularly. I may or may not back-post a few entries depending on how I feel in the next few days. Let's see... quick updates:
-I have still been going to the gym every Monday-Friday. I started out going 2 hours every day (an hour of cardio and an hour of weights) but after 2-3 weeks of that, it went down to an hour, and now it fluctuates between 30-60 minutes every day.
-I have decided that I am in the most social ward known to man. There is - no joke - something to go to literally EVERY night of the week. Sunday after ward prayer is game night, Monday is FHE, Tuesday is movie night, Wednesday is institute, Thursday someone always happens to have a birthday party... and the Fri/Sat parties vary, but without fail, there is at least one - if not two - parties during the weekend.
-I got to be a science fair judge for 6th graders. My roommate is a 6th grade teacher and needed volunteer judges. It was actually quite fun!
-I have become a master at Rockband. A few weeks ago we had a Valentine's party here and my friend Dave brought Rockband... and left it here for over a week. Needless to say, my neighbor (Jess) and milked that for all it was worth.
-I got to sing in the YA reunion fireside on the 14th! Every 5 years there is a YA reunion and the current and past members sing together at a fireside. Seeing how that was my absolute favorite part of YAs, I was thrilled to be able to sing YA fireside music again.
-I got to work on the newest TV Disney movie they're currently filming in SLC for two days. The best part though: I got to boom on ice skates! I am definitely no pro, but I am now MUCH better than I was!
-I got to have sushi with my old-time sushi friend (Beau) after nearly a YEAR!
-I went on a double blind date. (my friend set me up and I in turn set her up and we doubled)
-My apartment's smoke alarms all (6) went off at 5AM last Wednesday for no apparent reason. Scared the crap out of me and my roommates, got our adrenaline going, and then suddenly stopped after about 10 minutes. Talk about the ultimate wake-up call!
-In the past month I have decided to quit film, go back to it, quit it again, and rethink that again. Of course, this is all just in my head - I never actually did anything drastic to affect future possible gigs (since this IS currently my source of income... when I'm lucky).
-Also in this past month, I decided that I want to go back to school and get a Masters in Linguistics. The only pre-requisite is to be roughly fluent in two languages (aside from English). So the current plan (though it is always subject to change) is to get my Spanish back, hopefully test out of a bunch of the classes, and then start taking real Russian classes instead of teaching myself. If I do go back, it won't be until Fall of 2011.
-As of yesterday, I started my "Facebook Fast." Ashamedly, I am addicted. I spend at least an hour on there every day... as sad as that is. And I was tired of wasting time, so I said goodbye to facebook. I am currently planning on a week, but I may try for longer. By the way, it's amazing how much more productive I was today without facebook to distract me!
-I also cut out gchat. The two windows I always have open are facebook and gchat. I have a ton of friends who are on gchat all day (at work), and so I usually end up spending a good deal of time on there as well. Without my two biggest vices around to distract me now, I am getting a lot done! (also part of the reason I am finally updating my blog!)
-I have gotten hard core back into songwriting. I watched Music and Lyrics for the first time the other day and realized that I could totally do that (and really wanted to a few years ago). After all, it is what I went to school for originally. My problem though was that I could never put my lyrics to good enough music. But a good friend of mine is amazing at the music side of things, so we are going to start a collaborative effort as soon as he gets back in town. I pulled out my old songwriting notebooks today (I have 4 1/2 filled) and was so dismayed to discover that with one exception, I had not written ANYTHING since mid-2006. I used to write a couple every week!
So, I am very heavily getting back into that. The last time I was really into songwriting, I was also really self-conscious and worried about 'what others would think' and all that crap that I finally threw out the window in 2008. So this time I'm really excited to see what happens, essentially starting over but with the not-so-new-anymore mindset that took me so long to find!
Anyway, that's what's up with me right now! I don't have any solid upcoming projects right now. I am really struggling trying to find a way to keep myself afloat. That's part of the reason I am getting back into the songwriting thing, because if I play my cards right, that can work to my advantage as well. Freelance is a beast, but I won't let it consume me!!!
So a friend of mine and I ended up going through our music last night, showing each other different songs the other hadn't heard before. He absolutely loves Westlife, and while I do like them, I had kind of forgotten about them and had no idea they had 10 albums out! I think I have two... maybe.
Anyway, I just got their latest album and was just listening through it and the last song came on. It's called "I'll See You Again." I couldn't help but think about my grandpa, who passed away almost two months ago now. Now, for reasons unknown to me, my tears hardly ever work so I didn't cry when I listened to it, but I have a feeling that the average person would. Thus, I warn you that this song I am posting below MAY make you cry if you have lost someone close to you - especially if it was recent.
I really like the lyrics, so I am going to post those below the link for you to read if you so choose. The link is from YouTube and is just a user's interpretation of the song, taking video clips from certain films. Anyway, enjoy. :)
I'll See You Again:
Always you will be part of me
And I will forever feel your strength
When I need it most
You’re gone now, gone but not forgotten
I can’t say this to your face
But I know you hear
Chorus:
I’ll see you again
You never really left
I feel you walk beside me
I know I’ll see you again
When I’m lost, when I’m missing you like crazy
I tell myself I’m so blessed
To have had you in my life, my life
Chorus
When I had the time to tell you
Never thought I’d live to see the day
When the words I should have said
Would come to haunt me
In my darkest hour I tell myself
I’ll see you again
Chorus x 2
I will see you again
I’ll see you again
I miss you like crazy
You’re gone but not forgotten
I’ll never forget you
Someday I’ll see you again
I feel you walk beside me
Never leave you, yeah
Gone but not forgotten
I feel you by my side
No this is not goodbye
First of all, thank you all for reading my blog. Secondly, why does no one ever comment!?! :( If I didn't have a tracker embedded into my page, I would think that no one reads it and might stop posting. *hint hint* Yes, please comment so I know you are all alive! :) AND... if you have a blog, give me the link and I will comment on yours!!
Now, onto today's topic: facebook friends. Some people have 100 or less, some have over 1,000. But how well do we really know all of our facebook friends? Most of us are 'friends' with them because we at one point in our lives were actually friends, but have since gone our separate ways and may not make contact for years at a time now. I know a lot of people who "facebook purge" every now and then and delete a huge chunk of their friends because they haven't talked with them in over a year, etc. I totally understand that, yet I cannot will myself to actually do that... and this is why.
Somehow, for reasons I do not know, I always have a few random run-ins/"reconnections" each year. Someone who is on my friend list whom I barely know will randomly reappear in my life. I had a friend from middle school whom I had not seen since 2000, and found out she had moved to L.A. So when I moved to L.A., we actually met up. I never thought I'd actually see her again, but because I didn't delete her, we did! Exact same scenario but with a friend from high school, also.
I've gotten work a couple of times from friends I went to school with (and haven't seen since) who knew I did sound and knew of someone who needed a sound person. Had I deleted them... no work! Also, there have been instances where I never thought I'd see the person again and he/she ends up in the same complex or ward! That has been the latest.
I have been 'facebook friends' with an old friend's ex-boyfriend ever since they dated... 3 years ago. I just never got around to deleting him, but as it turns out, it's a good thing I didn't because he just moved into my ward! I just can't make myself delete people! But in my defense, I *do* know all but about 3 on my list. And those few whom I don't actually know are for networking purposes. They work in film, we have about 30 friends in common, and they want to keep me on the back burner for the next time they need a sound person. I'm okay with accepting adds for work possibilities!
Anyway, this is a very random post of strange thoughts of mine that I happened to write out. Enjoy.
So my ward had a sledding activity today. We just went to a park and found places to sled - no real 'ramps' or whatever. We hiked up this path and used that as our sledding spot. Half the time involved massive snowball fights instead of actual sledding, but it was awesome. We had a few tubes and those worked the best - putting 3 people on it made it go the fastest!
The best part, though... was at the end. We were all done, almost all packed up, and ready to go. But then someone had the bright idea to attach a rope to the back of Rob's car and two people could sit on the tube, hold on to the rope, and let the car pull you down the street (which was covered in snow/ice). Jess and I did it the first time and it proved to be a pretty stupid idea. The tube ended up going faster than the car and we almost ran into the moving tires! So we improved it a bit. We got much closer to the car, put our feet on the back bumper, and tried again. However, this time Jess and Matt were on the tube. I was in the back of the car videoing the whole thing. And Isaac and JJ joined in as well. It's a pretty awesome video. Enjoy.
