Status: Sorely Disappointed with the US Postal Service

Dude. All I'm saying is I paid for a service that was not fulfilled. And then I paid for it again. And then it was again unfulfilled. I brought in my receipts. I brought in proof that the address in question does in fact exist. All I asked was for my $5 back.

I did not get my $5 back. The US Postal Service does not play fair.

September 30: In which William Russ rocks my socks off

So I'm doing this 'Week in the life of' thing from one of the scrapbooking blogs, where you pretty much takes tons of pictures and write about all the little mundane things in your day, etc. I forgot to take my camera with me on Monday, so I decided to start on Tuesday, which ended up being great, because Tuesday was a great day. 

Warning: these are all camera phone pictures. Real cameras and real picture-taking are highly frowned upon on set. So you have to be all sneaky and stuff.

So without further adieu, I bring you Tuesday, September 30: In which William Russ rocks my socks off.

7am- Arrive on set

7:10am- Load up on a grand ol' breakfast complete with fried eggs, perfectly made to my exact specifications by awesome egg making food services guy. He's there every morning making individual egg orders.

7:15am- Forced to leave our beautiful breakfasts in holding while we go in for the first scene.

7:30am- Scott sets me walking across the camera, plucks an apple juice/coke off the counter, and tells me today I'm a hard drinker (with a smirk)

9:30am- Out in holding, finishing our breakfasts, Gene tells us there will be an explosion soon at the military training set next to us. It's nice of them to radio over before they blow something up in mini Iraq.

10:15am- Everyone is wrapped except for the lucky 20 who will continue to sit around all day waiting for one flower shop scene they still need us for.

10:30am- It's baking hot; Gene has mercy on us, and moves holding into Stage 5 as long as we stay quiet. Stage 5 consists of the flower shop set, and used to be the Hearst College food court set (heartbreaking!)and is adjacent to Stage 4, where all the house sets are and where filming is currently taking place.

Pictures:

Here we are sitting in what used to be the Hearst College radio station. (We were excited to see the leftover advertisement for the Desmond Fellows (played by Paul Rudd) concert on what used to be the back wall of the station.)

10:45am- It is very quiet. Broke out the ipod and the 2008 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market for the long haul.

10:50am- Text Andy to bring me a coke if he can escape.

11:30am- Fliers get passed around for the day-after-the-premier cast and crew shindig thing. Even we're invited. To a real Hollywood party. It's kind of weird.

12:45am- Still in holding in Stage 5. Two trips to the bathroom, including an Andy-led excursion to the 'special' bathrooms, the ones formerly disguised as Hearst College dorm rooms in the hallways of the Veronica Mars set. (My entire perspective of Studios 4 and 5 have been deconstructed now that the VM sets are down. I used to think they were all one large rectangle shaped building that went waaaay back; turns out it's an L shape. Those college dorms always threw me off because there were two doors to go through to get to them. Not that anyone else cares, but this was fascinating to me.) Also, Andy brings me a Dr. Pepper and the sides (script) for today, and so I love him. Lunch is scheduled for 1pm. We'll see. Oh, and the dad on this show? According to the sides, he is played by William Russ, the dad on Boy Meets World! Haven't been this excited about a guest star since Paul Rudd. 

1:45pm- Lunch with Andy. We ate out in the tent while most everyone else chose to take their food inside or eat in their trailers. So when it was just us, the food guys on their break, and a couple of the assistant producers out in the tent, guess who walked in with his lunch! Alan Matthews/William Russ!

Jordan: Awesome.

Brittany: A-mazing. 

And then he spoke.

Brittany: He sounds just like Cory's dad!

Jordan: I can't disassociate him as a real human being from his character on Boy Meets World!

So I hope he doesn't do or say anything that shatters my impression of him as wholesome and caring Daddy Matthews. Fingers crossed!

Sneaky picture of William Russ while pretending to take a picture of our friend here, Random Extra Boy:

2:30pm- Back in. Sittin' in my chair. Reading.

4:45pm- Moved to Stage 4. Another William Russ siting. Right not they're filming a scene in the flower shop (where we were) while we sit out in the main characters' "front yard" (where they were). Granted, the show hasn't aired yet, but from what I've seen in previews, I would have bet money that the exterior of their house was an actual exterior setting. Glad I stopped betting. Right now one of the crew guys is playing with a toy helicopter in the corner. We thought the noise was him drilling something into the new set. Ah, the joys of down time in the entertainment biz.

5:39pm (yes, my times are getting more specific)- Andy informs us that there is an actual exterior house that is used, and that this set has just been built so it looks consistent when filmed from the inside. Also, we're still waiting.

6:15pm- Andy brings me another soda.

6:24pm- Scott meanders over because he's bored too (he's had no one to choreograph since 9:30am), and offers to smuggle some cold waters "across enemy lines" for us. He also promises we are going to be in the next take.

7pm- They take only half the people for the scene. And I missed it because I was in the fake dorm bathroom. Dang it. 

7:30pm- Gene signs our waivers and we're off 'til Thursday.

And that's a wrap, folks.

Reason # 42 to consistently go to the library

Because the new La Mesa library just so happens to share a parking lot with the new La Mesa firehouse. And if you time it just right, you can be sitting at the exit waiting to make your turn as the fire truck pulls back into the lot. And then, even though you're denying your very nature as a 24 year old girl to check out which firemen are in the truck, the driver looks down at you and smiles. And of course you can't help but smile back. And then the guy in the seat behind the driver grins at you, and then you get to do a casual sweep of the interior and see that, yes, they are four very good-looking young men in that truck. 

And that's why you should go to the library more often.

The illustrious new La Mesa library (home of my favorite books for free).

The beautiful new station 11 (home of some fire truck drivin' hotties).

Fall Lineup, Baby

Once upon a time, back in the days of homework and broomball games, English Lit classes and trips with classmates to the Price is Right (what? I never blogged about that?), I watched very little television. 

It was a much simpler time.

Somehow, sometime in the last two years, all this changed, and I ended up with a good number of shows that sucked me in.

I'm going to blame Sonia for this.

Here's why: It all started with her and Paul watching the Office, way back before anybody else was watching that show. They would pull the tiny couch out to the middle of the living room on Thursday nights and laugh hysterically for half an hour. Even Paul. (This was before I understood Paul's humor, you see, which is why I was surprised.) Anyway, so I figure if Paul likes this show, it's got to be good, so finally one night I went out there and perched on one of the tiny arms three feet from the screen. They laughed hysterically; I didn't. After fifteen minutes I went back to my room to finish some homework. The Office was stupid.

Blasphemy! I know! 

It wasn't until a few months later, at the Rancho apartment, when I found myself sick and dying (okay, maybe not dying) on the couch with nothing to do when I found Sonia's season two DVD set. 

I watched the entire thing. Then I watched season one. And somewhere along the way I fell in love.

After the Office came the last six months of Veronica Mars' run. How sad I was that I hadn't discovered that sooner. But at least I got to be in three episodes and see Paul Rudd in real life. And of course Kristen Bell. And Jason Dohring.  Ahhhh, Logan....

Heroes was a direct result of Veronica Mars, because Kristen Bell was scheduled to be part of season two. Brittany and I spent a whole weekend in a dark living room watching season one from our laptops on my Netflix account. (Disclaimer: Heroes is not one of my favorite shows. It is not something I will pop in the DVD player and watch multiple times. It is merely an engrossing story that I will follow to the end, because I have to know how things end.)

How I Met Your Mother is Jen and Justin's fault. They kept telling me I must watch this show, and when I housesat their apartment while they were honeymooning it up, I decided to give it a try. I watched both seasons that week. Then I stole season one, made my roommates watch it, and even Jenna liked it. (Jenna's like me two years ago; TV doesn't grab her attention anymore.) We love HIMYM around here. Many a conversation has been made with HIMYM references. And it's the one show all of our friends seem to really like. (Still working on corrupting Jen and Justin with the Office.)

And of course there was the American Idol love from last season. But I don't anticipate getting into that again.

Last year we had a wonderful get together called "TV Thursdays" (also known as Brittany and Ryan's School of Cooking). Ryan would DVR all our shows from the week and then we would watch them all in one fell swoop on Thursday nights. It was glorious fun. This year we've got quite the list to watch: Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, the Office, and soon the Ex List (only to watch for ourselves of course). Sadly, we have to wait until Ryan and Andy find a new apartment before we incorporate TV Thursday back into the schedule.

But when we do? It's going to be legen... wait for it... dary!

In the meantime, gear up for the new episode of the Office tonight, with this guy: 

Proof that all it takes is personality for an average looking guy to make millions of women fall in love with him. (PS- I love you, Jim Halpert.)

Recap: Babies and Cookies

There I go again, not keeping this thing apprised with my comings and goings. 

(Is apprised the right word?... I'll look it up later on dictionary.com.)

Quick recap of the important stuff: Baby Lucy and chocolate chip cookies

I got to hang out with this cute kid on Saturday night. She slept most of the time, and cried when she wasn't sleeping, feeding, or sucking on that pink pacifier, but I hear that's what babies do so there ya go. Jessica looked amazing for just having a baby three days before, albeit tired enough to fall asleep in the middle of conversations. (Jessica: "I hear you. My eyes just won't stay open.") These pictures aren't great- too dark for awesome non-grainy, non 1600 ISO pics. Can't wait for a sunny afternoon to try out cute newborn pics with the Rebel. That second picture, the one of Mike kissing Lucy, was actually my reject, going to delete later because I have a better, awesome picture like it. But alas, in my attempt to delete this one, I deleted the good one! Dismay! I've never ever ever done that before and what a time to do it- with a precious daddy kissing baby daughter picture! So I was forced to make up this one as best I could, and it doesn't look too bad (but no where near the amazingness that was that poor deleted first picture).

Onto the cookies:

Yesterday I tried my hand at making cookies from scratch. We haven't made cookies in soooooooo long, and I couldn't find the dough at Fresh and Easy, and then Jenna told me we had everything to make delectable chocolate chip cookies in our kitchen right at that moment, and I had a free night, and it all just sort of came together like that.

I followed the Betty Crocker cookbook recipe to a T:

And they came out looking like perfect cookies:



But they didn't quite taste perfect. So I was a little disappointed. But, since I neither burned them or made unreasonably flat final products, I'm willing to call it a success.

Just another manic monday...

Well, I got to one thing on my list at least- updating my financial stuff. Hooray! I have sufficient funds to carry on with my current lifestyle. Good thing, too, because I have become accustomed to a certain quality of life here in good ol' La Mesa.

Youth Venture went about as smoothly as usual. So there was a lot of yelling, a lot of loud video games, and a lot of absurd teenagers who thought they were just the funniest things on earth. The football game offered some excitement for awhile (those back to back interceptions? crazy), and eventually the night turned into fifty-seven rounds of Polish pool. I am so glad I taught them that game. The fact that they still play it, still beg me to start the game on Monday nights, more than a year later, just makes me so happy that I have passed on the joy to a new generation of hoodlums.

And now I'm off to spend a few hours checking out this blog, this blog, and this blog, which supposedly tells the journey of one guy's road to publication.

Hmmmm. Maybe someday I'll be the 'this blog' someone else is linking to as a vast source of knowledge on something.

That would be nice.

Monday, O Monday

Here we are again at the beginning of a new week. Monday's are loooooooooong days for me. At work at 8:30, go through 5, an hour to run very local errands or catch up on computer stuff, and then off to Youth Venture until 8pm. Looooooong day. Especially around 7:15, when Guitar Hero's raging, the Halo-ers are screaming at each other, and whoever's on the drums for Rock Band is giving me a serious headache.

On today's plate:

Begin transferring the next book into InDesign

Update my bank account records (sheesh I need to do this more often)

Learn if there's a website that offers the same coupons that the Sunday paper does (how convenient would that be, right?)

Keep my eyes open long enough to do at least one of these things

Once upon a time, on a Saturday night far, far away

... we geared up to watch August Rush.

Now, I have heard a lot about this movie. When it was out in theaters I had no less than three different people, on three separate occasions, with no prompting whatsoever, just out of the blue commentary, tell me that I had to see this movie. The music's great. The acting's great. The plot's great.

I have this problem, that when people tell me I will absolutely love something, more often than not I find it to be somewhat of a disappointment. This may stem from the huge expectation I put on books/movies/television shows that come so highly recommended. (The one exception to this rule is Harry Potter. Surprisingly, Harry also trumps the rule that I always like the movie better if I see it before reading the book.)

I haven't seen August Rush yet. I did, however, try listening to the soundtrack my sister copied into my itunes, but I wasn't feeling it. Maybe after I can put it into context. But other than the name of this movie (you may remember my affinity for August) it hasn't struck me as something I have to see. Hopefully this will all change in the next two hours and I'll be able to happily report that I have a new one to add to my favorites list.

Ovrit: an adjective

The state of being completely tired of and wishing one did not have to accomplish a certain task set before one; derived from the root words over and it.

Example: Jenna is so ovrit when it comes to graduate school. She does not see how it is possible to get back into the swing of things when all summer has been so gloriously homework-free.

Solution: Make up words with roommate on a Friday night.

Guess who decided to be born today?

I can totally see Jessica in her. Mikey... not so much yet.

Lucy Best

7.5lbs, 19.5 in, born at 1:51 pm on September 18, 2008

Can you believe this beautiful kid was still swimming around Jessica's tummy just twelve hours ago? It amazes me how perfect she is!

Yay for Jessica and Mikey!

They grow up so fast

I sent the kid off to school tonight. Look how adorable she is with her little coffee mug and backpack.

Bye, Jenn-ay! Have fun in class!

Such a brave kid.

Edited Out

Today was my first day that I actually felt like an editor. Not only did I go through two proposed manuscripts today, but I was even wearing my Express editor pants, and I had to destroy some poor soul with my first rejection letter. 

And then I treated myself to a foot long Subway turkey sandwich at 3pm. I figured I deserved it after all that trauma. 

It still amazes me that we have the POWER to take someone's words and turn them into a book. Fast. Our first book that wasn't written by my boss was sent off last week, and we got the proof in the mail yesterday. I started working on that thing about three weeks ago and now...

Voila! Insta-book!

We tag-teamed this one real good. Justin did the cover, I did the inside design. We're a good team.

Speaking of that kid, he and Jen are moved into their new awesome apartment. And when I say moved in, I mean it looks like they've been living their comfortably for months already. I don't know how they did it, but they started moving in on Saturday, spent only a few hours actually moving things that day, and spent Sunday afternoon unpacking boxes, and were done by 4pm. And that includes a trip to Lowe's where Justin hauled 19-20 bags of rocks onto a cart while I poorly kept count.

Heather and Neil also moved this weekend, into their new condo exactly one block from our office. It's been quite a home improvement weekend all around.

Temperature: 91 degrees

Dear September,

We can be friends again!

Love, Jordan

What a day

So basically we spent ALL DAY making our apartment look livable again.
First we destroyed it by moving everything into the kitchen.
This is Jenna on the couch, in the kitchen:

This is Brittany, on the armchair, in the kitchen:

This is me, not in the kitchen, but in the now empty living room:

This was necessary to do, you see, because you see that big vacuum? That thing was our $50 dirt sucker upper that required a clean slate to work with. In the background are my two lvoely roommates taking advantage of said clean slate to clean the windows. At this point, I was banished to the tiled kitchen floor to throw whatever cleaning supplies they needed across the damp, healing carpet. And take pictures.

I love it; it's like we just moved in:

Fast forward seven hours and trips to Ikea, Costco, Michaels, and Target. Jenna says don't mess with her when she's power drilling:

Our latest decor, compliments of Ikea:

In the midst of our fixing things up all nice, Katelyn arrived, with Brian in tow. We all watched We Are Marshall (good movie) and then everyone went to bed. Except me.

It has been a very long day.

We're off to Ikea

Major spring cleaning going on over here. Like, to the extent that our entire living room is in the kitchen while the carpet dries from the major cleaning we gave it. The $50 carpet cleaner rental didn't pull out the stains quite as well as we'd hoped, so we're off to Ikea to see if we can find a rug to hide the problem. 

And pick up some frames for a wall collage we want to try. 

And look for hooks to hang curtains. 

And get a $1 hot dog

We try to get the most out of our Ikea trips.