Kelliver's Travels

I'm a travelin' fool! Currently, I find myself sitting on my parent's couch, watching television and engrossed in the internet: just like old times.

I suppose you'd like to know the highlights of my adventure. Well, if you must know, you must.

Highlights to date:

Well, I'm here! .... Yeah, that sums it up.

But seriously, lets have ourselves a good old breakdown, and yes, I do realize this is a little redundant from my last entry, but... eh. Deal.

So, dark and early Thursday morning, I arose to set out for the airport. Poor Alex, he'd have quite the long day ahead of him. I suppose both of us would, but I would have a family reunion to keep my tired mind occupied. First stop, Wild Oats with my mom (the only one around for my arrival). We bought some acidophilus and my mother picked up a supply of her favorite hand soap. Details, details. While waiting for my sister to arrive and head to lunch at our favorite Lebanese restaurant, I went to my grandmother's house. We had a good conversation and I got to loan her my book from last entry's review.

Lunch, shopping, new clothes, huzzah! Then I was able to give my father his birthday card and we headed out to see the musical Wicked. Now, I'm disappointed to say that I was, well, disappointed; at least at first. I made a grave mistake, grave indeed. While the novel was a very creative and modern story, it had a few moments that seemed as though the author was trying too hard. Also, it was NOT written to be a musical. Modern often equal dark, severe, stark, shocking. Its something we've come to expect from anything resembling modernism. If you have ever read Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, you might imagine the story being a Hugh Ferriss illustration in paperback form. Wicked is modern. It also kind of reminded me of that movie about those two reporters that uncovered the Watergate scandal. Therefore, Wicked = Watergate Scandal + Hugh Ferriss/Roark. Musical potential? Only if its akin to Cannibal the Musical. My point? Reading the novel first is a "grave mistake".

The disappointment subsided when I reminded myself that this was meant to be an upbeat tale that any age group could enjoy, and one that most parents' would not keep their child from. The equivalent of any Disney Movie with respect to the original tale. Pocahontas, anyone?

But all kidding aside, the performance was masterfully done, the music very well composed and catchy, and the stage art truly breathtaking. It helps that the uber art deco nature of the Pantageous Theatre was the perfect match to the set design and you could imagine that they had almost designed it specifically for this performing arts center and no other.

I slept well that night in my old bed, though not in my old room and woke up early to take a two hour tour with a fearless crew of halloween/birthday partiers. My old roommate and one of my best friends celebrates her birthday on the same day we celebrate the holiday of Saint High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup. Though an over-21 halloween party revolves more around candy in a cocktail glass, it is candy none-the-less and probably has a similar affect on adults that a magnificent sugar high has on a 5 year-old. Cheers to inhaling five pounds of fun sized sugar bomb bars in shiny wrappers while watching the Scooby Doo Fright Fest Special, or whatever the hell they call it today.

The party was a blast. We hit up Dave and Busters and I convinced a good many of our crew that a drink called the "Naughty Redhead" was worth several rounds. Yes, I did first try it because of the word Redhead. I'm a sucker for anything referring to my unique feature. If you're wondering what exactly constitutes a "Naughty Redhead", allow me to illuminate you: jagermeister, peach schnopps, and cranberry juice. Equivalently, the word delicious works too.

Slightly inebriated video games tend to be the most fun, and simultaneously the most frustrating. Granted, and I'm not sure how, the redheads didn't last for long. I won 2,230 tickets exactly, and only used 210 of them on glitter lipgloss. Why not?

Today was more productive, but not as much fun, as I once again set out to complete my residency affidavit. My mother has informed me that I have to mention how amazing she is. This is an accurate statement, I must admit. She has always managed to ground me while in the midst of an endeavor such as this _____-ing application. I went through by item and made copies and organized my materials, then set out to file my FAFSA. Productivity indeed!! She's good at it, far better than I, in fact.

If you're hankering for another equation, lets just say that My Mom = Amazing.

Home made soup for dinner, god I miss that. Nature's seasoning. A walk to the local froo-froo grocery store. Relaxing in my spot on the couch in the living room. Like I never left. I miss home so much... I still have to remind Alex how much he had better appreciate my presence in Oregon. He does. It doesn't make this easier.

Perhaps one day I will move back. Perhaps not. In the meantime, I'll continue to preach the good name of Oregon in the hopes that everyone will just follow me up there instead.

I can dream.