July 3-4, 2012

Since it will soon be the Fourth of July, I am going to remember what I can about last year's July 3 and July 4.

On July 3, I went to work, and I was excited that after work I would be able to head home to see North Salt Lake's fireworks. I drove home and decided to stop at Smith's to get some Fourth of July cookies. Gotye's "Somebody I Used to Know" was on the radio. Susanne texted me about treats, and I told her I was getting some right then. I got patriotic Oreos and patriotic Keebler rainbow cookies--they don't have either of those this year, sadly. I looked at the drinks and was intrigued by a cucumber/lime Gatorade, so I got it. I paid for my stuff using the Smith's gift card my mom had given me. Then I drove home. I went inside the house (which was empty, since my parents were on vacation) and I found my Andy Griffith Show DVDs to take back to Provo, in case I wanted to watch them since Andy Griffith had just died. Susanne, Matt, and Allie arrived, and we got some blankets and walked up to the Eaglewood golf course to see the fireworks. We passed the Andersons, who said hi to us. It was really busy, and the fireworks were closer to us than usual. We munched on both my cookies and the ones that Susanne had brought (those soft sugar cookies). I told them how I used to eat those cookies a lot when I worked at Walmart, and I kind of got sick of them. Matt said he used to get the big pink ones out of the vending machine all the time, so he got sick of them. Nan tried my cucumber Gatorade. I think I talked about how I was going to drive back to Provo that night, and that I had my Jan Terri CDs to listen to. Susanne said that Jan Terri was similar to someone we knew, and I talked about some of their parallels, how I wondered if Jan Terri was for real, but then I remembered this individual, and I realized that Jan Terri very likely could be for real, since the individual we know is very much for real. Nan had glowsticks for us to put on. A distant singer started singing Katy Perry's "Firework," and I said that the previous year they had played that right before they started the fireworks. Allie said that she might see a movie with that song--the new Katy Perry movie. I said I didn't think that was a good movie for a little girl. I then asked everyone who they thought was more talented, Katy Perry or Lady Gaga, because I think Gaga is much more talented. Susanne brought up the issue of "Born This Way" copying that Madonna song, and Matt said the songs weren't very similar. After the fireworks, we walked back to the house. We passed the Andersons, who said that Susanne should move into the Christensens' house behind them, but they would see their autistic son Ty with no clothes on. I was worried about our cat Jenny, since I hadn't seen her at all while I was home. I took my Gatorade and cookies in the car and put in Jan Terri's Baby Blues CD. I was still wearing my glowstick. After Jan Terri was done, I listened to the radio. It was an enjoyable drive. When I walked into my apartment, my roommate Bryton had a Hispanic friend over. I finished up my Gatorade and went to bed.

The next morning I was awakened by the sounds of the Freedom Festival. I couldn't fall asleep again, so I got up and got ready and put on my red patriotic Snoopy and Woodstock shirt. Our roommate Cameron left to go with some of our horse friends to the parade. Bryton and I walked over later, having heard where to meet those friends. As we were walking down the street, a man with no shirt and short shorts was running by, and Bryton asked, "Is that a Speedo?" I said they were just short shorts, and he said it was ugly. For some reason we were talking about the hymn "The Wintry Day, Descending to Its Close"; Bryton said the BYU Singers had a beautiful version. We walked along a side road and I was surprised at an abandoned house. We went to 960 N and University, where our friends were supposed to be, but we didn't see them (they were on the other side of the street). Bryton was more patriotic and less cynical than I, so he did a lot more clapping and saluting. He was going home to Farmington, so he wanted to leave, so I left with him. We walked near the Smith Fieldhouse and hopped over a little fence. We were impressed with the serenity and grounds behind the Fieldhouse, where we had never been before. We walked along the trail along the campus stream. For some reason I was talking about the movie Beetlejuice; I said it was a movie that I wouldn't watch anymore. Then we went back to our apartment, and I turned on my Fourth of July playlist. Somehow I got on YouTube. I found a video by these people who claimed to have patriotic alligators that really liked the song "I'm Proud to Be an American"; it was funny only because of how seriously the gator owners took it.

I saw a Brad Paisley video with Andy Griffith and I found a Fourth of July country music playlist, so I watched a Lady Antebellum video. Then I wanted to go out and find something fun to do, since I didn't want to be alone in my apartment all day. I walked around and saw Cameron and Carissa sitting underneath a tree across the street from Regency apartments. I sat by them, but they mostly ignored me (Carissa was psychoanalyzing Cameron), so I pulled out my planner and filled in the calendar in the back and doodled month images. Some other friends, including Hanna, came by and said they had gone to get Slurpees, but they didn't know where Carissa had gone. They said they were going to get in the pool and invited me. So I went home and got in my swimsuit and went back over to Regency. I hung out with Kristen and Hanna in the deep end; I held on to the edge. I told them about how I had two songs in my head, "Leanne" by Jan Terri and "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha, since I remembered the previous year when that song was playing when I crossed the finish line at the Freedom Run. Hanna talked about how I called them horses (Kristen had not yet read that blog post). We talked about how Carissa was interested in Cameron. Some more people came to the pool, and Kristen wanted to get more people to come play a toothpick game in the pool. I went to my apartment to get some toothpicks, even though I wasn't going to play. Kristen came with me and invited Alex across the hall to go to the pool as well. A bunch of people came for the toothpick game; they were a little annoyed that I had brought colored toothpicks. I didn't play because I can't swim and I can't see without my glasses. Michelle Sutterfield came over to the pool, but she didn't get in. She was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt with dogs on it, and a red bow in her hair. Another ward came to the Regency pool, so I left. Carissa came over to our apartment before Cameron had to leave for work. I offered them my cookies. I had a glass of milk while finishing off my Oreos and watching the "Independence Day" clip of the Peanuts Motion Comics Collection. I might have done some homework, but I can't remember. I was Facebook fasting that day, but I did keep checking our ward's Facebook page (looking only at that one page) to see if the ward was doing anything fun. They said they were going to have a bring-your-own-meat barbecue, but I didn't feel like buying any meat. I boiled some corn on the cob that I had grabbed from home and ate it for dinner. Then I went over to Pickup Place (the house across the street from my complex, named after the owners, the Pickups). Francisco had made some artichoke. Russell Ochoa had never heard of artichoke before, and asked what it was in Spanish. I was glad that I knew it was alcachofa, but it was Francisco who answered him. Someone told Nestor Romero that he was mean for making people work in his store on the Fourth of July. I grabbed my water bottle from my apartment, and then eventually we all left to go up to see the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We encountered a fruit tree and ate some of the fruits from it. Kara Mangum said they were cherries, but we recognized that they were small plums. We picked a bunch of them and ate them on our way I ended up walking with Michelle, Ellie, and Francisco. At one point I saw some goathead plants growing, so I stopped to try to pull them up. Michelle asked what I was doing. Then I educated them about goatheads, how evil they are. Francisco said they must serve some purpose, and I said they are used as aphrodisiacs, which Ellie found funny. There were some spraypainted letters on the ground (the kind that water people use) that said "ELI"; Michelle said they almost said "Ellie." We passed the Deseret Towers field, where a bunch of EFY kids were doing some kind of activity. We made it up to the MTC field. We sat with our ward and watched some unattended little Asian kids ride a skateboard down the sidewalk in the field. Some of us played some kind of game, but I can't remember what it was. We took ward pictures, and it just so happened that all of us in the back row were wearing red shirts. A woman came around selling cupcakes. I regretted not buying one, since it was my last opportunity to eat baked goods until Halloween. I asked Michelle whether she was wearing her dog shirt because of the dogs or because it was white; she said it was because it was white. Then we decided to move to a different spot on the fields. I remember telling Chris that his Facebook profile picture made him look like Gilligan. I think Scott Boyce talked about how much he liked the Fourth of July. I remember talking about how the Beach Boys were performing, and someone said they would have to sing "Salt Lake City." Someone who wasn't from Utah thought she meant just changing the words to "California Girls," not realizing that "Salt Lake City" was actually a song. After the fireworks were over, we walked back home. I told Michelle about the patriotic gator video. We met at Pickup Place to watch fireworks some people had brought. I stood on two posts in the parking lot. Some out-of-towners came to watch. They had a tiny baby, and I was surprised they were watching more fireworks with such a little baby. Their car was packed with stuff, not only in the car but also on top. Someone took a picture because it was so ridiculous. Then I went to my apartment and Cameron came home from work. It was after midnight, and I was sad that the Fourth of July was over. I turned off my flag neon light and went to bed in a Peanuts Fourth of July shirt.

I know I will remember more things after I post this.

Related posts:
The Ghost of Independence Days Past
Independence Eve
A Year of Holiday Memories