Dear Baby E, This Christmas

Dear Baby E,

You aren't so much a baby anymore--you are almost 18 months! After you and your parents moved to Utah, I've seen you grow and change so much!

Here are a few highlights from our Christmas together:

You were sick the whole time, but there were still moments of sweetness.

You LOVE helping to clean. You actually just love helping. First, you help make dinner. After dinner you want to help wash the dishes. You like to vacuum and sweep. Basically, if someone is doing something, you want to do it too. And you are so quick at learning! I'm not biased or anything, but I'm pretty sure that you're one of the smartest kids around.

Speaking of which, we worked on your animal sounds. You know cow (mmmm) and sheep (aaaa). We also taught you what sharks say (doo do. doo do. doo do doododododododo) and sea turtles (duuude). We're still working on the sea turtles.

Then I taught you how to "touch" like Gr. Grandpa does, and how to fist pump and explode it. It's basically the cutest thing ever.

Except for one. We were playing one time, just you and me. And you picked up your little Hello Kitty bag and walked toward the hall. You stopped part way there and turned and waved. I waved back. Then you came back toward me and gave me a kiss (the first time you had ever given me a kiss!). Then you walked back toward the hall, turned and waved at me again. After I waved, you came back and gave me another kiss before walking all the down the hall to see what Mommy and Grandma were up to. It was probably the highlight of my weekend.

Even when you are grumpy and won't eat or sleep or wake me up before 6 am, I still love you, girl.

Your Auntie

Update: Timing

Timing sucks.

The past couple of years I have felt like I've been on a different clock than everyone else. Like, I'm off Daylight Savings while everyone else is on so I'm always running an hour behind. And then I'm on it when everyone is off, so I'm always an hour ahead (or would it be the other way around?). This isn't always a bad thing, not at all, but it's more strongly felt when it is.

You know all the stuff I've been through the past year--well, up until I just seemed to drop off the face of the planet and never wrote an update. You know about the bad timing that came with applying to grad school, and the bad timing with my previous job. You also know about my good timing when it came to finding a job after only a month of being unemployed--I had been expecting being unemployed for at least three months.

The four months that I've been working have been good timing. I came in at the right time, just when things started to build in the company, and just in time to prove my worth in order to start getting more responsibility and maybe move up.

I moved last month and that was good timing. It's a little cheaper, and in a house, which is nice.

I had bad timing a couple of weeks ago when I rushed out of the house to get to work and ended up getting in a car accident that totaled Perry. It wasn't my fault, and there were no injuries, but one of my first thoughts was that if I hadn't rushed so much, if I had left the house even a few seconds later, I would have gotten to work fine. And I wouldn't have had to deal with all the stress of talking to insurance and getting a new car (and getting things fixed on the new car). I wouldn't have dealt with the physical manifestations of that stress like sore muscles and a clenched jaw. I think for the moment I'm done though--once I get it registered. It started off pretty rocky, but I think Alfie's and mine relationship will get stronger as we go on.

I've had good timing when it comes to Baby E. Sis, Bro-in-law, and Baby E just moved back here, and I've been able to see Baby E's curiosity and her growth. She's a little mimic, and catches on to things so quickly that it seems like she's changing all the time. I'm glad that I get to spend this time with her.

And then there's bad timing when I finally get to the point when I can put myself out there and want to reconnect with someone and try to give it another go, but I missed the opportunity. Or maybe the timing was always off for us. It's hard when someone being happy means losing a friend and a hope.

I know that the way I plan things, or the timing I want to have, doesn't really matter in this huge plan that God has for me. But it's hard to put trust in Him and not just think that I'm the one that's messing everything up. Because I truly believe that if I keep on trying to do all the things I'm supposed to, and if I keep following the good thoughts that come into my head (even if they seem to turn out badly . . .) then God won't forsake me. He would never leave me on my own. His strength is the strength that I need most in my life, especially when I feel my strength leaving me.

There is nothing wrong with my timing being off. It just means that my life is part of this clock of humankind, the clock that really keeps the whole world turning and going.

Highlights from Salt Lake Comic Con 2014

Thursday 4 September marked the first day of the second annual Salt Lake City Comic Con!! And yes, I went, did you even doubt? Even better, Sis, Bro-in-law, and Baby E came too! Thursday was a little bit of a nightmare, logistics wise, but I think by next year they'll have it all sorted out. Also, we learned a little bit about how we should go about the first day next year.

Instead of giving a whole break down of the entire weekend, I'm just going to post some pictures of the highlights and give a little information about them.

Day 2 we dressed up like Pokemon characters (With Sis and Bro-in-law)

A surprise highlight! We just wandered into Vic Mignogna's panel because we wanted to see the person after him. It was awesome and now I've been binge watching anime series! (He's a voice actor.)

Love Alan Tudyk! He's really funny. I got to meet him and get his autograph after.

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Saturday we started the day by meeting John Barrowman! I like this picture because it makes it seem like I said something really clever, though I'm absolutely certain I didn't.

Stan LEE! Omigosh, he's amazing. Like a grandpa with the coolest stories ever.

Leonard Nimoy on Skype. He's pretty awesome too. There was a girl on the first row who we could see through the camera. She was dressed as a Vulcan, but had very un-Vulcan like reactions. I think everyone was watching to see if she was going to faint or throw up.

Everyone's costumes were amazing. I'm still pretty timid about asking for pictures, and when I do I take them really quickly so they don't turn out that well, but it's just fun to see how creative everyone is. 

I, of course, bought quite a bit of art. There's an artist named Ben Byrd who I discovered at FanX in April and was so excited to see he was there. I got three 4x6 prints from him. (His Etsy shop is down, or I would link to it. :( )

Karen Hallion was there, so of course I had to buy this print:

There are a few more, but I'm a bit too lazy right now to walk into the other room and look up the artists' names. :)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I did get the "con crud" last week, and spent a lot of my free time planning my cosplay for next year! Geek problems, right? ;)

New Job, a Week in Review

I'm so tired. What is it about starting something new that makes one exhausted?

I started my new job on Tuesday. Leading up to that day I was starting to have serious doubts about my ability to actually do the job I was hired to do. Does anyone else feel like that before starting a job? That you are going to completely fail? I had to remind myself of several things, including: that I'm a college graduate, I have three and a half years experience in my field, and I'm an intelligent person who can learn new things.

Everything was fine, once I got to work. As it always is. I spent the morning going through company standard operating procedures, then I got to work in the afternoon! The rest of the week has been me continuing on that work and basically settling in. The work is consuming, but to tell the truth, it can be a little boring. The company I work for is an e-learning website, and I've been going through the questions at the end of a computer certification course. There's nothing that makes you feel more stupid than editing something you don't understand. The thing is, you don't necessarily have to understand what you're reading in order to edit, but it's more interesting if you do. I have started picking up what certain words mean, etc., but it's not the most riveting of reads. But it's work, and it's in my field, and who knows, maybe I'll actually learn something.

At first I felt a little bit awkward. There are only four of us on the team, and it seemed strange to suddenly join such a small group of people--I wasn't quite sure how I would fit in. And then it was so quiet! It amazed me that no one took even ten minutes to have a conversation that wasn't about work. It blew my mind that someone could go eight hours, five days a week, and not ever have a conversation. My mind changed today when I had a pretty good conversation with two of my coworkers. I think I'm going to be okay. I guess I'll see in the coming weeks. It's good work, honest work, and I think I'm going to be able to do it just fine.

I just need some sleep first . . .

The Adventure of Getting a New Job

It's no secret that I've been needing to find a new job. I found out a year ago that my position was going to be downsized at my last job, and I've been looking on and off since then. Off because of the time needed to study for the GRE and apply to grad school (which, if you'll remember, I wasn't accepted too) and for general mental health. Looking for a job is a tiring and emotional process full of a lot of downs and not very many ups.

In this year I had only had one interview. One. In twelve months. I had also been invited to take two tests. So last Wednesday when I applied for two jobs that were miraculously in my field, I wasn't expecting to hear anything for a couple of days, if ever. Two hours after hitting "submit" on one of those jobs, I got a phone call. Which led to an interview the next day. At the end of which I was offered the position and asked to come back that afternoon to work for a few hours. 

I'm pretty sure I was in shock the entire weekend. 

I'm working on the production team of a company based in another state that makes training videos and materials. There are about four of us in the office--it's pretty tiny. When I officially start next week I will be an editorial assistant, mostly working with the questions at the end of the courses. I think. I totally understood it when it was explained to me but now I'm not so sure. 

What I'm doing for a few days this week is helping with the filming of some of the videos. This means I push the record button on the camera. College degrees, people! They come in handy!

Just kidding. I'm glad to be working in my field and having some money coming in instead having to use all my savings. That's a blessing. And you never know! I might actually like it here. Time will tell. 

I just want to thank everyone who have been supportive during the last year, who prayed for me, and helped me along my winding path. 

Week One of My Unemployment

I've made it through the first week of being unemployed. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have, or can take, but I'm attempting to keep myself busy.

This week I would wake up in the mornings around 6:30 or so (because I don't feel as much like a bum if I do that), take a shower, dress, and do my hair and make-up. I'd read my scriptures while eating breakfast and then sit out on the desk to write. Or pretend to write while actually finding new ways to distract myself . . . This is a problem, but I'm just going to keep trying and hopefully I can learn to write for a couple of hours at a time with minimum distractions.

The mornings have been gorgeous and the perfect temperature. If only it stayed 75 throughout the entire day.

Every day I picked a different room in the apartment to clean. And then I'd go at it with a vengeance! It kept me busy and made me feel like I was actually doing something, but I was glad when M came home from work because it's also been a little tough. By Tuesday I couldn't wait to go out and see my friends in a play--I felt like I had been stuck in a hot apartment and needed to be out and about (which was exactly true).

You know back in the post-war days when married women weren't allowed to work? What did they do all day?! If they didn't have kids, it must have gotten really lonely. Of course, they probably volunteered or had other women to do things with, but still. A house can only be so clean, right? I am in a different situation (besides the whole not being married thing) in that I can't even go out shopping or decorate my apartment. I can't afford to. I don't want to drive too much, because gas. So I'm left with what I can do in my hot apartment. And it's hot because M and I are kind of cheap--even more so with me out of a job at the moment. Turning on our air-conditioning doubles our electricity bill, so we don't like to do it. 

Anyway, I'm finding ways to keep myself occupied. I decided to work on my penmanship and ordered the Specerian Penmanship Theory book and copybooks. I hope it works! It's tough because I have to change how I hold my pen (I've been doing it wrong my entire life, which I knew, but now I'm changing it) and so my hand kind of cramps up because I'm not used to that and the motions I'm making. I'm still doing the job searching thing, and I'll probably start reading more (or working on my embroidery more while binge watching shows . . .).

June Book of the Month

Obviously, keeping up on the book of the month posts is a lot harder since I started my book review blog (new reviews go up every Monday!).

The book I'm recommended this month is Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe. This autobiography blew my mind several times through the reading of it. The people and situations that Lowe found himself in from a young age is just amazing (meeting Liza Minnelli when he was eight or so, being on the set of Star Wars, being neighbors to Martin Sheen . . .). And the behind the scenes look at 80s and 90s Hollywood is really fascinating.

Lowe writes truthfully, but without putting any blame on anyone. It's honest, heartfelt, and guileless. There are the ups and downs of his life from his roles to his sex tape scandal to going to rehab.

The "f" word is used fairly liberally.