Well, today is the first time in about 7 days, that it isn't raining. I was just about getting sick of it. But today I was kind of bummed that it had stopped. It needed to be there for me today, my mood was all set for it. No rain. Of course there still maybe time for the rain to fall...it's only morning.

So I was told, rather enthusiastically by Kaya, that I should share the stories of the insanity I call family. Don't misunderstand me, my fam is the best and I love them enormously, but the funniest things seem to happen to them. For instance...

When I was a child, my father used to burn the trash in a barrel. We lived out in the country on a half acre, with nothing around but orange trees. There was no garbage service in the area, and burning it was easier than going to the dump. So Dad was burning the trash one day and he had to go to the bathroom. He made sure the fire was under control and headed inside for a sec. Well, I suppose he just for got about the trash. He went into the studio and started watching a movie. In a few minutes, the phone rang and it was my grandmother who lived 2 lots over. "Tony, honey...are you burning trash?"

"Oh my gosh!" He dropped the phone and ran outside to find the entire back yard on fire. The flames were steadily crawling across the empty lot toward my grandmother's house. Frantically, my dad ran around trying to find our hose, but when he did he realized it was too short to sufficiently douse the flames. He threw the hose down and grabbed my little green sand box pail. Running back and forth from the hose to the fire, he dropped the contents onto the flames and ran back to refill. Relief began to set in when he heard the fire engine siren. My grandmother all 4 feet and 7 inches was standing in the driveway flagging the engine down, as though the smoke billowing up from acre of flaming earth was no indication of where the trouble was. The enormous truck pulled into the driveway and in about 3 seconds they had smothered the inferno. My father stood breathless, sweaty and smudged with soot from head to toe. The fireman's helmet glinted in the sun, "You got a burn permit?"

Dad ran in the house and madly dialed my mother at work.
"Hello?"
"Luce--where's the burn permit?!?"
"What? What's going on?"
"Where's the burn permit???"
"In the desk....wha--"
*slam*

He ran outside permit in hand. The fireman turned it over. "You ever read these specifications on the back here?"

Dad gulped, "Uh, uh--no sir."

"See that you follow this next time. This one's on us."

And with that he climbed into the truck and drove off. I guess you can't be too hard on a guy holding a little green bucket.

"Enjoy the day...those who have the capacity to do so."

"If a problem has a solution, don't worry about it. If a problem does not have a solution, worrying serves no purpose."

Watching a thumb get make-up has got be the funniest thing I've seen in the last month.

--Instructions for Living--

Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

Memorize your favorite poem.

Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you want.

When you say, "I love you," mean it.

When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.

Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

Believe in love at first sight.

Never laugh at anyone's dreams.

Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

Don't judge people by their relatives.

Talk slow but think quick.

When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?".

Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

Call your Mom.

Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

Remember the three R's Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.

Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, his/her conversational skills will be as important as any other.

Spend some time alone.

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Read more books and watch less TV.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll get to enjoy it a second time.

Trust in God but lock your car.

A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home.

In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.

Read between the lines.

Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

Be gentle with the earth.

Pray. There's immeasurable power in it.

Never interrupt when you are being flattered.

Mind your own business.

Don't trust a man/woman who doesn't close his/her eyes when you kiss them.

Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.

If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth's greatest satisfaction.

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.

Learn the rules, then break some.

Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Remember that your character is your destiny.

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Trading in money for opportunity. That seems to be my theme song these days. Less hours at work, more hours at my internship. More hours to the movie, more money to the movie. I have a feeling though, what I am giving up as far as monetary gain is more than made up for in experience. In a perfect world...heh, who cares. The world is not now nor has it ever been perfect. I'm living in this world and I'm learning more than I ever would in a perfect one.

We had a debate last night...Private Ryan or The Thin Red Line...What do you think?

"Chose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
— Confucius

Work, work, work. Seems like everyone's having issues with their jobs lately. I've been having issues since I started working at age 17. Never quite found a job where I liked the ppl, the enviornment and the work. It's all a trade off. But I have hope that someday I'll get close. I've been getting asked a lot lately what I will do when I graduate. I chuckle at that question everytime. The truth is right now I have no idea. My plan is to see where opportunity takes me. I am not at a place where I want to rule ANYthing out. Sure, I know what I would like to do, but it's not the only thing I'm willing to do. I want to learn and live.

"Love...is just love."

Well, I am heading home this weekend as more pre-wedding fun ensues. I think this is my 5th time up as bridesmaid, sheesh I am getting to be quite the pro at this. Anyway, I will have tons to do for "Slipping" (the 411 project I am AD-ing for) when I get back. And until then I just have to deal with my weekend which should be a little hectic, but not too bad. Might go see "Hannibal" if I can get my nerve up :)

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Okay, I love the rain, but even I think this is ridiculous. Ever notice how the rain makes songs more beautiful? Am I alone on this? So many songs have that rainy day sound already, then when your listening to them over the soft whisper of rainfall everything just becomes more real. And all of those songs you thought you were sick of have some renewed value. Anyway, I love it.

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

Ever notice how when you get in the car and the radio is playing softly you can hear the faint strains of melodies over the engine's idle? But the faster you start driving, and the more things you have going on, the harder it is to hear the radio...until the sounds are completely buried by other noise. The music still plays on but we can't hear it because of all the commotion around us. Sometimes I think that is how it is with the voice of God, or your conscience, or whatever it is that comes from within that you listen to. It didn't stop speaking, if you want to hear it you have to slow down. Be still for a moment and let your spirit idle, see what you can hear when you are really listening.

"Every time we change, we escape becoming mere ghosts of what we've been."

OH MY GOSH! I just noticed that for the *first time in my life* my top teeth are in front of my bottom teeth. THAT IS AMAZING! I have always had an underbite...always. Whoa. So I guess these annoying little squares of metal are doing more for my bite than I thought. *shocked*

The elevators all over campus have signs, "AVOID BEING TRAPPED IN THIS ELEVATOR". Nice. As though they think life isn't terrifying enough. Not to mention, the elevators in the Humanities building have long been considered death traps. Everytime I step inside one of them, someone always comments on how unsafe they sound. I know the signs relate primarily to the energy crisis, but still when you have an appointment on the 8th floor you'd almost rather chance it. Luckily, I can't foresee a need to take my life into my hands at this point.

I did a 20 minute relaxation exercise last night. At the time it felt really good, but I didn't think the relaxation carried over because when I got into bed I was very *awake*. However, this morning my muscles feel so loose and relaxed. I know I slept a lot better because of it. In the midst of the exercise I was asked to release everything that was on my mind. This was extremely hard for me to do. I continually had to refocus my attention on the exercise. And it's not that my mind wanders, I just kept thinking about stuff. I turned off the projector of my mind, but the screen never went blank. I was able to finally remove myself from my thoughts, and be "there" for the moment. It was a really great feeling! And it's not often that we allow ourselves a few moments of TOTAL escape from our cares. I highly recommend you all try it. Of course, I wasn't able to do it without a little coaching :) *breathe in, breathe out*

"If vegetarians love animals so much, why are they always eating their food?"

Heh heh :)

"When you tried to kiss me, I only bit your tongue.." --Cake

"Every tomorrow has two handles. You can take hold of the handle of
anxiety or the handle of enthusiasm. Upon your choice, so will be the
day."

Choose the day.

Interesting weekend. Timberly moved out. Jess and I might have found a place to move. The apartment is in total disarray. We are trying to figure out where everything is going to go now that we have all this space. So much is going on right now. This is going to be the most interesting semester I think I have ever had, and I have to find ways to shorten it all. I have to try and wrap up (so to speak) my semester early so I can have my surgery asap. That bums me out. This is a very exciting time and I have to cut it short. I say : Þ to life. :) Ah well.

It's all good though. Everything is all up in the air and for once I am enjoying it. That is unusual for me. I like to have things planned, organized and under control. Maybe I'm changing, who knows, but I am loving this.

I bought the parents tickets to the "Face-to-Face" concert with Billy Joel and Elton John this weekend. So they will be coming down, and we'll probably go do something fun on Saturday. I'm looking forward to hanging out with them on my turf, heh.

I need to get to bed, before I pass out. Love and hugs to all. :)

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize." ~Phil 3:13-14

Major props to "Just Dave and the New Family". Got to check out this awesome blues combo tonight. This band is sure to go places. After seeing just one performance, I would say I am a die-hard fan. (Jess too).

Today is the best day I have had in a long time. It began with a morning of immeasureable beauty. And I got to my work site an hour early, so I got a chance to wander around what is quickly becoming my favorite spot in Orange County. San Juan Capistrano is the most adorable place I have ever seen in my life. I would say it rivals Del Mar in cuteness (sorry Carolyn :) Anywho, my internship started out cool for 2 reasons: 1) Got there early so I got to watch Steve Oedekerk videos. 2) One of my classmates was interning there also. And I did get to talk to the man who puts the "O" in O Entertainment...of course he had no idea who I was, but hey I have a darn good phone voice. Very promising I should say :) I am happy.

Orthodonist decided to try and kill me yesterday. They were just going to take out the wires, make sure they were coordinated and put them back. But for some reason, still unknown to me, the wire WOULD NOT come out. They tweaked, twisted and pulled until I couldn't stand it anymore. Finally, he said, "I can't do this too you, I am just feeling too bad." So he tried to put it back in. No dice. He actually had to cut the wire apart and take it out a piece at a time. Everytime I think about it I wince. He said it was the toughest wire he'd ever seen. Sometimes I think I would've been better off with my crooked teeth.