Early one morning while making the rounds

I had my wisdom teeth out on Monday. This is the first day that the pain has subsided, my face is less puffy, and my body is little less enamored from all that medication. I'm in Texas right now! I arrived on the 6th for my brother's birthday, spent a few days unpacking and organizing all my for-school-in-Idaho stuff, and prepared a bedroom for my recovery. I had the surgery early on Monday morning. All I remember is giggling in the oral surgeon's chair, then throwing up blood in my bedroom. The transition felt like minutes, but apparently was three hours later. My mom said I was so out of it after the surgery that she and a nurse had to carry me out to the car. For the past few days I've been in bed watching movies and slowly eating milkshakes. My lower lip and chin were numb and completely void of feeling that first day, and when I was trying to drink the first chocolate milkshake my mother lovingly made for me, I didn't realize my lower lip was in the cup rather than on the outside. Ice cream went down my chin and onto my neck. I was so out of it I didn't feel a thing; I thought I was just having some sort of sharp pain in my throat. It was pretty funny, so says my mother.

Now that I'm felling a little better, and looking a little more like myself, I think I'll call up some long lost Texan friends.

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Some beautiful place to get lost

I've been meaning to write in here lately, and now that I actually have the time I guess I'll talk about my latest goings-on. Yesterday was Last Day at work, and I was sure to do the Last Day Dance for anyone willing to look. Today was lazy and wonderful. I got the Beatles' White Album recently. I never grew up on the Beatles or listened to anything besides "She Loves You" before, so this is a real treat. I always considered myself musically seasoned, and most music-lovers have the Beatles' anthology packed away in their past of musical discovery and might bring up songs as fond memories and not necessarily for heavy listening, but I get to discover them like any new artist ahead of me. And to be honest, I really don't know anything about Paul McCartney or John Lennon aside from the Apple dispute and the heart-kidnapping of Yoko Ono. I can talk about Jimmy Page's sex fantasies and Bob Dylan's half-assed interviews, but Beatlemania is a mystery to me. I think I'll keep it that way for now. I like not knowing anything about them, I like not knowing anything behind the songs on this album. I just get to listen and discover, make-fun-of and love. No preconceived baggage, I can just enjoy. I'll read up on them later.

 

I can't wait to move. It's been building up inside of me for so long. I want my life back, I want to say goodbye to Oregon once and for all, I want to become an A-obsessed student freak and pursue internships and writing assignments like it's the end of the world. I want to read more books, listen to more music, write more, drive more, eat more, live more.

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Happiness is a warm gun

Today is my Gramp's birthday and after his party I'm going to a drag show with some friends. I'm moving away in three weeks and I can't wait, but before I go I'd like to make another short film, write a short story, go to the beach, buy a dress, some red shoes . . . somehow I'll cram that all in with packing, working, and getting ready for school. I'll be spending December in Texas, then moving on up to BYU-Idaho. I used to wish I went to a more urban school, like before, but quaint Rexburg has won my heart. Sort of. I wish I had a more meaningful entry to put in here, but I'm at my aunt's house right now, waiting for cake time. My Gramps is 64 today. I got him a fancy outdoor stay-warm-and-dry hat for when he works out on his property, which he loves to do, but it's a little rainy here in Oregon.   

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QotD: My Vox Name

How did you pick your Vox name? Does it mean something? 
Submitted by LeendaDLL.  

"Sleater" as in Sleater-Kinney. One of my favorite bands. I've managed to snag this name on almost every internet accessory. Gmail, Photobucket, Vox . . . well, I guess that's it. Maybe Facebook? I'm not very internety anymore.

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Symbols crashing everywhere

So I'm going back to school in January. I couldn't be more happy. I'm even leaving this place early and spending the whole month of December with my family/friends in Texas. So I have one month left in good ole' Oregon. And since that month is November, I don't know how much I'll accomplish here with the NaNoWriMo going on. But what do I need to accomplish? Save up money, go to the beach, spend time with family here, throw a party or two . . .

I'm so glad I'm going back to school. I can't wait to be around academically minded people again. I miss going to class, writing assignments, class discussions, instructor's critique, etc. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would feel this way, but I really have missed school. I never intended to take a full year off, but I did. I got engaged, went to beauty school, got unengaged, got a full time job. I've been saving up so much money for school without ever really knowing if I was going back. This was a stupid year, I hurt a lot of people with the decision to come out here. I still cry over Ben. He was my best friend, I loved him so much, and even though I agreed to breaking off our engagement, I didn't want to. I felt like I came all the way out here, dropped everything, lost everything, to come out here. And he left. I can't pity myself, I made the desicion to come back to Oregon. And I'm the one who has to pick up where I left off, be strong, move on, get my life back together. Here I go, hope the water's fine.

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QotD:Just Like Me, But In 2-D

Which cartoon character best represents you? 
Submitted by Know It All.

Jessica Rabbit! Haha!

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QotD: Timeless Albums

What are some of your favorite, forgotten albums that have stood the test of time?
Submitted by PeterGibbons.

Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind
Radiohead The Bends
These remind me of my tender teenage years, before I discovered Led Zeppelin.

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Date with the Night

I think I'll start posting my favorite recipes on here . . . later. I'm going to my first Halloween party of the month tonight, but I don't have my costume yet. What am I going to be? The King of Rock and Roll, circa Viva Las Vegas. But tonight I'll just be myself. Or Charlie Chaplin,  I have the clothes for that.  

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QotD: Save It For A Rainy Day

What's the best way to spend a rainy day?
Submitted by Vee.

Having sex with the one you love, of course!

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QotD: My Favorite Sense

Which of your five senses (touch, taste, sight, hearing, or smell) do you value the most?
Submitted by Elisheva.

Probably hearing. When thinking of the question I wanted to say touch, but it's just a close second-- because the question is what do I value the most, not which one is my favorite. I have terrible vision, taste is great but not that great, and smell has its pros and cons-- smell can conjure up memories, both good and bad. The smell of the ocean reminds me of my long-gone best friend, pumpkin makes me happy, even the smell of Pantene Pro-V shampoo reminds me of my grandma's house when I was a kid. Smell can change my mood and lift my spirits. But it can also turn up my nose when I drive past a dead skunk in the road. I value hearing the most because if I ever lose my vision, it will be my hearing that will direct me through life. And I don't think I could ever live my life without music. Music has the same effect smell does, when it comes to conjuring up memories and what-not. Hearing is my safety, and my blessing.

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Take a Chance on a Couple of Kooks

It's a gorgeous, dark, dank day outside. Driving through the countryside is amazing. The fog that settles in the valleys, the little sheep running around, the smell of damp wood and the Halloween decorations beginning to emerge . . . I love autumn. It's time for me to get out the cold weather play list (Interpol, Radiohead, Elliott Smith, music from The Nutcracker) and curl up to my laptop and start writing again. I know the NaNoWriMo is coming up, and I'm going do it this year, but tweak it. I don't think I'll try to write a novel, but instead a heavy, fleshed-out short story. Everything I've been writing lately has been guilty-pleasure-only. It's not anything I would actually let someone read, much less submit anywhere. I want to write something booming, between 7 - 10 thousand words, with a clean plot that's actually about something. It's time for something good, and it's time I start submitting again.

I'm getting new glasses tomorrow. I'm going shopping tomorrow. I'm hoping to buy something loud and eccentric, like red go-go boots or a leopard-print top. Maybe not. Maybe just some grey trousers.

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QotD: My Weekend Plans

What are your weekend plans?

My plans are to camp camp CAMP. I love camping and I haven't done it in so long. I'm gonna hike up some trails, smoke up a fire, roast marshmallows, get out my guitar, pitch up a tent, sing to the stars, and welcome the sunrise on my cold, morning dewed face and get ready for another day of hiking, firing, marshmallowing and so forth until it's back to boring old work.

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Where the Streets have No Name

Salt Lake City! The LDS Conference was amazing . . . I had a great time, I heard beautiful talks, I hung out with some old friends, I saw our prophet, Gordon B. Hinkley, I cried like a baby during a movie about Joseph Smith, and it was a great trip. I want to write all about it, but since I'm on my lunch break, I'll just post some photos. Here is the Salt Lake temple, and here are some protesters. I can't believe people actually protest my religion. Just look at that sign. I've got at least three of those bases covered. What a jerk. 

Slc1

slc2

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Shaking hands with someone I don't know

Today I came home from work with a very sad message from my cousin. I love him so much and I'm glad we've connected so well because I think we, along with my aunt, are the adorable black sheep of the family. Lovealbe little rebels we are, he told me about his troubles with school and other things that just made me want to cry. It's weird because I forget that I'm not that fargone from my high school years, but I feel like I left that place choking on my dust ages ago. I have friends who have yet to move away from my old hometown, and after all the traveling I've done (not that I'm Columbus or anything) I don't think I could have ever hung around that town longer than a day after graduation. And I didn't! I packed up and left for Oregon a day after graduating. It was good for me, I needed it.

Amber and Michelle

I'm a completely different person now, for better and for worse because of it. At least I've gotten to a point where I'm standing on my own two feet. I was quite the wussy-wannabe in high school. Did I mention it was in Texas? Yee haw.

Included here is a picture of some of the girls I go to church with (oh, those Mormons). This was taken by a street photographer, who literally had a mini-outdoor studio set up outside of a club. He asked passers-by if they were interested in having their portrait taken, and were only asked to "be themselves" in front of the camera. So my girly friends pulled out their cell phones and called each other. 

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Sunny day, lonely day

My great grandpa is having terrible back problems so my grandparents have taken a trip to California to take care of him and work things out with doctors and such. I'm worried about him, and my great grandma, because he's been taking care of her this whole time.

This is my first day off in a while and I don't know what to do with it. It's already 4pm, maybe I'll take myself out to dinner. Things have been so lonely and strange without Ben. He's the whole reason I moved back up here and now we're broken up and he's in Seattle. I can't wait to move, can't wait to go back to school. I'm sick of Oregon, I admit it. I think I just don't sit well when I come back to old stomping grounds. No more Portland, no more Amarillo, but I don't know where I want to live. I'll be in Salt Lake later this week for the big-badda-boom LDS General Conferance. I drew a self protrait today with my new box of crayons. My face came out too narrow, my lips too big, and my nose too long, but my hair looked great.

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New Blog

I'm excited about writing in here. I haven't blogged in a few years and I never took it very seriously; but now I just want to have fun with it. Write some thorough, witty entries and let my friends know what I'm really up to. I can't wait to hand out some invitations, though I fear most of my buddies aren't the blogging type. Maybe they'll surprise me.

I'm going to take this opportunity to state that, like most blogs, this will probably be filled with bad grammer, awkward train of thought, and whatever mistakes spell-check doesn't pick up. But who cares, right?

I saw The Illusionist recently and loved it, but the ending didn't come as a surprise to me because I had already read the short story it's based on in Zoetrope: All Story, a high-class quarterly lit-mag of short stories. I love short stories. They are little literary gems that I can take in under a half hour and keep with me the rest of my life. They refresh my day and jumpstart my imagination better than any novel, simply becasue of the way they are packaged. And while I loved The Illusionist and the story it was based on, I must say that in the story there is only a single sentence mentioning a romance (one that didn't work out). The story was more about his magic, and the dark mysteries of it.The film blows up a deeply-rooted romance all over the screen, making it the core of the plot. Not that anything is wrong with that. The love scene was pretty hot. 

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