"Colors crash, collide in blood shot eyes . . . "

Something precious has happened within the last twenty-four hours. I fell in love with U2 again. I have lost track, actually, as to how many times I have fallen in love with them. britta sent me a wonderful email last night about how happy she was and that, in addition to listening to the concert made my head swim with joy. Today at work, I listened to U2, full blast, as I painted . . . I almost got emotional, for goodness' sake. I love the music, yes of course, but it also has so many positive associations for me that I will love U2 for the rest of my life. Isn't it hard to imagine life without U2? U2 has accompanied and perpetuated so many emotions in my life this last year that I don't think I could ever separate myself from them.

I hope I get to fall in love again soon, and often.

"it's something else that i swore to keep secret"

I went snowboarding today. I can't believe how terrible I was. Poor Marc. He was a good sport though, and waited for me more than I expected (while I hobbled along, trying to get to an incline to get moving again). I had a grand time, but did not anticipate the grueling physicality of it. I didn't remember it being so tiring. Nor do I recall falling over as much as I did today. There will be brusies. And much soreness. Yessss.

Yes, I had a good time, but I wish I had been faster and enjoyed it more. I want to love snowboarding. I don't go very often, and I think that is a major setback in my quest to garner stellar snowboarding skills . . . or at the very least, intermediate skills.

Snowboarding is based on balance. You and the board . . . the way you glide . . . the way you lean. Balance is something I have not focused on during my lifetime thus far. I can ride a bike just fine (in sub-freezing weather in the middle of the night, no less!), but my balance on a general scale is definitely lacking. When I hiked Timp, I remember that as soon as I got tired, my balance was the first thing to go. I felt like I would fall on my back several times, but luckily never did. I also tripped quite regularly on small things in the pathway, which (among other things) caused Dave to ask several times during the hike, "Are you okay"?

Here's to learning balance. I will have to practice. Now I just need to figure out how.

a bad day turned good (so far)

Today started out very poorly.

At midnight, I was at Provo Theatre Company just getting started on the painting Much Ado About Nothing for the night and I was NOT happy to be there. I was tired. Especially tired of that show.

Around 3am, Doug stopped by and he said he loved that I was there working. He clarified that he loved that there was someone as insane as him, working as hard as he does. It was a compliment that he would compare me to himself. He's pretty much the coolest guy ever.

At 4am or so, he gave me a ride home. I was very grateful.

At 5am, I stopped doing homework and decided to just sleep.

I awoke frantically at 11am, tried to draw some quick thumbnail sketches of a design that I had to do for class. I ended up with two terrible ones and a reasonable one and rushed to class.

Luckily, the other girl in the class didn't even come (I bet she didn't do the assignment either!) so there were no embarassing, "Ugh, mine are SO bad" thoughts. Just, "Wow, I need to sleep more" thoughts. Eric (my professor) and I had some good discussion about Peter Pan which he is designing for Tuacahn and my sketches for Hedda Gabler the show I'm designing for class. We talked about the good sketch I had, Scandinavian stoves, stoves vs. fireplaces, and the character of Hedda Gabler (fascinating woman). All-in-all, a productive class period.

Then came D&C which was fantastic as always.

At 2pm I had my break, went to talk to Doug about what is left for the Much Ado set, and ate some hamburger helper . . . er, lasagna from the box . . . it definitely wasn't brandname, but I love that stuff. Upon talking to Doug and making a "to do" list for Much Ado the anxiety factor for tonight went down several notches. I then called Jessika (my BYU co-worker) to see if she would help me tonight. The answer was yes. I was relieved.

At 3pm, the gauntlet known as Art History 201 and 202 Back to Back began and I am proud to report that I stayed awake the entire time. The ENTIRE time! The classes and the material really are great when I stay awake.

I came home at 6pm, had some dinner, and am trying to research Scandinavian-style Victorian stoves for my Hedda Gabler set.

At 9pm I will be watching Boston Legal which is most enjoyable---especially when Michael J. is on.

At 11pm I will be going back to Provo Theatre and (hopefully) finish the set tonight with Jessika's help. Hurrah!

And if you're awake at 4am tonight (3am Pacific time) think of me . . . jubilantly standing over a finished set and sounding a barbaric yawp of triumph.

Things of Note

1. As I do not have class on Fridays, I just finished my first week of classes.

2. Classes from 3pm-6pm are shaping up to be very detrimental to my GPA. Several of my classes are after 3pm and I have yet to stay awake for the full duration of any of those classes. It doesn't help that my only time to eat during the day is from 2-3pm. Combine being full of food with lack of sleep, a padded chair, and low light, and you get a sleepy Jennifer. Aside from sleeping more at night (which I'm honestly trying to do), I plan to bring some sort of munchy chocolaty something to class. All three of the classes I have during those hours are in the Museum of Art, so we're not supposed to eat. I figure, if I'm careful not to be messy and I don't leave any wrappers or anything, I should be fine. We'll see.

3. Scenic Design 3 is pretty loose. We just have to do our projects and will be presenting them. And it's too bad the busy work out of the books is back. Granted, the books are good ones to know and read . . . but the "journals" we have to do take SO much time.

4. I have been asked by aforementioned professor if I would like to assist him in his design for Tuacahn this summer. Well, not all the kinks are ironed out. There are complications. One of which is the fact that I am designing for BYU and will need to be in Provo for a couple weeks after school ends. So, I need to talk to Kevin, Doug, Eric, and Mike. All my present/potential bosses. We'll see how it goes. So, summer plans have yet again been tossed into the air in frustrated abandon. I may be buying a car this summer if things go well.

5. Guess what I bought? No, you'll never guess, so I'll tell you. I bought a copy of the music from our concert off eBay. I suppose it's classified as bootlegging, but there are very few songs that U2 played that night that I don't already own. It's coming in the mail and I'm pretty much wet-my-pants excited to get it.

6. Oh yeah, and the book I ordered made it to the bookstore. Hallelujah.

7. And, my headphones are definitely on their way out. Sad, but true.

pictures from Christmas Break 2005

Okay, so it's not formatted exactly as I would have liked, but whatever. Maybe I'll fix it later. I'm too tired to try now and I've already spent WAY too long on it. If you want larger copies of any of these, just email me. I have them at 1280x960 on my harddrive.

click me

off to Portland in the snow!
at britta's



killing time downtown before the show
at the Hotcake House
not quite the Montage, but dang awesome anyway






Vertigo!






the morning after at britt's having chips and dip for breakfast















getting ready to head out

listening to the song britta left on her answering machine during the concert

singing along with "Original of the Species"
photos for posterity of britt's bedroom at Reed


driving back to Astoria
Lay it Down, baby






Christmas gifts!
a day downtown

With or Without You LP purchased at Malternative

trying (rather unsuccessfully) to pose like the boys


random pictures in the alley



random pictures of architecture and flooring


an afternoon at la britta's playing cards and the like












a few days later watching The Island at la britta's with Karl













New Year's Eve at la britta's making resolutions for each other






Jessi decided to photograph her resolutions



then Jessi and britta decided to be weird


taking the couch to the dump




hello Millie!
hello Jennifer!

Nothing Changes on New Year's Day

I was going to do a year-in-review-type thing, but I don't think I want to even try to rehash the entire year. Not that I regret it, just that I don't think I could do it justice. Good things happened . . . bad things happened . . . I made good choices . . . I made bad choices . . . It sufficeth me to say I have probably learned more in this year of my life than I have any other year, which is ideal. I have especially learned about myself and my limitations, my weaknesses and my priorities. It was a year to remember, for sure.

2005 = Year of U2

I have plenty of resolutions (some of my own making and some that were given to me) all of which I hope I have the discipline to keep. I plan to buy a desk sometime soon because I think it will help with my organization and maybe help me not to spend so much time on my bed drifting in and out of sleep. And as good as Liz is about not complaining about my messy side of the room, I'm sure she'd be happier if the room was a little more organized and clean.

In other news, last night I was offered a professional design gig. Barefoot in the Park for Provo Theatre. I would get paid to design. And to paint it, I'm sure. I haven't decided whether or not to accept the offer, but if I do, I'll probably end up having to stay in Provo for the bulk of the summer . . . which would be okay. I don't know. I was looking forward to Tuachan or Utah Shakes and a change of scenery. Hahaha . . . no pun intended.