There's no one here these days since Sundance started. Jesse is definitely working for the money he's about to make. On the first day, we were up at 7 to pick up the car he would be driving and he wasn't home till 3am that night. That's pretty much been the same every day since Sundance started. At first we thought there would be breaks while waiting for people when we'd be able to see each other but so far it's been impossible. Like at Andrew's birthday dinner last Saturday, he said he would be able to stay for three minutes and it really was just three minutes, including walking in and walking out time. Needless to say I'm a bit frustrated with the whole situation but I keep thinking money money money, I must think $$$ if I'm going to get through this week.

He's been meeting some interesting people though. Just yesterday, he was driving around the director of this environmental documentary. They got to talking about the film and what Jesse was interested in doing which is working for the UN doing population statistics etc. This director, his name is Michael Nash, whips out his cell phone and calls this lady name Coco from theUN who is at the moment having lunch with Al Gore and Lester Brown. The four of them chat for a second and in the middle of Al Gore saying something, Nash interrupts and tells Coco about Jesse and his UN hopes. She promises that she will give him an internship and once he graduates, a job, all they have to do is stay in contact. Can you believe that? Al Gore got interrupted!! Obviously we are ecstatic about this news and if all goes well, we will be moving to New York (UN headquarters) or some European city in the next couple years. OMG! Stay tuned.

I've been keeping myself busy I would say. Planning Andrew's dinner, Andrew's birthday, hanging out with friends I haven't seen in awhile, homework, babysitting, work, watching Coraline and Julie and Julia for the fifth time in a row etc (Both amazing movies by the way.) The house is a mess and for some reason I cannot bring myself to clean it. Perhaps today's the day.

Let me just take this moment to say that Financial Aid at the University is beyond ridiculous. I've been dealing with getting my financial aid through for the past 6 months and it is out to get me till the very end. Has anyone tried calling the Financial Aid Dept? Everytime I attempt to call a message comes on almost immediately saying "Thank you for calling the University of Utah office of financial aid and scholarships. Currently we are experiencing a high volume of calls and we ask that you call back at a later time." Then it goes on to say that they are open Mon, Wed, and Fri with LIMITED HOURS on Tues and Thurs. Even if you do somehow manage to get through, you are put on hold for 20 min at least. Why don't they think of getting more people to man the phones if they are busy like this all the time. Even if you try other depts, they always refer you back to the financial aid dept, why doesn't the University use it's vast array of resources and do something about it!

Because of this delay, and because in 2010, the University and government systems are somehow NOT conveniently interconnected, my financial aid that finally came through wasn't applied to my tuition and I had to pay for it by myself in the end anyways. Doesn't this render the department useless? Don't people rely on this dept so they can go to school? Even though they know that I have financial aid coming through to cover my tuition and then some, they aren't able to defer my paying tuition and of course when I did pay it (with my dad's help dear old dad) it was the easiest thing in the world. Just a credit card number, an expiration, not even a CVV number, and ONE submit button, $1600 for two classes is taken in an instant. Sixteen hundred dollars for TWO classes...the University seems like the only place that is increasing in value with these hard economic times. One wonders, where does this money go? I have a few suggestions for where it should.

I'm glad I got that all out. Phew. Anyways, I've decided that I need to focus on something, such as a hobby of some sort. I haven't had much time lately to bake or cook and I want to get back on that. I was thinking of doing the Julie/Julia project sort of but with a different cookbook. Speaking of that, anyone who has seen the movie will agree with me, the food styling in that movie is amazing, I was famished by the end. The one thing that got me salivating excessively was the Tomato Bruschetta that Julie cooks in a scene and since then I've been trying to find the recipe. I finally did and it is the legit thing, originally published in Atlantic Magazine by Susan Spungen who also happened to be the Culinary Consultant and Food Stylist on Julie and Julia. I'm plannning on making a celebratory dinner in honor of Sundance ending and the good paycheck that will have made the ten days all worth it. I'll be making the bruschetta as a part of it. More on the Julie/Julia project I will be attempting, and pics to be up soon.