Happy Birthday

My beloved Dad would have been 54 today. I love you, Dad. I miss you more each and every day. I can't wait for our joyous reunion!

Well, that didn't take long

God provided. My intern bill is completely paid off. Someone anonymously gave the remaining amount (pretty large) to me as a Christmas gift. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, generous person. I pray that God blesses you ten times over what you gave.

As Jery said, "God's got my back."

:)

Operation "Make-Me-Laugh"

So, this is something that I have been pondering for quite some time. I think we need to bring back the occupation known as "The Court Jester." Bear with me a moment, please.

How great would it be to have someone on-hand at all times with the sole purpose of entertaining you and making you laugh?

It would certainly add a great deal of glee to my life...what about yours? Let me know what you think and we will see what can be done about this.

I already have a few people in mind that I would like to hire to be MY Court Jester!

One year ago

November 13, 2005 is a very special date for me. You want to know why? I was baptized one year ago today! Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. I will spend the rest of my life telling the world about the goodness that is You.

Taste and See

My favorite thing about our Heavenly Father, is that He is never-ending. You never get to a point in your relationship with Him where you can say, "Alright. I get it. I've got this whole thing figured out." God is constantly bringing more revelation, more blessing, more refinement. Every day that I spend with Him brings more "oh yeah!" moments where I realize something that I hadn't before. Saturday night was no exception.

I had the privilege of sitting next to a lovely Intern on the plane ride back from Seattle. (By the way, the Prosperity with a Purpose Conference...awesome!) We were chatting and in the middle of our conversation, I realized something. I should probably tag this thought onto a previous blog concerning my "SO belonging at The City Church", but what are ya gonna do?

We were talking about our lives and how we ended up becoming Christians. I was telling her about my Dad and Stepmom and how they prayed for all four Youssi girls every single day. They prayed that we would come to Christ and have a relationship with Him. My Dad prayed for me for 23 years before I walked in the door of City Church ( how faithful, huh? I guess I should learn to be patient in my prayers too!) He specifically prayed Colossians 1:9-14 over each of his four daughters and would substitue our names wherever it said the word "you". It would sound a little something like this:

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for Leah, and to ask that Leah may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that Leah may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified Leah to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered Leah from the power of darkness and conveyed her into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom Leah has redemption through His blood,[a] the forgiveness of sins."

Amy (his wife), also prayed specific verses for each of us, but she had a different one for each daughter. Guess what mine was.

Psalm 34:8
"Taste and see that the Lord is good."

Sound familiar? Well that's only because it is The City Church's verse! Hahaha. If that's not the world's biggest confirmation, I don't know what is! Amy would pray every morning that I would come to know Jesus and I would "taste and see that He was good." I didn't even realize it until Saturday night that my church's verse lines up exactly with what my Stepmom had been praying over my life for six years. It's absolutely perfect. I just "happen" to find a church that I feel instantly at home in, and it "happens" to have the same verse as it's motto that was prayed over me for years before my salvation. God's plan is so perfect.

I think it is safe to say that I am, indeed, tasting and He is oh, so good.

'Cuz I Know My God Saved the Day...

So...INTERNS! Yeah! Whoo! People told me to expect to be torn apart and put back together...over and over and over again. But I didn't expect God to do anything within the first six days!

I was totally nervous to start on the first day because I had no idea what to expect. But the first day was full of fun activities...and washing of the pastors' cars (Hallelujah). But, as the days wore on, I started getting a little nervous about money. In reality, I didn't have the finances to pay for the internship on my own and I hadn't written letters to anyone asking for support because my pride got in the way :(

So I was praying and asking the Lord what I should do about these feelings of doubt and fear. I basically had ZERO peace about being an intern. I was really confused because I was pretty sure I had a verse from God about doing it, but now that things were not falling into place financially, I was beginning to doubt. "Maybe I misunderstood the scripture. Maybe God gave me a rent-free place to live in San Diego because he wanted me here, but not necessarily to do interns." And on top of all these thoughts, a few days into the internship, a rock hit my windshield and put a crack in it...which will cost upwards of $500 to fix. That did it. I got so upset that I cried. (I pray and cry a lot, it seems.) I finally screamed to God, "Why is this happening? I thought you wanted me to be an intern! Why isn't there enough money? Are you trying to tell me something? I can't handle this, Lord! You know what? If You want me to be an intern, You're going to have to pay for it. I'll do the down payment but You have to take care of the rest because I sure don'thave enough money. Especially now that there is a huge crack in my windshield!"

After waiting a day or two, with no miraculous influx of checks, I decided that I must have made a mistake. I called one of my closest friends and told her that I was going to quit Interns. There wasn't enough money and on top of that, I was basically having an emotional freak-out. No sooner had I called her that I received a call from Jery at church. He called to inform me that someone had anonymously donated $500 to my Intern fund. I think I almost dropped the phone. I immediately called my friend and demanded to know if it was her doing...she laughed and said no. I still have NO idea who gave me the money. But, including the down payment and the donation of this person, I now have Interns halfway paid for. Whoo!

I can't believe how beautiful God's plan is. He used this experience to show me that I CAN count on Him for everything. Even when I feel like He's not listening, He is. He stretches and stretches and stretches me until I can't do another thing on my own and have no other choice but to cry out to Him. He takes me through the fire to the point where I can't go another step and then, right before I am ready to quit because I can't take the heat, He rushes in and SAVES THE DAY. How lucky are we that our God is a Savior? That He delights in saving us when we're certain that we're done for?

I have NO way to pay for this internship. But God does. What is a few thousand dollars to Almighty God, the One who gives us the power to get wealth in the first place? I also think this experience served to humble and ask for help from others. Many people have offered to bless me financially when they heard about the program, but I was too proud to accept it. It's so funny. My Savior knows me to a "T"...He knows just how to get me. Now that I told God that He has to pay for it, I HAVE to accept money from people. Haha. I think that proves God has a sense of humor.

I wrote the check for the down payment yesterday. As I was writing it, I prayed, "Dear Lord, thank You that this is the last check I will have to write for this program. Thank You for being my Provider. Amen."

A gift from my King

While walking through a grocery store in Illinois a few days ago, I came across a lovely bouquet of flowers. At first I simply looked and enjoyed their beauty, then I started to get a little nostalgic feeling in my stomach. It suddenly dawned on me that I missed getting flowers. I am a complete sucker for any kind of girly gifts, but flowers are a true weakness :) I had a boyfriend who used to give them to me as gifts almost weekly. It always made me sad that something so beautiful would eventually wilt and die, so I took pictures of every single bouquet I ever got from him. THAT'S how bad I am, you guys.
Anyway, I had my sad little moment in the store and then went on with my day. The next morning I was standing in the kitchen, cup of coffee in hand, looking out the window at a beautiful Autumn morning. All of a sudden, I see a pink rose in front of my face. I turn around and my Grandpa has a rose in his hand that he picked from his garden just for me. "Grandpa," I said, "I didn't know you grew roses in your garden" He replied, "I didn't either. I've never seen a rose like this before"
So, not only did God hear me in the store that day, He got someone to give me a flower. And not just any flower, a special one that my Grandpa had never seen before! I don't know how much more I could ask for. I love when He does that. He took the time to show me that He does care about the little things in our lives. He cared that I missed getting flowers. He cared enough to show me that He was listening. I love knowing that the God of the Heaven and Earth cares enough to send His silly little girl a pink rose...just so she knows He loves her. :) You'd better believe I took a picture of it too!

Don't worry, it's only my will breaking.

God called me out on something. I won't go into details but it does have a little something to do with the BIGGEST surrender of my life; letting go of something that I am absolutely terrified of relinquishing. Why is it so easy to trust God in some areas, but not others? Thankfully, I had some wonderful friends remind me that God has a plan for us. He gives us a hope and a future. Not only that, but He promises to do far above anything we ever could have planned for ourselves...IF we just wait for Him. Knowing all this, it becomes pretty difficult to make plans for my life without asking God about them first...even when these plans look all rosy and perfect in my mind. I have to surrender my will, give up all MY plans for the future in order to be fully open to what God wants to do with me. Once I reminded myself that my life does not belong to me, I cried A LOT and told God that, yes, I still belonged to Him. He could still have me and do whatever He wanted with my life. When I was telling a friend about all this, she heard my tears over the phone and asked, "Leah, are you crying?" And I said, "Yes. But don't worry, it's only my will breaking."

A pleasant sound

For those of you who don't know, I have a three-year-old brother named Joey. This kid is the light of my life. He fills me with joy each and every day just by being himself. Lately, though, God has been using Joey to show me how He feels about me, and all of His children. Yesterday, for example, I was riding in the car with my Mom and Joey, listening to a CD of children's songs that he loves. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Joey started singing along. My Mom and I stopped in mid-conversation and just listened. We sat there with our hands over our mouths, absolutely tickled at the sound of his little voice singing with such enthusiasm. He didn't have all the words exactly right, his pitch wasn't perfect, but we loved it.

It suddenly dawned on me, as I was listening to this precious voice, that this must be how God feels about us when we sing worship songs for Him. I know I don't have the most perfect voice and I don't always know the words, but somehow I think our Heavenly Father loves hearing it just the same.

The Bible says in 1 John 3:1 -

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

I get immeasurable joy out of Joey, and he isn't even my child. If I love him this much, how much more does our Father love us and get joy out of things that we do for Him?

Remembering the big day.

I was talking to a VERY wise young woman yesterday. I was seeking her advice on something and she mentioned in passing that I "SO belong at The City Church." I laughed and said "I know." But after we hung up I REALLY started thinking about what she said. I remember the first day I walked through the doors of TCC. I was not saved at the time and my soul was just starving for God. I had done my share of trying to fill my life with other things and wound up hurt and empty...big surprise.

God walked into my life through a beautiful woman named Joy Veale, who happened to crash a summer school class I was taking. I could just tell that there was something different about her. She really personified her name. My Dad's health was not doing well at the time and I was struggling with demons of my own and I was really just drawn to her. I know, now, that what I saw coming out of her eyes was the love of Jesus Christ. (I also know that she's pretty flippin' awesome so that's why I was drawn to her too!) She would mention church here and there when I would ask her what she did over the weekend, etc. I REALLY wanted her to invite me to go with her so I kept dropping little hints about how I wanted to get back into a church but I wasn't really wanting to go to Catholic church...yadda yadda yadda. So when she asked, "Do you want to come to church with me?" I practically said yes before she even finished asking.

I was excited for Sunday. I thought I would be nervous because I had never been to someone else's church before, but my Dad was a born-again, on-fire Christian for 30 years so I knew a little bit about what this church would be like. I couldn't wait for the day to come. It was as if my heart knew that something BIG was about to happen. I had no idea how right I was...

I think I arrived a few minutes late because I had trouble finding the building so worship had already started by the time I walked in. I don't know what happened, but as soon as I walked into the sanctuary, I knew I was HOME. Something inside me just said "This is it. THIS is what I have been waiting for my whole life. THIS is where I belong." After worship was over Pastor Jerry asked if anyone needed prayer. I didn't know a soul in the place besides Joy and Mrs. Schneider, but my hand shot right up. I knew that this is what I needed. I went forward at the end of the service and gave my life to Christ, and I have never been the same since.

I love thinking about that day because it really takes me back to the joy of my salvation. God took me from my life, which was going nowhere and meant nothing, and gave me a purpose that means EVERYTHING. He lifted me out a pointless, empty life where everything dissapointed me, to set me on a path that gets more exciting every day. I get to have a loving, personal relationship with my Maker. The One who knew me before I was even in my Mother's womb, the One who knows the exact number of hairs on my head, the One who loves me more than His own life. I get to be blessed every day with amazing friends and amazing joy and provision. I get to have peace. I get to have TRUE love. There is just no describing the gratitude in my heart for what Jesus has done. I guess that's why we dance in church on Sundays, huh?

So Allene, you are correct. I SO belong at The City Church. God pulled me out of the muck and placed me here. I don't know why. I don't deserve it. It's purely a gift of God's grace. But I consider myself very blessed to be a part of it.

God NEVER fails

God NEVER fails to provide perfect circumstances when it comes to carrying out His will for my life. I needed somewhere to stay during Interns and I REALLY wanted to live with my Mom but my stepdad wouldn't allow it; he thinks I'm too old to be living at home. I kept praying that God would change his heart and open up a way for me to live there, but nothing was happening. I finally gave in and told God that I would apply to have a host family, even though it's not what I wanted. But I still have to obey the word God gave me and do Interns. I wasn't super-excited about living with a family that I hardly know, but I figured it would be a growing experience and it would turn out for the best because things always do when God is behind them.
BUT...

Last night I text-messaged my cousin to congratulate her on a new job that she just got. She is one of the producers with Turning Point, a ministry done by Pastor David Jeremiah that airs every Sunday morning on UPN. She and I were catching up on life a bit and we got talking about the internship. I explained everything that was happening and how I was waiting on the Lord to provide a place for me, and she said, "Leah, just something to think about, my Mom says you are always welcome to stay with us as long as you need to." I was like "WHAT?!?!" They have a room for me available right now for me to move into! This is a family that I have grown up with who also happen to be on-fire for Jesus! So, in three weeks, I will be living in Del Mar, rent-free, with a wonderful Christian family. How could I have ever even hoped for anything better!? It's just like the verses that we read last Sunday about how God is able to do far more than we would ever dare ask or dream.

I think God must smile when we finally realize the plan that He has been working on behind our backs. I'd been earnestly praying about moving in with my Mom and getting sad because I wasn't getting what I wanted. God must have been like, "Leah, just wait a few weeks. I have the PERFECT place for you. Trust Me. Just wait a little while longer." Now I see why He said "No" about my Mom's house. He had an even better place waiting...I just didn't know it yet.

Interns, here I come.

I've spent a LOT of time in prayer about what God wants me to do with my life in the coming year. Courtesy of Allene and Elisa, I have many verses from Proverbs and one from Isaiah that clearly illustrate that the Lord wants me home in San Diego. That part is already decided, but what about Interns? It's something that I have wanted to do ever since I heard about it, but I wasn't sure if it was God or me just wanting to do it because it looked like fun. I would LOVE to spend a year of my life in service and in learning about my newfound faith. The main thing that has been holding me back is my fear of financial insecurity; Interns does cost a bit of money. I had been thinking, lately, that I would skip out on interns and use the money to go back to college, get my credential and begin my teaching career. I am 24, after all and that is "getting up there in years". ;)
So I was sitting in my living room in LA, praying and reading the Bible and I happened to be in the book of Psalms. I had been praying fervently for guidance from the Lord about what path to take in my life and Psalm 127:1 leapt right off the page:

Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.

With that simple phrase, God told me what He wanted me to do. It seems like He was saying, "Leah , you can make all the plans you want, but there is no point in doing so unless I am behind them. You can build your life according to your own blueprints, but trust Me, Mine are better. Come and see what kind of a house I will build for you, with Me as the foundation."

I was so excited, and a bit overwhelmed. The Lord has only spoken that clearly to me once before and it was just as powerful the second time around. Now I have to make plans to get this internship up and running, financial fears aside. It's time to obey the Word that I was given.

Happy Father's Day

My Dad. So awesome. I love you and miss you more each day. The four Youssi daughters spent the day at Disneyland, where he used to take us...a LOT. Spending that time with them made me feel so good because I got to see how much of him is still alive in us. We definitely got our weird sense of humor from him...not to mention our capacity to make up random games in order to pass line-wating time. The best part of all is that I know he was with us the whole time, laughing right along with us. To all the Dad's on Earth and in Heaven: Happy Father's Day.






Becky eating the bone, Hannah climbing the cell, and me trying to get the dog to perch on my finger...weirdos indeed. Dad would be proud. :)




I can't see ANY family resemblance...can you? ;)

What is important?

You know what I think? I think the purpose of this whole "moving to LA" thing was to give me a chance to be out of the enviroment in which I have spent my whole life. To give me a chance to get away from everyone who knows me. Get away from people telling me what to think and to do, in order to let me figure things out for myself. I think that is what being in my twenties is all about: self-discovery. I find it interesting, now that four months has gone by, that all I really want to do is get back to what is the most important part of my life. Suddenly, fame, fortune and glitz don't seem so exciting. Today, family and God are the most exciting and fulfilling things I can imagine. I miss my church. I miss my family. I want to go where the people I love are. I don't want to live where everyone is on their own agenda, everyone has an ulterior motive...everyone is out for themselves. Was this the whole reason why You moved me here, Lord? To figure this out? Well I'm getting the message, loud and clear.

How do you know...

ANYTHING? I swear. One minute I think one way, and the next I am off in a totally different direction. I just want to follow God's will for me. I am following the basic principles of the Bible and stuff , but I don't know what to think about certain things. I need clarity.

This is so AWESOME!!!

So, less than three hours after posting the blog about how I was bawling my eyes out because I miss my Dad so much, he has given me something to smile about. I was talking to my best friend about everything while we were at the gym and she has always been there to help me through any rough spot in my life. She also happens to work at a casting office, where she receives many gifts from actors who have been cast in something by her, or are hoping to be. These gifts usually take the form of cookies, brownies, alcohol, cards, gift certificates, and other things like that. Today, however, when she got back from the gym, there was a pecan pie sitting on the desk addressed to her and her boss. The pie was a gift from an actor who was apologizing for being late to an audition. In the entire year that my friend has worked in that office, no one has EVER given them pie of any kind. It also happens that pecan is my Dad's favorite dessert of all time. I can't help but smile because I know that this was a special message from my Dad to let me know that he is still with me. He heard everything I was saying earlier today and he did something to show me that he is thinking about me. I love it and I love you, Dad!

Has it really only been 5 months?

Yep. Only 5 months since my Dad went home to Heaven, but it seems like a lifetime. I can keep it together most of the time. I can usually be happy that he is with Jesus, but today I am tired of the whole "not having him around" thing. I have my graduation ceremony on May 13th (Brittne and I are walking in the same ceremony!) and I know how much my Dad wanted to be there. I believe he still will be, but I wish I could see him watch me walk across that platform as the first Youssi girl to get a Bachelor's degree.





Today I am wishing for the Rapture so I can get to Heaven and jump into my Dad's arms for the most gigantic hug ever! I know I still have work to do, people to meet, and things to accomplish. But I am content, at this moment, to daydream and think upon the moment when I will be reunited with my Father, both of them. :)

Why I hate PetCo...and so should you.

****My room mate, Megan posted this blog. I was going to write one too because I am seriously appalled at what happened to my baby girl. May such a thing NEVER happen to your pets. DON'T EVER TAKE THEM TO BE GROOMED AT PETCO. Here's why:


Friday, April 21, 2006 - 1:3

Why I hate Petco:

Anyone who's known me for awhile knows that I've never really been a big fan of pets. Especially dogs. But living with two pet owners has fastly changed my view. I have a very special affinity for our five month old puppy, Tannah, despite her repeated attempts at stealing my boyfriend and the "mysterious" wet spots she leaves in my closet.


Like every good mom does, Leah brought in the Tan-imal in for a grooming. Not really knowing any groomers in LA, she picked the Petco at LaBrea and 3rd, since it's supposedly "where the pets go." Four hours after dropping her off, Leah gets a call from Petco saying "Your puppy was wiggling while the groomer was shaving her and was cut. We took her to the vet for stitches. We need you to authorize treatment and antibiotics."





!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






And, yeah, you sign a waiver saying you won't sue in the event that your dog is scratched or nicked, but stitches?? When we finally got her back, five hours later, it turned out that the one inch cut on her hind leg actually needed 8 staples to close it up. The Petco GM did call to apologize, but not before the store employees neglected to call Leah before the dog was transported to the vet, joked that she'd been "sold to someone else," and offered a "free grooming coupon" for the inconvenience. Jerks.



















Thankfully, two days later, our little Cosmonaut puppy is in good spirits, back to jumping and playing and eating my shoes. Moral of the story, Petco is NOT where pets should go...

Please pass the word along to as many people as possible. Thank you!

I'm being romanced <3

Do you ever feel like God finds a special way to tell you how much He loves you? God speaks to me a lot through music. The first time I heard the lyrics of this song, I cried. I felt like it was a special love song from God to me. He used it to tell me how much he treasures me and thinks I'm beautiful just the way I am, today.


Mercy Reigns
By: Shane Barnard

She hides her face, it seems too good
For Your embrace to find her
And say, "My dove, your voice is sweet
Show me your form... your form is lovely"

Your mercy reigns
Your mercy comes
Your mercy falls and rises with the sun
(Repeat)

It's new every morning
Its new every morning
Its good enough for me

No ear has heard a melody
As sweet as yours for her
It seems too good, so undeserved
My heart faints now, for we are her

Your mercy reigns
Your mercy comes
Your mercy falls and rises with the sun
(Repeat)

I will abide in Your love, Your love

(Song of Solomon 2:14, Lamentations 3:22-23)

I love you too, Jesus :)

To life!

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."

Ephesians 2:4-5

So grateful to be alive in Christ today!

Whoa

Okay, so if anyone hasn't heard by now, I have been struggling with whether or not the Lord wants me to stay here in LA. I have felt really disconnected from Him and have been feeling pulled toward home in San Diego. I kept praying and asking God to reveal His will for me. I would always tell Him that I was willing to do whatever and go wherever He said, when secretly, I really just wanted to come home. Well, you can't keep secrets from God, can you? Sure enough, He began convicting me of my double-mindedness. I felt like He was saying, "You say you're willing to do whatever I say, but it seems like you already have your mind made up about what you're going to do. You already have your heart set on San Diego. What if I asked you to stay up here? Would you be willing to do it?" Upon examining my heart, I realized that I needed to FULLY surrender the direction of my life to Him. I finally gave up and said "Yes. I will stay here if You want me to."

The interesting thing is, once I fully gave up my will, God started hinting that He wanted me to move back. This weekend I was at church and at the GC Cell at the girls' house, and I was seeking advice and getting lots of prayer. I was telling the girls that I was fully willing to move back to San Diego, but I feel like I would be looked at as a failure; like I couldn't "hack it" in L.A. Also, there was the tiny little matter of me having just paid $1500 to join the Screen Actors Guild. I had already told the Lord that money is just money and I would still be willing to leave it all behind if He called me home.

I checked my bank account yesterday and the money that was taken out for my SAG membership was back in there!!! Then I got a call later that day saying that there was a "Problem with my card and they could not finalize my membership until I called them." If that is not God, I don't know what is! The money was GONE from my account on Thursday, and now it's back. It wasn't a "pending" transaction. The money was gone. God gave me my money back. I don't even know how to express the joy and gratitude to my loving, amazing, wonderful Savior. All I have to do is trust in Him, and He provides for me beyond my wildest dreams! Now I'm just waiting for God to show me where He wants me to live. I would like to live with my Mom but my stepdad won't allow it. I believe God will open the door to where I belong when the time is right. How great is our God, huh?

A Poem for my Dad

I did not write this. A dear friend of mine did. He knew my Dad well and grew up in the same church as him. When I get his permission, I will post the name of this amazing author. I love this piece so much because it reminds me of where my father truly is and that I will see him again someday.

To mourn and honor the memory of a man who has passed through into the otherside;
A moment to reflect, then, and to ourselves remind,
That even as these tears may grace our face,
Set your mind to drift a moment, and picture Heaven’s gates,
And there awaits,
Tears of joy between a man and savior,
Shared in their embrace.

Rejoice, that so great is his reward,
To kneel before the presence of his sovereign Lord,
And hear these words at this life’s end,
“Welcome home, my son. Well done, my friend.”
And when these nights have passed, each morning turns to day,
And when all of our understanding seems as if its flown away,
When those tears well up in the corners of our eyes, we question if we can cope,
Don’t forget that if this life ends with joy, then it must always run with hope.
Think on the memory of a Man who has passed before us, who walked in lifealong our side,
A moment to reflect then, and to ourselves remind,
That even as tears may grace our face,
Heaven’s gates are not so far, where tears of joy await;
As we remember this man,
Drawn before our Lord and Savior, and sharing his embrace.

Who did they think I was?

Alright. I admit it. I am thoroughly addicted to reading everyone else's blogs. I love seeing what is going on in everyone else's lives so I figured someone, somewhere, might want to know what's going on in mine. If not, this will serve as a nice diary, which I was NEVER good at keeping.
So I live in L.A. now. I don't like it yet. I really miss San Diego and want to come back but I promised myself I would give L.A. six months before I decided to make any changes.
L.A. is definitely different than San Diego. Everything just moves faster up here. There is pretty much always traffic, there is never any parking, and everyone walks around in a big hurry. There are good aspects of L.A. as well. There is always something to do, the shopping up here is fantastic, and my best friend lives here.
I suppose I really realized I was living in L.A. about a week ago as I was walking to the gym. I had my sunglasses on and my hair was pulled back into a pony tail. I was listening to my IPod Nano (jealous?) and wearing the typical sweatpants and tshirt. The 24 Hour Fitness that I go to is located in a large shopping center that includes restaurants, stores, and a big movie theater. As I was walking, I noticed a gentleman with a camera around his neck. I'm not talking about a regular camera like I would have, I'm talking about one of those professional, high-powered cameras that photographers use.
I didn't really give the man a second glance until I he picked up his camera, pointed it at me and started snapping away. At first I just thought he was taking pictures of the scenery around me, (there was a giant poster for Brokeback Mountain right behind me) but as I walked, he followed me, all the while taking pictures. Needless to say I was quite baffled.
I finally made it past him to the door of the gym. Before going inside I turned around to look at this person who was so intent on photographing me, just to make sure I wasn't imagining things. Well, you would have thought me turning around was the most exciting thing this gentleman had ever seen because he proceeded to crouch down on the ground and take even MORE pictures! I just turned around, bewildered, and went inside.
I have no idea what that was about. Apparently this person thought I was somebody famous, or at least worth taking pictures of. Haha. The poor guy will go into his boss' office all excited because he thinks he has a whole bunch of great shots of someone famous. I hope he doesn't get in trouble! I wonder who he thought I was...