Where Do I Get All These Hare-brained Ideas, Anyway?

If you're among the few that I talk to frequently (hmmm...guess that's mostly husband and mom), you know that especially in the last few years, I've had several ideas of different things to do - many of them are dumb, many are unrealistic, but usually I get somewhat obsessed for a week or two on a particular idea. I really truly enjoy being a registrar, but I guess there's a zanier side of me that's just not satisfied with doing that and nothing else. I should really maybe quit having these ideas, and then maybe my house would be clean and organized. Here are just a few of the ideas I've had in the past few years:

1. Auditioning for a role in a musical at the Center Street Theater in Provo. (Never did, might have been interested in this at some point, still, but just found out that they've closed. Pesky economy!)
2. Learning to be a dog groomer. (Nope, luckily)
3. Owning a small pet care franchise. (Got REALLY excited about this one for a few weeks, but decided it was not realistic, especially in Provo)
4. Going back to school and getting a master's degree. (Check! Woo-hoo!)
5. Wanting to model wedding dresses. (Through Craig's List searches, this got me a couple awesome photo shoots to begin my portfolio, not to mention that music video from a few weeks ago, but I don't really see this one panning out ever)
Oh, yeah - 6. Getting voice lessons and auditioning for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (But Holy Commute, Batman, and have you SEEN the audition process?? I am in awe of my dad, aunt and uncles for having successfully navigated that incredibly intense process!)

And now, I give you the current screwball idea: taking comedy improv classes through ComedySportz. We went to a show with our dear friends Miriam & Kelly and Audrey & Adam last Saturday, and my wonderful husband happened to mention over ice cream afterwards that he thought I'd be pretty good at improv comedy. He may regret that statement later on (wink wink). But in all seriousness, I wonder if I've suppressed my inner wisecrack that shone during my toddler days. Maybe it's time to tap back into that dormant aspect of my personality and see what happens. The classes involve five 2-hour sessions for $85 total. At the very least, doing something to get out of my typical routine and comfort zone has to be a good thing, right? The next session starts at the end of April, and (bummer) I can't do that one since I'll be out of town for one of the classes. But I've already emailed to ask about the dates for the next set of sessions. If the idea loses steam by then, that takes care of that. :)

I'm interested in your thoughts, though - good idea? Bad idea? Would you wanna sign up WITH me? :-)

Queasiness Update

No test results yet, but I forgot to mention that the doc said I should look at trying probiotics. I'd never heard of those before, but they're the opposite of antibiotics, and they help promote healthy bacteria in your digestive system. They're in yogurt - and I've never been much of a yogurt person. But I got myself a stock of Activia yogurt this weekend and am having one a day (and am surprised to find that I quite enjoy them!). After three days, I think I'm starting to feel a bit better already. I wonder if the couple of times I've been on antibiotics in the past for strep throat depleted the good bacteria inside me and caused this problem. Hmmm....

Calling Dr. House

I went to the doctor this morning for on-and-off nausea that I've had since January. No, I'm not pregnant. And, unsurprisingly, there are a million things that could cause said nausea - so they took bloodwork to test for the following (possibly more?):

- An ulcer
- Anemia
- Diabetes
- A thyroid problem

If that all comes up negative, the doctor said we'll have to re-strategize from there. (Could I just sign-up to be on House, instead? That sounds more fun. Well, not really, since they do all sorts of painful things to patients. Never mind.) Anyway, it also could be due to simple stress/anxiety. Great. If that's the answer, pretty much all I can do is hope that my upcoming vacations (did I mention I'm going to FLORIDA??) ease my problems there.

Anyway, if there are any votes or bets, place them now. Test results come back Friday or Monday. If it's diabetes or my thyroid, I'd be very surprised, BTW. But weirder things have happened on House...

Email Answers

Has anyone else noticed that many (if not most) people seem to be able to respond to only one question in an email? Husband and I have noticed this in our correspondence to people for work, school, and pretty much everything else. We've even tried to number our questions in emails, but more often than not, we just get an answer to one (or two at best).

Husband and I have devised a solution to this anti-answering epidemic (or is it a phobia?). Please note that we haven't tested this solution in clinical trials as of yet, so practice it at your own risk. What follows is a sample email, with three questions being represented as A, B, and C:

Dear Mr. So-and-so,

In this email, I will ask you three questions: one about [A], one about [B], and one about [C].

1. [A]?

2. [B]?

3. [C]?

To summarize, this email asked you about [A], [B], and [C].

In conclusion, thank you in advance for your time in addressing my questions about [A], [B], and [C].

I look forward to hearing your response regarding [A], [B], and [C].

Sincerely,
Me

P.S. - In case any of the above was unclear, I asked you three questions. They were about [A], [B], and [C].

Whaddaya think? :)

Vacationally and Party-ly Challenged

Husband and I have planned some fun trips for the summer, and while we were sitting in church this past Sunday, I leaned over and whispered to him, "I'm so excited for our trips!" He chuckled and replied, "much more excited than you'll actually be when we get there, right?"

He was mostly teasing, but it's really true. I am vacationally challenged. I get SO excited for a trip (or a party) - I love planning the details, purchasing plane tickets (if that's involved, and if they're not ridiculously expensive), and just daydreaming about how much fun it will be. It honestly gets me through difficult moments/days/weeks, because I have something fun and different to look forward to.

Once the event/trip arrives, though, I immediately start being sad knowing that it will be over relatively soon. At the beginning, I can pretend (with mild success) that the end of the trip is oh, so far away and bask in the joy of being away from work and (some) responsibilities. Once we hit the halfway mark, though, I usually have some depression begin to kick in, thinking "Oh, no! There's only X days left! It's almost over!" Even if the trip is two weeks long and we're only one week into it.

This is something I really want to work on fixing, since it drastically influences my enjoyment of these memory-making activities. One of my yoga workouts is led by a guy (with a voice that sounds like Kermit the frog) who says some seemingly-silly things that I've realized are actually quite profound and that might be helpful advice for me. During some positions, he says things like "Be here... Think of what you're doing while you're doing it... Enjoy the way this feels," etc.

I think too often, I'm thinking ahead to the next thing (in life, on my list, after my current activity, whatever), and not living any given moment fully. Then I look back and it's gone, and I realize I didn't make the most of it. I need to learn to BE where I am, to THINK/ENJOY what I'm doing WHILE I'm doing it.* If I can conquer this before I have kids, I know it will be especially worthwhile, since everyone says how fast they grow up. (*Um, I think trying to apply this counsel to work might be overkill - I want to learn to enjoy fun stuff before I try to make myself enjoy not-fun-at-all stuff, thank you very much.)

That all might be easier said than done, however. Do any of you feel the same way? Do you have any advice or tips on how to battle those feelings? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Preferrably before May, when I get to go to Florida! I get to go to FLORIDA in May!! It's less than two months away!! WAHOOO!!!!!!!!!! *Jumping up and down and clapping hands for joy*

....yeeeeaaaah, see what I mean?!

It Really Doesn't Get More Random Than This...

So...where do I begin? To make a long story short, I helped make a music video for a photographer (Tracey Lee) who wants to attract local artists to have him make music videos for them. How I got into that was very random, but it was a VERY fun and interesting project with which to be involved, and I think Tracey did a wonderful job. Some important disclaimers:

1) This is SO fictional. That should go without saying, since you all know my husband and me, but the video made my mom sad even though she knew it was pretend, so I figured it's best to just say that upfront.

2) It's so fictional, in fact, that I'm not singing and husband doesn't play the guitar (except for one song that he learned to play for me on our first Valentine's day and when he proposed - aw!). The former fact seems outrageously plain to me, but I've had a few people ask me about it, so NO - that's not my voice. Not even close. The latter fact is quite obvious in the video, but I've also had people ask me about that, too. Husband was such a good sport to participate in the first place (he didn't want to) - but he did a great job!

The video is on Tracey's blog - it's the top video on the blog today, but if you go to the link later, just go to the March 17th post. His website shows more of his material, too.