Why Resolutions Suck.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for being a better person but let's get real.  Who really sticks to their New Year's Resolution??  Not even half of those people that make the gym unbearably crowded for most of January, that's for sure.  It's not that I don't like goals, I love them-spent two years setting "big goals" for the children of St. Louis and "relentlessly pursuing" them even.  The thing with resolutions is:

• You have to be sincere with it.  Don't say you're gonna work out every day if you don't want to be a person who works out everyday.  Mean it and make it something that is doable and realistic for your life.

• You have to be specific and concrete.  Don't say you're gonna stay in better touch with old friends, it's a vague statement and easy to keep pushing off until next December when you say "I really mean it this year!"  Say you are gonna pick...I dunno, a friend a week or a friend a month to send a card to or give a phone call.  Goals are easier to meet when they are measurable.

• You have to make it personal. Don't set goals that fit other people's definitions of a "better person," strive to be the best you that you can be.  If your resolutions are meaningful and truly things that you want to achieve for yourself, you have a much better chance of being successful and ultimately, happy.

Cheers to 2011, a year that brought me a lot of unexpected change and challenge in my life.  Here's to 2012, a year that I hope continues to challenge and push me in both my career and personal life.  I intend to continue to be open to new experiences and to fearlessly be myself in all of them.  I hope everyone has a happy and healthy New Year and thanks for following my crazy life.  Especially those of you that don't even know me (I'm talking to you Russia!  Woo!).  It's great to feel the love and support from friends, family, and strangers as I continue to settle into this next chapter.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Soybeans to Oranges

Welp, it's been about two week since my last post.  It's not that I haven't thought about blogging, it's just that... well, life has gotten in the way.  Which is good I guess- it means that I have things to do and that my experiences here are becoming less novel and more routine.

Guys, I live in LA.  Crazy.

This also means that it's finally time to write this post that I have been sitting on for quite some time...

One of my favorite learning techniques is to use metaphors or comparisons of things I'm familiar with to get a grasp on something new.  This worked great for my students (I think...) and was also successful in helping me master the rules of rugby when I was in Australia.  Using football as as staring point, I was able to make connections and understand a new game... and meet cute Aussie boys ;)

Anyways, as you may have gleaned, this post is going to make a comparison.  In order to orientate and get my lay of the land out here, I'm going to equate the areas of LA to their Chicago neighborhood equivalents.  I'm also gonna go ahead and say which area I prefer though the total is not generalize-able to an overall LA v Chicago throwdown, they are just entirely too different.

***Disclaimer*** The comparisons are based purely on my impressions and biases after living here for approximately three months.  What I have to say about Chicago is most likely true, but I may have some misconceptions or over-generalizations about LA.  Also, being that I am a fairly open minded person, these impressions are subject to change as I continue to assimilate in the area.  For now, I present you with... (Drum roll please)....

Plastic Santas and Santa Anas

So... it's December and I don't think I have ever felt less in the holiday spirit.  It's not that I'm a Grinch or anything, it just doesn't feel like the holidays when it's 65 degrees and there are palm trees everywhere.  Oh, and it's super windy.  Earlier this week, someone commented that the winds must make me feel like I'm back in Chicago.  No.  No, the Santa Ana Winds DO NOT remind me of Chicago.  ALSO, Chicago is not significantly winder than any other city (see table below from www.currentresults.com) and earned the nick-name "The Windy City" for the "windbag" politicians not the weather .  In addition, I have never had large amounts of sand blown into my face in Chicago.  Snow, sure.  Sand, dust, palm leaves, not so much.

Average annual wind speed of the windiest US cities

(in miles per hour and kilometres per hour)

City	MPH	KPH
Boston, Massachusetts	12.3	19.8
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	12.2	19.6
Buffalo, New York	11.8	19.0
Milwaukee, Wisconsin	11.5	18.5
Dallas, Texas	10.7	17.2
Kansas City, Missouri	10.6	17.1
San Francisco, California	10.6	17.1
Cleveland, Ohio	10.5	16.9
Minneapolis, Minnesota	10.5	16.9
Virginia Beach, Virginia	10.5	16.9
Providence, Rhode Island	10.4	16.7
Chicago, Illinois	10.3	16.6
Detroit, Michigan	10.2	16.4

The Backstory

Moving to a new place gives you a chance to start over, potentially even reinvent yourself if you so choose.  And it all starts with how you present yourself when you meet new people.  Lately I've been thinking a lot about my "backstory"- what I tell people when they ask about what I do, where I'm from etc.  I noticed a while ago back in Chicago that I tend to alter my story based on where I am, who I am meeting, or how long of a conversation I wish to be in.  Now when I say alter, I don't mean lie.  I never say anything that isn't the truth, I just tend to leave things out or frame things in a way that fits the conversation I wish to have.  For example:

Question:
Where are you from?

Potential answers: 
1. I grew up in Iowa.
2. I went to school in Colorado
3. I just moved here from Chicago

All of these are true- but they all lead to very different conversations.  Unless specifically pressed, I tend to shy away from telling people I grew up in Iowa.  This isn't to say I'm not proud of Iowa, I just tend to find the conversations that follow to be... well... annoying.

Answer #1:
I grew up in Iowa.

Sample Responses:
1. Wow, I've never met a farmer!
2. You must really like potatoes!  (Yep, I've had people think it's IDAHO)
3. I don't even know where that is...
4. Heh heh, ever go cow tipping?
5. My [insert random relative] is from Iowa!  Do you know them?

Down & Derby

"Red carpet" entry into the Doll Factory

I've never seen the movie "Whip It"- but for those of you who have, Drew Barrymore apparently did her research for the film with the LA Derby Dolls.  Since I haven't seen the movie or a Roller Derby... match? jam perhaps?  contest?  I dunno what you call it...  anyway, with this being my first Roller Derby experience, I didn't really know what to expect.  I knew it was girls on roller skates and I knew that it got physical.  I guess I kinda pictured girls randomly skating around and body checking each other into walls, hockey style.

My foggy conceptions of Roller Derby were clarified on Sunday evening at "Baby Doll Brawl"- a competition for the newest LA Derby Dolls, the ladies of the Fresh Meat program who are training to make one of the 4 home teams.  The Derby Dolls are one of the few banked-tracked derby leagues in the world, most (98%) are flat track and from my research on Wikipedia, banked-track seems way cooler.  One of Steph's friends was actually competing on one of the teams under the pseudonym "Belle Scorcho."  Yeah... so one of the awesome things about derby is that the girls compete under skater names and some of them paint their faces and add some flare to their outfits.  Yep, little bit like pro wrestling, lotta bit awesome.  Speaking of awesome...

Naked Bonding

As a self-imposed condition of living alone out here, I promised that I would push myself to take advantage of social opportunities.  As an outgoing social person, you would think that would not be a tall order- however, you may be underestimating how much I like my new patio and how much I like my wine fridge.  Last night, I not only made good on my promise and hung out with a bunch of new people on my own, I also powered through a situation that was EXTREMELY out of my comfort zone with these new people and had a blast.  Let's start at the beginning...

I've known Steph since college.  She was good friends with one of my Senior year roommates, Tara and the three of us always had great fun hanging out together.  I saw Steph at Tara's wedding this summer; she had been living in LA for almost 4 year and graciously agreed to hang out with me when I moved out here.  Fast forward to last night...

All "decked" out

One of the biggest criteria I had for my new place in LA was that I wanted to have easy access to the outdoors.  Whether that was living close to the beach or having my own patio- I was determined to get something.  One of my favorite things about my Chicago apartment was our deck space.

  On the nice days, I practically lived out there.  A LOT of stuff when down on those decks:

Baby it's cold outside.

That's right, I said it.  It's in the 50s and I am freezing!  I could turn on my heater, but I don't want to because I feel like I should be better at this.  I just moved from Chicago where this would be a perfect fall day!  Gnat says this means that I'm assimilating- I say I'm getting soft.  Is feeling cold in mild weather on my Angeleno check list???

Regardless, since I was feeling chilly I decided that today would be the perfect day to cook my favorite Chicken Curry Soup from college.  This soup would appear about once a week or so in The Grill in the UMC where I worked.  When it was there, I would eat it regardless of what I had brought for lunch (or get it and save it if I had already eaten... or eat it anyway...).  For my graduation present from CU, Jan, one of the women I work with managed to snag the recipe for me.  It apparently took some effort to get the chef to release the recipe and because of this I'm going to keep it a secret.  I will post pictures of cooking it though.

Finished product, delish!

Soooo, the recipe is meant to be sold in a cafeteria-like atmosphere, and therefore, it makes 6 gallons.  I quarter it to make 1.5 gallons, which is still a lot.  Hopefully I can share some with my neighbors to try and make friends with them :)  Otherwise I guess I'm just eating it until January...ish...

No place like home.

Philosophically, there are multitudes of different opinions on what constitutes "home".  People, places, things, states of mind or combinations of these.  For me, it's difficult to describe how I view "home" because it's more of a feeling I get.  I feel a comfort, familiarity and warmth with floods of old memories and excitement for new ones.  For me, home is not necessarily where I live, though places I live do often become home.

I knew October in LA was going to be difficult for me- the weekend I moved into my apartment is the only weekend I have had and will have in the apartment all month.  To top that off, all of my weekends would be spent with many old friends in all of my favorite places.  This past weekend was the motherload.  First stop:

Oh heeeeyyyyy Fall!

I LOVE FALL!

GC Pumpkin Carving 2009

The changing leaves, bonfires, football, scarves, boots, sweaters, comfort food- everything!  Unfortunately for me, Fall isn't really a "thing" here in California.  It's been sunny and in the 70s or 80s everyday with some cooler temps at night that are just lacking that crisp fall smell.

A weekend trip to St. Louis for the wedding of two of my favorite teacher pals, Kristen and Chris, was just the ticket to get into the fall spirit.  I stepped of the plane into the heart of fall.  Even the wedding was complete with gorgeous fall touches and a jar of apple butter for a favor:

Blending in

Ever since we were little, my mother stressed blending in and not acting like tourists when were were on vacation.  Especially when we were in Colorado- Mom wanted everyone to think that we were locals.  Blending in was no easy task with my father aka Tourist Man taking pictures of EVERYTHING:

With his tiny camera backpack of power and the hat he only bought
yesterday, he dons his socks with sandals and sets off to experience
AUSTRALIA!

Yeah, ok.  We all kinda failed on this one...

Mom would fight the powers of Tourist Man by not letting us eat anywhere we could eat at home and making Ken and I keep walking when Dad jumped into a random bush to take a picture of a flower.  In Colorado, we were supposed to try to dress like locals (aka, wear our pajamas to breakfast- done and done!); the hallmark of fitting in was being asked for directions by some "lame tourist."

Swimmin' pools and movie stars...

That right!  I finally loaded up The Duchess and moved to Santa Monica!  My apartment in Chicago was the only place I have lived in for more than a year since I went off to college.  I wouldn't say I'm a moving pro, but it has definitely become somewhat routine for me.  Except for this move.  NOTHING about this has been routine.

After being told that my original move-in date was October 1st, it then got pushed to October 5th.  My U-Box couldn't get delivered until the 8th so I got everything arranged for Saturday and would get the keys from my landlord on Thursday the 6th.  On the 6th, surrogate mom Sara and I drove up to Santa Monica with some of my stuff in The Duchess only to find that the house was still being worked on...sigh.  They promised it would be finished and cleaned by Saturday.  Sara, The Duchess, my stuff and I all drove back to Huntington Beach and ate Chinese food.

At this point, I'm supremely anxious.  All of the back and forth: alleged house, alleged job.  It's a lot.  And don't get me wrong, it's not like I've been living in a cardboard box on Hollywood or anything- my surrogate parents and housing were wonderful- I'm just so ready to start my life and get settled in.  In a way, I feel like I have been in transition since March...

Stay classy San Diego

I'm not good with down time.  I am, in fact, so bad with down time that when I was in Australia I got a job, joined a gym, joined a club and made multiple "To Do" lists with different places, foods, activities and events to experience in order to minimize down time and maximize... well, my Type A personality...

When I was unemployed in Chicago, I baked.  A lot.  My roommates would come home to a kitchen full of literally hundreds of savory tartlets, various vegetable salads and dessert concoctions (ya know, for balance).  Packages of treats were sent to the neighbors.  It. was. obscene.

With my California  "To Do" list at a seemingly never ending standstill I really have no choice but to embrace the down time and learn how to relax and have some fun.  Not that I don't know how to have fun.  I'm really fun.  It's just usually... scheduled fun.  Earned fun.  At it's best and most wild, it's responsible spontaneity.

The Duchess's New Plates

In true Taylor fashion, I have found other productive things to do despite reaching the standstill mentioned in my previous post.  As a result, today The Duchess had a very big day.

It started with her smog test this morning.  She was pretty nervous so I had to drive her around a bit before the test.  :) Actually, surrogate Dad Paul told me that I needed to warm the car up before the smog test so that the readings were accurate.  Anyway, she passed her test with flying colors and then it was off to the DMV.

The CA DMV was actually a pretty pleasant experience.  I made a reservation, I showed up early, and I don't think I waited more than 5 min to be helped at any point during my visit.  The Duchess had her identity verified and then I got my licence and she got her registration.  The annual registration fee is actually less than in Iowa AND I was exempt from tax since I acquired my car as a gift from a blood relation (thanks PaulSale).

Then it was my turn to be examined.  I'm happy to report that I passed my vision exam without my glasses-- keeping me from legally having to wear them every single time I drive.  I also passed my written driving examination despite the fact that I was unaware that it is illegal to smoke when you have a child in the car and that I apparently don't know the sign graphic for "lane ending, merge left".  I mean, come on.  There are usually other contextual clues to help you out there.  Oh, and sorry I give bikers the right of way, I would hate to accidentally hit one of them and in Chicago they do whatever the hell the want anyway... regardless, in 2-4 weeks I will have a new license in hand.  Until then, I have this:

The Duchess was truly the big winner today as we drove away from the DMV plates in hand.  I took her to a car wash as celebratory treat (aka: removal of all the bugs that attacked when driving through STUPID Nebraska) and then we made the switch.

So it's official!  The Duchess and I are California girls!  Cue the annoying song about girls from California of your choosing... personally I prefer the Beach Boys.

Hurry up and wait...

Today is one of those days were I do everything I can to move a process forward and them am left to rely on others to finish their part before real progress is actually made.  Thank goodness it's sunny and nice here or I would be going crazy right now.  These past few months has been a total exercise in patience for me, something I am not very good at.. on with the life updates!

California here we come!

Greeting from a Starbucks in The Valley!  All I can think about right now is Cher from Clueless ("Eww!  The Valley!") so I'm not really sure how I am supposed to feel about his place...

There are about a million things I should be doing while I have internet access-- but I'm choosing to blog-- in a very cliche' manner non the less.  Courtesy of my sister's excellent Googling, I'll be relocating to Cabo Cantina in Santa Monica later this afternoon.  Free WiFi + Margs= win.  Also, much less cliche' and potentially less productive.  So let me get you up to speed on my cross-country trek and my first 36 hours on the coast:

After shoving my life into the U-Box:

Mom and I set off for our 28 hour drive--

It's all happening.

It began with an ice scraper...

...and my heart has been pounding ever since.  I'll do my best to keep from word-vomiting my way through this entire post.  (By the way, that is seriously my ice scraper in a different pattern).

Chicago says CHEEEESSSSEEE!

Yeah, I know.  I'm a huge dork.  Just trying to keep things interesting...

So, since my last post I finally got the pictures off of my Dad's camera.  I had to take his compact flash drive to a photo kiosk at Target and make a photo CD since apparently my version of windows was "attacking" his software and "fouling" it up.  All my fault, bad daughter, shame shame.  In the Sale house, electronics never break on their own or just stop working.  You always "had to have done something!"  I apparently conspired with Vista to take the compact flash converter under siege and reject the drivers from the camera software.  My bad.  

The kiosk was actually awesome because it allowed me to tint the pics, enlarge them and print them so they are all ready to move on to the display step... once I figure out exactly what that step is...

Drum roll please......

Hopefully you can see that this spells out C-H-I-C-A-G-O.  It's probably easier when they are horizontal (TWSS?) so use your imagination.  First C is a Cubs jersey, H is the Wrigley Building from State St, I is the Water Tower, second C is from the Chicago Theater, A is the El tracks running above Lake St, G is from Giordano's, and O is the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. 

I think they turned out pretty well, but displaying them could really make or break it.  I have a long poster frame from Target that I could put them in, but I still kinda want to get them each their own glass with clips and then attach them together with a piece of wood or something... we will see.

Suggestions and comments welcome!!!

Out with a bang

Alright, so you know when you were a kid and you would get a new toy and play with it all day, everyday for like a week and then never again??  I find that as an adult-ish person, I still have this quality though now it mostly applies to workout plans and guys I attempt to date.  I'm also concerned that this may happen to my blog.  So my first 5 posts were all consecutive (*cough* excited child) and then followed by about 5 days of radio silence however, I feel that I have a perfectly good excuse for my lapse: playing in Chicago!

Before I head out to California, I really wanted to make one more visit to the city I love enough to consider one of my three homes (Iowa and Colorado would be the other two) and soak in all of my favorite things.  It seems logical that I should have memories of having fun, knowing my way around a place and spending time with people I love before I'm lost, confused and friendless on the coast.

Growing up...again.

Well folks, while the month of August has left me feeling like a freeloader on my parents couch, this first week in September has skyrocketed me towards my new independent life in LA.  Here's the progress:

1. I finally have something in my name other than debt

Ok, so we are actually celebrating a successful tire change.
This does accurately capture my emotions about the ownership
of said vehicle though.

While The Duchess (long story) and I have been together for several years now, she technically belonged to my parents.  Now, she is truly and legally mine- along with two blown-out front speakers and a faint smell of squid from a transport malfunction for an AP Bio project (don't say I never did anything for you children of STL).  And the speakers hadn't crossed my mind for YEARS (I know, I suck) until I saw my Dad type "As Is" on our "contract" (and I probably just got myself in trouble with PaulSale).  Regardless, I own a car, I'm excited, and yes, you will have trouble conversing with others if you sit in my back seat.  No, that smell is not my car, it's you.  Just smile and enjoy the music.


2. I've been put to the test
My time in Iowa has left me both bored and board- as in studying for my genetic counseling certification exam. Mom and I trekked to the Quad Cities this morning so that I could sit for my 3 hour exam while she shopped and did other productive things.  I will not know if I passed the test for a few months (gaaa, I know) but it was an important step in my career and now leaves me with time to focus on other endeavors.  Which is important because....

Photo pulled from Google Image Search

3. I see movement
That's right, a plan for the big move is falling into place.  I've been told to get out to California as soon as I can- and the week after next is the target!  So while I'm fitting all the pieces to transition me and my stuff occupying the 'rents 3rd stall garage out to LaLa land, I'm making one final trip to Chicago this weekend to toast the previous milestone with some of my classmates and enjoy what may be my final days with a real social life for some time.  Once I'm in LA, I'm pretty much starting from scratch.  More on that later of course :)

The moment we've all been waiting for...

Ok... the moment I've been waiting for, I'm sure my fantasy roster is not a significant priority in anyone's life but my own.  Regardless allow me to present to you:

Refrigerator of Sweetness 2011

STARTERS
SLOT	PLAYER, TEAM POS	OPP	STATUS ET	PTS
QB	Matt Schaub, Hou QB	Ind	Sun 1:00	--
RB	Frank Gore, SF RB	Sea	Sun 4:15	--
RB	Ryan Mathews, SD RB	Min	Sun 4:15	--
RB/WR	Ryan Williams*, Ari RB  IR	Car	Sun 4:15	--
WR	Jeremy Maclin, Phi WR  P	@StL	Sun 1:00	--
WR	Johnny Knox, Chi WR	Atl	Sun 1:00	--
TE	Chris Cooley, Wsh TE  Q	NYG	Sun 4:15	--
D/ST	Bears D/ST D/ST	Atl	Sun 1:00	--
K	Robbie Gould, Chi K	Atl	Sun 1:00	--

BENCH
SLOT	PLAYER, TEAM POS	OPP	STATUS ET	PTS
Bench	Josh Freeman, TB QB	Det	Sun 1:00	--
Bench	Julio Jones, Atl WR	@Chi	Sun 1:00	--
Bench	Chargers D/ST D/ST	Min	Sun 4:15	--
Bench	Roy Helu, Wsh RB	NYG	Sun 4:15	--
Bench	Steve Breaston, KC WR	Buf	Sun 1:00	--
Bench	Benjamin Watson, Cle TE  Q	Cin	Sun 1:00	--
Bench	Jalen Parmele, FA RB	** BYE **		--

I have a bye this week, so I can sit back and watch how these guys perform before I set my roster for the following week which is kinda nice.  I'm also a bit confused on how and when to trade and things like that.  I will obviously need another kicker if I play when the Bears have a bye week.  SUPER pumped about the Bears D and my wide receivers.  Less thrilled on my RBs and QBs, I had the hardest time trying to place them in my autopick strategy.  I made a last minute call to pick an RB first that cost me Drew Brees :(  It got me Gore though, who will be awesome if he's not injured a bunch.  I think.  I guess after all my smack talk yesterday, now that I have my team, I don't really know what to do with them.  It's not like I can invite them over for a team dinner and give them a pep talk or anything... meh, I've got over a week to figure this thing out...