They start them young in the desert, and other things I learned in AZ

Camille and I went out to Arizona for the weekend because our best friends both live there.  So she dropped me off in Phoenix to see Cynde and Ryan and then continued on up north to see Pam.  Fun followed.

1.)  Cynde and I haven't seen each other since our trip to Rome last year. (Ah, Rome.)  So it was a grand reunion.  And just like the last time we were together, we ate a lot of gellato.  Cynde was explaining to a friend of hers, whom we ran into at a museum, that we've been friends since the tragic hair days of junior high and practically share a brain, to which the friend (a sassy elderly gal) said, "So you're half wits?"  It was indecent how much I laughed over that one.

2.)  Have you had fake meat?  Cynde is a vegetarian and she introduced me to the world of fake meat and I have to say...I'm going to stick with the real stuff.  It doesn't taste bad.  It just doesn't take like meat.  Plus it's squishy.

3.)  Ryan got a Nissan Leaf, and 100% electric car.  And driving in it was like driving to the future.  It didn't make any noise at all and you half expect droids to come out and open the door for you.

4.)  I was able to see my adorable friend Andrea and go to church with her.  When the meeting started I noticed that there was a child sitting at the organ.  And then Andrea leaned over and told me that their organist is 11 years old.  ELEVEN!  As in still in elementary school.  But it gets better.  She has been the ward organist since she was 10.  I was barely playing with two hands at 10.  I couldn't even spread my fingers wide enough to reach an octave at 10.  I would have wet myself if the bishop had asked me to play the organ at 10.  And she was good.  She played like a pro.  So much so that when it was announced that we would be singing all seven verses of How Firm A Foundation she played it at super sonic speed, like every seasoned organist knows you have to do in order to fight off the fatigue. Were we to have a True to the Faith battle she would school me.  Are they growing organ savants out there in the desert?

5.)  We spent all day Saturday at the Musical Instrument Museum.  It was amazing.  They have instruments from every inhabited country in the world and videos of people playing them.  Totally fascinating.  Here's what I have gathered:  a.)  most regions around the world have some form of the bagpipe; b.) people get pretty inventive when creating instruments, ex. gourd marimbas, mouthbows, Theremins; c.)  third-world countries know how to throw a musical party.  Nearly every video from the developing world was of some parade or hootenanny with people dancing in the streets or gathered around drums and bagpipes to shimmy, which I think makes them superior to those of us with 3-ply toilet paper.  I'm not asking for Ferris Bueller's Day Off, I'd just like to have more opportunities around here to dance other than in my bedroom while listening to Abba on my laptop.

6.)  I took one picture in the MIM.  One on the whole trip, actually. 

Elvis' jumpsuit.  Naturally.