Woo hoo hello there- time for another postypost.
it's been a good week. worked tuesday in the bright angel restaurant- not bad, but super hectic. and on your first day youre just supposed to kinda watch and see how everything works... but i somehow ended up with my own section?? its like bussing/server helping, so its not just bussing tables. i mean its not hard or anything and ive worked in a restaurant before, but still... the servers were like getting on to me to do stuff and i was like really???!?!! this is my first day here and i have no trainer, i dont know where ANYTHING is. honestly.
anyway. had wednesday off, went for a run in the morning. ummmm, not as adjusted to the elevation as a thought. it was rough. then lunch, then went to flagstaff with nate, mike, and eli. it was a lot of fun, nice to get out of the park for a bit. hit up target, AHHHH i forgot normal civilization! bought some E.L. Fudge cookies, some granola, some popcorn, some batteries, a locker lock- good stuff. eli busted some vitamin water in the aisle, good. we then proceeded to drive around for a good 45 minutes looking for Bun-Huggers... but nate's garmen gps is WORTHLESS-- we could not find anything, ended up in a residential area and sketchily driving in circles by this cop like 6 times.. ended up finally going to some mexican place. it was actually really awesome (a kid's mexican restaurant for kids, according to mike)- it was featured on guy fieri's diners, drive-ins, and dives... how cool! it was real good, mmm. eli got the hugest burrito i've ever seen... this inevitably lead to conversations about poop and diarreah.. awesome. then headed back to gc. most ridiculous car ride of my life... "Would you believe me... if i told you.... that i had a dog named Diogi??"(d-o-g). Mike asked this question MAYBE 30 times, told us the story of his dog diogi, eli wouldn't believe him so he KEPT talking about it. somehow turned into him having a grandma named diogi, and another grandma named Seeaytee (c-a-t), and this lead to him having SIX dogs named diogi, and a grizzly bear named kriph (eli's roommate is named christopher and goes by kriph--another story), and penguin named kriphtopher. and him having his laptop for 94 years?? basically the conversation just spiraled way out of control, and continued pretty much the whole hour and half ride. mike kept asking "would you believe me---- if i told you...." and would add something ridiculous to the end. if eli said yes, mike would say it wasnt true. if he said no, mike would say it was true. i dunno what he was trying to prove with this really... it was honestly one of the funniest car rides of my life.
any vvayesss- worked again thursday and friday. got switched to the arizona room, which i think i like better. had to deal with some confusion about blue and red shirts..? got trained by the thai kids-- thus did not understand once again what i was supposed to be doing, but they were really nice and i like working with them. plus the az room is like 30 feet off the rim literally-so i have an awesome view of the canyon while im working. its not a bad job really, but i think im definitely gonna have to start serving soon, i cant buss all summer.. too monotonous.
anyway! what i've been waiting to write about-- the hike today! amazzzinnng!!! woke up at 4:30 to meet at the bright angel trailhead at five-- rough. met up with eli, lily, and meredith, and set off by like 5:15! gorgeous out already light at this point. got to see the sun rise over the canyon, INCREDIBLE, the light was slanting and beautiful over the rocks and hitting the canyon walls and it was nice and cool out and gorgeous. saw a mountain goat and her baby, cuties! they are really good at climbing vertical rocks.. i was of course fascinated by this. was a fun and easy hike down. went to indian gardens 4.5 miles down. its near the bottom of the first part of the canyon (there's two parts), and its lush and green, its basically a forest in the middle of the canyon. saw tons of lizards and mule deer and there were birds singing everywhere and it was beautiful out. we took a snack break and enjoyed it. i would love to camp at the campgrounds there at some point, it is honestly so gorgeous, and you can see the canyon walls rising all around you and they look incredible. THEN- another mile and half, pretty much flat, out to plateau point. this. was. AWESOME. you are in the middle of the canyon and its rising all around you, and you can see up and down the middle of it on both sides. i wanted 360 vision SO BADLY, i couldn't see it enough. the sky is just so huge and blue, and the canyon is so big and still and it's EVERYWHERE. once you get out plateau pt. youre only about 1000ft above the CO river, it was so much closer than i've ever seen it. and there are huge rock gorges on both sides of the point, and the north rim seems so close. it was honestly one of the most beautiful things ive ever seen. all you can hear is the wind and the river and its just breathtakingly huge and beautiful. i seriously cant even begin to describe it. and we got to sit out on the rocks and relax and take it all in, and there was no one else around, and we got to snack and fend off the rock squirrels and chat and it was a lovely thing! i had to pee in one of the rock crevices- good. AMAZING! my pictures won't even begin to do it justice. EVERYONE needs to get to plateau point during their lives.
the hike back (6 miles..4.5 of them UP!) wasnt bad.. until the end. we had lily's would-you-rathers to keep us focused! at 3 miles from the top it started raining.. and thundering and lightning! we all loved it though. it was adventurous and awesome- we just kept hiking. eli had a ridiculous yellow poncho, you could hear it flapping in the wind from like 100 feet away. the rain and thunder was actually really cool, it sounded really cool down in the canyon and it kept us from getting hot. very rugged! but the last mile and a half was reallllly tiring.. yikes. but finally got done! 12 miles! in 8 hours, with lots of breaks. im definitely gonna feel that tomorrow. yikess.. wet, dirty, and exhausted, never felt better! we all zipped home and showered then went to the az room to get real food, none of this e-caf biz. i ate... pork! i haven't eaten pork in AGES, but i NEEDED meat! and wanted it to, yes. so had barbeque. didn't feel too great afterwards.. but hey. my new rule is that if i hike 10 or more miles in a day, i will eat meat afterwards. good rule. well, came back after that and slept, have been in bed ever since. exhaustion. and no work tomorrow- SWEET! might get some frisbee going.
so yes. just another awesome day in the grand canyon. there is nothing like hiking, especially in a place as cool as this. dude i am LOVING it here!!
i'll probably get to bed again pretty soon... i just wanna sleep! write more soon.
(ps- the title is from Warehouse, my favorite dave matthews song from my dave matthews days. i was listening to them recently in remembrance of leroi moore (still can't believe he died, such a good saxaphonist)- and i heard this song and those lyrics and remembered how much i used to like them in high school. and the way he sings them is great too, he just really sounds so alive himself. listen to the live at luther college version of the song, you'll see what i mean. i just felt like they were fitting for the day/for my summer in general!)
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunburns and sore legs :)
Oh, canyon life. I am loving it so far! I am updating a lot now because tomorrow I FINALLY start work and i feel like i'm not gonna have near as much time for a) doing cool stuff and b) writing about it when i do!
well, i have had an awesome time since orientation got done. spent a little while (the end of saturday) just hanging out by myself, reading, blah blah. it was nice actually, went to the hopi house to look for gifts, they have really awesome native american artwork and stuff there. some of the gift shops here are really touristy, but others have really neat stuff in them. yesterday i hiked all the way out to hermit's rest on the rim trail- it's mainly flat, but it was like 8 miles long. i met this guy named charles on the way, and we hiked the second half of it together. he was cool, from CA, his dad and friends were hiking over from the north rim, down and up the south side all in one day, CRAZYYY!!! ended up getting lunch with him at bright angel (my future place of work!) and playing frisbee for a bit, then taking a nap and meeting up with some people at maswik. low key day, pretty fun. today was awesome, had a great time. went hiking down bright angel, to the 3 mile rest stop and then the three miles back up, so 6 total. it was a really fun hike, it felt much easier than kaibab, and it was great weather and GORGEOUS looking up at the canyon. i cant wait to get in shape and get down to indian gardens and the plateaus and eventually the colorado river and the phantom ranch at the bottom! it will be sveeeet, im glad a lot of the people here are into hiking.
after- ate a HUUUUUGE meal at maswik, dragged myself home to shower.. went over to chris and kate's, this couple who go to grand canyon community church, they cooked out for us and jared made ice cream (cinnamon this time) and their little girl sophia was dressing up in princess dresses--- it was cute! played signs, always a fun game, ESPECIALLY when people really have no idea what's going on really. had some interesting conversations as well- very funny. i love the people here. especially lauren, because she used to have a tarantula named pretty pretty princess... KEY!!
well, tomorrow starts my job. i doubt i'll be all that in love with it--but so far i am pretty happy here, so i think itll be fine. definitely sore and sunburnt from the hike/hikes i've been taking recently. but im perfectly ok with it, im never (well, rarely) as happy as when im hiking. and the canyon is just so gorgeous and dynamic really, like i said the view changes and is beautiful and different wherever you go and whatever kind of weather it is. it is still a little weird to me that i'm gonna be here ALL SUMMER, wowwww, but like i said athens feels a million lifetimes away. i saw a picture on my idle screen today, like when the photos from my comp come up, of me and caitlin sitting in the kitchen by the fridge the night of the lotus concert--- and the good ol 117 just looked like a different life that i lived! i dunno how things could have changed so quickly... ive only been away from athens for two weeks, (CRAZZZYYY), and in AZ for 1 week. time is so skewed! but so far i'm having a really good time and experiencing new things, just basically living the dream in grand canyon national park.
no complaints for now.
well, i have had an awesome time since orientation got done. spent a little while (the end of saturday) just hanging out by myself, reading, blah blah. it was nice actually, went to the hopi house to look for gifts, they have really awesome native american artwork and stuff there. some of the gift shops here are really touristy, but others have really neat stuff in them. yesterday i hiked all the way out to hermit's rest on the rim trail- it's mainly flat, but it was like 8 miles long. i met this guy named charles on the way, and we hiked the second half of it together. he was cool, from CA, his dad and friends were hiking over from the north rim, down and up the south side all in one day, CRAZYYY!!! ended up getting lunch with him at bright angel (my future place of work!) and playing frisbee for a bit, then taking a nap and meeting up with some people at maswik. low key day, pretty fun. today was awesome, had a great time. went hiking down bright angel, to the 3 mile rest stop and then the three miles back up, so 6 total. it was a really fun hike, it felt much easier than kaibab, and it was great weather and GORGEOUS looking up at the canyon. i cant wait to get in shape and get down to indian gardens and the plateaus and eventually the colorado river and the phantom ranch at the bottom! it will be sveeeet, im glad a lot of the people here are into hiking.
after- ate a HUUUUUGE meal at maswik, dragged myself home to shower.. went over to chris and kate's, this couple who go to grand canyon community church, they cooked out for us and jared made ice cream (cinnamon this time) and their little girl sophia was dressing up in princess dresses--- it was cute! played signs, always a fun game, ESPECIALLY when people really have no idea what's going on really. had some interesting conversations as well- very funny. i love the people here. especially lauren, because she used to have a tarantula named pretty pretty princess... KEY!!
well, tomorrow starts my job. i doubt i'll be all that in love with it--but so far i am pretty happy here, so i think itll be fine. definitely sore and sunburnt from the hike/hikes i've been taking recently. but im perfectly ok with it, im never (well, rarely) as happy as when im hiking. and the canyon is just so gorgeous and dynamic really, like i said the view changes and is beautiful and different wherever you go and whatever kind of weather it is. it is still a little weird to me that i'm gonna be here ALL SUMMER, wowwww, but like i said athens feels a million lifetimes away. i saw a picture on my idle screen today, like when the photos from my comp come up, of me and caitlin sitting in the kitchen by the fridge the night of the lotus concert--- and the good ol 117 just looked like a different life that i lived! i dunno how things could have changed so quickly... ive only been away from athens for two weeks, (CRAZZZYYY), and in AZ for 1 week. time is so skewed! but so far i'm having a really good time and experiencing new things, just basically living the dream in grand canyon national park.
no complaints for now.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Listen closely, and you shall hear...
Hello FRIENDZ! It is thursday-- the um... 4th day in the canyon. it feel like ive been here a lot longer though. i must say i have had a real good time so far, the canyon is INCREDIBLE!! i mean its gorgeous to look at, there's tons of different viewpoints to see it from and it looks different from all of them, and it looks different at different times of day. then there's the hiking, the wildlife, the geology and formation (which, of course, i'm really interested in..). its just really baller, if i may say so. stuff like this just reassures me of the kinds of things im in love with and what i want to spend my life doing-- getting closer to nature and seeing as much of it as possible, and keeping it healthy and letting people know how important it is to do that. everything that involves the earth and the natural things on it just interests so much more than people... i dunno if thats bad to say. i mean humanity in general is interesting to me, but only within the scope of the greater scheme that it exists in. this is why i could never have any job that doesnt involve nature and the planet. because humans BORE me! we are BORING. well, we aren't, but a lot of the stuff we do is...
ANYWAY. what ive been up to. explored the area/town of grand canyon (yes, it is in fact a town that im living in, called Grand canyon.. hm), walked along the rim a bit. saw a CONDOR, which apparently are really rare (like 50 in the wild) but there's a lot of rehab programs for them. they are HUGE, they actually are pretty cool, but everyone was having caniption fits over it.. it was kinda toolish. we went to see the sunset at ... some point, i can't remember which one, on tuesday. it was AWEEESSSOMMEEE, i took pictures but they aren't nearly good enough to describe what it looked like. it was windy and beautiful out, and the sun rays were slanting everywhere in the canyon and the light hit some cliffs and ridges but not others.... it was amazing.
yesterday we took a mini-hike.. 3 miles roundtrip on the south kaibab trail to cedar ridge. it sounds short, but remember, im at 7000 ft. elevation! its MUCH harder to breathe hear, and sleep and function and everything else, so we were told. and its real steep, about 1100 feet drop in elevation in only 1.5 miles. it was fun though, incredible views, get to see the rim from below, which is beautiful and amazing. it was hard, but SO FUN, and im now determined to get in shape and hike rim to rim by the end of the summer. its HAPPENING, and i can't wait. i WILL get to the bottom, and the north rim. DONE.
today was orientations all day--- BORING, but we got free food at maswik, yummmy!! and i found out i will be working at bright angel lodge. yippy! and tonight we are going on the sunset bus tour along the rim- free for employees. sweeet!
i'm having a lot of fun... things may change once the job starts, well see. i just cant wait to get hiking more. thats my main goal really. and maybe get to a couple other nearby parks and whatnot. we'll see what happens!
I still have high hopes for the summer, i'm already falling in love with the canyon and all the things there are to do and the hikes. i already feel a million years away from uga and athens and everything at home. i mean, i miss it and i miss everyone, but i already feel like im in this different life that has nothing to do with that one. its weird. this kinda stuff just shows you how much bigger everything is than your own life and your own town and all the things that you think are the center of the universe. there's so many more things to do and places to see.. whenever i get away from home like this, i feel like i can never go back and that i just have to much to do and i can't be still and stationary and sit in a classroom anymore. even though i LOVE school and what i'm learning and athens and all that--- but the time is short! i just feel like i have a lot to do, and i get restless so easily...
thus the LISTENING in the aforementioned blog title.
k thats enough. write again soon-- and with pictures!
ANYWAY. what ive been up to. explored the area/town of grand canyon (yes, it is in fact a town that im living in, called Grand canyon.. hm), walked along the rim a bit. saw a CONDOR, which apparently are really rare (like 50 in the wild) but there's a lot of rehab programs for them. they are HUGE, they actually are pretty cool, but everyone was having caniption fits over it.. it was kinda toolish. we went to see the sunset at ... some point, i can't remember which one, on tuesday. it was AWEEESSSOMMEEE, i took pictures but they aren't nearly good enough to describe what it looked like. it was windy and beautiful out, and the sun rays were slanting everywhere in the canyon and the light hit some cliffs and ridges but not others.... it was amazing.
yesterday we took a mini-hike.. 3 miles roundtrip on the south kaibab trail to cedar ridge. it sounds short, but remember, im at 7000 ft. elevation! its MUCH harder to breathe hear, and sleep and function and everything else, so we were told. and its real steep, about 1100 feet drop in elevation in only 1.5 miles. it was fun though, incredible views, get to see the rim from below, which is beautiful and amazing. it was hard, but SO FUN, and im now determined to get in shape and hike rim to rim by the end of the summer. its HAPPENING, and i can't wait. i WILL get to the bottom, and the north rim. DONE.
today was orientations all day--- BORING, but we got free food at maswik, yummmy!! and i found out i will be working at bright angel lodge. yippy! and tonight we are going on the sunset bus tour along the rim- free for employees. sweeet!
i'm having a lot of fun... things may change once the job starts, well see. i just cant wait to get hiking more. thats my main goal really. and maybe get to a couple other nearby parks and whatnot. we'll see what happens!
I still have high hopes for the summer, i'm already falling in love with the canyon and all the things there are to do and the hikes. i already feel a million years away from uga and athens and everything at home. i mean, i miss it and i miss everyone, but i already feel like im in this different life that has nothing to do with that one. its weird. this kinda stuff just shows you how much bigger everything is than your own life and your own town and all the things that you think are the center of the universe. there's so many more things to do and places to see.. whenever i get away from home like this, i feel like i can never go back and that i just have to much to do and i can't be still and stationary and sit in a classroom anymore. even though i LOVE school and what i'm learning and athens and all that--- but the time is short! i just feel like i have a lot to do, and i get restless so easily...
thus the LISTENING in the aforementioned blog title.
k thats enough. write again soon-- and with pictures!
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Beginning of the Beginning
Ok so. I'm here... in the grand canyon... alone. day one of the adventures. not too sure how i'm feeling at this point. got up at 5am GA time-- which is 2am AZ time. its now 8pm AZ time, so ive been up for about 18 hours, TRAVELING mind you!
landed first in phoenix, just gonna say NOT impressed with what i saw. took a teensy weensy plane (i mean, like 30 people, but the tiniest one i've ever been on, you board straight from the ground and all that, and the turbulence is outta control because it's so tiny, which i found kinda fun)---took this plane to flagstaff, this little cute mini airport. flagstaff is sweet. my taxi driver was real nice, found me inside and helped me w/ my baggage and stuff. he was pretty young and was telling me about flagstaff and what there is to do there and how he used to live in portland. then waited for the grand canyon shuttle-- that was cramped, and the german dude next to me kept falling asleep on me. but it was cool i suppose. finally got here! a little confusing, kept going in to the wrong offices and whatnot. didn't have time to fill out all my paperwork before the HR office closed so i gotta go in the morning in do it- THUS i didn't really learn where i'll be working or when i start or any of that stuff. i DID get drug tested for the first time though, NEAT! (it was negative by the way).
finally got to my room. have a roommate, but she wasn't around. interesting poster on the wall of a horse-woman and a dragon-man wrapped in an embrace with the words "chemical wedding" underneath it. hmmauhh what?
fell asleep in the middle of unpacking, woke up to a WINDY crazyville outside. decided to walk around and saw the grand canyon for the first time ever. WOOOOWWWAAAE!!! it was really really awesome. and it was nice out and breezy and awesome. i felt kinda dumb walking around alone, but its fine. awesome awesome view, right across the way from my building. theres lots of stuff around here, the gift shops and dining rooms and lodges and alot of tourists. i guess ill get used to it in time. i hope. got some lemonade and some pretzels, and now im just hangin out in the lounge.... i suppose a successful first day. haven't made any friends yet... would really like to know SOMEONE here. guess that'll have to wait til tomorrow.
we'll ill probaby go to bed soon... i feel like its almost midnight, and these people think its 8:15! oh, COME ON!!!
i miss my baby athens, she's such a gem and i KNOW PEOPLE there, and i know what the hell i'm doing and i don't walk around looking like a fool, a fool! (or so i think).
BUT! i'm here for now, so i suppose i'll make the best of it. i'm sure there are many suprises in store. ok well--- i'll write again soon.
PS- i do NOT understand Deal or No Deal... it is literally the most confusing game i've ever seen. k bye.
landed first in phoenix, just gonna say NOT impressed with what i saw. took a teensy weensy plane (i mean, like 30 people, but the tiniest one i've ever been on, you board straight from the ground and all that, and the turbulence is outta control because it's so tiny, which i found kinda fun)---took this plane to flagstaff, this little cute mini airport. flagstaff is sweet. my taxi driver was real nice, found me inside and helped me w/ my baggage and stuff. he was pretty young and was telling me about flagstaff and what there is to do there and how he used to live in portland. then waited for the grand canyon shuttle-- that was cramped, and the german dude next to me kept falling asleep on me. but it was cool i suppose. finally got here! a little confusing, kept going in to the wrong offices and whatnot. didn't have time to fill out all my paperwork before the HR office closed so i gotta go in the morning in do it- THUS i didn't really learn where i'll be working or when i start or any of that stuff. i DID get drug tested for the first time though, NEAT! (it was negative by the way).
finally got to my room. have a roommate, but she wasn't around. interesting poster on the wall of a horse-woman and a dragon-man wrapped in an embrace with the words "chemical wedding" underneath it. hmmauhh what?
fell asleep in the middle of unpacking, woke up to a WINDY crazyville outside. decided to walk around and saw the grand canyon for the first time ever. WOOOOWWWAAAE!!! it was really really awesome. and it was nice out and breezy and awesome. i felt kinda dumb walking around alone, but its fine. awesome awesome view, right across the way from my building. theres lots of stuff around here, the gift shops and dining rooms and lodges and alot of tourists. i guess ill get used to it in time. i hope. got some lemonade and some pretzels, and now im just hangin out in the lounge.... i suppose a successful first day. haven't made any friends yet... would really like to know SOMEONE here. guess that'll have to wait til tomorrow.
we'll ill probaby go to bed soon... i feel like its almost midnight, and these people think its 8:15! oh, COME ON!!!
i miss my baby athens, she's such a gem and i KNOW PEOPLE there, and i know what the hell i'm doing and i don't walk around looking like a fool, a fool! (or so i think).
BUT! i'm here for now, so i suppose i'll make the best of it. i'm sure there are many suprises in store. ok well--- i'll write again soon.
PS- i do NOT understand Deal or No Deal... it is literally the most confusing game i've ever seen. k bye.
Monday, May 11, 2009
"Wake up! Who has to go to the lavatory??"
"How come Andrew gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up... it'll be ANARCHY!!"
Just a little John Bender quote to get things going. Alright well, I am officially spending my LAST NIGHT in the 117 tonight... weird. And I am the only one here... cool guys. I am real sad, and I'm dreading packing up tomorrow. I love my room a whole whole lot. And honestly I love the apartment too. A lot of groooood things have happened here. A lot of nonsense. A lot of things I can't really describe, basically just the TWT Joke Life I've been existing in the past year.. (How did we survive that??)
WELL, anyway.. tomorrow is monday (ive had enough of the correct capitalization and all that), meaning that a week from tomorrow I leave for ARIZONA and the grand canyon, BOOOMMM!! that is really the whole point of this blog deal, so my many followers can keep tabs on me and my adventures. i'm really looking forward to this summer, i think it'll be awesome to be out on my own in the middle of a place i've never really been before. i kinda did that last summer at wildhorse canyon, and it was BALLIN. i'll be waitressing this summer, which YES is kinda lame. BUT i'll be living at the grand canyon, how can i go wrong?? many people (unnamed, kristy and aunt sherry, among others) a little bit freak out when i tell them i'm going "alone" (i won't ACTUALLY be alone) for that long (only two and half months)- BUT! i'm twenty! it's my golden year! im gettin' the goods in while i can. i'm fully expecting a life-changing summer.
then again, i feel like i consider a lot of things to be life-changing... sophomore year for instance! MONEY!! and i feel like it's only gonna get better from here. I have high hopes!!
Just a little John Bender quote to get things going. Alright well, I am officially spending my LAST NIGHT in the 117 tonight... weird. And I am the only one here... cool guys. I am real sad, and I'm dreading packing up tomorrow. I love my room a whole whole lot. And honestly I love the apartment too. A lot of groooood things have happened here. A lot of nonsense. A lot of things I can't really describe, basically just the TWT Joke Life I've been existing in the past year.. (How did we survive that??)
WELL, anyway.. tomorrow is monday (ive had enough of the correct capitalization and all that), meaning that a week from tomorrow I leave for ARIZONA and the grand canyon, BOOOMMM!! that is really the whole point of this blog deal, so my many followers can keep tabs on me and my adventures. i'm really looking forward to this summer, i think it'll be awesome to be out on my own in the middle of a place i've never really been before. i kinda did that last summer at wildhorse canyon, and it was BALLIN. i'll be waitressing this summer, which YES is kinda lame. BUT i'll be living at the grand canyon, how can i go wrong?? many people (unnamed, kristy and aunt sherry, among others) a little bit freak out when i tell them i'm going "alone" (i won't ACTUALLY be alone) for that long (only two and half months)- BUT! i'm twenty! it's my golden year! im gettin' the goods in while i can. i'm fully expecting a life-changing summer.
then again, i feel like i consider a lot of things to be life-changing... sophomore year for instance! MONEY!! and i feel like it's only gonna get better from here. I have high hopes!!
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