Food, Friends, and Fun

Well, I am definitely NOT used to having early church! I realized that this is the first time in ages that I have had early morning church! This summer it was at 1, last year it was at 12:45 or 1 (haha it's sad that I can't actually remember, when that was only a few months ago), the year before that was 1:15, the year before that was 12:45... yep, it has been a while. And it drives me nuts because it's in the basement of the JFSB (I thought I was free of having church on campus, but I guess not!) and there is absolutely no reception down there - not even enough just to give me the TIME! I don't ever really use my phone during church, but I do use the clock feature to keep track of what time it is! And there is no clock in the room that we have Sacrament Meeting (last hour). Bah, it was so annoying not be able to know what time it was! Oh well.

After church, Karie, Chalyce (my other roommate) and I had a little 'roommate meeting' since today was the first day all three of us were there at the same time. Just to discuss basic stuff - utilities, parking, internet, etc. Afterwards, I went to Mike's and we went upstairs to his neighbor Ricky's apartment and joined them in barbecuing chicken and steak, as well as making really good tamales and pico de gallo. Oh my gosh I was so full by the end, but it was all so good! They had these sweet corn tamales that I had actually never even heard of, and they were absolutely amazing! Oh man, I want to learn how to make those. Soon after that, there was even more food... dessert this time. Their ward has this dessert night thing every Sunday night. But I was so full from all of the other stuff that I only had maybe half a brownie.

Afterwards, I went to Sparks to say hi to old friends. They had just finished ward prayer and so I chatted with a bunch of people and then went back to apartment 10 (Verdon, Ian, Martin, Jason, McKay, and their new roommate Patrick who wasn't here last year) because I had to get a box of stuff Ian let me store there over the summer. But the old tradition was "Sunday Disney Movie Night" that Tara held for 3 or more years... and we were all in SDMN withdrawal, so we had one anyway at 10 and watched Toy Story. :P And the tradition I started last year (backrub trade-offs) has stayed alive too, and I traded off with both Martin and Verdon. Man, I have missed Sunday nights in Sparks!! haha. Again, glad to be back. :)

Swing, Swing

I got to play volleyball again today! It made me so happy. It had been months since I last played! I got there around 1 and played til 3 or 3:30. I got a few other things done and then at 7 Mike and I went to a wrap party for the film short I worked on back in May. (I'm still not entirely sure why we had a wrap party over 3 months after we finished filming, but eh, whatever works, right?) That finished around 8:30 or so, and shortly after that we went dancing! They have country/swing dances in Provo every Wednesday and Saturday night and since we missed it on Wednesday, we decided to go tonight instead and it was a blast! I think Mike was a little leery about going at first, but by the end of the night he was having a blast. Plus, I don't know why he was so worried about it - he's a really fast learner! And, he can actually do the lifts without dropping me! So that is a definite bonus. He was pretty good at making up moves on the fly as well.

Karie and her friend Chad came too, so it was fun to see her there - and to finally meet the mysterious country dance friend I'd heard about but never actually met. haha. I forgot how much fun country/swing dancing is! Okay, maybe I didn't forget, but I am definitely happy to be back in Provo so I can actually go to these dances again! :)

I forgot to mention what happened to the kittens. We called the animal shelters here who told us that if we took them in, there was a 95% chance that they would die because they were too young to get the attention they needed (we found out that they were still so young that they needed to be bottle-fed every few hours). So we started calling friends who might want kittens and Mike eventually got a hold of his cousin who agreed to take care of them for the time being, and post them on KSL to find homes for them. I SO wish that I could keep one, but that would never work in the place I live. Drat.

(Oh, and last night I had a party to celebrate 'my return' to Provo. Considering how unfortunate the turnout is whenever I plan a party, I was quite pleased that about 15 or 20 people actually came! Zarah and Ashton came, as well as Mike Ulmer (my home teacher from last year), Verdon, Klark, their friend whose name I can't remember, Holly, Nate Hunter, Jameson and his girlfriend, Mike and his roommate/cousin Cameron, friend Trevor, and friend Krystal, Mimi and her boyfriend Mike, and if I forgot anyone, I am terribly sorry! Remember, I am backdating these posts so it has actually been a few weeks! :) But it actually turned out to be a pretty fun little shindig. We had a mean game of Apples to Apples going on too. haha. Gotta love that game... )

Kittens for Sale!

Wow, talk about an eventful day! I spent the first half of the day just working on unpacking and getting situated, and then Mike, Mimi, and her roommate Caitlin invited me to go to Seven Peaks with them. The funny thing? I lived in Provo for five years and never did manage to make it to Seven Peaks, so this was the first time I had ever been! And it was a blast! It reminded me a bit of Wet 'n Wild or Watermania from Florida. They even had a wave pool.

Afterwards, I went home to shower and change and as I was locking my front door to leave, this woman was walking by and said "oh my gosh! There are like 10 kittens in that bush!" So I looked underneath the bush and they were the most adorable things I have ever seen! There were actually only 6 - not 10, but this woman was going to call animal control. So Mike and I got a box and a blanket and rescued them! There was another slightly larger kitten in that bush too, but it was angry and VERY unfriendly, so we left that one. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and picked up some kitten food. Mike had a bigger box at his place, so we transferred them to that one once we got back to his place.

We couldn't get them to eat anything, though. We tried a few different kinds of milk, and put some of the wet kitten food in the box too, but nothing. Mike is keeping them in his apartment for tonight, but neither of our places allow pets, so tomorrow we've got to figure out what to do with them!

Home Sweet Home

Well, I finally made it! I am back in Provo. And by the way, I absolutely LOVE my new place! I'll try to remember to take pictures once I get everything all set up and whatnot. The drive actually wasn't bad at all. I decided to be crazy and planned to leave around 6. I was close - I left at 6:20. But I wanted to leave that early so I could be sure to miss all of the early morning L.A. traffic. Plus, I wanted to make it back in time for the country dance tonight! I did the same thing I did when I drove out to L.A. in June - I listened to movies most of the way there. I "watched" Legally Blonde, Enchanted, and one or two others.

I like to do this weird thing of predicting the exact time I will arrive wherever it is that I'm going. So around 11 this morning I decided to predict that I would get to my new place today at 4:52. With that far in advance of a prediction, I'm usually 10 or so minutes off... but I couldn't believe it when I pulled into my new place and it was precisely 4:52! Heck yeah! Karie helped me unload the essentials, she and I chatted for a while, and then Mike came over around 5:30 or 6 to help me unload the bulk of my car (ie the heavy stuff). The original plan was to go dancing tonight, but I think both of us were too tired to go, so we went back to his place instead and made dinner and watched a movie.

And by the way, I absolutely LOVE that I am rooming with Karie! It for some reason used to be so hard to catch up with one another, and now all we have to do is walk up or down a flight of stairs! I also realized that I don't think I have ever roomed with someone I actually know so this is great! It's going to be a good year...

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Okay... for those of you who knew me last year, you knew how much I hated, nay, abhorred Provo. I talked all the time about how I couldn't wait to get out of there, and practically counted down the days to when I could finally escape from wretched Provo. Then, the day finally came: I got to leave! I was no longer bound by Provo, its rules, or the 'bubble'! I left in a hurry without looking back and vowed I would never again live in Provo. Even if I came back for work for a month here and there, I'd find a place in SLC. Provo was DONE. Fini. Finito.

I moved to L.A. with no hesitation and have loved it out here! I went to the beach 5 times in the span of 8 days last week! I went again today! I learned to surf, saw the sights, hiked the Hollywood sign, went to the YSA conference, worked on film shorts, promos, web series. I went to parties, networked, schmoozed. I made a ton of friends in the 2 main LA wards (LA1st and SM3) as well as my own ward (Westlake 2nd). And... I fell in love with California. Well, most things about it. (other than 10% sales tax, $3.20 gas, cost of living, etc)

So how on earth am I actually excited to go back to the place I once so deeply loathed? I have no idea! But it's true - I'm excited. I have missed all of my friends! Sure, I have made a ton of new ones here, but there are some people in Provo with whom I have been good friends since high school and miss seeing around all the time! And I have most definitely missed weekly swing dancing! I am so stoked for that. Oh how I've missed it. :P I'm going to get to Provo probably around 5pm tomorrow, and then promptly go swing dancing that night. YES! And Dave is going too, so he can teach me HOW to teach others instead of just being a marionette when he teaches! It was so frustrating at the YSA conference when I was trying to teach those guys how to dance and I couldn't remember the moves!!

Well, I guess I'm making the right choice in moving back if I am actually excited to move back. I honestly think that the biggest problem I had with Provo before was BYU housing and how anal everyone is about it. The whole "midnight curfew" thing drove me nuts. And it especially drove me nuts when a by-the-book roommate would come downstairs to kick all the guys out at 11:59 - when there was only 10 minutes left of the movie! Or vice versa, but you get the idea. But guess what! I'm not living in BYU housing so ha! I can do whatever the heck I want! :P

I have a feeling that Provo will be much more fun this time around... :)

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

WOW... talk about a roller coaster of a day! So, I woke up this morning in a relatively good mood. I started off the day right, talked to some friends on the phone, and continued my never-ending system of packing. I find it amusing that I actually have designated suitcases, bags, and boxes for my stuff - that's how often I move. My green suitcase: always for my clothes. Blue suitcase: leftover clothes that didn't fit in the green one, my hats, sweaters, and towels. Big red bag: all my shoes. Big gray bin #1: my shoeboxes that I use to organize everything (and my old-school caboodles, my card collection, and whatever else I can fit). You may not think that I am an organized person based upon initial entry of my room, but open my closet and you will see otherwise. I've also got my laptop case for fragiles, a small suitcase for odds and ends... suffice it to say: I move too much!

I got probably 1/2-3/4 of the way done packing and decided to take a break. I had to get the oil changed on my car anyway. So I went to this place in Calabasas that my friend recommended, and waited for that to be done. However... about 15 minutes later he came back out and said "ooh your tires are in SAD shape." I had told him earlier that I was driving out to Utah, so they did a complimentary safety check on everything, and my tires were really worrying the guy. He brought me out to where my car was and proceeded to point out the wear and tear on my tires, and how each tire is uniquely 'branded' so-to-speak, with the year and week of that year that the tire was made. My tires? Week 26 of 2001. Tires are supposed to be changed roughly every 3-5 years, and mine were 8 years old. He basically told me that he feared for my life if I drove this car to Utah with those tires.

One of my tires - it's bad quality though, because it was taken on my phone.

So of course, this is when my stress level skyrocketed. He calculated it out and told me that the cheapest he could get me would total to about $385. I definitely do not have that much extra cash just laying around... so I told him I was going to go home, try to figure things out, and possibly be back tomorrow. I called my parents up to ask their advice on what I should do, and if I should risk it or what. My mom started to worry at that point, and she said it would probably be a good idea to get new ones. They however, are very tight on money right now, and couldn't lend me the money.

So, I was back to square one: no money and in desperate need of new tires. I had kept it together pretty well up until this point, but I was on the verge of a meltdown. And remember, I don't cry much. Usually, I can't even remember the last time I cried. But I was supposed to be leaving for Utah on Wednesday, and there was no way I was going to come up with nearly $400 in the next two days. It just wasn't possible.

My grandparents (Kelley) live in Utah, so I called them up to tell them what was going on and as soon as my grandma said "what's wrong?" I fell apart. I was kind of mad at myself for falling apart because for some reason I guess I see crying as a 'sign of weakness' so I suck it up and tough it out most of the time. No one ever sees (or hears) me cry. But this whole tire thing just piqued my stress-level over the top. However, my grandparents are absolutely amazing and came to the rescue - they agreed to lend me the necessary money to get new tires for my car.

The Womacks then heard of my plight and gave me the name of their 'tire friend' and where he works and sent me there so I could get a 100% honest diagnosis as well as a good deal on tires if necessary. His name was Carey and he actually graduated from BYU once upon a time! He went and looked at my tires and said "well... you technically have maybe 20% left on those tires... so you could probably get back to Utah okay, but I would change them pretty soon after you get back." He asked how long I was going to be in Utah and I told him that it was up in the air at the moment - somewhere between 4-8 months. He said, "So you'll be there for the winter. These tires won't survive another winter." So long story short, it was decided that it would be best if I went ahead and got new tires now, just to be safe. I really don't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere!

In the end, I got all four tires for $320 --> $65 less than the other place. Thank you Carey, and thank you Womacks. And thank you Grandma and Grandpa Kelley for lending me the money! I am SO glad I decided to get my oil changed today instead of tomorrow, so I still have time to get everything else taken care of before I leave on Wednesday morning! The only problem now is that I am majorly behind on packing! I better get back to it... but at least I have a car fully ready to make the 675-mile trip back to Provo!

A Nomad I Will Remain For Life...

So... there is a tidbit of news I have been failing to mention to those of you who read my blog. I didn't want to say anything in case something changed and until after all the details and everything were worked out. BUT, it is all set up, worked out, finalized, and ready to go now, so here it goes: I am temporarily moving back to Utah. Crazy, right? Makes no sense? Wrong. I will explain to you how I ended up deciding this and afterward, it will probably make a bit more sense.

Reason #1: I can't afford it. The plain and simple truth. Around April of last year, as May (when I originally planned on moving out here) was fast approaching, I realized that I didn't have enough money to make the move. I had a film lined up in Utah that was supposed to start in August/September, so I decided to postpone the L.A. move until that was done, sometime in October/November (rent in most BYU housing during summer is only $120 a month). BUT, then I felt incredibly strongly that I needed to move out here "NOW" so when 'now' happened, I moved out here pretty much with no money in my pockets. I lucked out and got to live at a former roommate's family's house for very cheap, but I didn't get much luck in finding paid work out here. (though I did make some great contacts this summer)

Reason #2: Housing. This sort of goes along with #1. I was originally planning on getting a place here and bouncing back and forth between here and Utah - depending on where I got work. However, as more and more work started lining up in Utah, I realized that I was going to have multiple full weeks where I was going to be in Utah... with no place. To top it off, each time I tried to go look at a place here, something would happen. Either I would have to reschedule, they would cancel, the place had already been sold, abnormally bad traffic would cause me to miss the appointment, etc. Now I realize, maybe it was because I wasn't supposed to find a place out here just yet.

So I decided to switch that plan around and be temporarily based in Utah instead, since rent there is about 1/3 of the price. Here, I was going to be lucky to find a small shared bedroom in a tiny apartment for about $500/mo (+ gas, electric, parking, etc). In Utah, I found this awesome townhouse with one of my best friends for $340 a month. Private room, private bath, 3 stories, 4 rooms, 3 girls, plenty of parking (free parking!). I had to buy a year contract, but I don't intend on staying there a full year. As of right now, I want to come back here in January - unless I get another film in Utah, and then I'll stay til April-ish. So I'll ultimately sell the rest of my contract.

The place Karie and I will be living. I love it!

Reason #3: Work. I have already made so many connections in Utah and can seem to find work a lot easier there at the moment. In Utah, I do sports broadcast as well, where I operate a camera and/or set up the audio for any and all sports productions. Those pay really well for a 1-2 day gig. I've already got three of those for September, with more around the corner because football season is about to start. Last year, I worked multiple BYU, Weber State, Utah State, and Idaho State games - both football and basketball. Also, HSM4 is supposed to be starting up relatively soon (it was supposed to start in September, so I would have gone back for 1-2 months anyway) and whenever that happens, I will need to be in Utah for roughly 4-6 weeks.

Reason #4: Non-union vs union. When I moved out here, I didn't entirely understand all the ins and outs of how to get into the union and why it is so crucial here to do so. I do now. And the problem I have discovered is that in L.A., there is a Catch-22. In order to make any sort of decent money, you have to join the union. But in order to join the union, you have to have 100 detailed and documented days of paid non-union work amounting in $50 or more per day. The catch? Almost everything out here non-union is VERY low budget and you are lucky to get paid anything - let alone $50. I worked 0 paid days in June, 11 days in July, and 0 in August. Less than 2 weeks per every 3 months... not so good. BUT... the entire state of Utah is a non-union state and everything done/worked there can be counted toward someone trying to get into a CA union. Yes, Utah's non-union work (which is PAID) can and will count towards my 100 required non-union days for L.A's sound union. So I can get most of my non-union days out there and then come back here and join the union almost right away!

Reason #5: I can't remember. I had 5 fabulous reasons all listed out for my friend yesterday when she and I were talking, but stupid facebook chat erases the first half of your conversation by the time you're done, so I don't remember what they all were. I guess just a bonus... I have a TON of friends who seem to all be graduating in either December or April, so this is all their last year at BYU. Meaning, after this year, I won't have many close friends left at BYU so it will be fun to see everyone and spend time together one last time/semester before we all go our separate ways for good.

Anyway, there you have it. I am temporarily moving back to Utah and have thus become a permanent nomad. Apparently I can only manage to stay in the same place for no longer than 3-4 months before moving again. I guess we'll see what happens, but I really feel like this is the best - and wisest - choice for me right now. As always, I will keep you posted.

Post title: partial quote by Isabelle Eberhardt from this website.

Crash Into Me

I love the beach. I forgot how much I loved it until I moved out here. Once upon a time, my family had a time share in Florida and we would go one week each year to Cocoa Beach. I remember those times very well, and have lots of fond memories of our trips there. My favorite was when my mom and I were walking along the beach at night, searching for sea shells. Mom would point and say "ooh there's a good one!" and then being the eager little 6-year-old that I was, I would happily run and retrieve the shell. However, one instance, I ran towards the shell she told me to go and collect and it promptly began running away! It turned out to be a crab. She thought it was hilarious. 6-year-old me...not so much. But it is still a funny memory nonetheless.

Anyway, Mike and I went to the beach today (4th time in one week!) and got all the way in the water. The original plan was to do some body surfing. However, these waves are much stronger (and colder!) than I ever remember any waves at Cocoa Beach! I'm pretty sure one of the waves almost swallowed me whole! There was a big one coming, so Mike told me to hold my breath and dive under the wave. It worked the first time, but the second time... not exactly! I guess I didn't dive deep enough and that wave totally owned me! I wasn't overly panicked or anything, but it still was kind of unnerving when I was running out of breath and couldn't make it to the top! But I am happy to report: I survived. :P

And by the way... I'll have you know that when I lived in Florida, I was relatively tan. I was out in the sun all day! (swim team). But almost the instant I moved to Virginia... yeah that definitely disappeared. And I have come to discover that if you are already tan, more sun will just tan you more (such was the case in Florida). But if you are white as white can be (what I am now), you burn, and you burn bad! Luckily, this time it was just my back that burned - I ran out of sunscreen... who actually runs out of sunscreen??
Anyway, the beach is awesome and I love it. :D

PS, these pictures are of Point Dume - the beach we went to.

Post title: song title from Dave Matthews Band.

Fresh Sushi!

So when I lived in Florida there was this huuuge billboard with some Asian guy cooking sushi and all it said in big letters was "FRESH SUSHI" and the name of the place in small letters somewhere. But every time I eat sushi, I think of that sign... and thus we have our title.

I did indeed have fresh sushi tonight! It was SO good! For those of you who don't know, about two years ago I developed a severe liking to sushi. I had even had a "sushi friend" in Provo whom I would go eat sushi with whenever the other was craving sushi. So, Mike found out that I like sushi, but that I'd never had "real" sushi (ie fresh). He is apparently a sushi connoisseur and has a "sushi budget" and says that whenever he's home he goes at least once a week. He was even buddies with the main chef at this place! Of course, I realized a bit too late that I should have been taking pictures of all the sushi we were eating... blast. I didn't think of it until our very last rolls, and they looked like the regular rolls. The others SO did not look like the 'regular' rolls, but they were actually quite good.

I'm used to the sushi that's in a roll, wrapped in seaweed and rice, but this sushi was like a slab of fish on top of rice, occasionally with some sort of sauce on top (it looks more like the ones in that first picture). We had 5 or 6 different kinds of this sushi (one piece each). We had tuna, yellow-tailed tuna (never heard of it), albacore, salmon, eel, and possibly one other. I can't remember - we had a lot. And then the chef said "ooh I know what she'd like" and made me this absolutely amazing plate of sushi that he called "Volcano" and it is apparently his own version of volcano, but it was so good! It was on a round plate with half slices of lemon all around the plate, and each cut of the roll face up, with some sort of tuna-ish stuff in an almost mush form on top of each piece, topped with various sauces drizzled all across the plate, and yeah... amazing. I wish I had taken a picture of that one because it looked just about as good as it tasted!

Then Mike has this weird sushi wrap thing. I can't remember what it was called, but it basically looked like an ice cream cone with sushi inside... and the cone was made of seaweed. It was cool looking and I *did* remember to take a picture of that one. After that we had one more, and it was more of a traditional looking roll (the only other one I got a picture of) and it was a dessert roll. I didn't know you could have a "dessert" roll with sushi, but now I know! It was like a sweet roll, but still with the salty stuff. I don't know how to explain it, but it was SO good! Had I not been so full from all the other sushi we had had, I would have eaten more of the dessert roll! Oh my goodness it was all so good though.

Mike and the chef were both surprised that I really did try everything that they put in front of me. But hey, I'll try just about anything once. I don't guarantee I'll like it, but I'll at least try it. (Oh, we had kimchi too, and I didn't like that.) I don't think I have ever been that full from sushi, but it was a good kind of full. I guess I am slowly working my way into liking all types of seafood, because none of it tasted gross to me today!

Chlorine Is My Perfume

I'm convinced that just about everyone in California has a hot tub. Most seem to have pools as well. I have been to some of the most AMAZING houses since I have moved out here. I wish I could have taken pictures of all the insanely massive houses I have been to for various reasons. The party I went to on Saturday night had this humongous built-in slide with their pool, and it was all landscaped around the slide and the pool so it practically blended in with everything else. It also had this massive almost outdoor kitchen area thing with just about every a normal kitchen would have, but more! Their backyard alone was bigger than my family's house.

The house that I went to tonight for FHE was equally as massive, and their pool had fountains shooting from either side of it, and the lights changed colors every 30 seconds!!! They had a 40 or 50 something inch flat screen TV outside in their patio area!!! With a 7.1 surround system installed into the ceiling too! Outside!!! And they had another couple flat screens that size inside the house as well...

I'm trying to go through all the houses I have been to thus far, and I really do think that each of them has had a pool and hot tub. It's insane! The family I am living with has one (and so does almost every single person on their entire block), each house that I have filmed at has had one, Mallory's house has one, any ward member's house I have been to has had one, the house we went to for the ward game night last night also had one, and afterwards, Mike and I went to his place and used the hot tub there! Seriously, everyone has one! It is so weird! Or I guess just different. In VA it was an anomaly if you had either, let alone both. But hey, pools and hot tubs are great! And the slides make it that much more exciting!

Post title: from http://www.quotegarden.com/swimming.html