Happy 2015! plus, Life Update!

Wow. I've been worse at blogging this year than ever before. Conversely, I've been better at journaling in an actual journal. You know, the kind that only you and your kids ever see. I rocked at that this year. It seems blogging and journaling have an inverse relationship for me. So, I need to do my annual year-in-review post and then hopefully fill you in on the rest of my life. So off we go!

ZERO, the number of roommates I'll have this coming year, since I finally got my very own apartment. I signed for it over Christmas! It's also the number of vacuums I have for said new apartment, though I have pretty much everything else I need. ;)

ONE queen bed, plus a bedroom set, that I bought for myself this year. Goodbye, cramped little twin bed! I'm sleeping in a bedroom that looks like it belongs to an adult, and I'm a little bit a lot happy about that. Also, bright side, I will have ONE guest bed for friends and family to sleep in when they come to visit me now!

TWO siblings on missions: Jess in Germany and Ben in Guatemala. We talked to both of them over Christmas, and I am so unbelievably proud of their faith and dedication in serving the Lord. It's so cool to have them both out at the same time. 

THREE months ago, I started volunteering at the Bountiful temple as an ordinance worker on Saturday evenings. It eats into my social life quite a bit, but I haven't once regretted it. The blessings I've received since I started have far outweighed any social inconvenience. I also have the opportunity to dust off my foreign language skills and learn the ordinances in Spanish to help with the Spanish session we have every Saturday. That's one of my New Year's resolutions. :)

FOUR days in Washington, DC for a business trip this last October. First, I have a job that sends me on business trips. How cool is that? Second, I haven't been to DC since I was five (and I vividly remember the giant fake penny that I got there that fell down a drainage grate after I got home--I stared mournfully through that grate for a few weeks after that, watching the mud pile up on that glint of copper at the bottom... wow, that is is a really vivid memory from 20 years ago...). Third, I got to meet my hilarious and wonderful team of editors (who are scattered all over the country) for the first time, and it felt like I'd known them for years. 

FIVE times five equals 25, which is how old I turned this last year, and it has been wonderful. From an excellent birthday surprise by Roommate to the insurance cuts that you get if you have a perfect driving record to finally figuring out a few more things about life and love, 25 has been an excellent year for me. It's probably been my favorite age so far. I almost don't want to turn 26, not because I don't want to get old, but because I'm not done being 25 yet.   

SIX Jacksons with full-fledged temple recommends (and Baby Brother super excited to do the same when he's older). When I was younger, I watched a lot of my cousins struggle and fall away from the Church, and I was always a little afraid that one of my siblings would, too. It's still a mild concern (enough that it keeps us lovingly bolstering each other's testimonies when times get hard), but my parents' incredible examples of faith and devotion to the Lord above everything else have clearly impacted me and my siblings and inspired us to set the same patterns for ourselves, including temple service. I find a lot of comfort in knowing that my brothers and sister can and will face difficulties with optimism and hope, no matter what comes their way. 

SEVEN months ago, I finally, finally bought my first car! Her name is Phoebe, she's three years old, and I have no regrets about the amount of time I spent saving for her, because I was able to afford an almost-new, very nice car. It also frees me up to do a lot of things I couldn't do before.

EIGHT hours (give or take a little) of incredibly uplifting conversations with a man who completely changed my mind about pretty much all of my dating fears. No, he's not still in my life, but he treated me better than I've been treated by a date in years, and he restored my excitement about dating in general. Go him! He was also proof that even a relatively tiny amount of time and effort can make a lasting impact on someone else. Little things can yield big results, even if you're not around to see them later. He won't ever know what he did, but I know, and my future family will be blessed by it. (Cheesy, I know, but it's true.)

NINE hours and forty minutes: the length of the drive Brian and I took to Sacramento for Thanksgiving, which marked Phoebe's first road trip (she did wonderfully well), AND the first time in five years that I've been able to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas with my immediate family, since my parents and baby brother flew to meet us in Sacramento to spend the holiday with our Granddad, who lives in El Dorado.

TEN months at an incredible job. I know! TEN MONTHS! It's flown by so fast. I still love it as much as I did when I started, and I'm still content with the idea of working here for the rest of my life. That is a blessing I'm constantly thankful for. I love loving what I do for work. :)

Lesson Learned - This year has been a year of dreams come true. Yes, I've still had challenges and struggles (that's normal), but looking back over this year, I am overwhelmed by how many things fell into place this year. Last year, I learned that my happiness starts with me, and now, after another year of putting that into practice, I am amazed by how good this year has been! Dreams DO come true. They absolutely do. Sometimes, we have to work through a lot of pain and suffering before they do, but if it matters to us, it matters to God, and He'll help us make it happen.

And the other thing I've learned this is year is that my dreams (and yours) are worth the wait. Patience pays off. If it takes longer than you expect, then you'll appreciate it more when you do get it. My incredible job means a lot more to me because I worked through stressful, tenuous employment for two years beforehand. I appreciate my car more because I worked so hard for it (and even gave up the chance to buy a few times before I finally did). Don't ever give up on your dreams; the reality is so much better than your imagination could ever make it. 2014 was a fantastic year. 2015 will be incredible too, even if hard things happen.  It always gets better. ^_^

Dream a Little Bigger, Darling

Okay, so, as promised, it's time to get back to the normal stuff. :)

The most important thing: I HAVE A JOB!

A real, honest-to-goodness job. Shortly after my February post, I interviewed with a company that I'd been talking to for about a month and a half, and she pretty much offered me the job on the spot (though not technically, since that's not how it works). I knew about it when I wrote, back in February, but I didn't want to jinx it, so I didn't say anything.

Anyways, about this job.

The company is called KPMG. They provide audit, tax, and advisory services for a significant number of the FORTUNE 500 companies (and I believe they are one themselves). They're one of the Big Four such companies in the country. I'm one of only seven editors in the whole company (the U.S. branch, anyway). We handle almost all of the client-facing proposals, emails, presentations, etc. that the company produces. It means I'm crazy busy pretty much all the time. (I even have homework about half the nights of the week, because I don't have time during the day to edit everything by the deadlines.) Working for a financial services company might seem boring to a lot of editors, but it's pretty much where most editors end up. And you know what? It's not all that boring. Most of it is business writing (which occasionally makes me want to smack my face into a wall because it breaks half the rules of concise writing that were pounded into me all through college), and business writing is much less dry than some of the other stuff I've edited over the years. Every document is its own little treasure trove of grammatical mistakes that I have to dig up and correct. It doesn't get tedious because each one is also written by a different author, so there are distinct voices and syntactical quirks to each piece.

I probably can't convince most of you that any of this sounds like fun, but that doesn't matter. I love it.

I had my doubts about editing for a little while. After two straight years of proofreading (which is pretty grueling, to be honest), I was second-guessing my choice to be an editor for the rest of my life. I wasn't sure I was cut out for it. I also wasn't sure that I would get the kind of job that would make me happy. Editing jobs are few and far between out here in Utah. My original plan when my job with the Church ended was to find something well-paying for a year or two and then pick up and head out to New York City, where all the publishing jobs are. I figured that's when my career would start. If I still wanted it to start.

I'm glad that the Lord has bigger plans for me than I did for myself. I was dreaming small, honestly. And this job was definitely His doing. A friend recommended me for an admin assistant position in the Salt Lake KPMG office, so I applied, because I was applying for everything. One interview in, the recruiter was like, "Wait, you like editing?"

"Yes."

"We have a position posted for an editor in L.A. Let me send them your resume."

I didn't really want to move, but I figured it couldn't hurt to explore it a little, so I let him. Turns out that they liked my resume so much that they decided to open the same editing position in Salt Lake so that I wouldn't have to move (my work is not region-specific, so I could literally move anywhere in the country and still do the same job).

I found out after I was hired that this whole situation was pretty much love at first sight for both me and the editing manager. She thought I was perfect and spent the better part of a month trying to find something wrong with me. When that failed, she kept trying to figure out how to get rid of all the other applicants, because she didn't want any of them. On my side, from the first time I talked to her, I knew that I wanted this job. It sounded right up my alley as far as my background went, and I knew that the position would be well within my abilities and that it would push me to be better, too. It also offered the possibility to work from home, to move wherever I wanted, and permanence. Plus, the editors on the team tended to retire. That told me that they didn't get dissatisfied and quit. They stuck it out until they weren't working anymore. I wanted this job so badly. I've wanted it since about the second week in January, but I was terrified that I wouldn't get it, so I was very close-lipped about it.

Turns out, I didn't need to worry. This is exactly where I was supposed to be, and things just worked out. Right down to the fact that I kept coming in second place for all of my other interviews. I had so many interviews, and they all went really, really well. But almost every time, I found myself thinking, "Please don't offer me the job, please, please don't. KPMG hasn't called me back, yet." Since I was collecting unemployment insurance, turning down job after job would have caused me to lose my income, which I couldn't afford. But despite their obvious interest, none of those other jobs extended offers to me. (Well, one company extended me a frankly insulting offer to write out descriptions of bedpans for their website for $12 an hour, even though they knew I'd been making twice that before. I turned them down, obviously.)

So, after two months of unemployment, I landed my dream job. Seriously. If I had stuck to my original plan and gone out to New York, this is probably the kind of thing I would be looking for, because everyone wants the book-publishing jobs, but the positions like this are more stable and pay a little better.

So I got everything I never even knew I wanted from a job about two years earlier than I'd planned. And I can stay with this job for the rest of my life if I want to. No expiration date built in. If, on some crazy chance, I do want to leave it, it's an incredible thing to put on a resume, and I'll have a huge boost finding my next one, though, frankly, I don't ever plan on leaving. I want to build my career here.

So yeah. I'm doing what I love (and rediscovering just how much I do love it in the process), and I'm doing it in an environment that offers me the kind of stability that I've been craving ever since I graduated from college. I'm pretty happy with how my life has gone so far. It really does get better with time. :)

MindBomb

You know how everyone seems to have that one word (or 50) that they never learned correctly? I just found one of mine today.

Remunerate (verb): To pay, recompense, or reward for work, trouble, etc.

My whole life I have read and pronounced that word as "reNUMerate" and it is, in fact, "reMUNerate." In my proofreading, I tried to correct what I perceived as a misspelling in the Book of Mormon Index, only to find out that it was right and I was wrong (an off-putting situation, considering how many errors that stupid index has...)

I've just been schooled by the Book of Mormon Index.

Job Hunting

Yes, in answer to the question that some of you may be asking after my last post, I do in fact have a job opportunity. More proof---as if I needed any---that the Lord blesses me far more than I deserve. I've been attempting to job hunt for the last couple of months (emphasis on "attempting"), but every time I tried, I found myself stopped in my tracks, or completely sidetracked onto something else. I kept pushing at it, but only got the feeling that the Lord was saying, "Lynnae. Relax. I've got this. Focus on the temple. I'll take care of the rest." (Incidentally, that exact same answer also applies to my dating life...)

So, with a little bit of grumbling and suppressed internal-freak-outs, I did just that, keeping an aloof eye on the job postings online, just in case anything jumped out at me.

Then, I happened to talk to the copyeditor at the Ensign (the beautiful Lia who taught me a ton about editing during my internship) and she happened to mention that, due to her soon-to-be-born daughter, the managing editors were accepting applications for her position. "You should apply," she told me.

Right at that moment, I felt like a huge flashing sign went off in my head that said, "YesyesyesyesyesyesYES! Apply!"

So I did.

After a couple of grueling tests that left my brain feeling more than a little mushy/sloshy, I finally have an interview. For today. So I'm all dressed up, squeaky clean, and praying desperately that I get this job. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing.

Whichever way it works out, this has been proof that the Lord is indeed at the reins. I'm just glad that I've been paying attention when He gives me an answer to the questions I'm asking. I'm not always good at that.

I Can't Read!

So I made a somewhat distressing discovery recently. I can't read anymore.

Okay, obviously, I still have the ability to read (and write... I hope). But I just can't sit down, open a great book, and read for hours on end. Even if that book is a page-turner (and the one I'm trying to read right now does, in fact, fall into that category). No matter how much I like the book, I'll put it down after 10-15 minutes.

I'M BROKEN!

Why has the voracious bookworm's appetite died? Turns out this is a completely unforeseen side effect of being a proofreader. We've been reading aloud in teams of two through ALL of the Book of Mormon and the Bible.

Yes, I just finished reading the Old and New Testaments. Probably for the first time in my life. (Okay, second, but I got nothing out of it when I read them for seminary.)

But I suppose when you're reading for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, it tends to overload even my insatiable appetite for reading. As a result, I have no attention span for reading anymore.

And I hate it.

I don't hate reading. I still know that I love it. I just can't do it anymore.

Curses.

Oh, and incidentally, I also can't read aloud anymore. Not in any situations where I'm required to read the way a normal person would, anyway. Because as a proofreader, I'm now used to reading every piece of punctuation, every footnote, every capital letter and italic word... you know, all of it.

So once upon a time, I sat in class at church. Being the contributor that I am, I volunteered to read a quote when the teacher asked. Okay, brain, here's the deal, don't read any commas, okay? You're not proofing right now. So I read along great, managing to tell myself not to read the commas and still reading the words at the same time. Then I got to the period at the end of the sentence. "Point"! You're supposed to say "point" for a period! My brain was practically screaming at me, and I froze. What do I do if I don't say it? How on earth will people know that the sentence is over and I'm starting a new one? Wait. They don't know what "point" means. It's okay. But what do I say instead? OHMYGOSH I've forgotten everything I knew about reading out loud like a normal person! (Keep in mind, I'm still in the middle of reading this quote, and a longish awkward pause is starting to ensue as I pause to have this mental war with myself. Hopefully they just thought I was overcome with emotion at the beauty of the quote...) Okay, skip the point. Don't read the capped letter. Just get through this last, stupid sentence, and Never. Read. Out. Loud. Again. And thus ended the most stressful seconds of my life. The stupid part is that I was just reading a quote in class. Last time I checked, that's not supposed to be a major cause of stress.

So yeah. I can't read. It's great. (Not.)

On the other hand, I find stuff like this uproariously funny now. Because that's basically how it works. (Sadly though, the sounds are less fun than the ones he makes...)



So, what do you do with a broken bookworm who can't read anymore? Why, take her to see The Avengers, of course. And there you have my grand plans for tonight. :)

Cured!

Well, thanks to a priesthood blessing and about a gallon of water per day, the Cold Fairy is booted out on its butt and off to plague somebody else (I just hope it's not bothering anyone I know). Which means that, for the last couple of days of work at least, I actually had the chance to genuinely enjoy my work.

And I do. Proofreading tends to be more tedious than other forms of editing, but I'm finding that I don't mind it at all. In fact, there's something really soothing in the steady rhythm and routine of proofreading.

And I'm just really glad to be back at work. Aside from the income and the chance to get out of the house, working adds structure to my life. It's a time-tested truth that most people who work tend to be more efficient overall, and that is 100% true for me. I use my down time more wisely when I'm working full days, because I have less time to do everything else in, and I actually tend to be more productive. I love it.

I paid a visit to the Ensign staff toward the end of last week, since they're on the floor below where I work now, and it felt like coming home. From the chorus of "Oh my gosh, who let you back in with a badge?!" to the hugs and congratulations to the "So did you get married yet?" questions, it felt great. I feel like I owe them everything, because I never would have had this current---and very rewarding---job opportunity if it hadn't been for them.

All in all, I'm happy, healthy, and content with life. Thanks for all of your prayers and support on my behalf. It really did make a difference.

I'm Not Speaking To My Body

Welcome, my friends, to the land of gusty sneezes, red eyes, rumbling headaches, and faraway voices. No, not the voices in your head that make you question your sanity. I mean literally. Your voice. Far away. On vacation. Or in hiding. At any rate, not present. (Yes, I did just use "literally" incorrectly.)

That pretty much sums up my weekend. How was yours?

Really, though, I'm a little frustrated. Now, I don't enjoy being sick (what kind of masochist would I be if I did?) but I seriously just had A WHOLE MONTH of downtime (also known as unemployment) where it would have been no inconvenience whatsoever to be sick. I could have stayed curled up under the covers for as long as necessary and devoured as much Vitamin C and apple juice as possible during that time. But no. I was the picture of health.

Then, SURPRISE! I get this providential job opportunity as a scripture proofreader for the Church and, two days before I start, I get slammed with a mondo cold that slaughters my voice, eats up my tissue stash, and threatens to overpower my Advil supply. (Gross? Yeah, I know. I'm disgusted on multiple levels right now.)

I feel like death. And now I'm back to putting in eight-hour work days.

Thanks for that, body. I kind of hate you right now.

On the bright side, yes, I am officially employed once again. I'm back at the Church Office Building. Home sweet home. I'm working on a project proofreading the scriptures for the new digital printing masters they've created. And please note right now that I said proofreading. This is not the same as editing. It falls under an editor's job description, and it is a form of editing, but we are not editing the scriptures. So don't get any funny ideas about that. Basically, I'm reading copy-to-copy to make sure that everything transferred from old to new and that the custom-designed font created for this project has most of the kinks worked out of it.

We're not correcting the grammar of the scriptures, or choosing better ways to say things. The Author knows how He wants things, and they're pretty near perfect as they are. We're just making sure that human error didn't creep in during the transferral process.

All complaints about my health aside, I'm happy to be back at work. It'll feel awesome once I'm functioning properly again.

In the meantime, I'm going to hide under the covers, chug juice and water, and hope the Cold Fairy decides to go bother someone else really soon.

Fruits of the Hunt

Hah. Probably a misleading title. :)

I've been hunting for things to distract me so that I don't think too much. Here's what I've found for today.

-Work out. Really hard. By the time I finish, I'm too pooped to think. And I feel great.

-Go to the temple and pay attention to all the sweet little deacons and beehives who look lost and disoriented. Point them in the right direction if necessary. It was really cool to see them and remember my first time.

-Lingerie shop for a friend's bridal shower. Because sometimes it's fun to imagine a friend's face when she opens something like that. I promise I'm pretty nice, though. Nothing that's too horrifying. :)

-Hide my phone away so that I don't look at it and wonder when it will buzz. That only works when I'm not expecting a text from Tiara about the bridal shower, though.

-Plug in the HDMI cable for my DVD player. Yeah, so that sounds like a 30-second job, but it actually requires moving some furniture around and digging into dark, slightly dusty places, which means I also end up with a slightly cleaner room than normal.

-Prepare my Gospel Doctrine lesson for tomorrow. This could be iffy, because looking for spiritual guidance on my lesson may result in looking for spiritual guidance on all the other open-ended things in my life. But it's bound to be an uplifting experience anyway, so it'll stop me from angsting.

Granted, I haven't done all of those things already. It's only noon thirty. But they're on the list.

I've also discovered things that don't work:

-Watching movies. Any mention of a job or romance sends me into a flurry of fretting. Which happens in pretty much every movie, so it's a fairly useless endeavor at the moment.

-Reading. Unless the book is a total page-turner, my mind wanders a little bit when I read. It leaves too much room to think.

-Taking a nap. Because my subconscious is mean.

But perhaps I'm misleading you a little bit. Really, it's kind of fun. I haven't felt this complicated mix of excitement and fear in a long time, and it's nice to know that the emotions still run deep. Don't worry about me. Just keep me busy. ;)

Falling Together

The Lord blesses those who work. I'm convinced of it. In light of my public vow to improve my time management, I instituted a bedtime, a morning alarm, a workout regimen, and a task-tracking system. That may sound like a lot all at once, but it's not as big of a change as it sounds. I'd already started working out, so I just needed to give it more structure. Other than that, the regular sleep and wake-up times have made the biggest difference.

And you know what was so cool? It's like the Lord was just sitting there waiting for me to get my butt in gear and really go to work, because things started falling into place for me all of a sudden. I was sending out resumes and messaging people I'd worked with. Literally within seconds of sending a message to one of the Ensign employees, that very employee called me up because he'd just heard of a temporary/contract position that needed to be filled. In a flurry of exchanged phone calls, I ended up setting up an interview and skills test for today, and I just got back from that. I also reconnected with an old friend whose connections to a writing group will allow me to pursue a business opportunity I'm involved in.

This is a cool moment for me. A lot of things could blow up in my face or fall apart at the last second, but I don't mind, because it's proof to me that the Lord is just waiting for me to act so that He can bless me. If things fall apart, I'll go back to work and another opportunity will eventually present itself.

Sometimes, I think the Lord keeps us hanging for a little while just so that we can have the opportunity to witness the miracle of everything falling into place in perfect synchrony. For me, it just serves as a reminder of how grateful I am that I'm not alone in this big old world.

The Back-up Plan

So for all of you who are worried/anxious/concerned/curious/feeling noncommittally nosy about my future, I'm still up in the air about jobs, but I have a couple of good leads. I've interviewed for a position at the Ensign, and I've passed the pre-qualification screening for a job with this market research company. The latter is a big relief, because now I know that my resume is getting out there, that people are actually looking at it, and that my coworkers weren't just being nice when they said I was employable.

Other than that, I'm making plans to keep me busy once my internship ends this week. If the situation gets desperate, I may pick up a part-time job at the local grocery store or something to hold me over and occupy my time until something better comes along.

Incidentally, I have a secret fear that I'll be job-hunting and job-hunting and suddenly, 25 years down the road, I'll realize that I'm that little cashier who's been there longer than the last three bosses, because I never could get out of the rut. I don't want to be that person with the brilliant education who ends up running the local ChipperCheaper. (See? I even have a name for it! I'm doomed!)

I'm kidding. Well, kind of. I am afraid of it, but I'm pretty sure the Lord has something more in store for me than just trying to make someone's day better when they've discovered that they've massively overspent their budget and feel like it's my fault because the store I work at is so tempting. (Don't smirk. I've had that happen to me, back in the days of my high school cashiering.)

Plus, I have a backup plan---formulated 10 seconds ago, but foolproof nonetheless: If I'm not going to be an editor, I'll be a cashier moonlighting as a book editor and as an MBA student until I know enough about business to start my own publishing company and bid farewell to my cashier-y friends. No rut for me, goshdarnit.

OR!

I'll stalk all of the author conventions (still a cashier moonlighting as an editor) until I find that one author who will be the next J. K. Rowling (which hasn't been done yet, by the way). Then, said Rising Star Author will be so grateful to me for my invaluable editorial advice, that she'll take me with her in her rising fame and suddenly all of the publishing companies will be falling all over themselves trying to hire me. And I'll start my own business anyways. Yep. That's a foolproof plan.

So maybe that's melodramatic. In all likelihood, I won't get stuck for 25 years as the Target cashier. Nor is it really all that likely that I'll need to moonlight as an editor (like a superhero for the book world: I'd be the Batman of Books) behind everyone's backs until I'm brilliant enough to start my own company. I may end up going after an MBA or a Master's degree in publishing, but I haven't felt the push to do that quite yet---just the "keep it in mind" feeling, like maybe it'll be important someday.

But I suppose I should get my Batman-style cape of parchment pages and my utility belt containing red pens, sticky notes, the Chicago Manual of Style (magically shrunk to fit on a belt, of course), thesaurus/dictionary, and paper-clip-grappling hook ready, just in case. You never know when a poor little novel will need the aid of Bookworman to sweep in and rescue it. Yes, I made up that name. Yes, it's a combination of bookworm and woman. No, you can't steal it. It's mine.

So please excuse me. I have to go assemble my paper-clip grappling hook now. And assemble my lair. And make sure Batman can't kill me for ripping off his idea. If he does, I suppose that solves my whole looking-for-employment problem.

Bingo: another foolproof back-up plan.

Panic? Maybe a Little...

My internal clock is slowly ticking off the days I have left at my internship. As the other interns turn in their last days and have their exit interviews with the HR representative, that little voice in the back of my mind makes a quiet comment that that's one less intern here and one less intern between me and my last day.

Every question about what I'm doing after my internship is one more time I have to say, "I don't know."

Every person who's found a job is one more person who isn't me.

Every day is one more desperate attempt to shore up my financial resources so that I have money during the job hunt.

Every passing hour, the fear chips away at my fortress of peace that I've tried to build around myself.

I feel like this is the point where you reach the edge of the dark and have to take a step into the blackness before the lights flare up and show you your path. And I'm so. freaking. scared.

We Keep Weirdness Here

Today, I'm grateful for work. Well, I'm always grateful for work. But the people I work with are pretty darn funny. I won't try too hard to describe it because most of it is situational humor, which is all about timing and context. It's never funny when you try to tell someone else.

But we laugh a lot at work.

And I love working with other editors. The similar background and training means that many of us are familiar with the same kinds of things. It also means we're drawn to or at least can appreciate the same kinds of movies, books, etc. I don't think I've ever made an Oscar (the movie, not the award show) reference among relative strangers and actually had someone understand it. (Well okay, it happened once, and I then dated him for several months: you just can't pass up that kind of compatibility. (PS: I kid. Quoting Oscar was not the deciding factor in us dating. But it was a nice perk.)) But there is a whole handful of people here who know the movie without me having to show it to them first! Kindred spirits!

Here are some other things that my coworkers do or have that will probably remind you of me:

1. a Star Trek cookbook (and scans of the newspaper spotlight on the Harry Potter cookbook) and a knowledge of exactly what Tribbles are
2. blogs about editing
3. the ability to talk for hours about literary theory and archetypal patterns
4. pen fetishes (you know, the ones where you will tear apart a room looking for that generic Bic pen because it "just writes better" than all the other Bic pens)
5. well-annotated and partially memorized copies of the Chicago Manual of Style
6. a "Hobbit day," which is pretty much arbitrarily assigned based on whether one or more people feel like not wearing their shoes around the office that day
7. a willingness to share books---but only because we know that the borrower will be just as violently protective of the books as we are
8. a movie quote for every occasion (at least one person quotes a movie every few hours or so)
9. debates won by who can get to the most reliable information first
10. mutually shared love for warm fuzzy things, hot chocolate, colored pens, and books---preferably having all of the above at the same time
11. getting ridiculously giddy about discovering an obscure word meaning or grammar rule and then telling everyone else about it
12. any mention of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, J. R. R. Tolkien, or C. S. Lewis has the mysterious ability to draw at least three or four people out of their offices for a brief chat before returning to work---even if they're many feet down the hall or the door is shut

Honestly, this job is awesome. I've never met so many Lynnae-kind-of-nerds in the same place before! The sense of humor and witty banter is straight up my alley, too. There's a couple of men in my office that remind me so much of my dad in that way.

I really hope that this kind of employee-camaraderie isn't unique to the Church Magazines. It probably is. But the fact that we can throw a "Bad Candy Party" (which was really just code for a dessert potluck) and spend an hour playing Signs and whacking each other with a rolled up newspaper is just fantastic. It's nice to know that I don't have to get boring as I get older. Many of these people are twice my age.

So yes, I'm grateful for the people I work with. I have a lot of fun doing the work, and I have lot of fun working with the people. It's the best part of my life right now. :)

Status Check

Sinus infection: obliterated.

LinkedIn profile: created.

Job-hunt: pending.

Spur-of-the-moment, last-minute project proposal for the Ensign: dominated.

Captain America DVD: watched (and watched and watched and watched)

Heart-to-heart with Daddy: Twice in 24 hours.

Weekend travel arrangements: planned

Halloween costume: searched for. Nothing found.

Retrieval of my paperback copy of The Hobbit: underway.

Bedroom: cleaned(ish).

Informative blog posts: halfway written (in my head).

Not Dead Yet!

I'm still here! I'll write again soon!

Tiny Hammers

I'm glad that I've reached a happy medium with life right now, because my seasonal allergies decided to kick in and holyheck! They are vicious!

I came into work this morning after almost suffering an allergy attack on the bus and, after getting to my floor, I discovered that I needed to run an errand and go down the elevator again. Remember how those elevator cars move super fast and the height of the building makes my ears pop sometimes? Multiply that "pop" by ten and move it to my nose when there's a sinus headache involved.

I'm glad I was alone in the elevator, because it would have been difficult to explain to total strangers why I suddenly grabbed my face and gasped, blinking back the sudden flurry of tears. They probably would have thought that I'd just been pummeled by something invisible. Well, it felt like I was---by a vicious, invisible little fairy living in my sinus cavities and banging around with its tiny hammer. And it was probably laughing maniacally the whole time.

I'm sure it made whoever's on the other end of those security cameras laugh anyway. Good thing I don't have to explain to them. Or see them. Ever.

Going up the elevator isn't so bad. Pressure decreases when you go up. But going down? Yeah. Let's just say that I'm not leaving this floor until I'm walking out at the end of the day. I'm not subjecting myself to the vindictive fairy's tiny hammer more times than I absolutely have to.

Good thing I like life right now. Otherwise it would be a lot harder to laugh at this. :)

I promise, life isn't that bad at the moment, though. I'm not complaining. On the contrary, I'm feeling pretty content again, thanks to an amazing Sunday. I'll see if I can find a way to make the mundane everyday stuff I'm doing at work now sound interesting. Look for it coming to a blog post near you.

A Good Day? Yes, I Think So

It's Day 2 of the run-around-like-crazy phase of post-conference magazine prep. I think I've started to limp because my muscles are so sore from running back and forth so much. Not sure how the distance computes out, but I crossed the width of Temple Square about as many times as there are speakers in conference.

On my first errand this morning, I was heading back to the office from picking up a talk when I met President Eyring on his way in. I was the only other person in the hallway, so he smiled and asked me how I was.

My brain's passport to Bermuda seems to have expired, because it didn't take a trip today. I told him I was doing well, and asked him how he was doing. You know, the normal "Hi, how are you" routine.

Then he told me that he hoped I had a wonderful day. (Still no handshake---he had briefcase, I had papers. Someday...).

Thanks, President Eyring. It's gotten pretty darn wonderful all of a sudden.

Sure, my legs are killing me now, six hours of errand-running later, but I still have warm fuzzies, so no complaints here. :)

Runaround

So some of you are probably curious just how much I knew about conference beforehand. The short answer: most of it. Not every intern saw every talk, but I also was in charge of compiling a topic list for the conference photographers, which meant that I went through every talk and at least knew the outline/major theme of each one. So yes, I knew most of it.

Except the temple announcements. I had a friend text me right after they announced the new temples to ask me if I'd known about them already. Nope. They're sneaky that way. I'd read President Monson's address with one of the other interns and as we were reading, we suddenly noticed a few too many employees lingering "casually" near our cubicle. I raised an eyebrow but kept reading. Then we got to the line: "We are pleased to announce the following new temples..."

Too many sets of ears perked up.

Down to the next paragraph.

"[Text to come]."

"More details will be provided on these temples as we obtain site and other necessary approvals."

Huh. Well shucks, we're building invisible, nameless temples now? Answer: no. But apparently even the Ensign doesn't need to know which temples they're going to announce until they actually announce them.

So I was just as surprised (and a little giddy) as everyone else about the temples. Especially the Provo Templenacle. That is just stupendous. Granted, I've already moved away, but still. I was there for four years. I know how ridiculously busy Provo Temple is. The faithful temple workers and temple-goers in that area have certainly earned the blessing of having a second temple to help them do their work more efficiently.

As for the rest of conference, I might have annoyed a few people by going, "Ooh! It's this person! Pay attention---this talk is amazing." Especially considering I probably did that for almost every talk. And it was fun to talk to Qait's husband about the priesthood session from an in-the-know perspective.

I promise, I'm not on some kind of "knowledge is power, muahaha" trip. It has just been an incredible experience to be a part of conference for much longer than just the 10 hours it runs over Saturday and Sunday.

Today is errand-day. I have been running like mad all over the place, photocopying talks, dropping them off with the secretaries, going back and picking them up when they're done. Good thing I wore comfortable shoes. And that I dressed up a little more than normal. No reliving my "I'm underdressed" mental anxiety attack from my run-in with Elder Perry. Nosiree.

I actually crossed paths with Elder Callister on his way out of the CAB (Church Administration Building---the name is too dang long to spell out all the time) and, funnily enough, I was carrying his talk in my hands. The thought crossed my mind to give it to him, but he was surrounded by scampering grandchildren, and I figured it would be less frazzling for our talk-delivery-coordinator if I just made sure his secretary got it.

I definitely find myself appreciating conference a lot more now that I know how much work goes into it. But if I seem a little bit like a zombie when you see me, you can rule out the whole "It's October" thing and just assume it's because I'm exhausted. Long hours, lots of running around. I'll be back to normal eventually. Maybe.

Life at the Ensign

Okay, some people (*cough* Mom *cough*) have been complaining a little bit that my blog is not particularly informative about me.

*Blink blink* You guys want to read about me? Really?

Okay, well, once upon a time there was this fabulously successful book editor who owned her own publishing company...

Oh wait. That's how I think about me. Right.

Alright, alright, I give.

Life has been, well, fabulous, really. I love it. Confidentiality agreements prevent me from revealing a lot of the things that make my life so wonderful, but the stories I edit every day are incredibly educational and uplifting. Even if I wake up late and barely make it to work on time and am consequentially grouchy, just a few minutes at my desk working on an article can cheer me up.

I'm even writing some pieces of my own for the Ensign and the Liahona. When I first started the internship, I was a little terrified of writing, but for the last week or so, I've been itching to get some manuscripts written. I've found (with the help of the extremely supportive editorial staff) a couple of topics and submissions that, guided through my editorial voice, will hopefully become wonderful articles. Set for a more hazy future are some purely "me" ideas that haven't entirely been developed yet. But on the whole, I'm really excited to have the chance to tell someone else's story. That's how many of the articles in the magazines are, you know.

In the interim, we're in the middle of pre-general-conference madness where the rule is "drop everything when something conference-related comes up" so naturally my writing pieces aren't getting much TLC right now.

I've been doing a lot of proofreading of conference talks, which basically means that you sit down with someone else with two copies of the talk: one with the very light editorial changes (usually just a comma or two), as well as speaker revisions on it, and one that's "clean," or supposedly has all the changes made. One person reads the talk (including all punctuation--there's a special "language" for it: bang for the exclamation point, paren/end paren for the parentheses, com for a comma, point for a period, etc) and the other person follows along on the clean copy, marking discrepancies if there are any.

Fun fact: I catch myself reading punctuation sometimes now. Like when I'm writing, or when I'm reading a book on my lunch break.

It's really neat, actually. Having done that on the Relief Society Broadcast talks, I found that I actually got a lot more out of the talks when they were given because I'd already read them. Hearing the speakers' inflection and tone added a whole new layer of meaning to a subject I was already familiar with.

At conference, we get about 140 pages' worth of new information to process. Yes, the topics may be familiar, but the presentation of those topics is unique every time. It can honestly be a bit of an information overload. That's why it's so important to go back and read the talks in the conference issue (that was not a shameless plug for my job, I swear). Getting to proof the talks beforehand just makes it easier to process while I'm listening.

Granted, there are probably people who don't need that. Some people are amazing at processing audio information. Me, I have to sit and stew over it in print for awhile before I can really extract meaning from it.

Besides all of that, my favorite thing about my job is the people. They are incredible. They have so many diverse backgrounds, both professionally and personally. A lot of them have absolutely wicked senses of humor.

All in all, I love my job. My life is so fulfilling right now. :)

Starstruck

Working in the Church Office Building comes with its own unique set of chance encounters. Like running into General Authorities.

Some of you might be surprised and think that I would be rubbing shoulders with them every day, but that's definitely not the case. They're busy men. Most of the time, when we deliver paperwork to them, we only ever see their secretaries.

Well, yesterday, I had to take a magazine layout design to Elder L. Tom Perry for approval. So I sauntered over to the Church Administration Building (another myth to debunk: only the Presiding Bishopric has offices in the Office Building), cheerfully told the security guard what my business was, and found Elder Perry's office, fully expecting to be greeted by his secretary.

Only... there wasn't anyone at the desk. There was the desk. Her nameplate. Elder Perry's nameplate. No secretary. But the door to the left of the desk was open, and I could hear voices, so I peeked around the corner and tapped lightly on the doorframe. Elder Perry turned around and said, "Well, hello!"

And at that moment, my mind decided to run through all the most useless information it possibly could: my skirt is too casual. My hair is flat. My hands seemed completely alien to me. Whoa, he's really tall. Are boots okay to wear to work? Thank goodness I'm wearing my favorite shirt.

Oh hey, I have papers in my hands. That grounded me. The only thing I could manage to get out of my mouth was a description of why I was there: I have design layout approvals for him from the New Era.

Elder Perry, hoping to put me at ease, I think, made a joke: "At first I thought you were here to lay me out [as in, flat]."

You know how I have that sometimes witty sense of humor that I got from my dad? Yeah, I think it took a vacation or something. A warp-speed, spur-of-the-moment trip to Bermuda, leaving me completely stranded without it. My brain, still caught up in the "whoa he's tall" loop scanned up his roughly 6'4" height and could only smirk: "Laying him out would be unlikely." But of course, nothing---and I mean absolutely nothing---came out my mouth.

Plus, I couldn't even shake his hand. My hands were full of papers. And for lack of any verbal repartee, all I could do was give the papers to him, which meant that his hands were then full of papers. No handshake.

So, still feeling a little disoriented---because apparently my brain subsequently decided to follow my humor to Bermuda---I turned horrifyingly awkwardly and left the room, hurrying back to the snug security of my job where I knew exactly what I'm doing and how to do it.

I felt like a fangirl or something. Normally, I'm really good around authority figures. I'm not easily intimidated or cowed. When I have a reason to be somewhere, I'm comfortable being there. But this is one of the authority figures. And the situation was far from protocol.

But this story isn't over.

As soon as I got back up to my floor, one of the employees stopped me and asked if I'd ever delivered to the First Presidency. No, I hadn't. Well, since it's a little bit trickier than your average tell-the-guard-and-find-the-secretary procedure, she had me turn right back around and come with her. As we walked back into the Church Administration Building, who should be coming out but Elder Perry!

I didn't entirely mean to, but I subconsciously took half a step to the side so that I was partly behind the other Magazines employee. He saw me anyway. And in his usual, cheerful, Elder Perry style, he greeted both of us and complimented us on being beautiful young women. (Oh good, the skirt wasn't such a travesty of informality after all, and apparently the hair was okay, too.) We smiled and thanked him and passed on by. Side note: He's still super tall.

And that, my friends, is my not-so-glorious first encounter with a General Authority.

Oh, and I almost bumped into Bishop Burton this morning on my way to the elevators, but I sidestepped to the other badge-entry-gate and smiled (remarkably composedly) at him on my way past. A much better experience, if you ask me. :)

Absent but Happy!

Yeah, so I promised a bunch of people that I would tell them about my first day at the Ensign... and now it's my third day. No one has heard anything from me about how it's going, because I'm bad at updating my blog. Scratch that, I haven't been able to update my blog.

I've been so. stinking. tired.

My poor father called me on the first night to see how work was, but I was crawling into bed and my brain had already shut off (at 8:00 at night, no less) so he didn't get much information. And even though I tried to tell him I loved it, the exhaustion probably sucked all my enthusiasm right out of the words.

Anyway, it's been really hard to adapt to the new schedule: up around 5:45, shower, makeup, make lunch, out the door by 7:00. My body just doesn't work that way. I'm a night owl. Always have been. All through college, I was smart (or stupid) enough to take later classes so that I could sleep in.

Not to mention that I have the hardest time falling asleep because my idiotic clock has THE LOUDEST ticking noise I've ever heard. It's annoying even when I'm fully awake.

Plus, working at the Ensign is such a spiritual high, and there's so much to do and learn, that it's completely mentally exhausting. Totally exciting, but exhausting.

And that's the long reason why I didn't update anyone about my first day. That, and the first day was, technically speaking, kind of boring. It was almost all orientation stuff, which would be completely irrelevant to anyone but me, and even I was (shh!) a little bit bored sometimes.

That being said, I'm completely in love with my new job! On the morning of the second day, I found a stack of proofs plopped on my desk, along with some early-stage manuscripts to edit. Ah! Nerd heaven! This is what I went to four years of college for! Since then, I've been briefed on the entire publishing process, given a chance to brainstorm ideas for the Small and Simple Things section of the Ensign, and prepped for my part in the pre-Conference editing that we'll be doing.

I feel like I've been working here for months. Which is weird, but I've clicked so well with all of the staff members that it really does feel like I've known them for a long time. As a result, I keep catching myself feeling guilty that I don't know everything yet, and then realize that, Duh, Lynnae, you've only been here for three days.

Oh man, but I could work here forever! It's amazing!

Anyway, that's an update. Longer than I'd planned, but there you have it. More to come. Also, I might start a "Gee Whiz Files" series with all the random-but-cool stuff about my life on Temple Square. Stay tuned!