My 2012!!!

Now 2012 has been a pretty good year! And I feel like I should review it to try and document it. Well facebook seems to be ahead of me on that... so here is what they think the highlights of my 2012 were.

Anywhoo... I still think I should talk about it.

January: I bought my little car sassy. She is a blue 2011 Hyundai Accent.

February: Starting work at Community Services Bureau as a temp. I met some wonderful people at felt right at home! It was awesome!

I also started a book club that has been an awesome fun experience!

March: I got the opportunity to take the Critical Test for the Dispatcher job. I actually thought the test was awesome... but the fact that it was at 7am.. was not so awesome! It was the beginning of a great 8 month adventure to get my current job!

April: I got to adventure in Cannon Beach with some of my most favorite people in the world! It renewed my spirit and helped me remember who I am at my best! Love it and love them!

I also treated my family to a day on The Rock for my Dad's birthday. It was a great family adventure and reminded me how lucky I am to have the family I do!

May: Enjoyed a train ride to Modesto to see one of my very best friends Ella. It was a great weekend of fun in the sun!

June: I attempted to get myself into shape and joined a CrossFit camp. I lasted only two weeks. Apparently I will never be CrossFit...

I also had to dig into every detail of my life for the past 10 years for my Background Check for the Dispatcher job.

July: I ran/jogged/walked the Color Run at Candlestick Park with my friend Rosemary. It was so much fun, and something I want to do again!

I got to go to the Sacramento Temple with my friend Lisa Despain and we were able to complete 32 ordinances in our epic temple day! And I checked off another new temple! (I'm up to 12... a long way to go)

I also went to the Kite Festival in Berkeley with some friends from church. It was awesome and next year I will go with a better kite!

August: I became a volunteer for the Oakland Temple every Saturday morning. It is honestly the best way to start your day!

My sister's birthday is in August so I took her out to dinner and then to the movies, and we had an incredible time at the movie theater watching Step Up (whatever the latest one was called). Our favorite part was the slightly drunk ladies behind us who thought it was an interactive movie, and started dancing while the dance scenes were going on.

September: I went and saw War Horse with my friend Hayley and it was awesome! Loved it, and loved spending time with that lady. She is awesome!

One of my favorite moments was when I got to go to the Scottish Festival... I felt at home!

And I got to knock doing a Lie Detector Test off of my bucket list. It was not like I imagined and not as scary as shown on movies and TV... probably cuz I wasn't a suspect or criminal.

And I got to experience dueling pianos for the first time. My friend Stacy wanted to go there for her birthday.

October: I traveled to Medford OR, to meet Daniel Atticus Thorson. He has stolen my heart!!!! (It was also incredible to see Kathleen and Jesse. Annie and I did what we could to help, and spread our love to the Thorsons!)

November: I got hired by the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff as a dispatcher!

December: I went and saw the Nutcracker in San Francisco. It was awesome and helped me get into the Christmas spirit!

I also ran a 5k with my friend Lisa, and got the best time ever! 37 min 56 sec... so not great for the average runner, but awesome for me!

All in all it has been a great year, and I can't wait to see what adventures happen in 2013... the years I leave my 20's! Eeek!!!

Soon to be Birthday Girl's thoughts!

Soon to be Birthday girl’s thoughts:

So my birthday is tomorrow, and I don't have any real physical plans on what to do to celebrate, and really that it is fine. I'm not one for a big ol' birthday extravaganza, or lots of attention on me. But I have been thinking of stuff I would like to do for my big day. Most of my ideas aren't even really originally my own; I honestly have the coolest friends in the world who are so brilliant that I must steal their ideas.

The first idea I am stealing is the Random Act of Kindness idea that I first learned of from my friend Carrie, and then Liz.

So here are my thoughts on this... I have friends who I would love to spend my birthday with and it isn't possible for us to all be with one another, so for my birthday my biggest wish is that those I love with do something for me. Now I love the idea of a random act of service and if you want to do that PLEASE DO! But if your service or act of kindness isn't random... DO THAT TOO! Go to the temple, randomly hug strangers, and make someone laugh. Just please do something that is just for someone else.

That is the birthday present I want! Now I plan on doing 29 acts of service or kindness... and I will report back soon. (Man getting old is hard. 29!!!!)

Oh and tell me what you did so I can smile, laugh, or get a little misty eyed over my amazing friends and examples!

The second idea I am stealing is the goal idea; I'm not sure who started this trend but Liz, Carrie, and Kathleen... I am copying you. Here is what my year is shaping up to be like:

29 Goals for my 29th year

1. Finish the temple ordinances for my family names.
2. Run a 10K
3. Run 2 5K’s
4. Get to my goal weight
5. Visit 2 new temples
6. Go to 1 new state
7. Go to 2 Regional YSA Activities
8. Take a gun safety course
9. Read a church book
10. Read 30 books
11. Take a Spanish class
12. Pay off my credit card
13. Do one batch of names for family indexing a month
14. Read 2 books of scripture (Book of Mormon, D&C, New Testament, Old Testament)
15. Move out of my parent’s house
16. Do 1 random act of kindness/service a month
17. Do my Visiting Teaching one way or another each month
18. Go to the temple twice a month
19. Do a purpose filled fast every month
20. Do a hike up Mt. Diablo
21. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
22. Give something up for lent
23. Do Christmas or Easter cards
24. Go to Waterworld or Great America
25. Try paintballing
26. See a movie/concert at Golden Gate Park
27. Do baptisms at the temple
28. Have an entire day of Temple ordinances (Goal of 30 ordinances in one day)
29. Donate at least $5 to the general missionary fund a month.

I think some awesome adventures will happen before I leave my second decade behind!

Unplanned Bessings

The past 6-8 weeks I have been the subject of an intensive background check for a potential job. They have really been thorough and patient. I wasn't too stressed with them checking into my life, I really don't have anything to hide, but I was interested to know what they would learn and who they would call.

What I hadn't counted on was how it would rekindle wonderful friendships, warm my heart and make me incredibly grateful for all my friends. The investigator has called individuals I haven't seen years, and through those conversations with the investigator, I have then had the great opportunity of talking with my missed friends and co-workers.

I've loved hearing some of the responses of my friends, and I am so grateful to have such wonderfully silly people, loving and encouraging me. Jesse, you're weird, Annie, Ella, Liz and others... you rock my world!

Another incredible part was the fact that the investigator was a latter-day saint! It really made things much more personal and helpful; I could talk about my mission, conversion, and college so much more than I thought I could because she understands Mormon code, and those major parts of our lives!

It was kind of odd and awesome to feel the spirit when I was telling my life story to a background investigator! =)

My August Adventures

August was kind of a crazy month, but overall I enjoyed it.

Kari's Birthday: Kari turned 26 on August 5th, and the night before we went to dinner and a movie. She chose Step up 4, or Step up Revolution. Now the movie was complete crap when it came to acting, but the dancing was incredible! Another incredible part of the movie was the drunken dancing ladies behind us. They really made it a participatory event. Their dancing wasn't so good, but it was entertaining!

Shingles: The big negative of the month. The day before the Statewide YSA Conference that I had signed up for and was looking forward to, I came down with a case of the shingles right along my Inferior Alveolar Nerve. It was a bit ouchy. Every time I talked or swallowed I would get a jolt of pain. And I was exhausted all the time, no matter how much I rested. However, I was really lucky that I got over it in about a week. It can be a beast to get rid of.

Olympics: I was kind of Olympic obsessed! From start to finish I had to watch EVERYTHING. Or as much as NBC would show when I was home from work. I loved it and I couldn't get enough. I just wish they were now airing the Paralympics with as much enthusiasm.

Hell on Wheels: This show is pretty awesome; and also pretty melodramatic. Especially the new season. But holy poop I love it! The characters are awesome, but I can't help but wonder if all of them are just going to turn bad. Who knows. But I'm enjoying the ride!

Shark Week: The moment the Olympics ended Shark Week started. Such perfect timing! I was still recovering from shingles so I would come home from work and collapse on my bed and watch that nights adventures on Shark Week. Awesome! But now I'm even more freaked out about going in the ocean, even though logically I know that sharks aren't out to get me the moment I stick my foot in their water.

So You Think You Can Dance: This season is amazing and I loved the Mia Michels episode. I think Cole and Lindsay did a better job than the originals. I just loved it. They have had some wonderful numbers, my only issue is the number of times we've had to pause for a few weeks for different events. The season has been too stop and go. But I love the dancing. One of these years I will go and see the live show.

Volunteering at the Temple: I am now a volunteer at the Oakland Temple on Saturday mornings, and I think it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. It really has been such a blessing in my life. It really has helped me focus on what is most important, and I learn more and more about the gospel each time I go. I love going to the Lord's house and I love helping others. There have already been so many moments of inspired teaching and moments where I know the Lord knows me individually. It really is incredible, and I am unsure why I didn't do it any sooner.

Lie Detector Test: Two weeks ago I had to take a lie detector test for a job I am applying for. It really wasn't that scary or uncomfortable but being strapped to a chair was odd. And not being able to move while I talked or answered questions was really hard. I learned that I am an animated speaker and wanted to express myself by moving my hands and I couldn't. Weird. But since I've lived a pretty dull life it wasn't scary. But now I can take that off the bucket list! Now they said they wouldn't tell me whether I passed or failed, but I'm on to the next level of the process, and if I completely pass all of the background checks then I get to have a psych evaluation. Eek! Now that one I'm a bit more nervous about.

Dueling Pianos: This past Friday to celebrate a friend of mines birthday a group of us went to "That Bar" in Danville. We chose that specific location because they have dueling pianos from 8 to midnight. It was so awesome! Although I have to say the drunks seem to enjoy it more than we did and by around 10 we decided it was best to go. Well I think our server was also pleased for us to go because no matter how often she asked if we wanted a drink we just wouldn't order alcohol. She did get on our good side by giving us free shirts. Now keep in mind I kept mine because it was soft. (I am obsessed with shirts that are soft.) I am sure I have no use for a Bacardi t-shirt. Sorry I am off topic. Some of my favorite songs they performed were: Baby Got Back, California Girls, and a smattering of other pop culture songs form the last 30 years.

It was a great night and a great ending to a pretty fun month! Can't wait to see how September goes!

"Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think."

Tennessee Williams as an artist, playwright, and human being has always intrigued me. I know so little about him, and yet I think of the impact his genius has had on my theatre life continually. We had to read “A Streetcar Named Desire” when I was in high school and we watched the film with Marlon Brando afterwards, and it was such a memorable moment.

The depth of the characters, the intensity of the story and the artistic elements in the notes all created an incredible experience for a young interested artist. So with all of that going on in my thoughts I was a little nervous to pick up the play again.

Something I really enjoyed was the introduction by Tennessee Williams himself; he truly in an intriguing and interesting man. I swear I could have just had a study based solely on his introduction. The whole introduction was about what his life had become after the success of “The Glass Managerie” and his thoughts of life before and after that success. Here is what he had to say about his life before his successful first play: “The sort of life which I had had previous to this popular success was one that required endurance, a life of clawing and scratching along a sheer surface and holding on tight with raw fingers to every inch of rock higher than the one caught hold of before, but it was a good life because it was the sort of lie for which the human organism is created. I was not aware of how much vital energy had gone into this struggle until the struggle was removed.” I find it so true that our best art and our best selves come out of opposition.

And in the final paragraphs of the introduction I think Williams says something that can help anyone involved in the art or the public: “You know, then, that the public Somebody you are when you ‘have a name’ is a fiction created with mirrors and that the only somebody worth being is the solitary and unseen you that existed from your first breath and which is the sum of your actions and so is constantly in a state of becoming under your own volition- and knowing these things, you can even survive the catastrophe of Success!”

Now I can talk about the play! But really what can I say that hasn’t already been said or discovered by someone more intelligent than myself. After finishing reading and looking back over at the highlighted lines that stuck with me, I am really happy I read “Our Town” before reading this one. In “Our Town” I felt as though each moment of life is important and we need to life our lives fully and happily. This message was reaffirmed to me after reading “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

I look at our female characters, Blanche and Stella, both women who hide from reality and live in their own sense of honesty and happiness. Blanche, our soft, tender, and broken women who is looking for some gentleness, tells her own form of honesty, or ‘magic’ as she put it. “I don’t want realism, I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it.” (Scene 9, p. 117. Blanche says to Mitch.) Blanche’s world is softer, because the real world beat her into submission. Or as Stella said in scene 8 to Stanley: “You didn’t know Blanche as a girl. Nobody, nobody, was tender and trusting as she was. But people like you abused her, and forced her to change.” And that is just what Blanche did to survive.

Then I think on Stella, who ultimately put her sister away because she chose to stay with the man she married and had a child with. Do I think this is the life she envisioned for herself… probably not; but she is going to stick with it. Was it the right decision? Probably not. But she chooses to live with her choices… good or bad.

My final thought only really came to me while writing is that how much of the character of Blanche is based on Tennessee Williams life experience after success; the attack from the world, the need for chance, the lookout for some sort of refuge. My favorite quote in the play comes from Blanche in scene 9 when she is speaking to Mitch. She says: “You said you needed somebody. Well, I needed somebody, too. I thanked God for you, because you seemed to be gentle- a cleft in the rock of the world that I could hide in!” Tennessee Williams had to find a version of himself that he could live with, and in a great sense Blanche did that as well; she stayed true to an image of herself that she could live with, and I think Williams had to do the same.

To get back to my comparison of “A Streetcar Named Desire” to “Our Town” I think Williams focused on a darker side of humanity while Wilder made an ‘ideal’ small town life. I think both plays have helped me focus on what is important in my life and my values. I have always made it a goal to be a woman of virtue, a woman of honesty and a woman of charity.

I love when art is deeper than surface reading, and I encourage any who haven’t read or watched a production of Streetcar… read it, watch it, see it; it can and should impact your life.

c'est incroyable

Last night my friend Missy kidnapped me and my sister Kari and took us to see an amazing movie. The Intouchables is a French film with English subtitles, and it truly is amazing.

IMDB gave this description of it: After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caretaker.

Honestly it is just so much more than that. The relationship between Philippe and Driss is just so wonderful and so moving. I love the journey of the characters and the impact two human beings can have with one another.

The film is funny, witty, moving, touching, and so many other descriptions. It was a great depiction of an honest friendship.

"For some reason, movies have a hard time with friendship. Romantic relationships are no problem; in fact you could argue that is cinema's favorite subject. But friendship is always mishandled.

Leave it to the French to make the best effort in a long time with the delightful film The Intouchables."(Matt DeKinder of Suburban Journals review of The Intouchables.)

I normally don't like movies with subtitles, because watching becomes too much of a chore, but this movie made me forget it was in French... it was just wonderful. So if it is playing anywhere near you GO SEE IT!!! You won't regret it!

Color Run Fun!!!

This past weekend I had the joy of participating in the San Francisco Color Run. It was such a blast. I ran/walked it with my friend Rosemary. Honestly I don't know when the last time was that I had so much fun while working out!

You could tell from when we first arrived that this was going to be a great crowd and a great time. There were people of every age in all sorts of costumes ready to play. I don't call it a race simply because it wasn't. The course wasn't timed, and there weren't any awards for those who finished the fastest.

They let us go in giant groups about every 2 minutes. That being said there were still masses of bodies on the course. Rosemary and I got so excited when we turned a corner and saw the first chalk site. The cloud of color looked like it was out of some kind of war movie.

But then before we knew it we were through our first chalk zone and close to the next. We were both a little sad by how clean and white our clothes still were. There wasn't enough color on us, so we decided to get even closer to the color volunteers so hopefully we would get some good color.

Well be careful what you wish for. I was just turning to Rosemary to wish her luck getting yellow when a volunteer doused me in yellow. Rosemary got the perfect action shot. He got the chalk all down my right side... in my ear, on both sides of my glasses, in my hair, down my shirt... and other places I didn't notice till the shower.

I thought I had been hit with a bomb for a second. I couldn't hear out of my left ear, everything sounded all tunnely. I couldn't see out of my right eye (chalk on the sunglasses) and I looked a mess!

It was awesome! (The volunteer said I was perfectly jaundicey)

We then took a moment to clear our glasses, laugh at one another and take off for the water station.

From then on out we were like kids being released into a McDonalds play gym!

The orange station was the last one before the finish line dance/chalk party. We decided to pause and take a picture.

We looked like a right mess, but we enjoyed every second of it!

As I write this I have two swollen ankles, and random sunburns all over my face, arms, and legs. I would do the color run again in a heartbeat! (There is one in Sacramento in September and I am seriously thinking about doing it. Anyone care to join me?)

"Let's look at one another."

The first play I chose to read was "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder

This was such a perfect play for me to start with! It really brought back all that I love about theatre. Great writing, great characters, and a great purpose for attending the theatre.

It started out with an incredible intro from Thornton Wilder that really had me thinking!

“I began to feel that the theatre was not only inadequate, it was evasive; it did not wish to draw upon its deeper potentialities. I found the word for it; it aimed to be soothing. The tragic had to heat; the comic had no bite; the social criticism failed to indict us with responsibility. I began to search for the point where the theatre had run off the track, where it had chosen- and permitted- to become a minor art and an inconsequential diversion.” (preface p. viii)

All I could think after that was... AMEN. So much of the theatre I have seen recently has been so meaningless or self praising. There didn't seem to be any purpose, or any deeper meaning to anything on stage. Being edgy or pushing the envelope just to say they could.

Anywhoo... I'm getting off topic.

I was lucky enough to watch Our Town while I was at BYU-Idaho, and some of my very favorite people were in the cast. So it was there faces that I saw as I read. With that being said I dove into the script loving every moment and learning as I read. And to be honest the play is much more powerful than I gave it credit for originally.

Thornton Wilder said:"Our town is not offered as a picture of life in a New Hampshire village; or as a speculation about the conditions of life after death (that element I merely took from Dante’s Purgatory). It is an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life.” (preface p. xi)

That focus on the common individual, and his or her daily life, was exactly what I needed to hear to help me gain focus on what was most important in my life. What were my daily goals in my personal life with the people around me?

I actually used a quote from act 3 in my talk at church last Sunday. Emily says: "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?- every, every minute?” (P. 62)

Human beings are important, what we choose to do with the time we have is important. Do we cherish our relationships? Do we take the time to look at one another? I know we can't do it all the time, but we need to take time to build relationships and love those in our lives.

Oh man... it just makes me so happy! I now want to direct Our Town someday. Or incorporate it into a few of the ideas I have.

Well that is my short and sweet report. I will end with a few other quotes that brought a smile to my face!

“George: I guess it’s hard for a fella not to have faults creep into his character.” (Act II. P. 40)

“Stage Manager: Whenever you come near the human race, there’s layers and layers of nonsense…” (Act III. P. 51)

Something I Never Really Finished

Now before I moved to England to start my Masters Degree I was supposed to have read all the plays that will be listed below.

The problem.... I didn't get the packet with that information until about a month before I was moving. Now I know I could have done it, but I got distracted in the moves, and ending of my job. Then it was finding housing in England, living in England, and trying to be a student.

So NOW I want to do it.

Here is the list:

1.) Ancient
Aeschylus, The Oresteia
Euripides, The Becchae, Medea
Plautus, The Rope
Sophocles, Antigone, Oedipus Rex

2.) Medieval
Anon, The Castle of Perseverance
Anon, Everyman
Anon, Mankind

3.) Early Modern
Ben Jonson, The Alchemist
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, MacBeth, Othello, Richard III, Tempest
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

4.)Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century European
Calderon, Life is a Dream
Moliere, Tartuffe
Jean Racine, Phedre

5.)Restoration
Aphra Behn, The Rover
George Etherege, The Man of Mode

6.)Eighteenth Century
John Gay, The Beggar's Opera
Richard Brinsley, The School for Scandal
George Lillo, The London Merchant (Or The History of George Barnwell)

7.)European Classics and Romanticism
Georg Buchner, Woyzeck
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust
Friedrich Schiller, Maria Stuart

8.) Victorian Plays and Melodrama
Collection: The Light o'London and other Victorian Plays (Oxfords Worlds Classics)
Colin H Hazlewood, Lady Audley's Secret
Douglas Jerrold, Black-Ey'd Susan

9.) Nineteenth Century and Naturalism
Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters
Nikolai Gogol, The Government Inspector
Gerhart Hauptmann, The Weavers
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Peer Gynt
Thomas WIlliam Robertson, Caste
August Strindberg, Miss Julie, A Dream Play
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

10.) Modern European
Antonin Artaud, Spurt of Blood
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage, Caucasian Chalk Circle
Jean Genet, The Balcony
Alfred Jarry, The Ubu Plays
Georg Kaiser, From Morn to Midnight
Federico Garcia Lorca, Blood Wedding
Heiner Muller, Hamletmachine
Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author
Frank Wedekind, Spring Awakening

11.) Twentieth Century British
Edward Bond, Saved
Sean O'Casey, The Plough and the Stars
Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine, Top Girls
Noel Coward, Hay Fever
Shelagh Delaney, A Taste of Honey
Harley Granville Barker, The Voysey Inheritance
Sarah Kane, Blasted
John McGrath, The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black, Black Oil
John Osborne, Look Back in Anger
Harold Pinter, The Birthday Party
J B Priestley, An Inspector Calls
Terrence Rattigan, The Deep Blue Sea
Mark Ravenhill, Shopping and F-ing
Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women
George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion, Mrs Warren's Profession
Peter Shaffer, The Royal Hunt of the Sun
Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Timberlake Wertenbaker, The Love of the Nightingale

12.) Twentieth Century American
Edward Albee, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Marie Irene Fornes, The Conduct of Life
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Tony Kushner, Angels in America
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
Eugene O'Neil, Long Day's Journey into Night
Gertrude Stein, Four Saints in Three Acts
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
Thornton Wilder, Our Town

13.) World Theatre
Aime Cesaire, A Tempest
Fungard, Kani and Ntshone, The Island
Wole Soyinka, Death and the King's Horseman
Noh Plays of Japan: An Anthology, Arthur Waley, ed., Dover 1998.

SO... if you're still with me... thank you... it is quite a list.

Now I have read some of them before, and yet I think I will start from scratch and read all of them. Now some of them in the more modern time periods are a little uncomfortable for me... so we will see if I read ALL of them.

But I'm excited; I have been missing theatre, and since I am poor I really can't see much, but I have a library card and I like reading!

It is not the same but it will have to do for now!

The Family of Avengers

I may or may not have seen "The Avengers" twice this weekend. And each of my family members and I may have slightly dressed up for the movies.

I may have to go see it again next weekend.

Challenge Day 8

Easter Sunday

The Resurrection: Mark 16:1-4, Matthew 28:2-7, John 20:2-10
Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene: John 20:11-18
Jesus appears on the road to Emmaus: Luke 24:13-32
Jesus appears to apostles (without Thomas): Luke 24:34-39
Jesus appears to apostles (with Thomas): John 20:26-29
Jesus appears at Sea of Tiberius: John 21:1-24
Jesus appears to Eleven at Galilee: Matthew 28:16-20
The ascension: Acts 1:3-12

I am so happy I took this challenge, and I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I love, serve, and worship Him. He truly is the way the truth and the light!