The Engagement

     Some time ago, Caleb approached me asking if I would help him with his plan to propose to Josie. They're both good friends of  mine, so I happily accepted. Caleb started to explain to me that he was planning something large and elaborate that would take the entire afternoon, but frankly I paid little attention at the time. As the time came closer when he planned to pop the question, his scheme became more intricate. One night at Buffalo Wild Wings, he pulled out a paper with what looked to me like mad scribbles jotted all over both sides, and he told me it was the game plan for the proposal. I looked at the paper for a moment, then told him just to let me know what he wanted me to do and I would be glad to do it when the time came.
     Finally the day came. I took the afternoon off to do my part. All I understood at this moment was that he was planning on sending Josie on a big scavenger hunt, stretching from Salt Lake City to Provo, where he would propose shortly before we all go to a concert. My job was to help out at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. He called me while I was on my way there to explain the details:
     Josie was to come to Temple Square from the zoo at 4:30pm. She would go up onto the rooftop garden of the Joseph Smith Memorial building, where she would find a pair of binoculars and a clue that directed her to a balloon tied to a tree by the corner of the temple. That balloon would show her the way to another balloon on Temple Square, which would take her to a third, and then to a fourth, which was by the infinity pool in front of the temple. With that balloon, there was a large box, which was full of progressively smaller boxes, Russian nesting doll style, until she got to the smallest box which had the clue inside to take her to the next location. When she turned around from these boxes, she'd see one more big box, which when she opened, I would be inside, waiting to pull out a ring and propose (Yes me, not Caleb. Caleb thought it would be hilarious if a few of us proposed to her throughout the day before he did). Also, inside each of the Four balloons Josie gathered throughout this, was a puzzle piece. Three of these puzzle pieces were essential for decoding a clue later in the day.

World's Worst Hospital

     I spent the last couple years as an missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Central American country of Guatemala. It was a great experience where I was able to learn and serve others every day. It also came with its fair share of adventures, largely due to the very different lifestyle the people there live. And of course, it came with many sicknesses, due to their lack of purified water, lots of mosquitoes with more viruses than I knew existed (malaria, chikungunya, dengue, zika, etc.), and unclean foods.

Watch What You Say

     My senior year of high school, I often found myself wandering the halls after hours, waiting for Carson to be ready to take me home. One of these days, I found myself walking through a particularly crowded hallway, when I received a harsh hit to the shoulder. The thought instantly went through my mind that surely no stranger would be shoulder checking me with such force. I had no enemies, so it must have been a friend who thought he was being playfully violent. It was crowded, so it made sense that I missed seeing whoever it was. I decided to play along, and replied with, "I'll kill you!"
     I turned around to see if my friend had heard me and maybe respond further. But when I looked, I did not see a friend. It was indeed a stranger who had hit me. A tall, skinny Latino whom I didn't recall ever having seen before, and he did not look happy with me.

Swimming Lessons

     My brother Aaron has been wanting to learn how to swim better, and our next door neighbor, Guy was on the swim team for a few years. So Aaron finally got Guy to take him to the swimming pool for some lessons, and I went along for the ride.
     I'm not a strong swimmer at all. I can stay afloat and get across the pool just fine, but it's exhausting and certainly not fast enough to brag about. So we were going back and forth and back and forth with Guy's coaching, and I was ready to do something else. Just then I glanced up and saw a group of young people gathering together and I remembered Guy mentioning something about lifeguard training going on. So I climbed out of the pool and stood with the lifeguard kids.

Lab Rat, Part 2

Read Part 1 here.
     So the good news: I got into the study. I got a phone call from a mystery number about a week after the screening:

Me: Hello?

Phone Lady: Hi! I'm with PRA Health Sciences and I was just calling to see if maybe you would be able to come in on the second instead of the ninth.

Me: What?

Phone Lady: You're currently scheduled to come in and start the study on the ninth. But we have some extra room on the second if you want to come in then instead.

Me: Wait, so I got in?

Phone Lady: Yes. And you scheduled to come in on the ninth.

Me: I don't remember that... okay. I have school still on the second, so the ninth is better.

Phone Lady: Okay! Sounds good! We'll give you a call a couple days before to let you know everything you need to know.

Race Cop

     This is gonna be a short one, but it's important to me that it gets in here. I was driving down the road, casual as one can responsibly be, and I stopped at the front line of a red light. I looked over next to me, and there was a police car in the other lane. My window was down, but his wasn't, so I had to try to get his attention. I revved my engine at him. He looked over at me, and I just made some hand gestures, pointing around. He smiled and revved his engine back at me. The message was clear. It was time for a race.

The Shower Scare

     Roommate Kevin likes to shower right before he goes to bed. This wouldn't be terribly uncommon, except he goes to bed around 2 or 3 in the morning. So that's when he showers. When my dad is waking up and showering to get ready for the day, Kevin is showering to get ready for bed.
     I was talking to roommate Brayden the other night. His room is right next to the bathroom and I was kind of leaning in the corner between the two doors while I talked to him. Just then Kevin walked in and went over to his bedroom. I looked at the time and saw it was almost two. Then I looked over at the bathroom and knew that Kevin should be getting in there soon. So I wandered over into the bathroom and hid myself behind the shower curtain, intending to jump out and scare Kevin when he came in in a few minutes.
     A few minutes. That's what I expected. After the minutes went by, Austin and BriAunna stopped by to talk to Brayden. At one point I hear,

Bri: Hey, where is Dallin?