Boulders, Bugs, and Buffoonery

I went on vacation with my family this last week to Central/Southern Utah. The five of us--myself, my dad, my stepmom Sheila, Marjaan, and Anthony--piled in the truck and drove to Boulder Utah.
Boulder is an unusual place. It's surrounded by a dense forest inhabited by wild deer and even wilder cows. But once you pull into Boulder you're surrounded by canyon lands. We stayed in a little motel called Pole's Place. It was named after the owner's pa, Eugene Napolean Bonaparte Griffin.
We went to a restaraunt in town for dinner, where, as soon as we walked in, my sister and I couldn't help but notice the beautiful host behind the counter. He was dark and exotic, with bright turquoise eyes. My family has a habit of making friends with servers when we go out to eat, and we soon learned he was from Istanbul. My brother and sister spoke a little Arabic with him, and we spent a lot of the drive the next day debating why on earth a man from Istanbul would end up in Boulder Utah.
That brings me to my next topic: my family is pretty good at coming up with our own entertainment. That's why trips to Central Utah are perfect for us. Low cost, lots of opportunity for creating our own adventure, and of course, time to spend together, making fun of each other, acting crazy, and being stupid.
My little brother, at one point, picked up a bug (I have no idea what it was,) put it on a stick, and carried it around on our long walk to the only grocery store in town, which was, of course, closed. He named the bug Jeremy and thus began our list; The Top Ten Reasons You Belong In Boulder, Utah. They're all mostly inside jokes, but hopefully they're still amusing.

10- You become attached to a bug-on-a-stick.
9-You make up songs about local cuisine.
8-You think hiking upstream in a river sounds like a fun Friday activity.
7-You derive endless entertainment from watching an entire town drive by at 55 miles per hour while you're parked on the side of the highway.
6-You like to stick french fries in your ears and other people's toes.
5-You make noises that will one day cause others to ban you from polite society.
4-Upon finding yourself in Lake Powell, you then proceed to break apart the sandstone and smear it all over your face and arms. (That one belongs to me.)
3-You have tasted both Pickle and Pinto Bean Pie.
2-You have to wash your hair with soap.
1-You vacation there. For fun.

Yes, my family did all of this and more on our trip. Crazy hikes, long drives, animal harrassments, film festivals, and all-around tom foolery.

I love us.

It's just a fond farewell to a friend.

The litebrite's now black and white
Cause you took apart a picture that wasn't right
Pitch burning on a shining sheet
The only maker that you'd want to meet
The dying man in a living room
Who's shadow paces the floor
Who'll take you out in the open door
This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
It's not what I'm like
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
Who couldn't get things right
Fond farewell to a friend
He said really I just wanna dance
Good and evil matched perfect it's a great romance
I can deal with some physic pain
If it'll slow down my higher brain
Veins full of disappearing ink
Vomiting in the kitchen sink
Disconnecting from the missing link
This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
It's not what I'm like
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
Who couldn't get things right
Fond farewell to a friend
I see you're leaving me and taking up with the enemy
The cold comfort of the in between
A little less than a human being
A little less than a happy high
A little less than a suicide
The only things that you really tried
This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
It's not what I'm like
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
Who couldn't get things right
Fond farewell to a friend
This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend



I love that song. It makes me sad. In a good way.

Goodbye, my friends. I will miss your faces.

I love you Dain, Whitney, and Greg.

Uncertainty.

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man that function is smothered in surmise and nothing is but what is not.

-The Bard.

I don't know where to go from here.

-Me.

A Friend Like Ben.

I would just like to take a moment to remember the artist Michael Jackson. He died on June 25th, 2009.
I've been a fan of Michael's since I was a little girl. My mom loved his upbeat music and incomparable dancing style, so she would put on a tape and we would all dance in our apartment. I loved his unique voice and his style, and later gained an appreciation for just how talented a performer he was. I would watch his music videos like "Thriller," "Billy Jean," and "Black and White," and marvel at his abilities. You watch "Thriller" and his background dancers, all professional, simply can't compare to Michael. He sparkles. I could watch him dance for hours.
When he died, the first thing I felt was disappointment. I had made it one of my life goals to see Michael in concert, but now I'd never get a chance. I'm hoping there'll be a comeback tour in the next life.;)
My favorite song of Michael's, one that has always touched my heart, is "Ben." I think the lyrics are sweet and the melody is a little bit sad. I've been listening to it a lot since he passed.

Ben, the two of us need look no more
We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
I'll never be alone
And you, my friend, will see
You've got a friend in me
(you've got a friend in me)

Ben, you're always running here and there
You feel you're not wanted anywhere
If you ever look behind
And don't like what you find
There's one thing you should know
You've got a place to go
(you've got a place to go)

I used to say "I" and "me"
Now it's "us", now it's "we"
I used to say "I" and "me"
Now it's "us", now it's "we"
Ben, most people would turn you away
I don't listen to a word they say
They don't see you as I do
I wish they would try to
I'm sure they'd think again
If they had a friend like Ben
(a friend) Like Ben
(like Ben) Like Ben


Goodbye, Michael. You will be missed.

Tick..Tick...Tick...BOOM!

SOOKIE: Well, come on, what are we celebrating?

LORELAI: Well, you ready?

SOOKIE: Yeah.

JACKSON: Definitely!

LORELAI: The Independence Inn is closing.

JACKSON: Yay!

SOOKIE: Yay! The inn is closing.

LORELAI: Not closing, closed. We're finished. It's all over. They're boarding the place up as we speak. Who wants more?

JACKSON: Well, did they find some gold in the basement or something 'cause I'm missing the celebrating angle.

LORELAI: You should always celebrate new challenges, and that's what this is.

SOOKIE: A new challenge.

LORELAI: Yes. They'll be some severance pay, then nothing.

SOOKIE: Nothing!

LORELAI: Nothing but exciting new challenges. Cheers!

SOOKIE: The inn is closed.

JACKSON: Well, I guess this means that you guys can focus solely on refurbishing the Dragonfly, getting that up and running. That's exciting.

SOOKIE: Yes, it is.

LORELAI: Yeah, I agree. But just drink some more. How're you feeling?

SOOKIE: A little drunk, and all I'm drinking is apple juice.

LORELAI: Well, good, 'cause I've got another little piece of news for you. We can't buy the Dragonfly because I can't swing my share of the money because I no longer have a steady income.

JACKSON: Wow, that is great.

SOOKIE: I'm sorry, was that an exciting challenge too?

LORELAI: Absolutely. Yesterday our lives were boring and predictable. We had jobs, we were gonna start our own business. But now everything is wide open. We can do anything we want because we're not penned in. That's good.

SOOKIE: Yes, that's good. And thinking of those new challenges is a nice way to distract me from the fact that we don't work together anymore so we're gonna see way less of each other.

LORELAI: Which will make our limited time together more enjoyable.

JACKSON: Right. And since I'm your vegetable supplier, I'm losing work, and seeing my wife and close friend way less than before.

LORELAI: Cheers!



Yep...exciting new challenges, folks. Break out the champagne! We're in unpredictability-ville now. Entering th realms of foggy guesswork and stepping blindly into the unknown...

BAH!!!

So it's been a long time. Apparently Safari takes a while to get used to certain webpages, because it wasn't letting me sign on to Blogspot or Myspace for a while. So I'm finally here, updating.

So the highlights of what has happened lately: I made it into Utahoma and we are now getting into the last weeks of rehearsal. We open June 12th and I'm pretty excited. I didn't get a lead in this one, but my part is still pretty fun. It's an excellent parody with lots of laughs and energetic dance numbers.

I also made it into Pirates of Penzance, which means I can cross another thing off the old life list! I've wanted to be in Pirates since I was a wee little lass of ten, when I saw my uncle Hugh in it at Rodgers Memorial Theater and fell instantly in love. To this day I get a kick out of the rioutous humor, the clever and well-crafted lyrics, and the gorgeous music. It's in my top three favorite musicals of all time. Gilbert and Sullivan really knew what they were doing. From what I can tell about the cast so far, we've got a pretty good bunch. The guy who is playing Frederic sounds almost exactly like Rex Smith, which is a huge plus for me since Rex Smith is my favorite tenor to ever have graced the world of musical theater. Our Mabel is also excellent, and I have a few friends in the cast like Mike Brown, Sara Higgins, Erin Saunders, and Jake Miskimins.

I lost use of my phone, which is sad. My family took it off the plan without warning me so for the moment Justin has been kind enough to let me use his old line until I figure something out. Sheesh.

I've been losing a lot of weight, what with being on the "no food, bike and walk everywhere diet." It is excellent.

Last night I was able to hang out with one of my absolute favorite people in the world, Stephen Marshall. He just got back from his mission to California. I love him, love him, love him! It was the best! Like old times. We drove in his car and listened to good music with the windows down. You know how certain times have certain smells? Maybe it's just a me thing, but the smell of that night was familiar, comforting. Like a feeling that hovered in the air, clinging to the friendship that we had left off two summers ago...

I've written a play that is a parody of all the John Hughes movies in the style of the Off Broadway Theater. I'm still working out some things like character and plot, but I'm enjoying myself. It's nice to get back in the swing of things.

My Mantra

The most important thing I will ever teach my children is this:
"Love first, judge never."

It's a phrase I've found myself using more and more frequently, and one I have strived to live by. I think it's one of the most important and underused philosophies around.

The other night I was pleased to hear a woman in my play (a very LDS lady at that) say that she believed the same way. She said she would rather her children go out drinking and having pre-marital sex than be close-minded and judgemental. She said that she couldn't believe how many people, particularly within the LDS church, did not follow that particular principle of the gospel, which is simply to never, ever judge. It was very refreshing to hear that point of view from a member of the church. In a way, it gave me hope.