Day of the Dead

In Mexico, they celebrate Day of the Dead. We don't in the United States, but that doesn't stop me from remembering November 2.

2012. I got up early in the morning and grabbed my tent and my bag and walked up to the Eyring. It was annoying walking up with all that stuff. I crammed my stuff in one of the geology vans and noticed our professor's Antarctica bag. We eventually loaded into the vans and were on our way. I rode in the van the TA was driving and our professor, Jani Radebaugh, was riding shotgun. She would periodically get on the walkie-talkies to point out things on our drive, such as faceted spurs near Spanish Fork, cinder cones near Delta, and some alluvial fans. I sat in the back near my classmate Cameron. At one point Jani asked if any of us had had field camp. I didn't know that in the geology department, "field camp" means Geology 410; I thought it meant 210, the class that I took just this summer. I started going off on how I wanted to take it but didn't know if I could, when in fact 410 has never been a class I have intended to take. Michael Arnold (the TA's brother) kept asking Jani questions. We got off in St. George to have lunch. While we were driving through St. George, another van put "Call Me Maybe" on the walkie-talkies. We stopped at a stake center across from the St. George temple, and I remember thinking about how it didn't feel like November there. Michael and I went into the temple visitors' center to use the restroom. The volunteers asked about us, so we explained we were from BYU. While we were at the visitors' center, the others had put out our lunch--lots of sandwiches and lots of chips. Then we got back in the vans and continued driving. I think we stopped at a gas station near Vegas. On this trip, my classmate Trevor was playing music from his iPod via a device that "broadcast" to the radio; he played Imagine Dragons, and it was the first time I had heard them. I liked them, and I didn't know they were local until Trevor mentioned it. Eventually we made it to the park. Jani was pointing out desert varnish (I think) and told us how the area had once been used to mine Borax. We drove up a steep hill, and when we got out at the top, Jani said, "Welcome to Death Valley, everyone!" Some people said jokingly, "Oh, is that where we are?" They had never officially told us where we were going, but many of us had heard it from other people. We were at a place called Dante's view.

She pulled out a diagram and told us that the deposits we were seeing had been on one of our assignments. She told us why Death Valley is so hot: It's in the basin and range province, so rising air loses its moisture, then comes down into the valley really hot. We took pictures there, and some classmates were having a conversation with some French tourists (in French, of course). Then we went over to the Stovepipe Wells campground to set up camp. There were lots of tents. I took mine out to go set it up, but I was trying to find a good spot, since we couldn't go past the camp boundary. Trevor invited me to sleep in the tent he was in, so I decided to do that. I brought an enormous tent for nothing. Jani went around to tell the other campers that we were college students, but that we didn't drink, although we might sing (but we didn't). I think one of the TAs asked Jani if we were all geology people; there were also some geography, earth and space science, and, of course, English language. I went over to the nearby gift shop to see if they had any candy corn or anything I cared to buy, but they didn't, at least not for those prices. I wanted to get a new hat (since mine was small), but I didn't like theirs. We had a dinner of hot dogs, and someone had brought J-Dawgs sauce. There was a kangaroo rat scurrying around, and we saw a grasshopper (or something) fly into the firepit and get roasted. One of my classmates, Rachel, asked me if I was a grad student, since she hadn't seen me, but I explained where I sat in class and explained I wasn't a geology major. Then that night some of us went to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, just for fun. I took a flashlight. We all took off our shoes and played in the sand. I didn't want to walk as far as some of the others went, so I just stayed around some others, but I didn't know any of them, so it was like I was by myself. I had my flashlight on lantern mode, but then someone wanted to turn it off, so I did. It was a beautiful evening, lots of stars and a bright moon. It was fun to lie there and look up at the sky, occasionally jumping off the dune. Then we went back to the vans and drove back to camp and went to bed.

2009. Elder Tamblyn and I went to the Families Forever LDS bookstore. I wanted to get another Cherie Call CD. I knew I liked "Somebody Else's Shoes," so I wanted to get The Ocean in Me. When I went to check out, the owner told me she had a new one, if I wanted to listen to it, but I knew what I wanted. (That turned out to be a good choice; I like The Ocean in Me more than Grace, and it's more fitting for missionaries.) I remember thinking that "One Good Woman" seemed kind of fitting for Thanksgiving, and "More Than Enough" was kind of weird. (Now it's my favorite.) I think we went to Dairy Queen, but they didn't have anything in season, so I didn't have anything. Then we went to Lewis-Clark State College for email.

2008. I remember going tracting after church, and no one was home. Someone in a yellow house didn't answer. I think someone mentioned it being football or something that stopped people from answering or being home. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Exactly one year ago I was at the temple for the first time, complete with my slightly black fingernails before going to El Matador with the family. 

"Today few people were home. Not a single person answered as we tracted, although we know one person was home. No one had us for dinner, and it got dark early, so we didn't know what to do.

"I bore my testimony today, which is a lot easier in a branch. Elder Love implied he might be leaving and worried everyone. I don't want him to go." 

2007. I remember reading Boyd K. Packer's pamphlet "Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple" before I had to leave to go to the temple. I eventually got dressed, and we went to the temple. Also getting his endowment that day was Ben Poulsen, whom I knew from high school. In the celestial room, my mom said we would come another time when our fingernails weren't black, since we had polished them for Halloween and not everything had come off. Afterwards, we all went to El Matador for dinner. After dinner, we took my cousins to our house. I was listening to the Corpse Bride soundtrack; Jesse recognized it. We got talking about how I can see sounds and I said I liked the blue songs on the soundtrack more than the orange songs, and Jesse didn't understand why I would like those songs better. When we got to our house, I showed them my Jack Skellington jack-o-lantern. After they left, I talked with my parents about how the next day we would be going to Nevada to help my cousin April pack up some stuff.

2006. I think my parents went down to Fillmore, since my grandma had just died. Sue and her sons came and visited Preston and Ya-ping. As they were leaving, Allie pointed to her rotting jack-o-lantern and said, "My [pumpkin's] mouth's having issues!" Sue found that hilarious.


2004. My chemistry teacher, Mrs. Duffin, drew some red and blue stars on the whiteboard with a note that said, "Vote today! If you are 18 (and registered)".

2002. We woke up in our Taiwan hotel rooms and got ready for the day. We went outside, and I remember looking up at the palm trees and thinking, "Wow, we're really in Taiwan!" We drove somewhere (maybe to get breakfast) with Donna, our tour guide, and we passed David (Elder Melville) and his companion talking to someone by a gas station. Then we went and talked to him. It was the first time we had seen him for two years. He was amazed at how much taller I'd gotten. I think that he invited my parents to go to teaching appointments that night--my dad to his appointment, and my mom with the sisters. My sister and I stayed at our hotel and watched TV.

October 29

This time I'm going to remember what I can about two days before Halloween.

2012. Our ward was having a Halloween party over in Kiwanis park, so I donned my red shorts, black-and-red skull shirt, cape, and vampire teeth. I walked over to Kiwanis, and some people I passed complimented me for my costume. When I thanked them, they saw my teeth and were impressed. When I got to the party, there were few people in costumes. Joel DeVore was making hot dogs. I talked with my home teacher Westin and his friend Lisa. Somehow the term "phonology" came up, and that reminded Westin of "phrenology," and he told me he heard about phrenology being applied to Joseph Smith. Our activities committee announced that they wanted to show Hocus Pocus but couldn't find it, so they were watching Young Frankenstein instead. I didn't want to watch Hocus Pocus, but Young Frankenstein was even worse, so I left. As I was walking home, I noticed that the Mountain West Burrito was having a party--apparently it was their grand opening. I went home and turned on my computer. I was listening to "Alejandro" when our home teachers came by. They visited for a while. I had invited my horse friend Kristen to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas that night, and she came when the home teachers were still there. Eventually they left, and I started the movie. There was something weird with the sound. Another horse, Carissa, knocked on our door, so we invited her in and she watched the movie with us. During "Jack's Lament," my roommate Bryton fixed the sound. After the movie, I asked the three how they liked it (since they hadn't seen it), and they didn't like it as much as I do.

2011. In the morning, I went with my parents first to Winegar's grocery store. They went into America First and made their final house payment. The teller drew confetti and balloons on the receipt. My mom wanted to keep the receipt, but I don't think she did, just leaving it in the Suburban. After that, we went to the new movie theater in Centerville to see Puss in Boots. I waited for the credits because I feel that that's the true end of a movie, I wanted to see if there were any special features, and I wanted to learn who was singing at the end of the movie. Then we went to Walmart. We got Halloween candy for trick-or-treaters and I got caramel-apple-flavored cereal. After that, my parents went to Home Depot (I think to buy a mirror) but Allie and I stayed in the car. Then we went to Dairy Queen for lunch. I asked if I could get a pumpkin pie Blizzard with my meal, but the cashier couldn't understand me and my mom had to "translate."

2010. This might have been the day that "The Monster Mash" played on the country station at work, and my coworker Brandon rejoiced that they played a classic Halloween song. We would have swept up at the end of the shift, and the brooms always made me think of witches, and I may have thought about how the next time I came to work, Halloween would be over.

2009. I remember going to rake leaves at Sister Carter's house. She had Halloween cookies from the store. There were bat cookies, and I found it strange that they were white. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today we did some of sacred planning but Elder Tamblyn was feeling out of it. Then we ate at Sister Carter's. Too many leaves stopped the mower so I raked instead. There were a lot and we didn't finish. 

"We were late to Deana's appointment so we didn't get to teach her. We tracted a little bit and saw some potentials. It was cold and misty all day. After dinner we tracted some more and such. We visited Tyson next door and found out Kim's being kicked out. Then we stopped at the Coopers' before our lesson with Mallary."

2008. We had spent the night in the house Sister Stackhouse was moving out of. I got up and ate Boo Berry cereal for breakfast. Elder Love noticed beer in the fridge and said that Sister Stackhouse would be mad about that (that might have happened the night before). I think Sister Stackhouse might have come later to move some things out. That day we were moving a pile of dirt for Jean Saunders Coultas, a less-active member. While we did so, I played all of The Nightmare Before Christmas in my head, just to see if I could. Sister Coultas made us tomato soup and grilled-cheese sandwiches for lunch. After that, we drove back to Ritzville. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Exactly one year ago today I was buying my temple clothes in a pumpkin shirt. I got up early to go to the store, and bought lots of candy. I can't believe how long it's been.

"We helped Jean Saunders Coultas, a less-active, by moving a large pile of dirt underneath her fence. That took a while but she made us lunch. We briefly helped Sister Stackhouse as well.

"Then we came back down to Ritzville. We tried to see a few people. The Carletons talked to us for a while. They're some of those digressing people. Then we saw Crystal--it was Edward's birthday--and went over the branch list with Brother Andrus, whose wife had her name removed."

2007. That morning I got up early and my mom and I went to Target because she wanted to buy my sister a Wii for Christmas. I remember waiting for it to open and discussing with another woman about how we had to wait until Monday since we didn't shop on Sunday. When we went in, all the Wiis were gone, but some other waiting customers were able to get their X-Box Guitar Heros. We looked at the Halloween stuff and I got a jack-o-lantern fleece blanket. We got a white pumpkin so I could carve it as Jack Skellington. I noticed candy cane Kisses, so we got those as well (I was less strict back then about things being in season). Then we went to Shopko. We looked at their clearance Halloween stuff. We got a silly bat decoration that descended on a string and made noises as it did so. Later that day we went to the Distribution Center so I could get fitted for my temple clothes. One of the workers complimented my jack-o-lantern shirt.

2003. I think I was with my mom and we were buying things for me to take the the seminary "extended devotional" (party) the next day.

1999. This was the school Halloween parade. I wore my ridiculous chess piece costume--a white robe and a white face with a cross on my head. Cody Egbert in my class was dressed as the devil. As we passed by the sixth-grade classes, I heard Mrs. MacAdams say I should go by the devil--that was the first time I realized people might misinterpret my costume. We got little trick-or-treat bags, and Hillary Ulmer wanted to use hers to hold her pretend knife. That might have been the night that I remember watching one of the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons in the kitchen, and then later my mom turned off the lights and screamed. We asked what she was doing, and she said she thought it was Halloweeny.

1994.  My mom took my cousins to the hospital so they could see their new brother, Quin. After we got there and they saw the baby, Wayne told my cousins that there were donuts they could have, and Chancey and Jesse were excited. Then they told me I could have one too, and I was excited.

October 28

As we get closer to Halloween, it's time for me to remember what happened three days before All Hallows' Eve.

2012. I wore my jack-o-lantern tie to church. As I came home with my roommate Scott, we saw some people putting up lights on the house across the street. I probably had leftover pizza for dinner. That night I wrote a blog post.

2011. I would have watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and I wrote a blog post.

2009. We had to get up at 1:00 a.m. to drive from Clarkston to Spokane in order to go to the temple. An old man from the Clarkston elders' ward worked there, so he was driving us. I tried to sleep in the car, but it didn't work. When we got to the temple, he went in for meetings, while we missionaries slept in the van. That was the only time I was really able to fall asleep. Then we went in. Since we were dependent on riding back with that brother, we were there long enough to do two sessions. After one of them, I talked to some members of my first area, but they didn't really remember me. Elder  Tamblyn and Elder Critchfield did initiatories instead of another endowment session, which annoyed the temple workers. I wasn't able to stay awake very well. After we were done, Elder Masten had a conversation with one of the temple workers about wrestling (I won't describe how that one came about). Then the member we were with took us to Denny's. (That's one thing I miss--free meals all the time.) We drove back through Idaho, and the member had to stop at the cabin of his son, or something like that. Elder Critchfield went in with him while the rest of us slept in the car. It took a long time, which annoyed us, because we were losing valuable P-day time. They finally came out, and they had a stinking garbage bag with rotted turkey meat. Elder Critchfield held it out the window while we drove to the nearest Dumpster. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was a very loong day. Elder Critchfield had told us we would have to leave at 4:00 A.M. But he was wrong. We had to leave at 2:00. If I had known it was going to be that early I probably would have declined. I had a hard time sleeping on the way up. We got to the temple about 4:30, and slept in the car until about 5:30. That was the only time I could actually sleep and it wasn't long enough.

"We did a 6:00 session. President (now Brother) Wells, Brother Jones, and Brother (now President) Grimes from my first area were there. Elder Tamblyn and Elder Critchfield did initiatories while Elder Tamblyn [I meant Masten] and I did another session. I had a harder time focusing in that one as the hunger and fatigue were getting to me. On the way out I saw Ashley Guiler's fellowshipper from the Greenbluff ward (I can't remember his name).

"We went to Denny's, and then headed back. I slept a little better, but we were waylaid because we stopped at our ride's son-in-law's house. Elder Critchfield went in with him and over an hour later they came out with a bag of stinky, rotting meat.

"When we got back we only had time to shop. Then we saw Elijah, then the Hugheses. We put on thermals, and saw a PI named Melissa, then visited the Loves, then met with Bishop.

"I have understandably been tired all day."

2008. We had zone conference up near Deer Park. I think when we got there, Sister Shaw was singing in the chapel, and I thought it was an elder with a tenor voice. When we got in line to greet President Clark, he told me that "Sister Turnbridge got baptized." I didn't know what he was talking about, but eventually I realized he meant Kristi Turnidge, whom we had taught and who got married to the less-active Brother Turnidge right before I transferred out of my first area. There are other things I remember, but my journal describes them pretty well:
"Today is my eleven month mark. Exactly one year ago, I taught nursery for the last time, giving out pumpkin candy to the kids.

"This morning (and afternoon) we drove through Mead. It's mostly as I remembered, except for a few things. The Pehl house, the home of the murder, is now remodeled. A church being built then is now complete. Signs are plastered saying the contract for the big freeway is complete.

"President Clark told me that Kristy Turnidge got baptized in Montana. At first I didn't know whom he meant because he said "Sister Turnbridge." Also he asked for people who know Spanish, so I told him I did. All of our MTC group was there; it was Northland and Spokane zones. Sister Van Noy badly wanted a picture but Elder Maxfield and Elder Hansen both left before we could take it. [We did take a picture of just three of us, but that picture apparently is on the one memory card I haven't been able to find from my mission.]

"Elder Hightower came up to hug me while I was next to President. I didn't hug back and President tried to get me to, but I said I didn't like to hug. Then President lifted his elbow and said touching elbows will be our hug replacement. He can be kind of silly sometimes. I feel a lot less uncomfortable around him.

"Elder Condie tried to hug me, but I blocked him and told him to get his claws off of me.

"On our way back from Airway Heights, where we stayed last night, we saw Joel in Reardan. Then we decided to see some distant potentials near Davenport. We entered a shady gully with lots of trees. It was more like someplace up north of Spokane. It was too dark to determine the house we needed, but now we know where it is.

"Right now we're staying at Sister Stackhouse's old house. It's not the cleanest."

2007. It was my turn to teach nursery. The lesson was "I can be honest," so I decided to test their honesty by giving them candy pumpkins and then asking who didn't get one. Only one kid said they didn't get one, but I think they were too young to really know what they were saying. I also brought jack-o-lantern pictures for them to color, but apparently that was too sacrilegious and some other teachers printed off pictures that said "I can be honest." They let them color the pumpkins at the end of nursery.

2006. My dad had considered going to Fillmore, but my sister convinced him otherwise. My family had made brownies, and I tried to come up with excuses to eat them. There was a Munsters marathon that day, and we also watched Frankenweenie. I think we vacuumed the basement.

1995. I went to Boo at the Zoo with my cousins. I was wearing my mummy costume. They gave us little plastic trick-or-treat bags that had a picture of a witch made out of candy on them. We kids filled our bags, and my brother David got a solitary piece of candy near the butterfly exhibit. I remember talking with Chancey near the fish exhibit, near the place with the fake jail. Later we got our faces painted; I told the woman I wanted a mummy on my face. Then we went to my grandparents' house. They had a fire going, and I remember thinking that we couldn't get the balloons near the fire, because they would pop.

1994. David was having his birthday party with a few friends, playing video games. I remember they had some Doritos that had a Halloween picture on the bag. My cousins were also all there, because their mom was having a baby.

October 27

October 27 is my brother's birthday, but since he doesn't live in Utah anymore, it's more like four days before Halloween to me. I'm going to remember what I can about it.

2012. In the morning I dressed up in my blue sweater and went up to the Wilk because we were helping out at a Relief Society brunch. When we showed up, a lot of the other elders were already helping. Matt Markham said he had worked catering at BYU-Hawaii. My roommate Bryton and I went with Angie, the Relief Society President, to get some ice from the Cougareat. Somehow we got to talking to Angie about my Halloween shows--I would be watching the original Frankenweenie that day. I mentioned that the previous night's show had been It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and Angie said she loved A Charlie Brown Christmas. Bryton and I went back and filled pitchers with pink lemonade. Eventually it was time for the big reveal of who it was who had prepared the food and who was serving the sisters, and we elders all came out. We got to eat the salad after they had been served. There was a lot of salad on the plates, and I didn't care to finish mine once I had finished the chicken in it, since the salad was mostly cabbage. Then we had to go serve the cookies. The only ones I could eat were pumpkin sugar cookies. I ate a lot of them and took one home. Bryton and I walked home with Jenny Stevens. Then that afternoon I changed to go running. After that, I went shopping. I might have gone to K-mart for some reason. I went to Papa Murphy's and got a jack-o-lantern pizza. While I was down in that part of Provo, I saw a car with a license plate from American Samoa. I went to Smith's and bought some chocolates that I could give to potential trick-or-treaters but that would also be suitable for Thanksgiving. I came home and cooked my pizza and offered it to my roommate Cameron and his friend Stephanie (they had bought Taylor Swift's Red album that day). That night I watched Frankenweenie, but I think no one else was home to watch it with me.

2011. I think this might have been the day that there was a chili party at work. Before the time of the party, our leads were going around and telling everyone that they could go clock out and go home after the party. They didn't tell me, but I wondered if they would, and I didn't want to clock out and then have to go back and turn on my headset again just to log out. So I asked the leads if they wanted me to go home too, and they said I could, but they seemed hesitant. At the party, I was in line after my coworker Michelle and our lead Scott; I was telling them how I had a dream about our size-42 boxes. There were Costco cakes with red, orange, and yellow decorations on top. Michelle knew about and was amused by my dessert habits, and I explained that I could have the cake because it had fall colors on it. Later she went back for more cake and I asked her to bring me one. I think I preferred orange, but any color would do.

2009. I remember that we were going to the temple, so we had to go to the Clarkston elders' home. After our day of proselyting, we went there, and when we got there we learned that we had to get up at 1:00 a.m., even though Elder Critchfield had previously told us that we would have to get up at 3:00. I also realized that I hadn't brought a long-sleeve shirt, so one of the elders told me that I could use one of his.

2008. I think I bought Boo Berry cereal from Walmart. We would have gone to Washington State University to email, and I wrote the following letters:

"It is fun to walk the streets through the leaves. They all gather in the curbs and on the edges of sidewalks and they are very fun to kick. I can't believe November is almost here, but November is my second-favorite month.

"We do walk around generally when we are in our towns. Everything is so close together that we don't feel we need our bikes too much, and also we are in a top apartment so we don't feel like taking our bikes up and down the stairs all the time (I don't think there's a place to park our bikes). I actually still have my wheels separate from my bike from the transfer. And it could get annoying to have to transfer our bikes on the bike rack every few days. We do have a full-time car, but we have to use it to get from town to town, not from house to house (although actually we did go farm tracting the other day--knock on one house and drive to the next). Ritzville is about fifty miles from Cheney and Davenport, and Davenport is about forty miles from Cheney. Then it seems all the other small towns are twelve miles from our main small towns. We get 1600 miles a month, and we're doing very well this month. I'm worried for November to come because then we have to be careful again. We're due for a new car sometime soon because the Church likes to sell them before 50,000 miles and we hit that on Saturday, I think. The office missionary in charge of cars says he has some older cars he has to sell first and then he'll get ours.

"Exactly one year ago today was my first day of freedom from Wal-Mart (today at the store I saw all the new 'associates' being trained and my heart went out to them) and my official full-time mission prep, not working just to get ready for my mission. We practiced my bike riding and carved pumpkins. Tomorrow I hit eleven months. It is Zone Conference tomorrow, and to get there we will be driving through Mead. It will be fun to go through my "greenie area" again. Actually all of us English missionaries who came to Spokane from our MTC group will be at the same conference--it's two zones and all five of us are in those two zones--Spokane, which includes Ritzville, Davenport, Cheney, and the main part of Spokane and surrounding areas; and Northland, which includes northern Spokane, Mead, Deer Park, Chewelah, and Colville. (All these cities probably mean nothing to you.) Ah! Memories abound this week. Last year's Halloween was probably my favorite one that I've had.

"I think I will send home my birthday check to you, and write Grandma and Grandpa today. It's weird to think that I'm still expecting a birthday package, because I've completely forgotten about my birthday.

"So I'm confused as to whether Allie's Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. I still think her witch costume when she was two was the best. And I'm kind of missing my fantastic cape.

"I'm going to email Dave today, so I'll close now.

"Love and Happy Halloween,

"Elder Melville"

"I forgot a few little anecdotes about this week.

"Last Monday we got back home and an ambulance was there. Brother Herron, with whom we live, had been vomiting blood quite profusely, and was in the hospital for a few days after. That night we had to have a ten-minute dinner twelve miles away so we could come back and give him a blessing. He's doing better now but still not feeling the greatest.

"The next day we went to Reardan, a small town, and we showed up at an investigator's house just as their dog was dying. We have impeccable timing.

"A lighter--but grosser--dog story has to do with an investigator named Crystal. Her grandma is active; her dad is an active recent convert. Her mom, Lucretia (sp) was ex'ed but still believes the Gospel. Both Lucretia and Crystal like us teaching them, and we were at Crystal's house teaching. She has a very rambunctious son, Edward, who is almost three. Among the three houses of Crystal, Lucretia, and the Calloways, there are many, many, many kittens and dogs (I've seen more kittens in this area than in my entire mission). Edward was playing with a puppy behind Elder Love (we were sitting on a bed used as a couch), hitting it on the head and trying to resist my protective measures for the dog. Suddenly Elder Love stood up, and a yellowish liquid was on the bed. So after visiting with them he changed his pants. But the problem is there are no dry cleaners around here. None in Ritzville, none in Davenport, none in Cheney. So he won't be able to wear those slacks for a while.

"Just thought I'd give you another random note!

"Love,

"Elder Melville"

2007. In the morning we went down to Orchard Elementary so that I could practice biking. It was the first time I was actually able to bike around, so that was an exciting development. Then we went home and I ate some of the mint Oreos I had bought the night before. We carved pumpkins and I think we watched The Blob, which my dad had rented from Top Hat Video.

2002. I remember emailing David for the last time on his mission. I wrote him a happy birthday/coming home poem. I can't remember all of it, but I remember a few cheesy couplets: "Only six days until I will see you again. I cannot wait until then!" "You'll see our new couch, upholstered in leather. You'll see all your friends, Preston, Michael, and Heather." "You missed our cat Dinah, she ran away, but Jenny also likes to play."

I will probably remember more later. I feel bad that I don't remember more about my brother's birthday, especially since most of what I remember doesn't have to do with him.

October 30-November 1, 2012

With it being Halloween time, I'm going to recall the things that went on on and around Halloween last year.

October 30, 2012. While I was getting ready to go to my jogging class, I was listening to my music, and my newly bought "Bad Romance" came on. But I heard something in the song I hadn't noticed before, and I looked up and found out it was swearing, so I deleted the song from my computer. (I later reinstated the song when I learned it was edited.) I believe that I wore the jack-o-lantern t-shirt that I got from a Halloween 5k to my jogging class. After jogging, I came home and probably watched the devotional. I showered and changed into the jack-o-lantern t-shirt I got from Walmart before my mission. I think I wore my yellow shoes. I went to the newly opened Mountain West Burrito across the street, since they just opened the day before and I wanted to try them. I got a chicken burrito, and the hot sauce was really hot. Russell Ochoa, who had previously been in my ward, walked by and said hi. That afternoon, I walked up to the JFSB (my geomorphology class was cancelled for the day). Near the MARB I saw Taylor Bean, who was working grounds crew. He told me that I should be wearing my shirt the next day, but I told him I would be wearing a different shirt. Then I went into the kindergarten observation booth to observe the kids' language for my Empirical Methods in English Linguistics class (ELang 273). I think I wanted to observe the preschool, but there were too many people in that observation room, so I moved to kindergarten. At first it was recess, so the kids were just playing. They were pretending to make a present  for their teacher. She offered to help, but they said no, "because then you'll know what we're getting you!" (Never mind that it was just pretend.) At one point I remember a teacher asked the kids, "Is the sun blue?" "No! The sun is yellow!" After recess, all the teachers came in, and they sang a wiggle song. Then they settled down for storytime. The teacher (Mr. "Bwad," as some kids called him) asked whether they wanted a Halloween story or another story. At one point a girl said something irrelevant, and the teacher said, "You already told me that." When I went into work, Annette the secretary commented on my yellow shoes (if that was the day I wore them). That night after I came home, my roommate Scott asked me if I could take him to University Mall so he could exchange some shoes and then to D.I. so he could drop off some stuff. I agreed to it, but worried about my time schedule that night. I looked at the box of things Scott wanted to take to D.I., and while he was in the other room I took out the measuring spoons and put them back in the kitchen, since he had a real need to get rid of things that were useful and keep things that weren't. We got in the car and he sang along to "Go Down Moses" on my Lower Lights CD. We got to the mall, and he went into his shoe store, saying it wouldn't take long. While he was in there, I went and looked through a Halloween store (which was busy, since it was Halloween Eve). Then I walked past some other stores and at one point I looked in the Disney store but didn't find anything interesting. Scott took a lot longer than he said. Once I walked through a boutique store, not knowing that Scott was following me. I walked in one door and out the other, and he told me that he expected I would stop and he would alert me that he was done, but I just kept walking. As we were leaving the parking lot, he told me to go one way, but I knew there was a lawn barrier, so I couldn't. He told me I should go out to the light to get on State Street to D.I., but I already knew that. While we were in the car, for some reason it came up that I really like Cherie Call. He said that he knew her songs "Where Faith Lives" and "It Passes All My Understanding." We dropped off stuff at D.I. and then drove home. I drove on Bulldog until it went down past the Wilk. Scott said, "Look at that!" and pointed out the lit Christmas trees at the front of the Wilk. I said, "I didn't know Satan was at BYU!" Then I said, "That was going too far," since I realized it was a little much to say that Satan was responsible for Christmas trees, and Scott said something like, "I didn't know he was responsible for that." Then I watched Mad Monster Party? My roommates Cameron and Bryton came home from home teaching while I was watching it, and Bryton said, "Oh, entertainment!" Both of them joined me in watching it; they came in at the part when all the monsters arrive on the island. They were amused when the chef pinched Yetch the zombie. Bryton asked if it was a kid's movie, because it had some more adult themes. Cameron didn't stay for the rest of the movie, but Bryton did. He laughed at the special effects at the end of the movie. (Mad Monster Party? is one of the strangest movies I've ever seen.) Then I went to bed, and when I woke up, it was

 October 31. I put on my Peanuts "Happy Halloween" shirt and my skull socks and went up to my first class, Empirical Methods in English Linguistics. Our professor complimented the people who had costumes. For some reason, she had some of us stand up for some demonstration, and when she did, she realized that I did have a Halloween shirt on. After class I went towards the library and there were people giving out candy, but I didn't consider it Halloween candy so I didn't take any. I went to my environmental biology class. There was this awkward kid who always sat at the front of the class, and he was wearing a homemade dog or wolf costume. He had a baseball cap with ears on it, and he had a dog snout mask, and gloves with claws. It was obvious he wanted to show off his costume, because he held the door open for the previous class and waved his hand up at everyone, showing off his claws. Some people remarked about his claws, but some ignored him. He asked a question during class and kept his snout mask on when he asked it. I overheard some people by me talking about his mask. I went to work and was just working away when suddenly Annette exclaimed. There was a man in a grim reaper costume just staring in our office window. Once she finally realized it and looked up, he left. Then she looked out the door and saw that he was doing the same thing to the other offices in our hall.Then I went home. At some point that day, Scott was making something out of construction paper. Scott and I hadn't finished home teaching, so we went and visited Nestor at South End Market. It was kind of awkward. I wanted to carve my pumpkin, and I set up my Halloween playlist on the stereo. At first I had it on shuffle, but I meant to just play it through. I began carving my pumpkin. Cameron came home when one of the versions of "The Great Pumpkin Waltz" was playing. I saved the pumpkin seeds and asked Cameron if he thought they would be good with spices like nutmeg and cinnamon; he said yes. I told Cameron that I was going to carve a pumpkin that said Obama, since I resented the Romney sign someone put up at our complex. He told me he also resented it. I asked whether I should make a modified flag under Obama or say "2012"; he said I should put a flag design. I messed up the "m" in Obama. At one point Scott came into the room, and he seemed shocked that I was doing something like making an Obama pumpkin (I learned his political opinions shortly before then while watching a presidential debate). As my playlist got to the Original Monster Mash album, it started skipping, so I had to restart my computer. I finished my pumpkin and took it outside in front of the Romney sign.

After that, I went to my room and listened to my playlist (which had to be started over after restarting the computer) while working on geomorphology homework. At some point our friend Amberly knocked on the door; I hadn't seen her for a while. They came in and looked at my Halloween stuff. They noticed my fall-wrapped chocolates and had some. Cameron mentioned that we had already eaten all the Caramel Apple Pops and taffy. Amberly was surprised we ate those before the chocolate, so I had to clarify that I didn't buy the chocolate until the other candy was gone. Since I had my Jan Terri picture up, the conversation turned to her. I went and got my laptop so that I could show Amberly's friend "Get Down Goblin." Afterwards, her friend said, "I love how serious she is." Amberly agreed, and said that she was even more serious in "the one with the motorcycle" ("Losing You"). I think Amberly was the only person to notice that my socks had skulls. While I was doing homework, my friend Kristen texted me and told me that I should go over to the Halloween party that Shayli was having. I was going to have to be late. I went there and ate a little Halloween brownie, one of the few Halloween treats there. Mackenzie Gregerson was wearing an Energizer Bunny costume; I asked her if she borrowed it from her roommate Leilani. I saw Scott's costume; the thing he had made was a little tag that said "To: Women, From: God." I was surprised that he would wear such a costume, because it seemed a little irreverent and vain, not what I expected from him. They took a picture, but I didn't join in because I wasn't wearing a costume. (It wasn't worth putting on my costume since I wouldn't be long at the party.) Then I came home and watched The Munsters' Revenge. Cameron came out and watched it for a few minutes. Then I went to bed (Bryton had gone home that day) and wrote in my journal:
"A mediocre Halloween. Scott and I 'home' taught Nestor at the store. I made an Obama pumpkin while listening to Halloween music. Amberly York and her friend stopped by and then I finished geology homework. I made a brief appearance at Shayli's party; then I watched The Munsters' Revenge." 

November 1. This was a crazy day. I remember that in geomorph, I was doodling some Thanksgiving images on my notes. Our professor asked if people could go to Costco with them that afternoon to get food for our field trip that weekend. But there was no way I would be able to. That evening I took a test for my editing class--the first time I had been in the testing center that semester. There's a small whiteboard in the testing center that always has some message and drawing on it; there was some kind of Thanksgiving message on it. I called my parents and asked if they could bring me some stuff for my trip. I think they brought me a tent, a bag, and a flashlight. I gave them a big bag of some of my Halloween stuff to take home. I was really grateful to them for coming all the way to Provo for me. The bag they brought was bulkier than I had hoped, so I asked Cameron if he had a bag I could borrow. He did, and he was nice enough to let me borrow it. I wanted to go the grocery store to get some things. I went out to Fresh Market and was shocked to see that almost all of their Halloween candy was already sold out, meaning that I couldn't get Thanksgiving candy. I bought some Kashi pumpkin spice granola bars. I picked out a BYU hat, and when I went to the self-checkout, the barcode on the hat didn't work. The worker helped me, but the price on the tag was much more expensive than the price the sign said, so I told her it was cheaper. I told her a lower price and she put it in, but I think that even that was more expensive than what it really was. After that I stopped at Smith's to see their clearance candy selection. All the leftover candy they had was only Halloween candy; it couldn't be used for Thanksgiving. When I got home, there weren't any parking spaces, so I had to park far away. Then later I remembered that I had my sleeping bag in my car, so I had to run over to the car (I was wearing my Converse shoes) and retrieve the sleeping bag. At one point that night I saw my former roommate, Zach Zimmerman, on the stairs. I told him how I had a field trip in the morning. The conversation went like this:
"Where to?"
"I'm actually not sure. The rumor is Death Valley."
"In California!?"
He also complimented me on my Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds shirt. That night I also had to fill out my absentee ballot. There was no way I was voting either Republican or Democrat, so I asked Bryton what he knew about the other parties. I just picked one--maybe Gary Johnson?--and stuck with that. Our bipartisan culture is destroying our country, so I want to make third parties a viable option. I asked Bryton if he could drop off my ballot for me the next morning (since I didn't know then that my complex had an outgoing mailbox). I might have been listening to my Thanksgiving playlist while I did the voting. I think I also had to finish a take-home midterm for ELang 273. Then I went to bed, knowing I would have to get up early the next morning.