Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Ghost Hunting - Getting Ready 10/29/2010

Ghost Hunting- Kinda

So last Friday Erin adn I went ghost hunting... or rather we tried. We started out at Theorosa's Bridge. This bridge is where supposedly this woman threw her children in the water and drowned them and then felt so guilty and sad about it that she took her own life and so now she walks the bridge calling out to her children and if you say to her, "Theorosa I have your children." She's supposedly going to attack you and throw you into the water. Well, that didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. When we got there, there was a kegger going on and behind us I heard the sirens of cops and so that was our cue to leave. So we decided to go to this cemtary that is supposedly haunted but we were given the wrong directions and my GPS had been sent back to the manufaturer getting fixed so we without a lot of help and so we got frustrated and just ended up at a cemetary that we did know and apparently you aren't allowed in this cemetary after sunset but there isn't gates to stop you so we wnet in anyway and just did a few quick videos. It wasn't much but you know it was fun so thats all that mattered.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Monday, September 6, 2010

Never Know What Life's Gonna Throw A You

So by now most people know that my mom has cancer. Well, this I've known for a while now. My mom and I are good friends and so she tells me before she tells important things before most people and sometimes certain people take offense to that. So I should start with the story, otherwise you'll end up lost and confused and you'll be saying, "What are you talking about?"
OK so my mother told me about the cancer and the surgery over a month ago and she asked me not to tell anyone here (the family) because she wanted to herself and she wanted to do it all at once. Which is understandable because if it were me, I wouldn't want to have to repeat it a half a million times. So she was planning on making a trip down here to see everybody and tell them at the family barbeque. However she couldn't make it and so she asked me to get all four of my brothers and their wives together for 15 minutes, that's all she was asking for, so she could tell them something very important. And she said I couldn't tell them what it was about because she wanted to. So I called all of my brothers and all of them agreed on a day and time and I thought that was good. Well one of them didn't like that I was keeping information from him and he tried several ways to get it out of me but he couldn't and so he gave up; or so I thought. He started asking around from everybody in the family. Asking if they knew what was going on and if they knew they had to tell him. well this started getting everybody worried asking mom what's up and the usual questions when you're curious. Well no one knew anything and for some reason someone told him that mom was dying. Well on Friday as soon as I get back to the Chinese Kitchen and I'm serving customers (by myself with no help during the lunch rush I might add) he comes storming up to the counter and starts yelling at me saying its all my fault that mom was dying and that she was sick. If I had told him she wouldn't be dying, and going on and on. Basically saying it was all my fault. Well I didn't like it but I with as much dignity as I could muster at the moment I told him he needed to leave because I was working. He wouldn't leave and he had to be escorted out of the store. So I finished up the lunch rush and I was called upstairs. I almost lost my job because of him! You know I don't go to his place of work and yell and scream and harass him so what gives him the right to do that to me? I understand he was angry and upset. But his source of information is usually wrong and he should've checked that story with mom or even me! I would've cleared up that she isn't dying. That would've calmed him but he doesn't like to listen to reason very well.
Obviously I had to call mom and tell her what was going on. I was near to tears at that moment. When she found out she got so stressed and upset she started crying and told me to cancel the get together with my brothers. She did what she didn't want to do. She had to call and tell everyone indivually because by this time Patrick (my idiot brother) had started caliing people and telling everyone the wrong information. It takes a lot to get my mom to cry and so you know how much its hurting her when she cries.
I thought that wuold be the end of it but no. When everyone found out that I already knew and didn't tell them they accused me of lying to them and they said it was all my fault she was sick. Except my three other brothers and their wives. They understood that it wasn't my news to give but everybody else victomized and blamed me for evrything that was wrong with my mother. And no matter what I told them or my mother told them they wouldn't listen. So needless to say I didn't bother to even try and go to the family's Labor Day barbeque. I purposly traded shifts with people so I would have a valid excuse not to be there.
So, you may ask why I bring this up. Well, I'll tell you why. So I can say this and hopefully iot will get across to, not just my family, but to other families who are dealing with this right now.
Here's what I have to say to those who would blame for their mother's cancer or even just her general health:
Get over it! If you wanted to be told how your mother's doing, call her! Don't wait for her to call you! You have her phone number and a working phone so get off your lazy backside and call her! Its as simple as that! And, this is just my personal view on the matter, if you aren't willing to give your mom 15 minutes of your busy life then what right do you have to demand to know whats wrong with her when you haven;t spoken to her months?!?!?! Also, just becasue you're angry that you can't do anything to help her don't take it out on someone who was doing what their mother wanted them to do. Its unfair and puts not only me in an awkward position it makes your mom feel terrible. That is not what she needs at the moment. What she needs is your support and by putting your anger into breaking down someone else you're hurting everybody else.
That's just something to think about. I needed to get that out there because I can't tell my brother this because he's been avoiding me after his blow up and so I need to get that out becasue I am so stressed out I'm not sleeping anymore, I'm not eating, I can't focus and I'm always on the verge of tears. I can't serve a customer anymore without wanting to bawl my eyes out and I'm always looking out making sure that Patrick isn't going to come in and make another scene. As much as I hate my job I need it.
I'm sorry I unloaded this on you but I didn't know what else to do. The church here still treats me like garbage and the Bishop didn't know that I even exsisted until a few months ago and I had been there over a year. I can't talk to any family here except some for my brothers but we all have busy schedules and barely have time to see each other. So all I can do is vent on here and hope that maybe it will help me feel better. And it does. Not always but its working just a little bit at the moment.
So I hope your lives are going better than mine is at the moment and if there's one thing that I want you to take from this is to talk to your family often and see how they are because you never know what life is going to throw at you.
Catch Ya'll Later

Friday, September 3, 2010

Part III

OK so its been a while (life throws a whoel bunch of stuff in the way sometimes), but we left off where I had just gotten a nanny job in New Jersey and its the Monday after thanksgiving and I have 1 week to leave.
So anyways, I'm nervous as I'm heading out there because those thoughts that are there for the purpose of making you second guess yourself decided to pop up on during the flight out there. You know the ones that go: "what if this is a trap?" "Maybe this lady is someone who prays on girls like me and gets them to accept a job and then when I get there she sells me to some faraway country as a slave or something?". Hey, it's happened to people before me. But when I landed and I got there, the moment I met her I knew she was a wonderful woman who would never sell me into the sex slave trade. I get there and its the middle of the night but thats ok and the next morning I start my job and I meet the oldest child. He is awesome! That's all I can say about him. The moment we met it was like instant chemistry. He was 5 years old and in Kindergarten and he was the sweetest kid and he and I hit it off immediately. He became my favorite; I know you're not supposed to have favorites but that's what it was. After I took him to school I met the two youngest kids. A boy and girl. The little boy was 16 months old and the little girl was 2, she has CF but you would never have guessed it the way that she ran around and played with the other two. I fell in love with all three of these kids. I guess that I was the first nanny they had ever had and they didn't know what to expect from me as I much as I didn't know what to expect from them so it was a good mix because we all got to know each other pretty well.
So it had been a few weeks and we had celebrated Christmas (my first one away from home ever). And I was given New Year's weekend off so Matt, Jared, Kristy, myself and one of the their friends, Jeff all went camping on the farthest east shore in Maine that we could get to. We decided we wanted to be the first to welcome in the new year. We weren't the only ones with that idea and we met a few interesting people there on that shaore around our bonfire we had going. It was a great time had by all. During this weekend Jared and I got to talking about my script and he said he was in suspense with it. "I really want to know what happens and how it all fits together." So after that weekend I started writing more into the script. If you know me I don't give my writing out because I'm always second-guessing myself and I always try to touch it up beyond recognition. So I send it to my best friend Bethany who knows my writing style and gives me honest feedback and so for the next couple of months on my time off I would write if I wasn't busy.
They were a few crazy months because I had every weekend off. Friday after I would pick up the oldest from school I would be off at 4 pm and I would take the train up to NYC where Matt and everybody else lived and we would go and do everything. We didn't just stay in NYC though. Matt had a private jett and we'd all go on weekend trips to so many different places. we went to Miami, Los Angeles (where Jeff lived-he's another part of the story), Maine, Tennessee, Austin, Dallas, down to Cancun, out west to Oregon (we went sky diving there), up to Niagra Falls and then over to Vancouver, down to D.C. and a whole bunch of ohter places that were just so much fun. and then I had to be back to work at 7 am Monday morning to relieve the weekend nanny from her duties and then I'd take the oldest to school. It was fun and yet in all of that I had time to do writing.
Well during those few months Matt and I broke up but he and I are still good friends and he is actually getting married to Kristy in a few months and so I can't wait to go to New York to attend the wedding.
Well, it was a good run but one Friday in March I was at my job and Aryn (the other nanny) had just gotten there and it was a nice day so we took all the kids out to the back yard (it was also spring break so the oldest wasn't in school) to play. The snow was melting so it was kinda slippery on the porch. Well I slipped and fell off the porch. It was a 4 foot drop that just winded me but the oldest thought that it was a fun game that I was playing and so he jumped on top of me and I was laying on uneven ground and the moment he lands I hear a sound I never want to hear again. it was like some sick sound bubble wrap just got burst open and I heard it five times. the next thing I know I'm screaming in agony and I'm crying my eyes out because it hurts so much and since my boss isn't there the gardner and the chef rush me to the emergency room. They do X-rays and they tell me I have 3 broken ribs on my right side and 2 broken on my left. They gave me pain killers and told me they couldn't wrap it because it could make it worse so they said to not lift anything heavy and don't drive while taking the pain killers. Well that kind of doesn't work when you're a nanny. But since Aryn was on break for 3 weeks she said that she would take over for me while it gave me time to heal. However the way that I broke them it took over a year for them to fully heal so I had to leave that job because I couldn't pick up the 16 month old without hurting myslef. It was sad to leave because I absolutely loved that family, they became a part of my own family and I still talk to them at least once a week to see how everybody is doing.
While it was sad to leave it was even sadder to go to Kansas. I had always told myself I was never going to go to Kansas because then people get stuck there and I had plans and dreams that I needed to do. Well, I get there and I get a job at the Chinese Kitchen at Dillon's and its an okay job but I'm still looking for a nanny job because it what I know and what I enjoy doing. Well about 3 months after moving there Jared comes to town and wants to see what else I've been writing. I'm embarrased to say I had nothing. But you see, here in Kansas I haven't gotten inspiration for anything new, haven't had any urge to work on my old stuff either and so it was a bad trip for Jared but I promised myself I would find a time at least once a week and write, I would take a few hours and I would just sit and write. And it worked, I didn't have any huge big idea but I got some small ideas to work with and I was asked to write an episode for NCIS and I did and it was one of the most exciting things that has happened to me.
It was during the summer and I had flown out to LA to see Jeff (he at that point in time was my boyfriend). I got to go meet some of the people on the set of NCIS while they were filming my episode and I was just in heaven. This is one of my favorite T.V. shows and has been since it first aired back in 2003. So it was a great weekend. The next weekend wasn't so great. I was checking my emails and I got an email from Jeff. No subject but I read it. It wasn't very long; only two words. It said: "we're done." That was a big blow. I was actually developing strong feelings for this guy and he goes and does this to me. I'm not gonna lie, at first I thought it was a joke so I called him and he wouldn't answer and so I emailed him back asking what was up and why would he do something like this. It was three days later and Matt calls me with news. Jeff had gotten some girl pregnant and he was now with her. He didn't have the guts to tell me to my face that we were over and then I find out what he was doing while I wasn't around. It hurt.
I got over it but, because of the way that he and ended and what I found out afterwards, I lost some friends over it. The girl he got pregnant was a really really good friend and I shared with her a lot of things however, now she won't speak to me. Some of the people I knew because of him wouldn't say two words to me anymore. I've forgiven and forgotten though and the people who really truly mattered stuck by me and helped me through it.
So I go back to writing and I get a call from Jared and this is the message he leaves: "Elizabeth! Big news! Paramount wants to make your screenplay into a movie! Call me as soon as you get this." So I called him and set up a meeting and after a few months of negotiations it fell through. And then around Christmas time I get the same message from Jared only this time instead of Paramount it Jerry Bruckheimer. I'm not gonna lie, I was in a state of complete shock. This guy is my idol I absoilutely love his work. So we set up a meeting and we start putting things into motion and the next thing I know I get a call from Jerry saying, "I've got Cameron Crowe who want to direct this film what do you think?"
"What do I think?" I was extatic! cameron Crowe is my faovrite director of all time and so i was thrilled. I got off the phone and I just screamed for like 5 minutes straight I was so excited.
This brings us to where I started this story. well its been a few months since then but the studio decided that this wasn't going to be put up for production in 2011 like they originally said it was and now they're thinking about putting it up for 2012 production. I really hope I get it. If not I know there are other studios out there and it is actually being passed around to other studios as we speak but I can't put all my hopes into this one basket so for now I'm putting it on hold and I'm finishing shcool (don't get me wrong if they want to put it into production I'm not going to stop them), I have a full scholarship in Arizona however it doesn't include housing so I'm trying to put enough money into savings to help while I go to school. I leave for Arizona in July of 2011 and I'm excited. I can't wait to leave here because I know I can't do very much while I'm here that helps me towards my goals and so I'm being proacttive and getting them fullfilled myself, even if it means scrimping and saving and occaisionally going without dinner. However, I've moved into my grandparent's house and so they keep me pretty well fed and support my decisions even if they don't like my dreams and goals too much.
Well that's that story and whatever happens next, I'm ready for it. So bring it on, whatever it may be.
As always,
Catch ya on the Flip Side;-p

Monday, June 21, 2010

Part II

So where was I? Ahh... well after telling me how wonderful a writer that I was, the head agent told me that she would be the one representing me and not Jared. Well, I didn't like that idea at all. You know she can tell me what a great writer that I was and all of that but I didn't know her, I didn't know if I could trust her. And I told her so. I said, "I don't know you as a person. I'm sure if we were to run into each other on the street and we didn't know each other you would be all polite and maybe even stike up a conversation but I don't know that for a fact. So I would feel more comfortable with Jared representing me. I don't want you to take it personally but if I don't feel comfortable with you I'm not sure that I would feel comfortable with my screenplay in your hands."
She was quiet for a moment and then she said, "He is only just starting out and inexperienced I know you don't want that for your career. I am only looking out for your best interests." Well this went on in a go around between us for like an hour and finally I said, "If you really want the screenplay to come from one of your agency's clients you are going to have to let Jared represent me, otherwise its not happening." Needless to say she refused. So I was back to where I started with it a jumble of ideas without a real story. However, Jared, still believing that this could be the next big thing helped me to go through all the proper channels and helped me copy right it. That set me back a few dollars but it was worth it. Apparently the head of the agency was trying to give out the idea to another writer who she represented and I was able to make sure that that didn't happen and she was not very happy at all.
In all of this Jared had to find another job because the head of the agency found out that he was helping me and fired him. You have no idea how bad I felt for it. I hated the fact that he lost his job for helping me when I was really a nobody. But he told me it was fine and that as long as I would recognize him and thank him in the credits of my movies and let him represent me he had no problem with it. So I knew in him I had found a true friend. Plus he got a better job, He wasn't happy before with his job and so this new place was a step up and that agency is actually the agency that represents me now.
So after all this had happened it was around Christmas time again. It was at this time that I started getting calls from colleges trying to get me to go to their schools. This was a difficult time because there were several colleges who wanted me and were willing to pay for me to go to their schools. However, me, being the stubborn person that I am, wanted to go to the school that wasn't willing to pay for me because I thought that they would put a better emphasis on what I wanted to do with my career choice. Yeah, they just screwed me over. I could've gone to Princeton, Yale, Harvard, NYU, Brown, Stanford or even elite colleges in the UK. They were willing to pay for all of my tuition and fees and I just went against all of that to go to school in San Francisco where I didn't even go for a full year and I had to take out major loans and I'm still trying to pay from my pocket the stuff the loans wouldn't cover, about $40,000. So I learned from that experience and I am still learning from it. Now through this I am still working on the screenplay and I am coming up with scenes and getting it worked into a full screenplay.
By this time its graduation time and I graduated in the top ten of my class and I graduated with honors because I had finished two years of college while going to high school. Plus since I did speech contests our school was the only school in the area to go to nationals and place and there were only two of us competing and we both placed in all of our categories. In the Individuals I got a Division 1 rating in Acting, Prose and Radio. I got the number one performance rating from all the judges and so I won that award as well. In the Large Groups it was just Kris and I because we were the only ones in our school interested and we got Division 1 ratings in Ensemble Acting (we can now never ride a Ferris Wheel because of this one but that's another story for another time), Improve (I don't know how we did it because he kept making me laugh), Radio, and Theatre. We also won number one performances from the judges as well. Since they were both during the same time as a school we had the most Division 1 rating than any other school throughout the U.S. and so we won the most coveted prize of the contests. Kris and I were the only ones in the history of our school to ever do that and our school was a small 1A school. We were competing against 4A schools and so to do this was amazing. The reason I bring this up is because who presented us with our awards. It was Cameron Crowe. Now he is one of my favorite directors ever. He has an amazing eye when it comes to film and I have admired his work since I was 10. Now Cameron Crowe comes in again later on in this story but that is why I brought him up now. I have that picture of him and Kris and I and it is one of my most prized possessions I kid you not.
Anyway, I graduated and less than a week after that I was moved out of my parents house and I moved in with my aunt for about 6 months as her nanny again in Indianapolis. So yes, I got be with Matt again for the summer. Now for my graduation my oldest brother couldn't be there because he was in Iraq for a second tour of duty and that hurt. Of all my siblings he and I are the closest even though there is a nine year age difference. He has always been the one who I tell everything to first, even before my parents. You know how a lot of girls are worried about their boyfriends meeting their dads? Well I wasn't worried about what my dad would think about my boyfriends I was worried about what Vincent would think. (Though lately I'm more worried about the current guy meeting my parents just because he's FBI and my parents have a problem with not liking law enforcement officials). Well, since Vincent couldn't be there his wife brought me the present that would help me with my career. A video camera (were talking professional 16mm camera with the works) and a computer. Now this was a big deal for me. This helped me to start my videos that I had originally planned this blog for.
So anyways, it was the middle of the summer and Matt and I flew out to LA for the weekend to chill and meet up with some of our friends who were living out there (Jared was one of them). While we were there Jared took me to meet the heads of the agency that was representing me and I knew the moment that I walked through the doors that it was a good choice because I felt at ease and there was no pressure from anyone. It was totally opposite from what I felt when I was talking to the other agency. I got to know the heads and I instantly felt like I had known them my whole life. Greg and Amy were amazing and it was as if they knew me. We were there for a couple of hours and the four of us went out for lunch and by the end of it we had set a date for another get together and they set me up with a meeting with the producers of a new T.V. show. I went to meet them later that afternoon and by the end of the day I was asked to help write one of the episodes. This short lived T.V. series was called 'Related'. This series lasted a whole 5 episodes and the two episodes that I wrote by myself were never aired but there was one episode that was aired that I helped to write and it was last one that was aired before the series was cut. This was an amazing time for me. I wasn't in LA full time at the time it was a lot of email and phone calls and faxes because I was still a nanny and I was barely getting paid for writing but it was worth it. So after this it was the middle of October and I was in the middle of my online classes (through San Francisco) and I went home for a couple of weeks because my brother had a three week leave from Iraq and he came home and so I wanted to go see my brother. So I left my aunt's for a couple of weeks and went back to Iowa. It was at this time that I was having trouble with the programs on my computer and so I was lucky enough to have friends who would let me use their computer to do some assignments in order to stay in school and get a good grade (Thank you Frisbies!).
So after those few weeks I went back to Indianapolis and it was at this time that I went to the nanny agency that my aunt used when she was a nanny before she was married and I knew that this job was close to an end because the boys were in school and I was needing a better paying job because I had a lot of things to pay off (school). After about a month nothing was coming of this and i was going to different places in Indianapolis looking for work. I was looking for anything; I would go to Burger King one day and Kroger the next putting in applications in. well it was close to Thanksgiving and one of my visiting teachers invited me to go to Niagara Falls with her and her kids for Thanksgiving because they were driving there and her youngest has Autism and whenever I would baby sit for them he and I got along great and he was always asking for me. So I said I would. I wasn't going to go to Iowa or Kansas so I figured it was something that I could do and a new place to visit; plus it was Niagara Falls. I mean come on who would pass that chance up?
We head up there the day before Thanksgiving and we get there and I immediately hit it off wonderfully with my visiting teacher's sisters and mother and their spouses. Abby was Susan's youngest sister and she's maybe 8 years older than me and she lives in New York City so since I visited there sometimes she gave me her address and number to call her the next time I was there. Anyway, we had a great time and it was during this time that I got a call about a nanny job in New Jersey and I got it. It was great because I had just about given up and was ready to accept a job as a custodian (I hate cleaning if you were wondering). So after that I had 1 week until I left and I had to pack up everything.
Now I could tell you what happens next but I like keeping people in suspense and also I am really tired and I have to work tomorrow so I will say good night and let you mull over all of this.
Nighty night!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

With Every Triumph There Is A Something To Bring You Down To The Place Where You Came From (Not always in the best places)

OK so by now you will probably have heard that I am in the process of having one of my screenplays made into an actual movie! That is amazing to me and I am still finding it hard to believe that it is happening. Of course there is always the chance that things won't fall into place and it won't be made at this time but I am trying to stay hopeful and trying not to get over excited about it. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning, and tell you how this is developing.
This started in 2006/2007. It was the winter of my Junior year in high school and I had a really really bad sprained ankle and I was bored out of my mind because I couldn't do anything. This was during Christmas break and so while my sisters got to go and visit everybody and go shopping I was stuck at my grandparents house. Now don't get me wrong, I love my grandparents and I enjoy their company and we can always get some good card games going; you know some Oh Shaw, B.S., Montana Rummy, Texas Hold 'Em, 5 Card Stud Poker, 21, Black Jack (yes I play poker with my grandparents), Rook, Phase 10, and even some high stakes games of Old Maid. (We are a pretty competitive family). And as much as I love them you can only play so much without getting bored out of my mind. So in order to go Christmas shopping I had to ride in the store wheel chairs and I refuse top ride in the motorized wheel chairs because I think that they should be used by those who actually have limited mobility in their arms. So in order to get the gifts for my parents they couldn't be around as I bought them and so as i struggled with trying to get items from the top shelves and asking for help from other customers and being totally embarrassed as these cute guys are helping me and saying how bad the other guy was and all that good stuff that would've been great to hear if only I weren't in a wheel chair. Well I was starting to form my ideas for this screenplay as I was wheeling around Wal Mart and then around Dillon's and then around Alco (there is only so many things you can get at certain stores).
Being in the wheel chair made me realize how people, who use wheel chairs for life, feel and act around others. This made me think about diseases and accidents that put people in these chairs (it was a very depressing Christmas for me with all the pain medication and limited mobility I was kind of out of it too). This lead me to having a strange dream that played out to be what my screenplay is now. You see the thought of a disease restraining a person gave me the idea for a movie. What if a disease just started in a random place or somewhere in Venice because of a strange wind that blew in from no where and only landed at certain places. This caused certain people to get really sick and while a few died from it most lived and left their faces and bodies covered in strange blemishes. This causing the people who didn't get sick to ostracize and cast out these people who were infected. In some places this caused the town's influential people to "erase" the effected ones. This would mean a variety of things, such as just killing to experimentation. During this there were those who fought against the city and if they tried to hide the effected ones they were thrown in prison or killed. It makes me think of the genocide that continues to go on in many countries to this day. Anyway, the town becomes isolated and no one is allowed to leave unless they have certain permits and if they tell anyone about the disease they will be found and thrown into prison. Well the FBI starts to notice that people keep disappearing from this town in Missouri and send someone to investigate and that leads to a discovery of where all these cases through out history have mysterious disappearances in many different countries and the FBI agent that was sent teams up with one of the people fighting to keep her family who was effected by the disease safe. They travel through many places and end up in Venice and find out that this was where it all started in the 5th century A.D..
So I won't give all the details of the storyline away, but it sure made the rest of my vacation go by faster.
So after Christmas break my ankle healed and so I got back to my life; school, chorus, speech contests and the screenplay went on the back burner. Well that summer of 2007 I was in Indianapolis as a nanny for my aunt's kids. Well I had a lot of free time on the weekends and so I went out met many new people. I started dating this guy (Matt) and he introduced me to his friends. Now there is something you should know about Matt, he comes from a wealthy prominent family in Indianapolis. So he had the money, the cars, the right connections,the everything you could ever want. Well one weekend we flew out to New York City to his place that he had for when he was in school (he was a med student when I met him). One night we went out he introduced me to his friend who is now my friend and agent. He is an agent for screenwriters'. Now I didn't tell him I wrote at the time but apparently Matt did because after that weekend Jared (my agent) wouldn't leave me alone. I kid you not about a week after I got back to Indianapolis I get a call from him and the first words out of his mouth were, "Why didn't you tell me you wrote screenplays?" Well I had several that I had finished and he said to send him one and he would tell me if I could send it around to movie producers or even Broadway. So to get him off my back I said, "Fine." Well I didn't give him one of my finished ones. I am very protective of my work. I had chosen one that was unfinished but with a title. It was "Avenging Sorrows". Well I was on the verge of sending it to him when my eye caught the edge of the screenplay that I had started at Christmas. That's right I the twisted one I was telling you about. I decided that you know even though this piece wasn't finished, mostly plot lines and only a couple of finished scenes, and without a title I would send it to him. I don't know why but I felt I should do that. So I sent it to him with this note:
"Jared,
You wanted a piece that tells you the real me and how I write well this is it. Its unfinsihed and without a title and only plot lines with a couple of finished scenes, but its one of my better ones and it shows who I am as a writer.
-Elizabeth"
Well I had emailed it to him and I didn't hear anything back from him for about a week. Then just the day before I left Indianapolis to go back to Iowa to finish my senior year of high school I miss a phone call from Jared and he left a message telling me to call him back. I didn't get that message until I was in Iowa two days later. And even then I put off calling him until I had finished unpacking and getting ready for school (I got there the day before classes started and I still had to choose all my classes plus register for college classes). During this I was talking to Matt and then he started telling me that Jared was calling him telling Matt to tell me to call him. So finally when I got a break long enough (about 2 weeks later) I called Jared and got his voicemail. He called again and it went back and forth until finally about the end of September we were finally able to get ahold of each other and talk. It turns out he was impressed with the scraps that were my screenplay. he said he was so impressed he took it to LA where his offices are and gave it to the head of the agency and she loved it so much she wanted to talk to me about it. So I get ahold of her and she is so nice and super supportive. She loved it so much that she wanted me to get it copy righted so that it wouldn't get stolen when they were passing it through the Hollywood and the Broadway scenes. At that I said, "What? Why are you going to send through Hollywood?" She said, "What you have is a rare gift, not many people can be so honest with words. What you have is not finished by any means, but a lot of directors love the ones that aren't finished because they can get a feel of the story and come up with their ideas for the movie. So what I want is for you to allow us to represent you and get this out into the hands who can make this into something big and get to the people to enjoy." So I said, "What?" I know I'm kind of slow that way, but I just couldn't believe that someone would rave over one of my pieces, especially an unfinished piece that was originally started on a napkin (I still have it). This was where the road block started but I will post the rest tomorrow because I am tired and I have top get up in a few hours for work.
Catch Ya on the Flip Side ;-P

Monday, May 17, 2010

Update On My Heart

So it has been awhile since I told you anything about whats going on with me healthwise. I went to my heart specialist last Wednesday. And she had good news for me! I was there for three hours and my heart was checked every 5 minutes and in that entire time they only heard my heart skip around twice. This is amazing the last time that I was there every 5 to 10 mintues my heart would skip around a lot. It is amazing what 1 1/2 months of excersize and eagting right can do for you healthwise. Not only am I down to a size 12, but I am allowed to eat up 115 grams of processed sugar a week that is ruffly 15 grams of sugar a day. However, I'm still trying to not eat any processed sugar because while I am allowed it, anymore it doesn't taste the same. However, I stil drink a coca cola once a week; I can never give that up, its my favorite. My doctor is slowly taking me off my nausea medication that I was on and its really hard. Its not that I was addicted but because the medicine has caffine in it and apparently it was what was keeping me up. So I am having trouble staying awake. Yesterday was really hard. I had to get up at 8 am to go to work at 9 am but I didn't hear the alarm go off and I woke up a half hour after I should've been at work. I was only at work for a couple of hours, but I was falling asleep as I was cooking with hot flames and it was definately not safe. After work I promised my sister-in-law that I would go to her Premiere Jewelry party because her best friend was hosting it and I would be there to help make sure that people would go and have fun. (There's another part to that but I will tell at the end of this entry). Well the party was fun and I got some great jewelry but I was just soooo tired that I left early and I went to go take a nap. Once I hit my pillow at 3 pm I was out until well past 10 and I needed to go over to my brother's because I let him borrow my car during the week since I can walk to work. Well when I got to my brother's I was asleep instantly on his his couch and now I am just waking up. I keep some of my work clothes here at his house so its okay but I know I am going to need to start getting something that will help me wake up because I can't get up and excersize at 4 am because I am dead to the world. This is the only drawback to the whole taking me off the medicine plus I am still very naucious but I am trying to get off of it because of the addiction factor. This is a very addictive medicine and my body is already started to get addicited to it.
But other than all that I am doing great. I have now found a way to start making a little extra income. I am going to be selling Premiere Jewelry. I love the jewelry, I always have and since I am trying to earn money for a mission and college I believe that by doing this and another full time job I can succefully earn it. So if you or you know anyone who want to have a Premiere Jewelry party let me know. Plus I am sure my mother has told every one back home that I am moving back to Iowa before I go on my mission. So if anyone in Iowa wants to do a party let me know and I will let you know how to get free jewelry by hosting a party!
Anyway, I should sign off. I need to get ready for work and I am still trying to wake up. But finally my health problems are starting to disapeare and I am glad. So I will catch ya on the flip side;-D

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Divorce Agreement

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let's just end it on friendly terms.. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don't like re distributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.

Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O' Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens.

We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks.. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.

You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N.. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.

We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute 'Imagine', 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing', 'Kum Ba Ya' or 'We Are the World'.

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot.

Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in 15 years..

Sincerely,

John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand , Jane Fonda Shean Penn & George Clooney with you.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

My Bad Weekend

My entire right side is black and blue. It hurts to sleep and the only way that I can is if I take a half a vicodin and even then I wake up if I roll over onto my right side in so much pain. This is all because of my manager. Friday afternoon, I worked with him. Now you should know that he and I aren't allowed to speak or even interact with each other. We have to have the store managers back in the Chinese kitchen with us at all times or another employee so that he doesn't start critisizing me until I'm at the point where I either walk upstairs to complain to the store managers or I just start yelling at him. More often than not, anymore, I start yelling at him and our arguments are heard throughout the entire store. And this store isn't exactly small. We're talking larger than a super super Wal Mart. So its pretty big. Well on Friday afternoon before I went on my lunch break the store manager had left for 5 minutes and so she had asked one of the girls in the deli to make sure he and I didn't talk to each other. Well he had spilled some Teriyaki sauce and so he asked Steph to tell me to clean up the spill. I said ok because I didn't want to argue Friday and I was tired and I was getting ready to go on my hour lunch break so I said I would do it.
So I go and get the mop and I'm almost to the spill and I have to walk by him. I get next to him and out of no where his foot comes out and he trips me! On purpose!. So I fall head and right side first into a giant pool of Teriyaki sauce. Now this was in plain view of Steph and the store manager because she came back at that moment, and the surveilance camera is right there. Now it took me a few moments to get up but I could already feel my side starting to bruise and there was pain in several areas of my body. After I got up though my entire side went numb. I couldn't feel my right arm for about an hour.
Now you'd think that since this happened in front of so many witnesses that something would've happened but no. He gets a slap on the wrist and suspended for the day; while I have to cover his shift and mine. I never got a break to go home to change and no one was scheduled to close with my on Friday night so I was there until after 11 pm when I should've been out of there by 9pm. When I finally got home the first thing that I did was look in the mirror. My entire right side was completely black. It looked dead. I fell so hard that it broke one of the wires in my bra. I have often tried to take out the wires because they hurt me and it is next to impossible to do. Now does that tell you how hard I fell? Well I went straight to the emregency room because I could hardly move and it was hard for me to breath. So not only do I have major bruising but I also have two cracked ribs (the same ones that I broke last year on my right side but in different spots), and a dislocated shoulder. They took pictures and police were called. When my brothers found out they wanted to go after him but no one knows where he lives and the ones that do are on his side and don't like me so they would never tell me or my brothers where he lived (which is probably a good thing considering my brothers have beaten a few guys until they were in the ICU because these guys hurt me). The entire store is divided on the issue. See half the store hates my manager and the other half are good friends, including one of the store managers (coincidently the same one that was observing us on Friday). I went into the store for my shift this morning because I wasn't allowed to take it off and I had to take the police report with the photos in this morning. When I found out that Dat (my manager) was going to be back today I told them that they had better put me in another department today or else I would be leaving before he got there. Well three people decided to call in "sick" and so I had to work with Dat for a few hours. (I am just so grateful to my brothers for coming in the store this morning to stand around and make sure that nothing happened. Dat is terrified of my brothers and my dad, as he should be and so whenever they come around he goes whiter than a sheet of paper and retreats to the back of the kitchen). I was supposed to work until 6 however the other store manager is on my side of the issue and so she helped me to find someone to cover the rest of my shift for me. I owe Justin a lot for taking over the rest of my shift. He doesn't even work back in Chinese kitchen, he works in the meat department. Today was the only day this week that he got to see his daughter and he spent half of the day working for me. I don't know what I would've done without him today. (I owe him big time).
So now Dat and I definately aren't allowed to work together so I'll be working salad bar all next week in the times that I am scheduled to be working with him. That's fine with me though, I love working salad bar. And the produce manager and I have been friends since we were 6. Plus he's on my side of the issue.
To make my day even better on Friday night I get back to my brother's because he used my car to go pick up his kids for the weekend (he wasn't even able to get him but that's a whole other issue that I just don't like discussing), and he tells me that my car has a slight whine to it and he wants to check it out so he drives me home and picks me up so I can go to work (my roommate was the one who took me to the emeregency room). Well when I got off work I went home to let the dogs out and change because my uncle's 50th birthday party was today at the lake. I turned the key in the ignition and that "slight whine" my brother mentioned was actually a roar and my lights were going off that shouldn't and then it just shuts down. See what happened when my nbrother went to Texas was he hit a rock on the way back and now my car doesn't work. Just when I think that I'm getting things all paid up and ahead of everything I go back to being broke and stuck in this town longer. Now my brother is paying for the damage but still I currently have no car and I live on the other side of town from where I work and from where any other job that I can get is. And Newton is a railroad town. There is a trian at least 7 times a day and there are 5 different sets of tracks. So walking is pretty much out of the question.
I just can't seem to catch a break these days.
However there were highlights to the weekend. The first my mom came to visit on Friday for the weekend so she was here through this, that helps. The second was today during the party there was a pinata that was unbreakable by the people under 18 and some of the adults who went before I did (there wasn't even a bit of damage done to it.)So I get up its my turn and I let all my frustrations out on that thing. My family has told they will never ever make me mad after they saw what I did to that pinata today. I was still going at it after it broke. I guess what my brother told me, when I first found out about my heart condition, was true; I just need to get a punching bag and take out my frustrations on that at the end of the day and just imagine who I would like to be beating up at that moment. Because after I the pinata I played some softball with everyone and after a while people got tired of me hitting every ball into a homerun (not my teammates though, they appreciated it).
So after all the tripping and police, and hospitals, and pinatas, and softball I hurt a lot and it wouldn't hurt so much if I didn't work at Dillon's.
So I hope your weekend was much more funner (yes, funner is a word right now) than mine was.

Friday, April 16, 2010

A Little Bit of Venting (feel free to ignore but I need to vent)

Ok I am sick and tired of my manager telling me I'm worthless and that I don't know how to do my job. Yesterday, I opened up the kitchen and I was ahead of schedule on everything and so I figured I would get a little extra work done that has been needed done for a couple of months now; you know our deep cleaning like washing the walls and vents and organizing the filing cabinet. Well, when my manager came in the first thing he did was get on my case for not having our cold to go meals out. now You should know our cold to go meals take about an hour to make because we have to chill them for about 45 minutes befaroe we can put them out for the public. Well when he came in they were in the blast chiller and before I could tell him that he got on me for something that I never did and that isn't in my job description. He got mad at me for not going to the morning meeting. Well the thing is I'm not allowed in the morning meeting with all the other departments because its for the manager not the assistant manager. The only exception that I would get to that is when he goes in for surgery and then he'll be gone and I will take over for him while he's gone.
Then he goes and complains to the store managers that I'm not doing my job and that its my fault that we're losing sales when in actuality its his fault! This is true, I have several customers come up to me and ask who cooked today and if it's Dat who cooked they won't buy anything. His food tastes like burnt rubber no matter what dish it is. He is just so mean and nasty towards me. Of course when the store managers are around he's the perfect employee but the moment that they're gone he turns back into a monster. I swear he's bipolar. And no matter how many times that I complain about him or any of the other employees complain about him our complaints go on deaf ears and we get written up for his mistakes. I'm sick and tired of it. It got so bad yesterday that at 5 pm I went upstairs to the store managers and told them flat out I was leaving for the day (there were 3 others there so I didn't leave hanging) and that if Dat ever puts me down or critisizes me personally again I was leaving without any notice. They said that they would talk to Dat but since working with him today he was just about as bad as he was yesterday. I went home crying last night, it was that bad. I'm sick of the crap that goes on. If the company would notice that since Dat has been here only four of us employees have lasted more than a year. Everyone else just leaves because they don't want to put up with his crap. The sad part is that if I didn't need this job I would've left ages ago.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

9 Things That I Hate About People

This is anote that my cousin wrote on Facebook and I think that she got it from someone else but i read this and I had to share it. Please excuse some of the language. Its not a lot but I know that it can offend. So without much further ado:
9 Things That I Hate ABout People:
1. People who point at their wrist asking for the time... I know where my watch is pal, where the heck is yours? Do I point at my crotch when I ask where the toilet is?

2. People who are willing to get off their buts to search the entire room for the TV remote because they refuse to walk to the TV and change the channel manually.

3. When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too". Darn straight!What good is cake if you can't eat it too?

4. When people say "it's always the last place you look". Of course it is. Why the hell would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they?

5. When people say while watching a film, "did ya see that?" No Loser, I paid $12 to come to the cinema and stare at the damn floor!

6. People who ask "Can I ask you a question?"... Didn't give me a choice there, did ya sunshine?

7. When something is 'new and improved'. Which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before it, couldn't be new.

8. When people say "life is short". What the hell??? Life is the longest damn thing anyone ever does!!! What can you do thats longer?

9. When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks "Has the bus come yet?" If the bus came, would I be standing here???

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I Love Surprises!

I LOVE surprises! (For the most part). Take last night for example. I got off work really late and it was a bad day at work yesterday so I was not in a good mood when I got off work. Well, anyway, my brother needed my car today so he dropped me off at my house since I'm off work today. When I got home, I walked in the door and there, talking to my roommate is Jason! Now for those who don't know who Jason is, he is one of my very, very good friends. He lives in Washington D.C. so I don't get to see him all that often. He's here because he has to do an investigation in Wichita (he's FBI). So we spent all night talking. And this morning I got up at 4am to do my regular excersize routine. Since I didn't feel like going to the gym this morning I just ran a few miles since its so nice outside and the bike trail and river are right by the house. Well Jason came along since he runs a few miles every day. I totally showed him up and he was out of breath way before I was even thinking of being out of breath! I was pretty excited. See he's Army trained and has to stay in shape since he works the homiced unit at the FBI so it takes a lot for him to get tired so I was on top of the world. He was impressed but doesn't think I'll be able to do it again tomorrow... I'll show him!
I am so happy he's here. I can't wait until he gets back; I'm going to take him to Hillsboro tonight to meet some of my friends before I tell my brothers that he is here. He and my brothers get along great so whenever he's here I wait a few days to tell the that he's here because I never get to see him when my brothers find out, they always monopolize his time. Oh well, at least they don't hate him and is always threatening him like some of my other past boyfriends.
Like I said at the begining, I LOVE surprises and it has made my day pretty good. So I hope your day is great and I'll catch ya on the flip side;-p

Monday, March 22, 2010

Nobody Seems to Get It

You know, I try to be patient and I keep on trying but no matter how long I wait and no matter what I do I still can't get a job. I have been trying to get a nanny job for a year now. And nothing. I have had a few hopefuls but as of late no one seems to want me. Its not as though I don't have experience. I have had lots of experience. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm trying too hard or maybe not enough but whatever it is I want this waiting process to be over and me to have a good job! A job that doesn't stress me out so much and I can stop going to bed crying at night because my life is so stressfull and nobody seems to get it. Don't get me wrong, being here with my brothers is great and I get to see my nieces and nephews all the time but man, I just keep thinking this wasn't what was supposed to happen.
I know people get tired of my complaining, even I'm getting tired of my complaining, but what am I supposed to do that I haven't already done?
I have been to every business around here looking for a job so its not just nanny jobs I'm looking for. I'll take anything at this point. I know I haven't had that much experience in the job market and employers look at my nanny experience and they go, "Oh you've never had a job before", and so they pass over me. I mean come on! Child care is just about every job out there. There's cooking, cleaning, organization, chauffering, there's child care itself, there's time managment, record keeping, doctoring, you name it and I've done it. So why can't people see that? I'm starting to think that this world is very biased. If you have job experience in the "real world" then you can have a job but if your resume incldes nanny or child care then you haven't worked at all.
I don't get it and I probably never will but I guess I have to keep on going and keep on trying.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Changes

Okay, so some of you may or may not know but since October I have been a red head. Yes, I dyed my hair red. I let my friend who is a student at the Sidney hair salon school here in Kansas dye and ct my hair hair because no one else would let her come near them. Now I loved being a red head and Nicole did an awesome job. However, I have been missing my blonde hair so she dyed it back to blonde for me. Either this week or next new I'm going to have it cut. I don't know whether it will be drastic or not but I want something to show off the new me. I haven't felt or looked this good in ages and I hope that this is a step towards being a new me. A me that I can be proud of and not be too shy to let anyone in. A me that can get a new job that doesn't stress me out. A me that I will love and not hide.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

An Update

All right its been a few weeks since I've posted and I just thought that i might share some of what's been going on. Since the whole diagnosis I have undergone some major changes in my life. I have cut all processed sugars (even the less than 2% in certain items). This has taken a small toll in my wallet but if its going to help me then I'll keep it up. I have continued to excersize for an hour and do another hour of yoga every morning. This has helped me to lose a lot of weight (no complaints on that part). I have gotten past my plataue of a certain size. I have never been able to get smaller than a size 16 jean size. I have gone past that all the way down to a size 12 and I am super excited about that! I have stalled a little bit but that just tells me I need to change up my routine a little.
I have had trouble still trying to get stress out of my life. A lot of it is my boss causing me to not be able to yell at him for blaming stuff that he got in trouble for on me, but that's a whole 'nother story. I have been working a lot of over-time lately because our assistant manager is on maternatiy leave and the manager is out for surgery which means I'm the only other cook left and so I get a lot of hours. Its good for my pay check but bad for my stress levels. Just a couple more weeks of that though.
The one thing that keeps me going is knowing that the second weekend in April is pretty big for me. I get to go home for the weekend and I am sooooooooo excited for that. I miss everyone back home! Yes its true. I'm going to be leaving here the 9th after I get off work and then drive up to Iowa with my brother (long story on that part), and I will be there for the 10th, 11th, and come back here the 12th. So if you want to see me then you should totally let me know!
I better go, life goes on and I have a job interview in the morning before I head off to my current job (fingers crossed I get this one). So you guys have fun, enjoy life and what it has to offer.
I'll catch ya on the Flip side;-)

Friday, February 12, 2010

A Diagnosis

I have a small heart defect caused by repressing too much stress over a long period of time. I found out on Wednesday. While this is treatable I still have to be very careful. I have to find an outlet so I don't cause any more problems to my heart and I may have to have surgery on it within a couple of years if it doesn't improve.
While this may be dangerous I'm still going to try and get a positive out of this. I have to change some of my work, social, and personal habits. The doctor told me that since I have been excersizing for an hour five times a week this time it wasn't really bad but it could have been worse. So I'm going to keep up my excersize routine but adde other things too it rather. Before I was doing 30 minutes of cardio and then I would do some abdominal excersizes and weight training for 30 minutes followed by 15 minutes of more cardio. Now I'm going to keep the abdominal and weight training and 30 minutes of cardio but I'm adding another 30 minutes of yoga. This will help me to clear my mind and relax and get ready for the day (this is all done at 4 am monday through friday). On Saturdays and Sundays I will be doing 30 minutes to an hour of yoga. I am also going to be walking more; but at a desirable pace to stop and enjoy nature. I'm going to get out my bike and since the new bike path is ready I have a nice visit with nature while going on it.
Its not just my excersize routine thats changing its my eating habits too. My doctor said that I needed to hold a little bit of the proccessed sugar and so I decided to quit all proccessed sugars. Its hard but I want to be able to fulfill my dreams and plans you know. Since I'm a vegetarian I have to make sure that I'm getting all the protein and other nutrients that I need on a daily basis. My work habits are going to be hardest to change because I need to keep up my hours so that I can pay all my bills but I have to either switch jobs or switch departments where I work because the Chinese Kitchen is just wrecking havic on me more than anything else. I still baby sit all my nieces and nephews because that isn't stressfull to me; quite the opposite really. I feel more relalxed whenever I babysit actually.
I have to change the way I think of thigs too. I like to do and then think but now I need to think before I do somethings, like if I want to go sky diving. I can do it but I have to make sure it won't be at a stressfull time like there's a major family thing happening (yes I love sky diving, I have gone several times).
While I'm making these changes I know I'll have trouble but I know that I will have Heavenly Father there to help me and I know I have the support of my family and my friends.

Monday, February 8, 2010

All I Ask

Hey guys.
So for a few weeks now, as some of you already might know, I've been really sick and haven't known what is wrong with me. I've been rushed to the ER twice last week alone. I've gone to the doctor almost every single day last week and I've been poked and prodded by so many needles that my arms, hands and feet are permanently brusied, so they seem anyway. However in all that they still don't know whats wrong with me. I have been given medicine for the symptoms but they cause the other symptoms to get worse and new ones arrive. I'm not contagious so I do work but its really hard to. Last week I passed out at work and that was one of the times that I was rushed to the ER. On Friday, I went to a specialist. An oncologist. Tomorrow I'm supposed to get the results back. I'm really scared. I don't know what to expect and I don't know what I'm going to do should something really serious happen.
So all I ask is that, when you say your prayers, would you spare one line for me? I'm really scared and could use all the prayers that I can right now.
Thank you in advance.
-Elizabeth

Monday, January 18, 2010

Interesting Conversation

Sometimes I am just amazed at what people will tell me when I serve them at work. I work in the Chinese deli at Dillon's. Sometimes people will tell me about their day, others will complain to me about their kids or something they can't find in the store. During some of these times I wish I had a video camera to capture these moments.
Take for example today. It was really REALLY slow today. I believe that we had a total of 50 people all day. There were a couple people who just really cracked me up. The first customer that I served today was was the funniest that I have met in a long time. She was really busy and her phone kept on ringing but she kept trying to have a serious conversation with me about the horrible weather and how the dense fog is such a bad thing for the environment and the how its messing up her cat's digestive cycle. It was hilarious!
Another person I talked to today was a regular of ours. He's deaf and I've learned some basics of sign language and I tend to mess up some of the signs sesame chicken and anything that has chicken in it. I don't know I just mess up signing "chicken". It comes out meaning something totally different. Like today it came out "cleaning". I don't know where that came from it just happened. All I know is that this guy just totally busted up laughing and I felt foolish. Ah well we figured it out in the end. We had a good laugh about it though.
However, I really wish that I had a video camera on Thursday night. It was winding down after the dinner rush and this one older gentleman came in in a motorized wheelchair and he had on a breathing tank and he was in a talkative mood. After I finished serving him and rang him up he started talking to me about college and what I was planning on doing with my life. I told him about my filmming and how I loved making documentaries. I told him that I'd like to do a documentary on the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and everywhere else and how this affects the women who serve while they're there and after. Well anyway, he thought that was a great idea nd he started talking about his time when he was stationed in Germany in WWII. I learned so much from him in a span of about 30 minutes and I know that if I could talk to him longer I would get a lot of good stories out of him and learn so much about the stuff that we didn't see in the press. It was amazing. He told me of some of the families that he helped and the people who served with him. He told me in particular about this one family. They didn;t speak a word of english but they were so greatful to him and the unit that all they could do was cry and hug them. In 1984 he recieved a letter from the youngest child in the family. He had grown up and he had moved to America. He was living in New York and he had found this man who saved his family and he wanted to thank him. Last year he came to visit this gentleman. This was awesome to me. I got to talk to a real hero. A man who sacrificed 5 years to help these families in Germany and Austria. He gave up 5 years of seeing his family. He gave up seeing his first daughter born and the first few years of her life. This man is a true hero. I would love to talk to him again and I can't wait for him to come in again so I can talk to him some more.
I learn so much from some of these people and other people I just want to laugh at. Although there are days when I just want to yell at some of these people and tell them to grow up!. Oh well, people are people and everyone is different. I guess we just have to put up with everyone else because they put up with us right? Before I close I just have to ask of you parents and guardians this, "Please don't allow your kids to put their hands and faces on the glass case because it is horrible to clean up. Also please don't put your hands on top of it either, I have to clean that and I can't totally reach the top with out a step stool." Anyway, I look forward to Wednesday and the new people to make me laugh and the new lessons to learn, and the interesting people to meet.
I'll catch ya on the flip side!-p