When surveying flood damage gets out of hand.

I was just awakened by the Pleasant Grove Police Department inquiring as to the whereabouts of my roommate.

Then his Mom called to grill me on everything I know, which is very little.

He has been gone all night.

I am very tired and grouchy.

Cinema et moi.

Several movies I've seen lately:

1. Star Wars Episode III - Awesome. That's all I have to say about this movie. That...and I'm going to be Yoda when I grow up. His humble, all-knowing demeanor that can turn into some very purposeful kick-ass action in a split second...man. Yoda is the character I think of when I'm trying to conjour up some wisdom and patience that is not my own. This movie was definitely the best movie of the latest three, if not all of them. The others were mostly pretty scenery and cool special effects. Episode III had all of that, but also a much more focused plot and loads of revealed mysteries.

2. Kinsey - Very insightful movie about sex, err...a guy who studied sex. I trust that most people who read this blog will be familiar with Kinsey. If you don't know who he is, get a hold of me. We need to talk.
The first part of the movie sort of deals with how sex is this natural urge that needs to be satisfied, and then the second part deals more with the hurt and anguish that comes from infidelity and a lack of self-restraint. This all builds up to an ending where everything is reconciled very nicely. I have to say I think I completely agree with this movie's very fair and balanced take on sexuality. There was a bit of naughtiness in it, but the more risque scenes were purposefully and artfully done, so if you're okay with that, check it out. An excellent movie

3. Memento - A movie about a man with no short term memory who is bent on vengeance. Disturbing, but brilliant! One of those movies that makes it hard to sleep that night, in the same kind of way as Requiem for a Dream if you've ever seen that. Except less intense than Requiem. I think I would like to know the person who made this film. He has to be some kind of twisted, psychotic genius.

4. Hotel Rwanda - The true story of a hotel manager in Rwanda during the genocide there in the early 90's. Thought provoking and moving. This movie strengthened my resolve to join the Peace Corps. If you watch this movie, you will walk away feeling like you should change the world somehow, even if only for a few moments.

I think we all need to watch more movies.

Sometimes.

Sometimes I can't figure out why I can't figure anything out. And then I remember that I'm still the 18 year-old.

I've been thinking about some things lately that have coincidentally been the subject matter of things I have read or stumbled across on a Yahoo group I am part of. (Not quotes from people on the group, that is against the rules, but rather quotes that other people have included in their posts.) And of course they are much better put this way than they could have been had I written them.

“As I came home through the woods with my string of fish, trailing my pole, it being now quite dark, I caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across my path, and felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw; not that I was hungry then, except for that wildness which he represented. Once or twice, however, while I lived at the pond, I found myself ranging the woods, like a half-starved hound, with a strange abandonment, seeking some kind of venison which I might devour, and no morsel could have been too savage for me. The wildest scenes had become unaccountably familiar. I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or as it is named, spiritual life, as do most men, and another toward a primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence them both. I love the wild not less than the good.”

H. D. Thoreau.
Walden

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it in tact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements;lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken;it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable."

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

"Jesus did not condone; he declined to condemn; but he sent the sinner away with a solemn adjuration to a better life."

Talmage, Jesus the Christ

Up until 6 AM again, a great time to be awake.

Last night Smurf and I had the longest conversation. It was one of the most fascinating conversations I have had in a very long time. We broke out the dry-erase markers and scribbled all over the giant white-board in my kitchen. We stayed up until 6 AM talking about triangles, colors, people, the gospel, etc. I now have a full triangles reference on my kitchen white-board, with examples of every color type from movies, cartoons, and people we know. I mildly understand all of this color stuff now.
I can rarely connect to my friends in the way that I can connect with Smurf. We tend to understand each other. We are different, but very much the same. Our conversation last night was especially great after spending an entire day with my family. I love my family dearly, but for the most part I can't be open with them, and so there is a large gap in their understanding of me.
As a kid I sometimes wished I had a machine that could transfer my thoughts directly from my brain to the brain of another person, so that my ideas wouldn't get all muddled up in my words. Smurf and I have one of those machines between us. Through triangles, we have determined that when we are together or in a group, he is the Hobbes to my Calvin. It's very true. Life would be very boring and much harder to sort out without him.