Do You Ever Have Those Moments Where You Just Need To Feel Loved?

I'm having one of those moments.

Hiatus to Vegas

Oh how I love vacations! Some people I know will argue that I'm currently on a long-term vacation, seeing that I am unemployed but in reality I don't feel like I'm on vacation. When I go on vacation I wake up at the crack of dawn and look for new things to do or see, new food/restaurants to try, and generally jam-pack every minute with something diverting. That's what a vacation is to me. My life currently differs greatly from this definition: I generally get up in the (late) morning and do the basic get-ready-for-the-day things; occasionally throwing in a work out session. I eat brunch, job hunt, do laundry, load some dishes in the dishwasher, eat a late lunch/early dinner while watching about an hour of television (which is about the total time I would watch tv in a 2 to 3 week time period while during school), check emails, facebook, blogs, etc, occasionally attend a ward activity of sorts, and sometimes have a snack before watching a show on hulu or converting some of my vinyl records into mp3 format. Sleep. Repeat.

Trust me - this cycle gets old quick, and is definitely NOT a vacation. Not having a job or anything I need to leave the house for makes me feel quite useless and unwanted. So, after about a month of boredom my former roommate's wedding in Vegas was a good excuse to take a real vacation!

The moment I crossed the Nevada border late Thursday afternoon I was on the phone with friends (it's illegal to talk on the phone while driving in Cali if you don't have a hands-free way of doing so...) planning the evening's activities. First, Indian food at one of my favorite restaurants and then a late night movie at a friend's house. Friday morning was a 3 hour pretzel-making adventure followed by lunch with another friend at an AWESOME Spanish tapas restaurant called Firefly. I'm so ashamed I didn't try this place before I moved away; I'd love to eat there on a more regular basis. It's that good. After lunch I got to visit my couch that's being babysat by two of my former roommates (and by "visit", I mean "got to take a 20 minute nap on"). The evening was filled with the good company of yet another friend while attending the wedding reception for which I had made the journey, and that good company continued on to the movie theater to use the free ticket I had won at the "famous couples" dance I attended back in February.

On Sunday I was able to attend my old ward and I LOVED being able to sit by people I know and participate in classes without anyone wondering who I was. As was the tradition before my move, I was invited to dinner with a friend's family who I love dearly. The evening there was cut shorter than normal however because a school friend had contacted me earlier in the day with an offer I could absolutely not turn down, and if you know me at all you'll understand why: it was a FREE ticket to see CHER at Caesar's Palace!!! Yeah baby! I had seen Cher on tour 4 times before, and once previously at Caesar's Palace, but this was the best deal yet. Trust me - when I have the money I'm not afraid to lay down some dollars for a good seat to her show, but I sure am grateful I could see her for free too.

My original plan was to head home Monday morning, but when Sunday night was coming to a close I just didn't feel like packing up my things and heading back "home." So I didn't. It's not like I had a job to come back to or anything. The best part about staying an extra day was getting to spend time at the institute with friends I wouldn't have seen at all had I left earlier. It was my most laid back day (since I hadn't previously planned on being there), and ended my evening with board games and frozen yogurt at a friend's house, and a quick trip to give a hug goodbye to my good company from Saturday night.

Man, I love Vegas.

Hmmmm...

So, I'm going to have to get used to this earthquake thing. Yep, you guessed it - I experienced another one. This one however, didn't originate in LA or California for that matter, and it happened during daylight hours. This one actually felt different too. So, the culprit was a 7.2 magnitude quake coming from Baja California (that's Mexico, people). There's reports of people feeling it all the way in Phoenix, and I even had a friend in Vegas notice her house's hanging lamps and ceiling fans start to sway; although she didn't actually feel it. I was attending an Easter dinner with my sister-in-law's family, and had just sat down in the backyard on a patio chair. We all got quiet and attentive to our surroundings once someone pointed out that they could feel an earthquake. Unlike my first CA quake experience, the movement was more of a swaying or rocking motion, and I felt dizzy even sitting in my chair. My guess is that we could feel it for a good 30-45 seconds... much longer than the first earthquake.

So, I thought it would be fun to put up some kind of counter on my blog to keep track of how many earthquakes I experience while here... does anyone out there know of a good one? I'm not extremely blog-savvy, and am not sure how to look for one, or what exactly I'm looking for. Just something that can go in my sidebar for everyone to see; but easy for me to update. Help??

California Rocks My World - Literally

So obviously, yesterday was a rough day. I was so bothered with everything that I didn't even feel tired enough to attempt sleep until 2am. Once I did lay down I actually fell asleep quickly. However, a peaceful night's rest was not meant to be. Not long later I woke up to the sound of lamps and miscellaneous desk items rattling, and the floor and my bed shaking up and down. I'll admit, I was confused. I tried to think of the reasons why such motion would be happening while I rolled over and looked at the clock on my phone. 4:04am. The neighbors couldn't make the apartment floor jump like that and there is no highway close enough to be disturbed by semi-trucks trying to gain mileage while the roads are clear. Wait a minute (the light bulb above my head clicked on), I live in California now - land of earthquakes.

REALLY?? I wasn't sure if I was thinking straight, but it freaked me out anyway - I mean, with all the publicity on the news about earthquakes lately I immediately decided that the fastest and probably the safest way out of the apartment was through the sliding glass door on to the back porch. But I did hesitate; there's no exit off of the porch (by the way - the shaking had stopped by now). I was proud of my next move. Without hardly a thought I was on my knees on my bed and praying for safety and calmness, and for the ability to follow the Lord's guidance in case I needed to get out of the building. But still, I needed to know for sure what I had felt.

On went my bedside lamp and I bee-lined for my laptop. Yep. A quick search confirmed that LA had experienced a 4.4 earthquake at 4:04am. So, since my heart wouldn't stop pounding for the next 40 minutes I browsed the USGS website looking at maps and forecasts, earthquake records and definitions of terms.

Welcome to California.

When The Going Gets Tough - I Break Down

Once upon a time I had dreams of grandeur. As I entered my last year of college I talked about moving to California one day to be a successful band manager or talent scout...basically someone important to the entertainment world. However as I got involved in a few internships I managed to line up a pretty great job for myself upon graduation, and I left for Christmas break feeling pretty great about my future. I even got used to the idea of staying in Vegas for a few more years; it would give me a good foothold of experience before heading out to a larger market in California - which would happen eventually, just not then. Then the company downsized. And took back my offer of employment (I'm pretty sure I've talked about this before). Anyway, with the way things worked out California now seemed to be the best place to find a full-time job and I never felt like I shouldn't move. So, I moved.

I've been in LA for just over 48 hours now, and for the most part I am NOT enjoying it.

I don't like that most of my belongings are still in boxes because I have no where to put them even if I did unpack them. It's hard not having any friends to call upon when I'm bored and want to do something. I hate having to remember which side of the street gets cleaned on what day between what times, and waking up early to move my car before it gets towed out of the sweeper's way. I hate that there's heavy traffic nearly ALL day; it makes me want to stay inside all the time so I don't have to deal with it. It bothers me each time my brother and his wife comment that they no longer have space to do their P90X exercizes in the second bedroom, or say "I didn't know we were losing the WHOLE bedroom." YOU try moving an entire house into one room; it's not easy! The whole reason I moved in here was because it was offered to me; I hate, hate, HATE feeling like I'm a bother to someone else. I don't feel qualified for any position that I've heard about, and hesitate to send in my resume for fear of rejection (stupid, right?). I hate that I haven't memorized my new address yet; it's really not complicated. I want to go home, but when I think about going home I don't know if I mean Colorado or Las Vegas.

I hate that I hate California right now. This was supposed to be a good thing.