2011. As was usual, I got up early for work and turned on Fox 13 news. Big Budah was showing a haunted house (you know, the commercial ones) in honor of the Halloween season, and I thought it was interesting they were talking about Halloween the same day I started the season. I think I listened to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack in the car. Although I had to stay late on September 14, I don't think I had to stay as late on September 15, which was good, because we were going to see Mary Poppins. I think we had Chicken Voila (that frozen-food mix of noodles, vegetables, and chicken) for dinner before we left. We got to Salt Lake and parked in a covered parking lot, then walked to Capitol Theater. I think I was wearing brown corduroy pants and my black and brown casual shoes. Both my mom and my sister knew a lot of people at the play; some of the people my sister knew were clearly gay. When they had the "Jolly Holiday" sequence, I thought the play was absolutely terrible, since the music was lackluster and the costumes were hideous. During intermission I got a drink and stood awkwardly out of the way of the huge lines into the restrooms. My mom looked at some of the souvenirs for sale and said she wanted one particular thing, although I don't remember what it was. They had parrot umbrellas, CDs, dolls, and other stuff. Then we went back in the theater; I think we ended up with slightly different seats. The scene on the rooftop with all the chimney sweeps was impressive, but we were too far from the stage (and we were underneath the balcony) to see the actor walk on the ceiling (we guessed what was going on). When we left the theater, I remember hearing a girl say, "That was so good!" I didn't have the same sentiment. I remember standing at the corner waiting to cross and mentioning that the following day's work would all be overtime pay. We discussed the play as we got to our car. My mom and sister said they liked the kitchen scene (the new setting for "A Spoonful of Sugar") and they liked the statues that came to life. I said I couldn't stand the statues, and my mom said I probably didn't like them because of their anatomy. I think I said that I found the statues coming to life seemed cheesy to me; they said that they didn't know how else to make that scene magical. I think when we got home I made my lunch for the next day.
2010. Having bought new glasses the previous Friday, I wanted to change my Facebook profile picture to have my new glasses. So I tried to take some pictures of myself. I took some awkward ones inside.
2009. While Elder Tamblyn was in bed not feeling well, I remember looking at the Etch-a-Sketch picture I had drawn of a snake underneath the ground beneath a tree, and thinking about how it was the Halloween season. Then we eventually left and we saw one Hazel Fee, a "potential investigator" whom we had tried to contact for some time. She invited us in and talked. And talked, and talked. I wanted to say a prayer with her before we left, but we could tell that that would not happen. Elder Tamblyn got up to indicate to her that we really needed to leave. He wasn't feeling well again, so we went home for lunch. My journal remembers better than I do, although I think I do remember seeing if the restaurant had any Halloween desserts (they didn't):
"Today was a more easy going day. We left about 10:30, saw a few PIs, visited a talker named Hazel Fee, came home at 11:30, and left again about 1:00. Then we saw a few more potentials and tracted until about 3:30, when Elder Tamblyn's energy waned again. Then George Sabin took us to a Chinese buffet. We met with James, and then Bishop, and then had a lesson with Michael Piquet and his family."
2008. When we were at the Family History Center emailing, Elder Bates sat next to me. I think this was the time he was amused by a response President Clark had sent him that said "'Buttload' is not very dignified. You can do better :) ," referring to a word he had used in a previous email. Elder Bates said he didn't remember saying that. My family's email to me that week started off, "Dear Cute Mark," and Elder Bates saw that and thought it was funny. This was my email:
"Sounds like you had a fun weekend. I've been thinking about those old traditions that have died. Glad there are new ones. It seems weird to me that it was almost two and four years ago that my grandparents died. My whole senior year doesn't seem that long ago because I was anticipating my mission, but it started two years ago! Even though I've been out almost ten months I still feel like I just started my mission.
"Boston, huh? You sure are taking a lot of vacations since I left. Then again, in a way I'm taking a consistent two year vacation, except most of it is work. Last week we went to Rocky Reach Dam with some members to observe salmon swimming up the Columbia River through a series of fish ladders, 100 small pools that gradually climb upward. It was funny because we went in to the visitors' center and some people came upstairs. I was thinking about what they must think to see us, but they said, "Oh, the missionaries are here," and they were actually visiting from Salt Lake. I think another person who was there that day thought we worked there, because he kept asking us questions, but he didn't seem altogether there. That's actually not all too uncommon; we frequently have people at the store asking us where stuff is, and we don't know any more than they do.
"Don't get your hopes up too much for Mexico with my Spanish, although the little I know has come in handy in this fruit-picking area. I don't know enough to teach or to understand when they go off, but when tracting I know enough to get permission for the Spanish elders to go back. I always have a hard time talking at doorsteps, but I become the only speaker when the resident doesn't speak English. (It's not as easy in Spokane; I once tracted an entire street where everyone spoke Russian.)
"I don't get to watch TV, but I did get to watch Nature without a screen this week. The bushes and shrubs of Wenatchee Valley are always covered with nets of cobwebs. When walking down the road I frequently take a diversion by looking for the little arachnids lying in wait in small tunnels on their webs. This week while taking such a diversion I noticed a miniature bee or something struggling in a web while the yellowish-tan spider watched nearby. It gradually got closer until it finally jumped on top of it and bit it. Then it began circling around it, I assume to reinforce its web. The bee stopped moving and the spider kept getting on top of it, but after a few minutes we learned that the bee was only playing dead. The pattern of the spider getting on top and the bee playing dead then trying to escape continued for a few minutes. Eventually the bee escaped out the bottom, but fell into a lower web, where an even bigger spider darted out, bit it, ran back to its tunnel, darted back out and bit it again, and hid again. The bee was no longer moving and the spider was missing when we finally left. It was amazing.
"This week we began teaching an old lady who is kind of lonely. She is very friendly and very Episcopalian, but she has two granddaughters who married RMs in the temple, so she wants to learn about the Church to know how to interact with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was concerned that she has four great-grandchildren ages 1-5 who aren't baptized.
"And while I am delighted to see the leaf-strewn lawns, I am not happy to feel the hot of the afternoon. I thought that was supposed to end once I could start thinking about Halloween.
"Love,
"Elder Melville
"P.S. Some elders have caught glimpses of your letters to me, and find the adjective "cute" quite humorous."
I think that day at Fred Meyer I went in the Halloween aisle and got some Halloween Peanut Butter M&Ms and some pumpkin-shaped Reese's. Elder Duncan was trying to eat healthier, but he couldn't resist buying the shiny bright-green bag the Peanut Butter M&Ms came in. The store had Halloween totes; some were orange and black and some were purple and black. I was dismayed that the M&Ms had purple and green in addition to orange and black. I remember talking with Elder Duncan, Elder Moench, and Elder Dobbins if they considered purple a Halloween color (there was no way I would consider green a Halloween color). I remember complaining about the new Halloween M&M colors, and Elder Dobbins said he wondered if black food coloring was more expensive so they had to cut the cost because of the economy. I think that afternoon we went to a Baskin Robbins next to a Blimpie. It seems like I might have gotten some mint ice cream (at that point in time I think I could eat non-seasonal things as long as I did situps). Maybe I just thought about it. I didn't write in my journal this day so I don't have that to help me remember.
2004. This could have been the day that I came home from drivers ed to discover that my family had put the "Autumn mix" candy corn candies in a flowery heart-shaped bowl--most definitely not Halloweeny. But that might have been another day that week.
2000. Orchard Elementary had a school carnival that night. I remember coming home from it and putting up my jack-o-lantern lights--and maybe my spiderweb--on the fireplace. That might have been the time the Andersons stopped by afterwards and remarked that the carnival "sucks you dry."
1995. It's possible that this was a rainy day on which my mom told me I could put up Halloween decorations if I cleaned, so I put up window clings in the windows and taped a plastic Halloween picture on the sliding glass door, and my siblings asked me why I was already putting up Halloween decorations. However, this may have been any number of days during the month of September, so I really don't know exactly what day it was.
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