Snot!Snot! This is Booger.

I love Jon for the stories he tells. I love a long and detailed story wrought with small tangents and life lessons, humor and humility. Some people are born with the gift of telling their life's stories in an entertaining way - without even thinking about. Other people have just done a lot of cool stuff. Jon is a little bit of both.

From the first day we hung out, at Subway (yes, the sandwich restaurant) he has regaled me with stories that are sometimes so entertaining I wonder how they could possibly be true. From the river rafting trip in Utah that turned Lord of the Flies, to being refused at the metaphorical gates of Space Camp, to the time his family was robbed in France and his experiences as an American exchange student in Mexico who did poorly in school because, well, he didn't speak espanish. His stories are unique in that they all represent him perfectly and when he tells me things about when he was a kid I feel like I get a glimpse into what he was like when he was a little booger...



So one of cool things Jon did was with the boy scouts. He went on a sailing trip in and around the Florida Keys. The way he tells it, time at sea can get long, and monotonous. It's not like they were fishing Opilio crab...They were most likely cruising at a leisurely pace and taking in the immensity of the calm ocean. Jon, naturally, grew bored.

He sat in the cabin and noticed the cb radio. He knew it connected with the other sailboats in his troop, but as to whether or not he knew that it also connected to the rest of the sailing world, I'm not sure.

So in the most trucker like voice he could muster he grabbed the hand held part of the radio and said: "Snot, Snot. This is Booger, come in."

There was a long pause and then the kid on the other end replied with a simple "Uhh. Dude. I don't think we should talk on these things."

Feeling indifferent, Jon said Whatever, and moved on.

Three months later he was at a community sporting event of some sort and the dad that was the troop leader for the sailing trip caught up with Jon and said, "You know I had to pay $250.00 for a phony call out on the cb radio. And I saw the transcription of what the message said. Snot!Snot! This is Booger."

Jon was paralyzed as any kid is when an adult calls them out on their shit and he probably said "sorry" in one way or another. I can relate to this story in a way, though my story involves unintentional vandalism - but maybe that's why I find it so funny.

Even though there was little resolution between the two men (beyond the dad ponying up 250 bucks) the story is so quintessentially Jon Rose that I can't help but appreciate him and laugh each and every time I hear it.