Back off!

Right after I just got through saying how this place is haunted I find two random posts to my blog. Now I'm not really saying they were put their by our dear friend the ghost, but I'm a little worried that someone has hacked into my account! Nobody blogs inbetween these lines but me! Don't worry, though, I deleted them. One was in spanish and I couldn't read it anyway, the other was just a Title and really made no sense.

The ghost in you

If you know me at all you know how much I like ghost stories. Something about people hanging on to this life is a little intriguing and not to mention spooky sometimes. When my sisters tell me a story they always try to add in something about ghosts. It goes a little something like this:

Camilla: Hey, Anna, do you wanna hear a story?

Anna: Sure, is it a scary one?

Camilla: Yeah! My friend/ex-roommate from SVC is having another baby and. . . [she then proceeds to tell me some random story about her friend/ex-roommate that has nothing to do with ghosts whatsoever] . . . And then there was a ghost.

Anna: Pretends to be scared That was a pretty scary story, I'm glad to see that your friends are having fifty million babies.

Or something like that. It always ends in "and then there was a ghost." It's great. I love my sisters.

Sometimes, though, these ghosts are a little closer than I would like to think. When I used to work at the Old Navy on 1st South and Main Street in downtown Salt Lake we all knew the building was haunted. It was a girl, and I always wondered what happened there to make her stick around. She was harmless, but still left a creepy presence.

I'm beginning to think that our office space here at the LLS is haunted too. Maybe it's the whole building. Things are just now adding up.

Incident one: I ordered cycling jerseys for our Tahoe team. When they arrived I checked to make sure we had them all and then set them aside. When it was time to make the event kits, John Drury's jersey was no where to be found. I remember distinctly seeing his because I was commenting on how cool it was because it said "coach" down the side. How could it have just disappeared like that? We thought that maybe someone stole it. Walked away with it on accident. It's still a mystery.

Incident two: Today Kelley had a reimbursement form with some receipts attached to mail to Marvin sitting on her desk. It was there this morning, but when she went to mail it the form was gone. Nobody in the office has seen it. We've all looked everywhere and can't find it. Once again, where did it go?

Now both of these incidents don't add up to much really. Maybe someone is just a klepto. But then Kelley tells me another story.

Kelley and Cali were sitting at the front desk when the door to our office closed by itself. When we have the door open all the way it is essentially propped open by a patch of carpet that must be a little thicker. It doesn't just swing easily shut. It takes a little bit of force. And it's not that windy on the second floor of the Westgate Business Center!

Maybe this place is haunted. Kathy Stanley always complained of a poltergiest in her computer--but I think that was because she wasn't so skilled with technology. Sometimes the elevator door will open and close on its own. One time I got in the elevator and instead of taking me to the second floor like I had asked, it took me to the basement (It was really the creepiest thing ever--especially since I had heard a story about this guy going down to the basement of this old civil war hospital building and when the doors opened the room was full of dead civil war soldiers and nurses, etc going about their daily hospital routine as if they were still alive). When the doors opened up to the half-finished basement it was quite a shock. Nobody got on the elevator, so why did it even go down there? Who knows.

Maybe the ghosts just follow me around.

Keno Ray

The last time I went to Wendover it was for my scuba certification trip. There's a lake out in the middle of no where with sunken things and ugly brown fish. My sister and I stayed at the Rainbow in town. Usually I'm all about gambling. Especially when it is with someone elses money. That trip I wasn't too interested in it. The casino was too sparkly. It gave me a headache just walking through it. My sister doesn't gamble anyway, and it's no fun to get carded all by yourself. So we stayed in the hotel room all night. She slept, and I watched PBS. It was probably one of the best nights of my life. There was a great documentary about Shackleton's expedition to Antartica, and then Touching the Void was on after. I couldn't think of anything I would have rather been doing that night. NOVA had it's grasp on me.

This trip to Wendover was different. I was going with some friends and our purpose was to gamble. To lose all our money on some fleeting entertainment. It would have been great, except I ruined my trip the night before by reading the Ensign. Apparently the prophet speaks against gambling. Who knew?! So I was torn and conflicted...

I ended up just playing Keno. I couldn't resist the lure of picking my favorite numbers. Because numbers are a big deal to me -- especially my psychic and/or lucky numbers. I think I came out even, or I may have lost a buck in the process. It doesn't matter. I had fun. Keno Ray was our Keno Supervisor. He was pretty much a celebrity in my mind.

We had a cool waiter as well. Since it was Friday and every buffet in town was serving fish, we ended up at this cafe. Whitney had lost hope of the chocolate fountain. When we were almost done eating she asked Joel, our waiter, if he could get us some chocolate covered strawberries from the buffet next door. He said he could, he would just have to be careful his boss wouldn't find out. Minutes later he came back with a "Pepsi" to-go. He got a big tip for that one.

Out on the floor everyone else I was with proceeded to lose thier money. I stood by and watched. I was okay with keeping my money for a little longer.

A downward spiral with an uphill climb

It all started last Tuesday. I was seduced with the thought of trail running, picnics at Cafe Rio, and a movie about love. Okay, it's really not that hard to talk me out of going to work. Especially when the weather is beautiful outside. I knew I had stuff I should be doing at work, but at the time I really didn't care.

So when I got to the LLS Wednesday afternoon I was hit with the realization that I am the biggest slacker/procrastinator on the face of this planet and it needed to stop! I was stressed. I would go through periods of anxiety when I thought of all the stuff I needed to get done. Were picnics and movies about love really worth it? Looking back on it, I am almost certian that they are.

So I've been trying my hardest to focus. I have done all the major things. I am leaving this place soon anyway so maybe I'm feeling a little apathetic about it all. I'm feeling less anxious. It's Friday and the start of a holiday weekend. It is another beautiful day.

Oi Vey!

Sorry, Mike, the reign of the odd-numbered days is over! I am irritated by two things at the moment:

a) It's bloody 800 degrees outside. What happened to spring? Where did she go? I was enjoying the cool, grey days. Being able to run outside in the evening with shorts and a long-sleeved Tshirt. Walking home from Trax in the rain. Still being able to wear a light sweater, a cardigan perhaps. But I fear those days are gone. It's hot. And the worst is yet to come.

2) We have no couches. Or we won't within 24 hours that is! Kara, our landlord, called my roommate and told her that she is coming to pick up the couches either today or tomorrow. Granted they are her couches, but isn't it nice to give someone some warning before you take away their living room furniture? Get out the Crazy Creeks and the camping chairs! Man, this whole thing seems ridiculous! Is she doing this out of spite? Why does she need her couches now? Is it because we're trying to move out before our lease is up? Is she upset with us? Did she just barely realize she needed more seating in her current residence? I just don't understand. . .

Maybe everyone's just full of crap!

They say I only blog on odd numbered days.

And by they I mean Mike Eastman.

So this blog is dedicated to him,

because it is the 19th of May after all.

Natalie told me an interesting fact today. Okay, maybe it's more of a disturbing fact. The average person has 10-15 pounds of crap encrusted around their colon. Ten to fifteen pounds! Who needs all that extra weight?! I think a cleanse is called for. We must rid ourselves of the unwanted waste in our lives.

Maybe my grandpa isn't so crazy after all

My vanilla soy milk has just as much calcium as the real milk in the fridge. It has five percent more vitamin D as well. Maybe there is some truth to the dairy conspiracy. . .

Friday the 13th

It is such a beautiful day! After weeks of grey, the sun has decided to stay out for a little while. I hear it's supposed to be nice all weekend.

So what's up with Friday the 13th? Seriously. I'm not even wearing any black. Isn't that proper F13 attire? But I am wearing this really cool shirt I got at some random thrift store in Missouri a few years ago. I think it suits the day just fine, whatever that means.

Maybe I should do something spooky tonight? Watching 24 on my couch in the dark sounds pretty spooky. I just started the third season. (You have to be ready in your life to start seasons of 24 because it's a real commitment. Last night I decided it was time.) What else would be a spooky F13 type thing to do? Maybe eat some of that cake that's in the fridge while nobody is watching? That's not as much spooky as it is sneaky. But I'll take sneaky on F13 too. I wish I could steal sticks with my sister tonight... that would be the best F13 activity ever!

Oh well. Have a spooky and/or sneaky F13 everyone!

Not just rain these days

I woke up in the early AM today to go on a short little run with my roommate. It was snowing. It is nearly the middle of May and it was snowing! That's why I love this transitional season we call spring--you really never know what you're going to get.

blog this! how 'bout I blog all over your face!

Michael. Becca. Rachael. That's all I gotta say.

Oh-five-oh-five-oh-five, otherwise known as Cinco de Mayo 2K5

I'm usually at work when I write these things because I have no internet access at home. I shouldn't really be doing it at work, though, because it probably isn't "the best use of the Society's time." Which is true, but somedays I just can't focus. I'd rather be surfing the net or compulsively checking my email to see that no one has written me.

Right now I'm just really tired which doesn't help things. Becky, Cali, and I went on a little TeamBuilders excursion a little bit ago just to get out of the office. Really it was just an excuse to detach ourselves from what we should be doing. I guess we all feel like this sometimes. Maybe it's the recycled office air and fluorescent lighting. I think it's damaging to the mind, body, and spirit.

Today is Cinco de Mayo. Today is also frisbee day. And as usual, I am watching the blue sky fade into grey clouds. Poor weather is every Thursday's fate, it seems. It makes for some exciting ultimate, though.

You've gotta love Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican holiday that only Americans celebrate. God bless the USA.

Do the Truffle Shuffle!

I saw a girl today on the train who looked exactly like the female version of Chunk from The Goonies. She even laughed like him. It was very exciting to my heart.

Uno de Mayo

Happy Uno de Mayo everyone!

Frick and Frack, call me back!

Jennifer has a secret boyfriend. We think it's Frack.

My roommate has suspicious behavior sometimes. She'll take secret phone calls and when later asked she'll say, "oh, it was just a friend..." Sometimes she disappears for days at a time. "Oh, I was just out." Or, "I was just with some friends." She never gives more details.

We think she likes her secret life. Especially because she knows it drives us crazy. She used to deny her secret boyfriend and get mad whenever we mentioned it. Now she denies it less and jokes around about it with us more. I think she even admitted it to me once as we were walking home from frisbee one night.

Last weekend we think we caught her, though we have no hard evidence. We still need to do some detective work. Set up surveillance. Follow her when she leaves. Get a tracking device. Confiscate her phone and read old text messages and look at call lists. We'd be quite good at this kind of stuff because we've done our research: two straight seasons of 24.

Natalie and I had a BBQ Sunday night for our Wasatch Back Relay team. It started at 6:30, so we should've been gone a little before then. I guess our delay was the usual Sunday afternoon nap, gathering stuff for our dang grilled quesadillas, and helping Jennifer jump start her car. We didn't get out the door until 6:45 pm. A few minutes before we left, Jennifer came back into the apartment, "Frack's coming over." He never comes over anymore. I haven't seen him in months. Minutes later he walks through the back door. It was too quick. Were they always planning to hang out that evening and we were just supposed to be gone by the time he came over?

Maybe we need the back story. Jennifer met Frack over a year ago. He was her roommates cousin. They instantly hit-it-off and started hanging out a lot. He'd come over and hang out with all the roomies, but he and Jennifer would go out and see movies together, etc. Months later he even remembered the first song they ever listened to together in the car. Something a little more than friendship had to have been there during all of this. Jennifer really liked him. But for some reason she sets up these walls between people. She puts up a "We're just friends" front so just in case he doesn't feel the same way she doesn't get hurt. There was sexual tension between them. They would talk about their relationship in the abstract. Neither was up front with the other. They would text message each other a lot. Frack would get girlfriends. Their text messaging would dwindle. They'd break up and he'd be back texting Jennifer all the time. It would cycle like this. Jennifer still liked him the whole time.

She says she's over him now. He frustrates her, or so she lets on. But maybe it's all an act. While Nat and I were at the BBQ, my friends Cyndi and Rob came over to see me. They knocked on the door but nobody answered. Cyndi looked through the peep-hole hole and could tell lights were on. They knocked again, but somebody turned off the lights. They walked around to the back to find our apartment's curtains half open and the place in darkness. She took a quick peek inside before running away. She swears she saw two people on the couch. But it was really too dark to be certain. Were Jennifer and Frack making out?!

I guess we need to solve this mystery once and for all. If it is Frack I don't know why she would have to hide it. Other than the fact she likes secrecy. Maybe it's not Frack at all. Maybe it's someone else that for some reason she feels she has to hide.

Post script: the names have been changed to protect the guilty. But if you know "Jennifer" and "Frack" you'll know exactly who I am talking about. Especially since I used everyone elses real name--use your powers of deduction.

26.2 years... 26.2 miles...

I am 26.2 years old today. To the very day. And this morning I ran 26.2 miles. That's one mile for every year. Exactly. Who knew! Pretty much I'm the coolest.

Earth Day 2K5

I hope everyone has the chance today to reconnect with that which sustains us. Take a moment to reflect on your relationship with the earth. Resolve to do more to lessen your impact and live within the rhythms of the landscape.

Go outside. Get dirty. Feel the earth beneath your feet and hands.

Secret boyfriends

I have a mysterious bruise right above my left calf, near the back of my knee. I noticed it yesterday. It's quite perplexing. It wouldn't be so weird except it seems to be a pretty big bruise with a little purple line going through the middle of it. I know, I'm kinda accident prone sometimes. And I do play a lot of sports. But still. I think I would have remembered hurting myself right there. (And I would have had to run into something backwards!)

So this is my theory. My roommate has a secret boyfriend. Maybe I do too. Maybe I have a secret abusive boyfriend that even I don't know about! Or my roommate abuses me in my sleep. Or I have some weird blood disease (other than the weird blood disease I already have) and I'm dying. All very plausible.

Wild Mercy

The eyes of the future are looking back at us

and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time.

They are kneeling with hands clasped that we might act with restraint,

that we might leave room for the life that is destined to come.

To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle.

Perhaps the wildness we fear is the pause between our own heartbeats,

the silent space that says we live only by grace.

Wilderness lives by this same grace.

Wild mercy is in our hands.

Terry Tempest Williams, Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert.

Why I love Jack Johnson.

He surfs.
He makes films.
He's a champion for the earth.

Along with his mellow tunes that draw you in like the rise and retreat of waves breaking across the shoreline, Jack J is a supporter of grassroot environmental efforts. He recently joined the nonprofit group 1% For the Planet, an alliance of progressive companies dedicated to environmental work. He also started the nonprofit organization Kokua Hawai'i Foundation to promote environmental education in elementary schools in Hawaii. His upcoming tour is going to be as environmentally friendly as he can make it. Check out the Patagonia website for a complete interview with Jack J by Chris Malloy, Patagonia's surfing ambassador and lifetime friend of Jack's. There's also some footage of their trip to Chile. Check him out if you haven't already. You won't be disappointed. By supporting him and other's like him, we also support a healthier planet.

Racetrack Playa

The rocks move. They do it discreetly, so nobody will see them. They scoot about the dried-up lakebed, random in their travels.