I'm BACK

It's been a while. And I apologize. Remember how my life was super incredibly boring and I had nothing to do but blog and fiddle around on my guitar? Well, unfortunately, those days are long gone. I can barely even remember them now.

Basically, I have just been working my little ginger butt off trying to get enough money to pay my rent. I hate being grown up and having to pay for everything. It sucks. 

Last week though, I got a bit of a break. I got my wisdom teeth out. So really it wasn't a break, just a different kind of torture. I was way freaked out to get them out, I've never had any other kind of surgery before and I hate needles and such. I know it sounds lame, but the part I was most freaked out for was them putting in my IV. Just thinking about it made me a little queasy. Once I got in the operating room, they told me they were going to put it in, so I looked away, and felt a teeny little prick in my arm. That was it! The IV was in and I was ready to have my mouth cut open and teeth ripped out of my head! I really don't remember anything after the IV until about noon the next day, from what I hear, I slept a lot. Spoke a lot of gibberish, and was very entertaining. All of last week is pretty blurry, that's what Loritab does to you I guess!

I like Loritab.

Probably a little too much :)

Today I had to go back to work, and it almost killed me. 

Going from being a drugged up vegetable to a hardworking citizen is not a fun transition. Not at all. I only worked a six hour shift and I barely made it through.

Thank goodness I don't have to work again until Wednesday.

Other than that, not much has happened in my life. It's been pretty boring. As any college-age-girl-living-at-home-in-utah knows very well. 

I miss Logan. I miss my roomies. I miss people. 

The only people I get to talk to anymore are Bulgarians; which are awesome- I just miss my college peep's.

Moral of This Story: DOn't get your wisdom teeth out. Keep your wisdom.

The End.

Theme Park Cookie Toss

As many of you know, I am working two jobs this summer: one as a ride operator at Lagoon, and one as a sales associate at Gymboree. I thoroughly enjoy both jobs, but on days where I have to go straight from one to the other...things can get a little interesting...

Yesterday was one of these days.

I worked a shift at Gymboree, getting all trained up and such, went home and at a delicious lunch of chips and guacamole,and I then I had to scamper on over to Lagoon. 

And things started to get ugly.

I started off my shift fine, I got all clocked in, got to the ride I was operating for the day, and got to work.

I was having a pretty fun time. Everyone was being really friendly, no one yelled at me when I told them they had to wait for the next train, and lots of people complimented me on my hair - which is always nice to hear. 

Then, I started getting nauseous. And dizzy. And my head hurt like the dickens. 

This is not a good combination, especially when you're at work.

I kept drinking, and trying to stay in the shade as much as possible, telling myself that it would blow over soon.

It didn't.

Three hours later, I was in really bad shape.

I called my supervisor, and told him what was going on. He said that one of the relief operators could finish my shift, but I'd have to go give the girl running the Turn Of The Century swings her break before I could leave.

She wanted a half hour break, I thought I could  last that long.

( thought being the key word in that sentence )

I started loading people onto the ride, checked all their harnesses, and was just about to start it up when I got that feeling.

That oh-my-holy-crap-I'm-going-to-puke-right-now feeling.

I had nowhere to go- I was locked in my little operator booth and the nearest trash can was forever-far away. 

I panicked, my stomach lurched, and I did the only thing I could...tossed my cookies all over the ground.

Puking is NEVER an enjoyable pastime. It is exponentially worse when you're vomiting in front of hundreds of people.  

I can only say that I'm in no hurry to EVER do it again.

After I finished emptying the remains of my digested guacamole onto the ground, I called my supervisor and told them I needed someone to replace me. He said someone would be right there.

In the meantime, I was stuck in a little booth with the remains of my lunch, while people stared at me with mixtures of pity, mirth, and disgust. 

It was not fun times.

My supervisor came fairly quickly though, and I was soon on my way home where I spent the remainder of my night sleeping.

Today I feel much better, and luckily I don't work at Lagoon again until Thursday. I can only hope that the story of my cookie-toss didn't make it very far.

Moral of This Story: I'm not eating guacamole for a while.

The End.

Train Station Epiphany

My life is finally picking up. 

Which invariably means that it is also looking up.

Which also means, dear readers, that I am one happy camper.

Tired...but happy.

I worked all weekend at Lagoon, and as far as I can tell, I think I'm going to like working there very much. My favorite ride to work on is by far the Wild Kingdom Train. Unfortunately, I don't get to run said train, I just let people into the station and then load them on and off of the train. I know it sounds fairly monotonous, but I actually really enjoy it! 

I love watching people- not in a creepy/stalker way, I just really enjoy observing how people interact. And in a place like Lagoon, there is much to observe.

My favorite is families with little kids. 

( Again, I promise I'm not a creeper )
The kids are all just so excited! The fact that they are about to ride on a real live train is almost too good to be true! The parents, by this point, are exhausted. Neither can remember exactly why they thought bringing the kids to Lagoon was such a good idea, but they smile and nod with glazed-over eyes, pretending they're listening to the millions of words exiting their children's mouths. Once the children realize that they're being ignored, they turn to me.
This is when I love my job.
In their eyes, I'm not just some skinny, physically unimpressive, ginger girl who could find nothing better to do with her summer than work in a rip-off amusement park. 
No.
To them, I'm a mysterious force, a magical person that can make their dreams come true. 
(Well...as long as their dreams involve riding a choo-choo train)
I know it sounds ridiculously cheesy, but I really like knowing that I have the power to make people happy.
That I can make a difference in someone's life, even if they only remember it for two days. Or two minutes.


When I was standing in the train station, watching children's eyes get as big as beach balls when the train finally came around the corner, I realized that that's what I want to do.
Make people happy.
Make a difference, no matter how small.


This is also when I realized how excited I am to become a teacher. To have the ability to change lives, and make people happy every day!
To be the kind of person that helps children become who and what they want to be. 
That's what I want, more than anything.


Maybe I'm crazy.


Maybe I don't care.

Moral of This Story: It's never too late to have a dream.


The ENd.

"There Ought To Be a 'Captain' In There Somewhere"

Today is a  momentous day. A day that I wait for all year long. Do you know what it is?

If you guessed the Chinese New Year...you're wrong.

If you guessed National Ginger Day...you're also wrong. Because every day should be spent in celebration of gingers.

Nope, it's Johnny Depp's birthday.

I know that was probably the last thing you ever would have guessed, but I happen to celebrate it every year. That's right. Every. Year.

Mock me if you will, but in my opinion Johnny Depp is one of the greatest actors around and the fact that he is ridiculously good looking is just a bonus. A really big bonus. Especially since he's now 48 and still more attractive than most actors 20 years his junior. 

Oh goodness. He's just so darn sexy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHNNY DEPP!!!!!!!!!!!

The End.

Top of The Ten

Nothing incredibly exciting has happened in my life thus far that you haven't already heard about, so I will resort to my ultimate plan B: lists.

My Ten Favorite Movies

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
2. Amelie
3. 500 Days of Summer
4. The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers
5. Edward Scissorhands
6. Despicable Me
7. The Little Mermaid
8. Aladdin
9. Inception
10. The Dark Knight

My Ten Favorite Books

1. Where The Red Fern Grows: Wilson Rawls
2. Dandelion Wine: Ray Bradbury
3. The Book Thief: Markus Zusak
4. Harry Potter: J.K. Rowling
5. Ella Enchanted: Gail Carson Levine
6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Johnathon Safran Foer
7. Catch 22: Joseph Heller
8. 1000 Splendid Suns: Khaled Hosseini
9. Winnie The Pooh: A. A. Milne
10. Oh The Places You'll Go: Dr. Seuss

My Ten Favorite Bands

1. The Killers
2. SHINee
3. Vampire Weekend
4. Super Junior
5. Ingrid Michaelson
6. Regina Spektor
7. Jaymay
8. Louis Armstrong
9. The Airborne Toxic Event
10. Family Force 5

My Ten Favorite TV Shows

1. Glee
2. MONK
3. Big Bang Theory
4. Battlestar Galactica
5. FRIENDS
6. Americas Next Top Model
7. Brisco County Jr. 
8. PSYCH
9. That 70's Show
10. Top Gear

My Ten Favorite Fictional Men

1. Aladdin
2. Eugene Fitzherbert
3. Mr. Darcy
4. Tom Hanson (500 Days of Summer)
5. Damon (Make it or Break it)
6. Prince Henry (Ever After)
7. Indiana Jones
8. Spock (The New One)
9. Captain Jack Sparrow
10. Chuck Bartowski

My Ten Favorite Actors

1. Johnny Depp
2. Zachary Levi
3. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt
4. Rupert Grint
5. Colin Firth
6. Jackie Chan
7. Will Smith
8. Robert Downey Jr. 
9. Steve Carrell
10. Andrew Garfield

My Ten Favorite Foods

1. Shrimp
2. PB&J
3. Sushi
4. Chocolate
5. Dole Whips
6. Pizza
7. Subway's Seafood Sensation Sandwich
8. Bacon
9. Flaming Cheetos

My Ten Favorite Actresses

1. Reese Whitherspoon
2. Catherine Zeta-Jones
3. Kate Winslet
4. Zooey Deschanel
5. Queen Latifa
6. Audrey Hepburn
7. Audrey Tautou
8. Jane Lynch
9. Judi Dench
10. Hilary Swank

I was going to try and make 10 Top 10 lists.... but I kind of ran out of things to list. So I'm going to be done now.

Moral of The Story: 10 can actually be a lot.

The End.

Busy Beginnings, and Also Geese

Yesterday was my first official day working at Lagoon. As far as firsts go, it was a pretty good one! A very long one, but good all the same. 

I got to Lagoon at 7:30 yesterday morning for a training, and then they told me they needed me to work a shift from 10 to 4:30, and after that I was scheduled to work until the park closed. So my first day of work lasted over 15 hours. 

That's a long time.

I worked my first shift as an attendant on the fabulous Wild Kingdom Train! I enjoyed this very much because it involved me working with small children... and trains. 

The little kids were so adorable! While they were waiting in the station they would practically be bursting with excitement, and then once the train came around the corner- a couple of them almost exploded. Yes it was hot and muggy and very, very repetitive, but it was extremely worth it to see the huge smiles on all the little kids faces. 

It made me feel all glowy inside.

My second shift was on the Turn of The Century swings. I still liked working this ride, but it wasn't as fun as the train. I just put people on, pushed a couple buttons, and let them off the ride over and over and over and over again. And all the super adorable little kids were too small to ride this one, so I dealt mostly with insubordinate preteens. 

I tell you what, there is nothing as annoying as a group of 13 year old girls. 

Over the course of the day, I got settled into the routine that I will be invariably reliant on for the next three months: Work, break, work, break, work, break, work, work, break. 

I lead a charmed life. 

My cute little routine was rudely interrupted however, right as I was getting ready to close. My last run of the ride was underway, when something very unexpected occurred. Two geese from the little lake decided they'd had enough of water, and ran up the exit ramp and onto the ride platform! They waddled around like they owned the place, and I had to enlist the help of another ride operator to get them far enough away from the ride that I could start it again. 

It was, in my mind, a very silly experience. 

Moral of The Story: Geese are dumb. 

The End

As Promised

Here's the pic of us with the sexy mandolin player (on the right ) and his twin that played the bass. Enjoy :)

Bluegrass Adventures

Today was a momentous day. A glorious day. Heck, today was even a frabjous day! I had the best of times at the Ogden Bluegrass Music Festival with a bunch of my high school buddies. 

I don't really even listen to Bluegrass. Ever. But when my amazing friend Mckenna asked if I wanted to go- I couldn't refuse. And, all of my dear readers, I am so glad that I went. It was incredibly fun!

We got there, (we being myself, Mckenna, and two of our friends: Emily and Cole) and were instantly greeted with the glorious sights, sounds, and smells that can only accompany an event such as a bluegrass festival. I don't know what it is about these kind of things, but they have a magical atmosphere. 

I think so anyway.

As the day progressed, we ran into more of our friends and we all did what any self-respecting group of young adults would do: acted like fools. 

It all started with a very talented group called Driven who was comprised of five men. Two of which happened to be very attractive twins. Very. Attractive. One played string bass, the other rocked out on the mandolin. I have discovered that there is nothing sexier than a man with a mandolin. We whooped, hollered, and whistled while the men of Driven did their stuff (which they did very well) and once they were done performing...we started stalking them. We followed them all the way back to their tent, and didn't rest until we got our picture taken with them.

Unfortunately, we didn't take them on my camera, so I have yet to gain access to said pictures. In their place however, I have a video of them performing which is almost as good!

After the stalking/picture fiasco, we started exploring the rest of the festival. We made many discoveries. These I DID take with my camera, so I can share them with you now!

The CUTEST pregnant couple I'd ever seen in my life

(I also think this picture could be used as the cover for a young adult novel involving young love, unwanted pregnancies, and bluegrass...possibly called Sweet Song of the South...or something...)

A guitar made out of a cigar box

The coolest/creepiest/craziest/sexiest/scariest denim jacket I've ever seen.

A banjo called Plucky. 

Does it get more precious than that?

Look closely...this man is NOT wearing pants....

The gorgeous Mckenna with a bright green ukelele

My very talented friend Kent can play the guitar with two women sitting on his lap.

I believe this is the epitome of skill.

All in all, I would call today A Success. 

Also, I've been offered a position at Gymboree, I have an interview at the new Riverdale Cafe Zupas, and I finally get to start working at Lagoon next week. 

Moral of This Story: Mandolin > Guitar. Also, life is good.

The End.

I Can't Understand The Songs Stuck In My Head

I know it is a huge pet peeve for everyone when they get a song stuck in their head. At first you really don't mind, you might even hum along or whistle if you can. But after an hour, or a day, or a week of having this song constantly playing in your head, you mostly just want to kill it in some gruesome way. Possibly involving a blender and a curling iron.


I suffer from this, just like every other person, but I have a slightly different problem... the songs in my head are in Korean. Or sometimes Chinese. So when these songs get stuck in my head, it's just random strings of Asian gibberish repeating over and over again. 


Lately, it's been this song:

It's called "Ice Cream" and it's adorable, but very very catchy. The girl is called Joo and the slightly-fruity-yet-still-attractive-asian-man is Leeteuk. He's from my former-favorite boyband Super Junior.

I really don't know what it is, but especially lately I just don't even like American music. It just doesn't float my boat. 

Moral of this story: I need to learn Korean. Also, I'm hopelessly geeky with my Asian fetish.

The End.

Bloggin' 'Bout a Bunch of Bulgarians

I just love it when things are alliterative. It makes me all happy inside.


Today was my 2nd day of training at the fabulous Lagoon amusement park, and what an exciting place to work it is....not. Not really. It's not awful by any means, but the way it is managed is a little frustrating. The whole system is really disorganized and hard to work with. I finally started my training though, and so far I quite enjoy it! Operating rides is a lot simpler than I thought it would be, mostly, I push a button to start the ride and then let go of the button to stop it. Hardly rocket science. 


The people I've been training with are awesome. They are all part of some work/travel organization that brings people from foreign countries to the U.S, where they work for 3 months, and then spend a month traveling across the country. The four I've been working with are all from Bulgaria and they're really cool. There are 3 guys; Yordan, Igor, and Dimitrishnivshnocklevich (I really had no idea how to say his name) and then a girl; Nena. The first day we trained, they mostly just sat there talking to each other in Bulgarian, but today they were a lot more friendly. I like them. Bulgarians are all right in my book. Plus they have really awesome accents. They think that Utah is hot and boring, mostly because they're all old enough to drink in Bulgaria, but not here in the states and they can't think of many other ways to pass the time. I hope I get to work with them a lot, I think they're fun.


Other than that, my life has not been exciting AT ALL, which explains my little lapse in posting. My dad just got back from a two week jaunt in Italy where he had an amazing time. I'm super jealous. The sun FINALLY came out and I accidentally fell asleep on my front lawn...resulting in a pair of bright red calves. Ouch. Also, I totally reorganized my bedroom. I'm very proud of it now. It actually looks like a bedroom instead of the messy cave of a hibernating bear! 


How have all of your lives been? Any amazing adventures? (ooh look at that- I got all alliterative again!) I would love to hear about them!


Moral of the Story: Bulgarians are cool. Not quite as sexy as Asians, but cool. Also...wear sunscreen.


The End.