Coping Skills, Confessions and Recommendations

Working with the delinquent youth population has added a variety of words to my vocabulary (and no I don't mean just the 4 letter ones), treatment "shop talk" if you will. One of the terms I have learned is coping skills. You may be familiar with this term. Basically coping skills are the things that you do when you are having a hard time. They are used to "cope" with difficult situations so that you don't do something stupid. In evaluating my life I have determined that my coping skills are:

1. Reading
2. Watching television
3. Going out with friends
4. Listening to loud music while I drive
5. Going on vacation.

I probably have more than this but these are the most frequently used of my coping skills. As for my confessions, they are all strangely related to my coping skills.

1. I will read rather than sleep even if I am exhausted as long as the book is good.
2. I probably watch too much TV but not more than most people.
3. I am not as social as I want to be.
4. I listen to my music too loud and probably drive too fast (but not as fast as Natalie!).
5. I used student loan money to travel in college.

Now for recommendations, in case you need to borrow one of my coping skills.

1. I have recently read the entire Anne of Green Gables series (again), The Historian and The Bookseller of Kabul. All great reads!

2. I love LOST, Grey's Anatomy, Law & Order SVU, anything on the Travel or History Channel and reruns of Friends and Sex & The City.
3. Go to institute?
4. Try Dave Matthews, Dashboard Confessional, All American Rejects, Show tunes (anything you can sing-a-long to), or try FM100 for some relaxing soft rock.
5. Costa Rica and Cancun are cheap and amazing, Hawaii has great sunsets and big waves and even if you only have a couple of days and you're short on cash, take a vacation!

IKEA in Utah

Woohoo! Wednesday May 23rd IKEA had its grand opening in Draper.

Somebody had asked me if I had taken the day off so I could go, I think my response was, "are you crazy?" Apparently a lot of people were "crazy." Jessie left me a voicemail Wednesday morning on her way to work in Utah county as she drove by IKEA. She described the gigantic line surrounding the building and said only a crazy person would try to go today. I am all about the hype of a grand opening or the excitement of waiting in line for extended periods of time for something great. A couple of years ago I slept on the sidewalk outside of NBC studios so that I could get tickets to see Dave Matthews perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Totally worth it! I do not understand, however, the point of standing (camping) in line for 2 and a half days to be the first person in a store that will be around for a long time. Yeah they got a free chair (the chair worth less than $100, 2 days off work cost more than that) and a surprise coupon but seriously? The truth is, I couldn't wait long and I went on Thursday night with Jessie. I purchased some new dishes and silverware. Honestly, I will probably spend a portion of each paycheck there for a while, at least until I have everything I need for my new apartment. Hooray for IKEA!

Kaitlin at the mall

This is one of the funniest SNL skits ever. It is this little girl Kaitlin and her step-father Rick. Cecily did this for her school talent show and it was a hit! Enjoy...

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=31382

As I've matured...

(not that it has actually happened for me, maturity I mean)

I was cleaning my room today since I will be moving in June and I had some extra time before LOST. I have to admit to slight embarrassment regarding the state of my bedroom. I actually like to dust but sometimes things will pile up on my desk, dresser and nightstand, things like mail, new cell phone boxes, pretty much just use your imagination. Well, when all the surfaces are hidden, no dusting necessary. So it was time to dust, no more excuses since I have graduated now and don't have school to blame for the "piles" in my room. I needed a little break so I stopped and got online. Sacha had sent me this e-mail titled "As I've matured..." and for your reading pleasure:


I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in.

I've learned that one good turn gets most of the blankets.

I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just jackasses.

I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.

I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.

I've learned that depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

I've learned that it is not what you wear; it is how you take it off.

I've learned that you can keep vomiting long after you think you're finished.

I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things.

I've learned that ex's are like fungus, and keep coming back.

I've learned age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it.

I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.

I've learned that artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

I've learned that 99% of the time when something isn't working in your house, one of your kids did it

I've learned that there is a fine line between genius and insanity.

I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away. And the real pains in the ass are permanent.

Well, I've learned that if you put off cleaning up the piles, it sucks!

Dave Matthews

This blog would be complete if I did not pay tribute to my very favorite musician. Let me share with you an entry from my travel journal (a little notebook I take with me when I go on a trip to document the interesting and sometimes not so interesting things that I do). Last October Katrina and I drove to Las Vegas for a Dave & Tim show. I have a list of things I need to see or do before I die and seeing Dave & Tim perform together was one of them.

27 October 2006

Dave and Tim...check! It was so awesome. Three hours of fabulous music. I'm in Las Vegas and it is the Vegoose Festival. A smaller venue would have been preferrable but the MGM Grand Garden Arena was good too. Katrina and I drove down this morning. We had dinner at some Italian place at the New York, NY and then went to the show at 8. They came out a little late but worth every second of waiting. They started with Bartender then Stay or Leave. Dave talked a lot, telling stories about how Mic (Jagger) asked him to play Memory Motel with him and his teleprompter didn't work...talking on the phone with Bono while in the bathtub...seeing the sharks with his girls and talking about how soon we will only be able to see animals at zoos... "here's a song that's all about elephants..." CRASH. He did tons of funny voices that reminded me of Brandon. This guy in front of us stood and danced the whole time. Not just mellow dancing but super into it and might I add entertaining interpretive type dancing. Wow!

Actual Setlist:

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

MGM Grand Hotel - Grand Garden ArenaLas Vegas, NV

Bartender

Dodo

Lie In Our Graves

Stay Or Leave

Jimi Thing

What Will Become Of Me
Old Dirt Hill
Gravedigger

So Damn Lucky

Little Thing

Two Step

Down By The River

Im Your Captain *

Some Devil +

Satellite

The Maker

Crush

Tripping Billies

Smooth Rider

Crash Into Me

Typical Situation

Dancing Nancies

Encore:

Sister

Oh

When The World Ends

Save Me

Ants Marching

Special Guests:

* Tim Solo

+ Dave Solo

There is more but I will spare you. Basically what you should get from this is that I L-O-V-E Dave Matthews and so should you.

Tripping

One great Jack Handy quotes is,

"Once I saw an old woman slip and fall. My first instinct was to laugh but then I thought, what if I were an ant and she fell on me, then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."

Yesterday I was in my car and there was this guy walking and he totally tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. He actually went back to look at what made him fall which made me laugh a little. Another time I was driving with my mom and this runner tripped over a speed bum and rolled a few times, again, lots of laughing. It is always pretty funny to see someone fall, even if you are concerned for their safety you can't help but giggle a little while you are helping them get up. They probably wont even let you help them because they are so embarrassed. Once there was this girl and she was running to catch a bus and she just lost it going down right in front of a bus load of people (bahhahaha), poor thing! Why is it so funny?

Dream Job

Jessie asked me the other day, "if you had all the money in the world but you still had to work, what would you do?" Wow, can that be my real situation? So if money were no issue...first, I think of all the wonderful traveling I could do and I think maybe I want to be Samantha Brown from the Travel Channel. She has so much fun checking out great hotels, eating at great restaurants in beautiful cities, touring amazing sites and getting the special treatment and behind the scenes info that normal tourists don't have a clue about. I want her job. But then, I really do love helping people. Despite the fact that already more than once this week some of my disrespectful juvenile delinquents have nearly brought me to tears of anger and rage. There is that indescribable satisfaction that comes when I am having a conversation with one of them and I have a moment where I know that I have made a difference in that kids life. Amazing. I have a feeling I would change jobs a lot.

Maybe one year I would do community theatre,

another year I would be a scuba instructor in Costa Rica (hey jess, maybe your Chilean friend can help me with that),

the next year I would volunteer in an orphanage in Africa like my friend Vicki.

Do you see my dilemma? I just graduated from college and have student loans to pay off. I cannot even decide what I want to be when I grow up and I sure don't have all the money in the world. But, I have a great imagination and I am adventurous. My mom always told me to take every good opportunity I had and I have done my best to follow that good advice.