Strings and things

so, i was home for Christmas one year, and decided to go with my friend roger to his singles ward rather than go to my parents' ward for church. i was hoping to expand my social circle. unfortunately roger is a social retard. (sorry, roger. you have to admit that we make a horrible tag-team when it comes to fraternizing with the opposite sex.)

roger and i did talk to a girl who used to live across the street from me. i asked her out once, but that's as far as that went. we talked to her because i had to tell her that her cousin worked in my office, and roger kind of knew her because his roommate was her home teacher.

on our way through the building to where roger went to sign up for tithing settlement we ran into a guy from my freshman ward. i'm sure the conversation seemed a little awkward because the whole time i was trying to remember if this freshman ward acquaintance was married before he left UT to go to TX for grad school, or if he was only engaged. either way, he was back in a singles ward.

then i looked into a room off of that hallway and there was one of my old roommates. Chris and i were roommates for 3 years and even did a road trip to CA together.

while roger and i were talking to Chris, along came another girl who also used to live across the street. this girl liked a roommate of mine for a short while. meeting her was also awkward because she left our singles ward because she got married. well, maybe it wasn't awkward for Chris because he just started asking about the divorce, followed by "weren't you engaged to someone else before you got married?" i felt so bad for this former neighbor and for my roommate. Chris did ask for her fone number and ended up going on a date with her. go figure.

the end result: i went to someone else's ward trying to meet new people and all we did was talk to people i know. thanks a lot roger.

we did end up going to ward prayer at the Chris's new house. then we met some new people, including some folks who play guitar and such. there were a couple of girls who host a guitar night at their place. roger and i went to that a couple of times, but then i started working long days and the late night trips back from SLC just weren't working out with my mornings. but still i must say that guitars do open up a certain social scene.

i've made a few more friends along the way and these types of stories seem to continue. last night i was with someone i met this last year. Marissa had said that her roommate plays guitar, and so i was curious to see if it was anyone i've met or heard before and curious enough to go to a movie last night and back to Marissa's place afterwards. of course my curiosity was at least somewhat rewarded by the fact that Marissa also brought a friend along to the movie who just happens to be a girl who spent 6 months in Taiwan with my brother Matt and his wife. i can't be too surprised that Katie and Marissa are good friends. Marissa is even the TA for a class that Katie is teaching at BYU. i met Katie when i went to dinner with Matt and Greta and their Taiwan friends.

(as a side note i was also pleased that i'm not the only one these strange meetings happen to, because Marissa's friend also knew the sibling of some of the other folks who ended up at Marissa's. to further extend this side note, one of the guys in Taiwan at the same time with Katie and my brother and his wife was a roommate of the guy that was now divorced from that girl who i talked to at church over Christmas break.)

back to the story... a guitar finally came out at Marissa's and i played a couple songs because they asked nicely. then Marissa's roommate played song or two. then Marissa says, "and one of the cool things about when davebetts used to visit was the fact that he would ride over on his long board." Marissa's roommate responds with, "you should meet my friend Loralee. she plays guitar and longboards too." then i ask, "¿Loralee Jesson?"

Marissa's roommate is friends with the girl who hosts guitar nights in SLC. yep, that same girl who i met at my roommate's ward prayer during Christmas break. my curiosity was satisfied.

i'm sleepy, good night.