An introduction

Usually, when I start a journal, I start by introducing myself. I feel weird that I haven't done that on here, so, here goes:

15 cool things about Shelece:

1. My name is Shelece.
2. I am a writer and a graduate student.
3. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see http://www.mormon.org). God and Jesus Christ my Savior are the top priorities in my life.
4. My family are my best friends.
5. If you're one of my best friends, I consider you to be family, too.
6. Pink is basically my most favorite color of all time.
7. I own the complete series of Gilligan's Island.
8. I am a Trekkie-and not just any kind of Trekkie, I like the old-school Captain Kirk style Trek.
9. All of the "man movies" that I own are either sci-fi or superhero movies, with one exception: Bandits (Bruce Willis, Cate Blanchett, Billy Bob Thornton... it's pretty awesome)
10. When I was little my favorite cartoon was Alvin and the Chipmunks. I have some of their music on my i-pod.
11. If I could be an animal, I'd have to be some kind of bird. I've always wanted to fly.
12. I really really would love to go to France someday. That's where my mom's family came from. I took some French in middle school and high school but I haven't retained much of it. :(
13. I love listening to music. When I'm not listening to it, it's usually running through my head anyway. It's like having my own private soundtrack. 
14. I've been working on my own novel since I was 12. One day I will finish it and it will be epic.
15. I enjoy long walks on the beach. Okay, I've only been to the beach a couple times, but it seemed pretty cool and I do like long walks, so...

Ahhh... now this blog feels so much more official. :)

Working at the Car Wash

I don't understand what is in the air here that gets cars so dirty, but after sitting in the parking lot for two weeks, my car looked like someone had dipped it into a mud puddle. Clearly it was time to take action. I drove over to my friendly neighborhood car wash, only to discover that... there was a giant rope blocking off the driveway, and it was completely abandoned.

No matter. I managed to find a new place. $1.75 for a wash seemed pretty reasonable. I grabbed my quarters and ran to get started. Just after I put my money in, I realized... I'd left my keys in the car. Did I lock the door? I ALWAYS lock the door. Did I seriously just lock myself out of my car at the CAR WASH? I take one step to go check, and water starts spraying out of the wand thing on the wall. Okay, forget it. I might not be able to get back in my car, but at least I can make it look good.

Considering I'd never tried a pay-self car wash before (I'm usually a fan of parking in the driveway and using a hose), I did pretty well with the prewash and the soap phases. Then I get to this phase called "foam brush." I think that I am just supposed to take the brush and use it on the soap already on the car... I don't realize that it is shooting out a thick pink foam spray. So when the car wash beeps for more money, I put the brush down to go feed the machine more quarters. When I turn around, there is a foot high pile of pink fluff on the concrete. THAT isn't good. I switch to the rinse cycle, and start by spraying down the foam mess-which results in the foam mess exploding all over the wall. It looks like a cotton candy machine just blew up. But oh well, because I have two minutes left and my car is coated in this stuff.

At this point, a nice older gentleman comes to see "How are you doing, honey?" It's not until he straightens the foam brush I threw haphazardly into its case that I realize he must own this place. Suddenly I am grateful he didn't come by a minute ago before I semi-destroyed the evidence of my waste of soap. I take a deep breath, attempt to look like I know what I am doing, and finish rinsing the car.

Now for the moment of truth. I approach the driver's side door, grasp the handle, and... it OPENS! For once in my life, I didn't lock it when I got out! One last deep breath, and I'm in the car and on my way.

Maybe next week I'll get this car washing thing down...

Starting Over

So here goes blog attempt number #3. :)

Confession: I am kinda addicted to journaling. So you’d think that I would be big on blogs! But… I am also kinda addicted to privacy. And kind of scared to post personal information on the internet, at least outside the semi-friendly realm of Facebook! That means that previously blog attempts have been very carefully password protected—and thus subject to incredibly small readerships.

This blog will be a little different. I am going to try this whole public blogging thing. I’ve been nervous that my name is obscure enough, that anyone wanting to find this blog will find it. But then I got to thinking… my name is obscure enough, that it probably won’t attract a heck of a lot of people who I don’t know. So. I am giving this a try. Here goes!