We've been back in our house for about 2.5 weeks now. Getting re-settled was a lot easier this time because we simply knew where everything went. Unpacking was a breeze. Our guest room is now the only thing left to be finished. It's still a little cluttered with boxes and pictures yet to be hung. Hanged? Whatever. Our tenant left our house in pretty good condition which was such a relief. While our relatively short experience of being landlords was pretty easy, it isn't something I would recommend. It's a lot of stress and we even had a great tenant. Anyway, I'm just glad that part is over.
While the boxes were a breeze, it seems as though getting our house in working order again has proven quite difficult. Here are some annoying things we've encountered/currently encountering...
-For a while we thought we were blowing a fuse by plugging in an old halogen lamp. Every time we turned it on in our bedroom, the lights in the downstairs hall, guest room and bathroom would go out. It was very odd. Eventually we figured out by resetting one of the outlets in the garage (?) was the trick and now all the lights are playing well with others.
-We couldn't get our cable hooked up right away because our tenant hadn't transferred service. Comcast is stupid and won't turn off a service in order to turn on another service. Our tenant was having the same issue at her new place so we were last in line. We finally got it installed yesterday. However, the dummy hooking it up didn't realize that the other 2 cords in the cable box were for cable in multiple rooms. So he hooked up the family room, took the 3-way splitter from the box and left the other cords dangling! So now we have to go out and buy another splitter to fix the problem. GRR!
-Since we couldn't get cable installed right away, we had to with Qwest for phone and internet (we were going to bundle it all with Comcast, but they were stupid) because we couldn't go for weeks without internet with both of us on the job hunt. Well, that got hooked up, but of course in addition to the regular fees there is $75 worth of hook up costs! REALLY?! All they did is flip a freaking switch somewhere. Unbelievable!
-We have officially confused the post office. Here's the run down: A year ago we had our mail forwarded to CA. That fwding was supposed to expire 10/31/2010. When we moved back to CO, but weren't in our house yet, we had our mail sent from CA to my dad's house. Then when we had our house back, we fwded once again back to our original house. Well in the past 2.5 weeks we've received hardly any mail. The only stuff we receive is mail fwded from my dad's and CA, but nothing coming directly except stuff for "resident." Mail being sent directly to our home address is, we believe, being sent in a giant loop from our house, to CA, to my Dad's and hopefully back to us even though the original fwd is expired. We know something is definitely wrong because we haven't received our new ids, netflix dvds, or any of the tons of change of address notifications from banks, credit cards, bills, etc. We've put in 2 calls to the post office, but it's no where near resolved. A trip to the post office is in our future where we will no doubt get the run around again.
-Today fedex only delivered one of 2 identical christmas packages we ordered. The packages have 2 different tracking numbers, both of which come up as delivered, but we only got one. I called Fedex right away (having just missed the driver), but still don't have the package. I have a suspicion the driver took it thinking it was an accidental duplicate. ARG!
-And then there's all of our outdoor solar lights need new batteries, a toilet is running and needs a new flapper, our mailbox is halfway falling off it's pole and I can't wait to see what brakes next. Oy.
Oh, plus not having jobs really, really sucks. Who'da thought moving all the heavy boxes and furniture across several states and then from my dad's garage to the house would be the easiest part?! Phew!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
The Journey Home
I'm home! Hooray! While I'm sad to leave the beautiful California weather behind, I am so happy and relieved to be home. Gosh life is easier here...well except for the whole unemployment thing, but let's not dwell on that right now. :) Here's how it all went down...
My dad and my sister arrived in Burbank on Wednesday, October 20th to help with the move. I had all sorts of fun stuff planned, but most of it got thrown out the window due to last minute packing, cleaning and general exhaustion. Oh and the weather in CA that week was kinda crummy. We did a few things in Burbank, but mostly packed boxes and staged all our crap so it was easy for the movers to load up. The original plan was for the movers to arrive on Friday and we'd take off Saturday morning. Well, we decided that if we were able to leave Friday afternoon then we should take advantage of it.
So, the movers arrived around noon on Friday and were immediately impressed that all our stuff was packed and ready to go. Apparently, they encounter quite a few people that are still packing stuff while the movers are working. That makes no sense to me, I like to have everything prepared. Anyway, they said that they would be done in about 2-3 hours instead of the 4-6 they had planned! Ha, good thing because we were planning all along that it would only take 2 hours so we could get going. They got everything loaded and were on their way. All the while we were trying to clean so the apartment was spotless by the time they were done loading. We touched everything up one last time, dropped our keys off at the leasing office and were on the road home by 330pm Friday afternoon. (Side note: We decided we didn't want to wait for the apartment people to come to do the final walk through so we just left. I fully anticipate them keeping every penny of our security deposit for one lame reason or another whether we were there or not, so we just left. This will probably bite me in the ass later which might result in a big ranting blog post about it. Fun!)
So 330pm on Friday in LA means rush hour traffic on basically every highway in every direction. Well, ALL DAY on Fridays means rush hour traffic in LA. We were anticipating some delays and while we got stopped here and there along the way, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We maybe lost an hour total sitting in traffic. Our goal was to make it to Mesquite, NV by that night - 5 hours from LA. We rolled into Mesquite at about 930pm. Driving through the desert at night kinda sucks and I wouldn't recommend it. It is super dark! Anyway, we arrive at the hotel, grab some burger king and settle in for the night.
Saturday morning we were up early hoping to be on the road by 7am. This was the long leg of the journey, about 11 hours, plus we lose an hour due to the change in time zones. Well after packing up, checking out and gassing up we were on our way at about 745am. Rain was forecasted all along the way through to Denver and as we drove through parts of Utah we were rained on some, but experienced lots of splash back. Not fun when you are following another car all the way home. Evan and I drove our cars out of LA on Friday and for the first 2 rainy hours of Saturday. Then we switched and my dad and sister got nothing but blue skies and sunshine while they drove the next 6 hours or so. Cheaters.
We stop in Grand Junction for lunch at about 2pm and switch drivers. Here come the mountains! More rain...a lot of it this time. Then a break in clouds as we approached Eagle county. Then we start getting some gray clouds...wet roads...and at the top of Vail Pass...SNOW! UGH! I hate, no loathe, driving in snow with every fiber of my being. And what better way for the state to welcome us back then to have us drive through it on our way in. Really, it wasn't that bad. Just a little bit on the road, but the mountains were completely covered with the white stuff. So I was the loser going about 40 mph (partly because my Taurus and large hills/mountains don't get along that well) with Evan following behind. Luckily as we got to Frisco things cleared up and there was no more snow the rest of the way. However, by the time we got past Idaho Springs the sun had set and it was now pitch black. Blech. Curving roads, down sloping grades and lots of people's bright lights blinding you at every curve made driving the last hour and a half really crappy.
Then the bright lights of Denver appeared on the horizon and we were almost there! Home was not far and I couldn't wait! We pulled into my dad's house at 730pm Saturday evening. YAY!! We unloaded the cars, dropped my dad off and headed to my sisters where we would be staying for the week. We eat pizza, relax and play with our super excited 2 year old niece and enjoy being home!
Flash forward to this past Thursday when the movers arrive with all our stuff. Since we still have a tenant renting our house till the middle of the month, my dad generously allowed us to store all of our stuff in his garage. Moment of truth...our stuff made it! Kinda. All of our stuff is here, but I'm concerned about some of our stuff, mainly every box marked fragile. It seems as though the crew that loaded our stuff in CA either didn't give a crap about our boxes or had no idea what the word "fragile" meant, because our boxes are kinda beat to hell. A lot of them are bulging, gashed, ripped and even a few are partially crushed. In fact, I witnessed every box marked fragile come out of the truck with at least one super heavy box on top of it. One box of all glassware from our china cabinet was one of the boxes where the top was totally crushed. I haven't opened any yet to check the damage because 1) I don't want to have to repack the boxes for when we move back into our house and 2) I'm kinda scared of what I'll find and don't really feel like being pissed off at the moment.
So here we are! I am soooooo happy to be back. Now I'm just waiting till I get a job and we move into our house to breathe that final sigh of relief. Oh, I'd also say that I'm totally stoked to watch the Broncos on tv again, but after that game with Oakland I'm not sure I want to watch anymore games. Ouch.
My dad and my sister arrived in Burbank on Wednesday, October 20th to help with the move. I had all sorts of fun stuff planned, but most of it got thrown out the window due to last minute packing, cleaning and general exhaustion. Oh and the weather in CA that week was kinda crummy. We did a few things in Burbank, but mostly packed boxes and staged all our crap so it was easy for the movers to load up. The original plan was for the movers to arrive on Friday and we'd take off Saturday morning. Well, we decided that if we were able to leave Friday afternoon then we should take advantage of it.
So, the movers arrived around noon on Friday and were immediately impressed that all our stuff was packed and ready to go. Apparently, they encounter quite a few people that are still packing stuff while the movers are working. That makes no sense to me, I like to have everything prepared. Anyway, they said that they would be done in about 2-3 hours instead of the 4-6 they had planned! Ha, good thing because we were planning all along that it would only take 2 hours so we could get going. They got everything loaded and were on their way. All the while we were trying to clean so the apartment was spotless by the time they were done loading. We touched everything up one last time, dropped our keys off at the leasing office and were on the road home by 330pm Friday afternoon. (Side note: We decided we didn't want to wait for the apartment people to come to do the final walk through so we just left. I fully anticipate them keeping every penny of our security deposit for one lame reason or another whether we were there or not, so we just left. This will probably bite me in the ass later which might result in a big ranting blog post about it. Fun!)
So 330pm on Friday in LA means rush hour traffic on basically every highway in every direction. Well, ALL DAY on Fridays means rush hour traffic in LA. We were anticipating some delays and while we got stopped here and there along the way, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We maybe lost an hour total sitting in traffic. Our goal was to make it to Mesquite, NV by that night - 5 hours from LA. We rolled into Mesquite at about 930pm. Driving through the desert at night kinda sucks and I wouldn't recommend it. It is super dark! Anyway, we arrive at the hotel, grab some burger king and settle in for the night.
Saturday morning we were up early hoping to be on the road by 7am. This was the long leg of the journey, about 11 hours, plus we lose an hour due to the change in time zones. Well after packing up, checking out and gassing up we were on our way at about 745am. Rain was forecasted all along the way through to Denver and as we drove through parts of Utah we were rained on some, but experienced lots of splash back. Not fun when you are following another car all the way home. Evan and I drove our cars out of LA on Friday and for the first 2 rainy hours of Saturday. Then we switched and my dad and sister got nothing but blue skies and sunshine while they drove the next 6 hours or so. Cheaters.
We stop in Grand Junction for lunch at about 2pm and switch drivers. Here come the mountains! More rain...a lot of it this time. Then a break in clouds as we approached Eagle county. Then we start getting some gray clouds...wet roads...and at the top of Vail Pass...SNOW! UGH! I hate, no loathe, driving in snow with every fiber of my being. And what better way for the state to welcome us back then to have us drive through it on our way in. Really, it wasn't that bad. Just a little bit on the road, but the mountains were completely covered with the white stuff. So I was the loser going about 40 mph (partly because my Taurus and large hills/mountains don't get along that well) with Evan following behind. Luckily as we got to Frisco things cleared up and there was no more snow the rest of the way. However, by the time we got past Idaho Springs the sun had set and it was now pitch black. Blech. Curving roads, down sloping grades and lots of people's bright lights blinding you at every curve made driving the last hour and a half really crappy.
Then the bright lights of Denver appeared on the horizon and we were almost there! Home was not far and I couldn't wait! We pulled into my dad's house at 730pm Saturday evening. YAY!! We unloaded the cars, dropped my dad off and headed to my sisters where we would be staying for the week. We eat pizza, relax and play with our super excited 2 year old niece and enjoy being home!
Flash forward to this past Thursday when the movers arrive with all our stuff. Since we still have a tenant renting our house till the middle of the month, my dad generously allowed us to store all of our stuff in his garage. Moment of truth...our stuff made it! Kinda. All of our stuff is here, but I'm concerned about some of our stuff, mainly every box marked fragile. It seems as though the crew that loaded our stuff in CA either didn't give a crap about our boxes or had no idea what the word "fragile" meant, because our boxes are kinda beat to hell. A lot of them are bulging, gashed, ripped and even a few are partially crushed. In fact, I witnessed every box marked fragile come out of the truck with at least one super heavy box on top of it. One box of all glassware from our china cabinet was one of the boxes where the top was totally crushed. I haven't opened any yet to check the damage because 1) I don't want to have to repack the boxes for when we move back into our house and 2) I'm kinda scared of what I'll find and don't really feel like being pissed off at the moment.
So here we are! I am soooooo happy to be back. Now I'm just waiting till I get a job and we move into our house to breathe that final sigh of relief. Oh, I'd also say that I'm totally stoked to watch the Broncos on tv again, but after that game with Oakland I'm not sure I want to watch anymore games. Ouch.
Friday, September 10, 2010
September 11th - Where was I?
So tomorrow is September 11th. 9 years ago that day forever changed for every American. We all have our stories of where we were that fateful day, and mine is nothing special, but here it is.
I was a senior in high school and the day started off like any normal day. Woke up early to make my 7:20am psychology class. Typically on my short drive to school I would listen to a CD, preferably one I could sing along obnoxiously to. On this day, however, I had the radio on for some weird reason. As I pulled into my spot a newscast came over the airways stating that a plane had hit a building. I didn't think too much of it - I figured some tiny little airplane had clipped a building somewhere, no big deal. I turned my car off and headed into class.
I was typically early, so I sat down and started doing some homework, when my psychology teacher rushed in with her hand over her mouth and said, "I just saw the most terrifying thing." She then flipped on the tv and there on the news was the World Trade Center. Smoking. With a gaping hole in the building. And then they replayed footage of the second airplane hitting the second tower and my heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. I don't even remember hearing anything the newscasters were saying, I was just staring at the tv.
Needless to say, we didn't have a regular class that morning. We stayed glued to the tv the entire hour. Sometime during that class we all witnessed the 1st tower crumble to ground. My immediate thought was oh, of course they had gotten everyone out of the building by now. Certainly everyone had evacuated and was far, far away. I had no idea. In fact, it took a little while for it to sink in that I just witnessed hundreds of people die as that tower collapsed.
Eventually the bell rang signaling it was time for 2nd hour. I had gym. I was astonished when our gym teachers made us dress and go outside to play softball. Perhaps they were trying to keep our minds off the tragedy, but it didn't work as no one was interested in playing. We were outside though and we all froze each time a plane flew over. Not all the planes were grounded at that point so we didn't know who exactly were flying those planes that flew over our heads towards downtown Denver. We could only fear the worst. Finally, class was over and I rushed to 3rd hour Chamber Choir, knowing full well my choir teacher would have the tv on.
Another hour of watching the chilling details of the day unfold. The Pentagon, the plane in Pennsylvania, the other tower collapsing, New Yorkers covered in soot and debris running for help. It was during this class that the newscasters started speculating what this all meant. Were we going to war? Why yes, yes we were. And my brother had just joined the Navy the previous year. I kept telling myself that the Navy was probably the best place for him to be as Afghanistan was landlocked. He told me years later that the first bombs to hit Afghanistan were from jets stationed on his air craft carrier. And that shortly after the first plane hit the World Trade Center their aircraft carrier was immediately set on a different course. He was far more involved in the war effort than I thought.
4th hour, another choir class, 7th Harmony. There were only 7 of us so of course we decided to continue watching the news. We kept holding our breath just waiting for another plane to hit something or a bomb to go off or something horrible to happen. It was terrifying.
The rest of the day continued much the same. More tv watching. Calling my mom and telling her to come home from work downtown because who knew what city was next. Calling my dad and sharing how shocked and scared we were. Calling my sister who was all alone in Seattle. It was an awful day, one I will never, ever forget. The details are so finely engraved in my memory as I'm sure they are in everyone's mind.
And each year as I catch some of the coverage of those horrific events 9 years ago, I stop, and stare at the tv still shocked, saddened and stunned that this happened. There is pain in my heart every time I see coverage or hear someone else's story. I also distinctly remember watching anniversary coverage on 9/11 about 3 years ago while I was watching my 2 year old nephew. He was playing when all of sudden I was frozen watching that plane hit the tower. Something I have seen hundreds of times now, but I still have to catch my breath. I stood there, frozen with tears in my eyes. My nephew must have been aware in my change in mood because he ran over to me with his hands in the air asking to be picked up. It will be years before he understands what happened on September 11th, but in that moment, at 2 years old, he comforted me and made me smile.
All I can do now is remember, pray for those who lost their lives/loved ones/coworkers/friends and hope that something like this will never happen again and we can all live in a peaceful world.
I was a senior in high school and the day started off like any normal day. Woke up early to make my 7:20am psychology class. Typically on my short drive to school I would listen to a CD, preferably one I could sing along obnoxiously to. On this day, however, I had the radio on for some weird reason. As I pulled into my spot a newscast came over the airways stating that a plane had hit a building. I didn't think too much of it - I figured some tiny little airplane had clipped a building somewhere, no big deal. I turned my car off and headed into class.
I was typically early, so I sat down and started doing some homework, when my psychology teacher rushed in with her hand over her mouth and said, "I just saw the most terrifying thing." She then flipped on the tv and there on the news was the World Trade Center. Smoking. With a gaping hole in the building. And then they replayed footage of the second airplane hitting the second tower and my heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. I don't even remember hearing anything the newscasters were saying, I was just staring at the tv.
Needless to say, we didn't have a regular class that morning. We stayed glued to the tv the entire hour. Sometime during that class we all witnessed the 1st tower crumble to ground. My immediate thought was oh, of course they had gotten everyone out of the building by now. Certainly everyone had evacuated and was far, far away. I had no idea. In fact, it took a little while for it to sink in that I just witnessed hundreds of people die as that tower collapsed.
Eventually the bell rang signaling it was time for 2nd hour. I had gym. I was astonished when our gym teachers made us dress and go outside to play softball. Perhaps they were trying to keep our minds off the tragedy, but it didn't work as no one was interested in playing. We were outside though and we all froze each time a plane flew over. Not all the planes were grounded at that point so we didn't know who exactly were flying those planes that flew over our heads towards downtown Denver. We could only fear the worst. Finally, class was over and I rushed to 3rd hour Chamber Choir, knowing full well my choir teacher would have the tv on.
Another hour of watching the chilling details of the day unfold. The Pentagon, the plane in Pennsylvania, the other tower collapsing, New Yorkers covered in soot and debris running for help. It was during this class that the newscasters started speculating what this all meant. Were we going to war? Why yes, yes we were. And my brother had just joined the Navy the previous year. I kept telling myself that the Navy was probably the best place for him to be as Afghanistan was landlocked. He told me years later that the first bombs to hit Afghanistan were from jets stationed on his air craft carrier. And that shortly after the first plane hit the World Trade Center their aircraft carrier was immediately set on a different course. He was far more involved in the war effort than I thought.
4th hour, another choir class, 7th Harmony. There were only 7 of us so of course we decided to continue watching the news. We kept holding our breath just waiting for another plane to hit something or a bomb to go off or something horrible to happen. It was terrifying.
The rest of the day continued much the same. More tv watching. Calling my mom and telling her to come home from work downtown because who knew what city was next. Calling my dad and sharing how shocked and scared we were. Calling my sister who was all alone in Seattle. It was an awful day, one I will never, ever forget. The details are so finely engraved in my memory as I'm sure they are in everyone's mind.
And each year as I catch some of the coverage of those horrific events 9 years ago, I stop, and stare at the tv still shocked, saddened and stunned that this happened. There is pain in my heart every time I see coverage or hear someone else's story. I also distinctly remember watching anniversary coverage on 9/11 about 3 years ago while I was watching my 2 year old nephew. He was playing when all of sudden I was frozen watching that plane hit the tower. Something I have seen hundreds of times now, but I still have to catch my breath. I stood there, frozen with tears in my eyes. My nephew must have been aware in my change in mood because he ran over to me with his hands in the air asking to be picked up. It will be years before he understands what happened on September 11th, but in that moment, at 2 years old, he comforted me and made me smile.
All I can do now is remember, pray for those who lost their lives/loved ones/coworkers/friends and hope that something like this will never happen again and we can all live in a peaceful world.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Linda Picks the Emmy Winners
Well here they are, my Emmy picks for this year. Watch on Sunday to see how I did.
Outstanding Lead Actor Drama
Michael C Hall - Dexter
What can I say, I’m riding the Dexter train now. Besides I have had enough with Don Draper (John Hamm) and his man-whoreness on Mad Men. J
Outstanding Lead Actress Drama
Dunno...Julliane Marguiles – The Good Wife
Comedy Series
Modern Family!
Modern Family!
I still don’t honestly know how Glee won this last year. Modern Family is WAY better than Glee on so, so many levels. I’ve watched the first half of the season of Glee and while I like the music (sometimes) everything else around it is crap. Modern Family is quality comedy through and through and they better walk away with the Emmy this year.
Drama Series
Mad Men
Drama Series
Mad Men
Ok this one is tough. We’ve been mad about Mad Men for a while now and I still rather like it, but recently we’ve started watching Dexter on netflix and I kinda love it. It’s pretty smart and suspenseful. However, since I haven’t watched all of this season yet to make a fair judgment, I’m giving the Emmy to Mad Men.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy:
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
This one I’m not sure about. Usually I can gush over Alec or Steve Carrell, but they didn’t stand out to me last season and I haven’t seen the other nominees in work. So, I’ll just go with Alec. Will Schuester from Glee will probably get it, but that’s stupid.
Outstanding Lead Actress Comedy
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation
I can’t believe I’m not picking my girlfriend, Tina Fey. I love her! But I gotta hand it to Amy Poehler this year. I wasn’t much of a Parks and Rec fan when it first started, but now she has me rolling!
Outstanding Lead Actress Comedy
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation
I can’t believe I’m not picking my girlfriend, Tina Fey. I love her! But I gotta hand it to Amy Poehler this year. I wasn’t much of a Parks and Rec fan when it first started, but now she has me rolling!
Outstanding Lead Actor Drama
Michael C Hall - Dexter
What can I say, I’m riding the Dexter train now. Besides I have had enough with Don Draper (John Hamm) and his man-whoreness on Mad Men. J
Outstanding Lead Actress Drama
Dunno...Julliane Marguiles – The Good Wife
I have no feelings about this category at all, so let’s go with Julliane, ok? Ok.
Supporting Actor Comedy
Ty Burnell – Modern Family
Supporting Actor Comedy
Ty Burnell – Modern Family
He is HILARIOUS!! Seriously one of the funniest characters and actors on tv.
Supporting Actor Drama
Terry O’Quinn! - LOST
If you don’t know what a Locke Face is, then you obviously didn’t watch the last season of LOST. He was awesome!
Supporting Actor Drama
Terry O’Quinn! - LOST
If you don’t know what a Locke Face is, then you obviously didn’t watch the last season of LOST. He was awesome!
Supporting Actress Comedy
Jane Lynch? - Glee
Jane Lynch? - Glee
Darn, another one without a passionate opinion. I think Jane Lynch’s character on Glee is kinda one-dimensional for her, but I love her from the Christopher Guest movies, so why not.
Supporting Actress Drama
Christina Hendricks – Mad Men
I’m giving this to Christina Hendricks because again, I don’t have a clear opinion in this category and I’m all about supporting this beautiful, busty babe. Gotta love Joan!
Supporting Actress Drama
Christina Hendricks – Mad Men
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
How California is Trying to Kill Us
So I've started to believe that the state of CA is really trying to kill us. From dreadful lines at the DMV to hours spent in traffic and smog that chokes the entire city, LA just doesn't get high marks in terms of health. In addition to all that crap, we've discovered that our bodies are certainly taking tolls in other ways.
First, my skin is trying to escape from my body - particularly on my face. I've never really had an acne problem. I would get a pimple here and there on occasion, but never experienced anything near a "break out." Until the month we moved to CA. Ever since November, my skin has been waging war on my face, in particular, on my chin. I have had constant break outs in the 10 months we've been and have tried everything to stop them. I have tried rose hip oil, vitamin E cream, scrubbed and washed my face till it was raw and now I'm using Pro-active. Some would say it's stress related, but anyone who knows me knows that I've been stressed all my life and haven't been more stressed here. It's also not my diet since that has remained pretty constant as well. Could be hormonal, but I think I'll just blame California.
Next, sudden allergies! Again, I have never had allergies. I'm not allergic to pets, or foods or even the change in seasons. This all changed about 2 months ago when I suppose summer started in LA. It's pretty summery all the time here, but I guess something decided to bloom that made me completely congested. The second I opened a window, I would notice that I couldn't breathe anymore. I had to live with nasal spray by my bedside and in my purse just so I could breathe. My allergies have since subsided a bit, but I still notice on occasion that I can't breathe through my nose or that I'm coughing for no reason.
Finally, our stomachs are more than upset, they are mad as hell. Evan and I have both experienced pretty severe stomach issues since we've moved. We both were poisoned, we believe by cereal, a few months ago. Body aches and several trips to the bathroom were the norm for about a week. Most recently, Evan was violently ill from another bout of food poisoning from a company lunch. I have never seen him so sick. And now, I was awoken last night with awful, painful indigestion of some sort. I'm almost doubled over, but I'm still at work. In the 10 years that we have been together, we've maybe gotten ill like this a total of 5 times between the 2 of us. And now in the last 10 months, we've gotten sick at least 4 times (combined). Something is definitely going on with the food supply in this state.
So far we've survived, but what the heck?! Clearly our bodies are having a harder time adjusting than we are. Let's just hope that this is the worst of it.
First, my skin is trying to escape from my body - particularly on my face. I've never really had an acne problem. I would get a pimple here and there on occasion, but never experienced anything near a "break out." Until the month we moved to CA. Ever since November, my skin has been waging war on my face, in particular, on my chin. I have had constant break outs in the 10 months we've been and have tried everything to stop them. I have tried rose hip oil, vitamin E cream, scrubbed and washed my face till it was raw and now I'm using Pro-active. Some would say it's stress related, but anyone who knows me knows that I've been stressed all my life and haven't been more stressed here. It's also not my diet since that has remained pretty constant as well. Could be hormonal, but I think I'll just blame California.
Next, sudden allergies! Again, I have never had allergies. I'm not allergic to pets, or foods or even the change in seasons. This all changed about 2 months ago when I suppose summer started in LA. It's pretty summery all the time here, but I guess something decided to bloom that made me completely congested. The second I opened a window, I would notice that I couldn't breathe anymore. I had to live with nasal spray by my bedside and in my purse just so I could breathe. My allergies have since subsided a bit, but I still notice on occasion that I can't breathe through my nose or that I'm coughing for no reason.
Finally, our stomachs are more than upset, they are mad as hell. Evan and I have both experienced pretty severe stomach issues since we've moved. We both were poisoned, we believe by cereal, a few months ago. Body aches and several trips to the bathroom were the norm for about a week. Most recently, Evan was violently ill from another bout of food poisoning from a company lunch. I have never seen him so sick. And now, I was awoken last night with awful, painful indigestion of some sort. I'm almost doubled over, but I'm still at work. In the 10 years that we have been together, we've maybe gotten ill like this a total of 5 times between the 2 of us. And now in the last 10 months, we've gotten sick at least 4 times (combined). Something is definitely going on with the food supply in this state.
So far we've survived, but what the heck?! Clearly our bodies are having a harder time adjusting than we are. Let's just hope that this is the worst of it.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Les Auditions
Evan told me that I should do a blog with quick descriptions of the different types of auditions I've been on. I responded with, "Well I haven't been on enough to fill a whole blog post." To which Evan responded, "Pft." So that's how this blog post was born!
The No-Dialogue Pantomime Audition:
One of the very first auditions I went on here in Cali was for a student film at some college in Oxnard. The script for the film was actually really interesting which is saying something for a student film. There was no dialogue in the short film, just music while you watched a bitter housewife make a poisonous cake for her cheating husband. So, at the audition, since there was no lines to read, we had to pantomime all the stages of baking a cake and general house-wifery. So I mixed batter, put the cake in the oven, folded clothes, cleaned house and smoked a cigarette (at the request of the director). She had a few props to use, but essentially I was just miming everything. I did it twice and that was it.
The TLC Audition:
What I consider my first "real" LA audition was for a TLC show called "Born on a Bad Day." For this particular audition I was given the scenario before hand and was expected to improv a scene based off of that. This was pretty easy, I'm pretty good at natural improv when given a complete scenario...obviously. Anyway, I sign in, wait to be called, give my headshot and resume, slate and begin my little scene. Easy peasy and a lot of fun. However, the casting office kinda smelled like cat pee.
The Wait a Monologue? Really? Audition
I auditioned for a pilot where they requested a comedic monologue. I dunno why exactly, but I find this odd. Usually projects have sides or scenarios to act out, but to have someone do a completely unrelated monologue was just weird - they also didn't film it which I find a bit unprofessional as well. I presume they didn't have their act together enough to produce sides and didn't know enough about the project to give a scenario to improv to. Anyhoo, I have an old stand-by monologue that I do that's pretty funny. Anyway, off I went and did my thing and then we discussed improv - they asked if I do it and I said yup and they said great. O...k...
The Inappropriate Improv Audition
I auditioned for a webseries about bad dates. The audition was improved because that was the premise of the webseries. So there was "bad date Ben" and I was the unsuspecting blind date. There were 2 girls that went before I did and I could hear the scenario and their reactions through the door. Well, let's just say that bad date Ben liked younger women....or shall I say girls...and that was the premise of the bad date. Anyway, I heard both of the girls take the easy route and react as a normal person would, so I decided that if my scenario was the same as theirs that I should do something different just to not fall into the same traps they did. I got the same scene and I probably came across as too aggressive and bitchy for the situation and it wasn't really that funny (because of course pedophilia is always a huge laugh fest), but hey at least I was different.
The Official Commercial Audition
I recently auditioned for a DirecTV commercial and it was my my favorite thus far. Except for the fact that it was in Santa Monica which is a bitch to get to from Burbank, the actual audition was fun. It was a doubles improv. We were paired up - a guy and girl - and given a situation to improv. We were a couple moving in with each other and wanted to get our DirecTV hooked up right away. My guy was fun to work off of and I think we did a great job. I was invited to this audition by the casting director so that made it feel a little more comfortable. There were a gajillion people there, but I didn't have to wait long and the whole thing went really smoothly.
So that's about it I guess. I'm pretty sure I forgot a few, but these were biggest and most memorable ones anyway. So if you ever wondered what the heck I've been doing with my time this is it...well a small, small fraction of my time anyway. :)
The No-Dialogue Pantomime Audition:
One of the very first auditions I went on here in Cali was for a student film at some college in Oxnard. The script for the film was actually really interesting which is saying something for a student film. There was no dialogue in the short film, just music while you watched a bitter housewife make a poisonous cake for her cheating husband. So, at the audition, since there was no lines to read, we had to pantomime all the stages of baking a cake and general house-wifery. So I mixed batter, put the cake in the oven, folded clothes, cleaned house and smoked a cigarette (at the request of the director). She had a few props to use, but essentially I was just miming everything. I did it twice and that was it.
The TLC Audition:
What I consider my first "real" LA audition was for a TLC show called "Born on a Bad Day." For this particular audition I was given the scenario before hand and was expected to improv a scene based off of that. This was pretty easy, I'm pretty good at natural improv when given a complete scenario...obviously. Anyway, I sign in, wait to be called, give my headshot and resume, slate and begin my little scene. Easy peasy and a lot of fun. However, the casting office kinda smelled like cat pee.
The Wait a Monologue? Really? Audition
I auditioned for a pilot where they requested a comedic monologue. I dunno why exactly, but I find this odd. Usually projects have sides or scenarios to act out, but to have someone do a completely unrelated monologue was just weird - they also didn't film it which I find a bit unprofessional as well. I presume they didn't have their act together enough to produce sides and didn't know enough about the project to give a scenario to improv to. Anyhoo, I have an old stand-by monologue that I do that's pretty funny. Anyway, off I went and did my thing and then we discussed improv - they asked if I do it and I said yup and they said great. O...k...
The Inappropriate Improv Audition
I auditioned for a webseries about bad dates. The audition was improved because that was the premise of the webseries. So there was "bad date Ben" and I was the unsuspecting blind date. There were 2 girls that went before I did and I could hear the scenario and their reactions through the door. Well, let's just say that bad date Ben liked younger women....or shall I say girls...and that was the premise of the bad date. Anyway, I heard both of the girls take the easy route and react as a normal person would, so I decided that if my scenario was the same as theirs that I should do something different just to not fall into the same traps they did. I got the same scene and I probably came across as too aggressive and bitchy for the situation and it wasn't really that funny (because of course pedophilia is always a huge laugh fest), but hey at least I was different.
The Official Commercial Audition
I recently auditioned for a DirecTV commercial and it was my my favorite thus far. Except for the fact that it was in Santa Monica which is a bitch to get to from Burbank, the actual audition was fun. It was a doubles improv. We were paired up - a guy and girl - and given a situation to improv. We were a couple moving in with each other and wanted to get our DirecTV hooked up right away. My guy was fun to work off of and I think we did a great job. I was invited to this audition by the casting director so that made it feel a little more comfortable. There were a gajillion people there, but I didn't have to wait long and the whole thing went really smoothly.
So that's about it I guess. I'm pretty sure I forgot a few, but these were biggest and most memorable ones anyway. So if you ever wondered what the heck I've been doing with my time this is it...well a small, small fraction of my time anyway. :)
Saturday, July 3, 2010
It's the 4th of July! Well, close enough.
I LOVE the 4th of July. It ranks right up there with Christmas and Halloween for me. Warm weather, BBQs, family, and fireworks! Growing up, it was always so hard to wait for it to get dark to start blowing things up. My brother and sister and I would be outside with the sparklers at 6 o'clock swearing it was gonna get dark any second. Before kids started blowing off their hands and ruining it for the rest of us, we'd light of our bag of fireworks in front of the house. Neighbors would come out and watch and light their own as well. A whole street full of roman candles was always quite a sight.
It has been a standing tradition for me to go see the fireworks with my dad. In fact, I think I still have the blanket in my trunk that would only be used once a year for watching fireworks. My dad and I (and eventually Evan) always watched the Northglenn fireworks show. It was close by and we had a system nailed down. We would park in the RTD parking lot on the other side of the highway and then walk over to EB Rains Park, blanket in hand. We would wind our way through the crowd and always find a good spot by the lake with a pretty close view of the fireworks.
Northglenn always, always, always shoots off their fireworks late. For some reason they insist on waiting until Westminster and Thornton (who's shows you can see from afar) finish their shows before starting their own - even though they were always scheduled for 9pm. Anyway, we'd watch the fireworks gleefully anticipating the grand finale and when it was all over we'd say how great it was and how they started late, but finished strong and walk back to the car.
Needless to say, this year I won't be able to participate in this tradition. So I went looking for fireworks shows around the valley. Burbank is having a show at their Starlight Bowl where a concert will be taking place before hand. And in typical California fashion, it costs money to see the concert and to park, of course. In fact, nearly all the fireworks shows charge admission! Combine that with the nightmare of finding parking and fighting huge crowds, the 4th of July has lost its luster here in CA. We might try to find a place to park and watch the fireworks from a distance, but because it's so hard to find free parking, we don't know how successful we will be. I'm a little sad at the situation and wish I could be in CO right now, but luckily next weekend we are headed down to Sea World for our anniversary and they have a nightly fireworks show.
I hope you all have a fun and safe Independence Day! Hooray for the USA!
It has been a standing tradition for me to go see the fireworks with my dad. In fact, I think I still have the blanket in my trunk that would only be used once a year for watching fireworks. My dad and I (and eventually Evan) always watched the Northglenn fireworks show. It was close by and we had a system nailed down. We would park in the RTD parking lot on the other side of the highway and then walk over to EB Rains Park, blanket in hand. We would wind our way through the crowd and always find a good spot by the lake with a pretty close view of the fireworks.
Northglenn always, always, always shoots off their fireworks late. For some reason they insist on waiting until Westminster and Thornton (who's shows you can see from afar) finish their shows before starting their own - even though they were always scheduled for 9pm. Anyway, we'd watch the fireworks gleefully anticipating the grand finale and when it was all over we'd say how great it was and how they started late, but finished strong and walk back to the car.
Needless to say, this year I won't be able to participate in this tradition. So I went looking for fireworks shows around the valley. Burbank is having a show at their Starlight Bowl where a concert will be taking place before hand. And in typical California fashion, it costs money to see the concert and to park, of course. In fact, nearly all the fireworks shows charge admission! Combine that with the nightmare of finding parking and fighting huge crowds, the 4th of July has lost its luster here in CA. We might try to find a place to park and watch the fireworks from a distance, but because it's so hard to find free parking, we don't know how successful we will be. I'm a little sad at the situation and wish I could be in CO right now, but luckily next weekend we are headed down to Sea World for our anniversary and they have a nightly fireworks show.
I hope you all have a fun and safe Independence Day! Hooray for the USA!
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