A Separation

A Separation

I am a sucker for critical consensus. I try to check out anything that get universally good reviews. Usually this results in seeing something that's difficult and not really all that good, as a bunch of over-stimulated movie or music nerds decided that it was "Deep" and anyone who doesn't like it doesn't get it. So I rent the movie, watch the movie, and wonder why it was so praised.

A Separation is not that movie.

Do you root for the guy caring for his father, or the lady trying to give her daughter a better future?

Filmed in Iran, A Separation is the kind of movie that reminds you what art is. The film is bare, no music, no special effects, long single-camera shots dominate most scenes. But this only heightens the human drama that makes you ache for these people. At the center of the film is Nader and Simin, and man and a woman (the second Iranian woman I've had a crush on) who are getting divorced because she wants to emigrate and he feels bound to stay to care for his Alzheimer's stricken father. The opening conversation sets the tone for the whole movie as the two explain their reasons for the divorce. She says "He doesn't even know who you are." He only replies, "But I know who he is."

But as one critic put it, "To say A Separation is a movie about divorce is like saying The Wizard of Oz is about a pair of slippers." This movie is so good it hurts. As she leaves he hires a caretaker to watch for his father and eventually, through a string of plot developments and back-stories their lives are entwined with another couple's and they are put at odds. Through the movie you look for a bad guy but none appear. They are put into opposition by sad circumstance and you can see where everyone is coming from as they try to salvage their lives from this mess they're all in. People's lives all contain trials and we are shaped by them, we all have our reasons.

I don't know why I felt I needed to write about this, I'm no movie reviewer but I wanted to write something and since I just saw this movie I wrote about it. If this gets the three of you to go watch this film I'm glad I did.

(PS After I finished this post, my father changed the channel to the RedGreen show. The lesson, as always, nothing is better than the RedGreen show. Nothing. My review seems so silly now.)

Well how about that!

I have a Parrotlet on my shoulder. For the uninitiated that is a miniature parrot. I believe that makes me a miniature pirate. Yes. My brother and sister-in-law are out of town with the rest of my family so I'm now hanging out with Pina (the n should have a little ~ over it but I don't know how to do that so just know that it should have that, like Pina Colada.) As far as I can tell she is eating my shirt.

Why are they out of town and I'm not with them all? Well I have a job I just started. I'm an exterminator (pest control application technician, or P-Cat, bug murdere\\r, whichever you like). And they are out of town, to drop my baby brother (6'4" baby I know but whatever) at the MTC. He is going to Montreal Canada to turn french-speaking Canadians into testimony-speaking Mormons.

Neat huh?

Yeah that's pretty neat. So anyhow, in order to give a summation of my life over the past month (We'll go from the time I was dumped to about next week.) I'm gonna separate the rest of this post into two separate lists. One of complaints, which are a bad habit/talent that I can't seem to shake, and the other list is of Antonym of Complaint-s. So here we go. We'll actually make it one list just of alternating. Complaints are in Bold, Antonym of Complaint-s are in Italics. Seriously though, Google antonym of complaint. There aren't any. There are no direct antonyms to complaint. Find me one and I'll give you an unspecified gift that totally ups the ante on your search for an antonym of complaint. Here goes.

Gage's Current Life List:

I got dumped
I got dumped! Okay so it was an interesting experience. I went through all five stages of grief except for Denial, Anger, Bargaining, and Depression. In the end I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and . I now have an ex. That's kinda cool, I've never had an ex before.

I got to go to McCall Idaho with my family. My family has a tradition. It's cooler than your family's tradition. We go jetskiing every year we can on Payette Lake

That's Payette Lake.

That's a jetski.

Anyhow, Jetskiing is the only thing I know of where getting thrown from the Vehicle at 50 m.p.h. is the highlight of your day. That combined with gorgeous Idaho mountains and golfing and the awesome cabin we rented and all 8 of us in the Family hanging out was just incredible.

I'm stuck in Boise with no friends. This actually isn't true. My main man Cody Nesbitt is in town temporarily before he moves in and starts his business career in Denver. Currently we Jam on his electric guitars and golf. A lot. I've never gotten better at something as fast as I've gotten better at golf. That's partially because I've never been as bad at anything as I was at Golf. Okay that's PRIMARILY why.

I'm back in Boise and it's awesome.
My Little brother is gone for two years
My Little brother is the 5th son out of five in my family to serve a full-time mission for the Lord, spreading the gospel. I don't know how to fully explain what this means to us. It's really a paradigm shift for our family. Our whole lives have been spent preparing for missions, now we've all gone. The last one to be a kid at home is now a missionary. He's not going to come back the same because no one does. I can't wait to see what the Lord makes out of him during the next two years, but heaven knows I'll have to. I'll miss Chase but hey, I'm glad he's gone.

Institute Choir Starts Tomorrow! Seriously this was the one thing that got me through the lameness of being stuck at home last year. And it starts tomorrow. Well technically Auditions are tomorrow but c'mon, its me. Not to be self centered but I'm the best singer in the Universe. I'll hang with mah boy Bro. Spjute and it's on like donkey kong.

Speaking of mah boys! With institute choir comes institute class and I'll be New Testamenting with the man, himself, Timothy Dopp. You don't know brother dopp but he's better than your institute teacher.

I need more to complain about.

Wow, talk about speaking too soon.

Mental note: Always knock on wood. Always.

I just had to publish for the first time that I was dating someone and they dumped me. The next day. Can I write that again? okay thanks. I just had to publish for the first time that I was dating someone and they dumped me. The next day. Thanks for that.

Anyhow, first things first I'm doing fine. I'm genuinely surprised at how little disappointment I feel. Maybe that'll change but honestly I've seen this coming for a few days now since there's been obviously something wrong, and I spent all day trying to get a hold of her so we could talk. But then she dropped the news and it's game over. I'm not going to complain, I don't have anything negative to write, this is just a new experience for me. I remember not very long ago saying that I wouldn't mind getting dumped because it meant I at least had someone give me enough of a relationship to dump me. I'm not sure if I should say mission accomplished but I feel that this was an overwhelmingly positive experience for me and I was able to be in some form of a relationship for awhile.


Also now, I might get to spend my off track in California with my main man Trenton's family. But remember, knock on wood.

Mr. Run-On to Short Statement.

Hey America (all three of you who read this) Oh man, it's time to shake the rust and dust off these writing fingers, it has been too long since I've blogged. Probably because I've been writing for the scroll and taking 17 credits this semester and pumping out papers galore for them, I'm just not usually in a blogging mood. But now I am. But man it's been busy. Elder's Quorum President stuff adds another layer to homework, job search, girl stuff,

Oh yeah, there's this girl...

She's pretty cool. We'll leave it at that. Talk to me since you're all close friends if you don't want me to leave it at that. But we'll leave it at that.

But yes, after 22 years on this planet (Twenty three next week), 19 of purposefully pushing away girls, 2 years of missionary-related celibacy, and a year and half of failed attempts with emotional states ranging from desperation to indifference, there is a woman in my life not named Tawna or Donna Olsen. (mom and gramma)

And that's pretty cool.

I've realized something about my writing. I have one thing that I milk more than any other technique, and more than almost any writer I know. (I don't know If I qualify as a "Writer" but I do write things, I just don't usually define myself as such.) I'm trying to decide how I feel about this distinctive style I have, I'm not sure if it's my signature or if it's really just my crutch. I've been aware of it for awhile now, but I've never thought about it being a liability before. It's difficult because it never fails to make me smile when it's used in a book I like. The crutch is this: I like to write wordy, long sentences and string them together in barely appropriate, and almost grammatically anathema, run-on, disjointed, stapled together sentences with lots of oxford commas (which I got from my mother who added 72% more commas to any paper I ever wrote that she edited in High School) and then follow said sentence up with a short, succinct, often sarcastic sentence.

Like this.

I'd been thinking about this earlier, but I honestly didn't think about it while I was doing it just 3 paragraphs ago until I re-read the "And that's pretty cool." Part. It comes automatically, it fits with the way I speak (especially when I'm soliloquizing, that's a reference, you know who you are.) I also use parenthesis more than any writer I've read outside of Rembert Browne, who writes on a sports blog I follow. But you know what? I'm not sorry. Maybe I should be but I'm gonna keep writing for myself and America, because that's what I do and that's who I am. Mr. Run-on to short statement.

And that's just fine with me.

How do I spell happy? G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E

"There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed. If it is unexpressed it's plain old-fashioned ingratitude."

-Robert Brault


"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents..."

I love the way the Book of Mormon opens. I've heard people joke so many times about re-reading 1st Nephi so many times, but if they do that, hopefully they'll at least learn to be grateful. It's remarkable that there are two distinct expressions of gratitude in the very first verse. I try my best to apply that lesson in my life: First, be grateful. It was also the first "Be" that Gordon B. Hinckley taught in his classic talk about the six be's. I've never believed that was an accident. I've written about this before but I have so much to be grateful for.

"...Having seen many afflictions during the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days..."

I don't know if I can claim to have had many afflictions, but I've seen a few, and I have to say that I have been highly favored of the Lord in all my days.

I am blessed to have the coolest quorum that anyone has gotten to serve as president of. Anecdote: As I'm walking to do my home teaching, I pass 6 of the brethren, "What's up guys?" I ask. "Just finished home teaching, now we're going to ward choir," they reply. I think my heart high-fived itself I was so happy. We've made home teaching our focus and it's already showing results. People need opportunities to serve, as much or more than people need the service itself, and I have such high hopes for this semester. We passed out home teaching assignments last Sunday, and my counselors and I decided to pass out the home teaching assignments Wednesday night to those that weren't there. I had to cancel because some things went up, but my counselors went and did it by themselves without me asking them to and gave a summary of the lesson we had. I am in awe of the willingness of so many men to serve in the Church. We may not be perfect, and we probably don't deserve the woman counterparts in our lives, but my brothers in Christ do alright when we've been called to serve. I'm grateful for the men that have set examples for me my whole life such as my father, grandfather, priesthood leaders, mission companions, and mission president.

Oh yeah, and my best friend Andy Cutler is marrying one of the most wonderful women in the world that I've ever met, Rebekah, this Saturday!. And I'm the best man. I even get to give a speech, I'd better get on the writing of said speech though. Dang. It's crazy to see my best friend grow up. He's in Pilot training, learning to do exactly what he's been planning to do for his entire life: fly Fighters in the United States Air Force. He's marrying a beautiful woman, and he's got a sweet SUV. His father (a man I love very much) passed away last year and I know he misses him like crazy but I can't imagine how proud of him he must be. I don't think Andy knows just how much I've always looked up to him.

Did I mention I love Rexburg in the spring? I might have fallen asleep under a tree with a good book this afternoon after church meetings. Just maybe.

Oh yeah, and I still love my mom and dad. Every time I call home I'm struck again with how goodly my parents really are. My Mom and Dad are so much cooler than they give themselves credit for. Thank you Nephi for teaching me a little bit.

Oh man, can't wait, next weekend, basketball with the bro's, hanging with my mom, wedding, more NBA basketball than I've already watched (which is way too much but not nearly enough), and more of what life's got coming next.

"Gratitude is the art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture."
-Kak Sri

The Game of Life

Who here likes the game of life? (Gage raises hand) I'm in the library, just finished my religion homework. The lights are off and the theme from starwars is playing for some reason. They play music for the last fifteen minutes before they throw you out. It's 11:18 right now and so I've got 12 minutes to post a blog. My life is busy. Not impossible. Just busy. I'm writing three stories for the Scroll Newspaper right now. Finishing one tonight, one tomorrow, and one by Saturday. This is that first part of the game of life, where you decide to go left instead of right and that means go to college. The funny part is that your really not more likely to get more salary in the game if you go to college, you just get more life cards. That's what I'm in this for. Life cards. Hopefully the money will come but whatever. This college game can be rough. I'm taking 17 credits (and a workload of more because one of my 1 credit classes is much more work than it should be.) I'm writing for the scroll, and I got called to be the Elder's Quorum President of my ward last week. I got two counselors called who I don't know, but their names kept coming back to me and it felt right when I prayed about it. I try not to question the Lord so they're my counselors now. Steven Cheng and Taylor Lyman. I'm excited for the calling though. I have to make assignments for home teaching and then keep up on everyone's home teaching and other things, but I think it's going to be a wonderful opportunity for growth. Who knows, maybe I'll even make headway this semester on getting the pink figure into the car with me and make that long drive towards "Countryside Acres". That's been (as I'm way to vocal about) a frustrating point of my life, but I'm learning to trust the Lord's time table and enjoy the chase. I would be much more concerned if I hadn't listened closely to my setting apart by my stake president. He blessed me specifically to meet my academic goals (4.0), meet my ecclesiastical responsibilities, and find time for a fulfilling social life (friends are great, check; #1 goal for dating? Get past a second date, no Idea what happens after that but hopefully I'll figure it out) Luckily I've been blessed with great friends, 4 brothers, and one heckuva parentals set. I'm out of time, the girl just told me I have two minutes. So goodnight America. Hopefully I spin a 10.

It's like a jungle in this Habitat.

I spent four days last week trying not to quote Dr. Dre while working for Habitat for Humanity. It's it's a great example of how my brain works that working for a charity would prompt an entire week of "Forgot About Dre" being stuck in my head because the line "Where's all the mad rappers at? It's like a Jungle in this Habitat" because they happened to share one word.

But seriously, last week was like coming back to life for me. I had the opportunity to be a part of "Project Inspire" which was a service project put on by my school. For four days I got to help out Habitat for Humanity in Pocatello in a small way. Mostly lending muscle and shoulders to the effort to build affordable, quality housing, for low-income families. I got to meet the father of the family, Will, and work with him for a little bit when we were reinforcing the stairs. It was such a blessing to get to work and help out a genuinely good person who just needed a little bit of help. Getting to serve and work for awhile and not worry about the things that follow me around was the best thing possible for me.

I was able to make such good friends so fast in just four days I got 11 people more who have blessed my life. Everyone put up with the craziness and bad weather and my nicknames for them, and the week was a blast for everyone I think.

I feel ready now to take on this next semester in spite of the break not being as long as I would like. This time went way to fast, but it was way too good to complain. And as the song I'm listening to right now says, "Some things last a long time" (Covered by two of my favorite bands Built to Spill and Beach House)

I don't think I said anything interesting in this blog but man, it was such a great week for me.