Dear diary,

Today:

• Was reminded that I'm still very, very far from perfection
  
• Got 54% on a physics test
• Went rock climbing
  
• Was invited to a baby blessing, where I got to see my family and some good friends.
  
• Was invited to a metaphorical party, and when I decided to join the fun, the party was metaphorically canceled
• Ate homemade pizza by Claudio
• Got a turkey in the final frame of Wii Bowling, thereby taking first place
• Worked on lesson for Priesthood tomorrow
  

I can't decide if today was a good day or bad day. Everything that had a reasonable chance of going wrong did so, and I was disappointed on more than one occasion, but I'm still smiling, and it's not getting me down, so I guess that's a good thing.

Sometimes you wish things would go better. When they don't, though, you just keep going.

The sun'll come out tomorrow.

In which I demonstrate my amazing strength

Last night I was over at Dragon Lady's house when one of their sinks clogged up.  Having seen a few clogged drains in my time, I figured that the problem was likely in the J-trap underneath the sink.  While clearing out a J-trap is a messy operation, it's not all that difficult, so I figured I'd try my hand.

We looked around for a bit until we found a wrench and a large mop bucket to catch the falling water, and went to work.  It was quickly apparent to me that the nuts under this particular sink hadn't been loosened in a very long time, so I tried to apply slow, constant pressure in order to break the rust-lock.  After about a minute of working on it, the wrench moved slightly and a little bit of water started leaking out.  Taking this as a good sign, I continued pulling gently but firmly in that direction.  A second shift, and more water leaked out.

It was after the third shift that I took a closer look at what was happening.  I was actually twisting the pipe in half.  Yes, that's right.  Last night, I twisted a metal pipe in half with only my bare hands and a small wrench.

Who knew I had such strength?

I'm sure it had nothing to do with the age of the pipe.  Nothing at all.  Let me assure you.

The Three Degrees of Hand-Holding

The following comes from an e-mail I wrote to my cousin just after I had applied to join the Board.  I've had occasion to share it twice in the last couple days, so I figured I might as well let everyone else in on the fun.

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I once observed someone explaining to a friend that there are three levels of holding hands. (I contend that there are many more than 3 ways, but the levels idea probably works.)

The simplest, or lowest, form is with no interlocking of fingers. Basically, you're just holding their hand. This is great for preventing tickling and such, but generally doesn't imply serious romantic interest. (It probably does imply at least a friendship, though.)

The second form is holding hands with fingers interlocked. It provides a much closer connection between two people, and usually indicates romantic interest. This happened with [name removed] about a week before we actually started dating.

The highest, or most serious, form of holding hands begins as an extension of the second. It starts with interlocked hands, but adds playing-with/rubbing/caressing/pick-a-word the other's hand with your free thumb. This is where the explanation I heard left off. However, creative minds will discover that the idea of playing with the other's hand can be expanded much beyond interlocking fingers. It includes tickling their palm, tickling the inside "edges" of their fingers by half-interlocking the fingers and slowly moving them up and down, and holding the other's closed fist inside yours (works better if your hands are significantly bigger than yours). Generalizing, you could say this is non-static holding hands. If you're doing this with a girl, you're probably already dating her. If a girl starts doing this to you and you're not dating her, then that should be a big hint: she's interested.

So there you have it. My treatise on the emotional commitment involved with hand-holding. If they decide to let me on as a writer on that BYU 100 Hour Board, I hope someone asks a question about holding hands. I would probably just copy-paste what I just wrote. :)

Note to readers: There is no need to submit this question now.  I've already answered it.