i have decided to start a new blog in a new place. which means i probably wont be using this one anymore...

so without futher ado, here is the link for my new blog.
the spotless mind

it has been a while since i have updated my blog on my life. i know that there are some people who i dont talk to very often anymore and this is the only way they know what is going on with me so i need to do better at keeping this current...

since my last blog, alot has happened. Thoroughly Modern Millie closed after a run that seemed like it went on forever. since it has been over i find myself missing alot of people from that cast. they were great.

my 28th birthday was the same week of closing night and i had a blast that night at gino's (i probably had a bit too much fun, truth be told) thanks to everyone that came that night!

then i got sick with a flu that lasted about 3 weeks. i was so looking forward to the break following the closing of the show, but then being sick really really sucked. i went to She Loves Me auditions still sick as ever. but they really must like me there because they cast me anyway. :)

christmas came and went and it was alot of fun. there were alot of family gatherings, parties, presents, food, and everything else that goes along with christmas. but i dont really want to take the time to blog it all out. lets just say that it was a good holiday.

december 30th i got in a car wreck on I-15 and totalled my car. it had been snowing the whole night before and that day the roads were still bad. there was a lady in front of me that lost control and did a complete 360 spin on the freeway and by the time she came around full circle, she had corrected directly in front of me. i smashed in the front of my car about a foot and a half going that fast. luckily no one was hurt. i drove around in a rental for a week and a half before buying a 2004 honda civic si. overall, the accident was more of a blessing then a curse. i got out of my old car that i hated and got it all paid off, and now i have a car that i really like.

new years was and interesting holiday. the new years eve party we went to was fun, but then after that, melinda and i split up. i wont go into details here about that because some stuff doesnt need to be blogged about. needless to say, i am starting out the new year single again.

we started rehearsals for She Loves Me early on in January, but they were only music rehearsals about twice a week. then saturday the 26th, Dave finally started blocking the show and putting it together. that left us only 3 weeks to put the whole show together before opening night on Valentines day. i am just really glad that we have such a talented cast that can pull something like this off. (i hope)

over the last couple weeks i have had a few different people ask me about my religious veiws. this is something that i talked openly about in a blog back in 06.  but since then, i havent had alot of people bring it up until now. i guess i havent thought alot about it, and my views havent really changed much since then. the most commonly asked question that i get is something along the lines of: "what is it about the [LDS] church that you dont believe?" i think that this question gets asked so that they can try to identify what my issue is and try to solve it and convert me back. the problem with asking me that question is that for me to answer it fully, it would take some time. so if you are one of those that want to know what i believe, you can read my blog from March '06 here.

this year i have set a goal to start learning the guitar. to make sure i actually go through with it, i went out and bought one last night. one of my friends from the show is going to give me lessons. this is something that i have wanted to do for a long time, and now i have no excuse as to why im not just doing it. so here goes nothing.

i dont know when my next blog will be, but hopefully it will be sooner then later.

this spring when i was in Lucky Stiff, i realized that being single cast in a show at the HCTO is very tiring. having to perform nightly during the week and twice on saturdays for 2 months can really take it out of you. i get to work by 9am, leave by 530, get to the theater at 6 for call, show starts at 730, and i get home around 11 each night. then i seem to stay up til 2 every night unwinding. we arent even half way through the run of the show and i am already feeling like a zombie.

with TMM, i am feeling tired alot more then i did with Lucky Stiff. i think that it comes down to the fact that i was having more fun then i am now. now dont get me wrong, i love our cast. i think that they are a great group of people and they all work very hard to keep this show looking good. its just hard to stay focused for that long. especially when it is hard to relate with most of them. the majority of the cast is around 20-23 years old and finishing up school at BYU. i REALLY dont fit into that mold, and i think that the cast knows it. i really try to be friendly and to be outgoing with the cast, but at times i definately feel like the outsider.

my work is suffering too. its hard to stay focused at a computer all day and get alot of work done when you are half asleep in the morning and running on an energy drink all day. i have only been in this position here at work for just over 3 months and i cant be letting things slip through the cracks.

this show closes on thanksgiving, and then auditions for She Loves Me will be sometime before christmas to start rehearsing the beginning of january. Dave Tinney has been talking to me about this show for over 6 months now and i am really excited about it. it is supposed to have a smaller cast like Lucky Stiff, and i have heard nothing but good things about it.

i must be nuts.

well its not really a new job as much as it is a new position with the company i work for.

last week i was offered a position in the legal department. when i tell people this the first question out of their mouth is always "so do you have any legal background?" to which i always reply "um...no."

my new job is mainly dealing with "compliance" but what it really boils down to is that i will be fielding any customers legal complaints and then assisting the 2 in house lawyers with whatever they need. i am taking the place of a girl who had been with the company for over 8 years and during that time did an amazing job with this position. I was able to spend about 4 hours total with her before she left and during that time she tried to explain to me everything that i would need to know to do this job. needless to say, i am a bit lost coming in to work this morning.

i know that there is going to be a learning curve with this position just like any other job, but i am really kind of freaked out to say the least about this one. hopefully i am able to figure things out soon.

 

ive decided that i need to blog more. its not that i feel like i need to be letting everyone know what i am doing all the time, its that i like having some sort of record of my life somewhere. i like going back and reading old blogs and remembering things that happened a while ago. i never was good at keeping a journal, so this will have to suffice.

the last blog i wrote i mentioned that i was in a show at the hale. well that came and went all too quickly. i had so much fun working with everyone in the show and loved being able to perform again. it was very difficult being single cast and having to be there every night. i know that melinda hated that it took so much of my time. i think that i will be taking a break from doing another show for a while. there really isnt anything coming up that i really would want to do so for now i am going to be on a break.

since my last blog things have changed here at work. i have since been promoted and now i am part of the management team here in the call center. i have my own team of agents on the phone that i am in charge of, and honestly i love it. the pay is better (not stellar by any means, but better), and now i dont have to be taking calls all day. my stress level here has gone way down since ive been promoted. its great.

next month i am going to vegas! melinda and i are going to be using our "free" weekend in vegas by sitting through a timeshare presentation. the deal is that they will give us a 3 night stay in a hotel on the strip and we just need to plan to sit through their presentation and take a tour of their facility one of the days we are there. we are going to be getting this out of the way the first day we are there and then playing with our friends the rest of the weekend. sitting through a pushy sales speech sucks, and we know this, but we will be doing it anyway just for the trip. they will also be giving us a bunch of free slot credit to play with and free tickets to a comedy club. while we are down there i am going to make it a point to go watch some of the WSOP going on at the Rio. i cant wait!

i picked up the new linkin park album this last week. it got really mixed reviews because they have changed their sound a bit. people say that they have turned soft and have lost their edge. personally, i love it! i think that it is great that they have gone a different direction with this album. it might not be as "hard" as their other stuff, but this is still great music. all musicians that do well for any extended period of time have had their "sound" evolve and change over the years. look at madonna, U2, and The Rolling Stones to name just a few. if you like linkin park at all, i highly reccomend picking this one up.

it has been a while since i have posted a blog and i think that it is about time that i do. here is goes.

for the last 4 months or so since ive been home from colorado i have been working at Young Living Essential Oils. I started working in the order entry department taking phone calls from people placing orders. after a month of that i was promoted to customer service where i work now. i handle problems that customers have with their orders and products that they got. honestly i really like my job there. i love the people i work with and what i do isnt all that difficult. i am good at what i do and i think that people recognise that fact. ultimately my goal is to move up in the department where i dont have to be on the phones. but who knows how long it will be before i can do that. only time will tell.

the only downside to the job is the pay. i really wish i got payed more money. i am taking all of the required steps to getting raises as they become available and have moved up the pay scale as fast as humanly possible. its just slow going.

i just got cast in a play. the last show i did was Dear Ruth almost exactly a year ago and i am anxious to get back on stage. i am in Lucky Stiff at the Hale Theater in Orem. i wasnt going to audition but then i heard that Dave Tinney was directing it and i did not want to pass up the chance to work with him again. i got single cast with a part that is really like 5 parts in one. it is going to be a challange, but i think that i will be able to pull it off. i really think that this is going to turn out to be a great show.

i am still living at home and i really want to move out. having no money is the only thing holding me back. Bradin found an apartment for us up in lehi near where i work and i told him that i will move in as soon as i am financially available. i really hope that it is sooner then later...

i dressed up as dr evil for halloween. everyone that saw me got a kick out of it. i looked everywhere for a costume for it but ended up just buying a grey suit from savers and making my own. i think it turned out pretty good if i do say so myself.


i went to disneyland for the first time since i was like 14 right before thanksgiving. we were gone a week and i seriously had the time of my life. i litterally turned into a 5 year old the whole time i was there. loved every second of it.

the playersanonymous year end party has come and gone and went off without any major hitches. i ran the raffle again and we were able to raise alot of money. we raffled off a 20" lcd tv, a nintendo wii, a 30 gig ipod video, 4 ipod nanos,  theater tickets, dvds, jewelry, and various other things that we had donated. (much thanks to hedgehog and his connections at work!) i actually won one of the prizes. i got the 14 disc superman ultimate collection and watched all of it within about a week and a half. good times.

christmas came and went. since my family went to disneyland this year, my dad decided that we would count that as christmas and not do anything for the holiday. now i can understand not having presents because all of our money went to the trip, but my parents took it way too far and cancelled the holiday all together. no tree, no lights, no yearly traditions, nothing. this caused a bit of an upset with my siblings around here and since i knew that i didnt want to deal with all the family drama, i spent christmas with melinda's family. i was there for christmas eve where we stayed up and watched die hard in the attic and then when we opened presents in the morning. they really have taken me in as one of the family. it was really a good christmas.

now the holidays are over and i will be able to start focusing on the show i am in. it is going to take up all of my spare time from now until the middle of april.... and there probably wont be much blogging going on between now and then.

so i played in an online poker tourney tonight and won big. i play online alot and usually lose. most of the time i only pay like 5 bucks per tourney to play so its not a big deal. tonight i payed $22 to enter a tourney and ended up winning the whole thing. i got payed just over $1340.

the summer is finally drawing to a close. and its about damn time. before i came out to colorado i had high hopes of making lots of money and having the time of my life away from everyone and everything utah. and now all i want to do is come home. i have missed being with my family and my friends and everything that i was trying to get away from. now dont get me wrong, at times this summer has been alot of fun. at times me and my roommates have had a ball. but right now i am just done. and after living out here what have i gained from this experience? well i havent made the money that i was promised. ive put way too many miles on my car. and now i have a bunch of tools that wont get used hardly at all anymore. but do i regret coming out here? no. this summer is an experience in my life that i will not forget. i dont like living my life looking back on what i have done with regret, always asking my self "what if" questions. now would i ever do it again? probably not. i have already been offered a managers position if i was to do this again next summer in california. i have seen the paychecks of what my manager makes and i have to say it is good money. making it very tempting. but honestly, how much money would it take to get me to leave everyone and everything again, knowing now what is involved?
right now all i want to do is pack up and go home. and in a couple weeks i will be able to do just that.

so i was going to post this last weekend but i kinda got lazy about getting on here and didnt.
last friday around 930 or 10 i was driving home from work and there in the dark right in front of me was the biggest raccoon i had ever seen. i was going about 60 mph at the time and only had time to try and swerve to the right lane to try and avoid hitting it. well the raccoon saw me coming and decided to try and backtrack over into the right lane at the same time. needless to say, we didnt avoid each other at all...
now for anyone that has ever hit a small animal like a squirril or something like that, you know that most of the time you feel a bit of a bump and leave a grease spot on the road. and thats the end of it. this was not the case on this fateful night. when i hit him i didnt just run him over, i full on hit him with my front bumper. and i GOT A HOLD OF HIM. it really kinda freaked me out. i finished driving home before i looked at the damage thinking that it wouldnt be too bad. well from what i saw that night all i could tell was that my front bumper had broken in a couple places and that there were a couple tufts of fur stuck in it. i figured that there wasnt anything i could do about it that night so i went to bed and didnt think anything of it.
the next morning i left for work and didnt make it ten minutes before my car started beepeing at me because it was overheating. i left the car there and sam picked me up so we could work together that day. once we finished all of our installs we went back to the car to put some water in it to drive it back home. well when we put water in it, the water just drained right out the bottom. we figured that the radiator had cracked and that all of the fluid drained out the night before. when in fact the radiator full on broke and there was no way any fluid would stay in it at all.
well i got it towed to a shop, but the shop wasnt going to be open til monday. i talked with my insurance and they said that they would have to have an estimator look at it before any work could be done on it and that he would call and schedule an apointment by monday or tuesday. so all i could do was wait.
monday afternoon i got a call from the shop and they said that the estimator called them and was going to be looking at it tuesday. that was the last i really heard about it til today. i called the shop and they said that the girl handling it was at lunch but that she would call me when she got back. they did mention that they had gotten a fax from the insurance this morning which is good because now they can actually do some work on it. the sucky part is that i havent had a car for a week now. im flying home tomorrow so hopefully by the time i get back it will be all taken care of and fixed.

stupid raccoons.

the weather has been hot! they have had record highs here on colorado for june. the daily temperatures have been in the high nineties on a daily basis. this can really suck if you work outside like i do... but since i havent had alot of work over the last week ive survived it quite well. this last weekend was one of the more boring ones ive had since ive been here. it seems like i had 4 days off in a row. they lost a few of the salesman so the amount of work weve had has gone way down. they say that they are going to have another couple guys come out but who knows what will happen. im sure they will start selling better to keep us busy.

well the summer is more then half over for me. im scheduled to be here til the end of august which is only 2 months away. my mom is excited. she hates it when im not close to home.she still doesnt know that im coming home for the 4th which will be a good surprise for her.