Get in the game

Natalie: Two guys have ascended five miles into the sky! They walked up a wall of ice, and are preparing to knock on the door of heaven itself! There's really no end to what we can do! You know what the trick is?

Dan: What?

Natalie: Get in the game.

So, I have decided that the recent rash of posts quoting TV shows are my best attempt at telling the stories of my life through parables. To say too much could get me into trouble at work, but I will say this:

I am continually reminded that there is much about this world that I cannot change. However, there are many things in my life that I can do something about. The trick is to get in the game.

Karaoke Solves Everything

This is a picture I took in Shibuya, Japan, of the karaoke place that Shane, Maria, and I sang at. You can see his khaki shorts and that little pink bundle in his arms that is Brooklyn on the left.

We had a ward Valentine's Day FHE tonight, and I brought my karaoke machine. Tonight, I finally started to get the appeal. If you think about the life the average Japanese businessman leads, it is pretty confining. Tiny office, tiny house, cramped Metro cars. It's got to grate on you after awhile. It's got to be nice on those days when, with the aid of alcohol, they can kick back and sing their hearts out to a truly terrifying rendition of "Don't Stop Believin'" in the company of likewise inebriated friends. There's something about karaoke that just makes you feel like you are living your childhood dreams of being a rock star, rather than sitting at a cramped desk dealing daily with people you wish you didn't have to see.

And on Valentine's Day, it means a lot of single women singing songs like, "Since U Been Gone," and "I Will Survive." Because when you can sing about it, you WILL survive.

The men seemed much less affected, singing songs like "If I Had a Million Dollars." I think this provides a nice little snapshot into why some of us are still single.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

Almost hit by a mattress

Yesterday, having barely recovered from the raccoon incident the night before, I drove to see my sister and her family. On Pioneer Crossing, which is a flyover connecting west Lehi and Saratoga Springs to I-15, I got behind a Jeep towing a trailer containing a mattress and box springs. It wasn't until the wind picked up and caught these two giant rectangles that I realized that the person driving the Jeep had not anchored them down with ANYTHING. No rope, no bungee cords, not even a massive amount of duct tape. I screamed as they narrowly missed me and wondered how the Jeep owner planned to get them back into the trailer and to their destination without another incident.

I just need to stop going places.

Hit by a raccoon

Tonight, I was hanging out with some people in my ward for the first time (yes, I have lived here for six months, and this is the first time I have hung out with people in my ward) and we were talking about the wildlife in the area where we live. Then, on my way home, what looked from far away like a plastic bag but was running too fast to be garbage, hit the side of my car (just like on Gilmore Girls). I screamed, flipped a U-turn, and came back to try to find it. It was gone. So, apparently, it was okay.

I still shudder thinking about it.

Magic Beans

Monica: (About the credit card company on the phone) Look, they just wanna see if you're okay.

Rachel: They wanna know if I'm okay. Well, let's see, the FICA guys took all my money, everyone I know is either getting married, or getting promoted, or getting pregnant, and I'm getting coffee! And it's not even for me! So if that sounds like I'm okay, okay, then you can tell them I'm okay, okay?

Monica: (She pauses. On the phone) Uh, Rachel has left the building, can you call back?

It was one of those days. Luckily, when I turned on my car radio, the Friends theme song was playing, and I realized that, like Rachel, I will be fine.

I've got magic beans.

*I realize drawing comfort from Friends episode is pathetic and heretical, but I take inspiration where I can get it.

In lieu of a Christmas card

I have never sent out a Christmas card for a couple of reasons:

• The first is that I am single, and I often assume that no one wants a Christmas card with just me on it.
• The second is that I think it is hard to write a Christmas card without taking yourself too seriously, and opening yourself up to the mocking and ridicule of the people you send it to. A few years ago, my friend Tracy was telling me about how her brother and sister-in-law decided to write a Christmas card in third person (which, often, they are), and have the non-existent third-person narrator talk about all of the things he/she was doing, like bungee jumping, writing a novel, etc. It made for a confusing card for all of their relatives, but it was a good example of a Christmas card that didn't take itself too seriously.
• Third, it takes an enormous amount of effort for me to mail anything.

So, I thought I would put up this blog post recapping my year, for anyone who is interested or bored or whatever:

• 2010 has seen just about everything in my life change. I finished up a 24-year career as a student, only to find myself back at my alma mater working as a professor. To say it's not what I thought it would be is a huge understatement.
• I left Texas and moved back to Utah, and now live ten minutes away from my sister and her family. I miss Lubbock more than I ever thought I would. I recognize that the next step in my life required leaving, but I'm surprised at how much it felt like home when I left.
• I wrecked my Toyota in November (no one was hurt, but my car looked bad). They totaled my car, which was surprisingly emotional for me, as that car has been with me since I was working on my master's, has made moves to Seattle and Texas and back, and sustained several mysterious dents that I never wanted to talk about. After a lot of unpleasant dealings with insurance companies, I now have a Mazda3. It's pretty and fast, but, mostly, I'n excited that works.
• It was a year for finishing things: my dissertation, my Martha Stewart cupcake project, and the Top of Utah Marathon. However, the realization of one's goals is never the end. This next year will find me continuing to bake, trying to run, and attempting to get my dissertation published so that I can keep my job.
• As 2011 begins, I am wondering what it will bring, and, more importantly, what I will do with it. The reality of having a grown-up job is setting in, and I am still trying to figure out how that fits with who I am. It seems like a high-class problem to be worried about doing what you love, or what you are supposed to do. I'm pretty sure my pioneer ancestors didn't worry about that.

As with any letter, I hope this one finds all of you safe and well, and that 2011 brings you closer to God, your dreams, and the people you love. I don't do a great job of keeping in touch with people, but know that you are often in my thoughts and prayers.

Megan

Thought for the Day

From The BIg Bang Theory.

Sheldon: Leonard is upstairs right now with my archenemy...the Dr. Doom to my Mr. Fantastic, the Dr. Octopus to my Spiderman, the Dr. Sivana to my Captain Marvel...You know, it's amazing how many supervillains have advanced degrees. Graduate schools should do a better job of screening those people out.

I can't tell you why I thought it was funny, but I did.