observations

Hare are some observations (contradictions and heavy assumptions included) from a usually-wait-til-they-come-to-the-Broadway local who happened to get her mittened fingers on a somewhat-useless but sometimes-useful press pass to Sundance.

1. You will be ignored if you mention that you are local, unless "local" means you call Park City home.
2. You need to wear boots.
3. People will take pictures of you; you will be tempted to look at the sidewalk which explains why celebrities are always looking down or away when you see them in spreads like Us Weekly's "They're Just Like Us!"
4. You will wish you brought your sunglasses.
5. People who seem to not care come off as cooler--more legit--than those who do.
6. You will want to feel secure about your own fashion choices.
7. Good fashion choices pay off and can land you a pair of free boots. ("I like you. You dressed cute," they will say.)
8. You will be constantly tempted to pull out your camera, though you might not lay eyes on any celebs. When you do pull out your camera to photograph the head-to-toe fur-wearing woman who just walked by, you will feel a little ridiculous. You will then reassure yourself by reminding yourself that at least you're not the one who is being photographed because of her Yeti-like getup. But what about that guy who pointed his big-and-scary lens at you a minute ago?
10. You need to carry cash.
11. You will find yourself eavesdropping as you walk behind bundles of foreigners (read non-locals) on Main Street; you will laugh a little when a distinguished middle-aged man walks by and says to his also-middle-aged wife: "I've never even heard of the Sundance Film Festival." Apparently, his Deer Valley vacation-timing was off, and he has no contact with any type of media.
12. You will roll your eyes at the mink coat-wearing teen buying Miss Sixty boots at Bunya Bunya who says, "And these are the only pair you have, right? Good. I don't want anyone else to have them. Now show me what you have that's Juicy Couture. I live in Juicy sweats."
13. You will realize that you love fashion, and love people who love fashion without being snobby.
14. You will have to get used to waiting. In the cold.
15. You will feel a little like a walking identity crisis: Are you here for the movies or the scene? Is it OK to be here for both? Is there a happy medium, and if not, which side are you on?
15. You will be forced to skip out on a movie that starts at 4:30 p.m. when your toes start to freeze at 3 p.m. and you have been in every single shop and can think of nowhere else to go to warm them. Or when your cell phone dies and you don't have any contact with normal human life.
16. You will promise to head back up tomorrow and actually see the films you have tickets to, and remind yourself not to come too early ... but realize that is going to be difficult when parking is either $25 or absolutely horrendous.
17. You will get a little caught up in the glitz and glamor and hype, but will be happy to come back down to Salt Lake at the end of the day.
18. You will wish your sister was there to enjoy the day with you; press passes without plus-ones are no fun.
19. The best things in life are enjoyed with others.
20. You will have a hard time writing a story about the Sundance scene when it is something you simultaneously make fun of and are fascinated by.