Have you ever noticed that the sunset is usually significantly more exciting and colorful on an evening after a storm?  I suppose I could just be making that up or dreaming it, but I think that it is true.  When the clouds break up and the sun gets low in the sky the golden color really shows through.  Summer evenings here in Maine are almost always pretty spectacular, but on a night like tonight, after two days of bad weather, it seems like there is nothing better.

Here at camp the light streams through over the mountains in the distance and the river, then through the tall pine trees that line the high bank, and across the field.  I don’t think you could ask for a better backdrop and lighting when we walk out of dinner and then as it gets later in the evening and taps get played.  The silence and stillness during those moments when everyone in camp stops to listen to the bugle is quite magical.  If you have never had the opportunity to stop each evening, reflect on the day and listen to the floating melody of taps on the bugle (especially when played by a great camper) then you should.  I suppose it is kind of an American thing, but I would imagine that anyone from anywhere would appreciate it.

The evening after a day or more of rain is also special because kinds want to be out and enjoy the remnants of the day.  We take advantage of every moment of daylight that we can get, but the games and activities that get played are much more interesting than those during the course of a regular day.  Little pickup games of anything as long as the equipment is out and available.  It is a tim when everyone is actually in camp together and there are enough people around to get a decent game going.

Evenings are always a peaceful time.  Sure, sometimes we get a little hyper, or we have a dance night, but for the most part, it is one of the best times of day.  The world cools off (most of the time), people relax, and this is when the bonds of great friendships show.  Everyone has a friend and everyone hangs out together.  It is a beautiful time that hopefully everyone stops to appreciate sometimes.  You don’t have to be in a special place like camp to stop and appreciate the summer evenings.  It might have a slightly different effect if you live in a city, but I would imaging that if you stop and reflect, it is pretty similar.

“Freedom! Heading home for a much needed day off.” ~Christine Macken (1985-2010)

I often have written about how life is short and we need to make the best of what we have.  Sometimes the stark reality in that sentiment comes out and slaps you in the face.  I have often looked around me at my friends, finding it so strange that they were getting married and some even having children, but when it comes to my contemporaries passing away, that is a completely different story.  Death is an unfortunate phase of life when it snuffs out an amazing light so early.  It is immutable though and as such all we can do is keep the memories alive in ourselves.

As I walked across the field to my cabin this evening I just watched the lights through the mist.  In a way it was very surreal, walking and thinking about my friend who passed away last Monday, July 5.  I knew what I was doing, I was trying to compose some kind of post in my head and while I thought all of these ideas that came to me were good, probably none of them will actually make it here.  All of the thinking really just made me remember her and started to make me feel sad.

I remember the last time we were together.  It wasn’t really that long ago.  We met you at Squatters along with some of your other friends from the area.  Your mother was there too.  We had some food and a couple beers and caught up on old times.  I am sure that neither of us thought that would be the last time that we would see eachother.  At least it was a happy and fun time.

I met Macken at the University of Utah.  She was a theatre student who did some work and internships with us at PTC.  I don’t think that I ever actually realized that she was an EMT, but all things considered, it doesn’t surprise me.  Macken was an amazing person and a great friend.  She was a person who really did live life to the fullest all the time and I would imagine that it wasn’t easy given her medical history.  I can’t remember a time that I didn’t see her happy.  She was dedicated, hard-working, friendly, and kind.  While we may not have been best friends, she was a great friend to have!  I (and anyone else who did) was lucky to know her.

Life is like that sometimes.  Sometimes the best of people get dealt the lousy hands.  Sometimes you just have to look for the silver lining, the golden ticket.  Hopefully the place beyond this harsh world we inhabit for our brief moment of life is actually a better place.  Hopefully it is place where the things that plagued us in our Earthly life are set aside so that we can exist in some state of peace with the rest of the universe.  I would certainly hope that if we move on to a non-corporeal existence that the physical “defects” of our bodies will cease to haunt us.

For Christine, a short poem that this sad time inspired:

Freedom comes in many forms
In days off,
nights off,
and passing storms

Those left behind can’t understand
you lie
in peace
on beach’s sand

A laugh, a smile, a memory
of time spent
living
frolicking, free

We are but travelers here on earth
we seek refuge
in passage
to death from birth

Life cannot be lived when you hide in fear
so dream
make friends
and keep them near

Life’s release to death will freedom give
yet in our hearts
and minds
you live

This post is of course dedicated to Christine Macken and the Macken family.  I am so glad that I had the chance to get to know and work with Chrstine.  She was a wonderful person and a great friend.  May you find greener pastures wherever you are and I hope you know that you will be missed.  If you want to read more about this amazing person, you can follow this link.  Rest in peace Mack.

This month 20SB is hosting a Blog Carnival in conjunction with Charles Schwab.  In my mind it is kind of an unlikely pairing, but hey, we twenty-somethings should learn what to do with our lack of money!  Actually, I took advantage of the recent economic struggles in the country as I saw it as an opportunity to start making some investments.  The market was low and I had some liquid assets and I have the time to wait for the markets to rebound.  So actually, I opened my investment account through Schwab on the recommendation of my family and so far, I have been pretty happy.

One of the stipulations of the blog carnival event was to test drive Schwab’s new financial fitness check-up tool.  Basically, it is a short questionnaire that tries to determine where you stand in terms of financial habits.  I tried it out and did my best to answer the questions truthfully and I got a score of 84, which puts me in the “Good” category.  I certainly try to be good about my money but i know that there are things that I could be better about.  I am probably a little more frivolous sometimes than I should be, but I have never really felt like I was hurting for money and I have never really been living from paycheck-to-paycheck.

Schwab wanted some feedback on the check-up tool, which seems reasonable.  It was pretty straight-forward and easy to use.  In general I felt like the questions were very general questions.  I don’t really know what the point is because I am not sure what your score is supposed to tell you.  What is the next step and what is the goal?  For that matter, aren’t everyone’s goals slightly different?  Is the answer that Schwab gives the right answer for everyone?  I don’t know.  I suppose, if nothing else, it is not a bad place to start though.

The real topic for the Carnival though is to write about something that you were happy you splurged on or a time that you should have not tapped into the coffers.  For me, there are two things that come to mind.  First, I have an annual splurge that I am still trying to figure out how I afford.  Each year since I moved out to Utah I have bought a season pass for skiing.  Unfortunately, Utah is probably one of the most expensive states to ski in.  You can’t really pass it up though when you live there!  Normally I do take some time to contemplate big purchases, but I have never thought twice about skiing.  It is not a cheap sport to be involved in, that is for sure.

I live about 30 minutes from seven of the 13 ski areas in Utah, so picking where to get a pass was an interesting decision.  The first two years I was out there I qualified for a deeply discounted pass at the Park City Mountain Resort.  After that there was one heck of a price hike.  The average pass in Utah for an adult is over $1K for the season with most around $1.2K-$1.5K.  I like to get the most bang for my buck so I discovered that you can get an Alta/Snowbird Pass for $1.5K which is the same price as Deer Valley alone, so this seemed like a great idea.  I certainly have never regretted that decision.  I get great enjoyment out of the skiing and I don’t usually end up hurting too much in the wallet.  Besides, Alta is probably my favorite ski area.

My really big splurge though, was significantly bigger than a ski pass.  All things considered, I am probably really still recovering from the purchase.  As many of my readers should know, I am a photographer.  While I don’t rely on my photography to make a living at the moment, I am a professional.  When I was hired on as the staff photographer for PTC I decided that I really needed to step up to a professional level camera, needless to say, they cost some big bucks.

Now, I didn’t need to go top-of-the-line flagship model camera, that would have been a little too much, but I did want something that could keep up with the times.  I did as much scrimping and saving as I could, but this purchase really made quite the dent in my financial situation.  When all was said and done I probably ended up paying more for the camera than for my computer.  Totally worth it though, I love my camera and I have been making a decent little income off the theatre photography business.  It isn’t huge, but every little bit counts for something.  Besides, you do need to have the right tools for the job!

Of course I am now looking towards the next big purchase that I have on the horizon, a new computer.  I am a creative professional and I could really use a desktop computer at home with a nice big screen.  Those 27″ iMacs are looking super sweet.  I am not entirely sure how and when I will come up with the money for that AND continue to keep up my skiing habits, but somehow it all seems to work out in the end.  I know that I can’t sacrifice my living budgets (food, rent, gas, etc.), but I will figure it out.

Legal Stuff:

It should be noted that while I am a Schwab client, I am not employed by them nor am I in any way affiliated with the company.  I only keep an investment portfolio thought them.  The opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent the opinions of any other people or organizations.

Disclaimer: This post is part of the 20SB Blog Carnival: Friends & Money, sponsored by Charles Schwab. Prizes may be awarded to selected posts. The information and opinions expressed in this post do not reflect the views or opinions of Charles Schwab. Details on the event, eligibility, and a complete list of participating bloggers can be found here.

When is it that we get to the point where this is the thing to do when you want to meet with friends or have a meeting of sorts?  It just seems that relatively recently I have been running into friends to catch up with and the thought seems to go right to “why don’t we meet for coffee?”  When does that become the thing to do.  I mean, I don’t really remember what we did in high school, but I know that we didn’t go sit around the coffee shop to hang out.

The other day I went to meet a friend for coffee (and lunch) and we ended up sitting around the coffee shop all afternoon.  This is probably not even something that I would have done when I was in college and yet it is something that I would do now.  Then, last night I was chatting with another friend who I haven’t seen in quite a while and the first suggestion of something to do, a place to meet to catch up was over coffee.

I suppose there are people who do things like go to lunch as opposed to coffee, but on the other hand I guess there aren’t that many things to do that put you in an environment where you can just chat with someone.  It is interesting that meeting people usually involves food of sorts and for most people it is over coffee.  What is it about the atmosphere in a good coffee shop that makes it ideal, or is it the coffee itself?  Maybe Jen from Daily Demitasse can or has answered this question.  Is the coffee shop the original social networking site?

Have you ever been the recipient of a “drunk-dialed” phone call?  I can’t say that I ever had been drunk-dialed before last night, well I suppose it really was yesterday morning.  I was just sitting watching Star Wars when my ass started to vibrate.  I had totally forgotten that I was kinda sitting on my phone.

In my past experience, when I have been called after midnight by people that I know t is usually because something is wrong.  In some ways I kind of dread answering late night phone calls from people I know because it sucks to get bad news when you are half asleep.  At least tonight I wasn’t asleep, but when I saw the name come up on the screen, the first thing I thought was “Oh crap, she must be in trouble.”  Is the fact that this is my gut reaction a bad thing?  let me put it this way, if she had been in trouble I would have been happy to help if I could, even I had been asleep.

Thankfully, there was no crisis, though this particular friend always kinda sounds like something is wrong, mostly due to her quiet and seemingly unsure inflections.  I don’t think that being drunk really helped her.  It was a good thing that I was actually away when I took the call though because she started talking to me in Spanish, which I know enough of to understand her basic Spanish (she is not a Spanish speaker).  I was a little confused at first, but since I recognized her voice, it clicked pretty fast.

Considering that my friend was drunk enough to know that she wouldn’t remember our conversation tomorrow, we actually had a coherent conversation.  She even apologised for calling so late, and wanted to know if she woke me up.  Of course she had to tell me that I was first person in her address book on her phone on account of my name.  It happens to me a lot, I am either first or last (or close to last).  We also talked about what we were doing for the summer.  I didn’t know that she was working up at Yellowstone, that is cool.  I would love to get up there at some point to visit the park.

The conversation really made me wonder what it is about being drunk that motivates people to whip out their phones and start calling people.  I mean, what did we do before everyone had a cell phone?  I bet there were a lot fewer instances of drunk dialing then.  Now, today, we know that for the most part, we won’t wake up the whole house if we call someone’s cell phone.  Although, if we really know that when we are drunk is a whole different story.  Why do people think it is fun?

Personally, if you are going to hold an intelligent conversation like I had, then it isn’t a big deal, it was nice to catch up, even if I will be the only one who remembers.  On the other hand though, if you are just going call for the sake of calling, what is the point?  I mean, it isn’t quite the same as prank calling people.  Maybe the drunk party thinks it is, who knows?  I bet most people who drunk-dial don’t remember why they thought it was a good idea the next day, so it is probably a moot point in asking.  Whatever.

Morals of story: If you call me late at night I am going to assume something is wrong and be mentally preparing to help you however I can if you ask.  Secondly, to my friend who called, you helped make my night, it was pretty boring before the phone rang.  I am glad we talked even if you won’t remember.