Far From Refuge

After two months of being home and working at Crapparoni Grill (thats such a rad nickname, how did I not come up with it sooner?) I have finally found a job!!! Im seriously so excited! Every sentence won't end with an exclamation mark I promise. I've been working with a company called Accountemps that does placement for accountants permanent and temporary. The 3 people that I have been working with there really liked me and what I had to offer. They were very optimistic that they could find something good for me.

Last Thursday I worked the day shift at the Mac Shack and it was one of the top 3 worst shifts ever. I wanted to quit on the spot right there. I had a voicemail from Accountemps waiting for me when I got off. They said they had something for me that started the next day. I called them back and said that yes I was interested. My saving grace! Finally after the worst day, I would be able to quit. They said they would call back to confirm in about an hour or two. I was so excited. I called some friends and family informing them of the news and how excited I was. One of the really cool parts was the company itself which is called Anderson Bats and they make softball bats. Softball/baseball, very similar. So that excited me too. Also, its like two miles down the street from my house. Does it get any better?

The call came an hour or two later informing me that I had in fact, not gotten the job. I am Jack's broken heart. Are you kidding me? I felt like I was destined for it. I was so ready to start in a real job. Not to mention the fact that I didn't want go back to the Crapparoni Grill ( I love it!) on Friday night. I was seriously so depressed the rest of the day. But, I put my apron back on and went back to serving tables for the time being.

Flash forward to this morning. I get a call from Accountemps again, informing me that Anderson Bats wanted to interview me. YESSSSS!!! I think may have jumped in the air like the people on the Toyota commercials of my childhood. You know what I'm talking about. "I love what you do for me, TOYOTA!!!" And they freeze frame on the people jumping in the air with their legs kicked out. Haha, anyways, so I got dressed and headed down for the interview. I really think that I should have more confidence in myself because I swear I nail every interview I have. First impressions are my forte' apparently. Needless to say, I will be starting tomorrow doing various A/P and A/R work but eventually will be charge of all the A/R. I forgot to mention one of the sweetest parts about the job. Its for the most part a casual dress. So, I don't have to wear a tie and can wear jeans and even t-shirts. How sweet is that? Im excited to finally be in something where I can show my skills. Wish me luck!

This last saturday I went paintballing with Jeff and his brother-in-law Michael. We drove all the way out to Camp Pendelton which I am pretty sure is in San Diego County. A big group of people from Jeff's office put the trip together so we had a whole course to ourselves. Paintballing is seriously so much fun. The ball hurts enough to make it fun when you shoot other people, but not enough to not want to play myself. I have like 10 welts all over my body. I was going to take a picture of one of them because it is way narly but decided that nobody wants to see that. By the way, i'm not trying to look hardcore in this picture, I think the sun was in my eyes.

Also known as complete douche bag face. For some reason whenever a picture is a taken of me my face turns into this horrible presentation that you are now witnessing. Its like my face has this natural inclination to make me like the biggest idiot ever. It reminds me a face some football player in high school would make. I really wish it didn't this but its almost part of my DNA I think. Im pretty sure it started out as a funny thing but it has since become a ridiculous display of photographic douchery (is that a word?). I digress. Anyways, the other guy in the picture, who also looks quite bad, is Bret from Flight of the Conchords. For those of you who don't know who Flight of the Conchords are (aka FOTC, for you Hud), they are two guys from New Zealand who have a TV show on HBO about their band and life in New York City. Its seriously one of the funniest shows on TV; up there with The Office. Last night (Tuesday night) I went with my friend Hud down to Hollywood to an after party for a band called Chromeo. They had played on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier. Hud is a producer for the kids show Yo Gabba Gabba and often goes to cool little shindigs like this to meet people, bands, and the like to come and guest star on the show. So we rolled down to the Roosevelt (i think) Hotel and Bret was there. He was a way cool guy and cool with me taking a picture with him. I was reminded of the part in Iron Man where the soldier asks Robert Downey Jr.'s character "Is it cool if I take a picture with you?" To which RDJ responds, "Yes, its very cool,". Classic. Anyways, the after party was way fun. Did I mention we got VIP treatment at the line? Hud is a sweet person to go places with because he always knows someone that can get you in backstage, ahead of the line, free, or any combination of the three.

If any of you are like me, you check your own blog (if you have one) and every other person's blog you know on a daily basis. I aggravates me to no end when people don't let me into their world by blogging. To this I apologize because its been awhile since I have blogged and I have not done it as much lately. I promise to keep it up more from now on. I won't, however, promise pictures with every blog. Its too hard to it often with pictures, but i'll try to do as much pictures as possible.

In other news, my sister is coming to town this weekend for like 10 days I think and I am way excited to see her and my niece Mia. Unfortunately my brother in law Zach won't be coming, which is a bust. I am so excited to see little Mia. She is getting not so little these days and its going to be so much fun to play with her. I'll for sure post some pictures.

Im currently listening to Thrice's Alchemy Index, all 4 parts, on shuffle and am reminded again of its greatness. I know I blab a lot about them, but they are seriously so rad. I highly recommend them to everyone. In fact, Im going to throw a song off the alchemy index on here for you all to listen too. If you want more go buy it on itunes or I guess I can burn it for you if you don't want to fork over the money.

PS I'm making a vow to work on not making the "pimp" face during pictures.

Happy Birthday to me! So today was my 25th birthday and I had a blast. I drove out Alicia Viejo to have lunch with my mom at a hip little place called the Mustard Cafe. Short tangent, how bad is it that I had to google how to spell Alicia Viejo and I grew up here in Orange County? Anyways, the Mustard Cafe was scrumdiddlyumptious. They had some fruit salad that was very tasty. I can't remember what the sandwich I had was called but it was pretty bomb. It was nice to have lunch all by myself with the Momster. Before I moved to Utah we would have little outings such as this every so often and I always enjoyed them. So it was nice to have another one. I know that is total momma's boy but give me a break, I am the baby of the family and the only not married yet. I can't help it.

Tonight I got together with a group of friends for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. SO GOOD! Seriously, those who have not been, make a point to go there. Its so much better than the crappy Italian restaurant that I work at that will remain nameless. I had some kind of Cajun jambalaya pasta that was good. I also finished it off with some banana cream cheese cake. HMMMMM!!! I believe the picture above is me mid-bite of the cheesecake.

The best part of the night was honestly just being with friends. Another side note, can you tell which person out of the three above has lived in Utah for 3 years? How freakin white am I? Anywho, like I was saying, it was so much fun to be out with friends. Above its me with Jeff to my left (haha, Jeff you appreciate that phrase) and Bill on my right.

One thing I have appreciated since being home, is being able to spend time with my California friends. Its nice to know that I don't have to cram in as much time with them as I can like I did when I came home from school.

Here is the whole gang. From left to right its Nicole, Jeff, Me, Bill, Trevor, Amy, and Heather.

Another shot of everybody. After dinner we decided to go see a movie at the Block so we drove over there. Once we got there everyone decided that they would rather have frozen yogurt instead. So in an attempt to take advantage of these low gas prices that we are experiencing right now, we drove to Yogurt Land in Fullerton. Luckily I was riding with Bill and didn't have to drive. Thanks Bill! Haha. Frozen yogurt was rad. For some reason I have been craving it like mad since I have been home. All in all it was an awesome night. It was great to get some friends over in a celebration of me. haha. Really though, is there a better day out of the year than your birthday? I would venture to say no. I love it. I told everyone I talked to today that it was my birthday. Tomorrow is a sad day because there is 365 more days until my birthday. Thanks again for everyone that came tonight!

I seem to be having a hard time blogging since moving home. I don't know if that is because my life was so exciting in Utah and there was a ton to write about, or if it was because there was nothing to do there and I had a lot of time to write about nothing. Im not sure which one it is but whatever the reason I have not been blogging near as much. So sorry to those of you who actually read this.

Since moving home I have obviously been looking for a job. The search continues. I think I have a few leads that will help me find something soon. For now I'm stuck at Macaroni Grill. It is truly embarrassing telling people I work there even though I have a degree. That plus hate working there. Every night I work there I get more and more motivated to find a real job. I hate it there.

I have now finished season 3 of Lost. It is so amazingly awesome. I highly recommend all of yo u to start watching this show from the beginning if you haven't already. Its so addicting. Im glad that there are only 2 more seasons after season 4 because I don't think I could the anticipation anymore seasons.

This last week was pretty awesome for me. Back in February I bought tickets for Thrice in California because I knew I would be here. They played two shows in Anaheim at the House of Blues and 2 shows in Hollywood at The Avalon, formally known as The Palace. Since tickets were only $15, I bought a ticket to both Anaheim shows and one of the Hollywood shows. Can you say obsessed? I know, but it was worth it. The first two shows were really different from each other and the last one was similar to the first show but still a little different. Over the three nights I got to see a number of different songs. If an opportunity comes up again to do Thrice 3 nights in a row I probably won't do it, but I think I would 2 nights in a row. Anyways, I wish I had pictures but House of Blues didn't allow cameras and I forgot my camera when we went to Hollywood.

I have now been in California for month. I'm settling in fine and am finally getting used to being here. I miss Utah and all my friends out there, but I'm glad I came home. It was definitely the right decision.

Lastly, it is my birthday on Tuesday! 25, wow! I can't believe I'll be 25. Its crazy. Its the last good birthday, kind of depressing. I've always viewed 25 as the ideal age. Old enough to get respect as an adult, but still young. Everything from here on out is downhill. Who gets excited about turning 30 or 40? Im sure the "experienced" people reading this blog will scoff at my complaints of getting old. But I'm sure you all thought the same when you were 25.