The Whole Dam Story (explicit)

This Memorial Day weekend, I drove up to Las Vegas from Phoenix to visit one of my college roommates. I've been asked to recount the events of that drive in a blog post. Warning:: Some material may not be suitable for children.

The drive consists of approximately 6 hours of surprisingly lovely desert landscapes and sparse plant life. This particular trip, I was blessed with an extra hour of lovely desert landscapes and sparse plant life. But I'm getting ahead of myself! Let's back up a few hours.

It all began on a beautiful Saturday morning. I loaded my car, checked my tires, filled up with gas, grabbed a gigantic Powerade and beef jerky and off I went. Together with a GPS borrowed from my sister, I was unstoppable. For the first few hours anyway. (Did I mention the gigantic Powerade?) When I finally stopped for a break, I tucked the GPS into my bag and went inside.

Side note: Public restrooms are a unique place. Second only to the notorious crowded elevator, a crowded public restroom has an extremely high risk of awkward silence. Back to the story.

It was at one of these uncomfortably silent moments in the stall that the woman inside the GPS in my purse firmly stated, "Lost satellite signal. Recalculating." She repeated it twice more. Nobody asked why my bag was talking. This day and age, I suppose it isn't terribly uncommon for objects to speak to us.

An hour and half (and two disappointing chicken strips) later, I was approaching what I was sure would be the highlight of the drive. On the Arizona/Nevada border, as most of you know, is the Hoover Dam.

At this time I would like to remind you all that it was a holiday weekend. "Prepare for delays," the signs read. Good thing I'd laid off the Powerade!

I've never seen so much dam traffic in my life. I was creeping along at about 2 miles per hour when the woman inside the GPS politely asked if I would like to "switch to pedestrian mode." Even she couldn't believe my car was capable of moving so glacially. I continued this pace for about 20 minutes before I could even get a dam view. (I must say, it's not nearly as big as I thought it would be.) In spite of the fact that it was putting me an hour behind schedule, I enjoyed having a while to get a good dam look. The dam architecture was very interesting, as well as the dam statues and a memorial to those who died building it. There's a large dam bypass being built (in order to avoid the dam traffic in the future) which I got a good view of as well. It looks absolutely horrifying. It seems to be about a million miles above the dammed river. I think I'd rather deal with the dam traffic than risk the dam bypass.

Anyway... Apart from all the dam tourists running in front of my car, it was an interesting dam experience. (Not to be confused with a "dam interesting experience." That would be inappropriate.) My time in Vegas was relatively uneventful, but extremely refreshing. Great weekend.

I did, however, take a different route home in order to avoid the whole dam mess.

Creative Outlet

I have a hole in my life. One that even chocolate and Diet Coke fall short of filling. (Side note: I haven't had a DC in over two weeks.) In occurred to me recently what that need is. In a talk given in the Fall of 2008, Dieter F. Uchtdorf said:

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.
Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty."

It seems like those close to me have already found their niches. I have a sister that makes fabulous custom quilts, a cousin that makes jewelry, a friend who makes amazing custom cakes, etc. I don't enjoy sewing, and I should probably don't need to spend any more time around food than is necessary (though cake wouldn't be my treat of choice anyway), but I do have a few ideas based on my unique talents.

I've decided to present the ideas to you, my loyal readers, and let you decide where my time would be best spent. So here we go. The options I've come up with are....*drum roll*...

1) Intricate paper snowflakes
2) Custom pinatas
3) Thoughtful poetry
4) Paper mache animals

You may cast your votes in the poll on the side of the blog, and I'll announce the winner when the poll is closed. Other suggestions? I'm all ears!

Good Show

My grandmother on my dad's side is one of my favorite people. We shared a love of basketball, Mexican food, and Werther's originals. (She always had them in her purse.) She used to tell me I was her favorite. Somehow I believed her every time, even though I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one she told that to.

Before she passed away, my grandmother suffered from ALS. She had a very difficult time speaking and rapidly lost control of her body while her mind remained intact. It was extremely hard for me to be around her during this time. One thing she loved was to sit on the front porch in her wheelchair when I got home from school and watch me shoot baskets in the driveway.

Grandma was the world's best cheerleader. Every shot I took received one praise or another. "Good shot! And another good one! And another good shot!" Each exclamation had a slightly higher and more excited pitch...until I earned an, "Oh, so close! Shoot it again." No shot, whether good or bad, was ignored. When I finally decided to quit, she looked just a tad bit disappointed but would always smile and say, "Good show!"

I remember thinking it was silly of her to celebrate every shot I took. Looking back, I think she had the right idea. In fact, I wish I had a tiny grandma in my ear to celebrate each little victory with me, and encourage me to try again when I fail. Though I feel I'm better at basketball than I am at life, perhaps if I learn to appreciate the small greatnesses, I can look at myself and think, good show.