So, I can’t seem to muster the mental energy lately to write a fully-formed, well reasoned blog post.  Of course, most people would probably argue that I’ve never written one of those before in my life…but that’s another topic.  So, it’s time for another random thoughts edition of One Off.

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Sad.  Sad, Sad, Sad.  Epic Sad.  Summer is over.  To Wit:

This makes me sad.  Our summer was so short this year.  And rumor has it that we’re in for another very wet winter.  The lawn outside my apartment is already a mud bog, and it’s only been raining for a week or so.  I, at least, hope that we get some snow this year around Christmas time.

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Speaking of Christmas time, it’s been cold and rainy lately, and every time the weather changes like that, it makes me want to start decorating for Christmas.  I know, I know.  It’s only September.  And I may not be able to control my impulses when it comes to money, but I will refrain from decorating for Christmas until November.  I may not have a lot of self control, but I think I can manage that.  I bought my ticket home last week, and got my time off approved, so I will be down in Utah this year again.  I will be home for almost a full week this time, so I might actually have some time to meet up with friends while I’m there.  Especially if you’re available during the day time during the weeks.

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I seem to be running into a lot of people lately who are capable of hearing only what they want to hear, and not what I actually say.  If I say, "Once we start the project, it will take a minimum of three weeks to complete," the person to whom I am talking will hear, "The project will be done in three weeks."  If I say, "We don’t do physical distribution of audiobooks, we only do digital distribution," the person to whom I am speaking will hear, "We do both physical and digital distribution."  Did I all of a sudden (or is it "all of THE sudden?") lose my ability to communicate clearly?  Did I ever have that ability?

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I’m completely sickened by the jackholes in Florida who are planning a book burning of the Koran (Quran?) this weekend.  I’m so, so, so tired of ignorant people making offensive decisions without at least trying to understand what it is they are fighting against.  Sure.  We’ll burn the Koran because some terrorists are Islamic, but we’ve never actually read the book, so we don’t know for sure what it teaches.  Of course, some terrorists are Catholic, but we won’t burn the Bible, because those Catholic terrorists don’t reflect the point of view of all Catholics.  All of the hatred, ignorance, and anger that resonates amongst people has really started to affect me lately.  I just wish we lived in a world where those who are religious wouldn’t use their religion as an excuse to stay ignorant of the world and the people in it.  It’s possible to be religious and still be enlightened and aware of the greater picture. 

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I’ve been feeling a little bit of…what’s the word…homesickness, I guess, for my old classmates and life at BYU.  I never felt like I fit in all that much with the MDT kids (despite my trying desperately), but they were a really fun group of people most of the time.  In the last few weeks, I’ve been mentally reliving the "breakthroughs" that I had when I was in school.  Landing a supporting lead in a mainstage play the first week of school as a freshman, the first time I got really good scores on my acting proficiencies, the time in my first acting class when I made the class laugh doing an exercise when we were only able to speak in gibberish, doing The Fantasticks with Korianne and learning, for the first time, what it meant to have a fully two-way relationship with your acting partner.  Choreographing a dance piece based on MacBeth with Nicole that the teacher still remembers eight years later.  Taking coaching with Dave.  Ballet with Richie.  As difficult as the MDT program was (and, as worthless as the degree is in the "real" world), there were a lot of good times.  I miss that.

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I also miss some of my old former friends.  I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life when it comes to my relationships with my friends.  I’ve lately been wishing that I could undo what I did and go back to the way things were.  We’ve all moved on in our lives, and a reconciliation isn’t really likely (and perhaps not even recommended) but I still miss having those friendships more readily available.

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On a more upbeat note, my dog is apparently part squirrel.  The acorns have started falling off the oak trees here at my apartment complex.  He likes to pick up the whole acorns (he won’t touch the ones that are cracked open) and carry them back to the apartment.  Then he deposits them in a pile under the dining room table.  He doesn’t chew them, he just carries and collects them, like he’s preparing for winter.  It’s really strange.

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I have two new neighbors who moved in a month ago who happen to be brothers of one of the guys I went to school with in the MDT program.  They’re really cool guys, but they’re both built like brick walls, and always find ways to go around without their shirts on.  (Let’s be honest…if I had a body like that, I would too.)  My neighbors exacerbate my body image issues. 

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And lastly, here’s another photo from my photowalk on Labor Day

This is the underside of an old, abandoned train trestle over the Sammamish river.  The slats across the top are actually the railroad ties.