Juno

As is apparent by the publicity photo below, I have recently viewed the movie 'juno.' Normally
I'm not one to comment about a movie beyond the customary nod of approval or disdain upon exiting the theater; or in some random "what'd you do last night"conversation the ensuing day, but I'm going outside my comfort zone on this one. This lil' guy right here took me by surprise...not having any expectations beyond knowing that it had won some film festival and that the guy from 'Superbad' was in it; it was just another film that took up some space in the seemlingly random sequence of thoughts that run through my head. Going to see a movie like this was a crap-shoot, one that could leave a bad taste in my mouth, but it had credentials, so I felt confident.

It was funny, well-written, had a unique soundtrack, was well acted and overall was a great movie where everyone in it, I felt, contributed something to the overall 'greatness.' Now I can say with complete confidence that I'll pretty much like anything in movie form--I'm a movie person. But it's rare that I will enjoy something so much that it gives me cause to write about it.

Juno is a good movie. Go see it--it's worth the ridiculous ticket price.

Snow Daze

I remember waking up early in the morning on days when I knew snow was to fall the night before in the hopes that when I looked out the window, I would see a world transformed by clouds of fluffy whiteness. On the days the snow actually delivered on it's end of the bargin and draped the trees like a mink fur, I would pray to find my school on the ticker across the bottom of the TV screen telling me that my day would not be run by those authoritarians at school but by my endless reseviour of energy and whatever my imagination could muster.

Well today was one of those days; granted I'm no longer checking school listings, but the feeling of waking to a wonderland of whiteness where giant, sparkling flakes stack up showing you just how much fell, is the same. It was a snow day in Aspen, CO...and it was a beautiful one for gnar shredding where screams of joy were stifled by a constant stream of powder being thrown in your face because your waist-deep in Colorado gold. I could say more but...just let me tell you--it was a good day.

I am a happy man.

Peru

Won’t lie…I feel like garbage…normally I don’t get sick, but here I am, typing away, lost in a haze of mindless TV; periodically going through coughing spasms that I imagine to be quite funny to outside observers, but in actuality are so very painful. On the upside, it gives me a chance to reflect on the past couple months, where I got the chance to devote my time and energy to something that makes sense to me. After so long of not knowing and being unsure about everything, feeling like I’m aimlessly drifting from point-to-point, passing time…to again, have the opportunity to go and do something that I believe in, to do something that gives me purpose was scary and fulfilling. It’s scary because floating is easier then working towards a goal, because once you have an objective—once you have something tangible to work towards—all the sudden, failure is possible; and no one likes to fail. And it’s not like I plan on saving the world (although that would be pretty ok with me), I just enjoy the feeling I get from being able to experience something new and different while being able to give something back, it’s kinda selfish really.

Anywho…Peru. On August 15^th 2007 an earthquake of debatable magnitude and duration, depending on whom you’re talking to, struck the west coast of Peru, with its epicenter near the port town of Pisco. Thousands of Peruavans had their lives shaken to pieces, 500 of them died and 35,000 homes were destroyed. Once I found out that my favorite disaster relief organization, Hands on Disaster Relief (http://www.hodr.org/) was deploying, I immediately made plans to spend my “off season” volunteering. When people ask me how it was, saying it was amazing or that it was a truly rewarding experience doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. While true, I feel like it trivializes not only what happened but my experience as well, and not in a: ‘mighter then thou’ kinda way but in a: ‘words fail to express the overwhelmingness (yes, it’s a word) of the experience, and anything I say pales in comparison to actually being there and being a part of their re-construction.’ Whether it was clearing rubble in Pisco, so that families could build a temporary structure, playing with kids at a refugee camp who’ve had their lives turned upside down, building an irrigation channel in the rural village of Concon so that families could continue growing their crops, delivering aid to an extremely rural village 7+ hours up in the Andean foothills, where traditional dress is the norm and dinner was cooked on the side of the road, or building temporary classrooms and having them filled with Children a day after we completed them. That was how I spent two months, two months of embarrassing miscommunication, incredible food given as a gesture of thanks, and a constant shock at how families preserve under the greatest duress. I think it’s rather ironic that after being there I return to Aspen, one of the more affluent areas in the U.S, where packs of feral dogs don’t own the streets at night and the wind doesn’t carry a hint of sewage, where you won’t hear Reggaeton or Salsa music blasting from cars or street corner tiendas, where your safety isn’t questioned as you walk the streets at night, or have a woman breakdown as you clear away the material possessions she’s spent a lifetime amassing, in a home where she raised her family only to have her turnaround and ask us to eat with her as a way of thanking us. To do so much with so little as the vast majority of Peruvians do is both incredible and shaming at the same time. I am thankful for having had the opportunity to spend the time that I did with the communities in Peru, as it has reinforced in me a desire to go forth and see beyond my everyday and look to world for opportunities to help…cheesy, but true.

For someone who thought words would fail him, I’ve seemed to manage a couple on the subject…but I’m serious; my jigsaw recounting doesn’t do it justice. I’ve posted a ridiculous amount of photos here http://www.kodakgallery.com/, and it should be known that I may have taken one or two but that the majority has come from me poaching the photos of people who actually have an eye for that sort of thing. I suck with the camera. So yeah, Peru…it was bitchin’ and I’m sure I’ll post another blog or two on the subject…but for now, that’s all I got.