RIP GRANDMA

Sorry for the delay. The last week has been very hectic. My grandma passed away last week, and so I decided to fly home to Oregon to attend the funeral. Because my classes are during the summer session, that means one class is worth like three, so I had to drop my sewing and nursing classes in order to attend. I'll take them again this fall. I'll be out of town for awhile, so I had a lot of loose ends to tie up before Sunday.

Friday. Went out with my boyfriend (Mr. Show Biz). He took me out to a really nice restaurant (XIV) for my birthday. At XIV, you choose whether you want 8 courses, 11 courses or 13 courses, and you pay per person. There are about 30 items on the menu, and we chose the eight course option, so we picked eight items (including dessert, soup, salad, appetizers and entrees), each dish better than the last. They really cater to vegetarians, too. The main menu is meat-beased, but they gave me a separate, nearly identical vegetarian menu. So whatever meat dish he ordered, I got the vegetarian equivalent of that. It was delicious and a very fun experience, somewhat similar to Sushi Nobu.

Saturday. Packing. Also went to a show with my friend, R. It was a small, community theatre performance, so those are always a gamble, but it was hilarious and we both really enjoyed ourselves. We definitely want to go back and check out some of their other shows. We went out to eat at a local Irish pub/ restaurant right before the musical, and that was really good, too. I had some sort of Frangelico-Bailey's drink that was to die for, and a "Ploughman's Sandwich."

Sunday. Packed. MSB picked me and my sister up to take us to the airport. He brought his son along, so I met his son and he met my sister. Everyone got along. He brought me a birthday gift, since that day was my actual birthday. He took my dog and is dog-sitting her until my sister returns this weekend. I won't return until August, however. My brother is getting married at the end of the month, and I can't afford to fly up here twice, so I'll just stay here in OR until after the wedding. I miss him, though! We email and talk everyday, so that helps a lot.

Anyway, my old friend I've known since Junior High picked me and my sister up from the airport, and we all went out for drinks. I called another old friend up, and she met us at the bar. And then once my brother got off work, he and my other brother and cousin joined us there. I ended up having the best time. It sucks that I had to cancel my birthday dinner in LA, but my impromptu birthday party was really great, and I felt like we were laughing the whole time. It was really nice to see everyone again and be around family and friends I've known so long that they're like family, too. It really was nice : )

Monday. Funeral. Saw a ton of cousins and aunts and great aunts and uncles and great uncles, some of whom I haven't seen in like 20 years! It was a sad event, and I'll miss my Grandma, but we had a really great family reunion. My dad said some very touching things about her. He's a great speaker and communicates from the heart... I told my friend yesterday that he's the kind of guy you want speaking at your funeral! And it's true. I'm really glad I came back to pay my last respects and see old loved ones. Family first and all that jazz.

In better news, I got an email today from a professional sound editor who is going to work on cleaning up the sound in my digital movie... for free. I can't say enough how incredibly uplifting this is for me. His kindness is saving me THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. Thousands of dollars I don't have, and probably won't have for a few years, so it will enable me to wrap this up a lot faster!

See, last spring, I thought I wrapped the movie, and looked for an audio guy. Noone was willing to do it for free. I felt like I was hitting a brick wall, and I wasn't happy with my project, so I went back to the drawing board and re-shot some of the scenes. We just finished re-editing everything, and so I sent it to this sound guy that was referred to me by one of my actors I randomly bumped into at a Starbucks a few months back. The sound guy watched the movie twice, and just today told me he'd love to help out. I really can't believe it. It's something I looked for for months- technically years, but no dice. I think before the revisions the project wasn't ready.

In the making of this project, time and time again, it seems like when things really are where they should be, then my path moves forward. But when things aren't ready, and there's a roadblock, it seems to be there for a reason. I wasn't ready, or the project wasn't ready. Or maybe I'm just over-thinking this and attributing magical movement of the universe to simple, dumb, plain old luck... it finally broke. But in any event, it's great news, and a huge step in moving forward and hopefully soon, wrapping this sucker up!