From my darling Fiancee.. (seriously!)

MARITAL FINANCES
She told me we couldn't afford beer anymore and I'd have to quit. Then I discovered her spending $65.00 on makeup. I asked how come I had to give up stuff and she didn't. She said she needed the make-up to look pretty for me. I told her that was what the beer was for. The conversation went downhill after that.

**edit: This is not an ACTUAL conversation that i had with my fiancee, but a joke that she forwarded to me via email last week. Sorry for the confusion, and also for getting yelled at last night over the phone. :)

Moving Update

Newsflash - I am renting a truck on Friday morning and will be moving the remainder of my belongings down to the Fort that day. I shall then have to return to Cheyenne that night to give the truck back and hang out with some highschoolers, but then return on Saturday morning to commence painting.

If ANYONE wants to lend a hand, feel free to be by either day and i would simply love you for it, and most likely feed you as well. even though quality time spent with me should really be thanks enough. riiight.

Your Attention Please

In celebration of the Memorial Day holiday, i am planning on spending my four day weekend down at the new house painting walls and moving furniture. This will be from Thurs-Mon, and any and all who want to visit and/or help are more than welcome. I will gladly feed anyone who wants to come by.

Also on that note, I think i will be renting a truck this week to bring the last of my big stuff down to the fort (bookshelves, table, dresser, bed) and begin sleeping there like i actually live there. creepy. But, as for other needs that i have besides company and encouragement, does anyone have access to a Dolly or Ladder that they wouldn't mind letting me borrow for a bit? I have to move the fridge and oven... and get myself up to the top of the ceiling somehow. hmmm...

The Davinci Code

Dan Brown's screenplay, er, novel comes out in the theatres today, and uh, well, who cares.

I've seen sermons and placards all over the place about 'breaking the code', and to be honest i would much rather engage in a conversation on how such a poorly written book can honestly sell so well, heresey or not.

*chuckle.

***Edit: Apparently, according to Slate the movie isn't very good at all, but i enjoyed their speculation of the answer to my already mentioned question:

"My best guess is that the book's success has to do with its timing: Beset by faceless enemies and engaged in endless wars, perhaps we need the comforting certainty of the occult."

United 93

I found myself at the movie theatre on a Friday night yesterday, and amidst the throngs of cheyenne teenagers that have nowhere else to go on a friday night besides the mall, i ended up securing a good seat to witness one of the more controversial films of the year in United 93.

If i had one word to describe this film, it would be thus: stomachachey.


This was not something easy to watch. Much like many people i have spoken to described their experience watching the Passion of the Christ, this film carried through it's entirety a ridiculous amount of foreboding dread. Worse than other disaster films, and even worse that Mel Gibson's epic -- because not only did this actually happen, it happened a near five years ago. And the whole thing was sickeningly familiar.

The filmakers did a wonderful job to not really discredit any faith of any kind, but really presented the film (which, technically, was a work of fiction) almost as a documentary. You learn no names, there are no plot arcs, and there really is no prescribed dialouge. The actors in the film did an amazing job protraying what we all felt on that day, though on a much higher, more intense level. It was all i could do to sit and simply watch this film as it went along without constantly questioning myself on what i would do if i found myself in that situation.

One of my favorite parts, though, was small section near the end of the film before the passengers of the plane began to rush the hijackers. The camera went from passenger to passenger, with intermitten shots of the hijackers themselves, praying to their God. Saying the Lords prayer, or facing the sun with palms up, it was incredibly striking to me how these human beings were invoking their God as they knew something awful was certainly ahead for them. To be honest, i can't seem to shake the image.

And my last comment is about how bravely and honestly this film protrayed what occured that day, probably most honestly in how unprepared we were as a nation to handle such a situation. And how awfully the military (ok, the air force) was prepared to defend our shores in the air. The way the movie was filmed was a pretty good metaphor for the climate of the whole country's response: jumpy, unfocused, shaky and hard to follow. To be honest, it made me recognise why so much of the sentiment for passing the patriot act and begining the Noble Eagle flight patterns happened -- because we obviously needed to do something. In that vein, i was also quite taken by the fact that so many people from the air control centers agreed to play themselves in the film, miscues and all. quite remarkable.

In the end, this is one of those films that is very hard to watch, but on the whole very well and respectfully made. No words really left me about it until this morning, when i felt enough time had passed before i wouldn't be disrepecting the memory of those who bravely died that day. Events such as these simply confound and exasperate me, and simply makes my prayers for the Lord to come back sooner than later stronger than they were the day before.

Postmark: Santa Cruz

Dear Doug,

You may be contacted by the law of Canuck, Togue and Chesterfield. After receiving the devestating news that you weren't coming out to San Francisco, I found myself at the Moose Lounge, sobbing over a Molson's. The Moose Lounge is a wonderful place - a club for canadians living in the Bay Area.

Back to me sobbing over a molson's. My drinking buddy happened to be a lawyer for the aforementioned Canuck, Togue and Chesterfield. Apparently, there is a clause in the Canadian Constitution that when a Canadian, such as myself, suffers emotional trauma, such as I am suffering, the law firm of Canuck, Togue and Chesterfield is bound by law to sue the American who, either willfully or inadvertently, caused such suffering.

I begged the law firm of Canuck, Togue and Chesterfield not to file suit. But I am not sure my pleas will be heeded. Know that, should this come to trial, I'll be a character witness on your behalf, pleading the court to extend mercy to you upon sentencing.

Love,

Bob


**disclaimer - I almost was sent on a business trip to the bay area last week only to have it fall apart the next day, causing a pair of phone calls to my friend Bob each day. I received this in the mail the following week. I love Bob.

Break out the winter coat

Well, i have a few things that i have been meaning to get off of my chest -

climbing is still fun.


and painful.









Go to the new Wedding Blog here: www.dougandliz.blogspot.com

I have a soccer game to attend to now, in the wonderful and fresh May Wyoming ... snow.

i gotta move.