Laundry

Ever heard of too much of a good thing? Well, I think I've just understood that for the first time in my life. Regarding what you ask? Clothes.

I live in a 425 square foot studio apartment, which naturally has NO room for a washer/dryer. So laundry seems to be even more of a task when I have to drive somewhere to do laundy. I hate it and therefore, I just don't do it.

Certain undergarments are nearly disposable in my mind at this rate. (Nobody seems them so why not?) I'm gonna let you all in on a dirty (pun intended) secret. I haven't done laundry for 2 months!

Imagine my excitement today when I discovered laundry services while I was calling laundromats. They're telling me I can actually drop off my laundry, they'll do it for me, and then I can pick it up for $1 a pound. Hmmmmm.....

Well, as amazing as that sounds I had to skip it this round. There was no way I was paying nearly $70 for my laundry to get done by somebody when I am perfectly capable of doing it myself....as soon as I get over the creepy-factor of laundromats I've conjured in my mind.

Regardless, when my laundry's not like the Leaning Tower of Pisa I may not hesitate to spend $5 for someone to do my laundry in the future. Oh and to avoid this situation from ever happening again, I'm going to try to do laundry once a week. Like a normal person. I'll let you know how that works out.

Oh and back to the too much of a good thing. I said that because I have too many clothes to be able to get by on months without doing laundry. However, this did prompt me to get rid of 5 garbage bags of old clothes because I know there's people out there that'll appreciate them much more than me.

Regardless...I'm still in love with the concept of laundry services. I've got to try it at least once.

Dear Celebrities

In case you were wondering how to increase the frequency of your name, songs, sitcoms or movies splattered all over the place I have a secret for you.

Ready?

Date somebody who assaults you, goes as far as biting you, and then is arrested.

After that, if you're a singer your songs (no matter how outdated) will suddenly be played daily on every radio station. Sometimes, I promise, even every hour. If you're an actress, I'm sure your movies will suddenly appear on TBS, etc.

Oh and if you want to get even more attention, get back together with the abusive man.

Guess there's really no such thing as bad publicity, eh?

Hot cocoa mug

I came home from work tonight and made my usual Ghirardelli double chocolate hot cocoa with milk before crawling in bed with a book (Grisham's lastest).

Well, my usual hot cocoa mug (that I got from my mom and is adorable and I absolutely love) was dirty from my V-8 light juice earlier that morning.

Instead, I used a mug from my plate collection. That mug is a lot bigger than my other mug, it's practically a bowl.

My tummy hurts now.

What a day

Tuesday started off as a quiet, snowy morning. I stayed in bed through the afternoon attempting to combat the bug that was going around the office I knew I was bound to get. (No windows and a bizillion of us stuffed in a small area....it's inevitable) Anyways, I was enjoying my day when my phone rang and it was work.

It's always a bad sign when they call me before I get into the office. My editor asks "Wanna be on your way to work?" I said "Sure." He said "OK. Fatal stabbing, go to it."

First of all, if I had said I didn't want to go into work early, I could've missed out on a fatal stabbing that happened in the middle of the day! That would've been disappointing. I guess he had to make sure I was dedicated to any story. Blah.

The stabbing turned out to be a love triangle gone really bad after the woman's husband, who beat her, left jail to find a job but instead showed up at their apartment where her much younger boyfriend was at the time. The husband got mad and killed the guy. Sounds like a country song, eh?

I went back to the scene to talk to neighbors who got home from work. I was there for 1 1/2 hours and when it got dark I decided to head back to the office. I also wanted to get out of there before they took the body bag outside. I got in my car, started to leave when my tires began spinning out of control landing me right in the rain gutter.

A surge of tears started and lasted for nearly 30 minutes. I was terrified and had NO idea what to do. It was the worst area of town and dark. I watched the police officers start to leave and got even more worried. I didn't know who to call but my fellow police officer/source/friend.

I called Sgt. Ledford on his cellphone, hating to bother him at home, just to simply ask what I should do. I was in a rain gutter, I didn't even know if there was anything but a tow truck that could get me out.

Long story short, he made the 20 minute drive to come and get me out with his truck. I was so embarassed and extremely grateful that he came to help me! It was funny, right as he was pulling up he called to see where he was and said "Instead of your knight on a white horse, I'm a knight in a white truck." Classic.

After nearly getting his truck stuck and taking out a garbage can, he pulled me out of the ditch and I returned to the office, very grumpy.

I wrote my story and 20 minutes before I was going home, the story changed completely and I had to re-write the story with all the copy editors waiting for me so they could go home.

That is the last I want to ever remember of that day.

For reals?!

I thought this was a joke. I hoped this was a joke. It's not. See for yourself....



This commercial made Austin and I laugh forever. Watch around 28 seconds, they look like coneheads/aliens. This is scary for so many reasons. The best part was Austin said "That's the ugliest thing I've seen."

That's my boy, anti-poof and all!

A compliment...at work...huh?

Today my editor complimented the lead of my story. He actually said "I like it." He went as far to make sure I hadn't changed a word when I turned it over to the final edit.

And, right as I was writing this the other editor came up to me and said "Kristine, I think this is the best story you've ever written in terms of start to finish. It was a perfect mix of everything."

WOW. I didn't even know what to say.

I wish it was that rewarding and easy here everyday. But, it's not. The real world is full of criticism, I get that. However, I had no idea how criticism dominated my temporary career choice would be. Now, it is a shocking reality.

Work goes like this....
1. Find a story that hasn't been written in the past 5ish years and sell it your editors. But before you say anything, keep your mouth shut until you know you can actually get it. (Telling them about it, and then not being able to do it is bad news)
2. Start the calls and researching. At that point you learn to deal with rejection. For some reason, nobody likes to talk to a reporter. We're manipulative and sensationalist. Whatever it is, I've heard every excuse and just been completely ignored. Makes you feel really good about yourself. 3. Write the story. From the moment you start, tailor the length of it to whatever the editors want. Oh, and don't use big words because apparently Northern Utahns can't handle them.
(My editor told me I have a tendency to use too abstruse words)
4. Put the story into city edit where it will then be read by one of the editors. I swear I still get nervous when I try to open my story and it is locked because they're reading it. I just sit and hope today they like what I gave them. They usually have something to say about it.
5. The story goes into city ready. Here, they place it onto the paper and cut obscene amounts of it. It has to fit, right?
6. The paper goes out and you hope your story somewhat resembles what you originally intended.
7. You check your email the day it's in the paper to make sure nobody hates it, or you, enough to take the time to tell send hate mail. (I've actually had someone tell me I am incompetent and my story was trashy and I should be ashamed and red faced)
8. You do it all over again.

I didn't want to sound like I'm complaining too much because I enjoy my job. Really, it's great. There's just been some moments when said supervisors have been harsh in their criticism. I guess it's meant to be constructive, but most days I feel like it's just critical of me.

As a reporter, you put effort into stories everyday and put yourself on the line with your writing skills, organization, interviewing, etc. We're subject to 65,000 critics a day. And that's just those who subscribe.

Law school apps

Law school....exciting, eh? Law school applications....most annoying, time consuming, busy work EVER!

For the past I'd say about month all I can think about is this little organization LSAC-Law School Admissions Council- that is the mediator between me and said future law school. OK seriously people, it's got to be intense if there needs to be a national admissions council right? We're talking different personal statement requirements, different resumes, different application due dates and amounts, different processes (mailed, LSAC, their web-site), letters of recommendation for every school. I'm terrified I'll get one of my schools mixed up and ruin all my chances. It has actually given me nightmares.

For law being so universal....the application process for law school is opposite.

As my friend at work pointed out, maybe the application process is so brutal to deter the less dedicated students from going through with it. What a great weeding out process and also a fantastic way for them to drain my bank account. It's about $75 per school...I'm applying to 8-9. Do the math and Ouch! My bank account with a measly salary as a starting journalist has taken the hit.

Well LSAC, you've gotten me on the edge many nights and almost pushed me back into undergrad classes to get ready for med school. However, I'm sticking with it and giving every dang school the exact amount of pages/words/characters and a tailored resume they want. Happily, of course.

It all paid off when I receieved an email from a law school in North Carolina that I applied to for "fun." (Maybe that's why I'm stressed out over this, I'm applying to schools that just invite me to apply for free) Anyways, the school said my g.p.a and LSAT score placed me in one of their highest position for a candidate for a top merit scholarship.

That, my friends, is just the ammunition I needed to keep going with this tedious process.