The week of October 17th, as a dating machine, I wanted to go to the Monster Mash costume dance at the Institute, so I called up this guy that my friend wanted to line me up with (Jason Sundberg). We had met before and hung out a couple of times, and I had met all of his friends. They were pretty cool and fun to be with. So, he said that he was going to the Monster Mash and that I should go. Later, I called him back and asked him if he could get one of his friends (like Matt McDaniel) to take my friend Tanya. He said sure, and I thought they were going to ask her specifically, but they never really did, I just figured that when they said that they would pick US up at my house at 8:30. On Saturday there was a Barn Dance with my sorority, and I kind of wanted to ask Jason's friend Matt, but several people told me that might be rude to Jason. (Emily, Jenny, JonR), so I tried to find a different date. Since they were dressing up as Pirates of the Caribbean guys (Will Turner - Jason Sundberg, Jack Sparrow - Matt McDaniel), I dressed up as Elizabeth, and Tanya dressed up as a pirate. Right before they got there to pick us up, Doug from my math class called me to tell me he could go to the Barn Dance, so that was great! Little did Tanya and I know they were REALLY into their costumes. Matt truly acted the part of Jack Sparrow, and his costume had every little detail. He even rubbed his clothes on the ground to make them dirty, put dirt on his face, had drawn the little red lines on the scarf around his waist, and had silver on his teeth! I found it fascinating and hilarious. People oohed when they saw Jack Sparrow walk by. Jason was really cool, but he was a little bit goofy, and for some reason Matt's personality appealed to me more, which is funny, since he was acting like Jack Sparrow most of the time. Well, everyone agreed that Matt should get the best costume award. His mom had made all of it - amazingly - she even made this three-cornered leather hat out of a leather jacket. Later we found out that the people thought that we would all feel jealous if only he got the award, but they asked the award-givers and they gave him some certificate. Anyway, I think Jason felt a little bad that I was obviously more interested in Matt, so I tried to tone it down. When Tanya and I went to get a drink, she said, "I think Matt likes you!" "I don't know," I said. With my long, flowing dress, crepe paper on the floor gathered up under my dress. Then while I was dancing with Jason, it wrapped all the way up around us from the basketball hoop until he pulled it with his neck and it eventually broke. Out by the strobe light, I made Tanya do some of her cool dancing for us. Then we teased Matt because he didn't even thank his mom for his amazing costume. We told him that he should make her cookies or something and to call us and we'd help. When we were driving back to my house after the dance, Matt let me pull of his weird little goatee thing. Then when we got there, I hugged Jason and told Matt to call us about the cookie thing. The next day, I called my friend who had wanted to line me up with Jason, and I left a message that went something like this: "Hey Emily, could I borrow your overalls for the barn dance tonight? And, um, there might be a problem, because I think I like Matt." She kept trying to call me back after that, and she screamed several times when she finally got me on the phone, because she was so excited about me liking Matt. Unfortunately, her overalls were too big or something, so I got a shirt at Thrift Town and wore some jeans and a straw hat with my dad's scout belt buckle from Philmont. Maryanne took forever to get to my house, so Doug and I just sat there while he watched football. My phone started ringing, so I answered it, and it was MATT! I ran upstairs and talked to him for a while. He asked what I was doing that night. I said, "Well, I'm going to my sorority barn dance." He asked, "Why didn't you ask me?" Sheepishly, I admitted that people had told me that would be rude. I was so excited! The Barn Dance was great fun. Doug's wit kept me laughing the whole time. The dance was in this big barn with a country family barn, and we told everyone that Doug was part of the family, but that most of them had disowned him. The funny thing is, they believed him. During one of the square dancing breaks, we went outside and while we looked at this huge bull, we noticed two Clydesdale horses. They were so huge. We stood out there and named one Mr. Ed and one Ned, and fed them hay from the ground. At first I was scared because they were so huge I thought they might chomp my hand off, but I got used to it. I seriously can't believe how giant they are. One of their necks is like six of me. It's not that I didn't enjoy my time with Doug or anything, but when I got home, it was only about 11:00 or so, so I called Matt, and ended up talking to Chris Perry and Kevin Davis. Kevin said, "How was last night?" "Fine, except I think I like Matt." "Well, it's returned." "Ha, yay!" Then I talked to Matt and he said that since Emily couldn't give me a ride to his singles ward tomorrow, he would pick me up for it. Oh boy! There's so much more to this story, but it will have to wait until the next blog entry . . . hope you liked it so far.