In no particular order

2008 has been a very interesting year for me.

• I have changed direction a time or two
• Met new people
• Said goodbye to others
• Done a fair bit of painting
• Attended a myriad of weddings
• Took on a semi
• Destroyed the car
• Learned how to really cry
• Laughed at myself
• Been welcomed into the Twilight Zone
• Been spontaneous
• Realized how expensive spontaneity is
• Survived a road trip with my family
• Got promoted (sort of)
• Dealt with my share of crazies
• Had Bosco come back to life
• Saw some amazing trees
• Gushed over a guy
• Built a few bookshelves
• Listened to some rockin' tunes
• Survived that horrible sickness in September
• Never finished that disgusting Theraflu (Sorry Christine)
• Found new things that make me smile
• Became daring
• Participated in witty banter
• Participated in not-so-witty banter
• Danced in the rain
• Ate cow's tongue
• Found the "miracle apartment"
• Got my roommate married within 6 months (Ok...I had little to do with that one)
• Got an amazing roommie to replace her :)
• Plunger Girl
• Bought more tools
• Discovered more about Junior Mints than I thought there could be
• Had a real Christmas tree
• Drove an SUV
• Wanted to de-man someone but refrained
• Laughed at bad dates (afterward of course...not in their faces)
• Went walking in the moonlight
• Found serenity
• Sang for my family for the first time
• Listened
• Spent some quality time ogling Harrison Ford (You know you do it too)
• Got mistaken for at least 20 different people
• Clorox
• Prayed really really hard
• Reconnected with old friends
• Finally secured an embarassing moment
• Went to Music and the Spoken Word
• Bought a lot of books
• Wanted to go crazy
• Spent far too much money
• Drove really fast
• Reminisced
• Found my happy place
• Cursed UTA
• Realized my little brother is grown up
• Heard my sister is having twin girls
• Was told I'm an adorable creature (term of endearment? or reference to alien tendencies?)
• Had an 85 year old man ask me out
• Started a blog (obviously)
• Ate peanut butter
• Won't make that mistake again
• Tried a lot of new things
• Went to the ER
• Listened to the beautiful sound of revving engines
• Missed out on a fair bit of sleep
• Got my braces off
• Watched gas prices go everywhere
• Wished I could vote for Tina Fey
• Got told off by a homeless man
• Realized how truly blessed I am

A lot of other things have happened this past year, and I didn't actually intend for this post to turn out like that, but I suppose it works just the same. To those of you who have been a part of my year, "Thank you".

The Freezer Section

Ugh.

I don't really like making decisions. Ask anyone that knows me, Lisa is not a decision maker!

Whether it be because (A) I really just don't care. (B) Whatever I choose doesn't really matter. (C) I don't want to have to choose between two very different, but very good options. (D) You've already made the decision and you just want me to validate it. Or (E) I don't want to make the decision I know I should and therefore it is easier just to take the cop-out.

I've had to make a lot of decisions about my life that I thought I'd already made before. Re-examining my life and taking stock of myself. Luckily I have had no short supply of "helpful" people offering their advice on what I should change about myself, so I think I'm covered there. Apparently I have a lot of work to do.

One of the more glaring offenses that has been brought to my attention is that I'm not much of a talker. I don't do chit-chat very well. Personally I never thought that having the ability to mindlessly babble and prattle away with people was much of a quality one would want to possess. But evidently I am in great need of it. Obviously it makes me seem unfriendly. However, I seem to have enough friends....so....don't count on me making chatter for chatter's sake anytime soon.

I am going home for Thanksgiving afterall, which will be....an adventure. We'll see what happens. The weather has taken a very wintry turn. I can see my breath when I go walking, I shake because I'm freezing, and the fact that I naturally run about 10 degrees colder than most people becomes very obnoxious this time of year. I unconsciously walk closer to people because even though they're cold too, I know they have to be warmer than I am. I kept running into Kelly the other day and she retaliated by "bumping" me back. She is a tough bumper, I felt like a pinball bouncing across the sidewalk. It was funny though. :)

So...yeah..there you have it, another incoherent, pointless post from yours truly. This is why I'm not a writer.

Some photos of the carnage

My Heap of Metal

My life flashed before my eyes today while on my way to Ikea.

Yes. Ikea.

Colby, Kelly and I all happened to have the day off today and we decided to drive down to Ikea for some things each of us needed. It had started to snow this morning, making the drive a little more eventful than usual. It actually wasn't that bad though. Sometimes it was a little harder to see than others, but generally only when we were behind another car that was spewing slush up into my windshield. Luckily I was able to get into the mostly unused carpool lane and all was well.

Kelly had just made a comment about how she was glad I was willing to drive in snowy conditions because she doesn't like to. I replied that I didn't mind and that it merely comes down to the point that I don't freak out when it snows, which gets drivers into trouble.

As luck would have it, not too much later, I hit some black ice which caused my car to fish-tail. I tried my best to correct it, but the car still couldn't get any traction. The car then turned 180 degrees, pointing us toward oncoming traffic.

Kelly started screaming. I tried my best to stay calm and keep a cool head.

In the lane next to us, which we were quickly sliding into, was a semi truck. A semi truck whose trailer ran over the back seat behind me and the trunk, it also smashed my back window open. At this moment, I knew Colby, who was in the backseat, had to have been dead. Had to be.

The momentum from being released from the semi's iron grasp sent us spinning into the next lane where we were hit by a Yukon. Spinning again, we went through the next lane and came to a jolting stop by crashing into the embankment.

My heart started beating again and I looked around frantically trying to assess the damage and to...well...frankly to do a body count and see how many people I'd killed.

Aside from being terrified, Kelly was fine. Colby I found out, was still alive and was more concerned with our safety. None of us had a mark on us. Amazing.

I managed to open my door enough so I could get out and called the police. The semi and Yukon drivers got out of their vehicles and we learned they were all right too. My car however, was completely trashed. Of course, if anyone's car had to be totaled, I'm glad it was mine, not anyone elses.

I'm glad to know that in the heat of the moment, I can keep a very cool head and remain calm for as long as I need to. Unfortunately, after all the necessary calls had been made and papers taken out, I had a moment to process things, break down, get shaky and nearly pass out.

So after getting checked by the EMT's (a highly exciting experience), filling out the accident report, and finaly being picked up by Kelly's dad, I could laugh about how ironic it was that my car payment happened to be due today. That's what you call karma.

"Leaf" it to me

Well, congratulations to me, I went another month without writing anything. Yet again another example of why I couldn't keep an up to date journal either.
This month has been pretty dang busy, the first part was spent preparing for and attending Christine and Deon's wedding, and then moving Kelly into the apartment. Some pretty nifty things happened during that experience too. I dinged up the back door on my car with a chest of drawers I decided to shove in my back seat (probably not the brightest of ideas), I saw the hugest pumpkin ever sitting in the bed of some dudes truck, I got to watch a bunch of guys be all macho and move an extremely heavy piano, I found out that it is really really really annoying to only have power outlets that don't have the tounge part, I learned that ironically, there is a phone jack in every single room of my apartment EXCEPT for the living room where it would be most convenient, I built two bookcases all by myself and didn't curse at them once (that's an improvement from the last time) :). Moving is fun isn't it?

I love fall, it is my favorite season, everything is so beautiful! The leaves changing colors, that crisp fall smell, sweaters, scarves, the crunch of leaves under your feet, the rustle of leaves in the trees and on the ground, pretty much can't go wrong with the leaves. Although for some reason they make me think of Winnie the Pooh. Odd. Randomness strikes again.

Blue Monday

I would like to apologize to those of you who as of late, have asked me questions and merely recieved a blank stare, confused look, or absolutely nothing at all from me. I have been out-of-commission for about the last week or so with a very annoying cold. Most of it is gone now with the exception of some sniffles and the fact that I can't hear very well because my ears are plugged. I'd like to thanks my roommate Christine for pumping me with liquids and for trying in vain to get me to drink that horrible Theraflu. No offense Christine, I appreciate it, but I still maintain that it tastes like fromaldehyde.

On a much happier note, one of my classes ends in two weeks which makes me very very happy! And suprisingly, when I forgot all about the mid-term and just happened to stumble into class, completely out of it and coughing my brains out, I still got to take the thing and even did better than a lot of the other students who actually studied. Ironic.

And I'm going to toot my own horn here and let you know that I made pot roast yesterday and it was some dang good stuff! I'll never tell myself I can't cook again. Well....that's probably not true, but oh well.

Spontaniety

Yay for spontaniety, it gives us some of our best experiences.

Well, Friday night my friend Kelly and I decided to be spontaneous and made plans to drive down to St. George the next day to go see Les Miserables at Tuachan. Very ingenious. We buy the tickets for the show that night, we're going! After all, the tickets are non-refundable. :)

So after work/meetings the next day, we start out on our journey, very excited, listening to the Eagles as we go. We're pretty pumped.

We're just a few miles outside of Nephi when my car starts to make a funny sound and I said, "That's not normal" in my head I'm like, "Great! A flat tire!" Totally stoked. We pull over and assess the damage. I get a point, it's a flat tire. So we open the trunk to get the spare out, and while looking in the trunk I can't see my jack. Great! Luckily this very nice guy named Cody, pulls over to help us, finding my jack in the process (I felt very very intelligent at that moment). We find out in the course of his fixing the tire that he's from Payson and is on his way to Manti to perform country music for something or other. Very nice guy, totally saved us!

So, spare tire now on the car we drive to the nearest tire place to have them look at the tire to figure out what happened. On our investigation we didn't see any tell-tale signs of a nail or other sharp object that could have caused the flat. The tire guy, we'll call him Bob (cause I frankly didn't get his name, he didn't seem to like lady-folk that much) takes my tire, looks at it and says the magic words, "This tire is completely shot, you'll have to get a new one". Spontaneity just got a lot more expensive. And to think I had just had my tires checked by Jiffy Lube not too long ago. Darn Jiffy Lube.

Of course I bought a new tire and we headed on our way, loaded with a much more interesting chapter for our St. George Trip story. Cautiously we continue, hoping I don't lose another tire. Kelly's version of caution was for me to go the speed limit. Mine was to get to St. George fast and to have the good sense to just let the tires fly off if they wanted to.

To make a long story short, we got to St. George, saw Les Miserables - Which was AMAZING! I loved it! I had never seen it before, didn't really know much about it, but it was spectacular! Made me want to do theatre again. Just a little bit.

In the end, our spontaniety paid off, I had to pay a lot to pull it off, but I think it was worth it!

Jailbait

I went shopping with my friend Kelly yesterday afternoon at the Target in Centerville. She bought bookshelves, I bought a night-stand. Times were good. We also went to Kohl's which is pretty much right next to Target. While standing in line to check out, we were just talking and what not, then it was our turn. The checker couldn't have been a day over 19, but he was friendly and we chatted for a bit while he rung up Kelly's shirt and she paid for it. As we left, Kelly suddenly said, "He was totally flirting with you!"
"What? No he wasn't." My natural response
"He was too! He didn't even talk to the lady ahead of us and then we walked up and he was all chatty and friendly."
Well, I still maintain that he wasn't flirting and even if he was, he's like...19. I then stated that I do generally attract either the really young..young guys or geriatric old men. Such is my lot in life.
It was pretty funny.

Later, we were driving home from dinner, and were singing in the car to a ridiculous song from Cats and laughing about it when I sense some movement from the truck next to us at the red light. I look over and it's this little kid waving at me (I say little kid, he was maybe 12 or so. Little kid). I kinda waved back at him, I figured he'd been doing it to all the cars he'd been next to and I'd give his ego a boost. Wrong move. This young Casanova takes that to mean I'm flirting with him and he yells out his number and tells me to call him. Naturally Kelly and I start laughing histerically. The little kid's brother, who was just a slightly older kid, maybe 16 looked all embarassed and started saying things like "Sorry, he's crazy!". The light turns green and we go. Unfortunately, we hit another light soon after. And there's the truck. Again. Only this time, the 16 year old decides to join in his brothers attempts at flirting. Yeah. We get going again, driving a little faster to get away from these kids, but they follow us. Heck, they were chasing us. We come closer to another stop light and quickly change lanes so there is a lane between us and the truck. This guy in a Toyota Camry that had been behind us pulls up between us and the truck. He looks over at us, looks over at the guys in the truck, looks back over at us and gives us a knowing nod. He then inches forward so that the boys can't see us through his car. Our knight in shining Camry! I rolled down my window and gave him a hearty "Thanks!"
Saved in that moment, Kelly and I felt very relieved and so grateful to that guy in the Camry. Alas, as soon as the light changed the "chase" ensued again causing us to go down side roads to avoid further incidents, but wow. Really?

As Kelly and I recount the details to each other again, I took this moment to restate that yes, I CAN get the really really young ones! Jailbait anyone?

Just a Drip

Life has been kinda weird and unpredictable lately.
Not that it has been predictable in the past, but more so than lately I guess.

My roommate is getting married. Yay! I am very happy for her. And even though "roommate time" has turned into "roommate, fiance and me time" (I have dibs on the ultimate third-wheel title) it hasn't been too bad. He's a great guy, so I guess things could be worse.

I've found someone to take over her part of the lease which is helpful to my situation. She's a great gal and I know we'll have a blast together even though our astounding similarities may cause some desires for space on both sides (As long as I can go for a long fast drive or walk in the dark I'll be okay).

My family is going through a long battled crisis that has been wreaking havoc in all of our lives. One of those, "What can I possibly do to help?" "Nothing" kinda things. So I continually ask the question and I generally get the same answer.

School starts this week, bringing with it so much.....I'm sure there's a word I could use to accurately describe the, stress, happiness, fear, frustration, exhaustion and loathing, but I'm currently at a loss.

We rearanged the furniture in our living room yesterday. Sometimes I just get in these moods where I need to change something and if I don't do it right at that moment, I go crazy. Kind of like how I hacked the bushes in front of our apartment down because I could. Next order of business is to paint the living room. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We've been calling our landlord for over a month now, trying to get him to come fix our kitchen faucet which has hardly any water pressure yet manages to drip incessantly. He must have realized that we were going to keep pestering him because he called back yesterday. How excited am I to see him? Not very.

We were supposed to go to Portland last week, a last hurrah of the summer. Things didn't work out. Oh well, Portland won't get wiped off the face of the Earth any time soon right?

Now that I've been a Debbie Downer for the last 7 paragraphs, I'll knock that off.

A summer breeze is blowing through the trees outside my window and the sound and shimmer or the leaves makes me happy. There are only a few things that make me happier than trees. Camaro's-muscle cars and motorcyles can't really go wrong, Music-nuff said, and Stars. All together it's a pretty sweet combination and causes giddiness that can be pretty embarassing :)

I can hear a motorcycle idling at the stoplight outside. Beautiful. Even the dripping faucet can't bring me down. :)

Lately

I have had the song "Yesterday" by the Beatles floating in and out of my head for the last week or so. Paul McCartney's dulset tones eeking their way into my subconcious. Though I thoroughly love the Beatles, and this song in particular, I must admit that it is slowly becoming quite apparent that in order to preserve that love, it is imperitive that I find a new fall back. So I am taking suggestions.

On another note, I have developed an intense love of trees during my walks around Salt Lake. I find the ones on South Temple particularly soothing and smile-inducing. It's amazing how happy they make me when I see them.