The Swell Season Concert

On Saturday night (28th) Jenessa, Emilee, and I went down to Salt Lake City to see arguably the greatest band in the world, but without a doubt my favorite band, The Swell Season. (Here's a clip of their most popular song - Falling Slowly)

I first fell in love with this band after watching a premiere of the movie "Once" at the Sundance Festival. Scott got a pair of free tickets from a guy at work, so we went. I don't know how to describe the movie other than pure art. And magic. The feeling in that room after watching this incredible show was electric. It sounds cheesy, but everyone in that room sort of looked around and each other and clapped. We all knew we had seen something that doesn't come around every day. The magic wasn't in the production of the film - but in the emotion of the two musician/actors who portrayed Guy and Girl in the film. (I say musician/actors because they don't consider themselves actors, but musicians first and foremost. And the two main characters are never named, so they are credited simply as Guy and Girl) The music is really the driving force behind the "musical" - it's what made Once Once --what made the movie magic.

So, there's my endorsement of the film. Watch it. Seriously. You won't regret it! (NOTE: It was filmed in Ireland and a certain word over there doesn't mean what it means here... They say this word a good amount of times, so if this word bothers you, then you may not enjoy the movie so much. I shouldn't rationalize, but when they say the word, they don't mean it as we would mean it. Anyway, consider yourself warned.)

The concert was down in Salt Lake City at the Rose Wagner Theatre - a really beautiful space. They had Rachel Yamagoto perform before they came on. She did a few songs that were very good, but they were all just depressing. All about love gone wrong and whatnot. Very talented artist, but I hope she can get into a better relationship sometime so some less melancholy songs can be done.

When I first watched Once, it had become a dream for me to see them perform live. I had watched countless videos on YouTube of their performances and I just knew that I had to see them live for myself. Well, wouldn't you know it they came to Salt Lake City! So, I called two of my friends who were as obsessed with the music as I was and we were able to get 4th row tickets.

Needless to say, the concert was everything I had dreamed it would be and even more. The music was all so incredible, but just the feeling of being there and seeing them live was so great. They loved to involve the audience when they could by having us sing the chorus or sing the melody while he would harmonize etc. It's hard to explain but it was a lot of fun.

After the concert, we waited outside for 30 minutes or so until they came out so that we could meet them and talk with them. They are both just down to earth, humble, nice people who love music because it's music. Not because they are making money for it. Now, obviously I don't know them well enough to know how much they care about the money, but you can tell that they are singing from their hearts. Every song is so unique and from deep within and you feel as if they are sharing some secret, special, personal part of them with their audience. The music moves me so much!

Anyway, so we met them and the female singer is from the Czech Republic so I was able to speak very, very little Czech with her and she thought it was pretty cool that I was learning Czech. I don't know if I ever told her why I was living in the Czech Republic for two years, but it was still fun just to hear a native speaker speak the language. She taught how to correctly pronounce a few things, so that was very helpful! Glen came out as well afterward and we just talked for a bit - mostly about the weather. I had brought something for them to sign, but when I went to grab it I couldn't find it.


(I look like such a spaz. I swear, I had a great smile right until the shutter clicked... I wish I had taken just one more as well just to be safe, but... I didn't. Haha, so this will have to do.) Just ignore the dummy on the left. ;)

Marketa Irglova


There you go. That was my amazing night. A few disappointments, but two of my dreams came true. I saw them perform live AND I was able to meet them both afterward!

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Because I just can't get enough of this band, here are a few links to some of their performances:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATzyS4-f3Kw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pnxdlSAz_Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOy6ZC4ugbw

Mission Call

People have been clamoring for me to update my blog, so here goes! I couldn't think of what to write about until I realized that I hadn't written a post about the mission call yet... Woops.
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I have been called to the Czech Prague mission. I leave December 16th and I will be speaking Czech! My mission covers both the Czech Republic and Slovakia, so there's a good chance that I will spend some time in Slovakia as well.

I got my call around 3:00 PM on Wednesday, 26th of August just 9 days after my Stake President had submitted the papers to the First Presidency. I wasn't expecting it until the week after, so this was quite a shock! As soon as I got it, Olivia, Joseph and Scott just wanted me to open right then and there! I told them that I would wait until the parents got home. (At the time, I didn't realize that they wouldn't be home until 8:45 or later that night! I know it was just over 5 hours, but man it was killing me!)

I spent the next hour or so inviting my brothers and sisters, grandparents, and some other family members to come to the house at 9, which is when I decided I would open my call.

Grandma Peterson

Grandma Jensen

Grandpa Peterson, Daryl (cousin), Olivia (sis-in-law)

Most everyone was there by 9, but we were still waiting for my brothers and sister to get back home. So we talked for 15 minutes or so, and when Scott finally walked in the door, we were pretty anxious.

Scott (Can you tell it runs in the family?)

I had made a decision beforehand that I would open my call alone, in the privacy of my room, and then come up to tell everyone else. I wanted a minute or two to adjust and feel the Spirit that was present when I opened the call and to just share this moment with my Father in Heaven and my dad, Kevin, who I know is up there watching me and is proud of the choices I am making.

So, before I went downstairs we went around the room and had everyone say their guess as to where I would be going. A few said Florida, some said Brazil/Mexico/Peru/etc., some others said Africa, my parents both guessed Canada, others said Sweden/Germany/East Europe and pretty much everyone joked, "Boise, Idaho" (I hadn't heard that one before!)

Once I was down in my room, I knelt down and said a prayer asking for the Spirit to be present and to confirm that this call truly came from the Lord. By this time, my hands were literally shaking with anticipation. I got up and sat down on the chair. Grabbed the envelope and slid the letter opener across the top of the envelope. (I remember thinking, "Uh oh, what if this isn't my call? What if they are just asking for more information or something?!?) When I saw the call packet, I knew that this was it. My call. This moment, 19 years coming, was finally here! I turned over the envelope and read the letter.

"Dear Elder Peterson,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Czech Prague Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months."

Whoah. Czech Prague? Czech Prague?!? CZECH PRAGUE?!? NO WAY! I had to read the letter 3 or 4 more times to make sure that I had read what I had read!

I immediately grabbed the call and ran up the stairs to tell the family gathered around. The feeling in the room was electric! As soon as I read the first few lines, the room erupted in cheers! Hugs all around! I must have smiled for an hour straight! The bishop wanted to know right away when I opened my call, so I called him. Then I called a few other people that night, but it was getting fairly late, so I decided to call everyone else the next day. I had planned to call all my Aunts and Uncles that night and tell them personally first, but I found out that right when I opened my call, my mom and sister had texted everyone in the family en masse! Haha, so much for being the first to tell them. :) That's okay though. I still gave them a call, and I can't blame my sister or mom. They were just so excited!

The call!

And ya. That was the night I opened my call! Sorry, it's kinda long again. I swear, I never plan to make these blog posts this long! It just kinda happens. :) So, hurrah if you made it through to the end. I will write another short post sometime soon I hope. Have a great day!


P.S. This is a picture of my little niece - Lola Monroe Elgan, just a few weeks old when I opened my call. She's going to be so big when I get back!

Lola and I

Also, thanks Brein for taking these pictures! You're great! :)

Powers?

Vending Machine Powers

With great power, comes great responsibility.

Simply put. I have vending machine powers. Now, I'm not talking about when you just happen to find an extra item or two in the bottom when you retrieve your purchase. That can happen to anybody.

No, I'm talking about vending machines giving me extra items ON command! (Okay, so not really on command. It's not like I can talk to vending machines or anything...)
They can READ my mind!

Here's the story. There I was one day all by my lonesome in the great "Commons" of Weber High School a few years ago when I notice a drink vending machine off in the corner. It's green. And glows. Eerie enough, right?

Well, I decided that a long day tech rehearsal calls for A&W Cream Soda. So, dollar in hand, I make my way over to a close proximity (cool word, eh?) of the vending machine. I look on the left hand side and see nothing but Pepsi and Mountain Dew buttons. That's not going to work. Looking to the bottom-right I see Fresca and Strawberry Lemonade buttons. Both very nice items, but again, not what I'm looking for. Looking up to the upper-right hand buttons I see A&W Root Beer and... CREAM SODA! Bingo! I stick my dollar in the slot and it accepts on the first try. I go to depress the button - or is it press?

(Wordnet-Princeton defines depress as "to press down" among other things. So, you depress the button. Or do you? Wordnet-Princeton defines press as "to exert pressure, or force, to or upon" So, you depress something by pressing it. When you see de-press, sometimes you think to UNDO the action of pressing. Which isn't the case at all. So, is there really a difference? I think the main difference comes with people's different connotations of the word depress. Depress seems to be used more often when dealing with peoples emotions while press seems to be used with to regards to physical matters. So, I guess, all-in-all, depress or press could be used interchangeably in this story.)

Back to the story. I go to depress/press the Cream Soda button when I notice that the light was out! Oh no! Does this mean that the vending machine is out of the soda I so desperately need? Well, I chance it and press/depress the button anyway and lo and behold out pops the Cream Soda! Then I walk away. Pleased with my purchase.

As I'm walking away, I hear a *clunk*. (Hmm, that sounds like something ELSE dropped down the chute on the machine... No, it couldn't be.) Oh yes. It did be. I turn back around and see ANOTHER Cream Soda in the depository! What luck! Without any pangs of guilt, I go back and retrieve the second Cream Soda. ("I'll drink this one next week sometime" I think to myself.)

That was the first hint to my vending machine powers.

The second experience with my powers came just a few weeks ago at Weber State University in the Student Success Center.

There I was all by my lonesome when I felt a hankering for Doritos come over me. Glancing to my right, I see an old, decrepit vending machine. I decide to try my luck and I again insert my dollar into the slot. I look to the top rack of the machine and see Doritos. Wait! Two of them are stuck in the same slot! What luck! I select A-3 and expect them both to fall out. Nope. A THIRD one gets stuck! I stick another dollar in and select A-3. And what happens then? They all three come out! Yes! 3 for 2 dollars. Good deal! I grab my purchases out of the bottom and prepare to walk away.

That was when I decide to glance back at the machine and where the LED would normally say, "Thank you! Have a nice day!" It says, "$1.00" Wha-? I decide to try my luck/power out and I select another item. Out come the cookies and the LED says, "Thank you! Have a nice day! ... ... ... $1.00" No way! This machine gives me the item and then still thinks it the dollar is still there! I select another item, Nutri-Grain bar, out pops the bar and once again the LED reads, "Thank you! Have a nice day! ... ... .. $1.00." I select something else and again the same thing happens. (About this time I start to feel a little guilty. But I justify myself by thinking that a different, disobedient machine ate my 5 dollar bill and gave me nothing in return. Obviously, that machine had powers of its own.) I select one more item to satisfy my greed and I pull the plug on the machine and push it back in. The LED then read, "Hello! Please select an item." Perfect. The machine has lost its memory and will serve no other master.

I coolly walk away, now fully aware of my powers.

However! With great power comes great responsibility. I must never use my powers for evil. I must never exceed the money-eaten/item received balance I so carefully maintain.

So, there it is. Vending machine powers. Love it.

Mission Papers Update

My mission papers are ALMOST in!!!

I started them back on the 19th of July and finished most of the paperwork that evening. The dental stuff was taken care of that week and the physical was completed the following week! I just had my missionary worthiness/Melchizedek priesthood interview with my bishop tonight and I should be getting a call from the Stake President for an interview with him within this week. After that interview, my papers will be turned in! :)

I should get my call within two weeks from that interview. I'm so excited! ("And I just can't hide it")

So, yep. That's my current status with my mission papers.

I can't wait!

Catching Up.

When I first started this blog, I promised myself I would be fairly regular in updating it. My plan was to update it every few days. As you can see, that hasn't happened. And there are plenty of things I could have blogged about, you know? There was my brother's wedding, the weekend in Provo with my Grandma who only has a few weeks left, mission papers, the flaming bag adventure, family members joining the Army, my new-found vending machine powers and so on. I plan to blog about these events, but then the time just slips away and I forget about them until a few weeks later. Then I can't remember most of what happened anyway so I just forget about it. But I should try to be more regular in updating.

Here's what I'll do. I'll try to make a new post about past events every few days, that way I don't have one or two really long blogs, but several short-medium length blogs (Of course, most of my blogs turn out to be extra long).


Scott's Wedding!

Yes, Scott (my oldest brother) is now married! I won't bore you with long descriptions of the day, but I'll just say that it was a wonderful ceremony and reception. Scott and Karli were so nervous (of course), but they were both excited and happy for the wedding. I'm so proud of Scott for marrying as great a girl as Karli. She has made him so happy! I wish them a long and happy marriage!

They were married on July 11th, hence the Slurpees in the picture.



Yup. That's my brother. :)



Tower of Groomsmen

I Believe In A Thing Called Love...

I'm in love...

Let's just say that going to Thursday night Institute has a lot more meaning now. :)

And I'll just leave you with that.

Oh Institute... How I love thee.

Institute is really, really great! I seriously love every minute of the classes I am taking. I learn so much and it feels so good when I'm there.

But funny things do happen on occasion there.

This just happened in my class tonight and it just made me chuckle a little bit to myself.

(When looking at an elevation map of Upper Galilee)
Teacher: The Sea of Galilee is 690 feet below sea level.
Student: (raises hand) You know, that's almost 700 feet below sea level!!
Teacher: ... ... Uh, yes. Yes it is. Uhm. Good insight!

Apparently, 700 feet is much more significant than 690 feet!

Only in Institute... :)

Following myself?

I just realized something...

Somehow I am following my own blog. I think I did it on accident, but now I don't know how to 'un-follow' a blog... Because it's entirely redundant to follow your own blog. You know?

Kiddie dance and Pageants...

Kiddie dance and Pageants...

What a way to spend two weeks.
The first week was Clytie Adams kiddie dance and it was actually pretty easy. A lot of long boring hours, but it had some redeeming moments... (I ain't saying shes a gold digga -- you positively can't go wrong with a-WHITE GIRL!) Gotta be one the best cuts of dance music ever.

One of the other redeeming moments was at the expense of myself.
Knock knock.
Who's there?
WHAT DID THE CABBAGE SAY?!? -- Oh wait...

For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, here is the back story. During dinner break one night, we (the crew) were sitting around a table eating Pitas (mine had lettuce... leafy Romaine lettuce...) when we got to talking about lettuce. I was reminded of a HILARIOUS joke that goes as follows:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Lettuce.
Lettuce who?
"Lettuce" in, it's cold outside!

hahaha, hilarious right? (It's quite possibly one of the lamest jokes ever.) So, there I was trying to share this HILARIOUS joke with the crew, when I messed it up. Don't ask me how this happened but instead of saying lettuce the first time, I messed it up and yelled, "WHAT DID THE CABBAGE SAY?!?"

Ah, good times at the VBC... (I'm told often that the only reason they keep me hired on is for entertainment value. Like the moments above. You know, I like to think I'm a useful member of the crew, but then I get to thinking about it and I just get depressed...)

On to pageants!

This week, I've been working up at Weber High school for the Little Miss Cherry Days Pageant and the Miss North Ogden Pageant. It's always interesting going back to work on theatre tech stuff back at the high school after working in college theatre for the past year. You feel so restricted with certain elements such as lighting and sound, yet you feel free-er (is that a word? Probably not) with other aspects. For instance, at the VBC I'm still considered to be one of the newer guys. I've been there almost a year, but I'm still the youngest (90's child) and I don't have much seniority over anyone. So, I feel obligated to do some of the 'lesser jobs' (dock, sweeping, mopping) as the occasion requires before someone else, who has been there longer, has to do it. In all actuality, I don't mind doing these jobs because someone has to do it anyway so it might as well be me, you know?

At Weber High however, I am the most senior crew member there. So, while I am not above mopping or vacuuming, there seems to always be some younger crew member, eager to please, who will happily volunteer before I even accept. That leaves me some more time to tweak with the light cues and help advance the show technically. (It's heartbreaking how little high schools have in the way of tech equipment... :( So few lights for such a big stage. That's just the way it is though.) I feel much more useful though because of the knowledge I've picked up from working at the Browning Center and in classes through the department. It seems like I've made some good changes at the high school that will help out with future shows and help keep things safer.

I just realized that my story about the pageants was actually pretty boring and really didn't have a point. I'm so sorry for that.


Here's what I've learned from this week of pageantry:

1. I'm going to release an album featuring me singing different pageant theme songs from these last few years. "When you find out who you are, you can find your star." "Glamorous. Glamorous, Glamorous. Glamorous." "Hot, Hot, Hot!" "How lovely to be a woman. The wait was well worthwhile. How lovely to wear mascara..." And so on and so on. I think it will be a big hit.

2. I have a natural ability for walking a graceful, runway walk. Somehow I have the posture down pat and I even know which foot to lead off with when changing directions. The pageant director had me lay spike marks for where the contestants need to walk, stop and pose and she had me walk out the path. She said she was impressed with my 'poise' and gracefulness.

3.Yes, it can take an hour and a half to teach 11 women in bathing suits and heels to walk a figure-8 pattern across the stage. Even though I'm pretty sure most of them already understand how in the first ten minutes...

3a. The more modest swimwear and evening wear dresses seem to me to be the most beautiful and have the most class. Just sayin...

4. Some people need to realize that they don't know anything about sound and let us do our job.

4a. Some people (certain contestants' parents) need to realize how not important they really are. Settle down.

5. Pageants are much more fun when you don't have one or more of the 'pageant ladies' on headset with the crew... I'm sure you can imagine why.

6. Taffy and Wheat Thins don't go very well together...

7. Great friends can be hard to come by. I'm just so that glad I have them. :)


So, there it is. Pageants and kiddie dance. Two more days and then I'm done. Woohoo!

(If you have ever been in a pageant, please don't take offense to anything I have said. I have had many close friends be involved with pageants and I have worked enough of them to know that it takes a lot of guts to get up there and share your talents with everyone. I know how much love you put into them and the friendships that are made. It is a lot of hard work and it can be very stressful, and I respect and love you all for that. :) )

That is all. Good night everyone!

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Random question,

Does a conceited person consider themselves to be conceited? Do they know?

Ponder that.

New Beginnings

Yep. I am joining Young Womens.... buh bum tsh. You know... New Beginnings - Young Womens... New Be---

Okay, that was a lame joke. Seriously though. New beginnings.

Some of this may sound personal, but I needed to write down my goals in a place where I can remember them and keep focused. And hopefully some of you will help me keep these goals.

I have made the decision to turn my life around. As I am preparing to start my papers and serve a mission, I am trying to be more physically, spiritually, and emotionally fit so that I can be better prepared out in the field. I've shown a great deal of neglect towards my own body and my spirit these past few months and it has shown. I haven't been nearly as happy as I could be if I were to pay more attention and work on these things. I couldn't really shake a small sense of depression that seemed to always hang over me. I would try to be happy and energetic, but it wouldn't work because the way I was living wasn't letting it work... I wasn't doing anything inherently wrong or evil or anything, but I certainly wasn't trying that hard to do the correct things either. I was mostly just sitting back and letting life take it's course wherever it wanted me to go. I wasn't actively pursuing good righteous things that would help me immensely.

This has all changed for me now. I have made the decision to change and I will. I decided I needed to set some firm goals and schedules and I have. I signed up for 6 institute classes this summer which will help me on my mission. Classes like Missionary Prep, Doctrines of the Gospel, Scripture Study Fundamentals, New Testament, and Teachings of the Living Prophets. I am also going to be eating more regularly and healthier.
This is what a typical day will look like for me this summer and up until I leave on my mission.


6:30 - wake up, pray and stretch.
6:45 - ride my bike up to the gym at Weber State
7:00 - do 30 or so minutes of aerobic exercise and at least 30 minutes of strength training
8:15 - arrive home, shower, eat breakfast and study The Book Of Mormon
9:15 - ride my bike up to the Institute for 1 or two morning classes
12:00 - arrive home and get ready for work or study the scriptures until work.
6-9 PM - bike up to evening institute classes
10 - get ready for bed
10:30- Study Preach My Gospel, pray, and sleep.

So, there it is. This will vary day by day depending on my class/work schedule and other circumstances, but for the most part this is how I want to spend my day. The exercise regimen I know will change when I discover my limits and what works for me. The evening classes are Tuesday-Thursday, so I still have some nights open.
I believe that this rough schedule will help me to be fitter and will help me keep the Spirit more prominently in my life. My focus has now shifted to prepping for the mission. So, let's give this a go and see how it works out. To all 5 of you who read this, feel free to pray for me - I'll need all the strength I can get.

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In other news, last Saturday I fed a baby raccoon! Yep. A pet baby raccoon. He was very cute and cuddly, but raccoons get meaner as they grow up so I think I'll just cherish this memory of raccoons instead of thinking about how mean they get later. :) That's all.

Oh, and I'm 19 this Saturday! It feels weird. THAT is all.

New guitar strings! :)

Well, I bought new guitar strings today. And I got so excited that I just HAD to blog about it! I love buying new strings. Brand new strings on a guitar is one of the best sounds in the world to me. I just can't get enough of it.

Well, today was actually a pretty good day. I worked down at my dad's office until 6 and came home to re-string my guitar. When I got home, I found out that my mom made some cookies. Chocolate chocolate chip mint. My favorite. :)

So, all in all it was a rather good day!


Here's a video so that you too can share in the beauty that is new strings on a guitar. :)

EDIT: I started the upload of this video at about 9:15 PM yesterday and after 2 hours of waiting, I decided to just let this run overnight...
It is now 10:00 AM the NEXT DAY and it is still not done uploading... Well, I've gone this far. I might as well let it finish.

It finally finished around 3:00 PM.... Wow.

Insomnia and other news...

11:00 AM
12:00 AM... Awake
1:00 AM... Awake
3:00 AM...Still awake
4:00 AM...Almost... Nope, still awake
5:00 AM... Sigh, awake.

And that was my night last night. I'm not sure why, but no matter what I did, I just could not fall asleep. Some new stressors have entered my life recently and I suppose that is part of the reason why I couldn't fall asleep. There are always so many things running through my head that it's so hard to keep track them all, let alone put them to rest for a night. So, I was frustrated at myself for not going to bed, at myself for letting this stress into my life and for making some really stupid mistakes, and at a lot of other stupid things that really don't make a difference in the end anyway.

5:30 rolls around and I'm sick of trying to fall asleep and I'm sick of all these ideas and thoughts and emotions running through my head that I decide to do something I haven't done in a long, long time. I go running. At 5:30 in the morning.

So, a few warm-up stretches that I remembered from Coach Mac and I'm off. I don't know where I'm going and I don't really care, just as long as it took me away. Away from the house, from family, from the neighborhood, just anywhere that isn't here.

It becomes apparent rather quickly just how out of shape I really am when I slow to a walk after just barely a minute to catch my breath. Great start, eh? Ah well. I gotta start somewhere. And what a better time than early morning where it's just me, the dew, the dark blue sky, and the beautiful mountains. Man, what a gorgeous morning!

I end up doing an extended loop around Weber State Campus, going up into the hiking trails on the mountains, and then coming back onto Harrison on my way back to my house. I arrived back home around 7:00. The run accomplished what I wanted it to, that is to get my mind off all these worries. The whole time I kept thinking to myself, "Okay, William, keep running to that stop sign and then you can walk. Just up to that big tree over there and then you can walk again. Okay, maybe to this tree right next to you " Hehe, I ended up walking a LOT more than I ran, but time wasn't an issue and my body wouldn't have allowed it at this time. (It turns out, that if you don't use your muscles for a long period of time, they actually get weaker... Crazy, I know. But it's true!)

I feel a lot better now. I'm exhausted, my muscles are sore, my throat is dry, and I ended up cutting my hand on the run somehow, but I do feel better. Life is good again and I am happy. :)
I'm still trying to decide though if I actually want to sleep for a few hours today or if I should just wait and hope that tonight I can get some sleep... We'll see what happens.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In other news, did you know that no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times?
Try it. You know you want to. :)

The Thumb!

Another story! Hooray!

About 4 weeks ago, I smashed my thumb at work. I was up on the loading dock loading weight onto the arbor when I guess a 40 pound stage brick slipped out of my hands and smashed my thumb.

Short story eh? I'm not done yet.

I iced it and cleaned off the best I could (The amount of blood astounded me; I didn't realize a thumb could bleed that much.) and then I went home and took some pictures.

Anyway, the next morning it had swelled up even more, which worried my mom little quite a bit, so down to InstaCare we went. We found out that I had fractured the very tip of it. It looks almost as if someone had taken a thin vertical slice of the tip of my finger and just pushed it forward a little bit, leaving the end of the thumb somewhat jagged and smashed. Where it was on the tip like that, putting a splint or brace would serve no purpose so I would just have to be careful with it and try not to bang it.

End of story. See? I can tell short stories sometimes! :)

Here are some pictures...

The night of...

Same night, discoloration

Same night, side by side

About a week or so later

As it looks tonight...

As you can see, it is looking and feeling much better. The tip is still a tad sensitive, but give it a week or so and it should be good as new!

And that is the end. Thanks for reading!

My New Blog

Well, here is my brand-new blog! I say brand new blog because I actually already have a lovely blog which I would like to use but I can't. See, not only have I forgotten the password, but I don't even know which of my e-mail accounts I used to set it up. I checked each e-mail address along with every password I remembered that I had EVER used for any site and nothing. So, goodbye old blog. It's been fun.

(if you want to check it out, it's http://will-i-am-tech.blogspot.com/)

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So! New blog. Hmm... I'm not sure what to talk about. Maybe I'll tell you a story or two. Yes! That I will do.

I shall call this first story, "It Pays To Be Drunk". :)

Oh, and it's kind of long. I tend to get long-winded with boring stories. Ah well.

Okay, so I work at the Browning Center on Weber State Campus as a 'stage technician'. On Saturday night, I was stage managing the an orchestra show in the Austad Auditorium. I showed up at 5:30 because I wanted to have some time to set up a few things so that I would be completely set up by the time the orchestra arrived. 5 minutes later, I was done. So I sat at the stage manager's console trying to look important while reading a book I had brought with me. 6:00 rolls by and no one from the orchestra is here. The show is set to start at 7:30 with house opening at 7:00.
"Hmm, that's odd...", I thought to myself, "Usually there would be someone here by now."
I then remembered Dylan, a co-worker, telling me that this certain orchestra usually arrives early enough to get set up in time, but late enough to scare the stage manager into thinking that they were going to be late for their performance. Ah, well. No biggie. They will show up. I'll just chill at this desk and read my book. (I was actually expecting the orchestra's manager to show up right around now to get the stage set with the chairs and stands needed for their performance. He hadn't come yet.)

6:30 rolls around and finally we have an orchestra member! Hooray. We have 1 of a roughly 70 member orchestra. Great. Shouldn't the manager be here by now?

6:45 comes and still no manager. We have almost all the members here and they have started to set some of their chairs and stands. But they aren't quite sure how the stage looks, so they just place chairs where they thought they should go and hoped for the best.

6:55. House is supposed to open in 5 minutes. Still no manager. Now I'm getting kind of nervous. I was supposed to let the house staff know the house policies for this show about a half an hour ago, but I couldn't yet because I didn't know what the policies were. And the stage still wasn't set right.

Finally, the manager walks in. And with him comes the overwhelming pungent odor of grain alcohol. (I wondered why he was late. Now I think I know.) He was still walking as well as a 65 year old geriatric could walk drunk, but somehow he was able to get the stage set by 7:15... We had to delay opening the house for 15 minutes, which completely inconvenienced everyone. Especially the house staff. But hey! At least the manager was all smiles, right? (He actually was pretty cheerful.)

Well, the show started at 7:35, which is not an uncommon starting time, that's for sure. And the show went really smoothly. I would get periodic updates about the show and the challenge of the music from the much inebriated manager. He would talk about the house count and say things like "Last time we were here they had to open up the balcony for us. Isn't that something?" or"That was the hardest part of the whole show. And they nailed it." "You gentlemen do such fine job every year. I just love coming here."

Well, after about an hour and a half, the show finally ended. Hallejulah! (The music itself wasn't too bad, but having that old drunk talk to your face with his old man/alcohol breath about stuff you could really care less about for that long... I was done."

One by one, the orchestra makes it's way out the door until all who were left was me, Bart (who recorded the show), the manager and his wife. As he was making his way out the door he kept saying, "Thank you guys so much. You know, you guys always do such a great job. We love coming here. You know, you guys are so much better than the so-called "professionals" we work with on occasion. You guys treat me like a king. I get here and it's all set up for me. (Granted, he should really be the one who sets it up, but whatever. Show's done.) We love to come here. Thanks. You guys are great. We just lo--" (I swear, he must have repeated himself about 5 times in that short conversation.)

Well, he is just about out the door when he turns around. (Oh no! He's going to talk again!) And then he said, "I bet you guys could use 20 bucks." We said, "No, we're alright. Don't worry about." He repeated, "I bet you guys could use 20 bucks. Here. Here's 20 bucks for each of you." Before we could stop him, we each had 20 bucks in our hands.

"I love coming here. You guys treat me like a king when I get here. Have a good night guys!"

"See ya! Drive safe", we said back to him.

And when the door shut behind him, me and Bart just looked at each other and laughed. And that is how 'It Pays (other people) To Be Drunk."

NOTE: I do not endorse, nor have I ever endorsed, drinking in any way, shape or form. But 20 bucks? Can't argue with results, right? :)

And that is the end to my long, boring, and anti-climactic story. If you read the whole thing, congratulations! You must be very bored! If you just skipped to the end, I don't blame you...

Well, more stories to come later! Have a great night everyone.