Femme on Fire

Introduction

My name is Ariel Sara. People pronounce that two ways, sometimes with a soft A, sometimes with a hard A, depending on which side of my family you’re on. I am also known as Ari, Arie, ArieBerri, Ariellio, and Big Dog. Until I was in the sixth grade I was known by the last name Scott, but seeing as I have two last names I changed to the other one. This act both royally pissed off my mom and solidified my standing as a Daddy’s Girl. It didn’t take many years for those internal positions to reverse, but my Dad’s last name is still what I go by.

I am 28 years, 8 months, 16 days, and a little more than 13 hours old. That took me a minute with the time change. I was born in Miami, FL, but at the ripe old age of two Mom and I high-tailed it to her hometown, Fort Wayne, IN. I spent the next sixteen years lamenting this decision on her part, but now I look back on my upbringing with few regrets and many fond memories. Time will do that. And therapy. I went to college for three years and two summers at the second oldest women’s college in the country, Stephens College of Columbia, MO. I have a BFA in Theatre Arts. Last year I lived in Paris for 3 months and sometimes I miss it. It’s funny how in hindsight everything leads you to your current life.

I am in training for my fourth marathon. I am a wonderful singer, but I used to be so much better, and sometimes that gets me down. My dream job is to edit a groundbreaking, one-hour, scripted television show. I have a house in Venice, CA that I just bought less than 23 days ago and which needs a lot of cosmetic work before it stops looking like it’s stuck in the 70s. I have four best friends, but I only really spend time with two of them. I sometimes worry how people perceive a 28-year-old person who still says “best friend.” I have had a lot of therapy and it has done me a world of good. When I was 23 I lost 50 pounds. Since then I have gained back 20 and I alternate between really wanting to lose it and doing nothing about it and really wanting to lose it and making a half-hearted effort. I am madly in love with my boyfriend, Rick, and my two dogs, Spotty and Hops.

I recount these many details to tell you who I am, but I certainly hope that I am more than the sum of my parts. How can you describe a person’s essence? How can you say crap like that without sounding like a dipshit? These are the questions that motivate me.

A New World of Possibilities

We have hot water- in our house- without having to put it in the microwave! After living in this house for ten days I think I can officially declare that the missing ingredient to making it home was the ability to take a hot shower here. And now it's home. I feel cozy and nestled.

The tankless water heater may require getting used to, and there appear to be some kinks to work out-- like the fact that it's currently plugged in through our kitchen window. I actually left a message on the contractor's voicemail saying, "When I pay (unmentioned large amount of money) to have something done, I would expect that it would include the ability to plug it in without using an extension cord or removing a window screen." I fear I may never hear from him again. But I do look forward to the ability to wash clothes, do dishes, and with the new addition of natural gas, cook things.

I just said I'm looking forward to doing dishes. Perhaps that shower was too hot.

Now we just have to iron out our most recent wrinkle- we are unable to remove the popcorn ceilings ourselves. It's just too hard and we definitely have painted popcorn, which if you look online at people's experiences with popcorn ceilings, painted popcorn is always mentioned as an aside wherein they recommend hiring a contractor. If it weren't pained all it would take is some water and the stuff would practically melt off. So now I have to find someone cheap and fast to do it. As a bonus, our living room is already completely hermetically sealed in plastic from our own attempt.

Moving in, Moving on

My mother and I loaded everything left in my house into a van yesterday, then did a little cleaning at the old place, then Rick came over and we literally went from room to room saying, "Goodbye Guest Room," etc. Well- I said that- Rick looked at me like I was crazy.

From there I drove down to Venice just in time to take ownership of the new place. Hops shook like a heroin fiend the whole drive down there, but that just made he and Spotty's elation when we reached the new house all the more surprising and exciting. They did happy dances around the yard for hours.

I had to work last night, but fortunately whenever anyone in TV tells you "We're locking the show at 5," you can count on it being 6 or 7. Just as I was done taking the plastic off of the mattress, my phone rang and I had to go in. But it was so nice returning last night to my new house to find that Rick had set up the DSL which had arrived in the mail. We watched Futurama on the TV and DVD player he had brought over, and went to bed late, only to wake up early so we could have Direct TV installed. After months without internet or TV at home, I can't tell you how happy this makes me.

Now that we have keys made, tomorrow's agenda includes new doggy tags and unpacking the bare essentials that made the first wave move. Yay! It's all really happening!