Labor Day

Since Labor Day is this week, I am going to remember as many details as I can about the holidays I have experienced.

2011. I went with my parents to This Is the Place Heritage Park. We walked from the parking lot to the front main building, where we bought tickets and I looked sadly at the candy for sale, knowing none of it was in season. We went and looked in a few buildings. I overheard some teenagers looking at a building and remarking about something being big. I went over and discovered there was a large spider on the brick. There was a building that was an astronomical observatory. Months earlier, during June, my niece's eight-year-old friend Camie came with us to an aquarium, which she kept calling a planetarium. She even said, "Once I went to a pioneer planetarium," so it was fairly obvious she didn't know what planetarium meant. Upon seeing the astronomical observatory, I jokingly remarked that maybe Camie really did mean a pioneer planetarium. There were speakers throughout the park playing instrumental hymns; I recognized some of the recordings from my mission. I was annoyed at all the bees there were in the park. We looked at some more buildings, we stopped in a mill building, and we stopped at a tanner shop. My mom really liked that place; I think there was an alligator skin or something that seemed surprisingly soft. She told of a story of an unpleasant man's skin being tanned after he died since no one liked him. The tanner said he recently got an exotic specimen to tan. We stopped at a little restauranty building where my parents bought a shaved ice, but it was September so it was out of season. We stopped at a little house where I was dismayed at the amount of goatheads. Later we waited for and got on the little tram thing that went around the park. We passed places where they hold weddings and passed the walk commemorating all of Salt Lake's religions. We left and went to Winegar's grocery store. They had a good sale on the 16-oz. Gatorades, so I stocked up, getting flavors I don't usually get. We bought food for the missionaries, who would be eating with us. As we were driving home, we passed a house on Angela Way that already had a Halloween cemetery set up in the yard. When we got home, we had a message from the missionaries that asked if the two missionaries who weren't in our area could come to dinner too, since there was a threesome of missionaries (originally, we were going to pick up the one missionary in our area while the others went to dinner). My mom called them back and said that all three could come. We watched them pull up in front of the house. I answered the door for them and introduced myself. I called one missionary by the name on his tag, but the name on his tag looked a lot like the name of the first missionary who came in, the one who was assigned to our area. While my parents finished preparing dinner, I sat in the living room with the missionaries and my mom called out from the kitchen to them to answer typical questions: "Where are you from and how long have you been out?" I called out to her, "No, you don't ask that question, it's either under a year or over a year." I intended that to mean for her to drop the question, but instead she just modified it to really mean "over a year or under a year." The first missionary to respond said over a year, the second said well over a year, and the third said under a year. This under-a-year one was from Utah. I said I was surprised someone from Utah would be called to Utah, and they told me it happened more than you might expect. We talked about my job, and I told them that I worked at the Distribution Center, and one elder said, "I had an investigator who worked there," but I figured he didn't know what I was talking about because you need to be a member to work there. I noticed the elder assigned to our area glance at the Christina Perri CD that was lying near the stereo. We discussed the Ogden mission and how parts of it were in Idaho and Wyoming. Then dinner was done and the five of us sat at our little dining room table. I didn't know if the elders had noticed all of the food, since I think some of it was a little separate from the others. One of the elders complimented Utah corn. I think my mom mentioned that her family converted. At one point I asked my dad, "Didn't you have to go tracting on your mission to find places to stay?" My mom hadn't even heard that story. The older elders kept referring to the younger one by name, which didn't match his tag, and my mom realized that the tag and his name didn't match. I said to the missionary of our area, "Let me guess: They spelled your name wrong," and that was indeed the case, so he let the younger one use the misspelled tag. After dinner they gave a lesson in the living room. I told our elder that if he needed someone to go team teaching, I was available afternoons and evenings. He said he was going to ask before I mentioned it, and he took my number. (He never did end up calling me.) I think I finished some strawberry Gatorade. At some point that day, I wrote on my former companion Derek Warren's Facebook page, since he claimed Labor Day was his favorite holiday.

2010. In the morning I went with my parents to downtown Salt Lake City to see the construction. (I guess that's my parents' idea of a fun day...) We went to Temple Square and saw the scale model of the temple. As we were leaving Temple Square, there was a panhandler holding a sign quoting from Mosiah 4 about giving to the poor. Then we walked around all the construction. I think we passed the Deseret News, Deseret Book, and some place called Blue Lemon or something like that. Then we went to Winegar's. I wanted to look over in the seasonal section, and I was surprised to find that M&Ms no longer made Halloween-colored candies; they had switched to fall colors. On our way home we passed a house on Angela Way that had green, orange, and purple decorations in a decorative tree near the front door; I wondered if they were Halloween bats. I was picking apricots when my cousin Jesse texted me about going to Antelope Island. I was reluctant to go. Then later Sue called the house and my mom told her they should come get me. So my mom pushed me into changing my mind. It was Sue, Quin, Peter, Jesse, and Lisa. As we were driving, Peter was talking about how it would be hard to find a job (we were both searching for jobs at this time). I told him he actually had more job experience than I did, but he said that I had graduated from high school. As we drove to Antelope Island, Lisa wanted to look at the mission pictures on my camera. I told them about my wicked companion, Elder LaPratt, who fulfilled Roald Dahl's observation that a person with ugly thoughts becomes ugly. I asked them to guess which one it was. Jesse at first incorrectly guessed Elder Hinebaugh (closest to me), but his second guess was correct, the hideous LaPratt the fourth from the right. Jesse said he liked in this picture how I was away from everyone else. He asked me about the girl who can't write who always likes everything I put on Facebook; that was Katelyn Heath, whose baptism pictures were on the camera. We finally drove down the causeway to the island. We were driving down the road when we saw a black figure ahead. We wondered if it was rocks, but as we got closer we determined it was a buffalo. Then we went to the museum place. Jesse was amused by the 1950s-era pinup picture. We liked the old truck and the old basketball hoop on the building. Lisa took pictures of Jesse on the fake animal, and I did too: Peter and I followed a trail that went in circles. We looked in a pioneer storage cellar, where there was a cat spider hanging. Lisa didn't care for the spider. I told the Thompsons how the last time I had been there Allie had hopped on the stepping stones in the grass one at a time. We went to a hill that I hiked up a good ways; Peter said I could go a lot further than they could. It was a bit chilly and I remarked how exciting it was that it was cool; Sue and Jesse did not share my enthusiasm. As we were driving away, Lisa took some pictures of a buffalo on the side of the road. In the van we listened to the Beatles (Quin was singing along to a lot of the songs, including "The Word"), and after one CD was over, they put in the album 1. As "From Me to You" was playing, I told them how I got that CD for my birthday in 2004 so I always associated that song with Halloween. We talked about how McDonald's had previously had their deal on tons of chicken nuggets and that Peter ate a lot of them. Sue asked me about what lane she needed to be in to get off at North Salt Lake. Then they dropped me off and I think they briefly said hi to my mom.


2009. Despite our P-day usually being on Monday, and despite the fact that it was the day before transfers, our mission president made this a work day. We were skeptical of more people being home, since everyone would be out on the Snake and Clearwater rivers, so we walked around to hope to catch people outside and probably didn't work as hard as we should have. We were walking on Burrell Ave. when we saw a fountain coming from the swimming pool on Airway Ave. We cut across the fairgrounds to see what was going on; we were surprised to see they were draining the pool, even though Lewiston still had summer-like weather. We saw a lady in her garden and we talked to her; she was Chinese and didn't speak much English, so she went around back to get her sister. We told her not to bother but she did anyway; her sister was Catholic and not interested. I went home and washed some dishes, with the idea that Elder Warren would pack, but I don't think he did. I think we parked our car at the church and we went and saw a potential investigator in a cul-de-sac; I can't remember whether that was the day they were finally home. Then we went back and drove to have dinner with Bishop Palmer; I think their peeping-Tom pastor neighbor was in his backyard sunbathing, and we had dinner in the backyard. Elder Warren talked about meeting Texans, that he would say, "Hi, I'm Derek," and they would say, "Hi, I'm from Texas." Then we went inside and Sister Palmer asked about first names. Bishop pointed out that Elder Warren had already revealed his. Sister Palmer remembered that I had said I wouldn't tell them even if they asked; I would give a fake name. She said, "You look like a Brian." I said no, and Elder Warren said, "It's closer than Jeremiah."

2008. I woke up and I was so excited it was September (September 1) that I changed Elder Duncan's calendar while he was eating breakfast. When he discovered it (I don't remember if he noticed or if I told him) he got mad and changed it back to August so that he could change it to September. Then Elder Moench and Elder Dobbins picked us up; that might have been the day Elder Moench was wearing a very nice sweater, and he said, "An anti-Mormon gave it to me," explaining that it was the mother of a girlfriend who subtly tried to bribe him not to go on a mission. We went to the church and stood outside the family history center, waiting for it to be opened. I was excited that it was slightly chilly. Once we were inside, I wrote the following email:

"I am SO relieved the abysmal month of August has died. The year will no longer seem as bland and uncomfortable.

"I don't think I ever told you but I do get emails on holidays now because we email at the Family History Center so we just have a member open it up.

"Last night we had dinner with the Raabs. Sister Raab told me Allie was very cute and she was looking at them in awe because they had just left my presence. I don't know; that's just what she said. It's so weird for me to think of her being five. She'll be four to me until I get back. Just like Preston will always be three.

"So yesterday I had an unfortunate experience. We were riding down Baker, a semi-main road, and the portion we were on has no bike lane, but there are parking spaces. I hate to ride in the road, so I usually ride in the parking spaces and meander up to the sidewalks when a car is ahead and the curb is low. Yesterday there were cars parked and a person in the road so I didn't want to go out, so I went on the sidewalk, and I couldn't get back on the road because of the cars. A garbage can was on the sidewalk, and there was only a small passage between it and a fence. I'd biked past before, nudging the can, so I thought I'd try it again. But this time I did more than nudge it, and I crashed. Some people were driving by and they stopped to see if I was fine, which I was. But my bike is not in the best shape now; it locks up in first and second gear, and I don't want to try our hills in third gear. I'm taking it to the bike shop today. I hope they can fix it, or I may be in trouble. Hopefully it doesn't come down to a new bike--or a permanent third gear bike. As it is, it will probably not be too cheap to get it fixed. Oh, well; that's the reason I got a job before my mission.

"And walking home after that incident it did start to rain, and I didn't bring my new umbrella, although Elder Duncan brought his. I got pretty wet; my planner's a little warped, and after dinner I had to change my shirt (I had a wet shirt for dinner). But I was just glad it was raining. Rain in this area is unusual. It doesn't happen very often, and, while back home it is less common for there to be rain and sun, it is almost always sunny while it rains here. I don't think I've ever seen a completely gray sky here; there's always a patch of blue somewhere. The clouds that make it across the mountains disperse as they cross the river. It's been partly cloudy frequently lately, but it hasn't rained much.

"I can't think of anything else to say...I thought of something else I might like. In 2006 when I was a vampire for the first time we got a special polishing tool for some old shoes of mine. I'm running low on my polish, and I think that was an easier tool, so I would like that if you can find it in the bathroom closet.

"Love,

"Elder Melville"

After doing our errands, we went to Subway for lunch with the two other elders. We discussed physical appearances; I said that Elder Moench looked like a vulture (he realized it was because of his nose), Elder Dobbins looked like a bear, and Elder Duncan looked like a koala. The other companionship wanted to hike Saddle Rock in Wenatchee, and Elder Duncan did too. I didn't want to but I didn't want to prevent everyone else from doing it. So we drove over to Wenatchee and parked on a road to hike. I brought clothes to change into but it would be a hassle to change in the car, so I just changed my shoes. Some of the others wore their "pross" shoes. I took my backpack, but I don't know why--maybe to hold water and a camera (I would certainly be glad to have free hands later). We were walking along a path when Elder Duncan got a phone call. When he was done, he told me it was a member from another ward giving us a referral of one Russell Pipkin. This Russell Pipkin was actually a less-active member we had been trying to contact for some time, but we had no idea where Hummingbird Road was. We learned from this phone call that it was on Badger Mountain. I don't think the member knew Russell Pipkin was a member. Since we were low on P-day hours, Elders Moench and Dobbins discovered a different path. They told us it was steep then, but that it would flatten out and we would go faster. Their plan to have us go faster ended up backfiring. Some of the hiking got a little tricky, and in my mind I was thinking about finding a sure footing, and the word sure in my head made me think of Isaiah 22:23 where it talks about a nail in a sure place. The shortcuts we took did not end up taking us to another place on the path. Rather they led us straight up the mountain. It was very scary, but it was scarier to go down than it was to go up--so up we went. We had to use our hands and feet because it was so steep. I felt bad that Elder Dobbins was helping Elder Duncan up, when he was my companion. Elder Moench was ahead of all of us. Eventually we came to a sea of shale (I didn't know it was shale, but looking back that's probably what it was) that would slide down as we stepped on it. Elder Moench discovered some slight switchbacks someone had made previously, and he attempted to make some more for the rest of us. Then he reached a place where plants were growing. He alerted us that it was a lot easier once we got to the plants. It was true: The root systems were better steps than the shale, and the plants themselves served as handles. Eventually we made it to the top, and we were all relieved. It was agreed: We would never do that again. We followed the real path at the top to the saddle, where we took pictures. We wanted to do ones like the "O Jerusalem" picture, so I sat like I remembered Jesus sat in that painting, but Elder Duncan told me I needed to put my hand to my face:

I later learned that I had been right and he was wrong. They also took pictures about proclaiming the gospel. Then we started our descent, this time on the trail. Elder Duncan and Elder Moench talked and I walked with Elder Dobbins. I noticed something on the trail and I said, "That's a weird thing to find," and Elder Dobbins said, "Someone's boxers." We passed some people who were looking for their son who had climbed but gotten out of sight. They asked if we had seen him, but we hadn't. I think we helped look briefly before we left. Then we got off the mountain but the trail had taken us far from where we had parked. I felt pretty self conscious, being in my pross and my non-pross shoes, and we weren't in our area. As we got to the car, I made sure to take a picture to show where we had climbed. (We climbed up that streak of gray in the middle of the picture.) Then Elder Duncan and I ate dinner that someone had dropped off for us. I think we told Sister Knighten (whom we lived with) about our adventure. We agreed not to mention our hike when we called the district leader, since we had finished after P-day had ended, and because mountain climbing is against the rules in the white handbook (even though we were accidental mountain climbers). I wrote in my journal that night:
"I am very tired. I didn't want to hike today; I didn't think we had enough time. And I wasn't too keen on shortcuts. It turns out there was a reason it was the road less traveled. We mounted straight up Saddle Rock. It was scary--gravelly footing and rocky handholds that broke, then pure loose rocks with small, brief switchbacks, which eventually led to dry brush, which were good as handholds and steps. It was good at the top, but it was very scary blazing our own trails, where the ground slipped beneath our feet, we set miniature rockslides, and turning back down was more dangerous than continuing the ascent. But we're all safe now. We got back late and my feet are sore. Rock climbing's against the rules, and humans weren't meant to walk on hands."

2007. I had to work. A woman asked me to cut some meat for her, and she was wearing a shirt with the Peanuts characters in front of a background of fireworks. I told her, "I have that exact shirt," and she seemed unimpressed. I was wondering why a woman was wearing a man's Fourth of July shirt on Labor Day.

2006-1995. Unfortunately, I don't remember specific details. These years are characterized by leaving our tent trailer in Fillmore for the winter, having departed from usually Pistol Rock but occasionally Shingle Mill campgrounds in Fillmore Canyon. I was sometimes sad to leave the trailer for the winter.


1994. My intuition tells me this happened in 1993, but some of the details I remember indicate that it was 1994. After camping, we were driving in Salt Lake with the oldies station on; it was playing "Sealed with a Kiss" by Bobby Vinton. (I actually don't specifically remember that; I just know that when I would later hear that song, I would remember this incident.) We stopped at a small store (I think a boutique thing) that had Halloween decorations. There was a skull candle and some small plush black cats that my cousin Martha (I think) had stick to my ear. I don't know if it was magnetic or if it stuck by static.

First day of school

In honor of schools starting up in the coming weeks, I'm going to recall the details of my first days of school in the public school system. I don't remember as much as I had hoped.

12th grade. I ate Fruity Cheerios for breakfast. I think I looked at where my locker was, but there were people in front of it, so I didn't bother opening it. Then I went to my first class, Spanish 4 with Sr. Huddleston. That might have been the day we went to a computer lab to write something, but I don't remember. Then I went to seminary with Brother Lomu. Then I went to Honors Physics with Mrs. Wagstaff. After lunch it was AP Calculus AB with Doug Saltzgiver. He told us, "Mr. Saltzgiver is my father" and commanded us to call him Doug.

11th grade. My first class this day was French 2 with Mme Jamison. There was a fair amount of people from French 1 the previous year, but some new faces, including Kelsey Bodily. After that I went to Body Conditioning. Then I had AP Biology with Mr. Hill, and Latecia Pope was in my class. After lunch I had Pre-Calc Honors with Mrs. Larson.

10th grade. I was excited about my first day of high school. First I went to seminary with Brother Williams. Then I stopped at my locker before going to French with Mme Jamison. I was so excited to learn French and I was sad when class was over. We got French names; there was a girl named Treasure and she translated her name directly as Trésor. Mine was Marc with a c. I think we started learning the alphabet. Then I went to Honors English with Mr. Riley. I think I dropped my books off at my locker before lunch. After lunch I went to Algebra 2 with Ms. Jordan. She told us how she would periodically have us stand up during class to get blood flowing in our brains again. 

9th grade. I went early to my Earth Systems class with Mrs. Brown. There was a kid sitting in class whom I had never seen before, so I decided to be friendly and talk to him. His name was Jacob (I can't remember his last name at the moment), and he had just moved in. I would later learn he was a little strange. First period was 5 minutes longer than all the other classes so there would be time for announcements--it was the first time our classes ended at reasonable times. Then I went to Geography with Mrs. Edwards, then seminary with Brother Heaston. Then I had Geometry with Mrs. Sorensen and then Honors English with Mrs. Steed. After lunch I had my gym class, and finally I had Spanish 3 with Mrs. Birdsall. After school I got on the bus. Our bus driver, Debbie, wasn't very nice. There were obnoxious people in the back standing up in their seats, so to make them sit down she would tap on the brakes so that they would fall forward. It would be one thing to do that to make them sit down, but there were people who had just gotten on the bus, such as Jacob Buhrman, who were still in the aisles walking to their seats. Jaydon Bean was yelling at the driver that his sister hadn't gotten on the bus yet. She wouldn't stop and left, but Jaydon kept insisting that she wait for his sister, so she stopped the bus on the road and made him get out. 

8th grade. I first had science with Mr. Brower. Then I went to U.S. History with Mrs. Sorensen, gym with Coach Hyde, Spanish with Mrs. Birdsall, and English with Mrs. Hadley. After lunch I had choir with Mrs. Vonk and ended with Algebra with Mr. Young. I think Mr. Young remembered my sister Susanne. We might have gone to Lorena's that night for dinner, but that might have been a different year (or years).

7th grade. My mom dropped me off at the back parking lot of South Davis Junior High, but it wouldn't be a parking lot for much longer because they were building houses there. On this day I even had to step over the base of a fence they were building. I put my stuff in my locker; Isaac Wood was my locker partner. First I had gym, but we didn't do anything gym related. Since we were all new seventh graders, we sat on the bleachers and got all the technical stuff told to us. Then I went to Spanish with Mrs. Bailey. She asked if anyone had been to a Spanish-speaking country; Brittany Bowman said she had been to Puerto Vallarta. Mrs. Bailey asked if anyone knew any Spanish, and one kid said something, and she said to him, "Muy bien!" We received our textbooks, Ven Conmigo, and I think we sang a song. Then I had Pre-Algebra with Mrs. Sorensen, and then science with Mr. Brower, which got out at 11:44. Then I had lunch, and after lunch I had English with Mrs. Steed. I went to TLC with Mrs. Brown and then Art with Mrs. Tingey. I sat with Sam Prusse, Steven Johnson, and Kyle Mabey. That night I remember doing my homework and filling out forms. I was up really late and I was depressed that I had so much work on the first day of school. I wasn't in elementary school anymore.

6th grade. I had Mr. Williams, but I can't specifically remember the first day. :(

5th grade. I went to Mrs. Call's class. She asked us as a class to describe major events in our life. Paul Castleberry spoke of the time he went to the Virgin Islands (maybe it was some other islands). I nerdily said a major event was when I learned to play chess. (I really don't know why I liked chess so much then--I couldn't play it at all, and now I don't care for it.) We filled out getting-to-know-you sheets, and one of the questions was our three favorite TV shows. Two of the things I put were The Simpsons and The New Adaams Family. I knew that one of the letters in Addams was repeated, I just picked the wrong one. I glanced at Hillary Ulmer's sheet and she put The New Adams Family. I knew she spelled it wrong but I didn't know I spelled it wrong too. We sat in the reading corner (where I noticed a Halloween spiderweb decoration tucked against the wall) and we played the "two truths and a lie" game. One of my truths was "I put up Halloween Decorations on July 5" and my lie was "I made a movie this summer." I thought that would trick people because at the end of fourth grade, I had told people all the grandiose plans I had for the summer, one of which was making a movie. But people guessed that was the lie. I think only one or two people guessed the Halloween thing was a lie, and Morgan Smith told them he knew me so he knew it wasn't a lie. We got journals (Mrs. Call told us we had to write ten lines every time), and this is my entry for August 30, 1999 (the first day of school):
"The best times I had this summer were reading good books, becoming a vegetarian, playind [sic] chess, Memorizing Long Poetry, swimming, Putting up Halloween Decorations on the 5th of July. I didn't like having an awful Sunburn, My mom killing spiders, and being mocked for being vegetarian."
It was a rainy day, so rainy that while I was waiting for my mom to come pick me up (she was late, and I might have been waiting with Hillary Ulmer), I was standing under a tree and put my backpack over my head. One sixth-grader, Sadie, said to me, "Don't you know that under a tree is the worst place you can stand when it's raining?" But there wasn't any lightning. My mom eventually came but for some reason she parked across the street from the school. She walked over and got me, and when we got home we told my siblings how crazy the rain was. They were more impressed with how wet my mom's hair had gotten in her brief walk in the rain than they were by the fact that my hair was soaked despite standing under a tree with my backpack over my head and that the folder in my backpack was soaked. 

4th grade. I had Mr. Williams. I think we sang some songs that he had; one of the songs had "Hello" in lots of languages, and he told us what some of the languages were. He told us "Guten tag" was German and "Buenos días" was Spanish. But one part of the song said "Shalom Nihao," and Mr. Williams seemed to think that was one expression, not two different languages. 

3rd grade. When I went outside to carpool in the morning, I was surprised to find that I was getting a ride with one Mrs. Plowman instead of Chantelle Christensen. I went to my class's portable; our teachers were Mrs. Fisher and Mrs. Slagowski. We kids were surprised at the new hairdo of our principal, Mrs. Park. That might have been the day that we were filling out papers of things we liked to do. One of the questions was, "What do you like to do with your friends at recess?" I looked at Autumn Lord's paper, and it said "Play" but I thought it said "Pray." On my paper I said my favorite game was Clue and I made the C a big bubble letter. After school I went to my second grade teacher, Miss Slater, and showed her the paper I had that meant I read a lot during the summer. She took me to the teacher's lounge and let me get something from the vending machine; I got Twizzlers Nibs. Then Mrs. Plowman took us home. 

2nd grade. I had Miss Slater. I think she gave us journals to write in and we had to write five lines each day. I tried to find my journal to see what I wrote, but I couldn't find it.

1st grade. I brought a home lunch. Mrs. Taylor told us about how we only had show and tell twice in the school year. We all had little slips on the wall with our name and I think our lunch cards inside. She had written Kennie Christiansen's name as Kent.

Kindergarten. I don't remember anything about it, but a journal my mom kept for me when I was a little kid said that I came out of school proclaiming "I didn't even cry!"

August 15, 2007

On August 15, 2007, I was awakened at 5 in the morning (maybe it was 4) to loud sirens and flashing lights right outside my house. I wondered if there was a criminal chase going on, but the sirens were sticking around and I could tell that the lights weren't going anywhere. So I got up in my baggy Snoopy pajamas that my mom made for me and got up and went to the living room. I was shocked to see the house of my across-the-street neighbors' house engulfed in flames! I think I let out an audible exhale of awe. The whole house wasn't on fire, it was just the bedroom windows on the left side (the left side when you look at the front). I sat on the lawn in my pajamas, and many other neighbors were also outside dressed similarly. I watched the policemen knock on the door of the neighboring house and watched those residents get into a car and drive away. I wondered why they didn't stay and just stay outside their house. I watched sheets of siding fall off the burning house. The sun rose and the fire was extinguished, and we all went inside. I was in the kitchen and feeling terrible about what had happened to them. At one point (I don't remember when), Suzanne Jones knocked on the door with Mrs. Calquin (the neighbor). I answered in a bathrobe, and they asked if she could use our bathroom. I said yes but was embarrassed because I didn't think the bathroom was that clean. I was in the kitchen, and I thought, "If my mom were here, we could make them breakfast." My parents were camping. But then I realized that I was just being lazy and making excuses and that I could make breakfast myself. So I pulled out the waffle iron and some pancake mix and made a batter and made several waffles. I tried to make some fried eggs. But I burned them and they tasted like ashes. So I took waffles over (I think I was dressed at this point), along with syrups and chocolate sauce. I felt a little embarrassed because there was already food set up on a table over there--I was too late to be a hero. Lots of people were standing around talking, discussing things like how the Joneses had lent the Calquins some clothes (some of which didn't fit right or were girl clothes), how one college-age Calquin described himself as being naked when he came out of the house (I don't know just how "naked" he was), and how the Calquins' dog had run back inside the house and died from smoke inhalation. I just stood around too. At some point in the day someone from the Davis County Clipper was taking pictures. We learned that an early-morning paper boy had discovered a fire in the garage and rang the doorbell to wake everyone up, and their smoke alarms went off after he had alerted them. Mr. Calquin started talking to me but shortly I felt awkward and went back inside. I went back to bed and my parents came home from camping. My mom was calling for me and telling me I was really nice--they had gone across the street and someone told them I brought food over. Later someone--I think Cheri Greenburg--brought back all the toppings I had brought over. I felt embarrassed I had taken chocolate syrup, because only a weird fat person like me would put ice cream sauce on a waffle.

Then I went to work. I told some of my coworkers how my neighbors' house was on fire at 5 a.m. I told my coworker Alice (who had the same shift) that I had to take my dinner break at exactly 6:00 because my brother was in town. Later she asked about how I had previously told her I didn't have any friends but that I was going to have dinner with a friend. I retold her that it was my brother, not a friend.

When it was 6:00, I drove to my grandparents' condo where the family was gathered. I came inside, dressed in my blue and tan Walmart apparel, and was excited to see my nephew Preston (who was 2), but he wasn't too excited to see me and was mostly playing with my cousins. We were eating pizza--I think from Pizza Hut--and some of the pizza was thin-crust. I don't remember this picture being taken, but at some point someone took this hilarious picture of my dad:


 Eventually I reluctantly had to leave to go back to work.

When my shift was over--quite late, as usual--I got in my car and left. But on this night, I noted that traffic wasn't busy, and I wasn't in the mood for my long drive down 300 W. So I decided to drive on the freeway. That was the first time I had ever driven on the freeway by myself. It was a successful and uneventful drive, and I took the freeway every night after that.

When I got home, my family was all gone camping, except for my sister-in-law Ya-ping (and maybe my sister), but she was (or maybe they were) already asleep. It was really eerie to come home to an almost empty and unlit house, with an empty, charred, and unlit house across the street, which I had seen on fire earlier in the day.

Olympics

In honor of the Olympics (which, surprisingly, I have been watching some), I'm going to remember things associated with the Olympics of the past. Because I've never been too big of an Olympics watcher, there's not too much.

Vancouver, 2010. I would frequently come home to my roommates watching the Olympics, but I didn't. I think I might have turned them on briefly once. I think my mom asked me on the phone if I was watching them, but I wasn't. I kind of regret how little I watched of them.

Beijing, 2008. I was on my mission, so I of course didn't watch any of them. During interviews, President Clark told us about what Michael Phelps was doing, and he made it clear that we couldn't watch them (not that any of us were). Elder Killpack knew a lot about how Michael Phelps was doing, and President asked him, "How do you know that?" in kind of a mock accusatory tone. The Wenatchee 2nd elders lived with one Sister Grant who was very old--97 or something like that--and Elder Killpack told us that one day she was watching some martial arts movie on TV but she told Elder Killpack she was watching the "Olympics in China," and Elder Killpack told her, "I don't think that's the Olympics."

Torino, 2006. I remember my family watching the opening ceremonies and I caught glimpses of the flying routine. The next day in my computer class, Andrew Jones was talking about how awesome that was. After the Olympics were over, a German foreign-exchange student in my French class, Tim, was talking proudly about how Germany won the Olympics, but Mrs. Jamison said that just because they won they most medals, they didn't win the Olympics--you can't "win" the Olympics.

Athens, 2004. I thought it was cool that they would put laurel-leaf crowns on the victors' heads. I remember that the commercials during the Olympics were for Emerald Nuts, and they would be silly things like "Enormous Neighbors love Emerald Nuts." Another commercial--I think a phone commercial--had the swim team in their speedos. One day I was exercising downstairs and watching one of my shows. David was downstairs and when I was done I told him he could watch whatever he wanted. He wanted to watch the Olympics, so we turned it on and it was diving, and I think one of the divers was from Utah. On another occasion I watched a men's beach volleyball meet and the U.S. won. The players were so excited they hugged on the ground. Later I saw a commercial or promo or something that showed three of the best Olympic highlights, and that victory was one they showed. I was surprised that one of the few things I watched was in the commercial. I remember my mom and sister being annoyed at the fact that the women's beach volleyball players wore bikinis. My cousin's husband Cameron was defending them, saying they moved better in them, but Susanne said they didn't make the guys play in speedos. I remember something about the Olympics and my photography class, but I don't remember what.

Salt Lake, 2002. Being a native Utahn, of course there's a lot I remember about these Olympics. For Christmas before the Olympics, I got a hanging window decoration of the Olympic mascots. There was certainly a lot of hubbub about them! I think they had Olympic rings on the mountain side to light up (like they do the U) and there was concern about that being a potential terrorist target (this was, after all, only five months after 9/11). There was a lot of discussion about Olympic pins. There was a green jello pin. My mom got a missionary pin (since David was on a mission), and there was controversy about that because the Olympics weren't supposed to be religious. Deseret Book sold pins that said "I speak [language]," each in the relevant language, of course. Schools sold school-themed pins, so I got a South Davis Junior High one. Everyone liked the bear, fox, and rabbit mascots. I kept my American flag net light set up throughout the Olympics. On the morning of the opening, we awoke early and drove down to the bottom of the hill (we watched the Reeds across the street do the same thing) to watch the torch come down Highway 89. I know that the girls' coach at SDJH, "Wangs" or Coach Wangsguard, got to carry the torch, and SDJH displayed it afterwards. That night, my cousins came over to watch the opening ceremonies. My mom had a student from her school class in the opening ceremonies; I found the act quite hokey, with a boy (my mom's student) being chased by malevolent icicle creatures. Joey was telling us the origin of the Olympics, but of course we already knew it. I think we went outside to see if we could see the fireworks from the stadium, but I can't remember if we saw them. A major fad during the Olympics was the weird patriotic berets the team wore; you'd go to the store and someone would be wearing a Roots beret. Even my grandparents went to the Roots store, although I don't know if they bought berets. There were pictographs representing all the events. I learned about lots of events I didn't know of before, such as slalom, skeleton, and curling. At one point my mom and dad bought me some Olympic socks. SDJH gave out tickets to random students, and I was fortunate enough to get one. This is from my Valentine's Day memory post: "My school had given a bunch of us tickets to the Olympics, and this Thursday was the day I got to go. I wore a red shirt. Those of us who were going were in the commons area, waiting, and there was a conversation about Chewy Gobstoppers. Then we loaded the bus. We parked at a parking lot and then rode shuttles up to the event. I was by myself. Tyler Brklacich invited me to sit with a bunch of them but I declined. There were people there wearing American flags as capes. I don't remember what the event was; I think it was women's slalom. At one point I bought a very expensive hot dog. Later I felt dumb that I bought a hot dog when for nearly the same price I could have bought a mascot item that I could keep forever. I saw some men drinking beer and they had spilled some drops on the railing. Somehow I touched the beer drops, which made my glove smell terrible. I already knew alcohol was bad because of the Word of Wisdom and because of Red Ribbon Week and DARE, but the smell further convinced me beer was no good. When the event was over, I was worried. I couldn't find anyone from school, and I hoped that the bus wouldn't leave without me. We were all walking out and there was a bluegrass musician playing stuff over the loudspeaker, and he invited everyone to sing along to "The Ballad of Jed Clampett." This excited me, and after the regular lyrics he said, "The Beverly Hillbillies" just like they do on the show and continued playing the intro. I got on the shuttle and was still worried about the bus. Would I have to walk until I found a gas station and then call my mom and tell her I was stranded? I sat by a window and a foreign woman asked, "May I join you?" It sounded like "May otoño?" I nodded but didn't say anything because I didn't know if she'd understand and I was so worried about the bus. When we got off the shuttle I was so relieved that the bus was still there and I ran to it so it wouldn't leave. When I got home, I told my mom about my experience and she was mad at the teachers that I was alone. We had heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's and I was excited to watch and record the new Peanuts special debuting that night, A Charlie Brown Valentine." One day Carolyn Millard came to our house and gave us a plate of Olympic-colored ring cookies because she had neglected to do anything for Christmas or New Year's. In Utah History we had to fill out a sheet about Olympics, including what our favorite event was. I think I said "slalom" because I didn't know what else to put. There was discussion that slalom was really bad for athletes' knees. I'm sure there's a lot more I could remember--it's just so broad and there are so many memories I can't get them all down.

Sydney, 2000. Before the Olympics, I read my National Geographic magazine World and it did a feature on the Olympic mascots; I was particularly intrigued by the echidna. I remember seeing a picture in the newspaper that showed someone carrying the torch underwater and I wondered how they did that. I was in sixth grade, and one of my classmates had an Olympic backpack. I remember watching a feature on TV where they showed the Olympic caldron and people standing outside the stadium pretending to hold it. They asked one cute little girl with an Australian accent why she should be the designated fire-holder and she said, "Because, I'm only in kindergarten!" After a while she started moaning: "My arm's getting tired." I remember going to our neighbors the Andersons' house for some scout thing about drugs and Zenda Schwab told us she loved watching the Olympics and would stand up and sing during the medal ceremonies when the U.S. won. I remember my mom hating one male athlete's earrings during a medals ceremony. I believe September 23 was the day that I had to go to the Bountiful "Bubble" for a merit badge thing, and an old guy there was really friendly and pretended to warm his hands on Ryan Jones's red hair, and I looked outside and pointed out that it was snowing but Jaydon Bean believed it was only raining. Anyway, on this day, David had his friends over (my mom was out of town, although that's not why he had them over) and his friend Andrea was complaining about the beach volleyball outfits. The U.S. was playing Brazil, and Brazil's country abbreviation was BRA, and David and his friends were saying they thought that was referring to the bra of the bikini and that the Brazilian flag was the logo of the bra company.

Nagano, 1998. Before the Olympics started, our teacher, Mrs. Fisher, told us about the original Olympics, and how women weren't allowed, but it wasn't because the men were running around naked. Our school would broadcast Olympic documentaries to the classrooms during the afternoon. I think at home we would watch figure skating.

Atlanta, 1996. One day in first grade, we were informed that we were going down to watch the Olympic torch. So we all walked down from Orchard Elementary to Highway 89 by Bob's Deli to watch the torch. As first-graders, none of us really knew what was going on. That summer I remember watching Olympics with my siblings. We were watching women race, and my siblings commented on the muscles of their legs--I said they were fat (because they were big) and my siblings corrected me. I was intrigued by the mascot of the Olympics. One day I decided to make a book of the Olympics and I drew a picture of the mascot.

Lillehammer, 1994. (I had to use Wikipedia to get the place.) I remember my family watching figure skating.

Barcelona, 1992. All I remember is that my brother had a t-shirt of the American Dream Team, with basketball players like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippin. But I probably remember this more from him wearing it after the Olympics than during them. But I do have a memory of the shirt at a store, possibly from the night he got it.