2010

I think 2010 is going to be a good year. It has a nice feel to it. I like numbers that feel whole, solid. Because of our numerical system, 10's will always feel that way to me. So I'm pretty stoked for 2010.

My roommate Anna has started this great tradition that we roommates are going to continue this year. She creates a posterboard for the year and draws out everything she wants to do in the year. It can be serious or silly stuff all mixed together, big and small. I love this. It's more than just New Year's resolutions--it's a checklist of awesomeness.

Some of the things I'm going to put on my poster for 2010 are:

• Get my second degree black belt!! 9 days!!
• Go to a rock concert. (Nope, never been. Sad, huh?)
• Submit at least one of my books to agents and/or publishers.
• Visit a new country. (Probably the hardest of them all simply for $$$)
• Start learning the guitar.
• Go to a college football game. (Nope, never been. Grady thinks that's REALLY sad, lol.)
• And of course, write a book. Gotta do that every year now.

There will be more, as I think of them. But I think it's a pretty good start for this awesome-sauce year of 2010. And tonight, it's downtown SLC for fun and games. =)

Long week/end: summary, nothing profound

I've spend most of this week up at Primary Children's with my cousin Hollie and her daughter Elaina, who had open-heart surgery on Thursday. Updates at Hollie's blog. It's amazing how stressful waiting can be. I mean, you're just sitting around, or pacing, or both, you're not really doing anything physically taxing, but I'll tell you what, by Thursday night our whole family was exhausted--none less so than little Elaina-bug and her mama.

Hospitals are fascinating places. You would not believe everything that goes on there unless you spend a lot of time there. I've also found that ICUs are way busier than other parts of the hospital--constant action, streams of people coming in and out. Doctors, nurses, therapists, technicians, janitors, social workers--entirely besides patients, parents and visitors. And you would not believe the Sounds! I sat for a few minutes with Elaina and just listened, identifying sounds. I mean, there's monitors watching every bodily function she has. There were bubbling sounds from the chest tubes sucking liquid from her lungs and chest. There's the ventilator pumping, breathing for her. There's people talking, in the rooms and out at the nurses' station. People washing their hands, the automatic towel dispenser nearly giving me a heart attack every time it went off. I mean, this is a hopping place! And Primary's, as I think I've said before, isn't like most hospitals. I mean, for one thing, its full of children, which entirely changes the aspect of the place. But for another, there's a lot more hope there than at other hospitals. Maybe because its children, or maybe its just because its a special place, I don't know. I think it takes special people to work there, and they sure make a difference.


On a different note, today was something of an adventure. My best friend Melissa is turning 22 next week, and because of my job I am going to miss it again this year, so I told her I'd come up this weekend and do whatever she wanted to do. So last night we went to the drive-in movie in Roy (or is it Ogden?). I'd never been to the drive-in before, so I was pretty excited. We took some lawn chairs and a bunch of blankets, and we set up between two cars with their windows down--we had pretty good surround sound! It's always a double feature there, so first we saw Kung Fu Panda--it was funny, but definitely a kids movie. Then we slept through Indiana Jones--but at least I'd seen it before! We didn't get home until after two, but it was fun.

I spent the morning with Melissa and her family, then I headed south. I had lunch with Gregory at a little Frenchie restaurant downtown called Les Madelines. I had a Sesame Chicken Wrap, which was quite delicious, and a pastry dessert that I couldn't even begin to spell or pronounce, but which was nevertheless delicious. And, of course, I had a chance to chat with my Gregums, which was wonderful and well-needed.

Next stop was a brief visit at Primary's--I sat with Elaina for awhile so that Hollie could take a nap. I wish I could have stayed longer! My hope is that Hollie can get some rest tonight, she's wearing herself pretty thin.

Then it was down to T-ville to visit Dixy. We never ended up having our LOST party--we were trying to set up a date that we could watch LOST together, but it didn't happen. I'm just glad I got to see her. We went grocery shopping and picked up some father's day cards, then she had to go to work.

I had been planning to stop over at my birthfather's house for a little while after that, but my sisters were gone and 'step-mom' Jenny is sick, so I ended up driving over to my Pop's work to say hi and give him his card and return "Meet the Robinsons" which I borrowed last week. It was good to see him, I'm glad I went--he would've been mad if I hadn't seen him before leaving for PA. He's way too good to me!

Then it was home to Orem at last--I feel like I haven't been here for days, because of all the time I've spend in SLC this week, so it was good to come home and crash on the couch for awhile. Poor little Ben's really sick--he's been puking on and off all day, even since I've been home. Rough day for the poor guy. But we watched Toy Story 2 together, then it was off to bed.

So, I leave for Pennsylvania on Tuesday. I'm driving out, planning to take three days to get there. It's something over 1800 miles, and the largest chunk comes first--I'll be driving to Kearney, Nebraska on Tuesday, to stay with my uncle there. My aunt--Hollie's mom--will be here helping Hollie and helping take care of Ben. I'm actually pretty excited about the drive, but we'll see how it goes.

Infinite Possibility

Today, I wore my Scrubs of Infinite Possibility, and what a day for them it was!

This evening, I went to see The Forbidden Kingdom with the Walles (my birthfather and co). So good. Of course it was a kung fu movie, but it had a decent plot, and Michael Angarano didn't make too big a fool of himself. There's nothing like seeing Jackie Chan and Jet Li together--fighting with AND against each other, alternately. :)

Leaving the theater, it was absolutely beautiful out. Warm, slightly foggy, with a bright, almost-full moon. I love the feel of the wind in my hair, as cliche as that may sound. It awakens a sense of adventure.

Driving home, I looked out over the valley, glowing in the moonlight, and I just wanted to keep driving, forever. It was a night of infinite possibility, and I felt like I could go anywhere, do anything, and it would be wonderful.

I came home and sat out on the swingset for awhile talking to Dixy. It's too fine a night just to go straight inside and to bed. The wind carries the promise of summer in it--warmth and adventure mixed to perfection. Of course there is more bad weather to come first, but summer is coming, just like the good times that will win out when hope prevails.

Renting Blues

So, I'm moving home. This is a rather unfortunate circumstance which I do not entirely regret. I need to save money, and all the reasons I moved to Salt Lake in the first place are mostly null and void, the only exceptions being 1) my independence and 2) living with Dixy, one of my best friends from college. Right now I need to save money (particularly considering that I have none) and hopefully I can get a job down here just as easily as one in Salt Lake.

With these things in mind, I spent half of last week trying to get in touch with my landlords, who were apparently away from their phones the whole time. At last reaching my landlady on Saturday, I informed her that I had lost my job, and that I needed to move out at the end of the month. As we had discussed when I signed my lease, she said she would list my room, and if she could find a renter she would let me out of my lease. I agreed this was fair, and went my way.

Today, I searched online listings to find my room. No luck. I checked all the regular haunts where Dixy found the house in the first place, to no avail. It's not there.

All I want to say is WTF? Did she forget? Am I being screwed? I don't know, I don't really care. I listed the room myself, and hopefully I can get things taken care of so I can get out of the lease. These landlords have been pretty good all around, so I don't want to jump the gun. I just want a peaceful resolution.

So, if anybody is looking for an apartment in Taylorsville, let me know. I've got a pretty sweet place for you.

Conference weekend

This weekend is the 178th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This morning we had a Solemn Assembly to sustain our new Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. It's been a great conference so far, some very exciting and thought-provoking talks, in addition to the new authorities and general information.

Between sessions, several of my friends and I went over to T-ville High to play games--first we played flag football, then we played softball. Later that afternoon we tried Ultimate Frisbee for awhile, but at that point we just didn't have enough people and the wind was a little strong. But I'll tell you what--it felt so good to get out and play games outside. I'm not the sportiest person in the world, but I like to get out and run around, and today was the perfect day for it.

Also, this afternoon for several hours, my friends and I played and sang the Hymns. I love playing the piano, and I love singing with my friends, so this was just the perfect way to end such a wonderful day. I highly recommend it.

Over-complicating

I think I've mentioned before how much I want a dog. I just really love dogs. The last couple of days, I've really wanted to go walking, but I've always disliked walking alone. It makes me feel ridiculous. I don't really like walking with other people, either. I like walking with a dog.

In answer to this conundrum (word courtesy of Melissa), it occurred to me: Maybe I could go down to the Humane Society and see if they'd let me walk a dog! Or maybe three! (not all at once, mind you, that would be a little much.) At any rate, I hopped on their website to get their address and ended up poking around. Would you believe that you have to be a registered volunteer to walk the dogs? And in order to become one, you have to go through an orientation process--the next one being at the end of April!! I would have to wait a whole month to walk a dog!

I'm not a crazy person. I'm not going to steal the dogs. If I could adopt a dog, I would. I would make the investment and take one home. But my landlord doesn't allow pets, and besides, my roommate is afraid of dogs of all sizes. I just want to walk a dog. But I'm not allowed, because I haven't sat through a three-hour session on how to walk dogs. This is far too complicated!

Home

Last night, driving home from Provo with Dixy, we crested the point of the mountain and looked out over the Salt Lake Valley. "I love Salt Lake, it's so huge," said Dixy. "Yeah," I breathed. "Me too.

It's not quite what I envisioned for myself, true. I pictured myself living in downtown Chicago or DC. I pictured myself taking the Metro or the L to the theatre every day, working long crazy hours with barely enough time to breathe. I pictured myself as a city girl.

But after weeks of a different life, I'm finding that I like it here. I really do love Salt Lake. You would not believe the difference, even from Orem and Provo to here. Everything is so close, an adventure is always five minutes away. I'd find them, if I got out of the house more. :) The possibilities are slowly opening to me. I can do anything.

This week, I bought two pairs of scrub bottoms. Living in a household of nurses, it's no wonder that they're rubbing off on me. (You want more of this story, just ask me about Phlebotomy. Yesterday Dixy and I got out to do a bunch of things--we went shopping, we drove around, and then we ended up going to Provo for sushi and bowling. Yesterday was a great day. I dubbed my red scrubs my "Scrubs of Infinite Possibility." I honestly felt that wearing them, I could do anything. :) But it's not the scrubs--it's me.

Life has been pretty poopy the last two months. There have been good points, sure. But overall, I've felt rather directionless and idle. No theatre, no joy. But I'm slowly discovering that there are other avenues. Real life doesn't have to be dull and empty--I just have to find something to fill it. And here, in Salt Lake City, in my Scrubs of Infinite Possibility, with friends and family supporting me and the drive to move forward with my life--I will find those things.