Friday May 26th,

So alas, we arrived in Jackson... To find Alex standing on his office's balcony laughing at the clown show that Ben and I had turned into. By the time we both bailed out of the car we were arguing like an old married couple...actually more like siblings. The bickering hadn't stopped in about 2 hours (prior to which Ben was asleep so wasn't really an issue). Anyways, after visiting Alex's abode, grabbing some lunch, and resting for a few Alex headed back to work. It is at this point that I should introduce you to Colin, Alex's roomate as he will be an integral part to this story. Colin is a nice chap, originally from Duxbury, MA. Went to Milton with Ben and Dartmouth with Alex.

So Ben, Colin, and I headed off to the liquor, no... I did not have that great of an influence on everyone (hell it was only 2pm, that's early even for me!) Anyways, we headed off to the liqour store to pick up the necessary tickets for the evenings activities - Jackson Hole Wine Tasting. After which we had a relaxing hike (for some - a bit rough on someone else *coughbencough* though I won't mention any names here) that included discussions on everything from biodisel, tuna fishing (yes, dad, I even talked about tuna fishing) amongst many other things. Our short hike (that should have had us back around 5) ended up taking a bit longer and we were all pleasantly suprised to see Alex pull up in the subie in the parking lot :-). After a couple quick showers and clean clothes we were all ready to head to the Jackson Hole wine tasting. A pleasantly suprising event! Picture this: me, lilwaldo - miss east coast (just to give you a mental pic (don't have any real ones) in a pink and green polo, pink belt, jeans, and flip-flops, with three nicely dressed gentlemen arriving in what seemed to be the gathering of the entire town. And I have to admit, while it was nice at first to see how many people Alex and Colin knew, I quickly realized & remembered why I now live in a "big" city and haven't lived in a super small town since I was 18. everyone knew everyone. And everyone knows everything about all the others. Now you may say, lil, what's the big deal with that - your life is an open book, you should practice what you preach. And while this is 100% true, sometimes it's nice not to have to think, am I going to run into my ex? Sometimes, its just really hard to keep up appearances, just to keep everyone happy. Yes, I love it when people get along and yes, I am quite good at getting over crappy things in my life. But the problem is, I can't control anyone else and if they are still hung up on things, try as you may, it can really get in the way of you trying to move on with your life if no one else is moving on.

Also. I once again realized something that I have been thinking about for quite a while. The effect of drama on people's lives. For some reason while at this event, my intuition was telling me that something wasn't quite right with this group of "friends." Later on I would learn the long and tangled story of what was going on, which is completely unimportant to this post. What I realized is how perfectly sane and normal people when paired up with certain other people will just cause drama. This actually was a huge realization for me as it has caused me to reflect on my own life. Why is that when I am around a particular ex of mine there is all this unnecessary drama? I know I have a dramatic streak to me, but what goes on between us is like a catastrophic explosion. And what I see now, is sometimes people, without meaning to do so, end up constantly having friction for whatever reason. And there isn't much you can do it. Personalities clash and while you may really like the person, hell you may even love them, you life, just isn't better with them as your signficant other because there is all this unnecessary stress. And as sad as it is, maybe it is just time to move on and start over fresh. If a relationship is born out of chaos it is very hard to pull it back to some semblance of normalcy.

Anyways, all in all the wine tasting was quite fun. Colin and I found some good Kiwi wine (which obviously I would have loved regardless if it was any good) and also had some amazing champagne. Too bad Colin threw out the tasting book (just kidding - I threw it out). After the wine tasting we grabbed a bite to eat - consisting of elk sausages which were quite yummy! Anywho, after grabbing a beer we entered in to the "upper stage" of the venue where the improv comedy show was taking place. And let me tell you, Improv comedy in Jackson, WY is not all that bad, quite funny actually. I know, that totally sounds like a snobby city girl thing to say, but when you come from the city of endless entertainment (with great shows most nights) its hard to live up to that. But these guys (one of whom was a friend of Alex's) were really good. Some of the jokes most certainly flew over my head but oh well.

After a quick stop at Wendy's we all headed home to bed for a good nights rest. Knowing that before us, on Saturday, lay the next big adventure. The TRAM at Jackson Hole was going to be opening back up again and skiing was to be done!

-lilwaldo