Aloha

Ben left for Hawaii on Monday, and it was quite the emotional event.
I cried all the way to the airport, it couldn't be helped.
It hit us like a ton of bricks on Sunday night; we won't be able to touch each other for a month. A pause has been put on movies, dinners, snuggling, jiu-jitsu, and naps. Hawaii is a bitch.
I'm going to Maui October 9-17th for a visit (it will be fall break.) If I wasn't going to Maui, I'm pretty sure we'd both explode.

We went on our long awaited "fancy" date to Spencer's and ate some delicious food as a final hoorah before he took off. Ben was given a much appreciated gift certificate from our friend/instructor Pedro, and the $104 tab only took $25.00 out of our pockets. The food was great, and it was nice to get all dressed up (Ben looked so handsome in his slacks and button-down maroon shirt.)

I can't wait for him to come home, I miss him very much. People say, "time makes the heart grow fonder," but what if you are already fond to the millionth power?

Flood

Ben's house flooded. The hose to his ice maker came undone and the water was running for an unknown amount of time, my personal estimate is eight hours. The carpets are completely ruined, a printer was drowned, and the place smells vaguely of mildew. The catastrophe wasn't really catastrophic considering the fact that nothing of much importance was ruined other than the general aesthetics of the apartment. Hopefully the cabinets don't need to be replaced, that would be expensive. Out of all that has happened, I mostly just feel bad for Ben. He has been so stressed working to finish three gates, work on the Chevelle, and a fuel tank/tow package, all before he leaves for Hawaii for two months (which is on Monday.) I can't wait for him to be out of debt, he deserves it more than anyone I know.

(The flooded living room)

Show Me The Money

There is a really cool website where you can track stimulus spending, check it out: http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx.

You can check projects by zip code, and even read a list of non-compliant recipients that is being tracked to make people accountable for the money. I think this site is a great tool, and it was a lot of fun to research and play around on. I checked out some of the money received for higher education, and the numbers were staggering:

The University of Utah received $120,165,409! Go Utes and Federal Government!
UVU received $19,114,616, Utah State received $41,790,992, SLCC received $10,623,731, and Weber State $9,498,066 (all numbers are approximations from my cursory glances.) As a student I'm pretty partial to this type of funding!

Drew and Justin

This weekend Ben and I went to see "Going The Distance" at Megaplex 20. (POSSIBLE SPOILERS!)
The movie tells the story of Erin, an aspiring journalist, and Garrett a record label scout that meet in New York while Erin is visiting from San Fran for an internship. The two experience a wonderful summer romance, and at the end of the time decide that they can't live without each other and should try a long distance relationship. Garrett (Justin Long) is absolutely lovable and his two friends Box (Jason Sudeikis) and Dan (Charlie Day) are a hilarious support system that stole the show. Erin (Drew Barrymore) receives advice from her cynical and blunt sister Corinne (Christina Applegate) and Corinne's husband Phil (Jim Gaffigan,) who lends to the duo with impeccable comedic timing. The whole show centers on their relationship and the real issue at hand, can a long-distance relationship work? (The answer, by the way, is yes.)
The movie was absolutely hilarious and I highly recommend it. It wasn't typical in the sense that the girl pines for the guy the whole movie, takes all of the initiative, and ends up heartbroken; the movie was hilarious, heart-wrenching, and sentimental . It had humor that appealed to a broad spectrum of people and the casual dialogue was hilarious. The trio of male friends discuss "low man crying" and how it looks like one of the characters is "sucking his own dick," The day it is released to DVD, I will be purchasing it, and you should too.

The whole movie I was also transfixed on Drew Barrymore's clothes; her style is unique and absolutely adorable! I wish I had her wardrobe! The fact that Ben loved the movie says something about the content, he is a tough critic (who usually hates the movies I choose,) and he laughed the whole time.

By the Grace of Giants

My Professor Tim Chambless touched upon a story in class that I felt the need to retell. We had just finished watching Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech (August 28, 1963) on the projector, when he began to speak of President Kennedy's assassination (November 22, 1963.) He recounted a story involving his friend David. David met and briefly talked with (then) Senator Kennedy in 1960 when he made a campaign stop to the State of Utah. David described Kennedy in all of the typical ways that people did after meeting the famous politician, he was polite and charismatic.
It was three years later on September 29th, 1963 when President Kennedy came to Utah to flip the switch activating generators at Flaming Gorge that David met the President again. David was on the fringes of the crowd, and as the President walked by, he hesitated, gave a look of recognition to David and walked over to him, shaking his hand he politely said, "Hi, how are you doing, Dave, right?"
Sometimes there are simple moments when you realize you love someone. There are moments when what was once a fantasy becomes a reality. There are stories like this that leave me breathless, stories that make my heroes seem real. It is my sincere belief that there are politicians who care, politicians that will remember your name, and sometimes it is nice to be reminded that the possibility is real.

Presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kennedy
speaks inside the Mormon Tabernacle on Sept. 23, 1960.
(Deseret News archives)

10:45 A.M.

The University of Utah campus is absolutely gorgeous! This little view is what I see every day as I leave the parking lot, and it isn't even close to spectacular relative to the other views on campus. The diversity on campus is fantastic, and you never know what you are going to see. Today, one of the noteworthy sights at The U was two boys, both fashionable and fairly good looking, riding together on a skateboard. I heard one exclaim (as his friend tucked his head under his armpit, with his arms around his waist,) "Fuck, we're going to die. You do the brakes, your shoes are better." Regardless of fear, they sailed beyond my view; way to commit boys, way to commit

Turn Your Faces Inside Out

We had another AMAZING road trip! This time, we followed Aesop Rock to Reno for a show at The Knitting Factory. To be quite frank, I thought that the level of awesome achieved in Boulder, CO at the first Aesop show that I saw was going to be a fluke, it wasn't. The sound in the venue was great, we were close to the stage, it wasn't too rowdy, and we arrived on-time. Essentially, it was the perfect concert.

I love Aesop, Big Wiz, and Rob Sonic more every time I hear, watch, or experience something new that they put out. My admiration grew leaps and bounds after Reno. This time after the show I was able to meet all three members of Hail Mary Mallon, and take pictures with each member individually. Rob and Wiz signed my ticket!! Rob Sonic is one relaxed dude, and Wiz is super nice. I love that while Aesop is signing autographs, the other two members are taking down sound equipment and projectors. They aren't relegated to stage crew work because they have to, rather, their fans have dissipated and they want to let Aes do his thing. Aesop was really great, he grew his hair out, and he looks absolutely fantastic! He signed my copy of "Daylight" that Ben bought for me after the show, and I have another picture of us together (which I'll post later!!!) My boyfriend is the best, that CD was one of the best gifts ever!! This time Ben was able to get pictures with all of the artists as well, and he had Aesop sign a "Fast Cars" CD and his ticket.

The road trip itself was fantastic, we listened to the Max Brooks audiobook, "World War Z" on the way to Reno. The book is extremely well written and the audibook is read by a full cast (including Alan Alda!) On the way home we stopped at one of our favorite places, Wingers!! MMMMMMMMMMM, we sure do love some wings! After Wingers we stopped in Wendover where we shamefully threw away $120.00!!!! The ride home was VERY fun, we ate tons of junk food, talked A LOT, and did other things to keep us busy. By the time we reached SLC we were pooped, it was the perfect end to my summer! School started on Monday, and the transition sucked a little less because of the weekend that preceded it!

Our list of places traveled to may not be impressive to most, but I'm loving making additions!

• Boulder, CO
• Arvada, CO
• San Francisco, CA
• Wendover, NV
• Reno, NV
• Irvine, CA

Next to the list we'll add Hawaii, Thailand and New York!

Workin' Out

School starts on Monday and I am so excited! I usually start the semester out really strong and fizzle out toward the end, but my goal this semester is to maintain a healthy pace of involvement from beginning to end! One large change this semester will be in my workout routine, I have to cut back on my time at Absolute, but I'm going to be supplementing my workout regimen with weight training on Mondays and Wednesdays with my friend Dave. We have an hour and twenty minute break between classes, so we'll be working out at the Field House. I'm excited to get a new type of workout in; weight training twice a week, and training muay Thai and BJJ three times a week will definitely keep me sane and in shape!

Also, I've been picking up kettlebells twice a week with Rebecca at the gym, and I'm really excited about keeping up on the schedule; sport kettlebells are something that definitely intrigue me, and after about a year or so (or whenever Rob says I'm ready,) I'd love to try to compete.

As far as BJJ goes I recently competed in the Utah Grappling Games on July 31st. It was my first grappling tournament. I participated in the women's middleweight gi division, and took 2nd place. I had two matches, the first which I won with points, and the second that I lost via arm lock. The first time jitters were enough to damn my entire performance, and although I'm proud that I went out to compete, watching the videos made me really negative about my overall performance. I can't wait to go back and try even harder in the next tournament.

In other workout news, I signed up for the Dirty Dash with Megan Allen and Sara Meidell, which will be super exciting! I'm not going to make the same mistake that I did for the SLC Half Marathon, I will be running to train for this one!

We leave tomorrow to see Aesop in Reno! Pictures and tales to come!

My Kind of Rain

Just about a week ago it rained three nights in a row, and the thunder and lightning were amazing. One particularly stormy night I fell asleep during a movie on the couch, but when the power went off, I had a very eager boyfriend wake me up to go watch nature's show. Ben roused me, and I threw the blanket over my head (virgin mother style,) and we went out onto the porch. The wind was blowing the rain right into the porch, so we threw the blanket over our heads and ran to the Red Dragon. We slapped through the wet concrete with nothing but bare feet and laid across the backseat to watch the show. The windows fogged while we "ooed" and "aaawed" with every crack of the lightning; we didn't go back into the house until the storm was merely a drizzle.

It was one of those amazing nights that you think about afterward, and you realize how lucky you are to have such a fun person in your life. I wish I had some pictures, but I've been without my camera as of late.

Also, the frogs have been named. They are named, Carl (thanks Cam.) That's right, I named them both Carl, now their identical exterior is moot!

Pets

I have wanted a dog for a really long time! You see, I lost my beautiful Boxer, Marley when I left Pete, and I have a serious burning desire for a new dog! I will one day own a dog, but I'm going to err on the smaller side, and buy a Boston Terrier! The dog will be a boy, and his name will be Klosterman. In the meantime, I have purchased two Aquatic Frogs! They haven't been named yet, because they are identical, but one day they will have names. I can't cuddle with them, but they are cute nonetheless.