It's been years since I've updated. I've just felt like I haven't really had much excitement in my life to update anyone on. Nothing too new and exciting still, but I thought I'd still update.

I went to California last week. That was fun. I flew into Long Beach and spent a few hours with my Aunt Patty Jo. Then my friend Natalie picked me up and we got dinner and then just hung out. We spent the next couple of days looking at potential houses for her to move into. She's transferring down to Cal State Long Beach in the fall and needs a place to live. It was fun hanging out with her and a little bit stressful too finding a place that she would enjoy living in. She finally settled on a great place (my favorite). It's a guest house this family rents out just half a block from campus. I was also able to see a couple cousins while in the area. One night we even ventured up to Hollywood to see a friend's band play a show. That was fun and nice to do something fun instead of working on finding a place for her to live.

Then we drove up to Santa Maria and I then spent the next week with my family. That was the best part of the week and a half trip. I just got to sleep in and go to the beach a couple of times, go to the movies, rent movies, eat good food and be with my family. Yesterday I had to fly back to Salt Lake out of the Long Beach Airport. My parents drove me down there and we hit some pretty crazy traffic. I seriously did not think I was going to make my flight. It was scheduled to depart at 6:05pm and we didn't pull up to the airport until 5:46pm. As I was getting my bag out of the trunk I heard them over the intercom announce "Last boarding call for Erin Keelin". I then started running and yelled "that's my name!!" Thankfully I only had carry-ons and I'd already checked in online so I could go straight to the security. A Delta worker was waiting for me at the security point and we both ran from that point onto the plane. I seriously would not have made my flight if I was there even just a minute later. Too close for comfort.

The highlight of this trip though came from the wisdom of my 10 year old nephew Nathan. We were driving to Morro Bay on Tuesday and we drove my some Llama farm. Mary loves llamas for some reason and got excited. At which point Nathan says to Mary: "Mary, I don't know why you like llamas so much. Everyone knows that alpackas is where the money's at." Where does this kid come up with this stuff?

I've only back to Salt Lake last night and already life here is pretty hectic. I didn't go to sleep last night until 2:30am and then got up at 6 am to take my friend Crista to the airport. I then came home and slept for another 2 hours until I was awaken by a girl I've never met before moving into my room. Sweet. So I got out of bed and started accomplishing some of the things I had to do today and then went straight to work. After work I had to go grocery shopping with a friend and to dinner. I then came home and swiftly, with the help of my roommates Lisa and Julie, moved my bed and a few other belongings into the upstairs bedroom I'm moving into. The OTHER girl who's also moving into my former bedroom wants to get all her stuff moved in by tomorrow. I also have to work tomorrow from 9am to 6:30pm. Which means that before 9am tomorrow morning I have to get the rest of my stuff out of that room and into my new one. Also, the OTHER girl who moved in that room today has a final tomorrow morning so I can't do anymore tonight and I cannot even get into the room until 7:30 (at the absolutely earliest) tomorrow morning. Lisa says this is what you call burning the candle at both ends. Fun times. What's really getting me through this is that I know that somewhere out there in California there is a 10 year old boy who knows that Alpackas truly are better then Llamas.

Also, the girl who moved in today collects porcelain dolls and collectable plates. She plans on displaying them in our living room in a special armoire. Don't be jealous and don't try and take her as your roommate.

Tilly & the Wall

Life's just been going on as usual for me. Nothing too new or exciting. I saw Get Smart the other night with a couple of friends. It was actually very funny. I'm kind of a comedy movie snob, some would accuse me of being an every movie snob, but I just don't think there are a lot of smart, intelligent and funny movies out there. But I really did laugh at this one. It's good, you should go see it. I also saw In the Land of Women and Into The Wild this week. I really liked both of them. Into The Wild kind of inspires me to be a more adventurous and care-free person. And I luckily know better then he did about living in the Alaskan Wilderness, like: DON'T DO IT. There's a reason why it's called The Last Frontier. In The Land of Women was good too. I really like Adam Brody so he's what made me like the movie. I did have a couple of issues with it, but over all it gets a thumbs up from me.

I went and talked to the Middle Eastern Studies career counselor today. It ended up being an hour and twenty minutes long and it also ended up being twenty minutes of useful help and an hour waste of my day. I really don't think she should be doing this job. She pronounced The United Arab Emirates wrong (she said Em-er-ott-ees. WTF??? em-er-ott-ees?); she suggested that I work as a reservation agent for EgyptAir, and she also pronounce finance: fin-ance. I know the last one isn't really a big deal, it's just really annoying sounding. Needless to say, I will NOT be meeting with her ever again.

After that I went to work. Work was good and uneventful today. The AC on my bus worked well, so that's always a plus. I'm one of the only girls where I work, so that's kind of fun. Except they're pretty much all married or not Mormon. But it's still fun. I like pretty much everyone I work with and they all seem to like me. I know my bosses do. And so do the 2 drivers that I relieve in the afternoons. I work in the afternoons from 12pm or 2pm until 6:30pm (most days) which means that someone else has been working on that same route since 6am and I just go directly to the route and we switch places. Well, it's always Sid or Wendy that I relieve and they both have said that they wish I was the driver who relieved them everyday. They said they can always count on my being out there on time and waiting for them at the relief spot when they get there. It's good to know/hear that my other co-workers appreciate me and think I'm doing a good job.

And after work today I went to a show at Kilby Court. Kilby Court is pretty much my favorite venue every and one of my favorite bands every was playing tonight. Tilly and the Wall. They're amazing. Their percussionist is a tap dancer. She is so cute to watch dance also. This is the second time I've seen them, both times at Kilby. Kilby Court is so cool because it's just so simple. It's just this all ages venue down the end of this street (Kilby Court, duh). They just have this area fenced off and there's a garage there with a stage that the bands play on. When it's cold they have bon fires too. I've seen some really amazing bands there. Anyway, I love the place and I haven't been there in a few years. When I was seriously dating this guy...a few years back we would always go to Kilby. Once a week was pretty normal. I was telling Crista that tonight at the show and she was all "well, that's what happens when you date a guy in a band". And it's true. I was totally one of those girls. I was once the girlfriend. It's just so weird now. I used to totally be so into the Salt Lake Indie music scene and now it's been how many years since I've even been to a show? I guess I just really needed a break. ANYWAY, the show was great and I loved it and Kilby Court.

On a sadder note, my family just found out this last week that my 17 year old cousin has cancer. He has Non-Hodgkins T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. That can just be shortened down to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He started on chemotherapy Saturday morning (or late Friday night. Not really sure.). Anyway, the doctors sound pretty positive about his prognosis but it's still pretty scary. He's the same age as Mary. He's just so young. But fortunately for him, he's a really healthy and active kid. He's on his schools football and baseball teams and plays club rugby. So I have no doubt that Austen will be a fighter. It's just so crazy though. I mean, I can't think of a single adult on either side of my family who has had cancer, but this is the second time a child has had cancer. First was my sister Riana when she was 7 with Ovarian Cancer now my cousin Austen. Crazy.

Anyway here is a link to the music video Tilly & the Wall did at Kilby Court a couple years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZCZRTcY3uA