Zingers

I am such a sucker for well made movies. Not only do I like to watch them for the great cinematography, superb acting, or intriguing storyline - I love to glean movies for great one-liners. You gotta love those movies you can just quote over an over again and they never get old. Like: "Get that corn outta my face!" -Nacho Libre. Or Lucy: "You called everyone but Slurpee Heaven!" George: "That is not true. I did call Slurpee Heaven. They didn't want you. Heard you had attitude. Said you weren't 'Slurpee' material." - Two Weeks Notice Or one of my favorites: "Ray! Ray! You're chanting! Hey, once they get in here, [points to Ray's head] Its over pal." -The Burbs

Along with all the funny quotes, I love the ones that kind of catch you off guard- as if they were written just for you and your current circumstances in life. Recently while watching You've Got Mail a few lines in there just grabbed me. Even though I had seen this movie several times, this particular scene seemed just perfect to how I felt. I could completely identify perfectly with Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan):

Joe Fox: [talking via email, to who he doesn’t know is Kathleen Kelly] Have you ever become the worst version of yourself. That a pandora's box of all the hateful things, your spite, your arrogance, your condecension has sprung open? Someone upsets you and instead of smiling and walking away... you zing them. "Hello it's Mr Nasty". I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about...
Kathleen Kelly: [talking via email, to who she doesn’t know is Joe Fox] No I know exactly what you mean and I'm completely jealous. When I'm confronted by someone I get tongue tied and my mind goes blank. Then I spend the rest of the night tossing and turning over what i should have said. For example what should I have recently said to…
[meaning confrontation with Joe]
Kathleen Kelly: …a bottom dweller who recently belittled my existance.
[stops and thinks]
Kathleen Kelly: Nothing... even now days later I still can't figured it out...
Joe Fox: Wouldn’t it be great if I could pass all my zingers to you, then I could always be nice and you could be nasty whenever you wanted to be. Although I must warn you... when you eventually have the pleasure of saying the thing you want to say at the moment you’re wanting to say it... remorse eventually follows...

Like many of you, I have a couple people in my life that seem to evoke frustration or disappointment on a regular basis. Even if they have blatantly been inconsiderate or insensitive to my feelings, I am completely incapable of putting them in their place. I will just wallow in exasperation until I come up with all these "zingers" and imagine how the conversation should have gone: me triumphant with an eloquent scolding. But alas, every conflict ends up the same way: I end up venting to my husband (unless he's the offender), writing in my journal about it, or just treating the person as if nothing happened. *sigh* My husband on the other hand has no qualms in saying it like it is. Even though at times it can be embarrassing that he is so candid with people, I am completely envious of this attribute. Can anyone else relate? Maybe that's why we are so complimentary to each other. He helps me to become more assertive, and I try to gently encourage him to hold his tongue when it could do more harm than good.

But just one time, one time, I wish I could just think up and unleash the "zingers" at the exact moment I wanted to. Maybe that's why writing has become one of my greatest passions. I can express myself when I want, however I want, and I can limit who I want to let into my little world of rhetoric.

Sundance Film Festival

Although I have lived in Utah for pretty much my whole life (I took a brief leave of absence from 2005 - 2006 to experience the frozen tundra of Alaska), I have never frequented the Sundance Film Festival. I always figured that if any good films were there I would be sure to hear about them when they came to regular theaters (like Napoleon Dynamite). I am also (still to this day) not that interested in Celebrity sightings, unless its someone that I feel is truly talented and respected. I'm not someone who reads People or OK Weekly, and I hardly ever tune into the E! channel to hear the latest dirt on Tinsel Town. But my sister Vanessa and I got to talking about the fim festival and thought it would be such a fun experience to just soak in the atmosphere and do some people watching, and hey if we saw a couple Celebs, we might just take a snap shots. Just to prove that we saw them of course. :)




So yesterday afternoon with Jamba Juices in hand and bundled up with sweaters and scarves, we made the 45 minute journey to Park City. After circling the downtown area for a while searching for a place to park (the only thing I could relate it too was rush hour in Manhattan, it was nuts!) we found some $10 parking and decided to hoof it for a while. I have to say that the best part of our little excursion was that we had no set plan. We did everything spur of the moment, wandering and talking to random people, just enjoying in the general ambiance. Honestly I had never seen so many BMW's and Cadillacs in my entire life! And the mix of people was amazing. There were of course the very wealthy. You could spot them not only by their overpriced Gucci bags and sports jackets, but by the way they carried themselves when they stepped out of their Mercedez'. They just oozed an air of eminence. Vanessa and I particulary enjoyed picking out those who were from oher country's. Some were obviously more apparent then others by they way they dressed, but other's we had to eavesdrop to try to figure out where they were from.

So before we headed to Celeb Lane, we sauntered into the Prospector Lodge where they were selling theater tickets. After going back and forth on whether we should go to a movie, we quickly changed our minds after reading a couple excerpts from the posters. Most of them were a bit too....whats the word - edgy?...... liberal?...... not really suited for a couple mormon girls? So we pressed on and decided to get a bite to eat on Main Street. We rode a shuttle bus most of the way, but didn't really care to be smashed up against tons of giddy, young girls and guys with their cameras and loud laughter, so we decided to get off a little early and walk the rest of the way. It was a little cold, as the sun was starting to set, but we were determined not to let it dampen our spirits.

It wasn't long before we we got our first sighting. No, it wasn't a Celeb. It was a man, staring out his huge condo window, wearing nothing but a Santa hat! After laughing hysterically and dry heaving a bit, we shook our heads and reminded ourselves that we were definitely not in sheltered Provo anymore. As soon as we arrived on Main Street, we noticed a large crowd gathered around a couple restaurants. After hearing a few rumors that Paris Hilton was about to emerge, we decided to stick around. Both of us are not fans at all, but thought it would be fun to at least say that we got to see her. And sure enough, the hotel heiress appeared. The crowd went crazy with screams and cameras flashing wildly. Paris ate up all the attention, of course, and daintily ran into a nearby trailer. I decided to snap a photo of the crowd just so you could get a feel for what it was like.

Paris is in there somewhere, but I didn't really care to get a picture of her. After all, what is she famous for? Being a rich, spoiled, skank?

After laughing at a camera guy biffing it, we continued with our search for a place to eat. It wasn't long before we found ourselves in the the middle of another celebrity sighting. Directly above us, gracing someone with an interview, was Nick Cannon - Mariah Carey's new hubby. He yelled back at the excited crowd, not bothered at all by the commotion. This time I tried to get a decent shot of him but he was too busy answering questions. So this is he best I could do:


I know, its not a very good pic. He's the one in the white sports coat- in case you have no idea who Nick Cannon is (actually a lot of people around me didn't seem to have a clue who he was either, so don't feel bad). I just remembered him from the movie "Drumline" and had heard from someone that he just married Mariah Carey.

After that, we settled down at a little Mexican Restaurant and gobbled down some fajitas and chips and salsa. By this time the temperature outside had dropped immensely, so we decided to grab a couple hot cocoa's and head back to our car. But once again we stumbled across another celeb who was actually walking right next to us. The funny thing is, we still have no idea who he was. We just knew he had to be someone special by the constant flashes of cameras. As we walked away, my sister and I chuckled at the thought of us being in one of the pictures used for the cover of People- even though we were completely oblivious to the importance of the guy.

After braving another overcrowded shuttle bus, we made it back to car with smiles on our faces and plenty of stories to tell our husbands when we arrived home.

Friendship

The other night I had the chance to go out with some childhood friends that I hadn't really seen or done anything with in quite a long time. It's crazy how fast life takes us away from friends- even really good friends. No one ever means to for their relationship to be deduced to a simple "hey!" on Facebook. But that's life I guess. I must admit when we all met up at Los Hermanos I was honestly surprised at how much fun we had. I was expecting a couple awkward silences and glances at watches mixed with a couple "remember whens" and then ending the night with a disingenuous"we should do this more often". But by the time we paid for our dinner (3 hours later) ,I think all of us were taken aback a how much our stomachs hurt from all the laughing. Yes, we were all at different places in our lives, but when we got together it was like nothing had changed. Kassy was still the free spirit, fashion diva and Amber was still the witty, history-savvy, movie quoter. It was probably one of the most enjoyable evenings I had had in a long time.

And then driving home I got to thinking about all the people I had known up until this point in my life. There are some people that I can honestly say that I am very happy they are no longer in my life. Let's be honest, we all have those people. And then of course there are those people who simply passed through for a season, but I still won't forget ever them. But then there are those rare relationships. You know the ones I am talking about. Those people that you feel like you could just talk to forever and not get bored. Those people that seem to see all sides of you (even the ugly sides) but still love you and accept you with their whole heart. The people that when you reflect about certain experiences you've shared with them, you can't help but smile. And sadly sometimes these are also people that because of a certain turn of events you can't stay in touch with: you move, they move, they get married, you transfer to a different company, they have kids, you have kids.....you know, the usual life interruptions. And even though you are very content with your life there are moments where you remember them and are saddened your relationship has become an occasional hello over the telephone or a yearly Christmas card.

I just want to say to all those wonderful people out there (you know who you are) thank you for being a part of my life. No matter where I go, how old I get, how distant we become you will always, always be in my heart and in my most cherished memories.

I think James M. Barrie says it best when he says:

"GOD GAVE US MEMORIES SO THAT WE MIGHT HAVE ROSES IN DECEMBER."