Random Stories with Will

     This upcoming week will be a cool personal milestone for me: it will mark the 1-year anniversary of  resurrecting this blog! It all started on a Thursday afternoon at work when I was board and was trying to find things to do on the side. When having a blog came to mind, I was reminded that I made one my freshman year of high school, where I did a few posts about song parodies and some college football predictions. That blog was called "Bringing the Wheat". Needless to say, this blog is a lot different than it was 9 years ago (wow!) - then again, so am I.

     With all of that in mind, I thought that I would do a special post about some random stories I've had in the past. Another way to put it: stuff that belongs in this blog. After all, if you're going to have a blog with the word "Random" in the title, shouldn't you at least do something like have some random, untold stories in it? Without further ado, here you go:

Wheat Goodfellow

    The summer after my junior year of high school, I had the privilege of attending Virginia Boys' State, a summer leadership program sponsored by the American Legion and held in nearly every state across the country. Over the course of the week, we get divided up in to cities, fake political parties, and ultimately elect representatives, senators, and a governor. You know, all that good political stuff but not as messy as today's political climate. 

     Along the way, when I was applying for Boys' State, I wrote my full name (William Wheat Goodfellow) on an application.When I got accepted to Boys' State, I remember one of the sponsors from the American Legion saying in an email "this is Wheat Goodfellow".  Somewhere along the way, there must have been a mix-up, either that I go by my middle name or that Wheat was my first name. When I actually got to Boys' State and name tags were given out, mine said "Wheat Goodfellow". When I met the other guys in my "city", there were already multiple Wills and Williams to begin with. There was no way around it now: I was going to go by Wheat. For one week in June 2012, I went by Wheat. 

     By far the best story of this all was when my parents came to visit me on the final night of Boys' State and when I saw some guys from my city, they said "Hey Wheat", something that took my mom a second to process. I haven't gone by Wheat since, though if brought back this blog, who's to say I won't bring that back as a name to go by? Then again, "Random Thoughts with Wheat" doesn't have the same ring to it...

The legacy of Wheat Goodfellow lives on

That Time I got Poked by a Stranger

     One of my favorite food mascots has always been the Pillsbury Doughboy. Maybe that stems from enjoy cinnamon rolls or all of the other Pillsbury foods out there, maybe it's for something else. Regardless, he's always been one of my favorite mascots. I even went trick-or-treating as him one Halloween (sadly, no pictures exist to my knowledge - on an unrelated note, I also got braces put on that morning. That's a tough way to go trick-or-treating). 

     In high school and college, there was a t-shirt I liked to wear that had the Pillsbury Doughboy on it that said "Poke Me". As one can imagine, people would poke me, and I would attempt to do a giggle that the Pillsbury Doughboy does. All of the poking stories, there was one that always stood out to me: one Saturday morning at Baylor, I was on my way over to the library when I saw a car suddenly stop and park. A stranger proceeded to get out of the car, run over to me, poked me, and then got back in the car and drove away. Needless to say, I was a bit amused and also speechless. College students can be pretty crazy sometimes. 

The Time I Lost and Found my Key

     Last summer, on one Sunday night, I took the bus to Memorial Park and went for a run with some friends. Afterwards, a friend gave me a ride back and as I walked up to my apartment, I searched through my bag, but couldn't find my apartment key. I was sick to my stomach. I called my friend back and we searched through his car, but to no avail. He mentioned that he and another guy remembered seeing a key hanging from a tree branch when they were doing a cool down. We drove back to the park (by this point it was dark) and sure enough, after searching along the trail, there was my key and lanyard, hanging from a tree branch. As it turns out, my key and lanyard must have fallen out of my string bag, but through an act of God, someone put the key and lanyard on a branch and it stayed there for an hour or two. A lot had to break right - someone finding the key and putting the lanyard on the branch, my friends noticing the key, and they key still being there when we got back, but somehow it all did. 

"Meeting" Aaron Rodgers

     In the summer of 2005, my family went on a road trip across the Midwest. We drove from Virginia to the North Dakota-Canada line, and eventually worked our way back from there. Along the way, we made a stop in Green Bay, where we watched the Packers' training camp that morning and took a tour of Lambeau Field. The Packers have this training camp tradition where players will ride from Lambeau Field to the practice facility on a kid's bike. It is quite the spectacle seeing linemen riding on a bike built for a 9-year old. As these players are riding by on bikes, one guy mentions that Aaron Rodgers is riding by. Now at the time, Brett Favre was the quarterback and Aaron Rodgers was a rookie that had fallen to the Packers in the draft. As I see Rodgers riding by, I stuck out my hand for a high-five...only to not be high-fived and have my hand touch his knuckle. 

     As far as "meeting" someone, it may not be the best of stories. Then again, when you're a 10-year old getting to see players from his favorite team, it ends up being a cool experience nonetheless. That Aaron Rodgers went from being a rookie riding on a bike with little fanfare to winning the Super Bowl and MVP Awards is pretty cool.  

     Well, there you have it. As time goes on, I'm sure there will be more "random" stories to tell. Some have even been mentioned in past blog posts - the end of my freshman year at Baylor when I was heading home and ended up in New Hampshire or the time a random cross country coach called me "Squidward". If you think about it, our lives are filled with countless small stories like those. It can be fun to look back on those small moments, like going by "Wheat" for a week or having a stranger get out of a car to poke you, that make life a little more interesting and enjoyable.