a love letter

Dear Mike Rowe-

Though my heart is intended for someone else and you have a girlfriend of 11 years, I just want you to know that I love you. I love when you wear Dickies, I love when you show your upper white man thigh, I love your dry wit.  I can accept the fact that you make the occasional bad car commercials because I think you may be the perfect man. So if our circumstances change, then maybe we can get dirty. 

Love,

Kyra

what goes down, once went up

so here it is the classic "i hiked a mountain" pictures. i probably have more of these than anyone cares to see and until i can reach the quality national geographic seeks i am forced to simply subject them to those who read my blog. these ones are from the most recently hiked 14er, there are a few other camping trip/climbing/hiking pictures that i have yet to post.

the funny thing about this most recent hike is that i went with the executive secretary from my ward. now, you are probably thinking, oh since you are in a singles ward this must have been a date with a strapping young man. and you would be wrong. in fact, the most active, interesting and enjoyable male in my ward happens to be mid-50's, gray hair, and married with children my age. from the first few weeks of being in the ward, it quickly became apparent that Wes and i were going to be friends. he liked my skirt i made out of ties, i liked to hear about his stories climbing exotic peaks, he complimented me on my diverse bio printed in the ward newsletter, i like that he takes off his clogs during sacrament.  so when Wes called and invited me to go hike with him and his two boys, i naturally said yes and a great time was had by all. Wes also proved that any age you can still be a humble bad ass. 

if you explore nature you know all the struggle and personal revelation, physically and emotionally, that goes along with the experience. i have stories i will attempt to share some day but for now, i will simply say, 

"climb the mountains and get their good tidings: let nature's peace flow into you like the warmth of sun rays, let winds blow their freshness into you, let storms transmit their energy, and let the view envelop you, and then let your cares drop off like autumn leaves for in wilderness is the preservation of the world."

festival of writing

so, the problem with starting a blog is that all your thoughts start to process like a blog feed. as i begin to ponder, i start reconstructing my thoughts and sentences into a format conducive to creating the maximum level of flow and cleverness for the reader.  thus my brain gets something resembling  writer's block and my morning runs normally filled with free flowing thoughts have become stunted and out of shape. even worse, when i actually get to the computer to write down all these witty and deep carefully constructed reflections, my brain goes blank and i sit staring at my computer, switching up my pandora stations in hopes that music will inspire my hindered emotional authorship.  so good music or not, i have resigned myself to just punch out a couple of lingering posts and walk away, in rational denial of being satisfied. so here is a short series of posts. 

also you may want to look below you might be delighted to see some lovely pictures added in. 

amigo

today as i came out of the Maison de Seigneur i saw two teenage girls, standing in front of the fountain, assuming the typical-girl-taking-photo-position, faces together, hand extended with camera in hand, big smiles. though the scene was typical the girls made a little piece of my heart swell. 

lisa, i miss you.   

elpmis.

i believe the world could survive on simple, with a touch of grand.

tonight at the mission, i was worthy enough to have the job of the "clicker". though the task is seemingly menial it holds great significance. it means that mr. kim trusts you and you alone to hold the magical tool that allows people to enter and partake of a warm meal. mr. kim believes it takes a strong hand and conservative actions. i, on the other hand, stay true to myself and don't use either technique. instead there is a lot of smiling, hugs, honest interaction and bursts of activity.  usually the job involves the "clicker" taking a wrapped fork from the basket, clicking the counter, and allowing people in 5 at a time.  tonight, however, a significant component was missing- forks. so instead, after a bit of waiting, someone would dump a pile forks and napkins in my basket, leaving me to play catch up. in my frantic rush to get hungry, patient people in, i would grab a stack of each, balance them in my arms and try to put one and one together and hand them to the person in a semi appealing manner. about half the time i failed, with forks and ripped napkins dangling from my arms, i was laughing and trying to not drop the group, while still welcoming each person. sometime in the middle of the chaos, a tall man with a gentle smile and worn out hat, just patted my shoulder as he walked through, half shaking his head and said, "it's nice to see such a happy smile, you are doing a good job."

simple, with a touch of grand.

i am a survivor

last night after a very long week and even longer day, i decided to pick up a film at red box for brandon and i to watch. i picked up the film and  went inside the house in full of anticipation of turning off my brain and indulging in a little cinematic delight. yet, when i opened up the dvd case and i was horrified to find that the dvd inside was actually "p.s. i love you" not the movie i had choosen. now the real blow wasn't really the fact that i couldn't watch the movie, but the fact i rented the same movie as someone who watches movies like "p.s i love you". however, after i recovered from the shock, i quickly gathered my poor grad student wits and looked for retribution for the $1 i spent. ( thrifty or cheap?) i looked on the redbox website under the FAQ "What do I do if the wrong dvd is in the movie case?" This is what it says:

"Please contact our Customer Service Group at 1.866.REDBOX3. All Redbox customer service reps have personally been through our proprietary Rental Trauma Simulator and know what it's like to have a scratched disc ruin the last 20 minutes of a film or to open one case and find another movie instead. They will resolve your issue. Please note that Redbox cannot refund charges that are older than 90 days. " 

I called the redbox hotline and dramatically told jermaine, " I am traumatized." After about 30 minutes on hold, Jermaine who may be trained in rental trauma but obviously not in how to work the redbox computer system, gave me a free promo code. now thanks to jermaine, i am now able to live a fulfilling life as a redbox post-traumatic dvd rental veteran. bless america.