A Board Invasion

Earlier tonight, we Board Writers set into motion our secret plans to take over the world one apartment at a time. With an effective blitzkrieg, we completely overran all local defenses and established a beachhead from which to continue our forward march.

Okay, that wasn't actually true. But we did have a lot of fun tonight. Through a series of events, a certain writer had committed to deliver brownies to a reader's apartment, a reader whom she had never met in person.

Not given to doing things in a small way, this writer invited 10 other writers and a few friends to come along. We all crowded around the front door of the apartment and knocked on the door, muffling our giggles so as to not alert the tenants. They opened the door, (quite shocked to see 13 people standing outside the door at 11 PM), the writer in question introduced herself, and the collective Board invaded the apartment. We laughed about the wonder that is the Board and various Writers for about 30 minutes and then left. Mission accomplished. We did leave them brownies, though.

Watch out; your apartment could be next.

Late Night Special

The other night my friend Lanora and I went over to Lavish's place to watch "Remember the Titans" with a group. I really think it's one of the best sports-centered movies ever made. It's exciting, touching, meaningful, funny, insightful, and powerful all at the same time without feeling forced. The experience, of course, was only made better by Lavish's excellent hosting skills.

Afterward, we pulled out Scattergories and began playing. Since there were 11 in attendance at that point, we played in teams of two. (Quandary played on his own.) You know how things get funnier in proportion to how tired you are? Well, Duchess and dimmi demonstrated this principle to great effect. Lanora and I spent most of the night laughing at their incessant giggles every time their turn to share came around.

For those who don't know, Scattergories is a game in which you are given a list of categories, an alphabet-die is rolled, and everyone competes to produce unique words matching each category beginning with the rolled letter. Hilarity ensues.

• Excuses for being late: Hit by a car, Halitosis, and Hellfire (I'm sorry, teacher. I ran into some hellfire on the way to class.)
• Round: Jewels and Jay Leno. (Poor guy. How would you like to get the first thing we think of when we hear "round"?)
• Bodies of water: Jordanelle Reservoir, Jacuzzis. (Jacuzzis... they've got bodies and water!)
• Bad Habits: Kicking cats and Killing your sister (Response by dimmi: "How many sisters do you have to kill to make it a habit?")

But the ultimate answer of the night came from dimmi:

• Weapons: Jackhammers. (NEVER get dimmi mad at you.)

Oh, the irony

Near the end of Winter Semester 2006 I met a very fun girl. We'll call her M because that's not her name. We dated for a while before the summer, but we're not together at the moment. Things have been a little tense between us, but I think they're getting better.

The other day I got off work and dropped by her work. She works in a fairly public place, so there was a line waiting for her attention. I was just going to stop by quickly and say hi, since she was busy. However, as I was walking by the front of the line, I heard someone calling my name. I turned to look and saw a Sister from my mission waiting in line, so I stopped to talk to her for a second. We'll call her B because that's not her real name either.

Keep in mind that I'm standing about 5 feet away from M at the moment. After the usual chit-chat, she asked:

B: "So, are you..." [leans over a little to look at my left hand]
Yellow: [laughs] "No, I'm not married yet."
B: "Oh. Are you dating anyone? What about that girl you were dating last year?" (Referring to M.)
Yellow: [laughs again, quite hard] "No, I'm not dating anyone at the moment either."

B, of course, had no idea why I was laughing so hard. She had no idea that M was standing within perfect hearing distance of the entire conversation, nor that this was the first time I had actually seen M in a number of months, so I was quite nervous about it. She just saw that I found a question about my current relationship status much more humorous than it deserved.

Oh, the irony of it all.

Are you my friend?

Over Labor Day weekend, my family went camping in the mountains of Central Utah. Every year, we go with a few neighbors to spend the weekend in the mountains, relax, and enjoy each other's company. The group grows every year as the young married couples bring new children, "significant others" are invited, and new families are invited. We had a great time.

Since we had a member of our Stake Presidency there, we were able to hold our own Sunday meetings up in the mountains. I was asked to give a brief talk, so about an hour before the meetings started, I wandered away from the rest of the camp to ponder what I should share.

We had a number of horses up at the camp, and I found myself near the horses. A few of the youngest children (ages 2-4) were nearby, trying to throw a frisbee to each other. As I was watching them, the cutest little two-year-old girl looked up at me and asked,

"Are you my friend?"

I just couldn't help smiling. I told her that Yes, I was her friend. For the rest of the weekend, she would run up to me and say "Friend, come play with us!" or "Friend, hold this."

It was the cutest thing ever.