An Afternoon With Nils Thingvall

My friend Nils planned a trip to O-Town not too long ago, so when he scheduled to have a gathering to play a few board games I was definitely in! It was great to hang out with both Nils and his girlfriend Jen for an afternoon. Nils was nice enough to send me his pictures once he made it back to Colorado and so I decided to post a few of them here. This is also the debut BriGuyHogie blog for my friends Jim and Jenn Elder, which I am sure they are very excited to be a part of and if they aren't then they should be.






Nils calmly chuckles as he spends time with Jen and a few other friends around the table.....






I showed up to the party without giving anyone warning, but judging by Jenn's smile she didn't seem to mind.






No one from our group has ever played Cranium Pop 5, so we spent most of our time trying to figure out if this apparatus took batteries or was solar powered.






We moved into a larger area to play another round of Pop 5 and I started to throw a nasty tantrum.






This is the image you should have in your mind whenever someone says, "so many choices, so little time."






I "borrowed" Nils' camera because I wanted to show off my broad shoulders.






I just discovered the difference between margarine and butter while Julie was trying to pay attention to the game.






Nils began to play his own patented game called How Long Can I Keep My Eyes Open Like This.






I had a time out for doing something wrong, but I don't remember what I did so whatever.






Jen is absorbed into the game while Nils joins me in celebration as I was granted permission to leave my time out forever.






I stole a Pop 5 chip when no one was looking and then accidentally swallowed it after taking this picture.






Jim thought it was cute to see me choking on a plastic chip, and Jenn thought it was cute watching Jim see me choke on a plastic chip.






I suffocated for a few seconds but I eventually got it down the right pipe.






Once I was able to breathe normally again we continued playing the Pop 5 game.






Nils wasn't too sure if he wanted to sit next to me anymore.






I had no idea why!






But make sure you get on his good side OR ELSE YOU WILL FEEL HIS WRATH!!!!!






Jim spoke about Nils in a slightly disrespectful manner about his "wrath," so Jim was smitten by the wrath of Nils and is now familiar with his bad side.






Nils wanted to "Pump Up The Jam" so I joined in because I truly feared his wrath.






Everyone is happy when Nils is happy!






Even the Cranium characters were happy!






Which led us to our next game we were going to play.....






.....the one and only, Cranium.







I'm a big fan of the Cloodle games.....






.....but I'm a bigger fan of acting stupid in front of cameras.






As the game went on I tried my best to study Nils' strategic playing.






I also enjoy showing off my huge guns...I can't help it.






Julie used me as a puppet and tried to get our team to guess that I was surfing.






But both Jen and Jenn were occupied with the thought of when I was going to leave.






I told them, "probably in about ten minutes or so," and Jenn was excited...Jen thought it was way too much time.






Jenn joined in on the fun by bustin' out her mad Cloodle skillz!






While a middle aged Cranium woman watched from the sidelines.






And Jim started to do impressions of Nils while he was in the kitchen.






I couldn't believe what I was seeing after Jim felt the wrath of Nils earlier in the day!






Nils came back and missed the whole thing.....






.....or did he?!






Nils kept quiet at the moment, but there's no telling what would happen to Jim later on.






Apparently Nils has the power to transform matter into anything he wishes, so I kept on smiling to stay on Nils' good side as tried to get used to the new Jim.






The End...I guess.

Night of Joy 2008

Me and Julie were given tickets to one of the Night of Joy events at Walt Disney World this year. It's a Christian music event with a few stages set up around the Hollywood Studios theme park, but we ended up going on the rides 'n stuff instead so here's what happened!






We headed over to Hollywood Studios since that's where the party was gonna be.






After spotting a Night of Joy sign both Julie and I were convinced that we were at the right theme park.






I was not joyous about this night at all.






We showed off our Disney tickets even though I was upset I did not get Tinkerbell.






Here we are with some sort of stage behind us.






Here I am pointing out some kind of Hollywood Studios sign behind me.






Here we are rockin' out with some sort of huge guitar behind us.....Rockin' Rollercoaster is also fun to ride.






We saw a Chia Pet Mickey command a plastic broom to scoop up some weeds.






I couldn't believe what I saw!






It was time for us to get in line for the new Toy Story ride.






But I went the wrong way and almost fell off a Pixar building. Luckily, the green army men were on the scene to lower me down on a Scrabble board.






Then I somehow ended up inside of a Buzz Lightyear box, which made me angry enough to shoot lasers out of my eyes because I do not enjoy enclosed spaces.






Julie was somewhat afraid of the claw, but if she was angry she probably could have shot lasers out of her eyes as well.






While she was trying to get out I crate fell on top of me, which caused me to get angry once again.






After blasting my way out of the crate I somehow was about to blast off while strapped to a rocket, which of course created me to become quite enraged.






Julie thought it looked like fun though, which I do not understand one bit!






I was going to shoot off another round of lasers with my deadly eyes, but Zurg showed up and told me to quit it.






Stinky Pete lived up to his name.






Zurg left for a while so when I fell into tiny suitcase I expressed my angry again.






We met up with Buzz and Woody on Andy's bed.....and then we left because at first I did not realize we were on Andy's bed.






After getting trapped in all kinds of computer generated items we found another entrance to the Toy Story ride.






There sure were a lot of colors.....






.....with a few monkeys here and there.






There was a burglar on the loose somewhere so I was on the lookout while waiting in line.






Julie was pretty sure the bandit had robbed this bank since she was going to break in and take the money but realized it was already stolen.






Then I spotted him in a clever disguise as he welcomed all the tourists and Christians as they headed towards the ride.






Julie and I tried to play it cool and took a nice picture of him like what I nice Christian tourist would do.....






.....but he definitely knew something was a little strange.






So right before I was going to yell for the Disney police to arrest him he stuffed a potato in my mouth and ran off.






We picked up our 3D glasses and it's almost time to go on the ride.....






.....which means I have to get my game face on.






I'm ready to shoot some animated targets.






It was crazy fun!






Here were our scores, which are apparently not all that great.






On our way out of the ride the army men from above smashed me with Mr. Spell for not breaking 100,000 points, and the left Julie alone because they don't treat ladies that way.






Even after a giant Mr. Spell collided into me from above I still enjoy Pixar Studios very much!






But not as much as Julie liked Chia Pet Mikey.






We met up with our friend Ray who was working at the event.






I was thrilled to see Ray, but Ray did not understand my excitement.






Julie was excited about other things, like a huge fake bottle of Coca-Cola that sprayed mist every so often.






Ray and I were definitely not excited about the giant Mr. Spell.






Even when I kept a good distance from Mr. Spell he still frightened me.....






.....at least Ray was eventually able to get on Mr. Spell's good side.






The best part about this large Mickey wizard hat was that it didn't fall on top of us.






Julie and I decide to go check out The Tower of Terror!






This is what went down.....quit possibly the best pun I have ever written!






Later on I found my real twin!






Apparently the Disney villain animals hate being photographed so I was escorted out of this building while snapping one last picture at a Jafar snake.






Me and Julie decided to go backstage and head over to the V.I.P. lounge.....






.....and ate free V.I.P. Mickey treats.






We saw another entrance to a different stage, but we still didn't see any bands because there were other things to do.






Like walk down a fake street with a Night of Joy banner hanging above.






At this point I was getting a little angry that we were still not on a ride of some sort.






It was a good thing we found a Stormtrooper hover craft nearby so we hot wired it and took it for a quick spin before completely destroying the thing.






The Mickey wizard hat looks nice at night time and still did not crush me or Ray, which was fantastic.







Speaking of Ray...he showed back up again!






The party has officially begun.






So we went over to try out the Toy Story ride again and I learned a valuable lesson this time around while waiting in line: DO NOT stick your hand in a giant outline...not matter how harmless it looks.






We saw this dirty rotten thief again and he pretended like he had no idea a bank was robbed in the local area.






Although, I knew he was guilty and he kept a sharp eye on me.






But I was too distracted to notice because I chillin' next to a huge orange crayon.






We got our 3D glasses and are ready to have a fun time...except for Julie because she's serious about scoring over 100,000 points.






It's time to shoot some virtual targets!






Spinning around in the little buggie was also a lot of fun.....






.....but before we knew it the ride was over.






I was happy to see I broke 100,000 this time around, but I was not too excited to see Ray whooping my butt.






We headed over to a character dance party and got down with Pluto who was busting out some sick moves.






It was fun to see Goofy but he didn't do all that much other than raise his right hand.....






.....and occasionally would point at Ray.






Goofy wouldn't point at me though because I was very intimidating on the dance floor.






So we decided to go hang out with Pluto instead.....






.....'cause that dog knew how to party!






Then Goofy was lettin' it loose a bit and did a few new dance moves...like raising his left hand.






Pluto and I tear up the dance floor.






Minnie showed up for the party later on after Pluto sent a text to her cell.






Then Mickey showed up to watch out for his woman.






This little kid told me to take a picture, so I did and afterwards he ran off!






Mickey knows a good party when he sees one, hence the thumbs up.






The party was gettin' a little stale so we decided to head out.....






.....but we ended up on the wrong side of town.






Julie really wanted to get out of the bad part of town as well.....






.....but Ray seemed to have been enjoying himself.






We almost made it through the entire night without trying on some kind of ridiculous hat, but we managed to get one picture in before leaving the park.






Now that we took off the hats it was officially time to leave.






What a joyous night indeed! Next time we'll have to actually see some of the bands.....that is if that potato guy doesn't kill me first!