What it's like to be Brave

Nailed it. 

My gas (heat) doesn't get turned on until Monday so my apartment is freezing.

I felt bad for leaving my little 3.5 lb. dog at home so I toted her around in my jacket while I ran errands.

Took this friendly picture to send to my mom. It was snowing/raining a little with wind so, yeah. 

Now you can see my brave face.

Dear Abby

I think that Dear Abby girl is dead and gone. That's okay. I'd much prefer to hear what you'd have to say.

Points for consideration:

1. Felt a push to come to SLC. A serious push. So I'm here. Job hunting.

2. Got a job that, on paper, should be a hands-down, no questions asked, a dang good deal for me. It's a 40 hour a week job, including benefits, with a salary close enough to match my last one. All I'd have to do is arrange entertainment for old people, tease them, talk to them, and have fun. Director of Activities? Who'd turn that down?

3. I did, and didn't even feel regret about it. Hm. Just not feelin it.

4. Flyin home tomorrow to pack my stuff in a hertz truck and drive it up to an apartment I rented. I payed six months with my retirement savings. Unwise? I'd probably say so.

5. I'm moving up with no job, a tad bit of money, and no definite plan, but you know what? I'm bringing my dog so it's all good. It feels right despite the serious lack of logic and planning that my inside keeps fighting to come to terms with.

6. Good news? Salt Lake, I'm here for you baby.

So after typing it all out, I guess I didn't come up with questions for advice. Okay. Here's one. Do you know where any good nut-houses are at? Cause I jut may call you and ask you for a number before too long. Just kidding. I'm sure more exciting updates will come. It seems that there always are.

End note: Maren, and all other cousins. Come to SLC. Let's get this cousins' house started.

... In a Strange Land

Onto adventures in a strange land. Driving is a completely new experience. People run red lights in the left hand turn lane EVERY time I'm idle at the intersection. Pull that junk in Mesa and you have a photo snapped and a ticket mailed to your home. I guess that game doesn't get played in the SLC.

There are laws and especially unwritten laws I need to learn. Even the traffic flow, parking... everything is so different.

For example

There was a sign that said no parking on a whole street. It's not the widest street so, makes sense, right? Then why were there 50 cars parked along there? So I parked. An hour later I came outside and found this...

How come my car was the only one with a ticket? Bleh.



Later on, I was backing out of a busy parking lot and some lady did so at the same time too (I wasn't in a hurry so don't blame bad driving skills). We barely tapped and she gets out all in a huff. There wasn't a dent on her car, just a tad bit of white on her bumper. I had to look real hard for a mark. This is what my side looked like:

Well, that's what a picture of it looks like in the dark. My cheap phone doesn't have a flash.

Okay. This is what it looks like in the light. Can't really see right? It's just to the right of the white streak of light. A little gray dash. Minimal.

So I say to the lady who's all in a huff, "I'm good if you're good". She's was all "Eh (attitude). This is my husband's car so I don't know. Can I have your phone number so he can call you if he has a problem with it?"

Um, I didn't ask if her husband was going to be good with it and, NO you can't have my number for that reason. Please. That would solve absolutely nothing. Then there was some additional attitude on her part as she tried to explain how she stopped and I was the one that backed into her. I'm prettty sure that's not what happened since I was the one who was 3/4 of the way out and she was still 3/4 of the way still in her spot.

There was barely a mark and there were clearly visible marks from other "incidents". Girl. Don't give me attitude and try to explain to me it's all my fault. We were both at fault, if it was mine at all. Pahlease. Okay. I'll give her a little sympathy. Maybe her husband is a jerk about stuff like that so she was scared, but really. I wish I would have taken a picture so you could see that her husband would never have even noticed. Maybe he would have, but I highly doubt it.

At any rate. She goes on "I wish there was someone here who had seen it".

I reply, "Well there are two guys who are standing there watching us and I'm pretty sure they saw it all. You can go ask them if you're that concerned".

"Huh," she huffed then went and talked to them. When she came back she was sulky but also a little resigned, "The guy is an insurance agent and said it wouldn't even be worth it to go to all the trouble of exchanging numbers, so I guess, whatever."

That's right. Don't mess with me. I have a job to obtain and dwelling to secure and anxiety medication to take tonight, so as my dear wise aunt loves to say, Carry on.

Good news shortly to come.

and stuff...

1. Went and saw The Lion King at Gammage theatre. Rawwr.  

A. Why is the women's line for the bathroom sooooo long that it goes out the door and down the staircase while the men's restroom is not only wide open but has only 5 participants grace it's wide doorway the whole time I stand in line? It was sort of a classy event so I'm sure not too many men made use of bushes outside. Are women's bladders smaller? Hmm.

B. Had an aisle seat so when the characters came singing down the aisle I made eye-contact with a few. Pretty soul-awakening. Such gifts of music are sure witnesses of godliness. When we made eye contact, there was a connection. A soul to soul connection. It gave me serious chills.

2. I have some weird skin disease. 

A.  I find out the lab results in a couple of days but it's probably either strep or staph infection. Really gross. I get sores that ooze a clear yellowy liquid and my skin is loose around the sores. In the meantime, I have to take a "bleach bath" which is half a tub of water combined with half a cup of bleach. Even after a post-bath shower, I smell like a clean toilet. Gross.

B. Here's a picture. 

C. Just kidding. Pictures would be waaaay too much. I feel gross just talking about it.

3. Speaking in church tomorrow on the Atonement of Christ. 

A. I better go figure out what to say? 

B.  Less than 24 hours to go. 

E. After I speak, I'm headin to Salt Lake City to look for a job. Just check things out. Know of anything good?

F.  No more letters. Who's even reading at this point?

G.  Okay. One more. 

H.  Okay. Now I'm done.

I.  Over and out. 

Make it Mayer

Thoughts from last night's concert:

1. "If I was handed a front row ticket would I ditch Shauni for it? Nah. She got me this ticket for my Birthday/Christmas present and this is a togetherness experience." I asked Shauni what she would do if someone handed her a front row ticket. Without hesitation, and with a look of "Isn't it obvious?" she said she'd go for it. 

2. "If I was handed a front row ticket would I ditch Shauni for it? Heck yeah. Loyalty to family experience? Pahlease." 

3. "John's whole new album has a very very folk-country feel. Not what I'm used to. I need to listen to the album a lot more to develop the love. I appreciate the development and exploration his music has taken over the years. This new album was initially a surprise, but in retrospect, not too suprising." 

4. "OF COURSE I bump in to Angela Oliver."

4. "Totally shocked that my favorite performance of the whole night was "Your Body is a Wonderland". Adam said the song makes him sound like a pervert? Def not the vibe I got from it."

5. "I get such disappointed reactions from guys when I say I'm a Mayer fan. The reasons they give for hating him have nothing to do with his music. I listen to his music. I don't follow the details of his life (i.e. stalk him. I don't even read articles about him. I've read one.) Quit being so jealous, men."

6. "Oh yeah, I guess he's definitely easy on the eyes too."

7. "Thanks Shauni for such an opportunity of the divine."