Monday, September 30, 2019

Vol 2 Issue 27

Pic of the week 


Newest member of my growing plant family.  A friend was getting rid of this awesome mug and gave it to me with a little baby spider plant in it! Way cute!

Quote of the Week

"Freakin' heck!"

- 11-yr-old girl sitting behind me on the plane in response to discovering that the iPad may have been left at home.  I'm not used to fake swearing and it made me laugh.


What's going on?

What a week!  I flew home from Utah on Monday and basically immediately became the busiest human.  Kidville, tutoring, Story Pirates, birthday parties, dinner with friends, resisting the urge to spend money at Downtown Disney.  The struggle is real.

At Kidville we have a small boutique in our lobby where we've typically sold Melissa & Doug toys and books and the like.  We've recently decided to start selling party supplies instead as we do birthday parties on the weekends.  We're stocking a bunch of stuff from Meri Meri and it is honestly all the most adorable stuff that has ever been created.  My manager and I spent several hours hand-writing prices on a bunch of stuff and I'm not even mad about it.  Mostly because I love my manager and we get along great. Anyway, if any of the 17 of you who read this buy any of their stuff I hope they give me a commission.  Or at least a free robot toy.

I'm deep into uploading photos to the cloud.  I tackled a bunch of photo CDs from my time at Hale Theater and it made me rather nostalgic for that place.  I really had a lot of fun there.  Also, I was hanging out with a dear Hale friend this weekend and she posted some video or something to Instagram of us and someone commented on it and said, "Is that the Man in the Chair from Hale?!" and I guess what I'm saying is I'll never do anything as good as that show and I peaked at 27 and it's a heavy burden to bear, ya know?  So now I'll go back to making fart noises for kids and be content.

What I'm reading

This article was rather interesting.  And many, if not most, if not all of the women in my life can relate and have some interesting and depressing stories about it.

What I'm watching

More Dark Crystal!  I want it to never end!!!

What I'm listening to

Climate change activists.  Let's get it together, y'all.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Vol 2 Issue 26

Pic of the week 


Driving up to Salt Lake from Provo on a rainy morning and this little hill looked like it was frosted.  It made me smile.

What's going on?

Y'all.  The new Dark Crystal series on Netflix is so fun.  I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I LOVED the movie as a kid and this is just more of what I loved about the movie and so I'm loving it. Love.  It's beautiful and imaginative and fun and everything I'd want out of the series.  So.  Recommended.

This weekend was Grandma B's big 80th birthday celebration, so I flew out to Utah to help celebrate and see family and friends and eat too many treats and it was great. Being a heathen these days, I'm used to things being open for business on Sundays and I forget that many many things are closed on Sundays in Utah and I sometimes forget to prepare for that because all of my favorite cookie shops are closed.  Luckily I got in a couple of delicious cookies on Friday and Saturday.  I just happen to be in the mood for a cookie today and nothing is open.  *le sigh*  That's probably for the best.  Heaven knows I don't need a cookie.

Today is the official last day of summer. So, even though the majority of citizens in the United States don't experience fall in the traditional sense, BRING ON PUMPKIN SPICE EVERYTHING!

I got some wifi-enabled light bulbs recently that can pair with my Alexa device and I LOVE them.  Now basically all of the lights in my bedroom are voice-activated.  It's so so nice.  If you haven't done this yet, can't recommend it enough.

What I'm watching


This was so good.  Go see it.

What I'm listening to

Vulfpeck radio on Spotify.  Super fun, kind of eclectic music for a day of piddling around the house.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Vol 2 Issue 25

Pic of the week 


I finished my puzzle and hung it on my wall and I am in love.  It looks so good!!!

What's going on?

Pretty chill week, y'all.  Pretty.  Chill.  Week.
I spent a lot of my time getting my piles and piles of photos organized.  I want to digitize it all so I don't have to have hard copies of everything taking up space in the closet.  I was planning on just taking pictures of my pictures, which I know is not ideal, but then a friend who works with cameras and such said I should really scan them.  So.  Now I have to figure out how to make that happen.  Perhaps I'll snag myself a scanner from Craigslist and then sell it again when I'm done.  Craiglist is a wonderland, I'm telling you.  Also, going through bunches of old photos is a trip.  I found a photo of myself holding a falcon, or something.  I have ZERO memory of that happening.  And, fun fact, we took a lot of photos around Christmastime, but not a lot at other times of year.  Makes sense, just something I thought was interesting.

Honestly, I can't believe we're already halfway through September.  How did that happen?!  Also.  Can it please start to cool down?  I know most of you are already experiencing heavenly temperatures, but September is prime time for summer temperatures around here and I'm done.  Bring on the sweater weather. 

Not much else to report, really.  All of my plants are still alive, and I think that's worth celebrating.

What I'm reading


I really like everything this guy writes.  His worlds are so imaginative.  I'm only two chapters in so far, but I'm excited to see where this one goes.

What I'm watching

3rd Democratic debate.  No surprises here.  And honestly, I don't know that these debates are changing anyone's mind.  They're all just the same talking points and canned responses, but I watched it anyway. 

What I'm listening to

Jazz radio on Spotify.  Real fun and interesting mix of music.

Monday, September 9, 2019

Vol 2 Issue 24

Pic of the week 

My friend Toffer is currently living and working San Diego and came up to hang at Disneyland for the day.  My pass has been blocked out all summer and is finally unblocked!  Hot tip - the Tuesday/Wednesday after Labor Day are some of the best days of the year to go to Disneyland.  It was pretty dead.  Like, the brand new Millennium Falcon ride at Star Wars Land only had a 40 min standby line dead (we did single rider and basically walked on).  Like, pushing 100 degrees and the standby line for Grizzly River was only 10 minutes dead.  Also new and fun - there's a geyser at the end of Grizzly River that sprays up, but generally stops when a raft floats over it.  That did NOT happen when we went on the ride and we got SOAKED.  It was awesome. Here is evidence:



What's going on?

Aside from a magical day at Disneyland, I had a busy week of work and travel.  I went to Las Vegas to do a professional development workshop with some elementary school teachers and had a total blast.  We were training them in how we teach narrative writing and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Had a couple of auditions this week - neither of which panned out *shrug* and did some more ultrasound patient work.  This time they were looking at my heart, and according to the cardiac specialist who was training the doctors in using the ultrasound machine, my heart is in great shape!

And I bought some more plants.  Trader Joe's even had a Monstera plant for $10!  They're usually, like, $40!!! But I think I'm basically done with plant purchases.  My room is looking more green and lovely.  I might still need one more tiny succulent, but overall I'm happy with the life that's happening in my bedroom!  Now it's time to see how many of them survive.

What I'm watching


Heads up that there are some swears, but overall this movie was delightful. 

What I'm puzzling


This is one of my all-time favorite posters.  (It's a whole series, and they're all awesome.) My friend Mariah gave it to me in puzzle form for my birthday and I'm FINALLY getting around to putting it together. When it's done, I'm going to frame it and hang it on my wall.  I'm very excited.

What I'm listening to

Here's the deal: (heads up that I'm going to use the word "Mormon" here in a way that Mormons aren't going to like, and isn't agency wonderful?)  In the last few years I've been listening to a lot of liberal/fringe/progressive podcasts around Mormonism.  I think there are some fascinating ideas out there, and ways of looking at the faith I grew up in that are new and exciting and vibrant.  One thing that has come up time and again in these podcasts is the idea that Mormonism is pretty terrible at talking about sex.  And I have to agree.  That's not to say that the doctrines and beliefs Mormons hold around sex are bad, just that the way we teach and approach those doctrines and beliefs is problematic and damaging.  I can speak to this from personal experience.  All this is to say that I listened to a series of episodes on the Mormon Sex Info podcast (hosted by licensed sex therapist and active member of the church Natasha Helfer Parker) about pornography and sexual messaging in the church and I think they should be required listening for every parent and leader, and really every member, in the church.  You can find them here.  Episodes 18, 20-22, and 33-34.  I think if you get them from this website, they're $1.25 per episode, but you can download episodes 18 & 20-22 for free in any podcast app. Mostly I highly recommend anything Natasha Parker does. Also anything Jennifer Finlayson Fife does.  Her series "Ask a Mormon Sex Therapist" on the Rational Faiths podcast is awesome.  These two women should be speaking in general conference.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Vol 2 Issue 23

Pic of the week 


I made this! From scratch! I've been looking into getting a bookcase for a while and saw this really cool one on Etsy that I LOVED, but it's so expensive!  For a plywood bookcase!  And I thought, "I could make that.  For probably, like, $100."  So I did!  It's not perfect, but I am over the moon with how it turned out and pretty proud of myself for making it happen.  Especially since I basically built the whole thing with nothing but a jigsaw and a drill. (I did end up purchasing myself a circular saw - Craigslist for $20! - toward the end, which helped with some of the doors and stuff). I learned a lot in the process, and will probably make some more stuff at some point in the future because I also really enjoyed making it!  If I ever have the space, I may build some furniture as a little side gig.  Who knows!  Also.  I'm going to turn my mate (MAH-tay) cups into succulent planters.  CUTE!  Here are some pics of the process:







Also.  I had enough wood left over for a matching little side table. 



And I still have a plank of wood.  What should I make next?!

What's going on?

So many things!  It was a very busy week.  During the summer, we at Story Pirates like to check in with everyone since it's our slow time and see how everybody's doing, and how their last year has been and what goals or hopes they have for the year to come.  It's really fun, and also pretty time-consuming.  I started having some of those meetings this week, along with starting up new director training, and also putting together an After Dark show.  Most of our Story Pirates shows happen during the day, at schools or performing arts centers or what have you, but every once in a while we do a show "After Dark."  Traditionally these have been shows exclusively for adults - still family-friendly shows, just no kids allowed.  But since Story Pirates is growing and becoming more and more recognized, these have turned into family shows that happen in the evening.  Anyway, we haven't really done them a lot in LA because of a lack of space etc.  But we found a space and decided to go for it.  And it was a blast! 

All of that Story Pirates madness was mixed in with some hours at Kidville, a tutoring student, a job at UCLA medical school where I pretended to have a cough, some Shakespeare, and working on that beautiful bookshelf up there.  Also.  I seem to have come down with a cold here toward the end of the week.  But whatever!  Life is fun!

What I'm watching


This show is so good!

What I'm listening to

This episode of the podcast Revisionist History was fascinating (as are most, if not all of the episodes of Revisionist History).  I found the part about people's propensity to assume truth especially interesting.