i talked to omari today

MY OMARI POEM

so I talked to omari today.
quite a momentous occasion.
So rare!
i wished i talked to him more,
but i dont.
he said that i could come and stay with him in houston on my way out to utah.
and then he said i couldnt come and stay with him in houston on my way out to utah
so we didnt stay with him in his apartment on our way out to utah.

i miss omari and hope that he is well.
he says he will come and visit me in utah.
i sincerely hope that is true.

i was recently reminded of this one time
when omari was home from houston
for hurricane reasons,
and I was also free,
we decided to hang out.
He said that i should pick him up in front of our old middle school,
which made little sense to me,
but i sat there idling in my mother's red minivan, still.

He wasn't there.

I called him
multiple times
as per usual
and finally after a few inaudible exchanges
Omari stepped out of a black SUV that pulled up on the other side of the street
something an elusive rockstar or shady personality would do.

We drove around and talked about things
like we always do
which was nice
comforting
revives my faith in connection between people on earth.
We talked about how we think there will be a book
or perhaps only a chapter
written about the time we are living in right now.
Bush! Obama! Economy! War!
It was so right
such a profound thought at the time
but the more I think about it, there are books
written about every time.
Is there a time you cannot find something written on?
So one day there will be a book
written on this time that we are living in
this time that we predicted would be chronicled in print
and I will buy that book
and write something nice in it
and send it to Omari.
Wherever he may be.

After we talked about books on time,
it was time to go back home.
Wherever that may be.
I always hate dropping Omari off,
specifically, at his house behind the JoAnn's
because the older we get,
and the further apart we move,
I dont know the next time I will get to see
Omari.

geared up.

With the exception of actually going to purchase my season pass, I am officially geared up to hit the slopes and practice not falling on my bum. Last night culminated in the pushing of "Submit Order" on sierrasnowboard.com and purchasing the 2007 Palmer Touch. Parsing through the easily concocted spec set, the board is boasted to be "easy to control, smooth and forgiving... support[ing] your own pace anywhere you ride".

All I have to say is fabulous.

I also purchased boots and bindings last week from Milosport, easily one of the nicest board shops in SLC, at least compared to Salty Peaks. The dude who helped me out gave me a nice discout and made sure to get me what I wanted instead of trying to sell me top of the line items for full price. A good salesman though, he made sure to give us the specs on all of the top of the line items, while politely tightening my boots and getting me my discout bindings.

Both are Solomon brand and, while I can only speak for the boots, they are comfortable as heck and I cant wait to try them out.

As luck would have it Drew was able to find his Custom Burton for half price at Milo as well. It was so nice to see him so happy. Hes searched far and www.wide.com for this board in his size and the adventure to find him a board for the price and quality that he desired ended with the salesman committing to 50% off. Deal. Beyond being equipped with the top whatever premier snowboard technology out there, its pretty to look at.



a deal indeed.

officially geared up and ready to go. woo hoo for credit cards.

are we human... or are we sun-dancers?

I am officially volunteering for Sundance, via the Park City Film Series. The site where they hold the film series is being used as a Sundance venue and they are looking for volunteers. I am pulling the 9pm to 12 am shift on January 18, 21, and 24th. By doing so I get three passes to three different Sundance films and also a 6-punch pass to the PC Film Series. Can't beat that!

The Sundance lineup looks pretty interesting,

SUNDANCE FILM GUIDE

though I am not sure which film to go see. Do you go for actor or director? Its a tough call.


Option #1: A film directed and starring John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) called Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Its based on the book by David Foster Wallace, the author of Infinite Jest, whom Drew has recently sumberged himself in. While I tell him not to talk to me about the book, as it has peaked my interest with the few things he has told me about it and I hope to read it eventually, I would seriously consider seeing this film...


Option #2: There is also another film starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes, and Ellen Barkin called Brooklyn's Finest. Beyond the stunning lineup, the movie description boasts, "crosscutting between multiple subplots, Brooklyn's Finest unfolds violently and passionately as coiled, constantly roving cinematography contributes a measure of unease to the underworld action." I love the idea of seeing this concept unfold on screen. However, despite the stunning lineup, I have never heard of the director, Antoine Fuqua.


Option #3: There's always Jim Carrey in a dramatic role, which I always marvel at. I Love You Phillip Morris follows Carrey, a con, falling in love with his eventual roomate who goes by the name of Phillip Morris. So there's that


Option #4: What would Sundance be without the token Culkin coming-of-age film, this time focusing on Rory instead of Kieran (whatever happened to MacCauley?). Lymelife seems sad but intriguing.


Option #5: Adam Elliot, the Aussie Academy Award winning director of the claymation feature Harvey Krumpet, has come out with what is sure to be Masterpiece #2 Mary and Max. There's always that.


Option #6: Michael Cera makes an apperance at Sundance in Paper Heart, and there has never been a Cera moment that hasn't made me fall further in love with him and his career. The movie plot doesn't really reel me in (pardon the fishing-turned-film pun) but sometimes you gotta give an obscure movie about modern romantic cynicism a shot.


Option #7: If not just for Gael Garcia Benal, then for Diego Luna, or for Carlos Cuaron - all three having a hand in Y Tu Mama Tambien. Rudo y Cursi is a classic Latin film about futbol. C'mon, let's go watch these boys run around and sweat. God, I'm such a man-izer.


Option #8: They are bringing back Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies and videotape, the film single-handedly responsible for bringing Sundance to the forefront, is being shown. Should I opt for a classic? Though, I can probably find this on DVD...


Option #9: There is always a Kevin Spacey flick - especially intriguing is that he is a Shrink in the aptly titled film. Quite a shift from his role in American Beauty; more along the lines of Negotiator. Could be good...

So you see the options and decisions that lie ahead of me.

My question for you, the reader, meaning Allison, which would you go see? Feel free to open my eyes to something other than American, Aussie, or Mexican. There are tons of Canadians and a few other countries represented...I have yet to go through all of the ones that didn't catch my eye on the first skim through.

the rich people are in town!

So December 26th marks the first day of serious tourist occupancy in Park City.

The parking lot at the base of the gondola to take you up to the Canyons resort went from scarce to packed overnight.

Drew's midnight trip to the Albertson supermarket (a step above a nice Stop and Shop) last night brought stories of nightmarish visions of empty shelves and spilled beer and broken bottles in the aisles. While telling me this story, I envisioned flickering lights swinging above his head in the cereal aisle as soft focus shadows darted just beyond his peripheral vision. "They were out of 2% milk! And there was no Gouda cheese, just a few packages of $13 Jarlsberg and Baby Bell! It was like something out of a horror movie. It was like the shadiest supermarket in Saratoga Springs right before a blizzard. It was so strange."

A horror movie indeed.

Park City is ransacked with desperate vacationers.

Correction: desperate RICH-beyond-my-wildest-fancy vacationers.

The economically elevated tourist finds themself in interesting relationship with "locals". (No body is actually from Park City, so therefore, very few true locals actually exist. Most "locals" fluctuate in and out of town right before and after the busy season.) While the town depends on them as consumers of luxury (as the tourists are paying top dollar to be able to shut their minds off and just vacation), Park City folks find their reliance on the tourist married to a simultaneous blossoming disdain for their parasitic invasion of the town. The density of people in Park City has quadrupled (at least) and can not only witnessed by the horror movie supermarket situation, but also at the crowded lift lines and slopes at the mountains, the packed restaurants, and the bumper-to-bumper traffic coming in and out of town proper. Park Citizens find themselves now breathing in an entirely different air compared to the pre-holiday, stress-free, no-traffic, mountain fresh, granola atmosphere. The breaths are shallower, more intense - frankly it now feels more like NYC more than ever - all in response to these rich fogies.

A part of the fogie equation that is often neglected until too late - rich fogies have a tendency to make offspring in order to eventually pass on their wealth and family name. Oh, we cannot neglect the rich brats. What about having money either makes your child skip childhood altogether and become a 30 year old aristocrat trapped in a 8 year old's body or transforms your child into the spoiled spawn of Satan? These kids are either blindly inserted into the daily itinerary or more often they dictate it. Brats fuel Park City's economy just as much as the fogies do. I'm convinced.

Yesterday, while working J.Crew, these two siblings were roughhousing by the women's silk shirt display out of their parents sight. To get them to calm down a fellow employee jested, "You shouldn't be roughhousing around this part of the store; this is our expensive stuff." All the employees acknowledged his sarcasm with a slight giggle. Now, it is important to note that at this point most kids would be embarrassed that someone other than their parents just scolded them. Not these brats.

The big brown eyes on the older of the two widened as he pouted his lips and placed one hand on his hip and pointed at the silk shirts, "My dad can buy ALL this stuff." He proceeds to make a 360 pointing motion, implying that not only could his dad buy ALL of the silk shirts, but also the silk lined wool skirts, our entire stock of chinos (in black, brown, and standard khaki), the display of graphic tees that layed neatly folded in stacks on the table to his right, and the blazers hanging behind him. I would also go so far as to say he was implying that his father could buy our entire inventory, which frankly could be the honest truth. He then manufactured the most rancid face I've ever seen on what could have barely been an 8 year old and sternly walked away.

Who did this kid think he was? "My dad can buy ALL this stuff?" What a little jerk. I dont care if his father was Sean effing Penn. As flabbergasted employees of a factory outlet, where our stuff really isnt that expensive, we couldn't help but laugh, but seriously, though, how did that come out of this kid's mouth? Unbelievable. It gives you just insight as to the kind of people and the certain level of tongue in cheek disrespect that Park Citizens in the service industry are having to deal with.

Not all tourists are super rich, but frankly most of them are toting some sort of wealth around with them. Not all who tote the dough are painful company, but there is definitely a difference in the way people around Park City are treated by these folks compared to teh few visitors a few weeks ago. The conundrum: I want rich fogies around when I am sitting in the gallery or standing in J.Crew. I want to sell them beautiful (and expensive) art; I want them to buy over $500 worth of clothing. I want to keep them around to make money off of their investments. Conversely, I want them to vanish before my eyes when I am throwing myself down the mountain or when I am driving home from work. I want Drew to be able to go to Albertsons and buy 2% Milk without having to step through a surreal nightmare. I want to exile some of the rich brats to Moldovia to let them realize that theres more to life than daddy buying "ALL this stuff"; their actions come with more repercussions than a dollar sign or two.

Oh how living in a ski town is like no other.