Filed under: Guest Blogs, Stories, Try | Tags: ashley wilhite, ashleyd, guest blog, life change, life coach, prepare, reflect, take action, transition, your super awesome life
Today I’m giving the reins to a fellow BiSCuit, blogger, vlogger and all around awesome person. In fact, she’s the mind behind “Your Super Awesome Life“–her name is Ashley, and I can’t be more pleased that she’s going to share some insight with you from her newest adventure. Please enjoy, read and respond!
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If you were to compare my life today to my life three weeks ago, it would be nearly impossible to find any similarities, except for the hot pink jeans I’m wearing. Those are just too awesome to not be a constant. But besides the pants, not much else is the same.
Three weeks ago, I was living with my best friend in Texas, cleaning out my office, and walking away from my very first 9-5 job. I was running in tank tops and going to yoga classes at the gym. I was pouring a glass of wine and saying goodbye to my childhood best friends. I was selling my bed, donating unwanted clothes to charity, and packing a suitcase. I was filled with overwhelming stress, anxiety, and sadness, mixed with a bit of excitement and joy.
Today, I am living in Canada with my boyfriend, self-employed and building a business I love. I am running in three layers with gloves and practicing yoga in the living room. I am drinking a hot cup of coffee and leaning over to kiss my love one more time (because I can). I am learning to be content with only the belongings I brought in my two suitcases. I am filled with peace, love, ever-growing acceptance.
When I made the decision to choose love and move to Canada, I knew I was on the brink of a major life change. Besides the obvious factors of living in another country and the effects that moving in together has on a relationship, there are emotional challenges that come with any transition. Preparing over the past few months and the reality of the past three weeks has taught me that transitions don’t have to feel so overwhelming.
Here are three simple ways to navigate any transition with ease:
1. Reflect
It takes insane amounts of courage to take the leap and make a transition that will alter your life. The most effective way to feel more courageous is to set aside the time to reflect upon your life, your decisions, the present moment, and the future. Grab your favorite journal or your closest friend and explore your feelings, become comfortable with the idea of failure, and begin to recognize your inner critic. Use this time to map out your expectations, erase the idea of comparison from your mind, and discover your limits. And finally, develop a way to take care of your self. Self-care is such an over-done topic, but it really is essential to your sanity. Maybe it looks like closing your personal email after 8pm, maybe it’s going for walks on Saturday morning, or maybe it’s reading a good book before bed.
2. Prepare
Preparing for your transition will increase your confidence and erase your feelings of fear and self-doubt. You can do this by outlining The Necessities, or everything you need to do before you begin your transition. Grab a pen and begin making a list. This will immediately relieve stress and help you feel more relaxed and organized. A strong support system will also boost your confidence, so gather friends, family, and mentors you can turn to when you need a little extra support.
3. Take Action
The most difficult part of any transition is actually taking the steps to move forward with intentional effort. A few easy ways to do this is by creating a routine that works with your schedule, branching out and trying new activities and hobbies, becoming a “regular” at local hangouts, and creating an accountability system for yourself.
All transitions are challenging and accompanied by feelings of doubt, fear, and uncertainty, so remember to be patient. It takes time to adjust to new situations and create a stable, fulfilling life. Be kind to yourself and know that you are incredibly brave for taking this step forward and chasing your vision of a life you love.
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Ashley Wilhite is a Life Coach who helps courageous women break free from expectations, create radical change, and begin living a bigger, bolder, more radiant, super awesome life. Whether you want to move across the country, backpack through Thailand, become a yoga instructor, end that toxic relationship, or quit your soul-sucking job, Ashley will help you change your life, one daring adventure at a time!
You can find Ashley at Your Super Awesome Life.
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Filed under: A Little Me, Fiction, NaNoWriMo, Stories, Writing | Tags: commitment, contract, nanowrimo, national novel writing month, signature
Yep, you read that title correctly.
This year I will be attempting the monstrous beast where writers aim to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Ambitious, right? Hopefully I’ll be able to keep my head, as well as my fingers and arms.
Surely you’ve heard of National Novel Writing Month before? If you haven’t, you obviously aren’t a writer. But I like you anyway!
Last year was an epic fail when I tried it for the first time. I chose a really bad time to attempt NaNoWriMo–amidst applying for grad schools and when I was in Thoroughly Modern Millie. I made it about a week then I decided my creative juices needed to go to my grad school applications… And see how that little plan panned out? Yep, it didn’t (total waste!).
So this year, with no real commitments other than my job (yet), I’m doing it again. One of my goals is to write a novel… so I’m committing myself to 30 days of writing torture bliss! This is my official contract, effective Nov. 1 – 30, and I’ve signed it with bright red permanent marker.
I’ve even put my region’s Write-In dates on my calendar so I can join the other NaNoWriMo people in Salt Lake. All this just to get an insane number of words down on one of my stories.
Which leads me to my first problem–which story to focus on.
This is where YOU come in. I need to do a poll because I can’t decide which idea I want to stick with for a whole month. Here my ideas:
1 ~ An anthology of short stories called Isle of Dreams featuring young’uns and some sort of magic; preferably one per day, if not every other day. To get an idea: here’s the first story that would preface the whole thing.
2 ~ A story of a special shape-shifting group of people, centered on one girl who is unlike the rest of her kind… and everyone is after her for it. I call it Scaled and I anticipate it becoming a series. Here’s a snippet.
3 ~ A galaxy-hopping-ish story that came to me in a dream. I call it 23 Hours. Here’s a snippet and the first couple chapters on Figment.
4 ~ The WIP I attempted last year. Title to be determined; I just call it ORB. Here’s an outline. Anybody steal it and you die.
As you can see, girl has too many ideas and not enough self-control to just focus on one at a time without proper motivation (aka: NaNoWriMo).
What idea should I focus on for NaNoWriMo? I only have until November 1 to decide so… help me by voting please! Which story would you most like to read?
Just pick one and comment or tweet me with your choice.
So… who else is doing NaNoWriMo? ;)
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Filed under: Disturbing!, How Embarassing!, Remembering, Stories, Unhappy | Tags: ABC 4 news, ABC4, bomb, bomb threat, explosive device, gallivan plaza, ktvx, personal account, police, police situation, salt lake city, TRAX
If you see flashing police car lights 50 yards in front of you, what is the first thought that crosses your mind?
Tonight, around 9:15 p.m., my thought was, I hope everyone is okay… whatever it is that is going on.
Well, the cop car was sitting on the opposite side of the street, between the TRAX station and the sidewalk. I started walking to the platform, pulling out my tap-on-tap-off card and a police officer notices me.
“Ma’am, we can’t have you go that way.”
“Why not?”
“We have a situation so we are blocking off the street.”
“Is everyone okay?”
“Well, there is a bomb threat. I don’t even think I should be telling you. Please don’t tell anyone.”
“Don’t worry; I won’t.”
I could say that because I couldn’t I didn’t see many other people and my phone was dead. The only people I saw were on the sidewalks on either side of the street–the people the police redirected because of the “situation.” I was by myself.
So I sat on the end of the platform, saw police run back and forth between Gallivan Plaza, even saw a man in a white shirt but thought he shouldn’t be back there because the police closed off the area. He was talking with them though, it appeared. Little did I know, that man was the one that said he had a bomb. He was armed too, apparently. I wouldn’t find that out until I watched the news when I got home.
I asked the cop if I could walk to the train when it passed by and he informed me that there wouldn’t be a train. That the area was being completely blocked off. Lovely.
How on EARTH was I supposed to get home?
So I continued to sit for a few minutes and watch as about 5 more cop cars showed up to block off the surrounding streets. I even saw an impatient driver drive around the cop car to access the blocked off street. The police officer I spoke to then adjusted his car to cover the whole street.
The caution tape was rolled out right in front of me, no more than seven feet away.
I was in dumb shock. A) Because someone had an explosive that could ruin central Salt Lake. B) Because I was wondering how I would make it home if there was no train. And C) Someone could very well blow us all to hell if the police don’t get this under control.
My mind was racing at about a million miles a minute. The tears were threatening me… after a couple fell, a kind-looking female cop approached me. She asked me if I was a witness–which I was not, but that doesn’t mean I was any less rattled. I said no… I just wanted to get home.
She asked me to follow her. She took me kitty-corner from where I was sitting (where a crowd had gathered) and told me all train activity through there would be stopped. Because my brain was so scrambled, I was so grateful when she said the Red line from the University would still be running. The closest stop for that was a little over a couple blocks away. Not too far of a walk. I dried my tears and walked south to the next stop.
A TRAX train that was supposed to head north where the street was blocked off was stopped there. People on board, trying to get downtown, probably not knowing why they weren’t already at their destination. So I finally leaned against a wall and sunk to the ground, trying not to think that a bomb could ruin my hometown.
After a few minutes, I noticed people getting restless and wondering what was going on. So I informed them all that there was a “police situation” (keeping my word to the police) and that the road was being blocked off… which meant no Green or Blue line trains would be coming through any time soon, but that hopefully a Red line train would. They were all very gracious that I was able to tell them what was up.
It was at that point when I realized that I was meant to be a messenger for those people waiting for the train home.
The TRAX train that was stopped came back to the original Courthouse stop and announced that “due to a situation, it was now heading to Sandy.” Bingo — my ride home.
The entire time home, as I watched several TRAX trains backed up passed by us, I wanted my phone to not be dead. I wanted to talk to someone. I wanted to know what time it was. I wanted to know just what the hell was going on downtown… thinking surely someone on Twitter or Facebook would be talking about it.
I finally get home and plug in my phone. My first message (well, there were two) that came up was from my mom. Are you home? And Are you okay? I had no doubt she knew something about the happenings downtown so I turned on ABC 4 news. Yep, they had reporters on the scene.
ABC 4 being my old stomping grounds, I tweeted at one of the anchors saying that I bumped into this mess trying to get home… she asked me if I wanted to call in. I originally said, I probably wouldn’t contribute much, but I called anyway. They said they would pop me right into the live news cast.
Cue my heart pounding like a damn hummingbird right at the base of my throat.
I wanted to hang up… but I didn’t. I told them what I saw when I got there, that it was scary and hard to absorb (and also stupidly and accidentally mentioning a competing news station because that’s right by where the bomb threat was, and I said “crap” more than appropriate for a news show).
Then I was mortified… I kicked myself for calling. I felt like I didn’t give much more pertinent information to the story.
So here is my blog telling the whole story. A) To get this off my chest so my heart rate can return to normal. B) I’m much more eloquent while writing. For example, I didn’t even edit this before I posted it. All raw stuff right here.
This is to make up for my shoddy TV call.
Now, I am still watching the news. Seeing that a SWAT team has detonated the device and the suspect has been shot… it’s not known yet if he will survive. It’s also not known what was in his backpack. The area is still closed though. It’s being said the investigation will be going on all night.
Hope you all are safe at home in bed. Give your family and friends a hug, will ya?
UPDATE: The suspect, Anthony Mayhew, was killed by the officer’s one shot. He died at the hospital. As for his backpack, police confirmed on Sept. 28 that it did contain a potentially explosive device. Scary man…
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Filed under: A Little Me, Stories | Tags: numb, ouch, pain, painkiller, stitches, tolerance
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
Unfortunately, this is a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way, though I can’t say if I’m any stronger for it.
When I was 17, I accidentally slammed the tip of my own middle finger in my car door. I scared the shit out of the 7-11 clerk when I came in with tear-soaked cheeks and a bloody hand, asking for the telephone. No joke, you could see all the way to the bone and it stung like a mother. The trip I made to pick up ketchup for breakfast quickly turned into a trip to the ER.
Five shots of numbing stuff into my hand, and a doctor was about to get to work stitching my fingertip back together. I turned my head away, not able to stand the pain or the gruesome sight. Then there was the piercing pain stemming right from the tip of that finger.
Against my better judgement, I jumped, pulled my hand away. Crying, I screamed at him, “That hurts!”
The doctor just looked at me like I was crazy. “You can feel that?”
I wanted to scream and yell at him for being such an idiot–for actually thinking that I would leap through the ceiling if I didn’t feel that.
It was then I learned that, like my dad, I have an extremely high tolerance for painkillers and numbing agents (I swear, I need at least 4 advil/ibuprofen to feel even a little relief). The problem with that is I have a relatively low threshold for pain. Go figure.
After another 5 shots of numbing stuff into my finger, they were finally able to subdue the nerve endings in my finger enough for me to actually enjoy watching them stitch my finger up. It was gruesome but since I couldn’t feel it, it was actually really awesome in the skater-boy-gashed-knee way.
The scar isn’t even visible now, but whenever I think of pain, that story immediately comes to mind. That needle that wanted to fix me up was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. Seriously, how would you feel if someone tried to give you stitches without numbing you? Yeah… that’s what I thought. Ouch.
Now I’m not one for headaches, but Holy Hannah! This one I’m battling right now is ridiculous… it could be from the excessive hacking cough from the cold that’s plaguing me, or a lack of nutrients since my appetite is caput (likely it’s both). All I know is that this sucks because I can’t take Advil to alleviate it without downing at least 6 of them–which is actually really bad and harsh on your body. My friend made me aware of that when I tried to take 4 pills for a bad knee injury–he scolded me like a child for even thinking of doing it because of how bad it is.
Then I think back on that day and try and tell myself it’s not that bad. I guess I just have to suck it up and tolerate the pain. Guess it’s not the worst thing someone can go through…
So how do you handle pain?
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Filed under: A Little Me, Stories, Updates | Tags: blondekel13, copyright, copyright infringement, VEDA, youtube
Last week there was quite a terrifying moment for me and my YouTube account.
For a full 90 minutes, I thought my blondekel13 YouTube account was demolished. Squashed beneath what is known as the big giant copyright infringement bully.
Right as I woke up, I turn off my phone alarm, checked my email per usual. Except this is the email that was in my inbox:
Being an avid YouTube user, I knew this would be my third strike for copyright issues (two of my Anastasia fandubs were my first two). I clicked the Copyright Notice page on my phone and my browser informed me that the account had been disabled.
Cue heart failure.
Over 100 videos (all saved on an external hard drive luckily) from nearly 4 years of fandubs and singing, along with nearly 500 subscribers and several good YouTube friends, lost. That was NOT a fun way to start the day.
When I got to the office, after several tears of course, I pulled up the email on my laptop and clicked the link again, praying my phone was playing a joke on me. And it was. The link took me to my video management copyright area where I was informed–for the first time since my other infractions never offered this–that if I deleted the offending video, the claim would be dropped. So I deleted it… more than happily.
Thus, my YouTube account was saved. Everything I thought I would have to rebuild from nothing is safe. That is, until another production company decides to go all demolisher on another animated movie that I happened to do a fandub of years ago.
About the strikes, I seriously think fandubbing is a great way to promote movies. It’s not like we are stealing the whole show to distribute online. It’s a few minutes of a song or a scene that could potentially draw new viewers in who could go out and purchase the video. Throughout my years as a YouTube performer, I’ve run into several fandubs, songs, whathaveyou that made me go out and buy movies. No lie. It’s good free publicity! But whatever… if production companies have a qualm with it, then that’s their loss.
So I’ve set up a backup account that will take over for blondekel13 when it gets a third strike, which I hope it doesn’t, but you never really know. My first two strikes happened over a year ago so this one came as a shock. It’s always good to have a backup, just in case.
…
Well, that was the original plan until I learned more about VEDA, Vlog Every Day in August. I’ve seen some of my Twitter and blog buddies do this and it just sounds like a lot of fun and a new way to share information. Plus, seeing someone and hearing their voice adds a whole new dimension to blogging that I love.
I’m thinking that my new “backup” channel would be a good spot for those rather than my “performing” YouTube channel so I may be using it before I get pegged with another strike. And should the time come when blondekel13 is no longer around, then I could easily transition most of my videos over to TheMikaelShort, my new account. Not sure if I’d bother clicking that link now since there’s nothing there yet… but you’re more than welcome to subscribe. Same goes for blondekel13. ;)
This whole ordeal kind of makes me glad that I switched my Twitter handle from blondekel13 to MikaelShort. Just saying.
So… along with the VEDA conversation, who’s participating this August? Include your YouTube/Vimeo/etc. account below so I can find you! :)
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Filed under: A Little Me, Blips, Boyfriend, College, Dreams, Family, Fiction, Friends, Futuristic Musings, Good Things, Imagine, Love, Music, On Stage, Plays/Musicals, RaNdOm, Religion? What's that?, Remembering, Singing, Stories, Try, Updates, Utah, Vegas!, Writing, Yummy Food
What a month… what a MONTH! Yes, October is over and my jaw is on the floor. This year has gone by so stinkin’ fast that I haven’t had time to tie my shoes yet! Joking, but still. Seriously, Father Time? Haven’t you heard the phrase “slow and steady win the race”? You’re treating us like that damn hare who can’t even make it to the finish line! :P
Okay, I really digress back to what happened this October. It was a good one. Emotion filled one. Not so celebration filled since I barely celebrated my birthday and Halloween. Still had a blast though. =) Now for the nitty-gritty.
October was…
Attending the LDS General Conference with friends and family–amazing experience. A moose family and a couple bucks passing through our backyard. A nasty cold that Zumba couldn’t cure. Checking out buying a new Subaru so I can make it up the mountain to my house. Very sad when Steve Jobs left this world for the next. First snow of the season. New heating blanket to save myself from the biting mountain cold. Getting baptized! Awesome after-party with family too.
Horror movie marathons. Learning new and obscure words from @way2sharp. Looking back on my 22nd year. My birthday month! Mani-pedi’s with my mom. Visiting My Man on my layover to Sacramento. Four flights in less than 80 hours. Exploring Old Sac Town and finding a lovely Halloween costume. Delicious pre-wedding and wedding food. Too many Shirley Temples. Mucho dancing at said wedding. A very strange pastor at said wedding too… Rehearsals for Thoroughly Modern Millie. A new favorite sushi roll: The Red Dragon.
The abandonment of my ridiculously glitchy Droid in exchange for my new addicting iPhone 4S that quacks at me whenever someone sends me a message… Love it! More chapters added to Alpenglow (this story is my baby if you can’t tell–I’m determined to finish it!). Countless hours spent reading The Book of Mormon, The Emerald Talisman, The Sapphire Talisman, and Everblue. Playing with Siri way too much…
Baking yummy peanut butter cupcakes with a wonderful old friend. Polishing up my full-length script for my grad school app to UCLA. The release of the The House of Night: Destined book. Attending an oddly depressing, yet sometimes beautiful, choir concert with my lava. Seeing the amazing dancing antics of Thriller by Odyssey Dance Company. Better journaling habits, even for my dreams! Becoming obsessed with John Boy and his Nocturnal Circus EP. First YouTube videos posted since August to celebrate Halloween.
One last road trip to Las Vegas, then to LA over Halloween for USC graduate information session with my old baby… and of course, to see My Man! =) Spooktacular story! Soon to be expecting a new baby. Stay tuned for more on that! ;)
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Quite a turbulent month if I may say so! November I may be as broke as blue balls and as busy as a queen bee, but I’m going to try my hardest to enjoy every darn tootin’ second of it.
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Did you know that I have an extremely addictive personality? Because I do. If anything has the slightest intention of getting my attention and it’s relatively awesome, you may as well add it to my list.
There are the one word addictions: Learning. Chocolate. Music. Writing. Grey’s Anatomy. Need I say more on those? But then there are other things…
This comic was too priceless not to include in this post...
If I really love a movie, I will buy it when it comes out. Then I will watch it 20 times before the month is up without shame before continuing to watch it occasionally even though I could likely recite the movie word-for-bloody-word to anyone who would ask. (I’m totally thinking of Titanic, Dark Knight, The Little Mermaid and Sweeney Todd right now…)
As soon as I learned how to play the Pokemon video games, I was hooked. I own nearly every single Pokemon game that can be played on a portable gaming device. I played Pokemon Crystal just two nights ago (fave!). Actually… the same can be said for Sims games too. I lose track of time so easily when engaged in games like these. It’s pretty ridiculous.
Now books… there are some books that grip me so tightly that I’d rather pluck my eye ball out than put down. These tend to be series because they continue to have a story to tell. Case in point: Harry Potter, House of Night series (Destined is coming out in two weeks–whee! Not the best written but nonetheless riveting.), the Paranormalcy series and my newest addiction found in the Talisman series by Brenda Pandos. Whenever I am reading one of these kinds of books, you might want to take a step back and consider whether you really want to talk to me or not–because odds are, I’m so absorbed in the drama that my attention span is pretty much centered on that and doesn’t have room for anything else until I’m finished with the book. Sad, but usually true.
But now I have a brand new addiction. The iPhone 4S.
This thing has not left my side since I found it in the cup holder of my mom’s car on Sunday. I do not put it down. It literally goes with me everywhere and I hope you think I’m kidding. I’m either reading the Talisman series on my Kindle App, playing Words with Friends, texting/FBing/tweeting, laughing at the hilarious shit that Siri says (even though I was very disappointed when she said “Apple doesn’t tell me everything, you know?” when I asked if she knew Steve Jobs), taking beauteous photos and posting them on Instagram, checking out the insane charts that my Sleep Cycle app conjures up about my sleeping habits, and just looking at the thing. It is Siriously so cool!! (hehe) In a sense, it kind of caters to a couple of my addictions (I’ve yet to watch Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix on it yet). You have no idea how long I’ve wanted an iPhone and now that I have one, I don’t think I’ll ever be happier with another phone.
Color me in love.
Which brings me to my question… at what point does addiction/obsession become love (or vice versa / if it does at all)? Because I’m thinking that I love every single one of this things so am I really addicted? Or do I just love them uncontrollably? Because technically, when something is addictive, that means it takes away your free agency. And these things don’t do that necessarily–I choose to engage in them when I want to (even if that means I choose to do that often… because I love them!). The problem therein lies with when I can’t pry myself away from them once I engage. See my battle? I may have issues.
This is why I have never and will never try smoking or drugs… and now I’m off to go read The Sapphire Talisman on my wicked cool iPhone until Zumba (yet another alleged addiction!).
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Filed under: A Little Me, Dating, Memes, On Stage, Plays/Musicals, Stories, Updates, Yummy Food
And no, I’m not going to quote the Beatle’s song. This is part of the 30-day meme that I started back in January and still have yet to finish, but by golly I’m going to!
Next on the list is: Your Day in Great Detail, so I’m going to look back at yesterday since it was filled with not my usual shtuff. If you don’t feel like reading, I don’t blame you. But I will try my best to make it entertaining! I need to finish this meme!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011:
My alarm clock wasn’t set to go off until 9 in order to allow myself more rest before my busy day ahead, but my body decided to wake me up at 8:30. So I rolled over in my very toasty bed and tried to sleep until the alarm went off. Texted people whose messages I missed overnight (why people like to text me at 1:30 a.m. is beyond me…) before prying myself out of bed.
Starving morning me wanted an apple so I ate one as I deliberated which shower I wanted to use since the squeegie used to clean my shower is a piece of shit and doesn’t do it’s job… plus the fact that there is a steam shower in the basement. My laziness got the better of me so I just used my shower so I didn’t have to haul my shower things downstairs and back. Squeegied the shower the best I could (seriously the biggest mood killer ever after a nice hot shower), got out, got dressed, got ready. All with my handy-dandy-and-oh-so-faulty Droid 2 by my side as I was eager to receive any kind of phone call (was I cast? do you want to interview me?).
Out of the house by 10:45 and I drove out of my new mountainous home to Taylorsville where my GRE would soon be commencing. Had my favorites from Starbucks (iced soy green tea latte and spinach-egg white wrap) which was conveniently the floor below where my test would be. Read a little bit of Cage of Bone by Leanne Beattie and helped a guy figure out where he was. Stowed my things in the trunk of my car (hello, on the west side of the valley! haha, totally kidding… I have friends that live out there) and waltzed up the stairs to take the GRE.
The 4.5 hours spent doing the GRE weren’t bad aside from the guy in the testing room who felt the need to nastily clear his throat every seven minutes. A lot of it was easy, but some I felt like I never even touched in college let alone high school. Scores won’t be out for a while and the ranges they gave me for the verbal and quantitative reasoning sections mean absolutely nothing to me so far. Thus, another waiting game begins…
After the test, I chowed down on a sandwich I made on Monday as I drove back to Park City. Spent 30 minutes at home watching ABC 4 (oh, how I miss them) before heading out the door again to go even farther east for the Thoroughly Modern Millie callbacks.
The directors wanted me to try out Muzzy van Hossmere and for Mrs. Meers (about three to four times for each part). I read for both as well but felt much better about being in Muzzy’s shoes. The girl who got cast as Millie said she was “so engaged” in my Muzzy monologue that she forgot that she had a line after. (Good sign!) I felt I did both well and it was a fun time… until the tap dance part of the call back came up. I’m not a tapper so I just looked like a sea lion attempting to scootch across a sticky ice mantle. *big smile*
Said goodbye to the directors after two hours at callbacks. At this point, I was starving so I hit up Wendy’s where I realized why I had been choosing McDonald’s so much lately. McDonald’s french fries, even when not so fresh, taste really good. Wendy’s fries on the other hand… not so much. They are only good when fresh. And the batch that I got was soggy and just ew. So I ate them all anyway. I know.
As soon as I got home, mother wanted to talk per usual so I told her about the callbacks and caught up with her on other things. Then I resumed eating my Wendy’s mess of a meal while watching season five of Grey’s Anatomy (my brain needed a break from the day) on Netflix (I know, I know…). Again, while keeping my Droid 2 nearby in case of one of those special calls that would tell me if I was cast in one of the plays I auditioned for last week…
A very special guy called so I willingly put Grey’s on hold to talk to him because I may not get a chance to talk to him for a couple days while he’s in the midst of many papers due in a short period of time. He wanted to hear all about my callback experiences from this week despite his heavy load. I feel so lucky. Wished him loads of luck and kept his voice message that he left for me earlier in the evening. =)
No other calls though which only kept the waiting game going on longer. Waiting to know if you’re cast in a show is agony. “Agony, misery! Far more painful than yours!” Sorry… couldn’t help it. Moving on!
Because I have an addiction border-lining on it becoming an “-ism”, I watched Grey’s Anatomy (about 4 episodes) all while getting ready for bed until midnight, at which point I rolled over, said my prayers and went to bed.
And that’s yesterday! If you managed to read it all, please leave a comment. I’d love to know who my stalkers are… ;) But seriously, loves to you all and I hope you have a lovely hump day!
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Day 01 → Your favorite song
Day 02 → Your favorite movie
Day 03 → Your favorite television program
Day 04 → Your favorite book
Day 05 → Your favorite quote
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy (Fave Things About My Internship)
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy (Somewhere)
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobby of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy (The Middle Finger)
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy
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Filed under: A Little Me, ADD-ness, Blips, Crushes, Dating, Family, Fitness, Friends, Good Things, Happy Dance Time, Religion? What's that?, Remembering, Roam, Stories, Try, Updates, Writing
I did this last month for July and now it’s back again for August (albeit a little late, but I’m still doing it)! Here goes!
August was…
The end of my ABC 4 News Internship. Procrastinating packing. New temp job that killed my voice. Moving to Park City. Cool alliterations (my new addy). 10 hours of cleaning my old house. Peaceful. First time I ever wanted to take a kitten home with me. Firm boobies! Saying goodbye to my baby… grand, that is. :(
Really?!...Really? Making up someone else’s work (oh, joy). Yes, ma’am. Serendipitous moments with crushes. Hounding for jobs (still). Singing at the Mormon Tabernacle. Little America. Sharing a room w/ brudder–ewww! Moving into a new home! Gaydar malfunctions leading to awkward situations. Is that Josh Groban?
Hilarious conversations over French Silk pie. Just amazing like that. Coffee dates with old friends. Going briefly back to the Claytoneers! There’s a pool! Too many quarter pounders. Too much root beer. Flirting it up with old cops from outta state in the hot tub. Too many natural disasters surely indicating the soon-to-be apocalypse. Walk-in closet! Woot woot!
The realization that I have way too many books/dvds/other junk. Pause in the pool. Actually earning money. Temple revelations. Late nights in the city. Lotsa Zumba teaching! Battle with the Droid, so I killed it and brought it back to life. Alpenglow on its way! Graduation from a twin to a queen bed! New pwetty bedroom set.
Too many bugs. Popping a tire on the freeway (scariest thing ever). Family fun at reunions. Done with House of Night series… until October, that is (8 books in less than 4 weeks). Learning about investing–must buy Investing for Dummies. Strange and unexpected men hitting on me. Phone calls trump texting. LA… the city of dreams.
Awesome Voice audition experience. Seeing my most favoritest person in the whole world. Exploring empty Inglewood with the worst shoes ever for doing so. Second-hand bookshop gems. Soy green tea lattes. Longest day known to mankind. Hallucinatory exhaustion. Snuggles. Looking forward! =)
Here’s to a great September (it better be according to my horoscopes)!
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Filed under: A Little Me, College, Family, Good Things, Happy Dance Time, Plays/Musicals, Stories, Updates, Writing
And I’m done! My last final was today (got a 92%) and I can feel the post-semester coma weighing on my brain. Last thing on my to-do list is to don a cap and gown and walk in to get a folder that won’t have my diploma in it yet.
My bro hugging me (shocker!) at my high school graduation... Next I get to wear a black cap & gown! Maybe I'll get another hug!
But I previously mentioned that one of my final requirements for this semester turned out pretty amazingly… And now I’m going to explain that because I’m uber proud of myself right now.
Let me preface this a little: I’ve been writing stories and since first grade. I love it. The only thing is… I haven’t finished a story since sixth grade. Many ideas keep jostling in my brain and they like to fight over who gets my attention. That presents a problem because then I have no idea what to work on, thus none of them have been finished.
This past fall, I decided to take a playwriting course… and I fell in love! I’m not sure what it is about playwriting but I thoroughly enjoy it. The playwriting classes that I’ve taken over my senior year have been my favorite classes throughout my entire college career. Maybe that has something to do with it. Anywho! My meant-to-be full-length play was inspired by a song. Last semester, I made good leeway on the first act of it and just couldn’t stop… so I signed up for the Advanced Playwriting class. For the spring semester, we were to write a contract of what we would do to reach our 100 pages of new work requirement.
My goals were these: finish a complete first draft of my full-length play, start on a musical idea brewing inside my head, and then start the editing/rewriting phase of my full-length play.
What I ended up doing at the end was far more than I could have imagined and I’m pretty overwhelmed with emotions about it.
I finished my full-length play. I finished my play. And I’ve marked it off on my Bucket List. A complete first draft is mine to tweak until I think it is absolutely perfect. I don’t think I can express how proud I am of both my play and myself. My play was the last to be read and work-shopped this semester. I swear I could not hold still. I could barely breath. The chair beneath me was positively trembling with how badly my body shook as my classmates read the last few scenes of my play. It was quite possibly the most intense feeling in the world and I don’t even know what I could call the feeling.
The first words out of my teacher’s mouth came after a very long pause: “Well… if anyone has anything constructive to say?” And not long after that, he said, “Mikael, you have a really great piece of work here.” Squeee!!! He said that about my first completed play! Of course, there were a few things that people noted I could improve on as hopefully any writing critique group should… but still. I was glowing with pride and still am.
Not only did I finish my full-length play, but over the course of the semester, I also finished and polished up a ten-minute play (also inspired by a song) as well as the first draft of a one act that was inspired by my best friends wedding/bachelorette party. In fact, when I look back at how many pages of new work I actually did it comes to about 120 and that doesn’t even count all the revising I did with my full-length and my ten-minute plays.
Best end to a semester ever in my book. It doesn’t hurt that it’s my last too…
Maybe now I can try and finish a novel… That is if my brain can decide which idea to focus on first (any help there would be greatly appreciated!).
MikShorty 
