Thankful

November isn't the only time we should express gratitude, give it a whirl throughout the rest of the year too. With that said:

I am thankful that although I may be impatient, and my temper can boil rapidly, I have people in my life that are cognizant of my imperfections, and they love me just the same. I'm working on it, I promise.

I can't wait to go back to the Gallivan Center for ice skating this year!

Maui

Basically, I have the best boyfriend ever! Ben flew me out to Maui for my fall break from school. He has been gone since September 13th, and the chance to see each other was well-deserved! The vacation was amazing, and words can not describe just how perfect everything was on the trip. We played, and laughed, and ate amazing food. It was the type of vacation I have dreamed of my whole life, and I will cherish the memories forever! It would be impossible to give a play-by-play of the whole vacation, but I'm going to attempt to highlight some of it in the form of a list. Here goes nothin':

1. We went to the Banyan tree at Lahaina on day one. They have booths that sell art under the tree, and we went around to see all of the local art. The tree covers an entire city block, it was awesome!

2. We drove the Hana Highway and went on amazing hikes through a bamboo forest, and up to gorgeous waterfalls. The bamboo forest was one of my favorite parts, it sounded like hundreds of wind chimes while we walked. The absence of snakes in Hawaii made it one of the most leisurely hikes that I have ever been on.

3. Ben bought me snorkeling gear and we went snorkeling a few different times, which included an awesome boat trip to the Molokini Crater on a boat with the Pacific Whale Foundation. I can honestly say that I have never done anything so cool in my entire life, and I can't wait to go back. Ben loves turtles, and I was so excited to see a few up close! The first turtle that we saw was huge! I'm going to unfairly assume the turtle was a male, the poor guy was missing a fin. He was as big as a coffee table, and was covered in mossy looking algae stuff (very technical terms.) We saw an eagle ray, and tons of fish. I showed Ben my boobs underwater, and he thinks those were the coolest things in the Hawaiian waters...I also managed to lovingly/playfully grope him right as we ran into another couple that was snorkeling. Seriously, we had not seen a person in over half an hour, and right as I decide to act like a pervert people appear...just my luck. On our second snorkeling adventure I was stung by a Portuguese Man O' War, which was terrible! Thankfully the sting wasn't too bad, and I was ready to go back into the water in about an hour!

4. We also went to the Paia Fish Market Restaurant and ate some of the best food in the whole world; we saw "The Town" and "Secretariat;" We bought "Connect Four" and played that a bunch; we went to "Kite Beach" and watched the kite surfers; we watched amazing sunsets, and we even trained at Ermin's gym (Ermin is his boss in Hawaii.) Ermin's girlfriend Lisa was our instructor. Lisa is awesome, and I'm very happy that I was able to meet her. We ate Indian Food, and slept in. We cuddled, and kissed, and humped, it was great.

Out of all of the adventures that we had I can honestly say that my two favorite parts were probably some of the simplest. The first was when Ben picked me up from the airport. I had missed him so much, seeing him pull up to the curb was like a bag of concrete had been lifted from my chest. It sounds rather melodramatic, but when you genuinely like someone as much as I like him, it is truly awful going this long without him by my side. I love waking up and drinking coffee with Ben, even though I hate waking up early! Getting to eat eggs with him before work is one of the best parts of my day. When Ben has a long day at work, getting to rub his hands after dinner is one of the best feelings in the world. I miss training with him at the gym, and wrestling with him at home. Just getting to hold his hand during the initial drive from the airport to the condo in Maui was divine.

My second favorite part of the trip was the time we spent inside of the condo. Ben rented the most amazing condo, and we both grew so attached to it that by the end of the trip we called it our "pretend house." We watched an entire season of "The Office." That's right, I was in paradise with my handsome boyfriend, and one of the highlights consisted of eating ice cream and watching Netflix. I love just sitting at home with Ben and watching t.v. When he gets home, there is going to be an imprint of our bodies on his couch, because we are watching every season of "The Office," and it is going to be GREAT!

The day that I left consisted of a lot of crying. I tried so hard to keep it in, but knowing that I had to go another month and a half without doing the simple things with Ben was torture. I tried to change my flight, but it was $300ish dollars to make the change, and we decided that was unreasonable. I think everyone feels the post-vacation blues, but that feeling was definitely compounded by leaving Hawaii alone. I cried all the way through security, and I cried until the plane boarded. I'm surprised they didn't flag me for enhanced searches, I was a mess.

Anyway, all of that uber-personal, and cheesy stuff aside, the vacation was AMAZING! I can't wait to go back! Hawaii does have a law school, I'm just sayin'...

"Room"

School and work have been so hectic lately! I have barely had time to study and write quality papers for my four classes with all of the drama I have had at work, but after much frustration, midterms ended, and I flew to Hawaii. However, the night before I flew to Hawaii I read the most amazing book that I have come across in years (it is that good.)

Please read Emma Donoghue’s, "Room."

Synopsis: Ma and Jack live in Room. Room is an eleven foot by eleven foot shed in the backyard of their captor's house. The shed that is "Room" to Jack is soundproofed, and hidden by hedges; the door to Room is steel and has a digital code that is only known to "Old Nick," the nasty rapist that captured Ma when she was nineteen.

The book is narrated by Jack, the lovable and intelligent five year old that has been raised by his doting mother under the false pretense that they are the only people on Earth that are real, and everything Outside is outer space. The narration from start to finish is in the words of Jack, everything that he experiences is filtered through the mind of a five year old, and he expresses the events as such. Everything he has ever known becomes important, a rug is Rug, proper nouns throughout the book convey the importance attached to the things in our lives that we know and love, though they may be inanimate. Some of us name our cars (mine is Warren Sapp,) Jack names and loves everything surrounding him. They have T.V., Rug, Plant, Egg Snake, and Wardrobe. They brush their teeth, play games, and exercise. One day, Ma tells Jack that Outside is real, and that Old Nick is a bad man who stole her, and they must escape.

After their harrowing escape (which had me breathlessly turning the pages) Jack is faced with a whole new world. He is faced with vast choices, new sounds, and an overwhelming fear that his mother will leave him. Was Jack better off in Room? Is ignorance bliss? After all, he was safe in room, bees didn't sting him, people didn't yell, and the sun didn't burn, maybe Room wasn't so bad- maybe Jack wants to go back?

This book left me wondering where Jack and Ma were after I closed the cover, and I still find myself thinking about them as if they are real people. The book calls into question many great subjects, such as, how much choice is a good thing?

For me, "Room" made me question my own materialism, and contemplate how important the things around me actually are. I have realized that what makes my car, "Warren" is the memories that I have had in "him." My car isn't a person, it is a car, and I need to pay more attention to the people inside of it, and the places it takes me, because if they were gone, Warren would just be another Toyota Yaris. I highly recommend this book, and if any of my friends want to borrow it, just let me know!

On another note, later I will be posting quite the lengthy account of my trip to Maui, and posting tons of pictures!

Cardboard City

The Alex Pardee print that I have had my eye on forever popped up in a store in SLC, and I happened upon it while walking to my favorite Indian restaurant (The Himalayan Kitchen.) The "Tonight, To Knight" print is available at Blonde Grizzly, it is print 3/45. I was convinced that the print was mine, because I was totally willing to drop at least two hundred dollars on it; you see, the print was originally only $80.00 online, but was sold out when I went to purchase it. I emailed the artist and he said that the prints were limited and no more would be sold. I have scoured ebay countless times to no avail, until the day that I walked by the fucking thing hanging on the store wall downtown! The store was closed, and I contemplated putting a rock through the window to steal the painting, which I decided was counterproductive (and there were too many witnesses.) I called and talked to the owner the second I was at work the next day, he thanked me for not vandalizing his store. The print is not $200, the print is $400! Needless to say, I cried (which is pretty pathetic,) and I've since been daydreaming about someone surprising me with the print.



Anyway, I follow the artist's blog at eyesuckink.blogspot.com and he has recently started a really cool horror-movie night at his newest retail store in SF. The movie night is limited to people who purchase one of twenty prints that are sold for $10 every Monday at noon. The print is your ticket, which is totally worth the money (why don't I live in San Francisco again?) I was reading the re-cap of the night, and looking at pictures, and none other than Aesop Rock showed up to the first movie night (he also lives in SF.) It was here that I read about Aesop's new website, 900bats.com. The website is awesome, which is to be expected from Mister Rock. Check it out:

Cupcakes and Wine

One of my best friends in the whole world turned thirty this week, and to celebrate he put together a party at Divas Cupcakes and Coffee in Salt Lake. There was a spread of cupcakes and wine, which was absolutely adorable; the cupcakes were delicious! I was able to taste the red velvet, and s'mores cupcakes, and they were both to die for! I overheard a few people raving about the tomato basil soup as well. They have a beautiful patio, and greenhouse, I will definitely be going there to study.
Tons of wonderful people came out to celebrate in honor of Steve. It was a great time, and I'm so thankful to have friends like Steve in my life. Travy was also there and he drove with me to the event, it was really nice to catch up.

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)