Me. Now.

I am currently listening to Fjogur Piano by Sigur Ros. I love it.

Visited Al a while back. We fed the engineering club, I ripped my pants, we explored the fog, and ate a bunch of cheap Walmart pizzas. It's fun to see Brother, and to see him grow up.

Quick pic for Sister.

Al let me Instagram him.

Cables above,
cables below.

I buzzed my hair and started a February beard.

From top of Tiger Mtn.

A couple weeks ago I went to Seattle with Chelsea and enjoyed visiting Jessi, Tara, and Ryan. I took myself to Tiger Mountain for a solo adventure that included eight miles of walking and 1,600 feet of elevation gain, plus running in the snow with my barefoot shoes on, following some dog tracks that made me imagine a wolf was watching me, being frightened by a flock of crows taking off ahead of me on the trail, and making it down just as darkness began to settle and my hands began to freeze. It was the goodest of adventures. Later, Ryan and I ran and ran back in those woods on those steep forest roads and it was also very good.

Those are barefoot shoes.
Contradictory, I know.

 We also looked at cats and sat on couches. And did many other fun things. Friends are good to have.

Our mugs.

Anthony was just visiting this week and that made life more enjoyable. We celebrated his birthday and made muffins and went on walks and laughed a lot.

I'm blind now, didn't you know?

I learned recently about the Backroad Discovery Routes and now I'd very much like to run the Washington one. It looks gorgeous. It would take much logistical planning, I think, but probably be worth it. Anyone want to ride a motorcycle twenty or so miles a day and carry my stuff?

I can't stand how awesome this Valtari album is. It is making me cry dreams inside.

Three and a half more months here. I think I might finally manage to finish something, even though I tell people I'd be fine if they fired me any time. And sometimes while I'm driving into town or back from a break I imagine just passing the school and continuing on into anywhere. Maybe someday. Maybe June 9. Until then I'm here.

On way back from driving Anthony toward WWU y'day.
I love the snow still.

Inescapable Wait

Sitting on the plane after the Chicago to Phoenix leg, we were stuck waiting for another plane to leave our gate so we could approach. It wasn't a bad thing, necessarily—we were early. But still, it's that mental thing about having to wait for something we didn't deserve.

Next to me was an elderly black gentleman, a very thin one who seemed to have some trouble with mobility. His son, I think, was sitting behind him and they'd share, literally, a word or two now and then. He had the sharpest, heaviest elbows I've ever witnessed. I know, because somehow they'd end up kind of on my arm, kind of in my side, heavier and heavier until I'd finally wriggle out of his hold.

He slept most of the way over, I think, though that's mostly speculation because I slept most of the way over, too. But now we were awake, frightfully bored, and more and more antsitated (antsy + agitated) with every passing minute. I was trying to pass my time with the on flight magazine, and he was putting me into another elbow hold.

And now and then, in between his sniffling and his stiff jacket-removal (with son's and my help), he'd sigh. A kind of weighted, weary sigh. But what I couldn't help but smile about was the choice expression with which he punctuated each heavy sigh.

Slow exhale, easy "Shiiit." Together. Organic. Completely natural.

Son from behind would kind of embarrassingly try to shush him a bit and patiently explain that we had to wait, that we were early. But he stood his ground. Said something about not being able to do anything else, so he'd just keep complaining.

We eventually made it off that plane and on to continue our own journeys, but the old man left me wondering if sometimes, there really isn't a better way of saying things.

The Cinema

I had two cinematic surprises this week that surprised me. Yes, sometimes I watch movies at the theater. So last week we went and watched The Hobbit. And I'm relishing it. Boom. Awesome. Loving it. (*Spoiler alert, be ye hereby warned.) And then the dragon opens its eye.

As if to see my face when the credits rolled. Totally thought it was The Hobbit, period. Didn't realize it was going to be The Hobbit blah la ha la la, then later The Hobbit ha fa la tra da, then finally when my second child is born, The Hobbit frododododo. I guess I should've realized something wasn't right when hour two rolled around and the little dwarves weren't even close to wrapping up their part of the story. And did I ever watched a preview (yes)? Did I ever look anything up about the movie (honestly don't remember, actually)? Well, it should've been obvious.

And then tonight we go in for our annual Les Miserables viewing and I'm excited. Kind of. Not as excited as I was when Wolverine came out, but Huge Jackman was in this one too, and he's my hairy-chested hero of the moving picture, so I thought it might work out all right.

*Another spoiler alert, sort of. The opening scene unfolds and I'm thinking it's pretty rad, right? Burly sailors (okay, they turned out to be slaves), Huge looks fantastic in his Zeus beard and self-shorn locks (like mine!), and I'm always impressed by impressive manpower and teamwork, and they were certainly displaying impressive manpower. Oh, and then he fetched the flag (i.e., tree). Wolverine fo 'eva. Anyway, and then it keeps going and they haven't stopped singing. I'm beginning to worry. I expressed some concern to the sister, but not very heartily. And then a couple minutes later I had to concede: the singing was there to stay. Wow. Totally didn't realize that it was a musical. I know, idiot. My sister already had her laughs. I guess I didn't go into that one well-prepared either. And I'm quite sure I watched a preview for it, too. Needless to say it wasn't quite as enjoyable from then on, seeing as I didn't think I was at that kind of theater. But it was still a quality production, in my opinion, and certainly a story worth being reminded of.

So there you have it. My two cinematic surprises of the week. Happy New Year's Eve to all, and to all a good night.