Humanity at its Finest

This week has been incredibly weird.

Kimi (my sister) and I got a phone call early Thursday morning from our youngest sister Ashlee telling us that a young man Kimi's age had been killed in a car accident on Wednesday night. I am good friends with his older brother, and their family had lived in my parents' ward until about six months ago, so the news was hard and quite a shock.

It didn't really help that the story was plastered all over the news: two young men killed in a car accident when two young criminals ran from police, and subsequently ran a red light, T-boning the car with Derek and his friend in it. It was a rough day.

Today was the funeral. It was amazing, really. The family was holding up as well as, if not better than, can be expected. But I guess that's one of the great blessings of knowing that God lives and is in control of our lives. And knowing that when people are taken from this earth, we can see them again. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a miraculous thing.

I was taken today, as my sisters got up with this year's and last year's Tapestry choir and sang the song "For Good" from Wicked, to a place of deep reflection on my gratitude for the people who have blessed my life. Whether they brushed past in mere moments, came for a few years, or have stuck (and continue to stick) with me for the long haul, each and every person regardless of whether their appearance in my life was happy, sad, momentous, or momentary has made me into the person I am today. And for that, I am deeply grateful. 

I also realized that the people I love need to know it. And hopefully they do. 

Ode to Kamie

So one of my favorite people in the world came over last night and shared with me a song she wrote. It was along the lines of what's popular right now... folky, acoustic, tells an actual story instead of a gush of angry/romantic/"insert your particular strong emotion here" lyrics. And it was really good!

It made me think that I should probably pick up my guitar more often. Not that I'm an aspiring singer/songwriter like Kamie, but I do enjoy it; and singing, playing, and composing give me immense personal satisfaction.

So I'm revamping my goal of playing the guitar... and actually getting back into it. Although it may only stick until my next film gig comes along :)

Technology!

Hey! So I'm becoming really high tech, and I can now post to my blog from my phone. Rock on! Here are a couple photos I took on the set of "Snowmen."

The Things We Call "Children's Movies"

Well folks, I guess this is the moment that I make the world-wide, and rather loud declaration regarding the farce that is the Disney movie. Now, don't get me wrong, I've known for a long time that there are a lot of truly...well I was going to use the word heinous, but I think that's a little strong... There are a lot of undesirable things in Disney movies, as is the case with most media in general, but Disney somehow managed to convince the general population that they were the last word in children's and family entertainment.

Last night I watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

NOTE TO PEEPS: NOT A CHILDREN'S MOVIE!!!

Yeah, the little gargoyles are funny, and there are definitely moments where it's aimed at kids... like when the old guy gets released from his current incarcerated state and he wobbles around saying, "I'm free! I'm free!" until moments later when he somehow finds himself entrapped again and yells, "Dang it!" It's slapstick, and it's funny... but the rest of the movie! Not so much!

I could go on and rant for a good portion of this page, but I will refrain :)

On another note, I really like Hunchback, despite the less-than-stellar character animation. (Though the backgrounds are spectacular!)

So don't let the fools at Disney kid you... haha... There's still monitoring and censoring to be had despite... or maybe in spite of... a brand name!

How to...Feel Like You've Been in a Car Accident Without Really Being in One

Snowboard. Seriously. For the first time. And fall down. A lot. And go down runs that are harder than anything you've done that day at the end of the day, because the guy who got you into the whole craziness in the first place and helped you purchase your snowboard pushed you to do it, despite my cries that I was going to die pretty much the whole way down. (Thanks, Brendan! You're a sport, and yes, it was the best run of the day!)

On Monday I went snowboarding for the first time, and it was insane! I loved it! I face planted a good number of times, fell down twenty times more than that. Though the best one was when I tumbled over my snowboard twice, heard some kind of bone creak, and I thought crack, and laughed as I realized that there's nothing to do except get up again and get down the mountain!

It was a rush. You know, I'm not a huge dare-devil when it comes to thrill-seeking sports, but this one, I think I can definitely get into. And it will be awesome.

Now, on the downside...I woke up on Tuesday morning and couldn't lift my head off my pillow. It was funny. Really funny. And then once I finally got my head up, I realized that my shoulders, abs, and back were quite opposed to getting up. So I laid there for a while until I finally got over it and made myself get out of bed. Man it hurt so good.

And I didn't even take any pictures. How lame am I?

Maybe I'll get some next time I go during the day...