Birthday Boy

Thomas Anthony John. Perhaps you know him as Tony, Anthony, TJ, Fat Tony John. He is 28.
Some things that remind us of Tony John:

Red Sox

Billy Joel

long talks
good advice

poopy pants

drama

eloquent
scarves
never used to wear a coat
tends to lose coats
married my (Jill's) sister

Happy Birthday Tony!

Hot Time, Summer in the City!

Something recently reminded me of when we went to Atlanta this summer, and with all this extra time I have on my hands recently, I thought it was about time to blog about it. Bethanie decided to go ahead and get married on us this summer. This is something my close friends don't do very often, so naturally, we couldn't miss this occasion. Janna, Darren, and I flew down to Atlanta a few days before the wedding and got to check out the city. We didn't go on a Segway Ghost Tour of the city, unfortunately, but we did have a few adventures (and may or may not have seen the ghost of Margaret Mitchell).

The Waffle House was delish. And gave us great hats. A Southern classic. We do have them in KC, but not on every corner like in Atlanta.

We also visited the Olympic Park. I remember being very sticky at this point, even though it was still fairly early in our adventures. Atlanta is a very humid place.







Special shouts out were given to our favorite moments from the 1996 Summer Olympics, hosted by the great city of Atlanta. Mine was of course Keri Strug and her miraculous vault landing.





Underground Atlanta held such wonders as "Mysteries of the Unknown" . . .




. . .and Mark Teixeira jerseys for 50% off, thanks to a trade earlier that week. Janna took advantage. I think she was not the only one.

We got to fulfill one of Darren's life goals in seeing the Braves play at Turner Field, where it just happened to be Wild West Night.

Very exciting (on both counts-checking off the goal, and being able to do so on a theme night).





I always appreciate a good theme night.


The weather threatened to be inclement, but it was not enough to drive away die-hard fans like us (mostly Darren).

Clint Sammons had a good game and we loved him. We also loved how the scoreboard showed the players decked out in western garb for Wild West Night (where, incidentally, Jewel sang the national anthem).

Also exciting was the fact that the Braves won.

Darren treated us with a lot of trivia and statistics about the team, the players, the stadium, baseball in general, etc. I remember little to none of it now. Sorry. But it was interesting at the time.

Katie joined us for Day 2 in the South, after an experience on the way to the airport that taught us that a GPS is not actually omniscient. I don't have the pics from our adventures that day, but we did visit the Margaret Mitchell Museum, including a (unauthorized) self-guided tour of her house. In the basement, the Gone With the Wind photos transitioned to a Martin Luther King, Jr. exhibit. Except there was not really a transition at all. And since we were not taking the official tour with a guide, we never really figured out the connection. Except this: apparently, MLK Jr. once sang in a youth choir at the premier of the Gone With the Wind movie.









Am I missing the connection here?



We also visited Martin's house and burial place. Very cultural.

We also had the mission of obtaining a garter for the wedding reception. I am pretty sure we were the only white people in the entire mall when we went to buy one.

The heat took a lot out of us though, and Katie needed a bit of a nap at the Marta station as we waited for Valerie to come pick us up for the bachelorette party. We had not seen Val all summer and were very excited to see her. She drove down from Charlotte for the wedding. I'm pretty sure Katie is dreaming about the tender reunion here and Janna is just not one to always show the full extent of her emotions. I was very excited, and probably was showing it behind the camera.

Extra Special shouts out to Valerie for being willing to drive us around (we obviously loved the public joy of Marta, but it was nice to have a car to get to the places the 4 train lines and various bus lines did not go, and on our own time schedule) and to her wonderful, generous, highly educated sister Maria, whose car Val was using this summer.


Bethanie all decorated for the party.









At the party we met Randon's sister Shawney. A couple hours later, on the way home, we asked her to be our best friend. We really like her. Shockingly, she did not seem to be scared away.

I suppose I should include some pics of the wedding day. It was the reason we were there. (This is why I never blog...it just takes me so long and by this point I just want to be done.)

The happy couple.



















Marci refused to smile for the pictures. I somehow, being an awesome photographer, caught this special moment where the true feelings of the bride and her maids were displayed. It was hot (the only way it could have been more humid was if it was actually raining--which it did just a short while later). And this was only the beginning.














It was so fun to be able to be there. So in the friends-getting-married count, we are now at 2 down, 7 to go. I have good company.

[Note: The 2 and 7 refer to the 9 of us that go back to the dorms/Lib Square. However, it was hard to actually narrow it to those 9 because some of those have temporarily left us while others have joined us since then. So maybe let's just leave it at this: My close friends tend not to get married. It's a trend we are still resisting.]

Here's to Thailand

Happy Birthday Cindy.

Tag Schmlag

I didn't think we'd ever have enough of a following to be tagged, but here I am. Carrie and Emily both tagged me, so I can't really escape it.

6 Places I go often:

1. The Law Lib. These are in order by the way. I spend most of my time here. I live my entire life here pretty much. It's kind of sad. (You may have to enlarge the pic to see that I'm pointing to the law building.)

2. The J. Reuben Clark Law School - Room 306. I have 3 of my 4 classes here, so I am there often. Since I spend approximately 89% of my life in the law building, I thought I'd separate the lib from the rest of the building.

3. Janna/Valerie/Lauren/Cara's house. You may call it Blue Condo West. You may call it West Sapphire Chateau. You may call it my home away from home.

4. The intramural fields. This season, especially the football fields (Lady Wingmen have 2 games this week--we might finally win! Come support!) I love the intramural program. I am always looking for more teams to support though I have no time to support them.

5. The Wilk. For weekly lunches. For random errands made up just to give me an excuse to get out of the law building for 2 seconds and get some fresh air.

6. Smith's. My life is really exciting.

6 people who email regularly
Who email me? Probably the Graduate Student Society, the Bishop, Dad, Melanie, other family members, Sister Rachel Bodily's weekly emails. Oh, and Doctor Dictionary is my most faithful correspondent, bringing me a Word of the Day each day. Today's word: intimation \in-tuh-MAY-shuhn\, noun:an indirect or slight suggestion; hint.

6 of my favorite restaurants:
Oh, I don't know. As I was recently reminded, I can't make decisions such as where to eat. I'll say Gloria's Little Italy, Chili's, Sol Azteca, Sweet Tomatoes, the Max, KC Masterpiece. But probably just because under this pressure I can't remember the place I really truly Love.

6 places I would rather be:
Really anywhere with people I love and enjoy. The beach , New York, Spain, home in KC, home at my apt, basically any place where I wouldn't have to deal with finals or writing my case note. I don't think that place exists. :(

6 TV shows I like to watch:
I really don't watch that much TV. But I would have to say: 1. The Office; 2. Without a Trace; 3. Jeopardy; 4. Wheel of Fortune (I really should be on this show. I am so much better than the people who are on it sometimes!); 5. Saved by the Bell; 6. The O.C. (especially Seasons 1 and 2).

6 People I tag:
I don't. Except Janna. If I have to do this, so does she. This was supposed to be a joint blog to document our adventures. This was not really an adventure, but we stopped following that rule in like post 1.

6 Quirks:

1. I like to eat the chocolate shell off of 3 Musketeers Bars before savoring the nougaty goodness inside. I just discovered this anew as I have eaten 2 bars in the past 5 minutes in that manner.

2. I don't like to sleep with doors open that are facing my bed. For example, I used to never be able to sleep with my closet doors open. I didn't like having that gaping hole staring at me while I slept. I had to get over that because my shoes impede the closing of the door these days. So now I hate to have the bathroom door open, which my bed currently points at.

3. I hate dangling prepositions. It was kind of painful for me to end that last paragraph with an "at." I blame Mr. Pulsinelli, 12th grade English teacher. Thanks to him I also couldn't say "this" or "that" without a qualifier. This what? I have slowly been able to get over that, but not completely. I still always think about it when I say it out loud, and cringe to myself.

4. I always run home from Janna's house. She now lives down the street from me, nearly a block away! I get bored walking to and from her house, so I often start to run to get there faster. Darren noticed this one night as he crossed the street to go home and I took off running, not even thinking about it. I got a phone call from him a few seconds later, thanking me for running. Apparently it was funny/weird...quirky, if you will.

5. I only drink milk out of a mug. I cannot/do not drink it out of a glass. I think it's because I don't actually like milk, so I only have it when I am eating cookies or some other delicious treat, which for some reason I associate with milk needing to be in a mug. I have made an effort to drink more milk in the past year, which means my cookie consumption has also dramatically increased.

6. I only do my crossword puzzles in pen. I refuse to use a pencil. It just looks ugly. Having to scribble or write over incorrect letters because I cannot erase? Not ugly. Pencil? UGLY. Also, I have to go down the list of clues in order. Even if one jumps out at me that I know right away, I will usually wait until I get to that number before I fill it in.

But I'm really not that quirky. Ask anybody.

The Boys are Back!

In fact, the whole cast was back...and so were we, this time in a theater with hundreds of screaming girls rather than in the comfort of our own homes. Last Thursday night/Friday morning, in honor of Darren's upcoming birthday (even though he didn't come), we attended the midnight(eh, 12:05...12:01 was sold out) showing of High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

HSM3: Senior Year is the third and final installment of the phenomenon that began as a Disney Channel Original Movie (a DCOM, if you will) like any other. But what was different about this DCOM? Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century was apparently successful enough to merit Zenon: The Zequal. But where was Z3? Not in the theaters. (In fact, it was the only Zenon installment not to be released on VHS or DVD.) Was it the music? Zenon had some catchy music, courtesy of intergalactic superstar Protozoa. "Boom, boom, boom, make my heart go zoom, zoom, my supernova girl." Classic. That can't be the deciding factor. Was it the choreography? Kenny Ortega is kind of a genius. Was it...Zac Efron?

You know what, it doesn't even matter. I totally digress. So we went to the theater for the midnight showing.

Now, I am the kind of person who will bring my own treats to the theater so I don't have to pay their outrageous prices. Shoot, it was a big enough commitment to buy a movie ticket that was more than $5. As a general rule, I struggle to commit to things more than $5. (Side note: this is the first time I have ever paid for anything High School musical related. I received the first DVD as a Valentines gift--tender, I know, he knew me so well--and both soundtracks as two-week-old hand-me-downs from my little sister when she bought the deluxe editions).

So I brought my own bag of popcorn. However, due to microwave timing issues, it may have gotten a little bit burnt. I wasn't sure, I hadn't opened it yet. The smell made me suspicious, but I would just figure that out later, it was time to go! Cara however thought the smell was downright offensive and wanted me to throw it out the window. I compromised.

Since this movie was kind of a big deal, we knew we would need to get there pretty early to get in line if we wanted to get 8 seats together. So we went at like 10. This left plenty of time for fun activities such as telling fortunes, and rolling some dice.

When I rolled the die, I defied all odds and on like 12 of my first 20 rolls, I rolled a 4. It was pretty amazing. Val and I were amazed.

Finally the lights dimmed and the previews began. All of a sudden Zac Efron's face filled the screen (who even knew he was in any other movies anytime soon?). Probably 85% of the theater screamed in unison. This became a theme for the night. Zac Efron appears: girls scream. Zac dances with Vanessa: girls scream. Zac takes off his shirt: girls scream. I hope that I speak for everyone in our group when I say that I did not scream at these moments. I laughed.

In fact, I laughed through much of the movie. Sometimes I couldn't help myself. It was one of those "this is riduculous, and I cannot believe they expect anyone to take this movie seriously and I'm loving it" laughs. Because, really. This movie is ridiculous. And I cannot believe anyone could take this movie seriously or expect me to. And I loved it.

P.S. Val loved it so much she went out and bought an East High sweatsuit the next day. (Okay, the pants were too small--even Val is not the size of a 10 year old--but we will be checking back for a tween size large when it comes in.)

Published

So Friday was the day. Our friend Jill Crane was finally published in the Daily Universe. It was epic to say the least. Jill wrote a letter to the editor in retaliation/as commentary on a previous letter about cheerleaders uniforms needing to be more modest at BYU, including a comment to the effect of "although I'm not quite certain because I've never been a cheerleader, but I believe it is still possible to do the splits in a longer skirt." You get the idea.
I was at work when I found that she had finally made it in. I had been sitting at my desk for approximately 10 minutes when one of my students became outraged at something in the readers forum. I am not a morning person so my outburst of laughter, probably before I had actually spoken to anyone mind you, was not only thought of as out of context by my employees but totally uncharacteristic for me period. They think I'm a little bit crazy anyways. Might as well keep it going. Anyways, after I explained to the confused girl that it was all in jest she fully appreciated.


So here you go, read and enjoy:

THE SHORTER THE BETTER

In response to the Sept. 24 opinion piece and resulting debate regarding the length of the cheerleaders' skirts, I have a suggestion: Stop thinking you are more righteous than the cheerleaders because you don't have nice enough legs to wear skirts that short. They're just doing their part to help the team.
I would call to your remembrance the episode of "Saved by the Bell" (season1, episode 16, "Save that Tiger") where Jessie wants the squad to wear ankle-length cheerleading skirts. For what should be obvious reasons, this idea didn't fly, and they returned to the traditional uniforms, which included short skirts. Naturally, the team won. The moral of the story here: modesty doesn't win, and if we want our football team to get into a BCS bowl, we should support the cheerleaders' short skirts and sleeveless tops. In fact, the shorter the better. Maybe if we took another inch off the skirts we could climb a few more spots in the rankings. You can't say that wouldn't be worth it.

There you have it. Please do not think that that was serious. I know we love Saved by the Bell, but to actually reference it parenthetically, how could anyone take that seriously? Come on people.

My heart just skipped a beat.

I was just reading Cindy's frequently updated blog, and lo and behold...
Less than 24 hours till kickoff! I'm getting a little giddy.

The Rules of the Derby

Having been to only two demolition derbies in my life to date, I don't think I would feel good about calling myself an expert yet. An aficionado certainly, but my friend Logan (with whom I have shared both of my derby experiences), is much further along that road to expertise. You might say I've learned everything I know in this area from him. As such, this post is dedicated to him in honor of his birthday, which was ages ago (August 12 - I'm embarassingly late).

For those who are planning to go to the next demolition derby that comes within 100 miles of your hometown (which really should be all of you), I have compiled a list of some of the rules of demolition derbies.

Rule #1 - Dress Appropriately

My #2 biggest regret in life is that I was inappropriately dressed for the first demolition derby I went to. I hope that some of my shame was erased through my efforts this time around.

Some examples of appropriate attire:

• Overalls (p.s. Susie's Deals currently does not have any overalls in stock--check back in the fall--but DI has three racks). Overalls should be worn with one strap, at most.
• Camo
• For women: Knock-off sunglasses (mine are straight from Chinatown). The flashier the better.
• Flannel
• Cut-offs
• Anything proclaiming state pride, especially if that state is Texas. "Don't Mess With Texas." Also, Logan's hat says something about Wyoming.
• For men: mirrored sunglasses. For some reason, these are excessively creepy when paired with a...
• Mustache!

I believe this mustache is known as "The Bruiser."

It also doubles well as a unibrow.

Somehow it ended up here for a while. It was very difficult to smile without it falling off. And it was very difficult not to smile while wearing the mustache. Warning about the mustache: it sheds.

More wardrode options:

• Mullets
• Harley Davidson anything

• Bandanas. This man artfully combines the flannel, mustache, bandana, and possible mullet. Side note: No need to leave your walking sticks at home. They ARE allowed.

• tank top
• tattoo
• long beard (beautifully paired with a balding shaved head)

• Stars and Stripes. God Bless America.

Rule #2 - Arrive early

The place was packed. Apparently we were very lucky to find seats, as not everyone did. My friend Laura (who did not recognize us upon the first glimpse) reported that they stopped letting ticket holders in soon after it started.

This pair was lucky enough to have front row seats and were appropriately dressed for the honor with dew rag, two-tone hair, low cut shirt and platform shoes.

When this blessed event is at a fair, as this one was, another reason to come early is to see all the cute booths and maybe get to pet some animals. This one's head felt soft as a stuffed animal.

There were also many carnival rides to choose from, including the Zipper. I agreed to go on it, but promised Logan I would throw up if I did, and was secretly relieved when it turned out to be to expensive for poor college students to ride.

Rule #3 - Eat greasy/fried food.
It appears this fellow purchased a Delicious Scone with Cinnamon and Honey Butter. Good choice, champ!

Rule #4 - Pick a favorite.
I believe this is essential. It helps to root for one car, maybe two, in each round. I am partial to station wagons.

66T must have been a favorite for one of the early heats. Look at him go!

Rule #5 - For when there is fire. Alternately, for when a car flips.

Naturally you will cheer because it is exciting to see a car flip or an engine catch on fire. However, you must quickly go quiet as the firefighters run out or someone goes to check and see if the person is okay. The silence shows your concern for the driver.
Once you get the signal that everyone is okay, you go wild. The crowd roars.

Rule #6 - Don't be disappointed if your chosen car does not win its heat - there is a grudge round.

Welcome to Grudge City, USA!
Any car that does not make it past its heat to the final round (and is still running) is given a second chance in the grudge match that takes place right before the final round.

Rule #7 - Regarding Children

Star them young. This tot is learning early to love the derby.

Someday soon, she will be able to appreciate it as much as these young ones.

Rule #8 - Participate in activities between heats.

It takes a while to clear all the wrecked cars out of the arena before the next round can begin, but this woman barely noticed. Time flies when you're doing the Macarena! Not surprising of the VH1 #1 Greatest One-Hit Wonder of all Time.
(Also, her husband must be a Toby Keith fan. Wardrobe approved.)

This kid had moves I'd never seen.
Warning: While the children should be allowed or even encouraged to celebrate, far too many young girls were mixing the pelvic thrust into their dancing. I was a little bit traumatized.

Rule #9 - Expect greatness.

Car 300 was a true champion. Despite its front driver-side wheel being completely turned under the car, he never gave up. The announcer proclaimed him out for the count, encouraging the other cars to get one last hit on him. That was all it took. 300 would not accept this teasing treatment of his defeat. And so it was that he roared back to life, surprising all but the truly devoted, winning the grand prize.

Rule #10 - NEVER let anything stop you from coming to a demoltion derby--not even an IV.