Gone Fishing. Ha, I wish!

Oh, man. I'm alive- don't even worry. I've been busier than I have ever been in my entire 17 years of life, and that really isn't even a lie. If you're really that enthrolled with wanting to know all about my life, you're going to have to hang tight for a little while while I hike my pants back into place. ( I don't think that even makes sense, but you know, I thought it sounded good).

Just so you know, I quit Rib City, got a job and Cinemark 6 a.k.a Water Garden's Theater, AND Flipside Cafe. People always look at me questioningly when I tell them, and this is what I say: GO TO FLIPSIDE CAFE!!! It's so great. Here's their website. And to top it all off I still go to school. Yep . . . shocker, I know. The point is, my schedule is crazy and I don't know how to handle it just yet.

Anyway, I haven't died, I'm just being neglectful of this blog. Or prioritizing. Yep, that sounds more accurate. Sorry. Hang tight, kids!

(:

Give Me a Reason

A little shout out to Shaylee and Sierra Dunyon for showing me this song. I love it SO much, so thanks. (:

A little news: I've been asked to participate in a blog representation by the lovely Hannah over at Stay Gold in Germany. Go check her blog out!

Happy Birthday to Ema yesterday! Boy, I sure do love that girl. I met her near the end of the summer. She is from Sweden and is here on a foreign exchange. She's funny and loving and holds fantastic conversations. She loves to read and write and laugh which is good because I like to do all those things too! (: We went to Rib City for dinner, came back to her house and ate cake, and then met with the missionaries. I had a good time, and I hope she did too. I really hope, though, that her birthday was a good one because she sure does deserve it!!!!


Just a little update of this week: stressful. That one word sums it up quite perfectly. I woke up at 5 in the morning twice to get homework done that hadn't gotten done, and today I stayed after for math help for 2 solid hours: from 2:15 to 4:15, and I would have stayed longer if I hadn't needed to get home to eat and change for work. Which, by the way, was a great time. I'm getting the hang of the menu and the computer and serving, so I had a very enjoyable time tonight. (:  In my World Religion's class we performed the epic Ramayana. . . I sure wish it had gone better than it did. I had this vision in my head (as I always do) and like always my vision isn't put to life. I got called out on my perfectionism, though, through this assignment, and it made me realize that yeah, maybe I am a perfectionist. And yeah, maybe it really is annoying sometimes, but when it comes down to it, the things that I get done gets done well. Also, I learned that I'm better at projects if I'm just doing them by myself. (:

I hope everybody else had a great week. It's always good to have the weekend to just get a handle on things again and be able to start fresh again on Monday. And, if you go to AF and you're reading this, thank goodness Mondays are short days, right???? At least that's what I'm thinking!

Anyway, listen to some music from The Help.

Maybe some Little Women too

They never fail to calm me down.

Au revior

My Name's Sidney, and I'll be Your Server Tonight

I finally got a job.
 After a year and a half of trying, something finally gave.
The restaurant Rib City is the place where it's all at.

Tony, the owner, has had a lot of issues with theft and bad workers, so she only hires based on recommendations. My friend Dani has worked there since she was 15, so all of the recommendations given by her are taken seriously by Tony. Dani had put my name in multiple times over the course of a couple of weeks, and last Monday Dani texted me telling me to come in and talk to Tony- she was looking for two new servers, and this was my chance. The "interview" wasn't really an interview. She asked me what my experience was, when I could and couldn't work, when I could start, gave me a shirt and that was that. I honestly was ecstatic with the situation, and couldn't wait to start.

Last Wednesday was my first day, I went Friday, and tonight as well. Obviously, I have to be trained, and so Carla is the person doing the task. She is fantastic, seriously. She walks me through everything, goes through details, and gives me advice. Her personality is very by the book, do the rules, and do it right. Tonight, there was a new girl training, and so I was put on to train with Becky instead of with Carla. Becky is completely different from Carla. She's laid back, has fun, looks for things to laugh at in everything, and barely gave me any instruction. It really was the best contrast I could ever ask for. I saw two different kinds of serving, two different kinds of personality, and two different ways of handling some of the same situations.

Now, don't think that the training is going all perfect and nothing could be better. In all honesty, this is the most stressful work I have ever experienced. There is so much to remember. I have to memorize the menu, know the specials, know the portion sizes, know how to work the computer, remember all the orders, be personable but not too annoying, help the kitchen run, balance tables, and work quickly. I feel like everything cancels each other out, so I am going in circles. Really, it's just new and I have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm faking it until I make it. It's going to take time, and I can already see it's going to take a lot of long, hard, exhausting nights until I get it down and good. It'll all come eventually- I just don't want that eventually to be forever away. Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist, anyway.

In the grand scheme, I am so glad I got a job. It's something new and it's stretching me very hard. Wish me luck- come visit me sometime! Rib City does make the best baby back ribs. (:

January 12

I think I'll probably always remember January 12th. In my personal records and memory, it will always be a highlight. It began as any other Saturday: waking up to a much needed sleep in and cleaning the basement. By one o'clock my dad and I were at Home Depot purchasing wood. You see, I'm re-doing my room (which is much needed, and I am so happy it's getting done). I had bought some brackets at Ikea the previous week, but the boards for the shelves were expensive, and since I have a handy dad, I thought he could just make them for me. Finding a 6 foot board wasn't the problem, though. The real task was finding a sheet of wood that would make a 3 1/2' X 4' wood panel because I'm making a chalk board. If anybody's lacking in the perspective, just know that's really big. The sheets of wood that would come close to cutting into something that big were about 40 dollars. No bueno. The other option was getting a 2' X 8' board, cutting it in half and gluing them together. I really wasn't a huge fan of the idea, but it was the better option and about half the price too.

Now, luck was on my side here because when were going to get our board cut, since they have really nice saws at Home Depot, my dad looked in the scrap box and found a really large wood board. He suggested we have them cut down it into 3 1/2' X 4'. . . it'd be cheaper and we wouldn't have to do any work to it construction wise. Before making any final decisions, we asked the guy how much it was.

"Oh, five bucks," he said.

Oh, man I was down; we cut that sucker up. When it was all done, the three of us stood there looking at the saw with the two pieces of wood sitting there kind of laughing to ourselves. The dimensions I measured and that board fit perfectly together because that board cut two perfect 3 1/2' X 4' boards. So, for the price of one I had two chalkboards. And, to make it even better, when we went to buy the two boards the girl told us that they highest she could give them to us for was 4 dollars. So, by the end of that trip I had my shelf boards, and two chalk boards for 12 bucks. Best deal of my entire life.


Continuing on with the day, I wanted to get the chalk board paint purchased, but seeing as I had just hit the greatest deal ever, I wasn't about to spend 20 dollars on paint. Hobby Lobby has this great deal of getting 40% off with their weekly coupon, and my friend Mary Jo and I were already planning on hanging out later that day, so I went and picked her up early, and she was my comrade in buying chalk board paint. 10 dollars later, we were set!

Now, stepping aside from the wood and chalk boards for a second, I really want to put the painting Girl with a Pearl Earring in my room. However, we don't have a colored printer, and seeing as the colors are kind of the point in that painting, I went to Kinko's to get it printed. This journey proved awkward, though. Probably the most awkward experience of my life actually. See, Mary Jo and I walk into the store. There was a guy in front of us being helped so we stood in line waiting our turn. When he was done, the guy behind the desk looked at us, telling us it was our turn, and asked what we needed. I began telling him what I needed, but seeing as I had never been to Kinko's before, I had a timid and confused tone. The guy looked at me like I was an idiot, asked for my thumb drive and proceeded to print the picture for me. Here's the thing, the guy didn't act like I was an idiot in an unkind way. He was very nice and talkative. . . just not in the most amiable way. I'll just say that is the first time I have ever been hit on in a store, and I don't ever, EVER want it to happen again. Also, my picture came out pixelated, and I'm not too excited in making another trip down there. If anybody wants to volunteer and do it for me- I'll buy you a hot chocolate from Holiday. And if nobody knows what that is, go to Holiday gas station on American Fork Main Street, get the vanilla hot chocolate, and you'll be in heaven. Best thing of my life.

*Intermission: go get a coke, maybe some popcorn. . . . I honestly don't even know if this story is all that interesting- to me it is at least. Props to you of you're still reading- I know that this is getting a little ridiculously long.

By 6:00 that night, Mary Jo and I had tackled all the errands we had to run. . . or I had to run. Mary Jo was such a sport through all of this. I seriously owe her. We got back to my house, changed into some sweats and began the priming the chalk board, shelves, and brackets. It really was so fun. We just sat and talked and listened to music, quite relaxing from our crazy afternoon.

We finished our priming with perfect time because we needed to leave by 7:30 to get to Orem. We were going to go to this musical performance at Orem High. . . .or so we thought. We drove over, got the conformation number, and headed our way to the high school; however, when we got there there was nobody there. Not a single car was in the parking lot. Mary Jo searched the printed receipt for the date of the performance, and it said not January 12th but February 2nd. It probably was the funniest thing I have ever witnessed. Mary Jo kept calling herself an idiot and thinking that everybody else thought she was an idiot, but really it was just herself thinking she was an idiot because was so funny.

Changing plans, we decided to crash the AF School's Hero's boy's choice dance that we were both happily not asked to. Mary Jo is on Yearbook, I'm not, but since I have a nice camera, we decided saying we were both on yearbook would be easy enough to get away with. It was.

Probably my favorite picture of the entire night. . .

 

I honestly don't even know how to sum this night up in words. Mary Jo and I dancing stag for all the slow songs and belting out the cliche and melting words to the open air, snapping pictures of all the people that were there. . .  I think my favorite was the group of boys that brought their moms as dates. That was what really melt me. Talk about making a lame dance into something meaningful- props to them, seriously!

To sum it up as best I can, I had a great night. Talk about understatement of the year. It was a night of spontaneity, laughter, awkwardness, and a good time with great people. I admire Mary Jo so much: she's kind and willing to help, a great listener with inspirational things to say, and honestly one of the best people I know. I feel privileged to know her and be friends with her, and most of all say that she was my comrade in a night that will go down in the history of Sidney.

Grey's

Something that most people don't know about me is that I love Grey's Anatomy. Like, LOVE Grey's Anatomy. This past year, I faithfully watched every single episode to all nine seasons. To give you perspective, during the finale of season 7 I cried because I was so attached to some of the characters. And, when my neighbor went to do a bike race in California awhile ago, he made sure that I knew that Patrick Dempsey would be there, he would meet him, and . . . . wait for this. . . . he would get Patrick Dempsey to call me. He did too! Patrick called me on the phone. Yes, now we are on first name basis, and I have his number in my phone.

*Just kidding

But I really did talk on the phone with Dr. McDreamy, and it was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life thus far. It probably was something that should have been filmed because it was so funny. I was laughing and rolling on the ground because I legitimately couldn't contain my excitement.

The point of this post is to gloat in the fact that the show continued airing yesterday. Because end of the terms is crazy and I didn't have time to do anything, I didn't get to watch it yesterday when it premiered. But good ol' TiVo recorded it for me, and I watched it today. The episode was great. I want Karev and Jo to hook up because they're just great, and I am so happy Bailey finally got married. It definitely was about time.

Anyway, I hope at least one person reading this shares my excitement for Grey's (:  I'm beyond excited it's back.

Music Show and Tell

 

Meet Birdy. She's 16, British, and does a dang good cover of Skinny Love. I'm a little obsessed seeing as it's been the only thing I've listened to for the past 2 days. She's great, though, and I hope you guys think so too.

It's a "Knee" Slapper. . . .

I finally went to Starbucks with my great friend Dani today. I haven't gone once this winter, and it really kind of depressed me since their hot chocolate is so good. Whenever I go out in public, though, I always find myself in odd situations . . . or just odd things always happen. Maybe it's because I myself am an odd person, but nonetheless they happen. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad to have these odd things happen because it brightens the day a little- adds a little color or flavour or whatever you want to call it. To be honest, it makes me happy because it makes me laugh.

Here's what happened today:

I have seen many, many renditions of my name, but never have I ever seen this version. Ever. It honestly is the epitome of what sounding out words means. . . . it is so great, though. At first I didn't even see it because the cardboard thing was over it, but I took the cardboard off (I have this weird thing for playing with everything that is in my hands while I talk), looked at the name, stopped mid-sentence, and just burst out laughing.

Also, when I came home today, I caught the dog in this position:

You see, the dog isn't allowed onto the couch, and so when I caught her in the crime, her ears instantly went down in shame. She's so noddy!

Today's been kind of crazy, and I haven't finished my homework . . . which I really don't want to do. It's not going to go away, however, so off I am to do it. Hope your day has been good and funny and productive- it's always best that way. (: