Us

Us

Saturday, February 24, 2007

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)

Friday, February 16, 2007

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.