Dromedary

I have been moving since 9 AM this morning: setee, armoire, tables, bookshelves, desk, lamps, all carted into the garage so they'll be easier to put in the truck in the evening. Now evening is here and still no truck. Ergo, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

That is all.

* * *

On the other hand, my car is packed and ready, save for the chunk of our veggie and herb gardens that will go on the floor spaces. Yesterday, when I made a final visit to Ralston Reservoir, I also picked a variety of sage so I can smudge our new place. My car is going to smell delicious. When I got in to cram my yoga mat and hand weights into a nook or two my car already smelled like a savory stew. So nice.

Mother nature also decided to gift me with a large goose feather. Before every positive move I've made in my life I always find a shed primary feather from a bird. This made me feel so blessed. Shelby and I I ran the quarter mile back to the car, leaping like a deer over knee-high sage and rabbit brush.

I am sure that if any of the farming and ranch folk saw me they'd think the hippies were invading.

Just before we left Shelby walked down to the western chanel, where we walked when the reservoir was still thick blue ice. This time she kept walking and calmly strolled into the soft green water. She swam in a few matter-of-fact circles before getting out and showering me with her shake. I laughed and probably startled the cottontails and marmots. I will miss that place so much.

But now to look forward! I'll be offline for a few days, as tomorrow is moving day with a minimum 9-hour drive.

(Oy vey!)

Places I'll Miss

There are places I will miss when I move to Laramie. This place has, after almost eight years, started to feel like home to me.

The Montana fossil beds.

Our old house with the slanty floors and creaking barns.

The bench at sunset. (Polecat Bench)

Red Lodge, Montana.

Ralston Reservoir.

Prejudice

I don't hold much against people when it comes to philosophies. When it comes to politics and religion I believe that diversity is a grand thing; it shows that there is no one right way to do things and serves as a check-and-balance against a single majority. Pluralism is always better. There have been powerful people throughout history who thought that there should be only one way of doing things and this either resulted in people beginning restless revolutions or mass genocide.

As long as people are not repressed, coerced, or imprisoned and all is consensual I believe in "Live and let live."

When it comes to spirituality I believe, as my Hebrew teacher did, that "God comes to us in ways that we can understand." If someone chooses to be Pagan, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Russian Orthodox, Mormon, agnostic, atheist, or any of the hundreds of faiths on the planet I do not care. What is important is that they find their God or their Goddess or Pantheon and feel that their belief fulfills whatever spiritual need they have. I will not let this affect my philosophy that all humans are equal until we decide not to be by violating the health and well-being of others.

I have friends who are Christian, am in love with an agnostic, have friends who are Mormon, Jewish, Pagan, Wiccan, and relapsed Protestant. I respect all of their beliefs even if I do not agree with them eye to eye on spiritual matters. I find beauty in each religion: the vitality of family bonds in Mormonism, the infusion of spiritual belief into everyday actions by Judaism, the connection to nature that the Pagans have. One of the most calming, sanctifying funerals I went to was Catholic, with its Our Fathers and communion. My own spirituality is a hybrid of Christian-Wiccan-agnostic.

Strangely, when I interact with people who are a part of minority religions, who cry for equality and understanding, I find that they in turn can be just as prejudiced against the "mainstream" faiths. For example, once I exchanged a month's worth of emails with a man who was Wiccan. When he complimented me on my carved pumpkin at Samhain (Halloween) and said he admired how a fellow Wiccan could have such a sense of humor about her spirituality, I replied that I do not consider myself Wiccan, but more of the hybrid I described above. Immediately all emails stopped and I didn't hear from him again.

Another time I befriended a woman who was an Eclectic Pagan. Again, she assumed that because I knew of her faith and ideals that I was a fellow Eclectic. When I corrected her and explained my kind of spirituality I lost all contact. Apparently, my tolerance of Christianity was the dealbreaker for her on our friendship. She thought I would try to convert her, even though I told her I found that anyone trying to convert a stranger or a friend to their way of worship is distasteful to me. I believe all spirituality should come from free will.

I don't understand the reverse prejudice coming from those who ask for equality themselves. They in turn are just as ugly as the people who judge them by the way the understand God.

Moooving

Jeff went down to Laramie on Monday; I will follow on Friday with the majority of our furniture and container garden. Oh the joys. Hooray. Hooray.

But enough gripe!

For the past two days Jeff prepared the trailer for our impending arrival. Aside from learning that all of the windows are sealed shut and will need repair, the place seems like it will be a good home. He is treating it with great pride; after all, it is his first "real" home of his own. He is now a property owner.

Growing up, I knew my grandmother's house as The Trailer, a long brown behemoth in Bellflower, California. I loved the place that seemed almost shiplike, compact and with a place for everything and everything in its place. My grandmother even landscaped the yard, inheriting a great rubber tree from the previous owners. My memories of her trailer stayed with me as I grew up, and I've always held a fondness for small spaces because of the summers I spent there. Both Jeff and I agree: we will be happy if we take the trailer with us when it comes time to move away.

Tomorrow I disassemble the furniture and arrange the boxes from Most Important to Least Important. I've learned that most of my possessions consist of books and pottery that my friends and I have made.

To the Fanboys

My only rebuttal for those fanboys and fangirls who do nothing but gripe about the new Star Trek film:

"Canon is only important to certain people because they have to cling to their knowledge of the minutiae. Open your mind!" - Leonard Nimoy

There. The Man Himself said it to all of us. L.L.A.P.

Star Struck

I've seen the new Star Trek movie. Twice. It is just that good.

On Thursday night Beth, Jeff, and I went to see the movie in our local cinema; this made me a little nervous, as I've encountered a lot of theatre-talkers there. (It's the only cinema in town, two screen, privately owned.) Luckily, with the advent of digital Internet and wider access to the outside world, the cinema goers seem to have learned respect for their fellow audience in the past few years; I heard no overt talking and saw no cell phones. Of course, this could have something to do with the fact that the owners encourage anyone to hiss at an offender to quiet them down. Apparently benign vigilanteism works.

There were several groups from different demographics in the audience. The oldest there was an elderly woman in her 80s with her daughters. The youngest was a boy who looked to be about 5. I was quite impressed with the number of teenagers there, some boys but mostly girls; on the second night, when Jeff and I went alone there were several groups of teenage girls and their guy friends. I overheard one 17-year-old girl say she'd seen it three times since it came out the Thursday before.

Trek lives!

It's encouraging to hear younger people liking this new Trek. As Leonard Nimoy observed, Star Trek died several times over its 43-year history, only to resurrect itself in the younger generations. I was jazzed. One of my earliest memories is watching The Day of the Dove, one of the original Trek episodes, when I was almost three.

When The Next Generation came around I found the characters sweet but dull. It wasn't until around the third season that I watched it with regularity. Though TNG eventually held a fond place in my heart, like most Trekkers, I acknowledged that there was something special about the original series that could not be topped. There was a certain vitality that TNG never had, a certain innocence that Deep Space 9 could never touch, and an intrepidness that eclipsed even that of the Voyager crew. Enterprise had heart but no soul, much to the chagrin of many fans and Jolene Blalock, the fangirl actress who played T'Pol. When that series ended the Star Trek universe lay in state for nearly four years.

Now this film comes about, breathing vitality back into the fandom. With no guilt and no need to cotton to established canon, we really can boldly go with this new crew to places where no fan has gone before.

Review up ahead. If you don't want spoilers for the new Star Trek movie don't read past the new Uhura!

Zoë Saldana as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, courtesy of Shockya.com

To save time and readers' eyes I'm just going to review a few key points that I as a Star Trek fangirl was particularly moved by. I am not a worshiper of canon and thought that this young cast was a perfect choice for a reintroduction into the universe I loved as a little girl.

Director J.J. Abrams – I am glad that the director was not an overt fan of Star Trek to begin with. This allowed him to free the universe from the shackles of canon and fan expectation. Yet, in spite of his re imagining, he included enough inside references not vital to the plot that still made me as a Trek fan feel welcome into his version of the show and characters. I also hear from a Lost fan that there are little clues to Abram's other works to make them feel welcome as well.

The new Enterprise – She is built. Sleek, silver, like a hot rod in space, she feels like a living ship, rather than a matte model cruising through the quadrant. Her bridge is like the glossy, dewy face of a young woman. Combined with the throb of her warp core and the little buzzes and beeps recycled from the original 1966 ship she breathes and has a heartbeat. The Enterprise is finally a character in her own right.

Lens flares and sun spots– What a contribution to atmosphere!

Best line – "No, not really. Not this time." Spock to Kirk on whether they agree that showing Nero mercy is the right thing to do.

Leonard Nimoy – Seeing Mr. Nimoy as Spock for the last time caused such a pure, sweet feeling of joy in me that I was brought to tears. At his repeating of the famous line: "I always have and always shall be your friend" caused me to go into a full weep. Mr. Nimoy brought such heart to the story, even a little bit of tongue-in-cheek humor at the complexities of the sci-fi plot, that I felt no one in the theatre could be unmoved by his performance. And judging by the amount of sighs in the room, everyone was indeed moved.

Kirk – It might be betrayal for saying this, but I think Chris Pine brought just the right amount of swagger, sexuality, slapstick, and intelligence to the character of James T. Kirk. I think that in all honesty, I wish Kirk Prime were a little more like him. Kudos to Pine for introducing the Shatner-esque sprawl to the new captain's chair, however. You have my respect as Kirk's new incarnation sir.

Spock – Zachary Quinto, your star is on the rise and you deserve it. He brought the edge of raw emotion to Spock while still being smoothly logical for most of the film. I especially loved the way he bit off his line of "Live long and prosper," to the Vulcan High Command, allowing just enough glint of temper in his eyes. Quinto shows a little more emotion leaning toward Spock's sad, tender, and temperamental nature, rather than to the side of humor and snark that the original Spock was also known for. Considering the nature of the plot, this emotive side of the impassive Spock is in just the right key.

McCoy – This is the character I felt emotionally closest to in this go-round. Karl Urban is a staunch fan of The Original Series and it shows. When he is introduced, growling about space flight and divorce in the Starfleet shuttle I felt immediately at home for the first time in the movie. I've always leaned toward McCoy as Trek's father figure, and though Urban has only a few years on me, I still felt that same paternal warmth coming from McCoy. Favorite line: "I don't know, but I like him!" McCoy to Kirk about the "pointy-eared bastard" Spock.

Uhura – Finally this character is given her due as a vital part of the Enterprise crew instead of just being a glorified administrative assistant! She is a linguist in her own right, bold, sensual, and intelligent. I also liked how athletic she seemed; she sprints down the hallways with strength and determination. She shows compassion and tenderness with her own character intact. I can easily see her as the original woman, who once helped hijack a Federation ship to save the life of a friend. Many kudos to Zoë Saldana for finally giving me a Trek woman with whom I felt immediate kinship.

Spock and Uhura – Also, finally. This love story makes the utmost sense to anyone who viewed the original series, especially the first few episodes, and later episodes when Spock tells Uhura he can think of no one else who can complete delicate work on computer connection boards. Even back when Star Trek was firmly placed in the man's world of the 1960s, Spock treated Uhura with more humanity than anyone else, as well as Kirk and McCoy. Quinto and Saldana have chemistry where several other established Trek couples lack. Seeing her hands caressing the back of his neck in the turbo lift and his hands on her hip in the transporter room gave me a sweet thrill.

Scotty, Chekov, Sulu – Excellent work gentlemen! Chekov has talent, unique abilities and is a darling to boot! Scotty is hilarious and maintains his genius. Sulu is a masculine, athletic fighter and saves Kirk's life. I hope for sequels so these characters can take more forefront story lines.

Physics – Even though I love the Star Trek universe, sometimes I find it hard to suspend disbelief, knowing what I know about space travel theory and basic physics. While this movie strained my belief yet again I also felt adequately seduced by the film to forgive the errors. Abrams also put in small moments that redeemed the far-fetched scientific plot. Once, when the hull of the USS Kelvin is compromised, a Starfleet officer is sucked out into space. As we follow the doomed woman out of the ship we hear her screams and the rush of escaping air. Once she is out in the vastness of space everything goes immediately silent. Bravo, Mr. Abrams. Another time is when Scotty looks at his future warp-transporter equation. "I never figured it was space that moves!" he exclaims, and indeed, if warp were an achievable science this is exactly how it would work. On the other hand, as Morbo from Futurama would say: "Black holes do not work that way!"

ETA 7:15 PM, Scotty

My sister, sweetheart, and I are planning on seeing the new Star Trek movie tonight at the local cinema. As always, I feel the same keyed-up energy that I feel before I depart on an airplane flight. Somewhere back in my early childhood, my psyche confused the anticipation of seeing a movie and air travel departure into one feeling. They've evoked the same reaction ever since. It's part of the reason why I don't go to the movies often.

I also don't go often because it's hard for me to sit through an entire movie unless I am really, really, really interested in the plot. For instance, the last movie I saw in the theatre was the third Pirates of the Caribbean flick, two summers ago. Even that had me squirming at about the two-thirds mark.

Most other movies I wait to come out on disc before I view them, and often do so alone, as I'll pause them to get up and fidget before sitting back down again to view the rest. My ADHD doesn't express in the classroom anymore, but cinemas drive me batty. At least with live theatre it's interactive and they allow for intermissions.

No soda for me, but I'll get some "fidget food" before I go in, preferably tiny candy that requires a lot of hand coordination to eat.