Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I am 30. How did this happen? I did everything possible to prevent it, I ate vegetables, I read my scriptures and went to church, I drank from the fountain of eternal youth, but to no avail. It still came.

For me, turning 30 marks a milestone. I am officially an adult. I have to leave my 20’s, in which you can make dumb mistakes and blame it on youth, to my 30’s where I have to be “responsible” and “worry about wrinkles”. So, in order to cope and convince myself that the 30’s can be fantastic too, and to prove you are as young as you feel (or in my case act), I am stealing an idea from my good friend Cropstar. Below are 30 things I intend to do while 30.

1. Attend at least 12 concerts.
2. Take a cake decorating class.
3. Get a new stamp in my passport.
4. Read “The Count of Monte Cristo” (unabridged).
5. Swim with dolphins.
6. Frame pictures of my trips and hang them.
7. Attend a professional sporting event.
8. Go to a drive-in movie.
9. Max out my 401k.
10. Sing karaoke in a crowded room.
11. Buy something ridiculously expensive.
12. Attend a taping of “The Price is Right”.
13. Do something nice for someone without them knowing.
14. Go skinny dipping.
15. Write a thank you note to someone who might go unnoticed.
16. Visit the Calico Ghost Town.
17. Write in my journal on a regular basis.
18. Ride a horse.
19. Read the Book of Mormon with focus.
20. Learn to play the guitar.
21. See the circus.
22. Finish decorating my house.
23. Go to an amusement park.
24. Stay up all night.
25. Pay off my second mortgage.
26. Go to a demolition derby.
27. Learn yoga.
28. Go to the Grand Canyon.
29. Use a fake name and story.
30. Transition to a family ward.

Also, I am celebrating my birthday with a HUGE party this Saturday! My friends Air Raid Anthem are playing, there will be swimming, cotton candy, popcorn, and more amazing things. Pretty much it will be the best night ever. So, come one come all! Everyone is invited! It is at my parent’s house, and if you don’t know where that is, call me and I’ll get you the address.

I know I can dance...

This past Tuesday I was able to attend a taping of So You Think You Can Dance which was a magical and wonderful and (dare I say) special experience.

Being a part of a studio audience is essentially the same as being in prison… no phones, no cameras, no food or water. Because of this, I have no photographic proof of our trip (other than the fact I was on TV!) So, here is a re-cap of our trip without actual pictures.

We left Las Vegas Monday night and didn’t get into California until 2:30am. During the drive down, I felt sick and took Cha-cha’s medicine, which I was told was just a stronger version of NyQuil. It made me feel weird. I did not like that. But, let me tell you, I have never slept so well on a blow up mattress on Cropstar's sister's floor.

After eating a huge burrito from Chipotle, we got in line around 12:30pm at the CBS studios. They film SYTYCD in the same building as Price is Right, which let’s be honest, has lost something since Bob Barker left.

While in line, Maren-Moo tortured and then viciously murdered an extremely large beetle who dared to enter our space in line. Let that be a lesson to all beetles everywhere.

After the beetle died, things were a little boring, so Cropstar and Cha-cha located a Goodwill and purchased a glow in the dark puzzle and the “Book of Questions”. The line moved before we finished assembling the puzzle, so we may never see what a wizard doing magic and a dragon coming out of a cauldron looks like in the dark. This is the only dark mark on an otherwise glorious day.

Around 3pm (we will never be sure, without phones we had no idea what time it was. What are we supposed to do, wear watches?) we finally were allowed to enter the magnificent studio. Standing room only, unfortunately, but being the tallest in the room allowed me to easily snatch from the air the t-shirts the guy warming up the crowd threw to us. Unfortunately, the 16 year old obnoxious girl in front of me decided she could take said t-shirt from my hands. She was wrong. This apparently was the worst thing to ever happen to her, as she and her friends proceeded to talk about it for the rest of the taping. We are still not sure if they were giving us dirty looks, or if that is just the way they looked.

Actual t-shirt won in brawl with under aged girls

The show is filmed in one take, only pausing for commercial breaks and costume changes. Before the show they spent time filming audience reaction shots, which we were clearly excelled at, as evidenced by our many TV appearances. Stank face obnoxious teenagers? Not so much.

Cat Deeley is prettier in person, and has the ability to come from a full laugh to hitting her lines perfectly. I like that. Mary Murphy isn’t as annoying in person. I even found her funny. I was shocked too. Most of the judges’ comments are edited out of the show. They gave a lot of tips and critiques and do funny things that never aired. And tell dirty jokes.

I almost stopped breathing when Wade Robson sat down with the choreographers. Also in attendance: Mark, Comfort, Dimitri, and Pasha. After the taping, and on our way out, we ran into Pasha. I said “Hey”, and totally froze. He stared at me with a very confused look, as I was apparently unable to move. Cropstar, however, jumped into action, screaming, “we love you Pasha!” and was rewarded with a hug and a back rub. To the left, notice picture of Pasha, aka Cropstar's new boyfriend.

Official time of studio exit: 7:30pm. Official time back in Las Vegas: 2:30am. All told, I dedicated 31 hours of my life to see the live taping, and it was totally worth it.