January 12

I think I'll probably always remember January 12th. In my personal records and memory, it will always be a highlight. It began as any other Saturday: waking up to a much needed sleep in and cleaning the basement. By one o'clock my dad and I were at Home Depot purchasing wood. You see, I'm re-doing my room (which is much needed, and I am so happy it's getting done). I had bought some brackets at Ikea the previous week, but the boards for the shelves were expensive, and since I have a handy dad, I thought he could just make them for me. Finding a 6 foot board wasn't the problem, though. The real task was finding a sheet of wood that would make a 3 1/2' X 4' wood panel because I'm making a chalk board. If anybody's lacking in the perspective, just know that's really big. The sheets of wood that would come close to cutting into something that big were about 40 dollars. No bueno. The other option was getting a 2' X 8' board, cutting it in half and gluing them together. I really wasn't a huge fan of the idea, but it was the better option and about half the price too.

Now, luck was on my side here because when were going to get our board cut, since they have really nice saws at Home Depot, my dad looked in the scrap box and found a really large wood board. He suggested we have them cut down it into 3 1/2' X 4'. . . it'd be cheaper and we wouldn't have to do any work to it construction wise. Before making any final decisions, we asked the guy how much it was.

"Oh, five bucks," he said.

Oh, man I was down; we cut that sucker up. When it was all done, the three of us stood there looking at the saw with the two pieces of wood sitting there kind of laughing to ourselves. The dimensions I measured and that board fit perfectly together because that board cut two perfect 3 1/2' X 4' boards. So, for the price of one I had two chalkboards. And, to make it even better, when we went to buy the two boards the girl told us that they highest she could give them to us for was 4 dollars. So, by the end of that trip I had my shelf boards, and two chalk boards for 12 bucks. Best deal of my entire life.


Continuing on with the day, I wanted to get the chalk board paint purchased, but seeing as I had just hit the greatest deal ever, I wasn't about to spend 20 dollars on paint. Hobby Lobby has this great deal of getting 40% off with their weekly coupon, and my friend Mary Jo and I were already planning on hanging out later that day, so I went and picked her up early, and she was my comrade in buying chalk board paint. 10 dollars later, we were set!

Now, stepping aside from the wood and chalk boards for a second, I really want to put the painting Girl with a Pearl Earring in my room. However, we don't have a colored printer, and seeing as the colors are kind of the point in that painting, I went to Kinko's to get it printed. This journey proved awkward, though. Probably the most awkward experience of my life actually. See, Mary Jo and I walk into the store. There was a guy in front of us being helped so we stood in line waiting our turn. When he was done, the guy behind the desk looked at us, telling us it was our turn, and asked what we needed. I began telling him what I needed, but seeing as I had never been to Kinko's before, I had a timid and confused tone. The guy looked at me like I was an idiot, asked for my thumb drive and proceeded to print the picture for me. Here's the thing, the guy didn't act like I was an idiot in an unkind way. He was very nice and talkative. . . just not in the most amiable way. I'll just say that is the first time I have ever been hit on in a store, and I don't ever, EVER want it to happen again. Also, my picture came out pixelated, and I'm not too excited in making another trip down there. If anybody wants to volunteer and do it for me- I'll buy you a hot chocolate from Holiday. And if nobody knows what that is, go to Holiday gas station on American Fork Main Street, get the vanilla hot chocolate, and you'll be in heaven. Best thing of my life.

*Intermission: go get a coke, maybe some popcorn. . . . I honestly don't even know if this story is all that interesting- to me it is at least. Props to you of you're still reading- I know that this is getting a little ridiculously long.

By 6:00 that night, Mary Jo and I had tackled all the errands we had to run. . . or I had to run. Mary Jo was such a sport through all of this. I seriously owe her. We got back to my house, changed into some sweats and began the priming the chalk board, shelves, and brackets. It really was so fun. We just sat and talked and listened to music, quite relaxing from our crazy afternoon.

We finished our priming with perfect time because we needed to leave by 7:30 to get to Orem. We were going to go to this musical performance at Orem High. . . .or so we thought. We drove over, got the conformation number, and headed our way to the high school; however, when we got there there was nobody there. Not a single car was in the parking lot. Mary Jo searched the printed receipt for the date of the performance, and it said not January 12th but February 2nd. It probably was the funniest thing I have ever witnessed. Mary Jo kept calling herself an idiot and thinking that everybody else thought she was an idiot, but really it was just herself thinking she was an idiot because was so funny.

Changing plans, we decided to crash the AF School's Hero's boy's choice dance that we were both happily not asked to. Mary Jo is on Yearbook, I'm not, but since I have a nice camera, we decided saying we were both on yearbook would be easy enough to get away with. It was.

Probably my favorite picture of the entire night. . .

 

I honestly don't even know how to sum this night up in words. Mary Jo and I dancing stag for all the slow songs and belting out the cliche and melting words to the open air, snapping pictures of all the people that were there. . .  I think my favorite was the group of boys that brought their moms as dates. That was what really melt me. Talk about making a lame dance into something meaningful- props to them, seriously!

To sum it up as best I can, I had a great night. Talk about understatement of the year. It was a night of spontaneity, laughter, awkwardness, and a good time with great people. I admire Mary Jo so much: she's kind and willing to help, a great listener with inspirational things to say, and honestly one of the best people I know. I feel privileged to know her and be friends with her, and most of all say that she was my comrade in a night that will go down in the history of Sidney.