With or Without You

Okay, wow. Bono is amazing.

WOW.

That's about all I have to say about that.

Things to Do During Christmas Break:

U2 Night at britta's

U2 on Conan
Rattle and Hum
Slane Castle
Elevation Tour
Bloody Sunday

U2 Night in Portland with U2
eat at the Montage (<-- The Hotcake House was AWESOME)
eat at the Urban
eat at Fuilo's
take pictures of our (my) most important places
go to the jetty, of course
a sleepover at which we actually sleep
Fort Clatsop
Windsor House of Tea
Goonies Day
Morning Star
discussion of downloading music
*Disney Marathon

Aladdin
Beauty and the Beast
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Lion King
Pocahontas
Robin Hood
Sleeping Beauty
Toy Story 1 & 2

chocolate donuts at the Home Bakery
eat at the Wet Dog
see a show at the Columbian
listen to Decemberists (and possibly the Futureheads if britt's still into them)
discuss foreign aid policies
find JOHN BERNER!!
Oscar Night*

An Unfinished Life
Cinderella Man
Goodnight and Goodluck
In Her Shoes
Madagascar
Memoirs of a Geisha
Munich
North Country

Paradise Now
Proof
Walk the Line

The Constant Gardner
Jarhead
The Libertine
Matchpoint
Syriana

Cornicles of Narnia
Kingdom of Heaven
King Kong
The New World
Pride and Prejudice ?

Golden Globe Award nominations announced: December 13, 2005
Oscar nominations announced: January 31, 2006
Golden Globe Awards: January 16, 2006
Scientific and Technical Awards Dinner: February 18, 2006
Oscar Night: March 5, 2006

The Village
visit Sambuck's Coffee . . . support local business and save your soul

add to me

dehydrated watermelon

You know, I don't like banana chips . . . mostly because I don't like bananas in general (unless they accompany cereal). I'm not a big fan of most dehydrated fruits, but I have been known to enjoy Craisins quite a lot. But back to my main point: I have discovered, within the last few minutes, that I do not like dehydrated watermelon. It's a fruit I had never tried dehydrated before, so originally it sounded appealing. No. It is not. It's just kind of gross and sticky and it looks like salmon. Or, maybe I just have Oregon on the brain.

But, thank you for sending it. That was very sweet of you.

"i still don't want to keep a chunk of dried up watermelon in a little baggie for you in the kitchen. or my bedroom either."

It was a great way to start the day---opening that package and laughing very, very hard.

ASHLAND

Jessi is in Ashland at this very moment. I am insanely jealous. Driven to madness.

I miss the Bricks. I miss the Bowmer Theatre. I miss the New Theatre, the Swan, and even the Elizabethan (though I've never seen a show there). I miss the Tudor Guild. I miss Lithia Water. I miss that funky shop down by Lithia Park where I bought my belt and the used book store where I caved and bought that expensive Frank Sinatra book. I miss Lithia Park. I miss world-class theatre. I miss the Knight's Inn. I miss officer's meetings in hotel rooms. I miss the acting workshops, and I don't even like acting anymore. I miss backstage tours. I miss the pros and cons of dessert. I miss tech so good it steals your breath. I miss eight-hour bus trips and Ashland Mixes. I miss Encore. I miss it all.

Most of all, I miss the feeling of excitement I get when I see really, REALLY good theatre. I can't quite explain it, but I imagine that it is similar to the feeling musicians get when they attend a concert by the London Symphony or the feeling an athlete gets when watching the Olympics. When I see amazing theatre I feel rejuvenated. I want to know everything about the show and I crave to know about and experience more of the endless theatrical possibilities. I become motivated, driven to create my own theatre and achieve the level of awe I was privileged to view. That is the feeling that catapulted me into theatre. Because of it, I have significantly drenched my life in this ancient artform of performance. The best theatre I've ever seen was in Ashland and I dearly miss it and what it does to me. Don't get me wrong—I love BYU Theatre; we do great things. However, we are a university . . . we produce university-level theatre. Ashland is one of those places where the art is paramount. A place where the craft soars and my determination is reborn.

Summer 2006

Let the countdown begin.

Mount Timpanogos

Hiking up a mountain in the middle of the night is fun, but much harder than I originally anticipated. Last weekend, I went with Dave, Marc, and Jordan (from the shop), Sue (Marc's lady-friend), and Adam (Jordan's roommate). It was nine miles up to the summit and took us five-and-a-half hours. We had started at about 1:20am Saturday morning which meant we made it to the top at about 6:45/7:00am. The summit is 11,700ft in elevation and believe me, I felt the thin oxygen levels.

We had a really great time talking and laughing with each other. Jordan had brought this huge spotlight/flashlight which was so bright that we named it Old Betsy. We crossed streams of mountain run-off, meadows, avalanche paths, rock-solid snow, and finally crawled up the peak to the summit. The last hour or so were at the top of the mountain walking across the saddle and the ridge and it was cold. It was very cold. We figured that the wind chill temperature couldn't have been much warmer than 20 degrees. We were able to watch the sunrise from the top, but there were clouds, so it wasn't very spectacular.

I walked most of the way with Dave. We were all pretty much together on the way up, but I walked next to Dave and talked to him mostly. I had a harder time physically than everyone else and Dave was the one who made me stop and rest when I was breathing too hard. He told me not to worry about slowing us down and that I should just take my time. I am supremely grateful to Dave for caring about me so much because I really, really needed it. I tried to thank him the other day, but all I could come up with was, "thank you for everything" and a smile. I don't think he'll ever realize how much he means to me.

The way back down was interesting because we got to see everything we had hiked in the dark. It took us about four hours to come back down, but it seemed like forever because I was exhaused, my feet and knees hurt, and I didn't remember parts of the trail and Dave and I kept thinking we were closer to the parking lot than we actually were. On the way down we split into three groups because Jordan and Adam were hauling, Marc and Sue were enjoying each other's company, and Dave and I took the time to stop and enjoy the scenery and take pictures.

I don't have very many pictres because Dave took a TON and I planned to get them from him. So, as soon as he and I both remember to let me borrow his flash drive, I'll post more. But for now, here are some that I took.


The view from the back of the group: Sue, Adam, Jordan, Marc.


Dave.


Dave and Marc looking at the map determining which path we should take to get to the summit.


A shot of Dave after he had taken some pictures.


The sunrise at the top.


Shots of the view:






Dave being very cold.


Dave taking panoramic pictures from the top.


Marc and Jordan. Marc usually wears contacts. He looks sort of silly in such big glasses.


Dave and yours truly. There was a funny metal shack at the top that provided minimal protection from the wind. Despite that, it was still really, really cold. Dave was uncontrolably shivering in this picture.


And, a shot of the colors down the side of the mountain.

And of course, I shall post more pictures when I get them from Dave and Adam.