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."
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
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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