Six Months and a Wave of Homesickness

Who knew the six-month mark would bring with it an overwhelming feeling of homesickness? I think everyone becomes homesick after a big move. After I moved to Oklahoma, I longed for Kansas and my elementary friends. Then about a month into college, I wanted nothing more than to return home to Oklahoma where my family and high school friends were. Funny how Oklahoma had become my new home. Now I miss Kansas and Oklahoma. In the past four years, the two have melded into my unique home, where my family and high school friends in Edmond, and my college friends in Lawrence. Two very different places with two very different sets of people, but both equally close to my heart.

I chose to move to Los Angeles. No one forced me, and I know my family would have been happier if I had chosen a closer destination. In the same way I chose KU, I decided on LA. In high school, I had pretty much packed my bags to either UNC or Duke, but after a KU representative visited my high school I started to question my choices. I was born a Jayhawk and continued to be a loyal fan. Why hadn’t I thought of KU before, and just like that I changed my mind.

For the majority of college, I planned to move to Chicago after graduation. The winter of my senior year was exceptionally cold, which planted a seed of doubt in my mind. I disliked Kansas’s winter. How was I going to survive the sub-zero temperatures of the Windy City? Simply, I wasn’t. Making a list of possible cities, I threw in Los Angeles because it was a big city. One by one I found something wrong with each of the cities on my list. Chicago and New York City- too cold. Kansas City- too overcrowded with KU and MU alums. Oklahoma City- I didn’t want to move home. Dallas- too close to home. Denver- hmm a possibility but not the right available jobs. San Diego- too close to the border. Finally, the only one left was Los Angeles- the land of opportunity.

So that is how I got here, unfortunately moving to LA was a little further away than going to college in Kansas. Moving across the country should come with a manual on how to overcome homesickness. I haven’t found a cure yet. While it was manageable at first, it had become something of a nuisance now. I miss my friends. I miss my parents. I miss my sisters. I miss my nieces. I miss college life and Lawrence. I miss my simple life.

I love LA, and I don’t plan on leaving any time soon. I know the homesickness will pass, just like it did two times before in my life. In the time being, I plan to keep busy and call my family and friends often. The past six months have been a whirlwind, and I can’t believe I have been here this long. Hopefully the next six months will be as exciting, with a little less homesickness.

The Good Wife, I Mean Life.

If you know me personally or read my blog, you might have come to the conclusion I have domestic tendencies. Since I’m only partly employed, I spend a lot of time at my apartment alone. My slight OCD tendencies, which I picked up from my best friend, have become something of a defining characteristic of my personality. Never in my life would I have ever labeled myself a neat freak. While I have never been the dirty type, my life has always had a certain level of organized chaos. Since I was always overly organized in school, I let myself slide in my home organization. My mom called my cleaning style “piling.” To this day I still “pile.” Some things I just can’t find homes for, so I put them in categorical piles around my room. While this habit has thankfully diminished over the years, I still do it. Currently I have an old receipt pile, holiday card pile and my infamous “homeless” pile. Even with my piles, I come to enjoy cleaning my room and kitchen.

Okay so now you know I haven’t always been super clean onto my other newly acquired domestic hobby, cooking. In high school, my mother and sister joked about me burning down the house with my lack of cooking skills. I wasn’t not allowed in the kitchen, but they preferred if I steered clear. My normal responsibilities included washing the salad in the salad spinner, organizing the relish tray and setting the table. What my family didn’t know was that I secretly cooked when they went away. I started out simple making stir-fry noodles then I advanced to cookies from scratch. This basically covered all my culinary bases for the next couple of years. 

My culinary skills really advanced my senior year of college when I finally moved into my own apartment. A couple friends and I started “Thursday Night Dinners.” Every Thursday we would go to each other’s apartments and cook dinner for each other. For inspiration I turned to the cookbooks I had been collecting over the years. I attempted to cook anything and everything. Taco salad, baked spaghetti, turkey cheeseburgers, Thai noodles, turkey meatballs, omelets, crepes, tarts and cupcakes. In the process, I became something of a cupcake connoisseur. I enjoyed making my own cupcake creations. One of my favorite combinations continues to be my lavender and lime cupcakes. 

Moving to Los Angeles has only intensified my domestic tendencies. I won’t say I love cleaning, but it has definitely become very cathartic to me. There is something soothing about turning my Ipod up and dancing around my apartment while cleaning. At the end of my cleaning sessions, I always feel more relaxed with a sense of accomplishment. So what turned me into a domestic maven? I have no idea, but one thing I do know. I don’t plan to be anyone’s wife any time soon. I plan to hoard my domestic skills for my friends and I for as long as I can. I am a true example of someone who chooses to be domestic but still career oriented. I didn’t get two college degrees just to become a MRS. 

(poor photo quality due to Iphone camera)

At the Movies

 

While I'm attempting to break into the entertainment industry, I've been lagging on my actual movie watching. A favored pastime of mine is staying in with a bottle of wine, a good movie and friends. It's the perfect combination for a relaxing yet fun night. Since moving to LA though, I have only been to two movies in theaters and only rented one movie! Noticing I've only see two of the 10 Best Picture nominees, I decided it was time to reignite my love of movie watching.

First order of business was creating a list of all the movies I've missed over the past months. Including the remaining Best Picture nominees plus the others I want to see, my list totaled to more than 20 movies. Whoops, this is going to take longer than I planed. Prioritizing my life, I decided I should watch the Best Picture nominees first. To lighten up the heavy story lines of most of the nominations, I planned to sprinkle in a few of the comedies from my "want to see" list.

Since I had already seen Black Swan and Inception, I settled on The Kids are Alright and The Social Network as my first choices. For my sprinkle of funny, I watched Toy Story 3 and Easy A next. It was definitely a movie marathon! Still on my list is Winter’s Bone, which I plan to rent this weekend. Just in time for the Oscars, I’m going to spend my hard earned money to actually see The King’s Speech in theaters. It is the winner front-runner, and I adore Colin Firth too.

I might write some reviews closer to the awards, but I’m not sure yet. I will however rank my favorites, even though I won’t be able to get to all of them since four are still in theaters.  

The Dissolution of Love

Love. Such a small word. A mere four letters, but those letters come fully loaded. Personally I have a few problems with this word. Simply I don't believe in it. There are multiple levels of love, and I'm not saying it doesn't exist entirely. For me, I love my parents, sisters, nieces and my closest friends. I genuinely care about all aspects of their lives, both their highs and their lows.

Now for the not so nice part. In my 23 years of life, I have never been "in love." You might write this post off from that statement but hear me out. Throughout college, I chose to focus on school, friends and going out. Basically there was no time for guys and dating. Ok that would be a lie. I did date sporadically, but I was never in love. Ok that would be a lie too. At one point I really thought I knew what love was, and I had found it. Looking back now I would classify that "love" as more of an infatuation, which brings me to my main point.

Today, I believe true love has gone to the wayside to be replaced by a sneaky impersonator, infatuation. Around this time of year, it might seem everyone is in love, but what kind of love? From observation, it feels more people jump into relationships simply because they are scared of being alone. The next logical step is obviously to be in love, right? For my generation, I feel love has become a justification for mediocrity. If you're in a long-term relationship and are in love, you can look over your significant other's misgivings right? Like the fact they are a little messy. Or that they are controlling. Or that they are sometimes unfaithful. Yes, many things are overlooked in the name of love. Seeing this in others' relationships makes me doubt the existence of real love.

Do you blame me? Take what I've said with a grain of salt. I'm not saying that love is completely nonexistent. I have plenty of friends in relationships who will probably marry their current boyfriends. After this blog though I may not be invited to anyone's wedding.

The Santa Ana Winds Sweep in New Luck

When I moved to Los Angeles five months ago, I focused solely on my internship and was not really looking for full-time jobs. I wanted to gain more experience in the entertainment industry before blanketing it with my resume. Starting in late November, I decided it was time to take the leap into the “real” job world. My search started out slow, but as the weeks went on I begin to send out multiple resumes in one day. Unfortunately, all my effort was reward with only one interview. In LA employers typically don’t send out rejection emails, therefore you are left wondering if they are interested or not. Over the holidays, I took a break because most of the entertainment industry basically pauses from mid-December to early January. Once I got back from Oklahoma, my job search resumed at full speed. Three weeks ago, I landed two interviews. While neither of the jobs panned out, it gave me hope that my search was picking up speed.

Something magical happened this week. Just as I was beginning to get excited about a possible part-time job at a bakery, three companies called me for interviews! Three in one week!! Wednesday, I had an in-person interview for a production assistant position at a reality television production company. Also I had a phone interview for a public relations assistant at a boutique PR firm, which specializes in lifestyles public relations. Finally yesterday I received my third call to set up an interview for an office manager position at a production company.

I was beginning to feel discouraged, but this has relit my flame. I absolutely love Los Angeles, and the thought of failure is depressing. I know I made the right choice moving to Los Angeles, and I’m excited for all the new possibilities.  

Superbowl Only Good for Food

While I normally enjoy a good football game, the Superbowl just didn’t spark my interest this year. First every team I cheered for during the playoffs lost- the chiefs, the colts, the bears and the jets. Second I am normally glued to the commercials so I can discuss them with my fellow journalism students on Monday. Since I am not in school anymore, I didn’t pay as close attention to the ads. Now I didn’t complete ignore the ads either, what can I say? Old habits die hard. Ps: my favorite was the Volkswagon commercial featuring the child Darth Vader.

In order to combat my lack of interest in the actual game, I decided to whip up a variety of game day treats. Last weekend, I brewed up a pot of turkey chili with a dash of cinnamon. Yesterday, I chopped up a red onion relish to add a little crunch to the chili. Blending red onions, jalapeños, garlic and some cilantro was also the perfect base for my homemade guacamole. Adding in a couple of shakes of Franks Hot Sauce finished the perfect chunky guacamole.

Any Superbowl spread isn’t complete without a little queso. Instead of making fancy queso, I resorted to the easy favorite Velveta and Rotel. Rounding off the unhealthy feast, my roommate bought a delicious turtle brownie mix. Yum. Needless to say I will be snacking on leftovers for the next few days.