... I told you to expect a blog entry to explain what a Dickerson Christmas is all about. Voila.

(Please also see Mom's version (she took more decorations pictures than I did) and Kyle's version.)

I made sure to take pictures so be grateful this isn't quite as boring as it could be.

First of all -- our house is COVERED in Christmas decorations. My mom hangs up all of our elementary school decorations on the kitchen wall above the table.

My Rudolph always gets made fun of the most because his nose is lower than his mouth. Somehow this made sense in my elementary school mind.


Christmas Eve officially begins with the Christmas Eve Program. Except this year, we went family band-ing first... like caroling, only with instruments. Mike and Erin play tenor and alto sax, respectively, Evan plays trumpet, Kyle trombone, Mollie flute, and me, clarinet. We only went to one family this year, which is fine by all of us. The following is a picture I took in the car. Probably my favorite one of this Christmas.

When we got home from that, we finally began our Christmas Eve Program, which consists of singing, musical numbers and stories (every family member is required to participate in some way) and culminates with Dad reading the story of Christ's birth out of Luke, a closing hymn and prayer/blessing on the refreshments. Then we snack on traditional (for the Dickersons) Christmas Eve foods of Wheat Thins, Triscuits, little weenies, fruit (mom's addition this year), wassail and a veritable array of candy, chocolate and Christmas cookies. Then we open presents from each other.

The fireplace in the living room.

Mollie and I playing our obligatory musical number.

Mike, Mollie and Kyle looking oh so enthused.

Mom reading a story.

This year mom bought musical "crackers" for us to open. Each contained an awesome hat and numbered whistle so you could play Christmas carols.

Evan obviously liked his the best.

Our snack table in the dining room. (This picture was taken Christmas morning.)

This year Erin didn't come home but had Christmas in Provo with her little family instead. But we got her on WebCam and we put her on speaker phone so she could be a part of our opening presents.

Our Christmas tree in the family room with all the sibling presents under it.

Christmas morning we aren't allowed to come downstairs until everyone is out of bed. This year I beat Mike and Evan out of bed with an empty wrapping paper tube. (I will have to remember this for next year -- it worked brilliantly. Not only could you poke and hit people, but if you hit it against the wall it makes an amazingly obnoxious sound. It was perfect.) Once we come downstairs we have to stand and get our picture taken before we get to open our stockings.

Mike's Sugar Daddy pajama pants.

On the stairs. This is never an attractive picture of anybody.

Mom and Dad taking our picture on the stairs Christmas morning.

Christmas morning!!

More recently mom makes us open presents one at a time in order to draw out the process for as long as possible. Christmas afternoon usually consists of napping, snacking, and messing with new Christmas gifts. This year after Christmas dinner, we played Dad's new Dilbert game. Though complicated, we all enjoyed the "Circle of Trust" card. Everyone was required to hold hands until a new card was played. If they broke the circle with more than one hand, or at any other time than to take their turn, they lost crucial "Happiness" points, and then had to rejoin the circle anyway. Mollie and I were exempt because we were Dilbert and when you're Dilbert you don't have to follow the rules if you don't want to.

The "Circle of Trust".

And that, my dear friends, pretty much sums up Christmas at the Dickersons. Now you know.

I'm back again already! You're probably going to hear a lot from me since I'm home with comparatively nothing to do except post things on my blog. And I'm taking lots of pictures for that purpose, so here are some from today. We got our Christmas tree!!!


The Christmas tree farm. How New Englandy!

The tractor they drove us out on. And then us on the tractor.

Evan on the tractor. The view.

The view avec moi. Evan again -- is this the tree?

Evan cutting down the tree. Dad and Kyle carrying it out.

Netting the tree. Tying it to the top carrier.

We all got a kick out of this sign posted on the barn wall. All settled into its corner.

I'll have to post more pictures when we get it decorated.

Hello dear readers!
First of all -- see Mollie's blog for pictures of things like the Halloween concert. I will try to get some of my own pictures up once Kyle gets home tonight and fixes my laptop.

I can't believe it's already Christmas! I'm so glad to be done with another semester! AND I got my grades today... not bad, if I do say so myself. And if you were around me at all this past semester, you know that those were not the easiest grades I've ever earned. I was quite proud.
ANYways.
I am home for Christmas! I got here on Saturday and I'm here for three weeks. I finished almost all of my Christmas shopping today, and I wrapped everything I've bought. As of now though, the Dickerson household is void of Christmas tree, so all the gifts are being carefully stacked under the piano. Except for mine which have nice big bows that I made to try and compensate for the years of crappy gift-wrapping that always accompanied my gifts. It's not that I didn't try. I'd just cut the paper a centimeter too short, or I'd run out, or I'd cut crookedly. Wow, that makes me sound really incompetent. But it doesn't matter cuz my gifts look nice this year! Anyways. The point was that my gifts are sitting on top of the piano because I don't want the animals knocking the bows off or tearing the paper.

I hope to get some Christmas pictures up here eventually so you can see what Christmas at the Dickersons is all about.

Okay, updates, updates, let's see. (See Mollie's most recent blog -- a lot of our Thanksgiving activities overlap)

1. Yes, I am still dating Chad. (He will probably hate this picture if he ever sees it...)

2. This story actually happened almost two months ago now, and I don't know how it didn't make it into the blog then, but I will share now. So I parked the Subaru at my friend Brittany's apartment in what she assured me was visitor parking. I went to class, and then I practiced, and then I went over to Chad's apartment for a while. (Chad lives right across the street from Brittany.) And at the end of the night we say goodnight and I run across the parking lot to hop into my car parked on the other side of the street and make it home before curfew. Only it was really odd because there was this big empty spot where my car used to be. And I searched my mind frantically, thinking I must have parked it somewhere else and forgotten about it. But that was wishful thinking. Chad picked me up (he was on his way to take his little brother Stephen home to the dorms on the other side of campus). We took Stephen home and then I called the towing company. Yes they had my car. They would be to the lot in about 20 minutes to set it free if I would bring the ransom money. How much you ask? $100. Yeah. To which I reflexively replied "Are you serious?!!" Then realizing that he probably wasn't saying that to be funny at 12:15 in the morning, and that he had my car and I didn't, I added "Yeah, I guess you are..." before he could say anything. So Chad nicely drove me to the ATM, I withdrew $100 in cash and brought it over to the impound lot in an unmarked black garbage bag. Okay, I'm just kidding about the black garbage bag, but it sure did feel sketchy even if it didn't look it.... hanging around in a dark parking lot at 12:30 in the morning with $100 in cash in my pocket. Let me tell you, in the short time that I had that money in my hand, it's life flashed before my eyes. There was so much happiness it could have bought me. Because as I handed the guy (who didn't look that much older than me or Chad) my money, I knew that money really does buy happiness, because giving it to this guy wasn't getting me any. So I retrieved the car safe and sound. Seeing my Connecticut license-plated Subaru Legacy in the impound lot reminded me of Lady and the Tramp when Lady gets impounded with all the sketchy dogs. I felt bad for my poor car. It was probably scared to death. So innocent. Don't think I don't realize that it was all my fault it got towed in the first place.


3. Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles. I survived marching band. And I not only survived it, but I didn't do too badly either. I was completely surprised by how much fun I had. Unfortunately, being in marching band has branded me a band geek in its purest form. Case in point: After a marching band performance, I ran home to change only to find that I had been locked out of my apartment. After knocking on several doors at which no one answered because it was Stake Conference that night, I finally found an RA who was home, who coincidentally happened to be my FHE Brother's girlfriend. My FHE Brother was at her apartment and saw me in uniform (and didn't see the back which says "Viking Marching Band" ... or at least I think it does...) and commented on my cool uniform -- asked me if I played soccer or something. No, these are the marching band uniforms. "Oh" he says. And you know the kind of "Oh." "Oh" well. I guess there are worse things in the world.
Marching Band friends. Yes, they exist.

4. On the Saturday that Thanksgiving Break began, the Wind Ensemble was required to sit in a 5-hour recording session for the Temple Dedication music. I'm excited to be a part of the Temple Celebration, so I shouldn't complain too much, but still. It was a very long rehearsal. And it ended up taking almost 6 hours if I remember right. And we couldn't leave for Provo until after that, so it was a long day.
The technical people.
Sister Soelberg, the director.
The band.



5. I followed Chad and Stephen to Provo for our week-long Thanksgiving Break. (The reason why we didn't just go together is a long story in and of itself so I'll spare you the details...) I spent time with my family and Chad's family just doing family things. We had Thanksgiving at my grandma's in Orem, where all of the kids but Michael were present. As Mollie pointed out, we haven't had that many of us together for Thanksgiving in... probably 6 or 7 years.
The whole family together for dinner.
The turkeys.

6. I drove back from Provo after our Thanksgiving Break, only to drive back again for Christmas Break. (This was not part of the original plan.)

7. I played in the Wind Ensemble's first and only concert of this semester. It was exciting -- but after the Halloween Concert, regular concerts seem a little more boring. But we were being recorded for a promotional DVD we're putting out for our tour next semester to "The Deep South". Yeah, I know. In all fairness, we were supposed to go to Mexico. I got my 150-dollar passport and everything.

8. I played in the Symphony Concert -- Mahler's Third Symphony -- on December 7th and 8th. It was a student-faculty side-by-side concert which was cool because I got to sit next to and play clarinet with my professor who is co-principal clarinetist for the Orchestra at Temple Square which plays with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

9. I finished up my last week of class/finals last week, and then drove to Provo on Friday afternoon. It was kind of a whirlwind end of the semester, and some aspects of it kind of caught me by surprise. Just ask my friend Brittany.

10. After a near 5 hour drive to Provo, a 45 minute drive to Salt Lake, an hour flight to Las Vegas, a 5 hour flight to Hartford, and a 45 minute drive back to 2 Shanley Court, I finally arrived home for Christmas. Which so prompts my traditional list of things I'd forgotten/appreciate-more-since-I've-been-away-at-school about home.
1. XPect Discounts. Need I say more?
2. Wood floors.
3. My own room.
4. The dog to keep me warm because my parents don't heat my part of the house.
5. Two pianos. This is a big one. There were several times throughout the semester when I finally made time to play the piano only to find that there were no available pianos anywhere.
6. Not living with 5 other girls. ... and along with that, living with boys.
7. How many Christmas decorations our family has.
8. How "New England"-y Cromwell looks.
9. My moms turtles.
10. MY FISH!!!!!! I missed him so.
11. Being able to go down the basement to look for peanut butter, or soup, or powdered sugar, or whatever is not readily available upstairs. It's like having a store in your basement! It's great.
12. Being able to "go down the basement" at all.
13. Cromwell Ward.
14. Borrowing clothes/shoes from my sister. (She doesn't know about this yet... I already borrowed a pair of her shoes that she left here. )
15. Washer and dryer right in my own house that you don't even have to put quarters into!
16. The news.
17. A Kitchen Aid mixer!!!!
18. Looking in the fridge and knowing that all the food in it is mine -- I can eat whatever I want.
19. Having a bathroom that I don't share with 5 other girls.
20. Neighbors.
21. Having a yard.
22. Big screen TV.
23. FRIENDLY'S
24. The North Eastern accent -- where people don't make fun of me for the way I say "pocket" or "copy" or "option" because they say it the same way. (Although they do still make fun of me for saying "Rud-off" instead of "Rud-OLph".)

Well, I suppose that's enough for now. You're probably tired of reading, and I'm tired of sitting staring at the computer screen in the non-heated part of the house. I hope this entry finds you alive and well. I'll try and get some Christmas stuff up here before too long. But we have to have a Christmas tree first!

Hello all!
I am writing on my friend Brittany's computer because it seems to be a lot faster than mine. The letters actually show up when I type them, and not 30 seconds later. It's funny -- now that something actually slightly interesting has happened, I haven't had time to get it into the blog. But you always get wicked long entries about random boring crap. I have happy news! I am officially dating Chad Busath (the kid from the car story last February).

And Mollie's dating a kid named Parker and Kyle's dating a girl named Alicia. All within the last week and a half!
Brittany and I at one of our concerts.



An awkward angle of my hair the night Mollie and Erin did it. Pretty pretty.

That's my most exciting news. In other news, we had our Halloween concert earlier this week. Six shows in all -- Tuesday and Wednesday night the second show didn't get over until about 11:15pm. So it's been pretty busy. I'll have to post you some pictures of my various costumes. Erin and Mollie did my hair on Saturday when they were here. It took about an hour and half, but it was fun and it looked pretty. They got to Idaho late on Friday night and then left on Saturday after lunch/dinner after the show on Saturday afternoon. They were here, once again, for less than 24 hours. What's with my family? I think they think if they stay in Rexburg for more than 24 hours at a time they'll become stupider. Or maybe just freeze to death. I'm not sure which. Maybe both?

I suppose that's about the extent of my life these past couple of weeks since my last post. I'm volunteering at the Head Start program here in Rexburg. I go Thursday mornings for an hour and play with preschool kids. This past week was only my second time going but I walked in and this little girl sees me from across the room and comes running at me to give me a hug. "Megan!!" It was cute. And then she insisted on serving me breakfast of plastic carrots and strawberries. And she got mad if I didn't pretend to eat. And then I had to be the mailman and the mom and I think at one point I had to be the dog. Anyways. It makes me happy.
So, I guess the jist of this entry is that life is good.
Pictures will follow shortly, hopefully. Now that I found my camera and Evan has sent me a charger for it, I have to find the USB cable to put the pictures onto my laptop. Until then... I guess you'll just have to be patient and amuse yourself with reading my siblings blogs and perusing all of their cute pictures. Especially those of two adorable nephews dressed up for Halloween.

I was just talking to Chris about his eventful weekend driving back to CT. He was telling me first his car radio died, then all of the gauges in the dash, and finally the whole car just stopped. To which I said: ALTERNATOR!! (From experience -- see post from Feb. 2007) And I was right. Thank you very much. Just thought I'd share. It made me laugh.

My whole family is devastated about the loss of the ECS Playscape. See here: http://willonanza.blogspot.com/

Happy news for you all!!! I FOUND my digital camera! It was stashed away in my laptop case -- and if it hadn't been for not getting my homework done and needing to finish it on campus today, I never would've found it. Anyways. That's my good news for today.
I meant to finish writing about my last few weeks here in Idaho. Last week one of our (nonmember) friends was baptized. It was really cool. I played the hymns for her. Uhm... what else? OH! I almost forgot! I'm playing the trombone in the marching band. Yeah that's right. But we had our first BYUI show last week. It wasn't the best performance I've ever seen, but oh well.
Saturday and Sunday we hung around Rexburg and watched Conference. Which, as previously mentioned, turned out to be a lot of fun.
So I got a text message from Mollie last night telling me that they're taking down the ECS Playscape. I gasped so loud when I read it, people around me thought someone had died. I tried to explain to them the sentimental value of the ECS Playscape, and how cool it is, but they just didn't get it. Mom went over and took a bunch of pictures for us, but it's just not the same. Cromwell is gonna be so lame by the time I'm old. There are already a bunch of things that I could say "Back in my day..." about. Very sad day for anyone who grew up in Cromwell, going to ECS. It'll be replaced with some lame-o playground that poses no harm to kids. Don't people know that the really fun stuff is always somewhat dangerous?! I think I would gladly put up with splinters and bee stings if it meant I got to keep the Playscape. Wussy kids these days... They'll get like... a painted patch of grass and that's it.
Nothing exciting is on tap for the rest of this week. Maybe I'll drive down to Idaho Falls and get the oil changed in the car. Saturday I have to go to the Idaho Marching Band Competition in Pocatello. It might be okay except that I don't really know anyone in my class. Then Saturday night we have another football game. Anyways. That's all for now I guess.

So I was all for sitting down and writing a nice little, long overdue blog entry in my half an hour before more class, but my computer is being extremely slow. I'll type a sentence and it'll show up on the screen 30 seconds later. And you might think -- 30 seconds is not that long, be patient. But trust me, it is that long. And I am not that patient. It's driving me crazy -- and I don't know why it's being so slow. It was doing that a couple of weeks ago, and I had hoped that I just caught it on a bad day. Does anyone reading this know what the problem is? It's only this website that's really slow. OOOOH! Brilliant idea! Maybe I can type it in word and copy paste it in here!

Hello my blog readers! I am bored. I have been in class since 7:45 this morning, and am about to go back to class after an hour break, and then I won’t be done until 6:45. Not fun. Anyways. I know I owe my blog an update, and have for quite some time now. I guess I’ve just gotten demoralized by the fact that I can’t find my digital camera. And I love to put up pictures because pictures are always more fun than typed word.

Nothing too exciting has happened since I got back to school. I am living in the exact same apartment as last year, with two of the same roommates. I’m in the exact same room, but on the opposite side, which is weird. I feel so backward. But I’m getting used to it. I’m afraid one of these days I’ll roll full on into the wall trying to get out of bed. That would hurt. But it would also be quite amusing. I’ll let you know if it ever happens.

Update on my schoolwork. I am playing in the Wind Ensemble (1^st clarinet, 2^nd chair) and Symphony (we trade parts – sometimes first, sometimes second). The music is really fun. This semester I get to do the Halloween Concert (all 6 performances!) with the Symphony and the Temple Dedication Pageant with the Wind Ensemble, which will be held February 2^nd, I believe. Recording sessions and everything. It’s been fun so far. Let’s see… my other classes are all pretty boring. I took my first theory and ear training tests this past week but haven’t gotten either of those back yet, so we’ll see.

Update on my social life. I was supposed to go to Salt Lake for Conference this past weekend – my friend had tickets for the Saturday morning session. I ended up not going, for many reasons, none of which I care enough to explain. I had fun just being in Rexburg watching Conference in my pajamas, going to Wal-Mart between sessions. I tell ya, watching Conference at home on your couch in your pajamas when it’s SNOWING outside is much underrated. Yes, it snowed here on Saturday. We got probably 3 or 4 inches which has since melted. I would post you pictures, but once again, I lost my camera. I’m jealous that it’s 85 degrees in Connecticut these days.

Speaking of Connecticut – I called home to see what was going on on Saturday afternoon, and mom and dad were at a tag sale. Someone overheard me repeat that on my end of the conversation and asked what the heck I was talking about. Sorry – “garage” sale. I guess I didn’t realize that that term was strictly Northeastern. I like it, and I’m sticking to it.

I’ll update a little more soon, hopefully. I have to go back to class! :o(

(YAY! My copy/paste idea worked!!!)

By the way, if you are not a family member, and want to learn a little bit about the rest of the Dickerson family (and after reading my blog, how could you not?!), I think you should read this post by my oldest brother Michael.
http://obstrepero.us/blosxom/blosxom.pl/journal/20070420.comments

Since I figure only my family reads this blog anyway, I can tell the next story.

If you look at the general population of college students, I would say 99% of them go to their first year of college and develop the #2 habit of swearing (second only to getting drunk). Then when they do go home, they have to curb their language and hope their parents don't hear the one thing they seemed to have learned at school -- the art of pulling as many swear words as possible into a single sentence, or sentence fragment. In the Dickerson household, it is not the children that leave for college and take up swearing, it is the parents who apparently have let their mouths take over now that the kids are gone. Case in point.

This afternoon I was sitting in the family room after my weekly Sunday nap, talking to my mom and looking out the window. The dog keeps scratching at the door, and periodically she looks up from her Crossword puzzle to tell the dog to shut up. This happens probably three times. And then on the fourth time, the dog scratches at the door and mom yells "Shut up you damn do---" quickly interrupted quietly by "oh, that did not just come out of my mouth" (or something along those lines).
Me: (after containing my laughter) Forget your kids are home?
Mom: Maybe...

So in addition to my job at D---'s, I have a job at Subway. I enjoy working at Subway because there's generally no customer complaining because they watch you make their food right in front of them. "And oil and vinegar. More vinegar. Uhm... can I have just a little more vinegar?"

The most entertaining days we have are when we amuse ourselves and mess with the customers. The other day the owner worked next to me during lunch (we make a kind of assembly line) and sang all of the vegetables as he put them on each sandwich. It's a fun Subway to come to, let me tell you.

But anyways. The other day I had to work the cash register. There's practically no one in the store, and this little old lady shuffles in and makes her way to the register. Mind you, you're supposed to begin ordering your sandwich at the other end of the counter where the sign hanging above it reads "place order here." People seem to miss the sign a lot. And by people, I mean mostly little old ladies. So she comes up holding a card, and tells me she wants two foot long sandwiches and she wants to get one free. Well don't we all want to get free food. So she shows me the card, which is just a business card that tells what our special is for the day. Subway has a special every day where the 6" version of that day's sandwich is only $2.99 -- $3.17 with tax. Every day is a different sandwich. So I tell her that she doesn't really have a coupon, she just has an ad that tells what today's special is. And she insists that she wants two foot long sandwiches and she wants one free. So I tell her again that what she keeps trying to show me is not a coupon, but an ad. She keeps telling me, like I'M the one that's not understanding, that she wants TWO foot long sandwiches, and with the card, she gets one free! I realized that at this point I had just stopped and stared at her because I couldn't believe we were still having this conversation. So the kid I work with comes over, noticing that I'm about finished trying to get through to this customer, and asks what's up. She explains to him the foot long deal, and he takes her down to the other end of the counter and serves up the sandwiches. He tells her they aren't $2.99 and she won't get one free. She orders anyway. He makes her sandwiches exactly as she would like, he wraps them up, passes them down to me, and I present them to her at the cash register. I ring up the two foot long sandwiches and it comes to something like $13. Which she pays. Phew, she's finally leaving. I give her her change, and then I realize she's not leaving.
She says " I was supposed to get one of those free."
"No -- because you didn't have a coupon."
"Well my husband came in and ordered two foot long sandwiches and he got one free!"
"He must have had a coupon."
"Yes -- he had this!" (proceeds to show me the special-of-the-day card)
"No, that's not a coupon."
"Oh... So did I get today's special?"
"No, because you didn't order that sandwich, and you ordered foot long sandwiches."
"Well what is the special?"
"It's only good for a 6" sandwich."
"Aren't foot longs just 2 6" sandwiches?"
"Yes."
"So why didn't I get the special?!"
"Because it was cheaper to charge you for one foot long sandwich instead of 2 6" specials." (BESIDES THE FACT THAT YOU DIDN'T EVEN ORDER THE RIGHT SANDWICH TO GET TODAY'S SPECIAL!)
This is the point where she looks at me like I'm stupid, makes the old lady face that says -- kids these days -- and waves her hand at me in the old lady way that says -- you're not making any sense and I'm done trying to get through to you. And walks out the door.

I stifle a laugh as I look up at the mid-twenties aged guys who were standing in line behind her watching this whole conversation play out, who are also trying not to laugh, and say "Hi! What kind of sandwich are you having today?"

For the safety of my job, I have decided to take the full name of the restaurant out of these blogs.

If D---'s ever reads this, I'm sure someone will get fired over the next little story I have to tell you.

At work yesterday, the dishwasher didn't show up. He's a kid about my age, tall, skinny as heck, and he looks about 16. He shuffles around quietly doing his job. Since he wasn't there, the manager on shift called one of the other dishwashers and had him come in for a while. He's probably mid 30s, big guy, football player type. He came to the restaurant and hung around for a while because just after he got there, the dishwasher kid showed up. But anyways. So he walks back into the kitchen and talks to everyone because he's been working there forever, and apparently everyone knows him. I mind my business by the register for a while and I seat a table for one of the servers who is nowhere to be found. So I go searching for her through the kitchen and the back of the restaurant by the back door and the manager's office. I round the corner and there sits the called-in dishwasher, half naked in the middle of the little space back there by the ice machine. He's got his shirt off, his lovely beer belly hanging out, and one of the cooks is buzzing his head. Yes. The cook was giving the dishwasher a hair cut in the back of the kitchen. It wasn't right where they cook the food, but it was within 5 feet of food prep areas and stored food. I didn't say anything, but I had to think that this couldn't be within D----'s food prep regulations. Doesn't it make you feel good to know that your food was made right after the cook buzzed some guy's head?
"You found a hair in your food? You should've seen the guy at the next table over! His pancake was furry!"

So -- if anyone needs a haircut -- apparently the swing shift cook at D----'s is giving them for free in the back room. Walk-ins welcome.

Hello everyone!
Michael's blog mention of me has increased my profile views by nearly 20%. I am now up to a shattering 44 views. I know. I'm practically famous. I always tell my mom that she has to keep all the old wallpaper patterns after she rips them down so that someday the house can be returned to the way it looked when Megan Dickerson lived here. Velvet rope and all. People will wonder "ooh! I wonder what's behind that door!" Which will be stairs to the basement which will still be chock-full of all the crap it houses now, probably with a few new additions. "And this is the computer Megan began her career on with a blog..." A resounding "oooh" from the tour group.

So I've been working at D---'s and I come home with stories about work pretty much every day. My dad says I should write them down and publish it someday. I don't think they're that interesting, but they are somewhat entertaining. The story that prompted this publishing comment is from yesterday morning. I worked a double at Denny's yesterday hostessing. One of the other hostesses wanted the day off, so she needed me to cover for her. Stupid me, I thought it sounded like a good idea -- make some more money, ya know, proceed on the path to becoming rich and famous. I always think of my job at D----'s as the job I'll talk about on Jay Leno when he asks me what crappy jobs I had growing up before I started making tons of money.

But anyways. My story. It was a busy morning at D----'s -- well, for me, compared to swing shift (5-9pm) when I usually work. I was supposed to have another girl hostessing with me, but she had to serve (no, not time, though that's not too far-fetched) at the last minute because it got busy. So I finally get a minute to breathe, probably around 1:00pm. And I'm standing up at the front of the restaurant by the register just minding my business, and this man comes up and asks if I have a rag or something. And I interrupt him "oh of course!" and grab a rag and walk over to his table to see a lovely display of child vomit all over the table, the booth and the culprit himself. How one child can make that big of a mess, is beyond me. Maybe I should ask Mollie -- she has a babysitting horror story that tops all. And that one time when I was probably 8 or so when a girl from church slept over and then threw up popcorn and chocolate pudding ALL over the bathroom in the middle of the night. But once again -- someone else, namely my mom, cleaned that up, not me. In my defense, I'm not a complete wuss! I've changed nasty diapers that have been worn so long there's literal crap oozing onto the kid's back and down his legs. I've cleaned up dog throw up. But man, this was something else. I was so unprepared. Maybe it was because I round the corner all innocent Denny's employee, rag in hand, ready to be the helpful hostess they hired me to be, to come to their rescue to clean up the spilled soda or whatever it is, only to be hit with the undeniable stench of child vomit. *shudder* It was the kind of smell that your nose finds so offensive it can't help but try to find somewhere to hide. And I stand there for a second, stunned. The little kid is standing on the booth looking up at his dad who is standing right next to me. The mom is standing there lying to herself, the kid, and everyone around, telling him "honey! it's okay! don't worry!", I'm assuming to try to avoid a full out temper tantrum. Probably because if he started crying and screaming, she wasn't going to touch him to calm him down or drag him out of the restaurant. So I put the rag on the booth and start to slide it around to clean up the mess. My mistake. I disturbed it. I made it angry. And I try to smile at the customers so they don't feel so bad, and they don't hate Denny's, when really I'm thinking "exactly how many pancakes were in this kid?!!!" immediately followed by "I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job." The father asks me for a bag. I go get him a plastic D----'s bag we put carry-out orders in. He puts the boy's soggy shirt in it, and I smile at the thought of a throw-up covered shirt as your carry-out order. Straight from D----'s to you. (A la Camelot Inn) And then I catch a whiff of it, and quickly seal my mouth shut again. I retreat back to my station at the front of the restaurant, leaving the server and the dishwasher (who came up with the brilliant idea that the guy who's in charge of producing clean dishes is also the man wiping bodily fluids off the floor?!) to clean it up. Later that day, a couple of girls come in, and the manager seats them at the throw up table which is, by now, all cleaned up. Although I have to wonder if they didn't think "what is that terrible smell?!" when they sat down. And as I clean the table next to them, I think... if only they knew.

Okay, I was just kidding about the scurvy thing. But don't think for a minute that I won't be able to fit my entire fist in my mouth by the end of the summer...

So I've been working at Denny's... it's been fine. Nothing spectacular. Somehow I got really lame hours, so I'm only scheduled for 12 hours a week.

Uhm... other than that, it's been really nice here. 70s and 80s. I love nice weather, but forget that the sun is my constant enemy, threatening to burn me tomato red if I'm out for more than 30 seconds without sunscreen.

Wow. I didn't have nearly as much to say as I thought I did.

Until the next time I'm so bored that I feel the need to post something new...

In 4 hours I will have been home for exactly one week.

It has been raining consistently for 3 or 4 days.

Boredom has set in.

Cinnamon toast crunch all gone
Rations of Cocoa Puffs running disturbingly low, but TV Dinner supply replenished.
... Scurvy still a concern.

This morning I attempted to fit my entire fist in my mouth, because I'm pretty convinced I can do it.
Failed attempt this morning.
Will try again tomorrow.

Well my dear friends,
I am finally home to little Cromwell, CT. I left Rexburg on Friday, stayed in Provo for a couple of days and then got on a plane at 8:30pm yesterday to take me to Denver, CO. My connecting flight to Bradley International from Denver didn't leave until 11:55. So I left Denver at 11:55pm and arrived in Hartford at 5:10am. So you might think that my flight took about 5 hours. But you would be wrong. It really only took about 3. So what happened to that extra time you ask? Some attribute it to the rotation of the earth and time zones and other nonsense of the like, but really, there is only one explanation. I traveled into the future. Yes, that's right. I am an experienced time traveler. Don't you wish we were better friends?
Now my question is, what happens to the lost time? If you think about it, I lost 2 hours of my life. It is technically 4:00 pm, but my day began 2 hours earlier than it should have. One of the enigmas of the universe. If you did enough flying, I wonder if you could take years off your life. In that case, not only have I successfully traveled into the future, but I have unlocked the fountain of youth. It just so happens to be several miles above the earth in a 747.

By the way, I've realized it's the little things that I miss about Connecticut.
Shall I provide a list?
I think I shall.
-Knowing the roads well enough to go where you want to go
-Having access (even if it is limited) to a car to go where you want to go
-My dog curling up next to me on my bed
-The land of "wicked" "stop & shop" "CVS" and "Devil Dogs" -- I can once again use this lost half of my vocabulary without people looking at me funny and then asking -- "where are you from?"
-The birds chirping in the tree outside my bedroom window. I realized this morning that it's not that there aren't birds in Rexburg, it's that my bedroom overlooked a parking lot, where birds don't seem to like to hang out in the mornings.
-My bay window. I have three windows in my own room. Yes, count 'em, three.
-Multiple rooms, multiple floors. I believe this is a repeat from Christmas break.
-Having a TV in my room.
-Not having cable so that at any given moment I know what's showing on each of the 8 channels that come in.
-Hardwood floors and area rugs.
-My grand piano.
-A yard. It seems so big.
-Not worrying about making the downstairs neighbors mad by jumping around or pounding on the floor, if I so desire. And I do.
-Not having to walk to Broulim's to buy my own groceries and then carry them home.
-The newspaper.
-A clean bathroom. Oh wait. No. Evan's got ours looking pretty icky.
-A clean downstairs bathroom.
-Having more than one bathroom.

These are just a few of the things I thought of.
Course, give me a month, and I'll be writing a list of everything I miss about Rexburg.

In other news, I am happy to report, that in my first day home, I have gotten myself a job. I am very proud.
I will be a hostess at Denny's for the summer, with the possibility of working up to a server. Exciting.
I have orientation this afternoon and then I start on Friday.
Very exciting for me.

That is all.
I want to eat before my orientation.

Until again.

Let me tell you a story.

First of all, Friday night we had a bridal shower for my roommate Heather. She is getting married on April 7th and we're all very excited for her. We had a little party, just us roommates. We dressed up in pink and black to match the theme colors, and did crazy hair and makeup just for fun. We ate lots of food and played a game, and watched Heather open presents. And then we went to Hollywood as dressed up as we were and rented a movie which we were too tired to watch. We pulled three of our mattresses into the living room and had a little slumber party. Quality roommate bonding for the first time ever. It was really fun.

In the car on the way to Hollywood. Me Kayla Kimberly.

Saturday we had an amazing day and it got up to probably about 60 degrees. My roommate Dawn has two bikes that she just got out of storage so after a morning of trying to fix the bikes, we went for a bike ride at about 2:00. I met my friend Mike for a date at 3:30. That night Kayla and Brittany were taking a trip to Bear Gulch, as they so lovingly call it. So Kimberly and I, not wanting to be wusses, and looking for a genuinely good time, decided to go with them.

We left at about 8:30 after takeout dinner from Bajio. We drove about 45 minutes to get out to this remote park. This is where the story really begins.

So it's completely dark -- all we have is our cell phones for light, which by the way didn't get service. The road up was windy and dark, so it was a little creepy already. The snow hadn't melted yet, though we thought it would have because of the nice weather. Oh altitude. We linked arms and stepped over the curve to go down the embankment that went to a path through a big tunnel/pipe underneath the road, that would supposedly take us to bear gulch. I take one step over the curb and sink in up to my knee. We all laugh, and I climb out, take two more steps and sink in up to my thigh. Kayla comes back for me to try to pull me out, but she sinks in too. I thought I was really stuck, but after a few minutes, I wiggled my way out.
Me stuck in the snow.

I decide to walk on the packed down snow (duh), and we make it down to the opening of the tunnel. The tunnel is this huge metal pipe, tall enough for us to stand in and just as wide. We can see what we only assume to be snow on the other side because it is a lighter black than everything around it. We're standing on the edge of the tunnel with our cell phones out trying to see what's inside before we go through it.

Brittany: Did you hear that?
Kayla: Yes.
Megan: What did you say?
Brittany: There's something in there!
Brittany and Kayla: OHMYGOSH THERE'S SOMETHING IN THERE! -- take off running and screaming back up the bank to the car.

I turn around and run up the side of the tunnel along the brick wall that supports the road. I figure if I'm on the side of the tunnel, I have the wall to grab on to for balance. Not even 10 seconds later we all stop, realizing there really isn't anything in there. At least nothing that would want to chase or eat us. I look around to see that Kimberly is not behind me as I had thought, but about 10 feet away with Brittany and Kayla. In turning around to run, Kayla had sunk in to the snow, Brittany had toppled over her and Kimberly had bumped in to them both. I was off to the side by myself. We laughed a little bit, but wasted no time booking it back to the car and getting in and locking the doors. Once we realized we were relatively safe, we all laugh at how funny that must've looked and how scared we got.

Brittany: Guys, I really thought I was going to die!
Kayla: What did you guys first think when we said there was something in there?
Kimberly and Megan: Bear! "Bear" Gulch!
Kayla: Oh. I'm kind of embarassed to say what I thought.
Brittany: Me too.
Kayla and Brittany look at each other: We thought Sasquatch.

Me stuck in the snow again. Horrible picture.

It is a few minutes before everyone realizes that I had run off away from them. I'd like to think that it was so that if there was a bear, I could gain higher ground and possibly a weapon while it attacked my roommates, and then I could beat it off and save us all. Or if it was Sasquatch I could woo him with my womanly wiles and persuade him not to kill or eat any of my roommates. But no. And I tell myself that I ran up along the side (30 degree angle to the opening of the tunnel) for stability, and hopefully a faster getaway. And that was part of it. It really was. But seriously, I ran off to the side because I figured whatever was in the tunnel would go for whatever was in it's direct line of sight, which was NOT going to be me. And when I think back on it, it was a triple decker of my roommates. So basically I cowardly ran off to save myself and left my roommates to be eaten by a bear or carried away by Sasquatch. But I tried to explain that in doing so, I hit my wrist against the brick wall and got the worst injury out of all of us (They scraped up their hands when they fell onto the icy snow) and that should make them feel a little better.

So the next night over dinner, Dawn redeems me... well sort of.

Dawn: You know what Kimberly and I realized?
Me: No, what?
Dawn: You thought you were saving yourself, but really, it would've gone after you first.
Me: Why?
Dawn: Haven't you ever seen the Discovery Channel? When something attacks another animal, it always picks the sickly or slow ones in the herd -- the one off by itself.
Me: It's true! So really, I was sacrificing myself to save you guys! I was drawing it away from you! I'm a HERO!
Dawn: No, you're still a coward.

Kayla stuck in the snow trying to pull me out.


So in the past weekend I realized that when I think I'm going to die, I make sure to save myself first. See? You never know until you actually think you're in mortal danger. I bet you would do the same thing, so don't even judge me.

This story is definitely blog-worthy. Although it is almost a week later that I finally realize my faithful blog readers (of which there are none) have been deprived of this amazing story.

So first of all -- I lied in my last blog. I wrote that I wouldn't be doing anything special for the three-day weekend. I lied because what I WAS doing was a surprise. Saturday morning my friend Chad (see previous entries for more information) picked me up and we began our (somewhat) impromptu day trip to Provo. After a gas pit stop (which felt VERY strangely like being on a family vacation ... but no snack money... ) we left Rexburg at about 10 or 10:30. We got to Provo about 2, and Chad drove me to Mollie's dorm to surprise her. And I did. It was great. We ate lunch at the Creamery and then tried to go bowling but the wait was an hour long. So Erin Bryce and Will met me at Mollie's dorm. Mollie left for her date (lah dee dah) at about 6:00 so Erin took me back to her house. I played with Will for a while. We think he thought I was Mollie or Erin, but what do I care if it means he doesn't scream and bawl when I try to pick him up. We watched "About a Boy" at Erin's and then Chad called and picked me up around 9:40. After a pit stop at the Provo Wal-Mart, we were back on the road about 10:00. Chad drove until midnight, at which point he pulled over and we switched. I pulled out onto the interstate to find that Chad's car had no high beams, so I'm driving along at 70, 75 sometimes up to 85 mph with these dinky headlights, hoping that the road doesn't take a sharp turn, or something doesn't jump in front of me, because I won't be able to see it in time to stop. I drive for about an hour and a half or so, all the time noticing that the headlights keep dimming -- but they'd come back, so I ignored it. And then about 1:30am as I'm driving down this remote stretch of Idaho Interstate (yes, it pretty much is all "remote") when suddenly it's very dark -- the car completely dies on me. And the really freaky part was that as it did so, the windshield wipers flipped on and skidded their way across the windshield once before dying also. And after staring at the road for so long, their in-my-face surprise scared me to death. I reached over and woke up Chad and told him I had no lights. (Mind you, this all happens in like 2 seconds) I pull over, but really can't see anything, and ended up half in the shoulder, half on the highway. The engine is smoking so we get out only to hear dogs somewhere nearby barking up a storm. And when you're out on this quiet interstate in the middle of nowhere, freezing cold, with no moonlight, nobody around, and you hear dogs barking, it's a little freaky. (After looking around, we notice there's a farm on the other side of the highway and the dogs are fenced in.) So Chad gets out and pops the hood to find the battery literally sizzling. Hm. Now we know what that funky smell was the whole way down and back up. After locking the car and beginning to walk towards the nearest exit (which we later find out is 3 miles away) I remember I'm a AAA member! We go back to the car and I call my parents (where it's 3:30 am and I've scared them half to death by calling so late) to get the AAA number, because, me being the responsible, intelligent person that I am, didn't have the membership card with me. I call AAA and try to explain to them where we are ("uh... 15 minutes outside of Pocatello?") which is when I wished I had paid more attention to the signs I had been driving by. They promised they'd have someone out to me within 1/2 hour because they had a towing company in Blackfoot -- which was assumed to be near where we were. About an hour goes by, and still no tow truck. And I'm freezing, scared that somebody's going to come barreling down the interstate, not see us, and bash into the car. And then Chad says he thought he saw a silhouette approaching our car in the headlights of a passing car -- so we watch for another car to pass, and he claims it was nothing. Yeah, good idea -- let's just begin our horror movie. Not only am I cold and shaken up from the car dying in my hands, but now I'm afraid there's an ax-murderer at my window. Oh but it gets better. So since we've been waiting for a while now, Chad decides he better get out and run up to the sign we can see a little ways off, and see what it says. He leaves me! In the car! Alone! With the ax-murderer and the dogs! You better believe I locked the doors... He was gone for a few minutes, which seemed like an hour, especially since I couldn't see him at all... when the tow truck driver calls me to get an update on our location, which, conveniently, Chad has just determined from the sign is 3 miles south of Blackfoot. Chad gets back to the car and the tow truck arrives within 10 minutes and we are rescued. By this time it is about 3:15. We broke down at approximately 1:35. I am cold, exhausted physically and emotionally, and ready to crash. Well, maybe I shouldn't use that term in the context of this car story. But anyways. They hook up the car, and I climb into the warmth of the tow truck's cab. We got towed back to Rexburg because, being the AAA Premium Plus member that I am, I can get towed anywhere within 100 miles of where I am, and we were only 55 miles from Rexburg. I don't really remember the ride back because I promptly fell asleep, leaving Chad to do the small talk. We got to Rexburg about 4:00, pushed the car into a parking place and finally slept before getting up at 7:30 for church at 9:00. It was an amazing night. When I talked to my mom about it later she said she had thought about cancelling mine and Mollie's AAA memberships since we weren't at home to do any driving. Then my dad told her she might want to keep it because they remembered the car Chad drives. (Which, he would want me to tell you, is not a bad car, but just doesn't look the greatest.) Now, there was no reason for them to think this since I hadn't told them I would be surprising Mollie (I know how surprises in this family work... or don't work, I should say -- unless it's Evan who's keeping the secret) nor would they have any reason to think that Chad would be driving me somewhere. So it was pretty much a miracle. :o)

And anyway -- what is a Dickerson road trip without the car breaking down? ...Glad to find that I'm carrying on the family legacy.

I am happy to report that Chad and I are both alive and well and carrying on with our normal lives here in Rexburg, Idaho. The 1989 Eagle Summit is not doing so hot, but has settled in quite nicely to it's parking place outside of Chad's apartment. There are plans to have it fixed soon though. Supposedly it's the alternator. ;o)

So our lack of toilet paper has brought me to my blog.
I'm not really sure why. I'm bored and I should be going to Broulim's (the little grocery store behind my apartment -- pronounced Bro-lum's) to remedy the toilet paper issue but instead I'm sitting here at my computer being lazy. I think because I'm trying to take my mind off of the fact that I really have to go to the bathroom. I could go down to the lounge, but once again -- too lazy.

So what has been going on in the world of Megan Dickerson recently? I wish I knew.
If I find out, I'll be sure to tell you!
Look! I'm eating Ramen! WITH A FORK!

Okay okay, so I haven't been too bored. In fact, I've had a lot of fun recently. I even have some pictures for you! I know, I know. You just can't contain your excitement. Aren't you glad YOU have toilet paper?!

I haven't posted anything since before CHRISTMAS! Wow.
This is the fancy nephew carrying case I got for Christmas. (Nephew not included)
Mollie and the dog, and Erin's leg/back in the foreground on the mattress on my bedroom floor Christmas morning. Local news on the TV in the background.

Since my last post:
-I had a lovely Christmas at home in CT with my whole family and my bald older brother Michael.
-I got to visit some of my teachers and friends from home.
-I sang a solo of "Away in a Manger" in my ward's sacrament meeting on Christmas Eve. Scary.
-I accompanied my friend on the piano as she played a cello duet for her ward.
-I have a new roommate Dawn from Texas.
-My new classes are pretty boring and consist of: Ear Training 2, Music Theory 2, Wind Ensemble, Clarinet, Book of Mormon, English, Math.
-My math class consists of understanding percentages, and the question (I kid you not) -- Apples are $.75 a pound. You want 2 and 1/2 pounds of apples. What is the total cost of the apples?
-I went sledding with a few friends of mine for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
-I went to a Superbowl get together at a friend's house with my roommate Kimberly.
-I performed in my first concert of this semester with the Wind Ensemble on February 8th. I had three short solos in one of our songs and nailed them all. Yay!
-I got a 102 on my first dictation exam this semester! (The teacher plays melodies, harmonic progressions, chords, and rhythms and we have to identify them and write them down.)
-I got a Valentine's day package from my momma!
-I've kept busy with my classes, and have realized that I have only 4 clarinet lessons left this semester. And I have clarinet lessons once a week.
-I'm not doing anything exciting for this long President's Day weekend.
-Rexburg has warmed up a little -- with temperatures reaching the practically summer temperatures of 40 degrees. When it hit 28 Kimberly and I got out our flip flops. We really thought it felt warm.
-Kimberly has just informed me that the temperature outside right now is 47! Lovely.
The cake I made for dessert when some of the guys in our ward has us over for dinner. It was delicious. And colorful... and... slightly... gay. hm.

In other news.
I have a good story! Oh! I almost forgot! But trust me, this is a good one! Okay, so last Monday, February 5th, I was rushing my way to my English class. It starts at 7:45 and I was going to be late so I'm booking it. I was crossing the green between the library and the building I need to be at when this little dog comes running out of nowhere. He ran up to some people about 20 feet in front of me. I was sure it would run away by the time my walking brought me to it, but it didn't. Everyone ignored it, so I bent down to look at his collar and he started squirming so I grabbed him. I looked around for someone chasing after him but there wasn't anyone. I picked him up and carried him inside the nearest building and used the courtesy phone to call the number on "Bentley"s tag. I got this old lady who said she lived just across the street and she would be outside waiting. She was so sure I knew where she lived and I was so familiar with the area that she didn't need to explain it to me that she hung up before I knew exactly where to go. Truth is, I wasn't even sure what building I was in when I called her. I walked out of the building just as my friend David was walking to deliver something to another building. He looked at me weird since it was 7:45am and I was carrying around a little dog on campus. We wandered around in the dorms for a while before we found the street we were supposed to be at. We walked up the street as this little lady comes out of her house to claim her dog. She insisted on rewarding us even though we politely refused. She gave us granola bars and chocolate. She was silly. She said her husband was down on campus looking for us, so we walked back and looked around for him before I decided I should probably get to class. Dave said he would keep looking for the old guy. I saw him later that afternoon and asked for an update. He said he couldn't find the old guy at first, so he went to deliver something else about an hour later and saw this old man looking around in the bushes outside of a building across campus from where we found the dog. He told him we had already found and returned his dog. Did the old guy really think I had decided not to deliver the dog and just let him go again? Silly old man. The End. That's my story of how I rescued someone's dog. I was very proud of myself... I miss my dog! :o(

Well I'll include some pictures of my random activities in the past month and a half. Hope you enjoy! Hope all is well with you!


These are pictures of the bruise I got from playing my friend's boomwhackers. If you don't know what boomwhackers are, you should google it. They're pretty cool.
This is me and my friend David Wilson. He's in my ward. He came over one Saturday to show Kimberly and I the sledding video Chad made. I don't know why we took this picture, but I look pretty wild. Dave is one of the guys that saw my sister at the BYU game last semester.
Dave had the camera under his coat and had fun pretending he was pregnant.
I snapped this after church (I think) one Sunday. Kimberly was exhausted.
This is Kimberly on her way to a world record for eating the most waffles. I don't think I've ever seen her eat so much in one sitting.
Chad making his family's famous apple cinnamon waffles for lunch after church. February 11th.
Kimberly and I hanging out at Chad's apartment. (henceforth known as 105)
Kimberly and I being silly at 105. The cutest fish in the sea.
Kimberly and I were bored so we sculpted "Reuben" out of a rotten potato -- he looks kind of like Edvard Munch's Scream. We put him on a pedestal. The bottles are there because we filled them with water and then performed Mary Had a Little Lamb for the guys.

Well that's enough fun for one post. Kimberly and I are going to Broulim's (do you remember how to pronounce it?!) to get toilet paper.