A taste of: ‘Fight Club, New Mexico’

Now Listening To: Your New Twin Sized Bed, by Death Cab For Cutie

This is a little part of something I wrote for my other blog a while ago, about our amazing trip to New Mexico.  I did a bit of rewriting it, and here it is (just a small segment of it) for your reading pleasure! If you haven’t read/watched Fight Club, or seen Gone in 60 seconds, you may not understand it.  At all.  Like… it’s all references.  It was also written at a very strange part of my life, but hey, I can deal.   I hope you enjoy it and keep an open mind.

Fight Club: New Mexico

It’s 85 mph down the freeway, in an ‘03 Toyota Corolla, and I’m getting some sleep.  At least that’s what I’d be doing if it was quiet.

“Come on man, you’ve gotta MOVE, put the pedal down!”

“It’s on the floor already, GO COROLLA GO!!”

“There’s no way we’re going to make it!”

Slightly disoriented, I sit up and look around.  The back seat had been my makeshift bed before Shane and Lonny decided to pass a semi. 35 miles per gallon is a typically a blessing, except for rare cases when passing a semi with another truck coming the other way about to turn us into a giant metallic pancake.  Mmmm… Did I mention I LOVE pancakes?  

The automatic transmission finally understands we need to accelerate and kicks down a gear, propelling us forward past the truck a few seconds before we were flattened.  After a moment of silence (in which I thought about eating pancakes), Shane continues to justify the purchase of a new Mustang. Right before going to college.  When he just bought this Corolla 6 months ago.

“Now, if I was driving a ‘67 Shelby Cobra, GT 500…”

“You wouldn’t be a self-indulgent wiener, sir, you would be connoisseur.”

“Precisely”

Nicolas Cage’s words coming out of my mouth.  And I used to be such a nice guy.

The GT 500.  Eleanor.  Unicorn.  Perhaps the only reason that Gone in 60 Seconds is a fantastic movie.  Lonny didn’t particularly care for the movie, but then again, he liked the movie Betelgeuse.  ’Nuff said.

Watching 60 Seconds the night before really didn’t help Shane save for college, he wanted his Mustang.  It also didn’t help that Ryan, Shane’s amazing uncle who took us in for our venture to New Mexico, also owned a black Mustang GT, california style.  That car was a work of art.

It was here that I realized all of this, the car, the mustang, the pancakes, all had something to do with a girl named Elyse Balls.

* * *

For 3 hours I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t sleep…  At church nothing is comfortable, every seat is a copy, of a copy, of a copy.  Each carefully crafted and optimized to keep you awake and uncomfortable as long as possible.  The bench in front of you has a hard piece of wood where you’d normally rest your head for a little nap.  This was the single practical use I’ve found for a tie, a little padding for my forehead while I tried to sleep.  That noose hanging around my neck that would go away if only I could stop tightening it.  Next time that tie goes around my neck around my neck, strangling me, I’m gonna grab that little tie and scream “Tie, you big tourist, I NEED air, now GET OFF!”

4:02 pm, Day 1

As I left the church building, disappointed that I only slept an hour out of three, Shane rings me up on my cellular phone so I know I’m not alone, in a world full of… mormons. 

“Talk to me” I answered my phone with my ‘cool’ voice.

“New mexico, you in?”

“I’m in Utah, actually, but close.  You?”

“What?  No, do you want to go to new mexico?” Shane said.

“You mean that place down south full of Mexicans, skin cancer and pinto beans?  No, I don’t want to go to New Mexico, thank you very much.”

“See, you’re thinking of Mexico.  I’m talking about New Mexico.  Totally different place.”

“Sell me.”

“Mexican Food, and my uncle offered to let us stay for free.  He’s got a big screen TV, a pool, and a place for us to sleep.”

“Hmm, but does he have pancakes?”

“…  Doesn’t everyone?” 

I thought for a minute.  That could be a fun trip.  “Tempting, but I’ve got some stuff going on this w-”

“Oh, and I almost forgot, he has a hot tub.”

Within the hour we were cruisin’ down the freeway in Shane’s awesome ‘rolla.

5:12 pm, Day 1

“How did you convince us to go to Mexico again?” I asked.

Shane sighed.  “New Mexico has Mexican Food.  You love mexican food.”

“Yarr.  How did we convince Lonny to come?”

“Video games.”

“Oh, right, right.”

“POP, Alert.” Tanner’s cop-detector we had borrowed was informing us of mounties ahead.

Wait, back up…

 

NOW Listening to: Better Days, by the Goo Goo Dolls

Anyway, there you go.  So, today was an accomplishment, and enjoyable at the same time.  I woke at 7 (after 4.5 hours of sleep), did a rigorous upperbody workout (felt good though), ate a massive breakfast, got to japanese and got a perfect score on the test.  I’m not sure I did so well on my nutrition test, everything was about the chemical level of things, something that doesn’t interest me in the least.  After that I had lunch, played some Smash Brothers (getting my skillz back), and skipped Art in order to read Stephen King.  Yes, I know, I know.  I should get to classes, but Drawing 1010 is driving me up the wall lately, and I’ve been wanting to read for… hours, since I read a lot last night, and the night before, etc.

Went bouldering with Josh (watered down rock climbing), though I couldn’t do much since I was so sore.  Let’s see… dinner, talked to shane, watched the Office, and spent the rest of the night with Katie, Molly, and Courtney.  It was actually a ton of fun even though we didn’t do much.  One of the better nights I’ve had in a while, for sure.  Lastly, tomorrow I don’t have Japanese, and Cultures is a breeze (also not until 1:30), so I’m sleeping in (it’s 2:00 am now), working out when the gym is empty, taking a nice long shower, etc.  My weekend has really already started, woot.

I don’t have much spiritual inspiration other than this: It seems to me that our society operates largely the same spiritually as we do with our poor health.  When we look in the mirror and see that we’re overweight and don’t look to good, we decide it’s time to get back into shape.  After we’ve lost some weight, we blindly go right back into our old habits and horrible eating.  It’s really unhealthy.

Spiritually we wait for our trials to set in before we turn to God, before we actually want anything to do with religion.  I’m guilty of the same thing, near death experiences do that to you.  However, I understand now that it’s not just living our lives with the church vaguely in the background.  It’s not even good habits.  It’s not reading your scriptures, going to church, etc.  It took me a while to make the simple realization that it’s more than that.  It’s in your heart.  It’s about becoming all that God asks of us from a high level perspective.  At our very cores, in our hearts, to honestly seek to improve every day.  

My biggest struggle with sin has always been and always will be worldliness.  It took me years to recognize it as a real sin, and boy is it problematic.  Getting caught up in the world happens if you don’t have a constant guard up.  It’s not all bad worldliness either.  Plenty of great books, wholesome entertainment, valuable pursuits, and experiences to be had, but all too easily it replaces God in our lives, and it’s something I’ll have to fight with for the rest of my life, but I can accept that. Bridle all your passions, but don’t get your priorities mixed up.  That’s where reading your scriptures comes in, a constant reminder, a constant pull towards the right path.  That’s why the little habits are so crucial, your heart has to be in the right place first, but they’ll keep you on that path.  Final note: reading the scriptures like a normal book.  It doesn’t help nearly as much, folks.  Get in the bible dictionary, find subjects you’re thinking about in life, find interesting stuff, have something in mind before you start, and really study it out.  It’s much more fun that way.

|dave

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