A Full Utahan

So I did something big, I finally got my Utah license. I've lived here continuously for over five years and the address on my Florida license was invalid due to my parents moving so I figured it was time. I suppose it was a bit abnormal but I wasn't actually concered about the time, or money it would take but rather the quality of my picture.

My last license was taken when I was 17 and while it wasn't horrible I had a bit of an acne problem (which luckily was solved by scratching my picture in convenient places) and for some reason they decided to zoom in so far that my chin is missing. The point is I wasn't a big fan and I didn't want to be stuck with another horrible picture for the next five years.

So I did what any rational person would do, I put on my suit and my favorite bow-tie and practiced my serious half-smile that would project confidence yet communicate that I take governmental IDs seriously. A couple days of practice seemed to be enough so I headed to the DMV and took care of business.

...and I look like a priest.

Here's some other pictures of things I did:

Sarah and I went and saw Provo High's production of Suessical starring our dear friend June.

We stopped by my parent's house to eat some pie and discovered my father fast asleep in front of a roaring fire.

I finished the lights on my parents' house!

Is it strange that even after all these years I still find it offensive when people call me Utahan? I will self identify Utah as home but I still irrationally do not want to take on the demonym.

120 Stars!

It still bums me out that you don't get to ride Yoshi at the end.

My main motivation in writing this post is to brag that I beat Mario 64 for the first time with all 120 stars. Even the first time I played through it in 1996 my brother Seth and I traded off on the same save--each getting different ones.

Thankfully games today have better cameras and controls. Allison can attest to the fact that I threw the controller more than once. I can't count how many times the camera decided do an up close zoom of a wall instead of my jump or how many times Mario decided to run off the edge for whatever reason.

Luckily more has happened in my life besides twenty-year-old games.

I don't have any pictures from Halloween but it was the same costume. I fulfilled my usual role of handing out candy while the kids are out with their parents. I always try to play up some character for the task and this year was no different. I spooked up my outfit a little by closing my cloak, and popping up the hood. Furthermore I started walking with a limp and used my best psychotic villain voice. As the kids walked up I would either be standing at the open door with my back turned or I would jump out at them just as they were about to knock on the glass storm door.

There were several times I had to break character as small children's eyes went wide with fear but for the most part the kids played along. The best time by far was when a young teenager came to the door and as I came out at him he visibly jumped. This caused even the stoic father of my cousin to laugh.

Some other things:

Old Bones had a fantastic makeup job by Ariel Stardust.

My family, Sarah, and I attended the Salt Lake showing of Deep Love. It was a fantastic folk/rock opera written by some of Allison's friends in Rexburg. It was full of passion, betrayal, and superb singing; if you're in the area next Halloween I highly recommend you go see it.

Sarah gifted me several swatches of fabric of which I was able to make a few more bow-ties. The picture above only has them partially finished but I have since completed all of them (making more than one sewing mistakes in the process). Sewing is a lot of fun and hopefully I'll be able to branch out into other patterns soon.

At the planetarium. Space is so cool!