Pins these days

After six semesters as a teaching assistant in the human anatomy lab, I sometimes forget that other people aren't as comfortable openly discussing bodily topics. At church a few weeks ago one of the guys sitting across the isle from me had a lapel pin on his jacket that caught my eye. I have quite a few lapel pins from my 2 years of service as a missionary, but I had never seen one that looked quite like this. Nah, it couldn't be. But that is a very distinctive shape...So after the meeting I approached him to get a better look. From my seat, I could see an upside-down triangle and a slight curl originating from each of the top corners. Without even thinking about it, I blurt out "hey Mike, I've gotta ask you about your lapel pin? I know there's no way you would ever wear this on your suit jacket, but from where I was sitting it looks exactly like a uterus." His jaw dropped and he just stared at me for a moment before replying that it was actually a shield with a couple feathers coming off the top. (Ooops. Gimme a break, I'm a physiology major...) The girl next to me was absolutely dying of laughter while several others just stood there awkwardly, still in disbelief. I guess next time I'll think before I ask someone if they're wearing anatomical structures as part of my Sunday attire.

Shew fly, dont bother me

I've heard of finding a fly in your soup, but what a surprise to find a perfectly preserved/flattened-fly inside the tag for my new suitcase! After buying a new set of luggage, I returned home and unfolded the tri-fold tag to check out some of its features--and what did I find? Insect guts smeared all the way across the page. What blew my mind was how perfectly preserved the fly was. Every piece was accounted for, and none of the pieces were peeling off. I could see each segment of its body, the lacy network of veins on both wings, and even the individual hairs covering its thorax. Upon careful examination, I discovered that the fly was actually inside the plastic laminate layer! It must have flown into the suitcase factory and landed on the tag as it was being laminated. I guess the conveyor belt was moving so quickly that it was squashed (very precisely) before it could even attempt an escape. Bizarre?

Music of the...gourd?

When I enrolled in the “Music of Afghanistan” class at college (because why not?) our professor, Lloyd, handed each of us a bizarre instrument on the first day and told us to “figure it out.” No music or instructions, he just played the song on his instrument and we were supposed to pick out our parts on whatever was in front of us. The instruments range from a drum, a small recorder, a horizontal harp, a 5 foot long violin, and a hollow gourd turned into a sort of ‘banjo,’ which is what I play. I did a Google search and found out that it’s called the Tanbur. Never heard of it? Join the club. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we weren't allowed to take our instruments home because they were "irreplaceable." You think we're going to be able to play these songs, really? After a couple months in the class our teacher told us that we would be playing our final concert in front of 1,000 people at the BYU Hunger Banquet. The funny thing is that none of us could play the songs except the professor, his wife, and the TA. We ran through our program in a dress-rehearsal and Lloyd told us that we were "just about good enough for them to throw up on. But don't worry," he said "I'll bring the barf bags..." He was probably half-kidding? But we students played it off like pros: I mastered the first song, and then during the next two pieces, I rocked-out by just repeating the first song over again and mouthing different words. So did the other guys. It was all for the sake of the audience, seriously. Thank goodness their music is supposed to sound dissonant! Can you believe we all got A's in the class?