Hello Blog, it's been a while

Wearing my Real Salt Lake team shirt to support Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando on USMNT!

It's been about a week since the last time I posted on here. Which isn't too bad considering I've been going about 2-3 weeks between posts lately. But it's been even longer since I posted any day to day kind of stuff.
I guess my day to day life hasn't been all that interesting lately. Unemployment can be like that. I don't have the funds to go out very often. But I've been making an effort to do something fun at least once a week, to try and stave off unemployed depression. Some weeks I succeed, oftentimes I don't.
Next week I leave for my big Eastern European dance tour trip. Which, by the way, you can follow at Clog-America.blogspot.com, and on Instagram and Twitter as @ClogAmerica. I'm the social media person for the trip, so I'll be the one posting on those accounts. GO FOLLOW US!
I started packing tonight, but I started preparing for this trip weeks ago. I learned a trick before I went to Cambodia to beat jet lag, and I'm doing it again. A lot of people make the mistake of staying up all night before a big trip, and then try to sleep on the plane, and assume they can wake up at their destination, and "be on the right time zone." This usually backfires, and instead you're sleep deprived and groggy, and it takes a few days to adjust.
Because I want to be able to hit the ground running on this trip, particularly during my layover, I'm applying this little trick again. Instead of staying up all night, you plan to wake up earlier and earlier in the days prior to your trip. Since I have a 7 hour time difference ahead of me, I start 6-7 days in advance, waking up one hour earlier each day. (And hopefully going to bed earlier each night as well. This part takes a few days to kick in, I've noticed.) On the day I leave for the trip, I'll wake up at midnight (and hopefully go to bed around 4-5 pm the night before). When I get to my destination (in this case, Moscow) I will already be on their time zone, and not need to adjust or be sleepy.
Which reminds me- I'm going to Moscow!
My real destination is Belgrade, Serbia and Timisoara, Romania. But due to a lack of direct flights to Belgrade, I have a 25 hour layover in Moscow. And I land in Moscow at 6 a.m. (which would be 11 pm in Virginia). I got my Russian visa so I can leave the airport and tour around Moscow for the day. I'm very excited about getting to see Moscow. And actually, I get to see it twice because I have the same long layover on my return flight as well.
The real pressure this past week hasn't just been sleeping at strange times and packing. I WROTE A NEW BOOK! And if all goes well, and I'm hopeful that it will, it will be available on Amazon on Sunday. The title is, "Sharing the Gospel through Social Media." It's non-fiction (obviously), and is a guidebook for Mormons who wish to do missionary work online, and share the Gospel through social media. It's only about 30 pages, and fairly easy to read (I hope). It's in the hands of editors and reviewers right now. Fingers crossed that all goes according to plan.
Oh and then there is this little thing called the World Cup. (If you recall I've been a soccer fan for a very long time. How many blog posts have there been about Real Salt Lake games?) I've watched more ESPN in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 2 (4?) years! I have to admit, I've watched more soccer than I should have. I find it very hard to multi-task or write when soccer is on the TV!
That all being said, I have to wake up in 5 hours. Time for bed!

Beckerman v Beckham!

5-4 

Real Salt Lake- thank you for an awesome season, and congratulations on winning the MLS Cup. I am proud to be a "Real" fan. And I hope to never witness a PK shootout ever again. That was a real nail-biter!

Oops, a brain dump

Random thoughts and a little brain dump!

Along with half of the rest of the country, I saw Star Trek this weekend. I'm not a Trekkie. I am a movie buff. I loved it. I loved Chris Pine as Kirk, and Zachary Quinto as Sylar, I mean Spock. And JJ Abrams just plain rocks. It makes me want to see the old series now. And I really hope this is the beginning of a new set of Star Trek movies with this new cast.

I had fun with Misty and Shane at Lumpy's Saturday night watching the soccer game on the big screens. And now Misty and I are planning a soccer blog and website, where I will be able to go completely fangirl on my favorite players.

For what I believe is the first time in my life, I managed to sleep walk during a nap today! (My nocturnal sleepwalking has been well-documented on this blog.) I came home from church early with massive allergies. I took a benadryl, and expected to crash out. I have vague memories of sleeping in my actual bed, but also of going outside to sit in my lawn chair. I also recall dreaming that I was still sneezing, so I took 12 more benadryl. Later, when I woke up from a nearly comatose state on the couch, with no memory of how I got there, I remembered the dream and checked the benadryl. I can't tell how many I took, but its somewhere between 1-3 more than the original one I took. This is why I usually lock up all medications, and secure scissors, knives, markers, and other damaging items when I take sleep inducing drugs. All in all, I slept over 8 hours in the middle of the day, and still can't figure out how a dirty plate got out of the dishwasher and put on a pile of newspapers in the middle of my living room. I also can't figure out how it is I have 2 newspapers. I think I may have driven to the store in my benadryl comatose state. I'm trying not to think too much about that.

How obsessed have I become with soccer? I actually wrote about it on my work blog (Cheap Travel Blog) today too.

Anyone want to go camping in Yellowstone in June with me and Steph?

This is the week of being single on this blog! I am still looking for wonderful people to spotlight and talk about! Who do you nominate??

I'm jealous of my (sister's) horse. Baby Sister and (our) her horse, Streaker, have just moved to Roanoke with my parents. Check out his new digs and tell me that isn't the most beautiful place on earth? Layers and shades of green, red barns, rolling hills, and beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. I am seriously jealous of a horse.

Keeping it REAL!!!

Another Saturday, another win for Real SL. I have been to a lot of major league sporting events in my life- hockey, baseball, football, basketball, and now soccer. And I have never before been to such a nail-biter of a game. The RSL scored at 89 minutes 33 seconds (if I caught the clock fast enough) into the game today. For those who don't know, soccer matches are 90 minutes. So yeah, they got the only score of the match with not even 30 seconds left on the clock. It was insane craziness in the stands. I LOVED IT. I had "Little" with me as well. I took her back to her mother tonight with a hoarse voice from all the screaming. I am currently trying to think up ways to go to their next match in Los Angeles on the fan bus. (I can't take Little, since I am not allowed to take her out of state. And my "shyness" (also known as large group anxiety) just won't let me go alone.) Who knew I could love a sport and a team this much?! Oh, and I'm also trying to figure out how to budget buying me and Little season tickets for 2009. I talked to her about it today, and not surprisingly, she is all for it. But before I go running off and spending that kind of cash, we have to make sure I'm going to live in Utah for most of 2009.
Oops, did I just let half a cat out of the bag? My bad.

Check out my soccer fan girl blog- Footballer Fan Girl!