PAUSE

It's getting to be that time of year. I know that the radio started playing Christmas music as soon as halloween was over (WTF is up with that anyway?) and most stores had their red and greed decorations up around the same time. I've been wrapping presents in paper covered in santas and snowmen for a few weeks now too. But I refuse to aknowlege Christamas anytime before Thanksgiving. Now I'm down to my last Turkey Sandwich and there's only one piece of pie left over, I can say it's begining to feel a lot like Christmas. But it's still freakin' early!

It's also nearing the end of the term. This means, burnout, finals and cramming in everything that has been put off till the last minute. The last minute is NOW! Last week I went to three Jazz concerts for my Jazz class. I've had all semester to do this, I had to have it done by Wed. I went to the first one the Sunday prior. So school has gotten crazy. The Toystore has started Holiday hours so I'm workin until 9:30 now instead of 7:30 and I also have a shift on Sunday. Shoppers are getting more needy too. Everyone needs stuff wrapped, they want certain items that we might be out of and they want them NOW. The store is making something like $3,000 a day. Life is hectic. And I have to shop for presents to give people. Thanks to Amazon.com I'm mostly done with that. I just have a couple more people to buy for and I think I'll probably do that at work.

The point of this blog (in as much as it has a point at all) is to say that my life has gone insane. And Christmas is still a month away. It's only going to get worse and then in January it's going to come to a screeching halt. That is, until classes start again.

Story Part Deux

One sunny day, Joanna's neighbor came over to borrow a cup of sugar. Joanna's neighbor was a beetle named Gweneth. As Gweneth was leaving she said to Joanna: "Have you met the new neighbor across the street?" Joanna shook her head. Gweneth said: "His name is Marvin, apparently he's a monkey. I don't know what a monkey thinks he's doing here living among the slimy and crawly, but then again, beetles don't really talk do they? So I guess anything can happen here." Joanna nodded to Gweneth quickly shut the door. A feeling of dread cept over her and she started to shake. Every worm knows that where there are monkeys there can only be bananas. Joanna was going to have to face her most terrifying fear!

Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion to our story. Same worm place, same worm channel.

All Hallows Eve

I love halloween. This year I dressed up as Jem. Very few people seem to know who Jem is. Jem! was a cartoon in the 80's about Jem and the Holograms (her rock band). Jem herself wore a lot of pink and had magic earings. Anyway, my costume kicked. That is all.

Jem! is truly outrageous

Die Villian Die

This is just a random rant of mine. X96 has a segment on their morning show once a week during which they list things that they (and listeners who bother e-mailling them) think "must go." Things that just bug the crap out of them. Really it's just an excuse to complain about things that nobody really wants to do anyting about. So, because I can and because I feel like ranting, Here is my own personal list of Things That Must Go

1. Blanket Text Messages. I have a friend (he shall remain unnamed here) who send a message to everyone in his phone whenever he gets bored. It's stupid. The message is always the same "what's up" and it's annoying. I wouldn't mind if he actually wanted to know what was up, but he never does. It's uber lame.

2. Speaking of text messages, Forwarded Text Messages. It's spam for the phone! All those annoying "pass this on or your foot will unluckily rot off" e-mail type forwards have made their way into the cell phone realm. As if the e-mails weren't annoying enough.

3. People Who Advertise in My Comments Space. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the comments for the entry right before this. I didn't manage to delete the crap about private road construction before someone commented. I have deleted other messages left as comments on other postings. If you're going to advertise on my blog (that few people read) you should at least pay me for it.

That's actually all I can think of to complain about right now. I guess I'm more content with the world than I thought. Notice how they're all technological? I should become amish and then my life would be perfect, right?

ZzZzZzZzZzZz

I'm in the union building right now and there's a girl sleeping on a couch near me. She's snoring REALLY loudly. I just thought I would share that because if someone else were here we'd probably be laughing about it.

Arches

What an awesome weekend. I went down to Arches National Park with my parents and some of their friends/coworkers. We had the group site at the campground so all 14 persons there had a nice place to pitch their tent. Arches is a lovely place, really - not my favorite park, but lovely. The geography is gorgeous, breathtaking, majestic. Really, if it wasn't so touristy and ... I almost want to say trendy, but that's more just the aura of Moab in which the park basks.

So what we did: After my class on Friday we drove down so we got to the campground around 4:00. After we set up the tent and unpacked some stuff my parents went on a little hike that started somewhere in the campground and went around to a bunch of arches. I heard it was really pretty. I decided to stay around camp and climb some rocks. There was one chimney in particular that I was determined to get up. It was probably too narrow for a sane person, but you know me. My first attempt I got maybe a quarter of the way up and got stuck. The second time I was successful, but it was not easy. This little crack in the rock was maybe a foot wide. That's not much when you're trying to squeeze more than just a skeleton through it. About half way up I rested and held myself in place just by flexing my glutes. In a situaton like that, it's not much good trying to use your legs, because you can't bend them so they're useless, so I basically pulled myself up with my arms. When I couldn't go up anymore I decided that I would go down the other side. It started out wider and therefore easier, but then it went more narrow that my way up. I ended up "walking" my way down above the crack (where it was a bit wider). By walking I mean I had my feet on one rock face and my back on another so I would step with my feet and then push up with my shoulders and upper arms so my back could catch up with my feet. By the time I got back on normal ground, I had worked every muscle in my body- I know because they were all sore the next day.

Yesterday seven of us decided it was a good idea to get up at 5:30 and hike to Delicate Arch for sunset. It was actually quite fun, but you're not going to see me awake that early again for a very long time. After returning to camp and breakfasting, my parents and I decided to hike down Courthouse Wash. Good idea if you want to get away from people (we didn't see a single other hiker the entire way) and are up for an adventure. Bad idea if you want an actual trail (who hikes on trails anyway?) or if you have a problem with quicksand and fighting your way through thick groves of willow and tamarisk. It was not too bad for the first 3/4 of the way, but then it got impossible. We were pushing through thick vegitation and going around in circles. By the end of it we were tired and frustrated. I didn't NOT enjoy it, but I wouldn't exactly say it was fun. Definately an adventure and certainly interesting. The wash itself is very pretty in an atypical way. You don't have the majestic canyon wall hovering several hundred feet over your head (typical Arches scenery). The wash is much more open. It's full of trees and, in a few spots, there were really beautiful waterfalls and neat little swimming holes.

Last night, after we recovered from our adventure, the whole lot of us (14 that is) had dinner at the Moab Brewery. Good beer, good food, good company. Of course beer+hiking all day+ getting up at 5:30 = exhaustion. I was asleep by 11:30 and I have never slept so well on a camping trip.

This morning we packed up, putzed around the windows area of the park and then drove home. One of the best parts of camping is getting home and taking a shower. Those are the best showers ever- after being sweaty and dusty and dirty for days it's so nice to get really clean.

I'll post some pics after they're uploaded from the cameras.

Homecoming

This week is homecoming week at the U. Nobody knew about it. I read all about it in the Cronicle (the campus paper) yesterday and that was the first time I've heard of it. According to the article, in the past homecoming was a week that really brought current students and alumni together for on campus events and the U suddenly became less of a commuter campus. This year, poor planning has left many students totally ignorant of the events, half of which (including homecoming dance) are off campus. There are no banners around campus. I think I remember seeing a flyer on a bulletin board covered in flyers. The only reason I know that it's homecoming week is because I read the article in the Cronicle about how much is being overlooked this year. I myself am not going to any events. The only thing I'd be remotely interested in is the homecoming dance on Friday. It's being held at Trolley Square, $10 a head. I'm going camping instead. Darn. I'm thinking it's probably ok though, because not many people are likely to go so I shouldn't miss much.

That's all for now. I'll have the next installment of Joanna the Worm as soon as I am bored enough.

Story:

Once upon a time in a kingdom far far away there lived a very pretty worm named Joanna. Joanna was like any other worm in most ways. She crawled through dirt and ate whatever it is that worms eat. The thing that made Joanna unique was that she had an abnormal dislike of bananas. She could not bring herself to go withing several miles of a banana, or a banana peel or banana bread or banana muffins or dancing bananas or singing bananas or banana phones or banana bunches or anna banana (her third cousin four times removed on her mother's side). Even the mere utterence of the word "banana" made her dry heave in as much as worms can dry heave. Fortunately for Joanna, her kingdom was very cold so there weren't a lot of bananas about. Once in a while someone would throw a banana peel in a compost heap nearby causing much pain for Joanna, but that didn't happen often.

To Be Continued.....

Big Ass Show

Every year X96 a "local independent" radio station puts on a Big Ass Show. It's kind of like the Warped Tour only much smaller and usually more emo. It was today, I went, it was awesome. We didn't stay for all the bands- we left before Story of the Year, Our Lady Peace and The Used- but the ones we were there for rocked.

First one we saw was Morning Wood. It was the only chick (lead) band there. After that we sawKasibain, they were ok. Arrakis got bopped in the nose by some nasty little fat goth moshers. Then we sat at the edge of the crowd for Hawthorn Heights (not a big fan of them).

Then we saw 30 Seconds to Mars that was wicked good. Jared Leto is so freakin' hot. The music was good, the energy was good, the crowd was good. They were the best band we saw today. After them we got some food. The plan was then to see Rise Against, but they were missing two band mates and were doing an all acoustic performance. I love Rise Against, I saw them last time they came here, but they're much better plugged in. They sucked with just the two acoutic guitars, so we walked off. Next was The Bravery. They rocked.

After them, we were all very tired and felt like our arms were going to fall off. Funny how that happens at a concert. You get close enough to the stage and you either use all you muscles keeping people from collapsing your rib cage or you are unable to put your arms down. Good times.

Poetry Gods

If anyone reading this does not know who Billy Collins is, you should. Unless you have no reason to. He is, in my humble opinion, the greatest poet alive. He served two terms as the national poet lauriet and is simply brilliant. I met him on Saturday (yay!)

Billy Collins was at the main library on Saturday for a reading. I was so excited when I heard about it. Of course I went down. His reading changed much of the general feeling of a lot of his poetry. He has a brilliant sense of humor and it comes through much stronger when he reads his poes rather than when one just sees them on the page. It was, in a word, awesome.

After the reading he signed books. Of course, I had him sign mine. As often happens at these things, he chatted with me a bit when I got up to the table. I was so incredibly star struck. Isn't that odd? How much of a nerd am I that I get so giddy about meeting an old, bald, poet. I was seriously experiencing the kind of mania that normal girls would get if they met Brad Pitt or Jonny Depp or their favorite boy band (gag me with a spatula). Needless to say, it was super exciting and I'm still a little euphoric about it.

WTF mate!!

Last night I spent $40 on gas. Forty Fucking Dollars!!! What the hell is up with that? I'm never driving again. Or at least not often. I actually have only been driving a few times a week lately. I take the bus to school and usually walk to work (I can take the bus there too if I want). Gas prices are rediculous though, it's unbelievable.

Back in the System

It was back to school for me Wednesday. I'm taking a whole bunch of general ed classes. By a whole bunch, I mean four. I'm taking Begining French, American Civilizations, Absurd Theater and Survey of Jazz. All of them are pretty neat except American Civ has the potential to be extrememly boring. It's a basic history class that more or less everyone has to take. History is not my strongest subject, but sometimes I find it interesting. The Professor explained that we would be focusing on politics and economics. Not excited.

Working on my French homework last night I discovered that speaking it makes my head ache. It's like trying to speak out of my frontal lobe. I may be doing something wrong but that's the only way I can make myself say things correctly. I'm excited to be learning French though, it's something I've kinda wanted to do for a while.

In other news, I worked all day today. The owner's 9 yr old daughter came in with a bunch of her friends about an hour and a half before we closed. She tried to fire Derek, the assistant manager. She failed miserably, it was a little funny. She is an absolute demon though. Don't like her one little bit.

Blood will Get Blood

Our monkey president decided to grace the great state of Utah with his presence today. Being the patriot that I am, I went down town to protest with (as the radio tells me) about 3,000 others. That's a pretty good turn out considering I live in one of the reddest states in the union. So all those people were locked in a "free speach zone" bedecked in their old hippie attire, carrying signs, listening to speaches or harrassing drivers. Our wonderful SLC mayor showed up as well and spoke a very moving speach. I'm glad I voted for him.

I was glad to see so many people out to fight against the war and they lies of the current administration. I was also struck by the futility of it all. the "free speach zones" set aside for such protests are far away from anywhere they would really do any good. Mr Bush didn't even drive by Pioneer Park. That really scares me, actually. In theory the whole right to free speach should apply everywhere in the USA, right? But isolating people with "radically liberal" opinions seems to me to be blotting out that whole part of the constitution. Yes there were three thousand people there, but the president, the person who was the cause of the whole demonstration, could easily be totally oblivious.

We only stayed for about an hour and a half. When we were walking back to the car, we happened to see G.W. himself (and his enourage) drive past. There were a few people with signs returning to their vehicles, like us, and others who simply gave the tinted windows of the limo dirty looks or obscene gestures. As it past us, we saw the president waving happily as a trained monkey. He is so totally oblivious.

One final bit of politics. For anyone who still reads this and would like to be just a little political, there is an anti-war rally on Sept 24. There are marches and rallies being held all over the country. In dear old Salt Lake people are meeting at 11am at Pioneer Park and marching to the county building. I'm thinking I'm going to go.

Quick

Life is getting crazy. It's fun!

Moving On

After days of theapy, I've recovered from the sidewalk sale. Actually all it took was a nice 14 hours of sleep and I was fine. Now I have time to get everything in order for school. Granted, I've been accepted since, like, February, I've had lots of time to get things done. Unfortunately for me, I love to procrastinate. So I registered for classes yesterday. (School starts in three weeks to give you an idea of the time line). My schedule isn't as bad as it should be for registering so late. I'm taking American Civilizations (blah), Survey of Jazz (should be interesting), Absurd Theater (why not?), Begining French and maybe Writing 2010 - I have to talk to the writing dept and see if I cant wave it cuz I basically took it at the Fort.
So that's what's new with me.

The Toy Store Is Eating My Soul

.... or at least my weekend. This weekend is Foothill Village's anual summer sidewalk sale. This means that everyone at the toystore is working from 9 am to 8 pm, much of the time outside in the rudy hot sun. It's yucky. Today it rained- that was fun. We had to scramble to put tarps over all the merchandise so that it wouldn't get wet. The good news is that the temperature dropped a bit. Anyway, I'm tired. I hate toys. I hate sidewalk sales. I'm going to bed. At least tomorrow is the last day of torture.

One of those Weekends

I had fun. On Friday, my friend Allessa turned 22 and naturally we all celebrated with a fancy dress party. In other words, we got all dressed up and then got smashed. I got myself a brilliant dress for the occasion. I, unfortunately, don't have a pic of the whole thing so my readers will have to use their imaginations. You can see in the pic the nice polka-dotted sleeves (they actually started out long, but I cut them off), of the same material there is a ruffle along the bottom and a big freakin' bow. (that sentence was a little awkward) It's awsome.

Saturday I had a party myself. A pool party. I bought a 6' wide kiddie pool at Smith's just so I had an excuse. It was a good time.

Life is good.

I still have a boyfriend. I like him a lot. I am still fighting the commitment phobia though. If I ignore it, will it go away?

Fancy Dress Coctail Party Friday. (Allessa, Arrakis and Me)

Half Blood Prince

Yes, I have been caught up in the Harry Potter madness since day one. Before that actually - I read the first three books before they came out (advanced reading copies for the library at which my mother works). Anyway, I spent the weekend sick at home so I took the opportunity to read the latest in the HP instalment.

I rather liked it. It didn't follow the typical Harry Potter formula (Harry goes to school, Voldermort attacks in one form or another, Harry wins, everyone is happy). It had much more focus on he-who-must-not-be-named's history and was perhaps not as exciting. All the characters are more mature and I think the way it reads is also. There were a few cringable moments though. Like the last conversation between Harry and Ginny I had flashbacks to Spiderman.

I have to say that the person who dies at the end.... I heard the rumors that a faculty member was going to croak, but I never though it would be this one! Wow, that was gutsy. I'm not going to give away who it was, but WOW that was something. And the way it happened, that was kinda surprising because...... well, I can't really explain it without giving it away. Maybe after people have had more of a chance to read it I'll do a second part to this post.