Time to remember last New Year's!
Tuesday, January 30. It was snowy and windy, and I think a government official on the news was asking people not to drive if they could avoid it, so I decided to work from home. I was working in the living room when lots of birds flew around the house, as if I were in a snowglobe of birds. I had to get up and take a video with my phone.
I asked my parents if they thought I should go out on the roads to go to the temple, but they helped me decide not to. I think I ate an orange. I wrote in my journal:
"This morning there was snow on our road, and the news talked about lots of accidents because of wind, so I stayed home again. I talked to Reid. Then I finished my plans for next year's scripture study. Pops showed me how to change a battery [in a car]. Twice I was sitting in the living room when oodles of birds--probably hundreds--began flying around the house. It felt like it was snowing birds. Fearing bad roads, I didn't go to the temple, so I wrote a memory post about December 30. Then I used the elliptical while watching Gilligan's Island."
Wednesday, December 31. It was very cold, and before I went in to work, I went to the Salt Lake Temple and had to ask where to go inside. They asked about how cold it was outside. When I went home, my family had bought lots of New Year's goodies. There were birthday cake Oreos and root beer and ice cream for root beer floats. I turned my 2014 music on shuffle while my mom and niece and I played Book of Mormon Battles, which is basically glorified War. I had my music's album art showing on my computer, prompting Allie to ask, "Who's Ingrid Michaelson?" She asked who was singing when a song from the album Cheek to Cheek was playing, and when I said Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, she said it must be bad then, but I said that album was clean. Later we watched Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, and Susanne came and we watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman--I think we rented it from Amazon. Mom and Susanne thought it was hilarious when Washington and Lincoln were pardoning the dog and Clinton said, "I've done worse," and Allie didn't get it. Then we turned on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Fergie was on TV and Allie called her "Fer-jee." There was some talk about Nicki Minaj that I don't know if I should repeat here. Allie was excited when Taylor Swift was singing "Shake It Off." My mom said Taylor had kind of gone off the deep end, as she was dressed more scantily than she usually was (she must have been cold!), and I said her latest songs had more swearing. After the New Year and everyone had gone to bed, I spent some time listening to New Year songs on NoiseTrade and looked at Awkward Family Photos. (This of course was technically January 1, but I hadn't gone to bed yet.) I wrote in my journal:
"For New Year's Eve, I went to work, but first I went to the Salt Lake Temple for initiatories. It was in the single digits today. I had to scrape lots of snow and ice off my car, and while I was doing so, a guy for a glass company pulled up. He was looking for 656, which I don't think exists.
"New Year's Eve wasn't too exciting. I turned on my 2014 music while Mom and Allie and I played Book of Mormon Battles. Then we watched Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, and then Nan came and we watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman.
"After Mom and Dad went to bed, I listened to more music and looked at silly things on the internet."
Thursday, January 1. In the morning I bundled up (somewhat) and drove up to the Eagleridge church building to park my car and go running. There were lots of places where I had to run in the street because the sidewalks weren't clear, and when I got to the Bountiful golf course, the sidewalk was covered in snow and ice and I had to go really slow. On my way back, near the top of a hill I passed some girls running the other way; they said hi and I said "Happy New Year!" My cousin April came to our house to carpool up to Golden Corral in Layton. As we were pulling out of the driveway I had to tell my dad to stop because a car was coming up the road; it was Steve Moosman and he waved at us. My mom asked if we had seen the picture Sue had posted of her grandsons, and Nan said, "The one where he looks dead?" My mom was glad she wasn't the only one who thought that. April was talking about Studio C, and I said I had had a class with the short-haired girl my first semester at BYU. April liked the show but not the acting. After we were done eating at Golden Corral, I heard Jesse and Peter talking about a tree; I asked what that was about, and Peter said missionaries had visited with him and told him not to let his spiritual tree die. When we got in the car I asked how old you had to be to have tattoos, because my teenage first-cousin-once-removed had one. My mom said she didn't know how they could afford tattoos. That night we brought out questions we had answered circa 1995 and 2005 and compared our answers. Gilligan's Island was my favorite show both 2005 and 2015, and cucumber was my favorite vegetable both times. I said my favorite songs were "Memphis" by Cherie Call and "You and I" by Lady Gaga. Susanne said she loved "Brave" by Sara Bareilles, and I think she put "1D" for favorite band, as did Allie. We were amused that in both 2005 and 2015, Nan specifically said "carrots, broccoli, cauliflower" were her favorite vegetables. We discussed our New Year's resolutions. Then I watched Rudolph's Shiny New Year. This is some of my journal entry:
"This morning I bundled up and drove up to Eagleridge to go on my old running route. Due to snow and ice, I had to do a lot of running in the street and running slow. But it was glorious and invigorating, although I am a little sore. My goal was 54 minutes, but I made it 58.
"April rode with us to the Layton Golden Corral for New Year's dinner. After we got home, we set New Year's resolutions and did a 'favorites' activity. Then I watched Rudolph's Shiny New Year."
Friday, January 2. I just remember being on my computer, deciding whether to go to my stake party, and I just felt too tired to go when 9:00 came around. This is my journal entry for the day:
"I feel proud of myself for getting the year right [in my journal entry]. We'll see how long it lasts.
"I had an ordinary work day. I finished the Conversations with Mormon Historians, then worked some on the General Epistles. The Mormon Historians book annoyed me, because some previous editors 'fixed' things and made them wrong.
"I came home and took down New Year decorations, then watched Hulu. I didn't go to the stake party because it's late and I'm tired, and tomorrow we're cleaning the church, and New Year's is over."
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Saturday, December 26, 2015
December 28
This time I'm going to remember what happened on December 28, three days after Christmas. Unfortunately, I can't remember many years about this date, and I only remember 2014, 2008, and 2007.
2014. President Henry B. Eyring was at church that day, which I didn't expect. Peter Moosman was one of the speakers, and he began by saying, "You are looking at a spiritually sick individual," caused by not reading scriptures or doing other things. He shared an experience saying the prayer at his Christmas dinner, which strengthened his testimony. There was some extra time at the end, so President Eyring addressed us. He told us how he married later, and how his wife's parents didn't really approve of him, but he was very bold in proposing and she accepted. It had started snowing when we were at church. I began driving home, and I think I was listening to my new Nashville Tribute Redeemer CD. I took Eaglewood Drive up to Foxhill, and there were lots of cars coming slowly down the other direction. When I was coming down Raygene in front of my house, my antilock brakes came on. But the snow didn't last super long. My home teachers, Mike Angerbauer and Chad Hogan (substituting for Nathan Loveridge), came over. The conversation turned to my work, and I went and brought out my copy of Mapping Mormonism, so I showed them where my name was in it. I wrote my culminating blog post for the year. We played my new Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly game; we wanted to do the fast way, but even that was slow, and we had to pause the game for another day. I think my mom picked the Jack Skellington playing piece. This is my journal:
"President Eyring was at our sacrament meeting again this week, and there was extra time, so he told us about how he got married. It started snowing when we were in church, and the anti-lock brakes came on right in front of the house. I spent the afternoon working on my year-in-review blog, but there were breaks for my home teachers (Mike Angerbauer and Chad Hogan, who was subbing for Nathan Loveridge), dinner (chili), and a game night (my Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly). I shoveled the driveway once."
2012-2013. We were in California both years. I'm sure if I remembered one thing that happened specifically on this day, I would remember a lot, but right now I can't remember anything.
2011. I know I worked that day, but I don't remember anything.
2010. I was in Tennessee visiting my brother's family, the last time I ever visited that state, but I don't remember that day specifically.
2008. It was the day before transfers, and Elder Love was being transferred. We taught a girl who was dating a member of the Ritzville Branch, and she seemed to accept everything we taught, but we thought it was more for her boyfriend's sake. But she didn't live in our mission, although she would be going to school in Pullman. That night we had dinner at a birthday party for John Galbreath in the branch. He had received a Neal A. Maxwell quote book for his birthday, and they had ginger ale. They had a three-year-old daughter who was hilarious and talked about her imaginary friends. She said they slept in her bed, and her dad told her they couldn't sleep in her bed until she was married. She had received a doll named Lucretia for Christmas, and her mom was saying that sounded more like a black name, even though the doll was white, but there was a white Lucrecia in the branch. I journalized as follows:
"I am thirteen [months] today. We taught Sarah, the girlfriend of Andrew Burt, who lives out of the mission. We also said goodbye to a few others for Elder Love. We had dinner with John Galbreath and family. Their daughter Taylor is hilarious and very imaginative, telling us today all about Steve, Johnny, and Jackson."
2007. We visited a less-active member, not knowing how we would be received, but he invited us in immediately and was very friendly; we began regularly visiting him. I think this was the time we drove to the Franklin Park Ward's church building because Elder Chun needed to conduct a baptismal interview. There was a convert there who was enthusiastic about soon leaving on a mission, and we were telling the other elders about our upcoming appointment that we assumed would be a bash session; Elder Chun told Elder Gammon how the wife said she had read the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants, and the husband said, "How did you get a D&C?" Elder Gammon said we should have corrected him to "Doctrine and Covenants," since he had a thing about not using that abbreviation. That night after our meeting with Kristi Waylin, Elder Chun got lost and we were going down an ice-covered hill and couldn't back up, so some people came to help push him back up, and I felt awkward as I got out of the car after they were already helping. In Spokane they didn't really plow snow, and there were many times we got stuck on icy roads. We went on a road in the Greenbluff Ward to check on some people we had tracted into the previous week. We talked to a new man who said his wife had lots of Mormon family (and I think we later learned she was on our ward list). And I think we took these pictures that night, although I'd have to double check the original photo information to know for sure (I just took these from Facebook):
We liked this church sign:
I wrote in my journal:
"Today we taught Richard Swinkles, the only member in his family. We are trying to reactivate him possibly to influence his family. Elder Chun had to do some baptismal interviews, and then our potential investigator wasn't home. We met with Christi Waylin, a former investigators [sic] whose boyfriend is a less-active member. They are strengthening their relationship by wanting to come to church. The previous missionaries did an unsatisfactory job. We taught a good lesson but it was very difficult because she has very rambunctious children.
"We then got stuck on a road again by some houses so people helped us push again. We set up a return appointment for a possible investigator who was gone yesterday. Then we talked to a man on that street, and Elder Chun pulled down an enormous icicle."
2014. President Henry B. Eyring was at church that day, which I didn't expect. Peter Moosman was one of the speakers, and he began by saying, "You are looking at a spiritually sick individual," caused by not reading scriptures or doing other things. He shared an experience saying the prayer at his Christmas dinner, which strengthened his testimony. There was some extra time at the end, so President Eyring addressed us. He told us how he married later, and how his wife's parents didn't really approve of him, but he was very bold in proposing and she accepted. It had started snowing when we were at church. I began driving home, and I think I was listening to my new Nashville Tribute Redeemer CD. I took Eaglewood Drive up to Foxhill, and there were lots of cars coming slowly down the other direction. When I was coming down Raygene in front of my house, my antilock brakes came on. But the snow didn't last super long. My home teachers, Mike Angerbauer and Chad Hogan (substituting for Nathan Loveridge), came over. The conversation turned to my work, and I went and brought out my copy of Mapping Mormonism, so I showed them where my name was in it. I wrote my culminating blog post for the year. We played my new Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly game; we wanted to do the fast way, but even that was slow, and we had to pause the game for another day. I think my mom picked the Jack Skellington playing piece. This is my journal:
"President Eyring was at our sacrament meeting again this week, and there was extra time, so he told us about how he got married. It started snowing when we were in church, and the anti-lock brakes came on right in front of the house. I spent the afternoon working on my year-in-review blog, but there were breaks for my home teachers (Mike Angerbauer and Chad Hogan, who was subbing for Nathan Loveridge), dinner (chili), and a game night (my Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly). I shoveled the driveway once."
2012-2013. We were in California both years. I'm sure if I remembered one thing that happened specifically on this day, I would remember a lot, but right now I can't remember anything.
2011. I know I worked that day, but I don't remember anything.
2010. I was in Tennessee visiting my brother's family, the last time I ever visited that state, but I don't remember that day specifically.
2008. It was the day before transfers, and Elder Love was being transferred. We taught a girl who was dating a member of the Ritzville Branch, and she seemed to accept everything we taught, but we thought it was more for her boyfriend's sake. But she didn't live in our mission, although she would be going to school in Pullman. That night we had dinner at a birthday party for John Galbreath in the branch. He had received a Neal A. Maxwell quote book for his birthday, and they had ginger ale. They had a three-year-old daughter who was hilarious and talked about her imaginary friends. She said they slept in her bed, and her dad told her they couldn't sleep in her bed until she was married. She had received a doll named Lucretia for Christmas, and her mom was saying that sounded more like a black name, even though the doll was white, but there was a white Lucrecia in the branch. I journalized as follows:
"I am thirteen [months] today. We taught Sarah, the girlfriend of Andrew Burt, who lives out of the mission. We also said goodbye to a few others for Elder Love. We had dinner with John Galbreath and family. Their daughter Taylor is hilarious and very imaginative, telling us today all about Steve, Johnny, and Jackson."
2007. We visited a less-active member, not knowing how we would be received, but he invited us in immediately and was very friendly; we began regularly visiting him. I think this was the time we drove to the Franklin Park Ward's church building because Elder Chun needed to conduct a baptismal interview. There was a convert there who was enthusiastic about soon leaving on a mission, and we were telling the other elders about our upcoming appointment that we assumed would be a bash session; Elder Chun told Elder Gammon how the wife said she had read the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants, and the husband said, "How did you get a D&C?" Elder Gammon said we should have corrected him to "Doctrine and Covenants," since he had a thing about not using that abbreviation. That night after our meeting with Kristi Waylin, Elder Chun got lost and we were going down an ice-covered hill and couldn't back up, so some people came to help push him back up, and I felt awkward as I got out of the car after they were already helping. In Spokane they didn't really plow snow, and there were many times we got stuck on icy roads. We went on a road in the Greenbluff Ward to check on some people we had tracted into the previous week. We talked to a new man who said his wife had lots of Mormon family (and I think we later learned she was on our ward list). And I think we took these pictures that night, although I'd have to double check the original photo information to know for sure (I just took these from Facebook):
"Today we taught Richard Swinkles, the only member in his family. We are trying to reactivate him possibly to influence his family. Elder Chun had to do some baptismal interviews, and then our potential investigator wasn't home. We met with Christi Waylin, a former investigators [sic] whose boyfriend is a less-active member. They are strengthening their relationship by wanting to come to church. The previous missionaries did an unsatisfactory job. We taught a good lesson but it was very difficult because she has very rambunctious children.
"We then got stuck on a road again by some houses so people helped us push again. We set up a return appointment for a possible investigator who was gone yesterday. Then we talked to a man on that street, and Elder Chun pulled down an enormous icicle."
Friday, December 18, 2015
December 21-27, 2014
Time to remember Christmas week from last year!
Sunday, December 21. During sacrament meeting, I was passing the sacrament. Before church, we were sitting to get ready to pass, and Keith Savage said he was nervous to pass to the stand "because of you-know-who," since President Eyring was sitting up there. I told him that I was nervous because I was saying the opening prayer. When it was my turn to say the opening prayer, I was so nervous that I didn't want to adjust the microphone and had to stand on my toes, and I gave a very unusual prayer, and I didn't want to make any eye contact as I returned to my seat. Our meeting was largely musical, with narration by Brandon Owens and a concluding talk by President Eyring. In the evening, we watched the Rejoice and Be Merry! MoTab/King's Singers concert. I wrote my blog. Then I walked up to a game night at the Gublers' house, and I think I got there the same time as Nathan Loveridge. First we played Taboo. One of my words was "hologram," and I didn't think to mention Star Wars until it was too late in my turn. David Hawks said he would have guessed it if I had said that earlier. Bob Pedersen got "Monster," so he began singing, "I'm friends with the..." David and I got it; Rachel Baschuk said, "Isn't that Lady Gaga?" and I said no, it was Eminem and Rihanna. After the game I went in the kitchen and had some chips and salsa. I was talking with Kelton about high school teachers, and he said he had seen Mrs. Duffin (the chemistry teacher) at church in West Yellowstone, and she had remembered them. I was surprised, because I didn't know she was Mormon--I told Kelton the story about the time one of my classmates was talking about Ken Jennings with her and said, "Did you see that article in the Church News?" and she had responded "I don't get Church News" in a tone that seemed like "Don't assume that I do." While this was going on, other people were playing reverse charades. I told the Gublers that I hadn't been in their house since 1998, and I was telling them what I remembered about that day, including that Jacob was really mad they had gone to Costco without him. Then we had a discussion about how Donald's mom was about the same age as the oldest Gubler. Then I walked home, and as I was walking down Raygene, Steven Jessup said hello to me--he was at the house of his brother, who apparently lived on our street.
Monday, December 22. I only planned on working a partial day. In the morning I cleaned our fridge while watching Hogan's Heroes and The Andy Griffith Show. Then I went to work, and after work I walked over to the place downtown where my ward was having a Christmas party/dinner. I was early, but the Church History Library closed at 6. It was in a confusing location. I stuck my backpack in a hiding place so it would be out of the way, and I helped set out silverware, then I sat at a table until my bishop asked me to help move a couch. Stephanie Ogden sat by me and said she had been told she should know who I was but didn't. We talked about working downtown. Then our guests for the evening were a bell choir, and they were pretty good. There was an ugly sweater contest, but I find those pointless, and Brandon Loveridge won for his light-up sweater--no one would ever wear that, and I thought the point of ugly sweaters was that they were things that people really used to wear. Then I ate the food, including the really tasty baby carrots from a slow cooker. There were really fancy cakes, but most of them were not Christmassy. I think Taylor Miller was singing and playing songs, including "Ho Hey," a song I don't like. Then I went home, and I think we watched The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas, and my mom said it wasn't any cleaner than Elf. I think I delayed watching it to watch Christmas episodes of Petticoat Junction and The Beverly Hillbillies, but that might have been a different night.
Tuesday, December 23. At work I worked on Conversations with Mormon Historians. That night my mom and I went out shopping, to Shopko and Barnes and Noble. At Shopko (I'm pretty sure) I got Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish with red and green sprinkles. Then we stopped at Atlantis Burger to get pumpkin spice eggnog shakes, and we took them home to watch Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. I wrote in my journal:
"Today I slept in before going to work. I worked for about five hours on Interviews with Mormon Historians and read interesting anecdotes about LaMar Berrett's reputation in WWII and about an early Salt Lake resident buying a ticket with a turkey and getting chickens as change.
"Tonight we went to Walmart, Shopko, and Barnes and Noble. We also got eggnog shakes for while we watched Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July."
Wednesday, December 24. In the morning I went running, and I saw an inflatable decoration at a house, and it was a different decoration than they had previously had. I saw some snow in the eaves of some of the houses I passed. When I got up to the Wild Rose Trail, it looked muddy, so then I went over to Tunnel Springs Park. I think by that point I had become exhausted and walked, but then I began running again. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail looked muddy too, so I didn't go on it, and I ran down a road to pass a house where I had been assigned to home teach but had never been. Then I ran home again, and I was disappointed that my total run/walk was only around forty minutes. I went downstairs to lift weights--there weren't any Christmas shows on that I cared to watch, so I decided to watch my Hogan's Heroes DVDs, and I was delighted that the episode just happened to have a Christmas scene in it, even though it wasn't a Christmas episode. Then I showered and prepared to make gingerbread. Susanne and Allie came over and asked why I wasn't listening to Christmas music; I said I was just going to turn it on. I expressed my disappointment that I had only run for a total of forty-three minutes that day. I put some wassail in the slow cooker. They played games while I cooked, but Allie helped me for a time. The recipe didn't call for any cloves, so I added cloves, as my mom and sister said I should. The recipe called for a cup of water, but it didn't say what to do with it, so I threw it in the batter, and it made it really runny. I put the batter in some cookie molds, but when they were cooked they were burned and terrible. I added lots and lots of flour to the batter, along with more spices, until the consistency was right. I was quite pleased with the result; for these I rolled them and used cookie cutters. Then I made frosting and put it in a plastic bag, but there was another hole in the bag, so they got progressively uglier.
As my Christmas shuffle playlist played an organ song, Susanne asked, "What is this playlist? Organs are ugly," but I told her it was my own playlist, and she was fine with it. But then later she wanted to change it, even though she initially liked it, because it was "quiet"; Allie said we could turn the volume up, but that wasn't what she meant. But she did say she loved "Oh Hush Thee, My Baby." Later, Sue, Chancey, Nicole, and the two little boys came over for something and wanted my mom to take a Christmassy picture with her good camera. She did, but she couldn't figure out how to get it on her computer. At one point the boys were eating fruit snacks, so to be doing the same thing as them Allie got the last leftover Halloween fruit snack, and I was a little disappointed because I was going to eat it at New Year's. I put on my red Sperry shoes with my festive socks, and Susanne asked when I got the shoes, and I told her the day before Easter. Three-year-old Nathan was having me play Christmas songs on the piano, including "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." At that time, my playlist played the Lower Lights' "Mary's Lullaby," and Susanne said she loved it. Then it played Korn's cover of "Kidnap the Sandy Claws," and she asked, "What is this!?" Then Sue's family left, and we discussed where we were going for Christmas dinner. My dad wanted to order pizza because there had been one time on Christmas Eve when they ordered pizza and it came loaded with toppings, so he wanted to see if it would happen again. We didn't think that was a good reason to order pizza, so we planned to go to Chuck-A-Rama. I tried to see if it was open, but Google kept insisting that it was and I couldn't find otherwise, but Google lied and it was closed. So then we went to Texas Roadhouse. The radio was playing "Santa Tell Me"; Allie asked if it was Ariana Grande singing and I confirmed it was. That restaurant was too busy, I think, so then we went to Sizzler and did their salad bar. As we left, my mom thanked one of the employees for letting us come in on Christmas Eve, and he said he was glad they weren't working Christmas Day. As we got in the car, I ate the red-and-green lollipop they gave us. I told my dad that 98.7 was a much better Christmas radio station than 100.3. (I'm sorely disappointed now that 98.7 isn't a Christmas station this year. That's the only reason I even cared about that station.) He said sometimes he liked the classic Christmas songs. The radio at that moment was playing Ryan Shupe, whose Christmas CD I had recently bought. Then we went back to our house, and I had some wassail while we watched Christmas for a Dollar. My mom pointed out that it had been filmed at This Is the Place Heritage Park, which I hadn't noticed, but once I did, I could no longer imagine it as anything else. Susanne said it was a cute movie, but they didn't stay the whole time. We went to bed, and I wrote in my journal:
"Ah, Christmas Eve.
"This morning I went running, but after thirteen minutes I had a sideache, so I walked for four minutes and ran for thirty more. The trails were muddy, so I ended up running by the landslide.
"Then I made gingerbread. The recipe was horrible, but I ended up making it work quite well. Sue and Chancey's family came to get John's stocking. Then we went to Sizzler for dinner. Then we watched Christmas for a dollar, while drinking the wassail I made."
At some point I woke up and noticed that I had turned off my Christmas tree lights in my room but didn't remember doing so. I remembered that I had left the back porch light on, so I went to turn it off, and snow was already accumulating.
Thursday, December 25. In the morning we learned that Susanne was going to bring my grandparents with her to our house, so they could carpool because of the snow. We didn't open presents until they arrived, and I had to turn off my Christmas music since Grandpa is hard of hearing. I was telling everyone about my strange night. Allie hugged me when she opened the One Direction CD I got her, and she hugged Grandma and Grandpa when she opened their present. I got walrus kitchen supplies (hot pad, oven mitt, ice cream scoop) and a narwhal screwdriver. They said they saw the screwdriver at Gordman's and had to get it for me, because they would likely never see one like it again. My mom knew I got her a calendar before she opened it. Once I had to go out and shovel snow, and I played Christmas music from my phone; I remember Mideau's version of "O Holy Night" playing. Sue's family came over, and they Skyped with my cousin Quin on his mission and she passed the laptop around the room for everyone to talk to him; I asked him if they used area books or iPads. Grandma asked him, "Do you tract?" which I found an odd question. At one point my mom read a fictional story in a biblical setting while the rest of us were just sitting in the living room. I was kind of bored. When the story was over, Grandma gave a groan of approval. Sue said that when she had bought the pumpkin pie at Kneaders, she jokingly told them not to put it in a box so we would think she made it. I don't consider pumpkin pie a Christmas dessert, so I didn't have any. Throughout the day, baby John had been taking my hands to walk him up and down the stairs. Peter at one point saw the Napoleon Dynamite TV show I had got my dad and he didn't know such a thing existed. He asked me what I liked to do besides go to concerts. He told me that when he was in Nashville, he bought my nephews presents and told them they had to like him more than me. Franklin had said, "What's wrong with Uncle Mark? He's nice to us," and Peter told him he could like me, he just had to like him more. Then he related the story to my mom. That evening we went downstairs to watch It's a Wonderful Life; Susanne had wanted to go home, but my grandparents wanted to stay. We had to turn the subtitles on for Grandpa. Meanwhile, Allie was upstairs watching Christmas episodes on Disney Channel. Grandma and Grandpa laughed at scenes in the movie, including the line "I've been saving this for a divorce in case I ever get a husband." When it was over, I said it wouldn't be on my rotation next year; Grandma said, "How come?" in her tone of almost disappointment, and I said just to give it a rest. That night I turned my Christmas music on again and washed dishes; the narrated story of the Tabernacle Choir came on. I got a friend request from Leslie Gates, which I accepted. At the same time, Jon Rose showed up in my newsfeed with my former roommate Eric Scott West, and as I hovered over his name, I saw that we had fewer mutual friends. I discovered that Nathan Garlock unfriended me, which really surprised me, because just recently he had "liked" one of my blog posts. Then I wrote in my journal:
"An enjoyable Christmas day.
"I had a weird night. I woke up in the middle of the night and my tree lights were unplugged, but I don't remember unplugging them.
"It was rather snowy, so Nan brought G'ma and G'pa to our house. I got walrus kitchen supplies, a narwhal screwdriver, a Nashville Tribute CD, a Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly, and a speaker.
"Everyone Skyped with Quin; Sue of course talked the most.
"Allie liked her One Direction CD, Nan liked the dog shirts, and Mom liked her calendar. I don't know what Pops thought of the Napoleon Dynamite cartoon.
"I shoveled the driveway once, and we sat around. G'ma and G'pa stayed to watch It's a Wonderful Life. Then tonight I washed dishes.
"I learned that Nathan Garlock unfriended me on Facebook. I know I shouldn't let it bother me."
Friday, December 26. In the morning I cut up vegetables and made a crockpot vegetable minestrone soup. I took down the wooden outside decorations and let them sit out in the sun to let the snow melt a bit; I also took down the inflatable Snoopy for the very last time, since it was poorly designed. When we ate the minestrone, my mom asked if it was vegetarian; I said it was except that it was made with chicken stock. She said she would like it better with beans and said that was usually an ingredient in minestrone. I liked the soup, but my parents weren't impressed. That night we went out shopping. We went to Target, where I got some pencil socks. My sister liked the Christmas cactus socks, but I didn't care for them. I think I looked at sweaters but didn't get one. We went to Shopko, and there I got some Nightmare Before Christmas socks. I made a memory post, while listening to New Year music and 2014 music. When the "What manner of man is this?" song came on, my mom asked what it was; I told her it was on the Redeemer CD she just bought me. I didn't really care for the song. I wrote in my journal:
"Today I made slow-cooker minestrone and shoveled the driveway. I took down the pink Christmas tree and the ones downstairs and in my room. Then we went to Target and Shopko; I got pencil and Nightmare Before Christmas socks. Then tonight I wrote my week's memory blog."
Saturday, December 27. I took down my mom's Christmas village. Later, my grandparents came over, and Grandma said, "Oh, she took down her village." I said, "I did that," and she once again replied "How come" in the same disappointed, "why would you do that" tone she had used on Christmas. I said because it takes a long time to take down Christmas stuff, but the more obvious answer was that Christmas was over. My mom was out getting Little Caesars pizza for our family gathering. Jesse asked me if I had an opinion on "My Favorite Things" as a Christmas song, and I said I did have an opinion (Sue wasn't surprised). I said it had nothing to do with Christmas. Lisa said, "But we don't listen to it at other times," and Grandma said, "But we could." We were going to play games, and Sue said she had forgotten her new Telestrations game. I said I used to play it all the time at college; all you needed was paper and pencils, so I handed out paper and pencils and explained the rules. I found that this family group wasn't as fun as college kids. I was next to Jesse. At one point his picture had Santa Claus, so I wrote, "Santa tried to get by with only four reindeer." On another occasion, I wrote, "The galactic giant tried to put the moon back into orbit," because that's what it looked like, and Sue (next to me) said she didn't like sitting by me because she didn't know how to draw what I wrote. One of the things Jesse gave me was "a girl crying in a snowstorm," which wasn't even a complete sentence and therefore wasn't fun. While we were playing, Baby John was walking around, and as he got to our stairs, Grandma said, "There he goes," and he tumbled down the stairs and began crying. Chancey rushed over to him, and I was feeling annoyed that he hadn't been watching him more closely, while I worried for the baby's welfare. He was OK. Then we read and looked at all the pictures. I noticed that Lisa's snowflakes had eight points instead of six. Some of the responses were bizarre. My grandpa had drawn a picture that was obviously a bunch of men playing volleyball, but Grandma interpreted it as "Shepherds at the manger." I guess she thought the ball was a moon. Sue shared some cheesecake bites with us, and I started out with a strawberry one, which wasn't as good as I expected. John took his and put it in my hand--he evidently liked me--and he even pushed my hand up, as if motioning for me to eat it. It was cute and funny. Nathan threw something at one point, and all of us told him he couldn't do that; Allie later said she didn't know why he did that, because he wasn't even mad. Lisa was holding Nathan, and he asked her what our star decoration said ("Wisemen still seek Him"). After they left, I said, "Do you think it was weird that they let the babies eat pizza on our couch?" and Mom responded "And cheesecake," and I brought up the meme expression "This is why we can't have nice things." This is a portion of my journal:
"This afternoon I took down Christmas decorations. I thought Mom didn't like me doing so, but apparently she was fine with it.
"Jesse, Lisa, Sue, Chancey, Nicole, John, Nathan, and G'ma and G'pa came over to play games and eat pizza. We played the Pictionary/Telephone game. It was fun....John remembered me from Christmas, remembering that I would take him downstairs. At one point he fell down the stairs. And at one point, Nathan was throwing things."
Sunday, December 21. During sacrament meeting, I was passing the sacrament. Before church, we were sitting to get ready to pass, and Keith Savage said he was nervous to pass to the stand "because of you-know-who," since President Eyring was sitting up there. I told him that I was nervous because I was saying the opening prayer. When it was my turn to say the opening prayer, I was so nervous that I didn't want to adjust the microphone and had to stand on my toes, and I gave a very unusual prayer, and I didn't want to make any eye contact as I returned to my seat. Our meeting was largely musical, with narration by Brandon Owens and a concluding talk by President Eyring. In the evening, we watched the Rejoice and Be Merry! MoTab/King's Singers concert. I wrote my blog. Then I walked up to a game night at the Gublers' house, and I think I got there the same time as Nathan Loveridge. First we played Taboo. One of my words was "hologram," and I didn't think to mention Star Wars until it was too late in my turn. David Hawks said he would have guessed it if I had said that earlier. Bob Pedersen got "Monster," so he began singing, "I'm friends with the..." David and I got it; Rachel Baschuk said, "Isn't that Lady Gaga?" and I said no, it was Eminem and Rihanna. After the game I went in the kitchen and had some chips and salsa. I was talking with Kelton about high school teachers, and he said he had seen Mrs. Duffin (the chemistry teacher) at church in West Yellowstone, and she had remembered them. I was surprised, because I didn't know she was Mormon--I told Kelton the story about the time one of my classmates was talking about Ken Jennings with her and said, "Did you see that article in the Church News?" and she had responded "I don't get Church News" in a tone that seemed like "Don't assume that I do." While this was going on, other people were playing reverse charades. I told the Gublers that I hadn't been in their house since 1998, and I was telling them what I remembered about that day, including that Jacob was really mad they had gone to Costco without him. Then we had a discussion about how Donald's mom was about the same age as the oldest Gubler. Then I walked home, and as I was walking down Raygene, Steven Jessup said hello to me--he was at the house of his brother, who apparently lived on our street.
Monday, December 22. I only planned on working a partial day. In the morning I cleaned our fridge while watching Hogan's Heroes and The Andy Griffith Show. Then I went to work, and after work I walked over to the place downtown where my ward was having a Christmas party/dinner. I was early, but the Church History Library closed at 6. It was in a confusing location. I stuck my backpack in a hiding place so it would be out of the way, and I helped set out silverware, then I sat at a table until my bishop asked me to help move a couch. Stephanie Ogden sat by me and said she had been told she should know who I was but didn't. We talked about working downtown. Then our guests for the evening were a bell choir, and they were pretty good. There was an ugly sweater contest, but I find those pointless, and Brandon Loveridge won for his light-up sweater--no one would ever wear that, and I thought the point of ugly sweaters was that they were things that people really used to wear. Then I ate the food, including the really tasty baby carrots from a slow cooker. There were really fancy cakes, but most of them were not Christmassy. I think Taylor Miller was singing and playing songs, including "Ho Hey," a song I don't like. Then I went home, and I think we watched The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas, and my mom said it wasn't any cleaner than Elf. I think I delayed watching it to watch Christmas episodes of Petticoat Junction and The Beverly Hillbillies, but that might have been a different night.
Tuesday, December 23. At work I worked on Conversations with Mormon Historians. That night my mom and I went out shopping, to Shopko and Barnes and Noble. At Shopko (I'm pretty sure) I got Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish with red and green sprinkles. Then we stopped at Atlantis Burger to get pumpkin spice eggnog shakes, and we took them home to watch Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. I wrote in my journal:
"Today I slept in before going to work. I worked for about five hours on Interviews with Mormon Historians and read interesting anecdotes about LaMar Berrett's reputation in WWII and about an early Salt Lake resident buying a ticket with a turkey and getting chickens as change.
"Tonight we went to Walmart, Shopko, and Barnes and Noble. We also got eggnog shakes for while we watched Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July."
Wednesday, December 24. In the morning I went running, and I saw an inflatable decoration at a house, and it was a different decoration than they had previously had. I saw some snow in the eaves of some of the houses I passed. When I got up to the Wild Rose Trail, it looked muddy, so then I went over to Tunnel Springs Park. I think by that point I had become exhausted and walked, but then I began running again. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail looked muddy too, so I didn't go on it, and I ran down a road to pass a house where I had been assigned to home teach but had never been. Then I ran home again, and I was disappointed that my total run/walk was only around forty minutes. I went downstairs to lift weights--there weren't any Christmas shows on that I cared to watch, so I decided to watch my Hogan's Heroes DVDs, and I was delighted that the episode just happened to have a Christmas scene in it, even though it wasn't a Christmas episode. Then I showered and prepared to make gingerbread. Susanne and Allie came over and asked why I wasn't listening to Christmas music; I said I was just going to turn it on. I expressed my disappointment that I had only run for a total of forty-three minutes that day. I put some wassail in the slow cooker. They played games while I cooked, but Allie helped me for a time. The recipe didn't call for any cloves, so I added cloves, as my mom and sister said I should. The recipe called for a cup of water, but it didn't say what to do with it, so I threw it in the batter, and it made it really runny. I put the batter in some cookie molds, but when they were cooked they were burned and terrible. I added lots and lots of flour to the batter, along with more spices, until the consistency was right. I was quite pleased with the result; for these I rolled them and used cookie cutters. Then I made frosting and put it in a plastic bag, but there was another hole in the bag, so they got progressively uglier.
"Ah, Christmas Eve.
"This morning I went running, but after thirteen minutes I had a sideache, so I walked for four minutes and ran for thirty more. The trails were muddy, so I ended up running by the landslide.
"Then I made gingerbread. The recipe was horrible, but I ended up making it work quite well. Sue and Chancey's family came to get John's stocking. Then we went to Sizzler for dinner. Then we watched Christmas for a dollar, while drinking the wassail I made."
At some point I woke up and noticed that I had turned off my Christmas tree lights in my room but didn't remember doing so. I remembered that I had left the back porch light on, so I went to turn it off, and snow was already accumulating.
Thursday, December 25. In the morning we learned that Susanne was going to bring my grandparents with her to our house, so they could carpool because of the snow. We didn't open presents until they arrived, and I had to turn off my Christmas music since Grandpa is hard of hearing. I was telling everyone about my strange night. Allie hugged me when she opened the One Direction CD I got her, and she hugged Grandma and Grandpa when she opened their present. I got walrus kitchen supplies (hot pad, oven mitt, ice cream scoop) and a narwhal screwdriver. They said they saw the screwdriver at Gordman's and had to get it for me, because they would likely never see one like it again. My mom knew I got her a calendar before she opened it. Once I had to go out and shovel snow, and I played Christmas music from my phone; I remember Mideau's version of "O Holy Night" playing. Sue's family came over, and they Skyped with my cousin Quin on his mission and she passed the laptop around the room for everyone to talk to him; I asked him if they used area books or iPads. Grandma asked him, "Do you tract?" which I found an odd question. At one point my mom read a fictional story in a biblical setting while the rest of us were just sitting in the living room. I was kind of bored. When the story was over, Grandma gave a groan of approval. Sue said that when she had bought the pumpkin pie at Kneaders, she jokingly told them not to put it in a box so we would think she made it. I don't consider pumpkin pie a Christmas dessert, so I didn't have any. Throughout the day, baby John had been taking my hands to walk him up and down the stairs. Peter at one point saw the Napoleon Dynamite TV show I had got my dad and he didn't know such a thing existed. He asked me what I liked to do besides go to concerts. He told me that when he was in Nashville, he bought my nephews presents and told them they had to like him more than me. Franklin had said, "What's wrong with Uncle Mark? He's nice to us," and Peter told him he could like me, he just had to like him more. Then he related the story to my mom. That evening we went downstairs to watch It's a Wonderful Life; Susanne had wanted to go home, but my grandparents wanted to stay. We had to turn the subtitles on for Grandpa. Meanwhile, Allie was upstairs watching Christmas episodes on Disney Channel. Grandma and Grandpa laughed at scenes in the movie, including the line "I've been saving this for a divorce in case I ever get a husband." When it was over, I said it wouldn't be on my rotation next year; Grandma said, "How come?" in her tone of almost disappointment, and I said just to give it a rest. That night I turned my Christmas music on again and washed dishes; the narrated story of the Tabernacle Choir came on. I got a friend request from Leslie Gates, which I accepted. At the same time, Jon Rose showed up in my newsfeed with my former roommate Eric Scott West, and as I hovered over his name, I saw that we had fewer mutual friends. I discovered that Nathan Garlock unfriended me, which really surprised me, because just recently he had "liked" one of my blog posts. Then I wrote in my journal:
"An enjoyable Christmas day.
"I had a weird night. I woke up in the middle of the night and my tree lights were unplugged, but I don't remember unplugging them.
"It was rather snowy, so Nan brought G'ma and G'pa to our house. I got walrus kitchen supplies, a narwhal screwdriver, a Nashville Tribute CD, a Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly, and a speaker.
"Everyone Skyped with Quin; Sue of course talked the most.
"Allie liked her One Direction CD, Nan liked the dog shirts, and Mom liked her calendar. I don't know what Pops thought of the Napoleon Dynamite cartoon.
"I shoveled the driveway once, and we sat around. G'ma and G'pa stayed to watch It's a Wonderful Life. Then tonight I washed dishes.
"I learned that Nathan Garlock unfriended me on Facebook. I know I shouldn't let it bother me."
Friday, December 26. In the morning I cut up vegetables and made a crockpot vegetable minestrone soup. I took down the wooden outside decorations and let them sit out in the sun to let the snow melt a bit; I also took down the inflatable Snoopy for the very last time, since it was poorly designed. When we ate the minestrone, my mom asked if it was vegetarian; I said it was except that it was made with chicken stock. She said she would like it better with beans and said that was usually an ingredient in minestrone. I liked the soup, but my parents weren't impressed. That night we went out shopping. We went to Target, where I got some pencil socks. My sister liked the Christmas cactus socks, but I didn't care for them. I think I looked at sweaters but didn't get one. We went to Shopko, and there I got some Nightmare Before Christmas socks. I made a memory post, while listening to New Year music and 2014 music. When the "What manner of man is this?" song came on, my mom asked what it was; I told her it was on the Redeemer CD she just bought me. I didn't really care for the song. I wrote in my journal:
"Today I made slow-cooker minestrone and shoveled the driveway. I took down the pink Christmas tree and the ones downstairs and in my room. Then we went to Target and Shopko; I got pencil and Nightmare Before Christmas socks. Then tonight I wrote my week's memory blog."
Saturday, December 27. I took down my mom's Christmas village. Later, my grandparents came over, and Grandma said, "Oh, she took down her village." I said, "I did that," and she once again replied "How come" in the same disappointed, "why would you do that" tone she had used on Christmas. I said because it takes a long time to take down Christmas stuff, but the more obvious answer was that Christmas was over. My mom was out getting Little Caesars pizza for our family gathering. Jesse asked me if I had an opinion on "My Favorite Things" as a Christmas song, and I said I did have an opinion (Sue wasn't surprised). I said it had nothing to do with Christmas. Lisa said, "But we don't listen to it at other times," and Grandma said, "But we could." We were going to play games, and Sue said she had forgotten her new Telestrations game. I said I used to play it all the time at college; all you needed was paper and pencils, so I handed out paper and pencils and explained the rules. I found that this family group wasn't as fun as college kids. I was next to Jesse. At one point his picture had Santa Claus, so I wrote, "Santa tried to get by with only four reindeer." On another occasion, I wrote, "The galactic giant tried to put the moon back into orbit," because that's what it looked like, and Sue (next to me) said she didn't like sitting by me because she didn't know how to draw what I wrote. One of the things Jesse gave me was "a girl crying in a snowstorm," which wasn't even a complete sentence and therefore wasn't fun. While we were playing, Baby John was walking around, and as he got to our stairs, Grandma said, "There he goes," and he tumbled down the stairs and began crying. Chancey rushed over to him, and I was feeling annoyed that he hadn't been watching him more closely, while I worried for the baby's welfare. He was OK. Then we read and looked at all the pictures. I noticed that Lisa's snowflakes had eight points instead of six. Some of the responses were bizarre. My grandpa had drawn a picture that was obviously a bunch of men playing volleyball, but Grandma interpreted it as "Shepherds at the manger." I guess she thought the ball was a moon. Sue shared some cheesecake bites with us, and I started out with a strawberry one, which wasn't as good as I expected. John took his and put it in my hand--he evidently liked me--and he even pushed my hand up, as if motioning for me to eat it. It was cute and funny. Nathan threw something at one point, and all of us told him he couldn't do that; Allie later said she didn't know why he did that, because he wasn't even mad. Lisa was holding Nathan, and he asked her what our star decoration said ("Wisemen still seek Him"). After they left, I said, "Do you think it was weird that they let the babies eat pizza on our couch?" and Mom responded "And cheesecake," and I brought up the meme expression "This is why we can't have nice things." This is a portion of my journal:
"This afternoon I took down Christmas decorations. I thought Mom didn't like me doing so, but apparently she was fine with it.
"Jesse, Lisa, Sue, Chancey, Nicole, John, Nathan, and G'ma and G'pa came over to play games and eat pizza. We played the Pictionary/Telephone game. It was fun....John remembered me from Christmas, remembering that I would take him downstairs. At one point he fell down the stairs. And at one point, Nathan was throwing things."
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Gingerbread houses
There is only one time in my life when I remember making gingerbread houses. And I'm talking about real gingerbread, not graham crackers.
It was at Christmas time in 1996. One night I remember my mom using molasses to make the pieces of gingerbread houses. The next day, we went to my grandparents' house, and my cousins also came. At that time, blue M&Ms were pretty new. I think my cousin Tammy said she had a hard time getting used to the blue ones, but I didn't remember what the tan ones looked like. My aunt had brought Snowman Peeps, which I think was the first time I saw non-Easter Peeps. A commercial on the TV had dogs barking "Jingle Bells." My cousin Chancey was singing in a nasal, highly-vibrato, pop-imitating voice, and after we left, my brother asked about his singing.
My mom and sister said it would be something we would do only every ten years. But 2006 came and went without us ever making gingerbread houses.
(Sorry this was so short; I just haven't had time.)
It was at Christmas time in 1996. One night I remember my mom using molasses to make the pieces of gingerbread houses. The next day, we went to my grandparents' house, and my cousins also came. At that time, blue M&Ms were pretty new. I think my cousin Tammy said she had a hard time getting used to the blue ones, but I didn't remember what the tan ones looked like. My aunt had brought Snowman Peeps, which I think was the first time I saw non-Easter Peeps. A commercial on the TV had dogs barking "Jingle Bells." My cousin Chancey was singing in a nasal, highly-vibrato, pop-imitating voice, and after we left, my brother asked about his singing.
My mom and sister said it would be something we would do only every ten years. But 2006 came and went without us ever making gingerbread houses.
(Sorry this was so short; I just haven't had time.)
Friday, December 4, 2015
Post-mission awkwardness
This post is more introspective rather than anecdotal. Six years ago at this time, I had just returned from my mission, and I was incredibly awkward. I got progressively better, but I think my awkwardness lasted about two years.
Let's face it, I'm still awkward. But I'm talking about the awkwardness where I think back and cringe.
I was awkward in high school. Then I did my mission. And then I knew that since I had returned, I didn't want to be the same person I was before my mission. So I had three different persons coming together--my old awkward person, my missionary persona, and the person I wanted to be. The results weren't always pretty.
One of the first things I did was join Facebook, which I hadn't done before. I didn't even do the MySpace thing. I cringe at a lot of the things I wrote. Particularly comments on other people's stuff. For example, when someone talked about snow plows, I used it as an opportunity to explain all about how in Washington and Idaho they don't plow the roads very well and it just packs down. No one cares, buddy. When someone asked how my mission was, I had to go in depth on all five of my areas and how great it was. My Christmas-day status is typical of how I always had a mission story to tell:
One of my first weeks there, our ward did a dance party. I spent most of the party standing against the wall, even when I was painfully conspicuous. Then I had to leave early because I had to be in bed by 10:30 (on a Friday night). In all my classes, I was always making comments about things on my mission.
I was trying to find a job in Provo, but the job market was really tough in 2010. As a last resort, I applied at the MTC, since nothing else had worked out. I prepared a lesson for my interview, and then I went. It was an awful experience. I could tell that the interviewers could tell I knew what missionaries were supposed to do but I wasn't a great teacher. I didn't have a teacher personality. I went back to my apartment just feeling embarrassed about it. My roommate was in the apartment and could tell I wasn't happy; he might have asked me about the interview. I told him how awful it went, and in my frustration I blurted out "because I'm just an awkward person." He said, "Now Mark, you know that's not true," and I responded, "And you know it is true." He responded, "Everyone's awkward when they get home from their mission." I thought to myself that I was more awkward than most. Which was probably true.
My roommates the Jeffs were great roommates to help me adjust. They didn't judge me. My room roommate, James, may have been the worst roommate I ever had, but the Jeffs, and later Alex, were wonderful.
I could go on, but I just wanted to get some of these thoughts down.
However, in fairness, this was probably a little too harsh on my post-mission self, because, like Jeff said, everyone's awkward when they get home. I also made some great decisions and overcame my former awkwardness in many ways. It was during this awkward time that I took up running, which started simply as a means of exercise but has morphed into an activity that brings me great satisfaction. I tried to dress better. I wasn't successful, but I tried. I also began to listen to popular music, having previously subscribed to the old-person theory that old music is inherently better than new music. (It's not.) And that first semester, I was more diligent in my studies than I was in any other semester of college (and probably high school, for that matter). I took some tough classes, and I don't think I could have handled it if I didn't have the work ethic I had then.
I've moved on with my life now, but I still think about my mission. Why, just last night I had a dream that my mission had been extended, and my extension was ending, and on one of my last nights I was visiting a tiny town that was mostly Italians. One of my recurring dreams is tracting without a companion or without proper proselyting clothing. (My other recurring dream is about Lady Gaga at church.)
And although I was awkward after I got back, I think a mission was the best thing I ever did. If I hadn't--well, I just tried to imagine it, and it wouldn't have been pretty.
Let's face it, I'm still awkward. But I'm talking about the awkwardness where I think back and cringe.
I was awkward in high school. Then I did my mission. And then I knew that since I had returned, I didn't want to be the same person I was before my mission. So I had three different persons coming together--my old awkward person, my missionary persona, and the person I wanted to be. The results weren't always pretty.
One of the first things I did was join Facebook, which I hadn't done before. I didn't even do the MySpace thing. I cringe at a lot of the things I wrote. Particularly comments on other people's stuff. For example, when someone talked about snow plows, I used it as an opportunity to explain all about how in Washington and Idaho they don't plow the roads very well and it just packs down. No one cares, buddy. When someone asked how my mission was, I had to go in depth on all five of my areas and how great it was. My Christmas-day status is typical of how I always had a mission story to tell:
Ah, to think that last year at this time I was snowed in at a member's house in the middle of a wheatfield just outside of Edwall, WA! Merry Christmas everyone!Then just four weeks after I got home, I started at BYU. I had never done college before, so this was a new adjustment for me. It wasn't as much an adjustment as I might have expected, since I had already experienced being on my own and living with other people. But I remember my first FHE in Provo, explaining how I had just got home. Someone decided to have us go around and say a guilty pleasure (like silly websites or something). Mine was listening to Cherie Call. Honestly I don't think I had any guilty pleasures at that time. (Today I would probably say listening to Lady Gaga.) Then we played two truths and a lie. Of course, I had to use "I lost sixty pounds on my mission." It would have been better if I said "I once weighed 250 pounds." Someone else said they had built lots of Lego Star Wars sets, and one girl was quite confident that I was the one who put that--even though I wasn't. Then we had an activity where we were supposed to say something like a great challenge or a great accomplishment we did--I had to say my mission.
One of my first weeks there, our ward did a dance party. I spent most of the party standing against the wall, even when I was painfully conspicuous. Then I had to leave early because I had to be in bed by 10:30 (on a Friday night). In all my classes, I was always making comments about things on my mission.
I was trying to find a job in Provo, but the job market was really tough in 2010. As a last resort, I applied at the MTC, since nothing else had worked out. I prepared a lesson for my interview, and then I went. It was an awful experience. I could tell that the interviewers could tell I knew what missionaries were supposed to do but I wasn't a great teacher. I didn't have a teacher personality. I went back to my apartment just feeling embarrassed about it. My roommate was in the apartment and could tell I wasn't happy; he might have asked me about the interview. I told him how awful it went, and in my frustration I blurted out "because I'm just an awkward person." He said, "Now Mark, you know that's not true," and I responded, "And you know it is true." He responded, "Everyone's awkward when they get home from their mission." I thought to myself that I was more awkward than most. Which was probably true.
My roommates the Jeffs were great roommates to help me adjust. They didn't judge me. My room roommate, James, may have been the worst roommate I ever had, but the Jeffs, and later Alex, were wonderful.
I could go on, but I just wanted to get some of these thoughts down.
However, in fairness, this was probably a little too harsh on my post-mission self, because, like Jeff said, everyone's awkward when they get home. I also made some great decisions and overcame my former awkwardness in many ways. It was during this awkward time that I took up running, which started simply as a means of exercise but has morphed into an activity that brings me great satisfaction. I tried to dress better. I wasn't successful, but I tried. I also began to listen to popular music, having previously subscribed to the old-person theory that old music is inherently better than new music. (It's not.) And that first semester, I was more diligent in my studies than I was in any other semester of college (and probably high school, for that matter). I took some tough classes, and I don't think I could have handled it if I didn't have the work ethic I had then.
I've moved on with my life now, but I still think about my mission. Why, just last night I had a dream that my mission had been extended, and my extension was ending, and on one of my last nights I was visiting a tiny town that was mostly Italians. One of my recurring dreams is tracting without a companion or without proper proselyting clothing. (My other recurring dream is about Lady Gaga at church.)
And although I was awkward after I got back, I think a mission was the best thing I ever did. If I hadn't--well, I just tried to imagine it, and it wouldn't have been pretty.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
The Sunday after Thanksgiving
The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the first Sunday of the Christmas season. I'm going to remember what I can about the day.
2014. We were driving out of California, and my parents wanted me to turn on my Christmas playlist from my phone. We loaded up our car early in the morning while everyone was asleep. Throughout the day we munched on grapes, bagels with lunch meat, sugar cookie Pop-Tarts, chocolate candy cane granola bars, and candy cane Tootsie Pops. A lot of the music that played was remnants from my Halloween music (since it had recently been played on my phone), meaning it was Nightmare before Christmas. At one point Jan Terri's "Rock and Roll Santa" came on, but I was disappointed when it stopped streaming. My parents had had enough when Marilyn Manson's cover of "This Is Halloween" came on. Then they switched to a Beauty and the Beast tape. It was snowy as we were driving through Nevada, and I remembered that we had forgotten our Hotel Transylvania DVD and my pumpkin-shaped pie dish. After we got into Utah, they turned on FM 100.3. They played one Christmas song, noting that Christmas music wouldn't be in their Sunday lineup until the next week (even though they play Christmas music way early on weekdays). They played a song about moms praying for their missionary sons, and my mom related to it. We went home and unloaded some of the stuff from my car. Then my mom and I went to my grandparents' place, where my niece had been staying. My grandparents offered us leftover Thanksgiving dinner. My mom didn't eat much, but I had a couple of helpings. There were pieces of bone in the turkey. My grandma was telling my mom how a longtime family friend was in serious condition after a treadmill accident (and he did pass away from the injuries). When Allie came home, she had some of the sugar cookie Pop-Tarts and said, "These are good." I think she even took one into her room so she could have it the next morning. I wrote a blog.
2013. I don't really remember this day, but Facebook tells me I wrote on both of my blogs and was excited about Mideau's free download of "O Holy Night." I think I watched "The Nativity."
2012. The ward clerk, Michael Wyatt, had asked me to take his place at bishopric meeting that morning, so I did, wearing my polar bear tie. My roommate Scott later asked about my tie and said it was winter themed; I thought it was more Christmassy than wintery because of the North Pole. Again, I wrote on both blogs, and I think I watched "The Nativity."
2011. I gave a talk at my sacrament meeting, which you can read here. Paul Castleberry told me I gave an "epic talk."
2010. It was snowy, so I asked my dad to drive me up to my church (I think I had tithing settlement). He did, and then my family came to hear me talk. I had told Allie that she needed to be quiet at church, because my sacrament meeting was quieter than the family ward and she had a tendency to talk. Consequently she didn't want to go. Michelle Moosman talked to my parents after sacrament meeting, and my mom told her why Allie hadn't wanted to come, and Michelle said, "We do have a quiet sacrament meeting." I asked Peter Moosman to drive me home; he regretted having worn Toms on a snowy day. I told him he didn't need to drive down Raygene, because I could walk, but he did drive me. He was listening to the Nashville Tribute Band Joseph album, saying he didn't like country but loved that one. I told him I had bought it at an LDS bookstore in my mission boundaries, and he said that was lucky, because he didn't have one in Kentucky.
2009. I was very sad to leave my final area of Lewiston, Idaho. At church, Brother Robinson (I think?) presented me with some farewell goodies: Power Bars, because I had "the power," and a pomegranate for the seeds I planted, and a pear for the fruits of my labors. One of my converts, Katelyn Heath, told me she had been to the temple for baptisms the day before, and I was very happy for her. During sacrament meeting for the YSA branch, I leaned over to Elder Tamblyn and told him it was time for me to leave, so he came out in the foyer to wish me goodbye. Then I got in the car with the Robisons (not Robinsons), who were driving me up to Spokane. We had to stop in Pullman to pick up Elder Hansen, but he had his suitcase locked in their car, and his companion had gone across the state border to go to church in Moscow, so we had to wait for him to return. I think the Robisons gave us some food they had packed, and I also ate my goodies, including the pomegranate, which Elder Hansen called a "weird fruit." I made myself add to my pushup queue for eating Power Bars. Then the Robisons dropped us off at the mission home. I remember asking Elder Bewley about the Carter children I had taught in my first area, whom he had apparently baptized later. He said that Jonathan was twelve and got up in testimony meeting and gave a very dynamic testimony, almost comically so. I told the story of one time when we were trying to get them to guess "Holy Ghost," and they were guessing all sorts of random things ("Nephi!"), and when we told them the Holy Ghost, Alex (a girl) said, "I know a real haunted house!" President Palmer asked how old Alex had been. I went in for my interview with him, and he asked what my longterm plans were. He told me that dates didn't need to be big things; they could just be going for ice cream at the Wilkinson Center. President Palmer's son Geoffrey was telling us about the Star Trek movie. I noticed that President had a book on his shelf about Mormons and evolution, and I remembered I'd have to read it sometime (and hoped my evil companion Elder LaPratt would see it). I was very sad and cried when I went to bed. (I've moved on with my life now, but writing this does fill me with nostalgia and a little bit of sadness.)
2008. Lucrecia, an excommunicated member, came to church, and she wanted to meet with the branch president, because she was very desirous to be baptized. Since she was our only investigator, we waited to start our Sunday School class until she was there (the others were a single sister and our branch mission leader and his wife). She was very happy when she came in. She told us what the branch president had said she needed to do for baptism--no coffee, no cigarettes, no alcohol, and then she could talk to him again. Our lesson that day just happened to be chastity. It was very awkward. The lesson said, "Breaking the law of chastity can cause you to commit a greater sin, abortion," to which Lucrecia said, "I forgot to tell him about that. It wasn't my fault, the government made me do it." Sister Moffett kept pronouncing it "prah-creation." That night we visited the Johnsons, and Denise told us she wanted us to teach chastity to her daughter. I did write in my journal that night, but I think it would be inappropriate to put here.
2007. Family members were coming up for my farewell talk. Sarena was admiring our Little People nativity and Pilgrims, and I was surprised she hadn't heard of Fisher Price Little People before. A member of the stake presidency was presiding at our meeting, and he said he had been in our ward when I was a kid. One of my mission prep teachers was in the congregation, and so was Rachel Cope. During my talk, I explained that I had come to terms with going on my mission until I sprained my ankle and thought I would have to wait longer. I talked about Joseph Smith's Civil War prophecy, and I talked about some of my coworkers. I had a Muslim coworker who thought that another coworker was a Mormon, but I didn't think so--the Muslim said she could tell Mormons because they were very nice, and she turned out to be right about the other girl. I also talked about the coworker who had been on a mission but obviously wasn't active in the Church--"She had the same name as a villain in a Disney movie, and it fit her perfectly." I didn't know whether she was mean because she quit the Church or if she quit the Church because she was mean. After sacrament meeting, my bishop asked me into his office and gave me a Boy Scout coin to take with me. As I came out, Hillary Ulmer, Latecia Pope, and Rachel Cope (all of them married now) noted that I was indeed limping. They asked, "Was your coworker named Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella, or [someone else--maybe Yzma?]?" When I said Ursula, Rachel said it was no wonder she was mean, growing up with a name like that. My cousins tried to get me to go home, but I opted to stay at church. During Sunday School, the topic was being a "peculiar people," and someone cited my talk. After church, Austin Anderson asked me if my coworker's name was Cruella, and I told him Ursula.
2003. I wrote in my journal:
"I've been bad this weekend [devious face] I've had too much chocolate (hot chocolate and candy) and eggnog. I haven't written in my journal, and I didn't read much. Oh, well. This week I'm not going to watch T.V. period. As a seminary class we're going to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" for the school. I've been learning the tenor part. It's too high but only one note higher than the bass, and the bass goes too low. This week I have put up Christmas Decorations."
1999-1997. We might have been decorating our Christmas tree in 1997. I can remember one Sunday when my mom was late to sit with us at church (she might have been at choir practice), and she was disappointed that the opening hymn was an ordinary hymn: "I wanted to sing a Christmas song." I pointed out that the closing hymn was "The First Noel."
2014. We were driving out of California, and my parents wanted me to turn on my Christmas playlist from my phone. We loaded up our car early in the morning while everyone was asleep. Throughout the day we munched on grapes, bagels with lunch meat, sugar cookie Pop-Tarts, chocolate candy cane granola bars, and candy cane Tootsie Pops. A lot of the music that played was remnants from my Halloween music (since it had recently been played on my phone), meaning it was Nightmare before Christmas. At one point Jan Terri's "Rock and Roll Santa" came on, but I was disappointed when it stopped streaming. My parents had had enough when Marilyn Manson's cover of "This Is Halloween" came on. Then they switched to a Beauty and the Beast tape. It was snowy as we were driving through Nevada, and I remembered that we had forgotten our Hotel Transylvania DVD and my pumpkin-shaped pie dish. After we got into Utah, they turned on FM 100.3. They played one Christmas song, noting that Christmas music wouldn't be in their Sunday lineup until the next week (even though they play Christmas music way early on weekdays). They played a song about moms praying for their missionary sons, and my mom related to it. We went home and unloaded some of the stuff from my car. Then my mom and I went to my grandparents' place, where my niece had been staying. My grandparents offered us leftover Thanksgiving dinner. My mom didn't eat much, but I had a couple of helpings. There were pieces of bone in the turkey. My grandma was telling my mom how a longtime family friend was in serious condition after a treadmill accident (and he did pass away from the injuries). When Allie came home, she had some of the sugar cookie Pop-Tarts and said, "These are good." I think she even took one into her room so she could have it the next morning. I wrote a blog.
2013. I don't really remember this day, but Facebook tells me I wrote on both of my blogs and was excited about Mideau's free download of "O Holy Night." I think I watched "The Nativity."
2012. The ward clerk, Michael Wyatt, had asked me to take his place at bishopric meeting that morning, so I did, wearing my polar bear tie. My roommate Scott later asked about my tie and said it was winter themed; I thought it was more Christmassy than wintery because of the North Pole. Again, I wrote on both blogs, and I think I watched "The Nativity."
2011. I gave a talk at my sacrament meeting, which you can read here. Paul Castleberry told me I gave an "epic talk."
2010. It was snowy, so I asked my dad to drive me up to my church (I think I had tithing settlement). He did, and then my family came to hear me talk. I had told Allie that she needed to be quiet at church, because my sacrament meeting was quieter than the family ward and she had a tendency to talk. Consequently she didn't want to go. Michelle Moosman talked to my parents after sacrament meeting, and my mom told her why Allie hadn't wanted to come, and Michelle said, "We do have a quiet sacrament meeting." I asked Peter Moosman to drive me home; he regretted having worn Toms on a snowy day. I told him he didn't need to drive down Raygene, because I could walk, but he did drive me. He was listening to the Nashville Tribute Band Joseph album, saying he didn't like country but loved that one. I told him I had bought it at an LDS bookstore in my mission boundaries, and he said that was lucky, because he didn't have one in Kentucky.
2009. I was very sad to leave my final area of Lewiston, Idaho. At church, Brother Robinson (I think?) presented me with some farewell goodies: Power Bars, because I had "the power," and a pomegranate for the seeds I planted, and a pear for the fruits of my labors. One of my converts, Katelyn Heath, told me she had been to the temple for baptisms the day before, and I was very happy for her. During sacrament meeting for the YSA branch, I leaned over to Elder Tamblyn and told him it was time for me to leave, so he came out in the foyer to wish me goodbye. Then I got in the car with the Robisons (not Robinsons), who were driving me up to Spokane. We had to stop in Pullman to pick up Elder Hansen, but he had his suitcase locked in their car, and his companion had gone across the state border to go to church in Moscow, so we had to wait for him to return. I think the Robisons gave us some food they had packed, and I also ate my goodies, including the pomegranate, which Elder Hansen called a "weird fruit." I made myself add to my pushup queue for eating Power Bars. Then the Robisons dropped us off at the mission home. I remember asking Elder Bewley about the Carter children I had taught in my first area, whom he had apparently baptized later. He said that Jonathan was twelve and got up in testimony meeting and gave a very dynamic testimony, almost comically so. I told the story of one time when we were trying to get them to guess "Holy Ghost," and they were guessing all sorts of random things ("Nephi!"), and when we told them the Holy Ghost, Alex (a girl) said, "I know a real haunted house!" President Palmer asked how old Alex had been. I went in for my interview with him, and he asked what my longterm plans were. He told me that dates didn't need to be big things; they could just be going for ice cream at the Wilkinson Center. President Palmer's son Geoffrey was telling us about the Star Trek movie. I noticed that President had a book on his shelf about Mormons and evolution, and I remembered I'd have to read it sometime (and hoped my evil companion Elder LaPratt would see it). I was very sad and cried when I went to bed. (I've moved on with my life now, but writing this does fill me with nostalgia and a little bit of sadness.)
2008. Lucrecia, an excommunicated member, came to church, and she wanted to meet with the branch president, because she was very desirous to be baptized. Since she was our only investigator, we waited to start our Sunday School class until she was there (the others were a single sister and our branch mission leader and his wife). She was very happy when she came in. She told us what the branch president had said she needed to do for baptism--no coffee, no cigarettes, no alcohol, and then she could talk to him again. Our lesson that day just happened to be chastity. It was very awkward. The lesson said, "Breaking the law of chastity can cause you to commit a greater sin, abortion," to which Lucrecia said, "I forgot to tell him about that. It wasn't my fault, the government made me do it." Sister Moffett kept pronouncing it "prah-creation." That night we visited the Johnsons, and Denise told us she wanted us to teach chastity to her daughter. I did write in my journal that night, but I think it would be inappropriate to put here.
2007. Family members were coming up for my farewell talk. Sarena was admiring our Little People nativity and Pilgrims, and I was surprised she hadn't heard of Fisher Price Little People before. A member of the stake presidency was presiding at our meeting, and he said he had been in our ward when I was a kid. One of my mission prep teachers was in the congregation, and so was Rachel Cope. During my talk, I explained that I had come to terms with going on my mission until I sprained my ankle and thought I would have to wait longer. I talked about Joseph Smith's Civil War prophecy, and I talked about some of my coworkers. I had a Muslim coworker who thought that another coworker was a Mormon, but I didn't think so--the Muslim said she could tell Mormons because they were very nice, and she turned out to be right about the other girl. I also talked about the coworker who had been on a mission but obviously wasn't active in the Church--"She had the same name as a villain in a Disney movie, and it fit her perfectly." I didn't know whether she was mean because she quit the Church or if she quit the Church because she was mean. After sacrament meeting, my bishop asked me into his office and gave me a Boy Scout coin to take with me. As I came out, Hillary Ulmer, Latecia Pope, and Rachel Cope (all of them married now) noted that I was indeed limping. They asked, "Was your coworker named Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella, or [someone else--maybe Yzma?]?" When I said Ursula, Rachel said it was no wonder she was mean, growing up with a name like that. My cousins tried to get me to go home, but I opted to stay at church. During Sunday School, the topic was being a "peculiar people," and someone cited my talk. After church, Austin Anderson asked me if my coworker's name was Cruella, and I told him Ursula.
2003. I wrote in my journal:
"I've been bad this weekend [devious face] I've had too much chocolate (hot chocolate and candy) and eggnog. I haven't written in my journal, and I didn't read much. Oh, well. This week I'm not going to watch T.V. period. As a seminary class we're going to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" for the school. I've been learning the tenor part. It's too high but only one note higher than the bass, and the bass goes too low. This week I have put up Christmas Decorations."
1999-1997. We might have been decorating our Christmas tree in 1997. I can remember one Sunday when my mom was late to sit with us at church (she might have been at choir practice), and she was disappointed that the opening hymn was an ordinary hymn: "I wanted to sing a Christmas song." I pointed out that the closing hymn was "The First Noel."
Friday, November 20, 2015
The Saturday before Thanksgiving
I've now remembered the entire week of Thanksgiving, so now I creep earlier to the Saturday before.
2014. In the morning I went to an indexing breakfast at our bishopric second counselor's house. I was wearing my cat astronaut shirt under my orange hoodie. Madi Anderson saw part of the shirt and asked, "What is your shirt doing?" Some people from the other ward came because they had won the breakfast contest we had with them. Jeremy Gibbs was telling me he had to go to his work in Centerville, and Brady McArthur and others were talking about Taylor Swift's 1989 album. Later I went to the temple with my parents. It was very rainy when we got done, and then my parents went to Winegar's grocery store to buy groceries. I hated the white shirt I was wearing and didn't want to be seen in public wearing it. I sat in the car and played music and read the news on my phone. My mom had bought pumpkin ice cream. That night I made turkey and leaf sugar cookies, and I think I made orange frosting. I watched the "Turkey Day" episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, and I think I repeated what my roommate Scott had said this previous year: "Except for the terrible cigarette commercial, that was the best Thanksgiving show we watched." I wrote in my journal:
"Two years ago today was Thanksgiving!
"This morning I went to an indexing breakfast/party. I couldn't bear the thought of trying to decipher names on one of the batches. I went to the temple with Mom & Dad. It was rainy, and I didn't like my clothes, so I waited in the car while they went to Winegar's. Then I made sugar cookies tonight. It snowed but didn't last long.
2013. I know in the evening I watched the "Elly's First Date" episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.
2012. My ward in Provo had done a turkey bowl/chili contest. I didn't participate, but my former roommate Zach Zimmerman saw me and invited me to have some chili in his apartment. He had bought a lot of chili from Wendy's to take to the contest. That night I watched the "Thanksgiving Comes but Once a Year, Hopefully" episode of That Girl with my roommate Bryton. He liked the line "Technically, you and mom aren't blood relatives either." He asked if the show was like a commercial, since Ann was dressed very well and she said she used "room spray--hides cooking odors."
2011. In the morning I had to go to a work shift. As I was leaving work, the radio was playing Lady Gaga's "Telephone," which became stuck in my head the rest of the day. I think I went to Port of Subs but learned it was closed on Saturdays. That afternoon I wanted to go to World Market, so my parents drove us out there. A radio was playing "If I Die Young" outside the store. I got some turkey dishes and pumpkin bark; we admired the international nutcrackers, and we looked at various Christmas candies. Then we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner, and they were all prepared for Christmas.
2010. It was a cloudy day as I drove up to the church where I parked to go running. As I got close to the twenty-minute mark, at which point I would turn around, it started snowing lightly. I found it kind of pleasant, and since it was almost time to turn around anyway, I just kept going until I really did need to turn around. Soon, however, it really started snowing/hailing hard, and I knew pretty soon it would be too slippery to run. Before I got to that point, however, an older guy and a younger girl stopped and offered me a ride. I said I needed a ride to the church; they said they would take me home, but I told them my car was there. I tried to pay it forward by offering a ride to a guy with a dog, but he declined. I really had to press firmly on the brakes near my house, and the antilock brakes came on. We had to call my sister to warn her it was really slick near our house, but I think she came later after the storm had calmed.
2009. I was on an exchange with Elder Critchfield in Clarkston, WA. The members he lived with were heading to Utah, so they agreed to take my bike and some other things with them. I rode my bike for the last time. Elder Critchfield saw some people on a porch, so he stopped to talk to them. A girl said she had been pregnant when she was thirteen--not because she was a promiscuous person but because she never had a birds-and-bees talk and was curious, an explanation I didn't entirely buy. We stopped to visit a family in a trailer. Later we stopped to get lunch from a food truck; in addition to my burger, I ordered spiced cider and was very disappointed it was the fake powdered stuff. When I expressed my disappointment, Elder Critchfield (who had kindly paid for my lunch) said he had noticed the powder in the window. We saw people putting up Christmas lights, and Elder Critchfield was talking on the phone while biking no-handed, which I couldn't do. We knocked doors, and one house set up a dinner appointment because they had Mormon relatives, and in fact they were going to a baptism that night. At another house, they were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Then I think that night we stopped at a members' house, where they talked about Elder Rand, whom I had known from the beginning of my mission. I couldn't write in my journal because I packed my journal in the box of stuff I was sending home.
2008. I wrote in my journal:
"Today was quite a meh day. No one was home, like most Saturdays. It was cold in the evening, and all the weight and clothes were not comfortable. We saw the Stackhouses this evening, and we may be able to teach Destiny [whose father had previously objected]. We had to get food for dinner and breakfast from Family Foods. Our QGIs [quality gospel invitations] were not quality today, and neither is my coherency.
"One year ago today was Thanksgiving, and I immediately left the following week. I cannot believe my year mark is looming one day closer."
2004. I can remember a November Saturday, but I'm not sure whether it was the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I had to work on a group project for my French class, so I had my dad take me to my classmate Kenny's house. I thought I knew where it was, but I was way off, but we found it eventually. Kenny said he liked to watch the History Channel. His brother was taking Spanish, and Kenny said he was understood the word "blue" on a Spanish channel. Two girl classmates came over. Kenny turned on the new Shrek 2 soundtrack. When it was playing the Fairy Godmother's song, I was embarrassed for him and tried to speak loudly and consistently to draw attention away from the song. One girl said, "Girls are easy," and I pointed out the undesirable connotations of that choice of words. Then that afternoon I liked the autumnal atmosphere, so I put a chair underneath our crabapple tree to do homework outside. I liked the berry-like crabapples with the fall leaves.
2003. I wrote in my journal. This was a year when I was really excited for the Christmas season:
"I'm SO Glad it's the weekend. We only have school on Monday and Tuesday. Then it's Thanksgiving "RECess." I am glad. I need a break. And it starts the Christmas season [insert giddily happy face]
2014. In the morning I went to an indexing breakfast at our bishopric second counselor's house. I was wearing my cat astronaut shirt under my orange hoodie. Madi Anderson saw part of the shirt and asked, "What is your shirt doing?" Some people from the other ward came because they had won the breakfast contest we had with them. Jeremy Gibbs was telling me he had to go to his work in Centerville, and Brady McArthur and others were talking about Taylor Swift's 1989 album. Later I went to the temple with my parents. It was very rainy when we got done, and then my parents went to Winegar's grocery store to buy groceries. I hated the white shirt I was wearing and didn't want to be seen in public wearing it. I sat in the car and played music and read the news on my phone. My mom had bought pumpkin ice cream. That night I made turkey and leaf sugar cookies, and I think I made orange frosting. I watched the "Turkey Day" episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, and I think I repeated what my roommate Scott had said this previous year: "Except for the terrible cigarette commercial, that was the best Thanksgiving show we watched." I wrote in my journal:
"Two years ago today was Thanksgiving!
"This morning I went to an indexing breakfast/party. I couldn't bear the thought of trying to decipher names on one of the batches. I went to the temple with Mom & Dad. It was rainy, and I didn't like my clothes, so I waited in the car while they went to Winegar's. Then I made sugar cookies tonight. It snowed but didn't last long.
2013. I know in the evening I watched the "Elly's First Date" episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.
2012. My ward in Provo had done a turkey bowl/chili contest. I didn't participate, but my former roommate Zach Zimmerman saw me and invited me to have some chili in his apartment. He had bought a lot of chili from Wendy's to take to the contest. That night I watched the "Thanksgiving Comes but Once a Year, Hopefully" episode of That Girl with my roommate Bryton. He liked the line "Technically, you and mom aren't blood relatives either." He asked if the show was like a commercial, since Ann was dressed very well and she said she used "room spray--hides cooking odors."
2011. In the morning I had to go to a work shift. As I was leaving work, the radio was playing Lady Gaga's "Telephone," which became stuck in my head the rest of the day. I think I went to Port of Subs but learned it was closed on Saturdays. That afternoon I wanted to go to World Market, so my parents drove us out there. A radio was playing "If I Die Young" outside the store. I got some turkey dishes and pumpkin bark; we admired the international nutcrackers, and we looked at various Christmas candies. Then we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner, and they were all prepared for Christmas.
2010. It was a cloudy day as I drove up to the church where I parked to go running. As I got close to the twenty-minute mark, at which point I would turn around, it started snowing lightly. I found it kind of pleasant, and since it was almost time to turn around anyway, I just kept going until I really did need to turn around. Soon, however, it really started snowing/hailing hard, and I knew pretty soon it would be too slippery to run. Before I got to that point, however, an older guy and a younger girl stopped and offered me a ride. I said I needed a ride to the church; they said they would take me home, but I told them my car was there. I tried to pay it forward by offering a ride to a guy with a dog, but he declined. I really had to press firmly on the brakes near my house, and the antilock brakes came on. We had to call my sister to warn her it was really slick near our house, but I think she came later after the storm had calmed.
2009. I was on an exchange with Elder Critchfield in Clarkston, WA. The members he lived with were heading to Utah, so they agreed to take my bike and some other things with them. I rode my bike for the last time. Elder Critchfield saw some people on a porch, so he stopped to talk to them. A girl said she had been pregnant when she was thirteen--not because she was a promiscuous person but because she never had a birds-and-bees talk and was curious, an explanation I didn't entirely buy. We stopped to visit a family in a trailer. Later we stopped to get lunch from a food truck; in addition to my burger, I ordered spiced cider and was very disappointed it was the fake powdered stuff. When I expressed my disappointment, Elder Critchfield (who had kindly paid for my lunch) said he had noticed the powder in the window. We saw people putting up Christmas lights, and Elder Critchfield was talking on the phone while biking no-handed, which I couldn't do. We knocked doors, and one house set up a dinner appointment because they had Mormon relatives, and in fact they were going to a baptism that night. At another house, they were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Then I think that night we stopped at a members' house, where they talked about Elder Rand, whom I had known from the beginning of my mission. I couldn't write in my journal because I packed my journal in the box of stuff I was sending home.
2008. I wrote in my journal:
"Today was quite a meh day. No one was home, like most Saturdays. It was cold in the evening, and all the weight and clothes were not comfortable. We saw the Stackhouses this evening, and we may be able to teach Destiny [whose father had previously objected]. We had to get food for dinner and breakfast from Family Foods. Our QGIs [quality gospel invitations] were not quality today, and neither is my coherency.
"One year ago today was Thanksgiving, and I immediately left the following week. I cannot believe my year mark is looming one day closer."
2004. I can remember a November Saturday, but I'm not sure whether it was the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I had to work on a group project for my French class, so I had my dad take me to my classmate Kenny's house. I thought I knew where it was, but I was way off, but we found it eventually. Kenny said he liked to watch the History Channel. His brother was taking Spanish, and Kenny said he was understood the word "blue" on a Spanish channel. Two girl classmates came over. Kenny turned on the new Shrek 2 soundtrack. When it was playing the Fairy Godmother's song, I was embarrassed for him and tried to speak loudly and consistently to draw attention away from the song. One girl said, "Girls are easy," and I pointed out the undesirable connotations of that choice of words. Then that afternoon I liked the autumnal atmosphere, so I put a chair underneath our crabapple tree to do homework outside. I liked the berry-like crabapples with the fall leaves.
2003. I wrote in my journal. This was a year when I was really excited for the Christmas season:
"I'm SO Glad it's the weekend. We only have school on Monday and Tuesday. Then it's Thanksgiving "RECess." I am glad. I need a break. And it starts the Christmas season [insert giddily happy face]
Saturday, November 14, 2015
November 23-29, 2014
Time to remember Thanksgiving week from a year ago.
Sunday, November 23. During Sunday School, I talked to Keith Savage, determining that we had been in the same ward in Provo. He had lived in the Wellington apartment complex. He didn't remember which ward it was, so I said it was with Bishop Taylor, perhaps my favorite bishop. He said he was a good bishop but he didn't love him as much as our current bishop, Bishop Eyring. After church, my home teachers, Michael Angerbauer and Nathan Loveridge, came by. I had told my family they were coming, and I think I had to tell my niece, Allie, to turn down her TV downstairs. Mike did most of the talking, and he said he liked our house, I think in reference to all the Thanksgiving decorations. I told them they were mine. Then he asked if I had dietary restrictions in case he brought me goodies, so I explained my peculiar habits. That night my grandparents came over, and we went downstairs on our big TV so I could show them family history things. On FamilySearch, I showed them the names I had reserved, and Grandma said, "Oh, there are some Burrells." I showed them Puzzilla and Roots Mapper. Grandpa sometimes had a hard time hearing. I journalized as follows:
"This morning I had to brush snow off my car before church. I wore my turkey tie but didn't get as many compliments as I would have hoped. I passed the sacrament and learned that Keith Savage from the 18th Ward in Provo is in my ward now.
"This afternoon my home teachers, Mike Angerbauer and Nathan Loveridge, came by. Then I napped, and this afternoon I blogged. Grandma and Grandpa came and I showed them FamilySearch. I didn't do as much as I wanted to do."
Monday, November 24. I went to my ward's Thanksgiving dinner FHE at our first counselor's house. I was dismayed at all their Christmas decorations, and they even had Christmas music playing. One table had Pilgrim and Indian decorations on it. I sat at a table with a bunch of other guys; Boyd asked people what their favorite movies and TV shows were. I said Nightmare Before Christmas for the movie, but I can't remember whether I was asked about TV; I would have said Gilligan's Island. At one point we had a devotional (I can't remember whether it was before or after dinner), and we sang "Silent Night"--but while everyone else was singing that, I sang "For the Beauty of the Earth" instead. Our bishop said he appreciated the Bennetts' decorations because it reminded him of the previous Christmas being together. Peter Moosman couldn't eat the turkey since he was vegetarian, but he couldn't eat the mashed potatoes either, since they had been catered and had bacon in them. I had some pie; I think I had pecan pie. When I went outside, Andy Davis talked to me because he hadn't met me before; he said he was supposed to get a picture for the online directory. I told him I already had one uploaded. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him about work. Then Shannon Kelly came out and joined the conversation too, since she also worked for the Church History Department. I said that that day I had been reading about how the pioneers wanted to destroy all the wildlife in Utah. Shannon said that the previous year, the topic of Sunday School study had been the Doctrine and Covenants, and the teachers sometimes said things she knew weren't right, since she worked for the Joseph Smith Papers. Andy encouraged her to speak up in those situations. We stood out in the cold talking for quite a while. Then I went to Winegar's grocery store to pick up some items for pumpkin pie. I think I saw some pumpkin spice whipped cream, but I didn't get it. Then I went home and my mom helped me to make the pies. I actually think she did more work, but I did my best to put the store-bought pie crusts in the dishes. While we were making them, we watched Garfield's Thanksgiving, and my mom laughed when Jon came out in a ballerina costume.
Tuesday, November 25. After work, we loaded up our Suburban to head out to California. I brought my little bag of leftover candy corn of various sorts and my pillow in a Thanksgiving pillowcase. I also brought my tape deck adapter so that we could listen to my Thanksgiving music, which I had saved to my phone. I had actually put some CDs in a CD case to listen to, but we forgot it, and I felt bad. My dad had brought some tapes, so we listened to them, including one that was Simon and Garfunkel's Central Park concert. My mom said her sister would get mad when she would sing "Wake Up Little Suzie." I hadn't heard the song since I was a kid, so I didn't know how sensual it was. I remember passing a sign pointing to Iosepa, and I said, "Wasn't that a Hawaiian community?" Later I turned on my Thanksgiving music, and at one point my mom said I had weird Thanksgiving music. I remember some of their specific reactions to some of the songs:
Wednesday, November 26. We got in the car, and I'm sure my dad made some joke about me not forgetting my shoes, since I had left some shoes there in 2012. I resumed my Thanksgiving music. Eventually, "Little Birdie" from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving came on. My dad said we had already heard it, and I said that we hadn't; it was a cover of the song that previously played. My mom interpreted it as a hint to listen to something else, so they turned on the radio. I think they found a country station, or maybe it was classic rock. The DJs shared some trivia, saying it was a day when a lot of people would order pizza, not wanting to mess up their kitchen. They said "Jingle Bells" was originally written as a Thanksgiving song, which of course I already knew. They also said some things that made me uncomfortable. There were some Port of Subs commercials advertising the Pilgrim Griller, which I had just had. As we were coming out of Donner Pass, it was quite scenic, and I asked if I could turn my Thanksgiving music back on while we were still in a scenic area. I explained that the shuffle feature had decided to put both original versions of "Little Birdie" next to each other. I commented that the version of "Linus and Lucy" was the best one. And I think all three versions of "Jingle Bells" were near the end of the playlist. Then the playlist ended, and I just played my favorites playlist. When Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" played, Mom asked whether the music was supposed to sound that way. Lady Gaga's "Telephone" was playing as we exited off the freeway near David's house. We drove to their apartment, which had leftover Halloween eyes on the front door. I knocked on the front door and tried to open it, but it was locked; I heard Ya-ping inside say "It's Grandma!" Four-year-old Nathaniel took an instant liking to me. He was telling me about all the characters you could be on Super Smash Bros. and what you could do with them; I can't remember whether he was sitting on my lap or just next to me. I asked him if he liked school; he said no because the other kids said he was yucky. He also had to show me his ABC games, educational games on the computer. They were saved in a bookmark, and I think he disrupted a page where David wanted to buy something on sale. (He later got in trouble with Ya-ping for not ordering it in time.) David said to Nathaniel, "Do you have an audience?" Nathaniel was in the chair and I was standing, so I asked Nathaniel if he wanted to sit in my lap, but he didn't. I asked Nathaniel if he knew what holiday was the next day, and I asked if he knew what we did on Thanksgiving. He knew we ate pumpkin pie, and he said he had pumpkin pie at his school. I asked him how many moms he had, since the previous summer he would give a number in the hundreds or thousands; he said, "Two, because Grandma is one of daddy's moms." At one point in the day, David and Ya-ping went to San Francisco with my dad to get Mexican food for dinner. I asked the boys if they wanted to go to the playground; Nathaniel was the only one who did. He loved climbing everything. I asked him what his full name was; he said "Nathaniel Melville." I said, "Or is it Nathaniel Qi-en Melville?" to which he responded "That's a totally stupid name." He said that his dad's name was David Melville, but his old name was David Boyd Melville, and he called him that when he was a kid. I said, "Were you alive when he was a kid?" and he said, "I was a baby. I said, 'Hi David Boyd Melville!'" There was a little Chinese boy who kept saying things in Chinese. Nathaniel said, "I don't understand you. I only understand English. I don't know Chinese." The little boy said, "Chinese?" Then Nathaniel said what I knew was a "bad" word in Chinese; I told him he needed to stop or we would go home. Before we left, he pointed out to me that the Chinese kid wanted me to move the zipline handle to where he could reach it. Nathaniel found a leaf on the ground and said we could make a bouquet with it. At another point in the day, my mom and Ya-ping went to Costco and got pecan pie and some pumpkin pie almonds, which were very good. I told Mom and Ya-ping about the funny things Nathaniel had said. That night we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; Preston was intrigued at the mention of Miles Standish, and both Franklin and Preston gave a small history of the Pilgrims. They wanted to watch the Pilgrim episode of This Is America, Charlie Brown, but that would have to wait.
Thursday, November 27. I woke up and asked Nathaniel if he knew what day it was. My dad had gone running and encouraged me to do the same, but I was reluctant. Ya-ping and Mom went shopping, including to a dollar store to get a tray for the turkey. Ya-ping wanted the boys to go out and play, but it was too cold. I was watching Free Birds that day, and David asked if it was OK if we watched it that morning while it was warming up for the boys. I said "yeah" and Ya-ping gave her approval. She later asked for an explanation of what was going on in the movie; in typical fashion David explained in Chinese. Then we went out to play; I was wearing red shorts and roast turkey socks. The older boys went and played on the field with their dad and my dad, while Nathaniel again wanted to climb the playground.
I was holding a large frisbee with a hole in it. To free my hands, I put it on my neck, and Nathaniel said, "Your shadow looks like a clown." I asked if he liked clowns, and he said, "No! Why would you ask that!?" Then David came over to get the frisbee. Later in the day we ate our meal. They boys didn't care for the food. Mom said, "This is a traditional Thanksgiving meal," since they hadn't really eaten one before. David had said he wanted spicy Thai. Preston did, however, love the "salad" my mom makes with whipped topping and Jello powder. That night, at the request of the boys, we did watch the "Mayflower Voyagers" Charlie Brown episode. Afterwards, Preston said, "In Free Birds, Miles Standish was the bad guy, but in Charlie Brown he was just a nice guy." David said the truth was probably somewhere in the middle. (Now really, most people are nice, so I know of no reason to just assume he was less than nice, especially since he wasn't spectacularly nice in the Peanuts show.) I told Preston that Miles Standish was our ancestor. David asked Preston if he thought he was our ancestor from his mom's side or his dad's side, but he didn't get it.
Friday, November 28. The next day we talked about going to Six Flags, which wouldn't open until later in the day. I put on my new Santa socks, and I asked Nathaniel what was on them. He said, "Snowmen. I mean Santa Claus." Then we went to Six Flags and got on the shuttle from the parking lot to the park. I was amused at the graffiti that I assumed meant to say "4 Ever" but instead said "7 Ever."
We went on a few rides near the entry, then Preston and Nathaniel wanted
to go to another ride, but when we got there it was closed. I called my
parents (while the park speakers were playing Christmas music) to meet
up with them. We found them. Later we walked through the shark building,
and we ran into some of Ya-ping's friends, whom they had gotten into
the park. David was in line for a ride with the two younger boys, but
then Franklin decided he wanted to go ride the train, so I took him. I
was glad he was willing to go with me, since in previous years he
wouldn't have been. We didn't talk too much, as it was hard to hear, but we talked about favorite holidays. He liked Christmas, and I was surprised Valentine's Day was among his favorites. The ride operator asked for a group of three, but since there were two of us, I didn't speak up; but it turns out he meant three or less, so once I figured that out, I spoke up and we got on the train. I couldn't figure out how to open the door, but a girl in the seat in front helped us. We rode the train through lit trees. Later, Franklin was talking about the time the previous summer when I had sat on our weight bench and lifted him like a weight. He was saying he could be a weight for Halloween. Then we got in our car and I helped buckle Nathaniel. Preston asked, "What time is it?" I said, "It's seven o five," and Nathaniel said, "You mean seven zero five, because o is a letter." I said, "You're right, I do mean seven zero five, because o is a letter." My mom said something like, "Take that, English person." Then we went home and watched the three-minute Christmas clip of the Peanuts Motion Comics Collection. They thought it was funny that Linus was mad about getting the presents he wanted.
Saturday, November 29. We went to Point Reyes National Seashore, where, despite the name, we didn't see the seashore. We walked along the Earthquake Trail, a short, paved loop. Nathaniel and Preston ran it and got way ahead of us. I wanted to keep up with them, but I didn't want to miss out on the geological interpretive signs, so I ran from sign to sign. I was fascinated by the replica of the fence that was displaced during the 1906 earthquake.
When I caught up with the boys, I told them that they had missed the cool fence.
I watched Nathaniel play around the tree stumps and picnic tables. He wanted to hide from his dad and scare him, but I don't think it worked out like he wanted.
On our way back, we put in a short Christmas tape my dad had brought. I was saying I didn't like many winter songs, like "Baby It's Cold Outside." David said the lyrics were perhaps in poor taste but it wasn't as bad as some people said, and it was still an awesome song; I said I agreed but thought it was an annoying song. It was raining, so my dad turned on the wipers; later it wasn't raining, and David said, "Are you going to turn the wipers off?" since they made a squeaking sound. Then we went to Target. We looked in their movies; my dad got Hotel Transylvania because it was only five dollars. I saw She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown and some Magic School Bus DVDs. We looked at food we could get for our trip, so we got grapes, bagels, and lunch meat. I wanted to get gingerbread Pop-Tarts, but they didn't have any, so I got the sugar cookie ones instead. They got Doritos for the boys. We looked through the Christmas goodies. I wanted to get chocolate peppermint granola bars and fruit snacks, and Franklin said, "Thanks Uncle Mark," and my mom told him that I hadn't said I was going to share with them. She wanted to get candy cane Tootsie Pops. Preston liked the "snowflake" Ritz crackers, and I said I refused to buy them because they had eight points instead of six, and David said, "Wait, is it impossible for snowflakes to have more than six points?" He seemed like he didn't believe me, and I was surprised he didn't know that. When we were checking out, the cashier said, "Getting ready for Christmas?" and I think he asked where we were from. We went back to the apartment, and I think my dad did some awkward lane changing out of the parking lot. I went to watch my Christmas show of the day, the weird episode of The Bob Cummings Show, and Preston said, "This isn't Charlie Brown." Nathaniel took one look at the black-and-white and said, "I don't like this movie." He went to play his ABC game. (He played them a lot during the trip and at one point printed snowmen, which annoyed Ya-ping.) Preston kept asking, "What's up with the grandpa?" in the episode. After it was over, we were watching Hotel Transylvania. David asked me if I could watch holiday movies out of season. I said for one thing, I didn't even know if it was a Halloween movie. David told Nathaniel we were watching a movie, and I don't think he realized that the black-and-white episode was over, so he said, "I don't like that movie!" David said, "You'll like this movie. It has pumpkins in it," since he loved the pumpkins in his ABC game. After the movie they watched a short on the DVD. David said it was a better movie than it deserved to be. The boys ate the Doritos we had bought.
David made "fake eggnog" with spice and pudding but no eggs. He gave me some and asked if it tasted like eggnog; I said it did because I could taste the nutmeg. We also ate the "winter" Oreos with red filling that we had bought. The boys played the Clue game that we brought for them, and Nathaniel told me that he could see through my cards.
Sunday, November 23. During Sunday School, I talked to Keith Savage, determining that we had been in the same ward in Provo. He had lived in the Wellington apartment complex. He didn't remember which ward it was, so I said it was with Bishop Taylor, perhaps my favorite bishop. He said he was a good bishop but he didn't love him as much as our current bishop, Bishop Eyring. After church, my home teachers, Michael Angerbauer and Nathan Loveridge, came by. I had told my family they were coming, and I think I had to tell my niece, Allie, to turn down her TV downstairs. Mike did most of the talking, and he said he liked our house, I think in reference to all the Thanksgiving decorations. I told them they were mine. Then he asked if I had dietary restrictions in case he brought me goodies, so I explained my peculiar habits. That night my grandparents came over, and we went downstairs on our big TV so I could show them family history things. On FamilySearch, I showed them the names I had reserved, and Grandma said, "Oh, there are some Burrells." I showed them Puzzilla and Roots Mapper. Grandpa sometimes had a hard time hearing. I journalized as follows:
"This morning I had to brush snow off my car before church. I wore my turkey tie but didn't get as many compliments as I would have hoped. I passed the sacrament and learned that Keith Savage from the 18th Ward in Provo is in my ward now.
"This afternoon my home teachers, Mike Angerbauer and Nathan Loveridge, came by. Then I napped, and this afternoon I blogged. Grandma and Grandpa came and I showed them FamilySearch. I didn't do as much as I wanted to do."
Monday, November 24. I went to my ward's Thanksgiving dinner FHE at our first counselor's house. I was dismayed at all their Christmas decorations, and they even had Christmas music playing. One table had Pilgrim and Indian decorations on it. I sat at a table with a bunch of other guys; Boyd asked people what their favorite movies and TV shows were. I said Nightmare Before Christmas for the movie, but I can't remember whether I was asked about TV; I would have said Gilligan's Island. At one point we had a devotional (I can't remember whether it was before or after dinner), and we sang "Silent Night"--but while everyone else was singing that, I sang "For the Beauty of the Earth" instead. Our bishop said he appreciated the Bennetts' decorations because it reminded him of the previous Christmas being together. Peter Moosman couldn't eat the turkey since he was vegetarian, but he couldn't eat the mashed potatoes either, since they had been catered and had bacon in them. I had some pie; I think I had pecan pie. When I went outside, Andy Davis talked to me because he hadn't met me before; he said he was supposed to get a picture for the online directory. I told him I already had one uploaded. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him about work. Then Shannon Kelly came out and joined the conversation too, since she also worked for the Church History Department. I said that that day I had been reading about how the pioneers wanted to destroy all the wildlife in Utah. Shannon said that the previous year, the topic of Sunday School study had been the Doctrine and Covenants, and the teachers sometimes said things she knew weren't right, since she worked for the Joseph Smith Papers. Andy encouraged her to speak up in those situations. We stood out in the cold talking for quite a while. Then I went to Winegar's grocery store to pick up some items for pumpkin pie. I think I saw some pumpkin spice whipped cream, but I didn't get it. Then I went home and my mom helped me to make the pies. I actually think she did more work, but I did my best to put the store-bought pie crusts in the dishes. While we were making them, we watched Garfield's Thanksgiving, and my mom laughed when Jon came out in a ballerina costume.
Tuesday, November 25. After work, we loaded up our Suburban to head out to California. I brought my little bag of leftover candy corn of various sorts and my pillow in a Thanksgiving pillowcase. I also brought my tape deck adapter so that we could listen to my Thanksgiving music, which I had saved to my phone. I had actually put some CDs in a CD case to listen to, but we forgot it, and I felt bad. My dad had brought some tapes, so we listened to them, including one that was Simon and Garfunkel's Central Park concert. My mom said her sister would get mad when she would sing "Wake Up Little Suzie." I hadn't heard the song since I was a kid, so I didn't know how sensual it was. I remember passing a sign pointing to Iosepa, and I said, "Wasn't that a Hawaiian community?" Later I turned on my Thanksgiving music, and at one point my mom said I had weird Thanksgiving music. I remember some of their specific reactions to some of the songs:
- When Nicole Westbrook's "It's Thanksgiving" played, they had to turn the volume down; my mom said it had a lot of bass. She asked how I found it, so I explained that it had been a viral video in 2012.
- When Kory Kunz's "Thanksgiving Day" played, Mom asked how I found it; I explained that I had happened to see it on the back of a CD at the BYU Bookstore and remembered that it existed.
- When Jolene Taylor's version of "Now Thank We All Our God," I explained that it was meant as missionary exercise music; Mom said it sounded like little kid music. She later said she liked the version of "For the Beauty of the Earth." Or maybe it was the other way around, maybe she liked that "For the Beauty of the Earth" first, but then I said her other songs were weird.
- When "Sliced Turkey" was playing, they began singing along, "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee." Mom asked why that was in my playlist; I explained that it wasn't "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee," and it was in my introductory piano textbook, which said to play it "with a little Thanksgiving."
Wednesday, November 26. We got in the car, and I'm sure my dad made some joke about me not forgetting my shoes, since I had left some shoes there in 2012. I resumed my Thanksgiving music. Eventually, "Little Birdie" from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving came on. My dad said we had already heard it, and I said that we hadn't; it was a cover of the song that previously played. My mom interpreted it as a hint to listen to something else, so they turned on the radio. I think they found a country station, or maybe it was classic rock. The DJs shared some trivia, saying it was a day when a lot of people would order pizza, not wanting to mess up their kitchen. They said "Jingle Bells" was originally written as a Thanksgiving song, which of course I already knew. They also said some things that made me uncomfortable. There were some Port of Subs commercials advertising the Pilgrim Griller, which I had just had. As we were coming out of Donner Pass, it was quite scenic, and I asked if I could turn my Thanksgiving music back on while we were still in a scenic area. I explained that the shuffle feature had decided to put both original versions of "Little Birdie" next to each other. I commented that the version of "Linus and Lucy" was the best one. And I think all three versions of "Jingle Bells" were near the end of the playlist. Then the playlist ended, and I just played my favorites playlist. When Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" played, Mom asked whether the music was supposed to sound that way. Lady Gaga's "Telephone" was playing as we exited off the freeway near David's house. We drove to their apartment, which had leftover Halloween eyes on the front door. I knocked on the front door and tried to open it, but it was locked; I heard Ya-ping inside say "It's Grandma!" Four-year-old Nathaniel took an instant liking to me. He was telling me about all the characters you could be on Super Smash Bros. and what you could do with them; I can't remember whether he was sitting on my lap or just next to me. I asked him if he liked school; he said no because the other kids said he was yucky. He also had to show me his ABC games, educational games on the computer. They were saved in a bookmark, and I think he disrupted a page where David wanted to buy something on sale. (He later got in trouble with Ya-ping for not ordering it in time.) David said to Nathaniel, "Do you have an audience?" Nathaniel was in the chair and I was standing, so I asked Nathaniel if he wanted to sit in my lap, but he didn't. I asked Nathaniel if he knew what holiday was the next day, and I asked if he knew what we did on Thanksgiving. He knew we ate pumpkin pie, and he said he had pumpkin pie at his school. I asked him how many moms he had, since the previous summer he would give a number in the hundreds or thousands; he said, "Two, because Grandma is one of daddy's moms." At one point in the day, David and Ya-ping went to San Francisco with my dad to get Mexican food for dinner. I asked the boys if they wanted to go to the playground; Nathaniel was the only one who did. He loved climbing everything. I asked him what his full name was; he said "Nathaniel Melville." I said, "Or is it Nathaniel Qi-en Melville?" to which he responded "That's a totally stupid name." He said that his dad's name was David Melville, but his old name was David Boyd Melville, and he called him that when he was a kid. I said, "Were you alive when he was a kid?" and he said, "I was a baby. I said, 'Hi David Boyd Melville!'" There was a little Chinese boy who kept saying things in Chinese. Nathaniel said, "I don't understand you. I only understand English. I don't know Chinese." The little boy said, "Chinese?" Then Nathaniel said what I knew was a "bad" word in Chinese; I told him he needed to stop or we would go home. Before we left, he pointed out to me that the Chinese kid wanted me to move the zipline handle to where he could reach it. Nathaniel found a leaf on the ground and said we could make a bouquet with it. At another point in the day, my mom and Ya-ping went to Costco and got pecan pie and some pumpkin pie almonds, which were very good. I told Mom and Ya-ping about the funny things Nathaniel had said. That night we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; Preston was intrigued at the mention of Miles Standish, and both Franklin and Preston gave a small history of the Pilgrims. They wanted to watch the Pilgrim episode of This Is America, Charlie Brown, but that would have to wait.
Thursday, November 27. I woke up and asked Nathaniel if he knew what day it was. My dad had gone running and encouraged me to do the same, but I was reluctant. Ya-ping and Mom went shopping, including to a dollar store to get a tray for the turkey. Ya-ping wanted the boys to go out and play, but it was too cold. I was watching Free Birds that day, and David asked if it was OK if we watched it that morning while it was warming up for the boys. I said "yeah" and Ya-ping gave her approval. She later asked for an explanation of what was going on in the movie; in typical fashion David explained in Chinese. Then we went out to play; I was wearing red shorts and roast turkey socks. The older boys went and played on the field with their dad and my dad, while Nathaniel again wanted to climb the playground.
Friday, November 28. The next day we talked about going to Six Flags, which wouldn't open until later in the day. I put on my new Santa socks, and I asked Nathaniel what was on them. He said, "Snowmen. I mean Santa Claus." Then we went to Six Flags and got on the shuttle from the parking lot to the park. I was amused at the graffiti that I assumed meant to say "4 Ever" but instead said "7 Ever."
Saturday, November 29. We went to Point Reyes National Seashore, where, despite the name, we didn't see the seashore. We walked along the Earthquake Trail, a short, paved loop. Nathaniel and Preston ran it and got way ahead of us. I wanted to keep up with them, but I didn't want to miss out on the geological interpretive signs, so I ran from sign to sign. I was fascinated by the replica of the fence that was displaced during the 1906 earthquake.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
November 4
Time to remember what I can about November 4. Surprisingly, I don't remember the more recent years as well.
2014. It was Election Day, and I made a Facebook post about not voting: "The most responsible thing I could do would be to be a good citizen and know the issues and go vote. The second most responsible thing would be not to vote because I'm not informed. I chose the second most responsible thing." That's all I can remember right now.
2012. It was our last day in Death Valley for my geomorphology field trip. We packed up our tents, and I was shocked that one of my classmates changed his pants out in the open with girls standing ten feet away. We loaded up in the geology vans and drove out.
We visited a place called Devil's Golf Course, where there were basalt rocks coated with salt. One of my classmates, Michael Arnold, said, "We're so mean to the devil." I licked some of the salt on the rocks, but they had a very rough texture.
I was pleased to see a green rock on the ground, which I assumed to be the mineral olivine.
Then we went to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in America. Lots of tourists had their pictures taken with a sign, which I found uninteresting. We went out on the salt flats after making a stop at the restrooms. I bent down to lick the ground. Our TA, Karl Arnold, picked up a piece of salt and began licking it like a lollipop.
I asked one of my classmates to take a picture of me.
Then we went to an abandoned mine and ate lunch. It was very hot. One of the TAs gave a devotional, saying that it was impractical to be fasting that day, but we should still remember it was fast Sunday, and maybe to listen to something a little less raucous. The restroom there was closed.
We found a bug on the antenna.
Our professor went off somewhere to use the "restroom," and we had to tell one of our classmates not to go there, since he didn't know that's where she'd gone, or else he'd "see something [he'd] never forget." Another classmate told how he had been on a train and had the door opened on him when he was in the bathroom. We headed out of Death Valley, and our professor was playing churchy songs from her iPod (like EFY and MoTab). I offered my Lower Lights CD (yes, CD) to listen to. Dr. Radebaugh looked at the notes and said, "There's like fifty people in this band." At the second song ("I Saw the Light"), she said, "I listen to bluegrass on Sundays!" She skipped the song "Where the Soul of Man Never Dies," but at the end of the album she said she'd have to look them up. We passed some people looking at a layer of black rock next to the road; I thought it was an igneous sill, but I later learned it was a coal seam. (Now I know that igneous sills and coal seams look pretty different.) In Vegas, we stopped at In-N-Out. We could either eat there or eat leftover food on the truck. I ate at In-N-Out because I needed to use the restroom but felt bad doing so not as a paying customer. I did find it strange that the one time we went out on this BYU field trip was on Sunday. Someone jokingly said that we might as well be drinking coffee, since we were already breaking a commandment. We were all very ready for a bathroom break in Beaver, so we stopped at the gas station. I saw some orange Hostess Sno-Balls and debated buying them but decided not to since it was Sunday. Dr. Radebaugh bought some crackers. On our way home, I was texting my roommates to see if they could help me carry my stuff home from campus. My roommate Scott agreed to. I also got a text from our ward clerk, Michael Wyatt, and he was wondering how I was because I hadn't been at church that day. When we got back to campus, they were giving out food. I took a loaf of white bread, and maybe some skim milk, I don't remember. Soon Scott and lots of people from the ward showed up; he had invited them to come help me at ward prayer. There was plenty for everyone to carry something. At the end there was only my pillow and my bread. I let a girl carry my pillow, but maybe that was creepy. I was sandy and grimy. I wrote a short blog post.
2011. There was a lunch at my job at the Distribution Center; I think it was tacos or burritos, because I had brought tortillas. They asked me to say the blessing on the food; as I was praying, I heard Kelly Clarkson's "Mr. Know It All" playing on one of the radios in the work area. Some people had brought bags of candy. Some of my coworkers knew about my eating habits, and they asked if I could eat that Halloween candy. I said I couldn't, because Halloween was over, and it wasn't Halloween themed anyway. I explained that I could have candy corn things, because when I was in elementary school I read a Thanksgiving book called The Candy Corn Contest. I said I couldn't have plain candy because it was available year round. They said, "But candy corn is too." I said it was more common in the fall; they said, "Candy is too." They said my eating system had problems, and I acknowledged that it wasn't perfect. The previous night I had bought a bag of bulk candy corn taffy on clearance, and then I noticed that there was a produce sticker on the bag that said "5 A Day for Better Health," and I put that on Facebook.
2009. We tracted into a man whom I had met several months earlier when we attended a Bible study at another church. He was friendly and asked us why the Book of Mormon uses language from the Bible, as he heard. I explained my theory that it was to aid in the translation process, but I made it clear it was only my theory. He told us that his neighbors belonged to the Community of Christ, formerly RLDS Church. That night we visited Dianne Scott. Technically we shouldn't have been there, since there was no man present, but sometimes circumstances made it so we did that. (That rule was made for people who shouldn't be on missions anyway. But don't think I'm trying to discredit mission rules, because you should obey them.) She told us her conversion and things. I was a little surprised with how friendly she was, since most less-active members weren't so nice. Then we went and saw our Bishop, who lived on the same street. He offered us leftover pizza, and there was a conversation about how we sometimes perceive people as believing differently than they actually do. He brought up faith and works, saying he knew his Baptist preacher neighbor believed in living good lives. I said I felt the same way about the notion of the trinity. Sister Palmer told us we were welcome to come on Thanksgiving and asked what we wanted. I said pecan pie, and she said that Bishop was going to make that anyway. That night I wrote in my journal.
"This morning we did service helping Brother Ruddell and then Sister Carter. Later we tracted some and met a guy named Jack Azbill whom I met at the Tammany View Baptist Church. Then we saw Sister Gibbins, who was out in her yard.
"We had a good lesson with Mallary, then Elijah wasn't around. We had a long visit with Dianne Scott, a less-active I'd never met before. Then we stopped at Bishop's house, and talked and ate cold pizza."
2008. We spent half of our weeks at the home of a senior couple in one of our branches, and we helped them tile their entryway and fireplace. Actually Elder Love did most of it, since he was a handyman. We spent most of this day doing that, although a couple of times we changed into our proselyting clothes and went to our branch building to meet an investigator there. She never showed up. At one point I picked up a book of Edgar Allan Poe and read "The Raven" out loud. I felt bad that we spent all day doing the tile, but in retrospect I think it was a very good thing to do. I just wish I had been more helpful. We had dinner with the Christensen family at the Mexican restaurant in town. They commented on my very short hair, since Elder Love had shaved it the previous day without a comb on the clippers (or maybe the wrong size). When I told them what happened, their adopted five-year-old granddaughter Bailey jokingly scolded Elder Love. Bailey asked what we had been for Halloween. Elder Love said, "A missionary," and then he remembered, "I was Elder Melville!" Bailey didn't understand, so Sister Christensen said, "Elder Love wears one kind of tie, and Elder Melville wears a different kind." Elder Love said we wore the same tie (we just happened to have identical ties). Then Brother Christensen came with us to help the Stackhouse family with moving things from one house to another. (He was later annoyed that able-bodied kids weren't helping us.) I wrote in my journal:
"We helped with the Herrons' tile for most of the day. Not having much experience and fearing messing it up (since I never do anything right), I didn't feel like I was doing much. The times we weren't tiling we were waiting at the church to meet with Wanda but she didn't come. We also had dinner at a Mexican restaurant with the Christensens, and then helped the Stackhouses with a little moving. It was rainy and very cold today. I like my new sweater.
2006. It was my Grandma Judy's funeral, but I don't remember as much of it as I should. At the viewing in the morning, they offered everyone one last look before they locked the casket. I didn't feel a need to get up and look, because I had already paid my respects. Uncle Mike read out loud her obituary. It said she sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. My mom later said that she heard someone say "Huh?" when that was read, and she thought she had simply sung in a choir that was in a concert with the MoTab. The obituary was meant to sound pretentious. My grandma was not a member of the MoTab. They had all of us grandkids get up to sing a primary song during the service. Meanwhile, my cousin Peter (from the other side of the family) was upstairs in a nursery with my nephew Preston, who was eleven days shy of two years old. I felt a little bad that he was playing with my nephew instead of me--but it was my grandma's funeral. Then we went to my grandparents' house, and I helped carry things out. I think I carried some autumnal funeral wreaths. Allie and Preston were playing in the red Jeep in the yard.
I had a few "phases" at this time. One was that when I was in church clothes, I would gradually change out of them. Different occurrences would cause me to do one step towards changing. One of these steps was going outside, and since I was going outside a lot, I had a lot of times to gradually change. That's why I'm wearing a tie in the top picture, but my shirt is untucked without a tie and I have plain shoes on in the bottom. We went home that night, and while I was putting up my Thanksgiving maize lights on our fireplace, I acted on my other "phase": There was a full moon, so I pretended that I couldn't stay too long in the moonlight from the window, or else I would turn into a wolf. My mom was on the phone, and I think she was annoyed with my growling and hunching over.
2003. I don't specifically remember the day, nor the dress rehearsal for Evil Doings at Queen Toots' Tomb, but I wrote in my journal:
"Oi! It's only November 4, and already the Reeds have their Christmas tree up. I still need to take down Halloween and put up Thanksgiving decorations. [I stylized the word "Thanksgiving" with steaming corn cobs for the i's and a turkey beak for the v.] We had a rehearsal today. Our only dress rehearsal without an audience. It wasn't very good. We have microphones and whenever we walk by a speaker if the mikes are on, it makes a big, deafening noise. They echo, too. I didn't have much homework tonight, either, which is good, because I didn't get home until shortly before eight. There was pizza after practice."
2002. We were in Taiwan. I might have recorded the day in a journal somewhere, but I don't know where it is.
1996. Again, I don't remember this, but I found a second-grade journal, wherein the entry is fairly similar to 2003, even though I was seven years younger:
"This month is November. [This time the N was a turkey beak, and the v was an upside down tepee.] we don't have all of our Thanksgiving [again with the upside down tepee] decorations up, and we don't have all all [sic] of our Halloween decorations down. We'll work on it."
2014. It was Election Day, and I made a Facebook post about not voting: "The most responsible thing I could do would be to be a good citizen and know the issues and go vote. The second most responsible thing would be not to vote because I'm not informed. I chose the second most responsible thing." That's all I can remember right now.
2012. It was our last day in Death Valley for my geomorphology field trip. We packed up our tents, and I was shocked that one of my classmates changed his pants out in the open with girls standing ten feet away. We loaded up in the geology vans and drove out.
Our professor went off somewhere to use the "restroom," and we had to tell one of our classmates not to go there, since he didn't know that's where she'd gone, or else he'd "see something [he'd] never forget." Another classmate told how he had been on a train and had the door opened on him when he was in the bathroom. We headed out of Death Valley, and our professor was playing churchy songs from her iPod (like EFY and MoTab). I offered my Lower Lights CD (yes, CD) to listen to. Dr. Radebaugh looked at the notes and said, "There's like fifty people in this band." At the second song ("I Saw the Light"), she said, "I listen to bluegrass on Sundays!" She skipped the song "Where the Soul of Man Never Dies," but at the end of the album she said she'd have to look them up. We passed some people looking at a layer of black rock next to the road; I thought it was an igneous sill, but I later learned it was a coal seam. (Now I know that igneous sills and coal seams look pretty different.) In Vegas, we stopped at In-N-Out. We could either eat there or eat leftover food on the truck. I ate at In-N-Out because I needed to use the restroom but felt bad doing so not as a paying customer. I did find it strange that the one time we went out on this BYU field trip was on Sunday. Someone jokingly said that we might as well be drinking coffee, since we were already breaking a commandment. We were all very ready for a bathroom break in Beaver, so we stopped at the gas station. I saw some orange Hostess Sno-Balls and debated buying them but decided not to since it was Sunday. Dr. Radebaugh bought some crackers. On our way home, I was texting my roommates to see if they could help me carry my stuff home from campus. My roommate Scott agreed to. I also got a text from our ward clerk, Michael Wyatt, and he was wondering how I was because I hadn't been at church that day. When we got back to campus, they were giving out food. I took a loaf of white bread, and maybe some skim milk, I don't remember. Soon Scott and lots of people from the ward showed up; he had invited them to come help me at ward prayer. There was plenty for everyone to carry something. At the end there was only my pillow and my bread. I let a girl carry my pillow, but maybe that was creepy. I was sandy and grimy. I wrote a short blog post.
2011. There was a lunch at my job at the Distribution Center; I think it was tacos or burritos, because I had brought tortillas. They asked me to say the blessing on the food; as I was praying, I heard Kelly Clarkson's "Mr. Know It All" playing on one of the radios in the work area. Some people had brought bags of candy. Some of my coworkers knew about my eating habits, and they asked if I could eat that Halloween candy. I said I couldn't, because Halloween was over, and it wasn't Halloween themed anyway. I explained that I could have candy corn things, because when I was in elementary school I read a Thanksgiving book called The Candy Corn Contest. I said I couldn't have plain candy because it was available year round. They said, "But candy corn is too." I said it was more common in the fall; they said, "Candy is too." They said my eating system had problems, and I acknowledged that it wasn't perfect. The previous night I had bought a bag of bulk candy corn taffy on clearance, and then I noticed that there was a produce sticker on the bag that said "5 A Day for Better Health," and I put that on Facebook.
2009. We tracted into a man whom I had met several months earlier when we attended a Bible study at another church. He was friendly and asked us why the Book of Mormon uses language from the Bible, as he heard. I explained my theory that it was to aid in the translation process, but I made it clear it was only my theory. He told us that his neighbors belonged to the Community of Christ, formerly RLDS Church. That night we visited Dianne Scott. Technically we shouldn't have been there, since there was no man present, but sometimes circumstances made it so we did that. (That rule was made for people who shouldn't be on missions anyway. But don't think I'm trying to discredit mission rules, because you should obey them.) She told us her conversion and things. I was a little surprised with how friendly she was, since most less-active members weren't so nice. Then we went and saw our Bishop, who lived on the same street. He offered us leftover pizza, and there was a conversation about how we sometimes perceive people as believing differently than they actually do. He brought up faith and works, saying he knew his Baptist preacher neighbor believed in living good lives. I said I felt the same way about the notion of the trinity. Sister Palmer told us we were welcome to come on Thanksgiving and asked what we wanted. I said pecan pie, and she said that Bishop was going to make that anyway. That night I wrote in my journal.
"This morning we did service helping Brother Ruddell and then Sister Carter. Later we tracted some and met a guy named Jack Azbill whom I met at the Tammany View Baptist Church. Then we saw Sister Gibbins, who was out in her yard.
"We had a good lesson with Mallary, then Elijah wasn't around. We had a long visit with Dianne Scott, a less-active I'd never met before. Then we stopped at Bishop's house, and talked and ate cold pizza."
2008. We spent half of our weeks at the home of a senior couple in one of our branches, and we helped them tile their entryway and fireplace. Actually Elder Love did most of it, since he was a handyman. We spent most of this day doing that, although a couple of times we changed into our proselyting clothes and went to our branch building to meet an investigator there. She never showed up. At one point I picked up a book of Edgar Allan Poe and read "The Raven" out loud. I felt bad that we spent all day doing the tile, but in retrospect I think it was a very good thing to do. I just wish I had been more helpful. We had dinner with the Christensen family at the Mexican restaurant in town. They commented on my very short hair, since Elder Love had shaved it the previous day without a comb on the clippers (or maybe the wrong size). When I told them what happened, their adopted five-year-old granddaughter Bailey jokingly scolded Elder Love. Bailey asked what we had been for Halloween. Elder Love said, "A missionary," and then he remembered, "I was Elder Melville!" Bailey didn't understand, so Sister Christensen said, "Elder Love wears one kind of tie, and Elder Melville wears a different kind." Elder Love said we wore the same tie (we just happened to have identical ties). Then Brother Christensen came with us to help the Stackhouse family with moving things from one house to another. (He was later annoyed that able-bodied kids weren't helping us.) I wrote in my journal:
"We helped with the Herrons' tile for most of the day. Not having much experience and fearing messing it up (since I never do anything right), I didn't feel like I was doing much. The times we weren't tiling we were waiting at the church to meet with Wanda but she didn't come. We also had dinner at a Mexican restaurant with the Christensens, and then helped the Stackhouses with a little moving. It was rainy and very cold today. I like my new sweater.
2006. It was my Grandma Judy's funeral, but I don't remember as much of it as I should. At the viewing in the morning, they offered everyone one last look before they locked the casket. I didn't feel a need to get up and look, because I had already paid my respects. Uncle Mike read out loud her obituary. It said she sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. My mom later said that she heard someone say "Huh?" when that was read, and she thought she had simply sung in a choir that was in a concert with the MoTab. The obituary was meant to sound pretentious. My grandma was not a member of the MoTab. They had all of us grandkids get up to sing a primary song during the service. Meanwhile, my cousin Peter (from the other side of the family) was upstairs in a nursery with my nephew Preston, who was eleven days shy of two years old. I felt a little bad that he was playing with my nephew instead of me--but it was my grandma's funeral. Then we went to my grandparents' house, and I helped carry things out. I think I carried some autumnal funeral wreaths. Allie and Preston were playing in the red Jeep in the yard.
2003. I don't specifically remember the day, nor the dress rehearsal for Evil Doings at Queen Toots' Tomb, but I wrote in my journal:
"Oi! It's only November 4, and already the Reeds have their Christmas tree up. I still need to take down Halloween and put up Thanksgiving decorations. [I stylized the word "Thanksgiving" with steaming corn cobs for the i's and a turkey beak for the v.] We had a rehearsal today. Our only dress rehearsal without an audience. It wasn't very good. We have microphones and whenever we walk by a speaker if the mikes are on, it makes a big, deafening noise. They echo, too. I didn't have much homework tonight, either, which is good, because I didn't get home until shortly before eight. There was pizza after practice."
2002. We were in Taiwan. I might have recorded the day in a journal somewhere, but I don't know where it is.
1996. Again, I don't remember this, but I found a second-grade journal, wherein the entry is fairly similar to 2003, even though I was seven years younger:
"This month is November. [This time the N was a turkey beak, and the v was an upside down tepee.] we don't have all of our Thanksgiving [again with the upside down tepee] decorations up, and we don't have all all [sic] of our Halloween decorations down. We'll work on it."
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