Eastern Montana

Missoula is beautiful. Driving through thte lightly frosted mountain pass, I marveled at the green pines that make the mountains appear almost blue. Fog hung heavy around me, giving everything a mystical appearance. Looking at the beauty of the mountains, I couldn't help but feel grateful to have grown up in Montana, amidst thse breath-taking views. Throughout my ten hour trek across the state the scenery slowly changed. Brown fields of grass gradually replaced the navy mountain peaks. I must admit at first I wasn't impressed with the tarnished gold hills. Next to the mountains, they just couldn't compare. However, as I continued on I began to remember why I love eastern Montana. It might not have the evergreen pines or icy mountain creeks, but it is beautiful. I felt free looking at the pink cloudy sky that stretched for miles. Even breathing seemed easier in the open space. Driving over each hill, I saw taht this is Montana. Many people in Missoula and people from other states think of Montana and only see what Missoula has to offer. Montana is a huge state, a great part of which isn't material from A River Runs Throught It. It bothers me that people say the love Montana, but haven't experienced the entire state. Eastern Montana has its own unique qualities that make it just as interesting and beautiful as the western part. I love driving for miles on Highway 200 and never seeing any houses, just silver mailboxes lining the road. The highway is often too narrow causing me to cry out "Oh God" whenever I passed an oil truck. Stopping in Jordan (yes, that is where the Freemen were) I saw three or four pickups full of men dressed in hunter orange. Eastern Montana is full of tiny towns with one main road, a bar, a school, and a couple churches. Coming home I realized I home much I love Montana. All of Montana.

P.S. I love blogging, but this was really a pain. Another interesting thing about Montana is most people don't have internet so getting this published was quite the adventure. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Thursday Shirt

Author's Note: Rachel wanted me to blog about this a month ago, so here it is. There isn't much I can give for an explanation except you just have to know me. Alison, this is me being a llama.

The average college student slides out of bed, walks to the closet, and pulls out any shirt that looks good. Some people don’t even get to the closet; they just pick up whatever piece of clothing from the floor that doesn’t smell. There are girls in my dorm who get up early to blow-dry their hair and put together a perfectly color coordinated outfit. While I also drag myself out from under my blue comforter and slump to the closet, there isn’t much of a decision to be made about what to wear, because I have already planned the week’s clothing on Sunday night. Why, you ask? Because I have a strange philosophy that certain days of the week deserve certain outfits. The only way to properly explain this is to give a description of the typical week. Sunday is a grunge day; after dressing up for church I usually just put on a sweatshirt and my favorite black sweatpants. On Monday I wear the long-sleeved pink Old Navy shirt. It’s simple, but I feel classic wearing it, and I like to wear something I like to start the week off right. Tuesday is boring so I’ll put on the weird-fitting polo. I usually like Wednesdays, but this year I only have two classes, so I don’t wear anything special. After Wednesday lunch in the Food Zoo I put sweatpants on to work in my room and don’t change into something else until bible study. This semester I like Thursday because I have a lot of classes. This day the boat neck white shirt is the shirt of choice. Earlier this year I wore the same two shirts alternately every Thursday. Everyone dresses up on Friday because it is the weekend, and I do too. Today is the gray Henley with pink camisole. My Saturday outfit is similar to Friday, but depends on whether I have plans, which usually I don’t.

This may sound strange already, but it actually gets worse. This schedule can get messed up for a variety of reasons. I dress nice on test days, so if a test falls on a Tuesday or Wednesday I will have to switch the Thursday outfit and wear it earlier. Some days I just feel like wearing one of my favorite outfits, but that makes things difficult when its scheduled day comes around because I don’t have anything to wear. This wouldn’t be a problem if I had lots of favorite clothes, but I am a horrible shopper and never buy anything. Therefore, I honestly only have three shirts that I really enjoy wearing. Unlike my little sister who wears her new clothes the day after she gets them, I save them for a special day. I just can’t wear something I really like on a bad day. This clothing philosophy also extends to my workout clothes. During Track I would wear my favorite t-shirts to practice on Friday and to meets. On relay run-off days I would wear my favorite blue Optimist Basketball Tournament shirt or the 2004 state track shirt.

Although this may sound a little ridiculous, I think the concept behind my craziness if fairly universal. Why do people dress nice for interviews, auditions, and presentations? Because feeling good about your appearance gives you extra confidence. This is the reason why I wear certain clothes on certain days. When I want some extra confidence, I wear something I feel good and comfortable in. Next week I have a Spanish presentation and might see Peter Pan; I think I need more Thursday shirts.

Passion

While sitting in the career research center skimming a pile of books for my Intro to Honors paper I came across a great quote. It was in introduction to the book by Nancy Anderson titled How to Do What You Love For a Living. Anderson was talking about how to find your true passion and said, “If you are embarrassed about something, you are close to your passion. This may not be obvious at first-but think about it.” Immediately I thought of acting and writing because those are the two things I get most embarrassed about. I don’t like acting in front of people I know well (this seems like it would be a problem, but I don’t mind performing in front of my family and friends, it just makes me especially nervous). Even writing this blog was hard for me at the beginning of the school year, and I would be horrified if anyone read my journal. A lot of people tend to be a little reserved when talking about something they are good at. In track, great runners don’t usually brag about their incredible times; when asked, they usually just say it was a pretty good time. If they do share, it’s usually done casually and is followed quickly with a question. I think the reason we are so reluctant to share our passions is because it is like sharing an intimate part of ourselves. This is especially evident in my writing because it is sharing my personal thoughts and words, which I usually don’t plan to tell anyone. I also am embarrassed when performing because I don’t want to show anyone until I know it is good. Most people are passionate about things they are good at and so fear someone seeing their work and deciding it’s bad. I don’t mind playing basketball in front of people because I know I am not very good, but I would be crushed to perform my monologue and have someone tell me it sucked. Because writing and performing are so important to me, it is hard not take criticism of them as a critique of myself. In a couple of weeks I am auditioning for the spring shows, and hopefully the directors will see my passion for acting and not notice my wobbly knees.