"for the thrill of it, the thrill of it..." Empire of the Sun

I needed a new look. And yes, capitalization is part of the renovation.
The new picture is of a Namibian sunset. There are no better sunsets than in Africa. The southern sky is one of my top things I miss about Africa. I never saw one that magnificent, but close. We were there during winter, so there were 2 days total with clouds in the sky, and they weren't big.

So I was sitting there on my couch tonight during FHE, minding my own business, when someone called my name and said I had to be one of the girls that Bear Grylls, played by Jacob, would hit on in our FHE video. I refused, but somehow I found myself soon after sitting in one of our kitchen chairs doing a dress rehearsal. Apparently, Tresa, Ashley and I were to be the three girls who Bear would win over with his gun. (Clearly, a boy wrote this script.) So Jac...Bear whips out his gun and then it's in Tresa's hand, and then I say, "hey, let me see it" and then I sit back empty handed and then Tresa leans over and then I'm crying out, "oooowwww!" and holding the right side of my chest. Jacob's gun was loaded and Tresa pulled the trigger on his very powerful air soft gun (?) 6 inches away from my chest. I now have a welt 2 inches below my right clavicle. It is slowly but surely turning blue as I type this. The best part? Jacob didn't tell us it was loaded, thus Tresa didn't think it was, and everyone in the room thought I had taken acting to a new level with my incredible reaction for the first 5 seconds. Then 28 eyes were watching me grope myself. "Grope for life," as they say.

Also, found a new band for you. They are called Empire of the Sun. They are a seperate entity than the movie, which I highly recommend seeing immediately.

"So Long, Farewell, blah blah blah blah blah blah-ah" - Sound of Music

Today, Bishop Brown was released. I have never been so emotional over a release as I was today. He's been my bishop for a year, and definitely my favorite one since I've been here at BYU. Ok, tied for first with my very first freshman year bishop. Needless to say, I'm going to miss that man a lot. They say there is politics in everything, and the Church of Latter Day Saints is no exception. I liked the way he said things, the things he placed as most important, and how he dealt with the members of his congregation. He was approachable, the most non-judgemental man I may have ever known up till now, and frankly, he has effectively called me to repentance every Sunday since I moved in. I don't know Bishop Stokes yet, but I bet he's going to be cool. Obviously I give him my full support, and hope the best for him. It will be interesting to see how he changes things up a bit. I'm going to miss you Bro and Sis Brown.

In other news, I saw 2 more warren miller movies last night. The man is a genius. As well as every person featured in his films. I saw Children of Winter (2008) and then the 2 from last night, Impact (2004) and Higher Ground (2005), and finally Cold Fusion (2001) last week some time. Basically, I'm becoming an avid Warren Miller fan and realize more than ever that I have no guts when it comes to doing something daring. It's odd that I am more daring on a snowboard than skis, and I think it's because I have gotten so use to not falling on skis that it shakes me up when I do. On a board however, I know I'm going to fall eventually so why not try some stuff in the meantime? Consequently, if I had to go to a park, I'd choose a snowboard. We were commenting last that ski tricks look way cooler that board tricks, but to each his own. :)

"I'm in the prime of my life" - mgmt

working up at sundance sure has it's perks.

first of all, let it be known there is a definite culture that exists when people gather together on a snow covered mountain and worship the art of skiing and snowboarding. certain types of people are attracted to these resorts. and these people are definitely my kind of people.

even though we get paid a few dollars here and there to teach kids, sometimes ornery, sometimes exemplary, we are still getting paid to ski. and when i go to work, i don't worry about which annoying employee i'll have to dodge that day, or what i'm going eat for lunch from the vending machines, or how i'm going to amuse myself amidst the same old drag of work. no, at sundance, i am faced with really cool people who are more like me than i every imagined, all you can eat lunches prepared by nationally reknown chefs for only $3, and different kids every day coming from all perspectives of life who expect me to teach them what it takes to have fun on skis. sometimes i'm successful, most of the time i'd say i'm not, but in either case, i am at least the most important person to them for 2 hours that day. this may sound weird, but ever since i can remember, all i wanted to be was an adult. and i really feel like one at sundance, given my resposibilities to teach kids.

and honestly, their food really is reknown. make a reservation ASAP. and guess what? i get 50% off, baby. yeah.

On a side note, Mgmt, my favorite band right now, is probably most popular by this song, Time to Pretend. If you've seen the movie 21, you may recognize it from the opening credits. It's partly about how we're fated to pretend because of our mundane cubicle jobs. which, by the way, does anyone else have an intense fear of living out a corporate life in a cubicle? did you see Office Space or Stranger than Fiction, or participate in any late 90s/early 00s media? (tell me, how do you shorten the 2000s, and more importantly, how do you say it?) a side-side note: i was in board of provo the other day and they were playing a recently filmed snowboard movie that featured Kids. And what kind of people have time to make mock-videos like that. i would like to have a chat with them and perhaps discuss how they make a living, how they keep their imaginations up to par, and if they could meet anyone in history, who it would be. Besides Jesus, right now i would choose Mary Shelley, just so i could ask her the details about her dream that she didn't put in the book. she was probably frankenstein's bride. and then i'd ask how it feels to be known for creating one of the most well known monsters in the English speaking world.