reverie

Here are some words and phrases from the past couple of days and their definitions. For those of you who are not aware, I'm still in Omaha. is he in pain? - the question the old lady who was giving Raj crusty looks leaned over and asked my dad when Raj was performing his rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" during the orchestra's Titanic medley before Ravi's graduation ceremony started. Raj really can sing, he was just goofing around. It was hilarious. lama - Alaina-speak for banana flippin monkey - a fun new word game Raj taught us tonight. Also, a primate trained in the sport of gymnastics. buthomoz (pronounced butt homos) - the name of a new boy band. Also, the random word we created with the remaining scrabble tiles that would not make real words. So bad, I know. hump day - the day that falls in the middle of the week. Also known as Wednesday. Consider this my wishing you a happy hump day early. :) Things here are going pretty well. I was a little afraid that I...

Make sure you read Raj's current blog. (Link over there on the right.) You'll never look at miniature golf the same way again. Wow.

What a delightful weekend. :) I missed my lovely roommate, but the women's retreat was great. I am happy to be back in LA, and actually kind of sad to be leaving again so soon. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally psyched to see my family & be in Omaha, but I wish the women's retreat and leaving for Omaha could have been spread out a little more. Oh well. So the oreo quote is from someone else's blog. I thought it quite cute despite the fact that I hate oreos. Yes, the truth is out. Some of you already knew that about me, but I'm sure many of you didn't. Ha, I say some + many as if there are more than 3.7 people who read this blog. Speaking of people who read this blog, thanks for your comment, Sherry. I love reading stories about your students, they are funny. :) Tonight Nicole and I went over to Jon Mark's house to hang out with Shannon. Then we went to church. Then to IHOP. And then we went and saw Star Wars, what a crazy night. Thanks so much to Jon M...

It's amazing. It's been an I hate LA week, as you can probably tell by the previous post. And last night it was all I could do to not sit in my room and cry. I've been so frustrated with God & life & feeling like I'm in this holding pattern. And it was just too much this week. Then I sat there this morning at 6 am praying and just telling God how frustrated I was with him. And I left for jury duty still angry & frustrated. I decided to put in a praise cd even though I wasn't at all feeling it this morning. "Blessed Be Your Name" came on and there's a line in that song that goes, "though there's pain in the offering, blessed be your name." That part so resonates with me. How do I praise when my heart is so sad & broken? When I feel like the one I am to be praising has done the breaking? It's difficult. Anyway, starting at 7:45 my day and week began to turn around. I had prayed for a way out of jury duty, I had to have a...

I hate that black soulless void is not an entirely inaccurate way to describe you I hate the remnants of your beauty that only serve to remind of how badly we have raped and pillaged you I hate your stagnant pathways masquerading as transportation venues I hate your love of money I hate your narcissism I hate the way you only take notice of my God is when you see dollar signs in peddling religious content I hate how in your self-importance you're willing to destroy the straining amount of hope that dares venture here I hate the way you try to steal my joy I hate the days when I hate you almost as much as I hate the days when I love you

Ahh, life is fun. It's beautifully warm/hot here so we pretty much spent the weekend outside. Yesterday afternoon we went to a park where there were tons of squirrels! And we had a picnic. It was fun except Merlin decided he was too cool to go with us, whatever that's about. ;) Today Nicole & I wanted to go to this lake that's near our house, but all the parking was taken up by people attending this Israeli festival, which ended up being okay because then Shannon invited us over to hang out as his apartment & pool. Merlin decided he wasn't too cool for that. Then we went to church. At church we met a new friend! It was very exciting. She lives near us, which makes it even better. And after church we went back to Shannon's house for ice cream. And then on the way home Nicole bought us Burger King dinner which we enjoyed while watching Sunday night tv. What a great night! On the job front, I am working on step 2 of applying for a personal assistant position. I...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIETER!! :)

Two weeks from today I will be seeing my nieces! And my sister! And that brother-in-law guy! His name is Joe, he's pretty cool really. :) And then the next day or so I will be seeing the rest of my family! And the day after that getting a haircut! And going to the dentist! Wait, wait that doesn't get an exclamation point. He's a nice guy & all, but it's not like I'm a big fan of going there. But my mom's paying for it & seeing how I don't have insurance I guess I can't be complaining about free dentistry. The haircut thing however is very exciting for me, I love getting haircuts, especially when they're funded by my mom. :) So here's some dialogue from one of the greatest shows on television. Props to whoever knows where this is from, either because you know this scene or because you know me well enough to guess. :) "You're just scared. Just like everybody else when they're taking on something big." "Well, then what...

For the first time in well awhile, there is a new feature on this blog . . . links! On the right hand side you will now see links to sites that I deem worthy of visiting. If by some fluke of an oversight I have left off some site that should be linked here, feel free to point that out to me. I'm pretty sure for now that I have it covered. "Reflections on the Secret of Happiness" It is smelling flowers in the spring and remembering what they smell like in the winter. - Denise, age 11, in "Children on Happiness" I love the beauty and the truth that is often found in the words of children. It's quite remarkable. So I am somewhat sad to realize that I only have one weekend left in LA in May. After this weekend I will be on a women's retreat with church and then I will be in Omaha until the first week of June. It's pretty crazy. I am so looking forward to spending time with my family and I am looking forward to the women's retreat, but I will be sad n...

What a completely marvelous weekend this was. :) Last night Shannon & Jon Mark came over for enchiladas and then we hung out for awhile and then we went and saw Crash. Crash was good and intense and sad. If you see it, just know that LA is not that bad, but the film is not without its accuracies. This is a city that changes people and it is a place where people are more likely to fly off the handle at someone than to take 5 seconds to realize that it's possible that someone else may have a problem as big or bigger than their own. It is a city of self-absorption, and the film captured that brilliantly. The storyline with Michael Pena is amazing, and of itself makes the film worth seeing. Of course, the whole thing is worth it. I really felt for Sandra Bullock's character, so much that my heart is still sad that there are people like her out there. At one point her character is on the phone with a friend and she is explaining her frustrations and just breaks into the heart o...

Wednesday went well. On top of being on set, I also got a call for a job interview. Let's hope I get called back for a second interview next week. I met a lot of the cast & crew of The Shield, it was a good time. Everyone was nice to me. One of the guys decided my name should be Azina Hula Lulla, he was quite amused with himself. When I met Michael Chiklis all I was thinking was, you're the Commish! I didn't say it of course, but I was thinking it. Shadowing the script supervisor was fun. I think it would be a good job for me. Yesterday my friend Jessica and her husband James were here, it was quite delightful. We went to Panera, which does happen to be the greatest place on the planet. And then to Outback for dinner, which they were kind enough to pay for. I had a great time, but now they are gone and that is sad. Tonight in honor of Cinco de Mayo, which yes I realize was two days ago, we're cooking enchiladas and then we're going to see Crash. I hope it's ...

I quit my internship. It is better for everyone this way. Tomorrow I will be on the set of The Shield learning more about script supervising. Shannon wins a prize for setting that up for me, and Allison whom I haven't met for being willing to show me exactly what it is she does. In just 3 short weeks I will be leaving LA and heading for Houston for a day. The next day I will be driving with my sister, and brother-in-law, and adorable nieces to Omaha for my youngest brother's high school graduation. I'm quite excited about the whole thing. On Sunday we went to a pool party with some cool kids from church. A good time was had by all. If you come to my house I will show you the funniest picture of Jon Mark and Shannon from the party. It is awesome. That is the brief update of my life. I have little to say of late for some reason. Aside from the overwhelming financial cloud ever looming, things are going well. I like my church, I like my friends, I like my apartment. Now I just...