Feb. 15
2:23 PM
Birthday Weekend Bits
So I'm 28 years old now. Exciting! I had a great weekend, which really got underway on Saturday morning when my dear friend, neighbor, and hiking confederate John gave me an early birthday present of a set of crampons. They aren't serious business glacier-climbing foot-daggers but are perfectly suited for hiking on icy mountain trails--chains and small spikes criss-cross the soles of the boots and are firmly anchored with rubber. The previous weekend John and I had both nearly died approximately three dozen times each hiking down the Saddle Rock trail without the benefit of said crampons, which was a bit like descending a frozen waterfall. So an early, life-preserving gift, and then we took a 4 1/2 mile hike to the Green Mountain summit, with an elevation gain of a little over 2300 feet. The mountain in question, looming over Boulder's iconic Flatirons:
Except of course everything was covered in fresh snow--absolutely gorgeous, with hardly anyone on the trails and a stunning panorama from the top. The sound of the wind through snowy pinewoods, the smell of juniper, the not busting one's ass every few yards thanks to the crampons--idyllic.
Sunday morning John and Raech went to Denver to assist with their kung fu studio's Lion Dance performance but Molly was a bit under the weather so she and I stayed behind and watched the Nichols Cage film Knowing, which was every bit as good as you would expect from a movie where the best response of the "scientific mind" is to avoid thinking about a mystery as hard as one possibly can. Thankfully for the future of the species, Nicky Cage ignores the ostrich strategy his scientist buddy suggests and instead makes the world his buffet, devouring the scenery as only he can. It certainly made me look forward to Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and Season of the Witch, so I suppose that's something.
In terms of birthday loot, I made out with both Arkham Horror, a boardgame I've played and love, and Chaos in the Old World, a boardgame which I have not yet played but is also by Fantasy Flight, the company behind Arkham, and involves the Warhammer universe's chaos powers vying for, uh, power in, er, the Old World, so I anticipate great things. I also received a bottle of Russian River Brewing's Consecration from Molly, a deliciously sour ale with black currants added to the cab sauv barrels it was aged in. Truly unlike any beer I've had--close to some of the Flemish sour ales, but distinct...and it had the unusual effect of sending me on a Mr. T bender.
I have a deep fondness for terrible things, particularly the sort of movies one can talk over with impunity, so John, Molly, Raechel, and I began the evening with Joel Shumacher's D.C. Cab, a film I had never previously watched and one that, barring a gross violation of the Geneva Convention, I shall never watch again. A pre-Firefly Adam Baldwin, the Barbarian Brothers, Gary Busey, and various now-forgotten stand-up comedians round out Mr. T in a film that reiterates the "it's tough to be a man" message with all the delicacy of that Dodge superbowl commercial. Deep hurting.
Thankfully, my old amigo Jeff lent me a vhs tape in college that contained, in addition to a proto-Cribs-style program about Corey Haim rollerblading at his mansion, a little thing called Be Somebody, or Be Somebody's Fool. I remembered, and so did youtube, and thus a palate cleanser was had. Simply glorious...but that could be the Samuel Smith Raspberry I had to follow up the Consecration talking. I never would have guessed yesterday morning that Knowing would be the most competently made thing I'd watch that day. Terrifying.
Thanks to all for the well wishings, and here's looking forward to the next one!