Licences, tickets ans fireworks

This has been one of the most interesting weeks I've had since long before my wedding.

It started out on Tuesday when I got something I haven't had since I was 15: A learner's permit. When I was a young Joey I ended up not getting my license due to some financial difficulties, and for the last 13 years have been bumming rides and riding busses all over the world. It has it's ups and downs. I've become a connoisseur of passenger seats and I can copilot the Enterprise at this point. But at the request of my beloved wife I spent several hours over two days waiting in lines at the DMV before finally passing the written exam and getting my learner's permit.



Before you make the joke everyone's already been warned to stay off the road, or the sidewalk, or out of the sky or wherever the car may end up. Of course it becomes less funny when I say that the first time I drove in years I accidentally put my bosses front headlight into some guy's trailer hitch. Besides some plastic and a very sorry personal assistant, no harm was done. The headlight even still works. But I've decided it's a good thing to get out of your system, like the chicken pox or getting arrested for streaking.

It happens to everyone.

Wednesday morning I received an email from the Salt Lake Comic Con press desk telling me that my other blog Mormon Geeks has been approved for press passes. I had to call my buddy and co-writer Stephen and screamed for five minutes straight on the phone. My little blog got to be press at Fantasy Con earlier this month and that gave both the blog and my writers and I a boost. Writing about arts and entertainment is my dream job. Fantasy Con was me feeling in my power and fabulous, and the chance to do it all again gets my tiny shriveled heart pumping.

Wrapping up my week was a party I held for my friends and family celebrating Pioneer day. Last year Katie and I had pooled our money plus anyone who was around's money into getting fireworks to light off, unfortunately we did this the day of and only ended up with $30. Throwing matches into the street would've been a better show than what we had, so this year I decided to do it right. We started asking for donations about a month ahead and ended up with over $100. I took the money to Black Cat fireworks, the best fireworks in the state, and went all out on a show worthy of Brigham Young.

We ended up with something new this year: Aerial fireworks. They've only been legal in Utah for a few years, and for good reason. The state in the summer is a tinderbox of weeds and dried plant life. We figured a bucket of water and a handy hose ought to be enough to protect us.

We were almost wrong.

The show was going well, everyone was entertained and fed, and then we let off one of the big ones. The box was huge, not the biggest we had but a bit smaller. I did what anyone with a healthy survival instinct would do: Lit the fuse and ran. The firework went off beautifully at first, going into the sky in a fantastic display of color, then the box tipped over and shot directly into the yard across the street. We had just enough time to gasp before another shot came straight at us. After shooting the neighbor the thing must've been flipped over towards us, and then the screaming began. Sparks were everywhere as everyone looked for cover. When the smoke cleared nobody was hurt and no damage, but we moved the rest of the fireworks away from the sidewalk.

So overall this week I've had a monumental career opportunity, ran into a parked car, and nearly lit my friends and loved ones on fire.

Productive overall.

-JOE