Havyn vs The Bear

Really wasn't much of a fight. Havyn got an early jump with a chokehold and slowly rendered the bear into submission. She had this eerie smile the whole time, like she enjoyed destroying the bear. Well, to be honest, the bear had it coming; he'd muddled something under his breath about her wearing a boy's shirt. And She flat out didn't like that. After it was over she stuck her fist in her mouth for a victory blood-lap, all the while snapping the bear's spinal cord with her other hand. While I was documenting this moment she looked at me with this you're-next cold stare. I got goose bumps. I better watch my back; I mean, you saw what she did to that bear. She's quite a fighter really. I just hope she can channel that aggression on the softball field.

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

I've got the 'poor me' blues; and the chorus--which endlessly pings the walls of my noggin--has more staying power than any childhood incy-wincy-twinkle-tune. I've even tried listening to the Best of the Bee Gees; you know, counter attack, fight fire with fire, but all that's done is heightened the octave of which the 'poor me' blues now pings. Now I feel like the bastard child of Maurice Gibbs and B.B. King. I just hope I don't get diabetes.

The source of my blues stems from not knowing what the hell I should do with my life; well, that and the fact that I just stubbed my toe for the second time tonight. I'm done with school (one more class to go) and yet I'm as lost now as I was when I started. I'm so lost I'm even contemplating law enforcement. The thing that really gets me, is how easy it seems to fit together for everyone else. I hear Ricky knew what he wanted to be just after his birth when he showed the doctor how to stitch up his own level-three tear. Jake was hammering things before he could walk and Kenny, well let's just say Kenny should have been born in Kansas 100 years ago. Cook is to sales what Ahmin is to Logan's Heros and Danny's about as civil engineerish as one can be (take that any way you want to.) I knew Josh was going to be a lawyer when I first met him; since then he's made me proud by arguing everything that's ever come out of my mouth. The other five, Nick, Brad, Nate, Seth and Jordan have all either wanted to go into teeth or medicine, and nothing else from what I recall. And then there's me, who once wanted nothing more than to deliver the mail. I've also thought about nursing, counseling, teaching, writing, film making and stripping (which I know would be very lucrative for someone with a body like mine.)

But here I sit, thinking about starting all over after 4 years of journalism and go pre-med (mainly because everyone else is doing it. I was always a sucker for peer pressure).

Why Am I so fickle? Why can't I just make a decision and stick to it? I feel like Holden Caulfield and the main character from Office Space. If I could do anything in the whole world I would do NOTHING. And I would do Nothing all day long and be perfectly content. Now to figure out a way to get paid for it.

Back in the CV

Hey folks. It's been too long since I had a chance to catch up with most of you. Where to begin? Last August I married my favorite classmate Maybell. Then I tricked her (twice now, if you count the marriage) into leaving the warm California sun behind and starting our careers in Logan. We just pulled into the valley yesterday and are starting to unpack our things. We'll be in SLC until the end of July studying for the Bar, then starting our law practices here in August. Then we start paying off our student loans. For the next twenty years or so. I've started a trust fund at the bank and Jack has given me his solemn promise to contribute all the proceeds from his book to our student loan fund. So go buy the book!!! Anyway, hope everybody is doing well and we'd love to hear from you.

Graduation

Well Brad finally did it. It took 5 long years but he successfully graduated with a Bachelors degree in Science. He majored in Industrial Hygiene with an emphasis in Public Health.

We are now in Tucson Arizona. Today was Brad's first day on the job. He is in training right now and will officially start work next week. The weather here is incredibly HOT! It is going to take me a while to get used to it.

The one good thing about our apartment is that we live right across the street from Hollywood video. Our neighobors are quite interesting they are either Mexican or disabled. Yesterday we had quite the experience with some of younger neighbors. While trying to do our laundry a nine year old mexican started to beat up Brad because he wanted to be my girlfriend. It was funny at first until he really started to punch Brad.

Hope your summer has lots of adventures and keep in touch.

Best Films of 2005

2005 was a good year for film and a good year for film makers. The great auteur's, namely Ingmar Bergman, Terrence Mallick, Steven Speilberg, Woody Allen and David Cronenberg slapped the silverscreen with back-to-form cinema sweetness(with the movies Saraband, The New World, Munich, Match Point and A History of Violence respectively). Peter Jackson shredded all doubt by surpassing post Lord of the Rings expectations with King Kong. And, the irresistible indie genre saw its fair share of low-budget but on-the-money bull's-eyes. The Academy nominated 5 limited released, box-office light weights for best picture and the under appreciated Crash-- a film released 6 months before its oscar nominated counterparts-- baffled those in the Brokeback Mountain camp by stealing their "sure thing," golden boy statuette right from under their cowboy hats. It was a good year for film in deed. My picks for the top 10 of 2005:

10)Devil's Rejects
9)Nine Lives
8)Crash
7)The squid and the whale
6)Palindromes
5)A History of Violence
4)King Kong
3)Junebug
2)Munich
1)Shopgirl


Honorable Mentions: Hustle and Flow, Layer Cake, Sin City, Match Point, Saraband, Rize, Murderball, Good Night and Good Luck, Mysterious Skin, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Anhders

Hello from Idaho. We hope you like the picture of our growing family. Brownie the calf joined us this spring. His hutch sits in our front yard because we got tired of waiting to find a home with a pasture. Despite our rural setting, we still get some pretty wierd looks from cars that drive by and see a calf in the front yard. Luckily our landlord is very easy-going. If you look close you will also see the bump that is to be our litle boy due in May. Our little girl just turned 2 and lately her favorite thing to do is put on her big rubber boots and jump into the calf's pen-- her dad is so proud. We just bought 5 acres and are getting ready to build a home. We hope to do a lot of the work ourselves, so it will be a very busy summer. We're looking forward to hearing from everyone.

Moving to Arizona

Well I thought I would try and write our first blog to try and keep Jack happy. Next week Brad and I will be driving 12-14 hrs to our new home in Tucson Arizona. I'm told that I'm in for one long hot summer. Brad got a job with Phelps Dodge a minning company where he will be doing the health and safety for the employees. It will be an exciting and new adventure for us, because it looks like it is going to be a permanent thing. So I hope people will use this site to keep us updated with what is going on in Logan. Wish us luck!

Silly Rascals, Blogs Are For Posting

Hey you nitwitted nittwitters, post away. I want to see some pics. I want to see what a mini Ricky Gardner in pink looks like and a farm-loving Cleat. I want to see Philedelphia Cook, the California Chambers, the Cherry-Buck-eyes and all you Pre Med Study sluts. Most importantly, I want to see pics of Brad's sweaty face working in the Tucson mine and Danny, Mr. 'I coined the slack A' phrase Macfarlene and his fam. In the meantime you'll have to put up with my overly-zealous proud-pappy phase. And Jon, you better upload stories about Europe by the truck-load.

My Favorite 'Unconventional' Movie Monologue Blips

Mark Borchardt and Uncle Bill in American Movie

"Last night, man, I was so drunk, I was calling Morocco, man. Trying to get to the Hotel Hilton at Tangiers in Casablanca, man. That's pathetic, man. Is that what you wanna do with your life? Suck down peppermint schnapps and try to call Morocco at 2:00 in the morning? That's senseless. But that's what happens, man."

"I was called to the bathroom at the cemetery to take care of something. I walked in the bathroom, and in the middle toilet right there... somebody didn't shit in the toilet, somebody shat on the toilet. They shat on the wall, they shat on the floor. I had to clean it up, man, but before that, for about 10 to 15 seconds man, I just stared at somebody's shit, man. To be totally honest with you, man, it was a really, really profound moment. Cuz I was thinkin', "I'm 30 years old, and in about 10 seconds I gotta start cleaning up somebody's shit, man."

Mel Brooks' The Producers

"Bloom, I'm drowning. Other men sail through life, but I’ve struck a reef. Bloom, I'm going under. I'm condemned by a society that demands success when all I can offer is failure. Bloom, I'm reaching out to you. Don't send me to prison... HEEELLP!"

David Byrne of The Talking Heads in True Stories

"I really enjoy forgetting. When I first come to a place, I notice all the little details. I notice the way the sky looks. The color of white paper. The way people walk. Doorknobs. Everything. Then I get used to the place and I don't notice those things anymore. So only by forgetting can I see the place again as it really is."

"I have something to say about the difference between American and European cities. But I've forgotten what it is. I have it written down at home though."

Amy Adams in Junebug

"I don't want your water breaking. We just had the upholstery cleaned."

"Where would I be if I was a screwdriver?"

Office Space

"Good evening Sir, my name is Steve. I come from a rough area. I used to be addicted to crack but now I am off it and trying to stay clean. That is why I am selling magazine subscriptions."

Celebrating life Through Tragedy

As a parent one can't help think about what 'could' happen. Tragic anecdotes of impromptu fatal child accidents fill you with mass dumpings of fear and anxiety. Sometimes over-protectedness streamlines a semi-caustious eye into an ever-anticipating accident-preventive parental nut. A feather-soft bonk on the head becomes 911 trauma-rama; and a sniffly nose becomes a symptom for the plague of death.

But when these terrible accidents do happen, I'd like to think I'd be able to handle it the way Wesley's parents did. Wesley died in a freak accident. It was nobody's fault. His bicycle helmet got caught on a swing chain while playing on his playground in his fenced-in backyard. The chin strap strangled him.

His obit celebrates his short life:

Even as an infant, on Sunday mornings, his mommy and daddy and sissy taught him to dance in a little cottage on Imperial street. In the years he traversed this earth, he continued to dance with a rhythm in his steps and a song in his heart...

Wesley went to Disneyland for the first time in his life this past Christmas, where he waved at Santa Claus and napped on his dad's lap in the ice cream parlor in between fun. It was on this vacation where Wesley first placed his little toes in the ocean near Diver's cove in Laguna Beach. He said: "Dad CAN-I-FORNIA is the best trip I've ever been on."

Wesley was also introduced to skiing for the first time this year. He loved every minute on the snow with his mom, sissy and very special friends.

Wesley was a student at the Jewish Community Center early child development program and was loved by his teachers.

To parents, his father incites:

We ask that all who read this hold your children a little tighter tonight. Give them their dreams. Look them in the eyes every day and tell them you love them.

I work with Wesley's Aunt Jill. Jill's 2-and-a-half-year-old son Logan wants to know what's wrong with Wesley. "How come Wesley's not here?" Logan asked at the funeral. The two boys and another cousin were best buddies and known within the family as the three amigos. "I'll be batman and Wesley will be Spiderman when he comes over," Logan says. Logan, although appropiately told by his parents about what happened with Wesley doesn't understand. "Oh, you mean he got hurt, I'll make him better," Logan says. Jill, the usual personification of giddy positivity feels burdened by relating --in comprehendible two-year-old fashion-- the truth about Wesley.

Variants of pressure live abundantly in the lives of parents. Stress can steal sleepy time and sufficate daylight hours. It can peruse the mind even during nonchalant moments and lead to excessive worry and rumination. It can but it doesn't have to. Unfortantetly, accidents happen. In the meantime celebrate living.