I should also re-queue The Graduate.

Due entirely to the blistering sweltering heat, I attempted to see Adventureland last night at the local $3 theater with A/C. Got there about 25 minutes before the show, and it had already sold out. Today I learned my lesson, and at lunch I succumbed to paying full price for a showing of 500 Days of Summer later that evening. (So did about eight million other people in Portland. But all of this is neither here nor there, unless you live in Portland and are considering a movie Thursday night, which I doubt applies to anyone.)

This movie (? film? flick? not sure where it falls on the spectrum), featuring two of my favorite people I don't actually know, really touched a nerve. Because I've been both of them at one point or another, I could relate to both equally, get mad at both of them equally, hope for the best for them equally. So that was kind of fun in a "relive all your past mistakes" kind of way. If you like that sort of thing.

The rest fits into a Wednesday three of sorts:

• The chemistry between them* was pure magic (they worked together on Manic - which I saw a while back, but might need to re-queue) and apparently have been good friends since.
  
• The bouncing back and forth chronologically worked for me, and it was especially fun (to my sick, sadistic mind) to go from Happy Day #54 to Miserable Day #477 back to Happy Day #65 and then on to Miserable Day #478. It really did feel like how one would reflect upon a bad breakup.
  
• I am buying the soundtrack immediately. Overall the songs were stellar, and the expectation/reality sequence was set to the most perfect Regina Spektor song ("Hero" I believe?), and, well, I need it. So there.
  

________________
* I could've said She & Him, but I didn't. You're welcome. They both do sing in the story, though.

Waaaaaaaaaah.

That is all.

Wednesday three.

Three FB stati I won't be posting, in no particular order:

• ... is about to rip that stupid windchime off her neighbor's house... who hangs a noisy windchime right next to an apartment building with no A/C, for Pete's sake?
• ... is going on day three of heat-induced headache. Meh.
• ... 's Thursday is the new Friday.

OK, that last one might actually get posted. Oh, and also, going on week 3 of no camera. A camera-less girl in a fail-heavy town. Sad, really.

Like Monday versus Friday.

The fairly disappointing Death Cab for Cutie show in 800 degree weather Friday night, followed by an attempt at karaoke, followed by funk night at a local dance spot, followed by collapsing into bed around 1am? That was so like a Monday.

The amazing Blind Pilot/Andrew Bird/Decemberists show in 750 degree weather Saturday night, followed by home, cheese and crackers, and settling in to fall asleep to SNL? Yeah, that was definitely like a Friday.

Damn, I'm old.

Because I couldn't decide which to post on Facebook.

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST [The Decemberists], cleverly answer these 15 questions.

1. Are you male or female: Sons & Daughters
2. Describe yourself: Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect
3. How do you feel about yourself: I Was Meant for the Stage
4. Describe your ex-boy/girlfriend: The Hazards of Love 1-4
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: Won't Want for Love
6. Describe your current location: Summersong
7. Describe where you want to be: On the Bus Mall
8. Your best friend is: Billy Liar
9. Your favorite color is: Shiny
10. You know that: My Mother Was A Chinese Trapeze Artist
11. What’s the weather: Isn't It a Lovely Night?
12. If your life was a television show what would it be called: Margaret In Captivity
13. What is life to you: The Perfect Crime
14. What is the best advice you have to give: We Both Go Down Together
15. If you could change your name what would you change it to: Bandit Queen

I do love how both #15s included a "queen" reference, though.

Belated Friday five.

Five mall observations, in no particular order:

• Wet Seal and Pacific Sun really ought to sell bathing suits. Especially Wet Seal.
  
• People older than me should not be taking the "Forever 21" store name so literally.
• Hot Topic is NOT punk rock!*
• No, employees of island merchandise stands, you cannot rub something on my hand, ask me what kind of cellular service I have, and/or otherwise interrupt my shoe mission. (I got downright mean at one point.)
  
• Cinnabon is pure unadulterated evil.

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* Another State of Mind, on the other hand, was totally punk rock. I love watching these bands articulate the sad state of worldly affairs and capitalism in completely brilliant and coherent sentences, right before they go onstage and scream unintelligible lyrics into the mic while slamming into each other. Rawk.

"Climbed a mountain and I turned around..."

I really had no intention of summitting Mt. Adams this weekend. At 12,281 feet, it's one of the highest peaks in the Cascade range - higher than Mt. St Helens, higher than Mt. Hood... I mean, look at it:

It's GINORMOUS.

I went along to support a friend. In the weeks leading up to it I got a little anxious... reading all the blogs and looking at all the photos made me pretty nervous, seeing as how my hiking lately involved small day packs on dirt trails with pretty flowers. Not to mention I'd barely been to the gym since blowing my Achilles tendons out hiking in the Bend desert. But I figured no matter how far I made it, a weekend camping on a mountain wouldn't be so bad.

We camped at the trailhead the first night. In the morning we headed up about 2 miles to a nice spot just below Crescent Ridge to camp, acclimate and watch "Mt. Adams TV" - people trekking up the first meaty slope:

I was hurting a little just from that short trek, and was very thankful for the ability to offload most of the weight in my pack and rest up for the big day. Around 4am the next morning we set out armed only with essential layers, gear, food and water on our backs. The air was crisp, the snow crunched under our crampons and the sunrise over Mt. Hood was beautiful:

My first goal was to make it to the top of Crescent Ridge so that no matter how much farther I made it, I could at least try glissading down the mountain. We made it up easily. The next goal was Lunch Counter, which wasn't a terrible hike, but beyond that it was just steep and brutal, and we took it one step at a time. (As one blogger notes, "I don’t think I have ever used as much profanity on a hike as I did on this one" - and I would agree.)

(side view - yes, this is what we were "hiking" up)

At one point about halfway to Piker's Peak, the false summit, I decided I was done. That would've meant that my friend would turn around too and I was there to support her... so I begrudgingly plowed on.

(view of Piker's Peak from below)

Finally we reached Piker's Peak and the real summit loomed ahead. Now? NOW? Now I was DETERMINED. Another thousand feet of moderate, well marked elevation? After 2500 feet of crazy, treacherous, terrifying, unmarked elevation to Piker's Peak? No problem.

And so we made it to the summit, and took the obligatory summit photos and surrounding view photos:

(Mt. St Helens in the distance - it's not erupting, I just need to have my camera cleaned)

Mission accomplished, we donned our waterproof layers and slid down the snow in about a tenth of the time it took us to climb up it. (Glissading, by the way, is my new favorite manner of travel. I'll ride a mule to the top of any mountain if it means I can be a human luge all the way down.)

While I'm proud of my accomplishment, I have to say that I prefer this view of Mt. Adams from now on:


... and it's unlikely that I will ever hike in snow again. Or sand, for that matter.