February 12-16, 2015

Time to remember last year's Valentine's Day.

Thursday, February 12. I left early to go to an eye appointment at the Bountiful Renaissance Center. My GPS directed me to get on I-15, and as I was getting on the on-ramp, I faced a dilemma--either go fast and run into the car in front of me, or go slow and get hit by the semi in back. Fortunately the semi changed lanes, but it was scary there for a second. As I drove down the road, two guys--probably in high school--were running shirtless, one of them just wearing American flag boxer shorts. I went inside and saw the signs said one of the doctors was "Dr. Poll," and I thought I was supposed to see "Dr. Paul." I filled out insurance stuff in the waiting room, and then I heard them say "Dr. Poll," pronounced "Dr. Paul." I thought it shouldn't be pronounced that way, but then I thought of the word "doll." The doctor told me I could get new glasses, but I didn't need them. As I got out of the building, I thought for a split second, "It's a little chilly for October," but then I remembered it was February, so it wasn't chilly at all. I went home and made tacos with ground turkey. When I said I was going to tutoring that evening, my mom was surprised that I was cooking even though I had tutoring. She was late for some reason that night. I went to Camille's house to carpool to tutoring, and I think Nik drove. Our bishop also came to tutoring, and some of the kids had heard he was President Eyring's son. Nik talked with Bishop in the hall, and after tutoring was over, Camille and I sat in his car while he kept talking to Bishop. He had just been breaking up with his girlfriend. Camille asked about me, so I told her about my seasonal eating habits. She said that Valentine's Day was her favorite holiday, that it always had been. I said I didn't know whether my least favorite was Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day, and she said it would have to be St. Patrick's Day, since I'm not Irish and I don't drink. She said she liked to go on dates on Valentine's Day. When I came home, I watched the "Valentine's Crush" clip from the Peanuts Motion Comics Collection. I wrote in my journal:
"I left work early today so I could got to my eye appointment. I could get new glasses, but I don't need to. Then I came home and made tacos for dinner. Then I went to tutoring; I feel like I get progressively less awkward. Bishop Eyring came. Nik Day is thinking about breaking up with his girlfriend. Then I came home and watched my three-minute Valentine clip."

Friday, February 13. When I got home from work, my family had made a Papa Murphy's stuffed pizza and were going to watch a movie. Since I was home a little early, I asked if I could go running before I ate. I drove up to Tunnel Springs Park, and I began running up the hill toward the radio towers. I wanted to see what the little gate said, so I went up to it. I doubt I was running at that point, because I hadn't gone up that hill before. The gate just said I was entering Salt Lake County and that dogs had to be on leashes. I decided to see what the sign at the top of the hill said; it just said "Bonneville Shoreline Trail." I had to take in the view, and I saw Ensign Peak, but it was too late to keep going. I returned and ate pizza and various candies my mom had brought home, as well as some red velvet candy corn my sister had brought. We went downstairs and watched A Charlie Brown Valentine, and then we looked on Netflix and Amazon to see what to watch. One of the items on Netflix was Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett; Susanne said it would be good, and my mom told her I had the CD. We watched Box Trolls, which had a weird ending, and we didn't particularly care for it. I remember Allie had to let Buddy, their dog, outside. Then my mom and Susanne watched another movie, and my dad went to bed, while I went to write on this blog. That night I wrote in my journal:
"I actually got to work a little early today. I wore my Snoopy Valentine tie. I came home and had a wonderful run on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, going up near a weather station [radio tower]. I saw Ensign Peak but I didn't go to it. (Nan thought I said 'I saw some puke but I didn't get in it.') Then we watched A Charlie Brown Valentine and Box Trolls, the latter of which has language I don't approve of. Then I wrote on my memory blog."

Saturday, February 14. I think my family was undecided about what we wanted to do for the day. I ran up to the Wild Rose Trail, and as I was coming to the intersection of five trails, I saw two guys coming from another direction. I think they said hi as I passed them. When I returned, I showered and put on my red shorts, Valentine shirt, and red heart socks, and we decided to go to Golden Spike. We went and picked up Allie, and I brought a red velvet Pop-Tart in the car, and I tried to be discreet about it. Allie brought all the Valentine candies her mom had given her, saying her mom had gone overboard, and my mom said that was typical. When we showed up at the site, there was a whiteboard saying the date, with hearts drawn next to it. We signed up for a special tour, so in the meantime we went out and looked at the railroad.

One of the signs was from the Hibernian Society, and I reflected that it would soon be St. Patrick's Day. Then we went back inside and they announced the tour, so we all hopped in our automobiles and followed the ranger to the place where they were working on the railroad car replicas. They told people not to get lost. They showed us how colorful the trains were originally, as they had advertisements on them. They instructed people on how to get to Spiral Jetty. The ranger pointed out a young girl who was wearing a Golden Spike visor--they had ordered visors for the gift shop, but no one bought them, so they were giving them away. We returned to the visitors' center, and we looked at various exhibits. I liked the old map of Utah showing different county borders, and I liked seeing chocolate golden spikes, but we didn't get one. We watched a documentary in the auditorium, and Allie went out and asked for one of the free visors. Then we looked in the gift shop. I wanted a 37-star American flag I could use for Pioneer Day, and my mom wanted a documentary she could get for school. They said the Charlie Brown one was out of stock, but my mom said I had it; she debated and got another one. After we had made our purchase, Allie said she would have liked a flag, but it was too late. We stopped at a place where they had lots of rocket pieces on display. My dad and I got up and looked around. I signed the guest book, and they probably didn't care about visitors from North Salt Lake, and I drew a little heart by the date. We drove home, and I put in our heart-shaped pizza which we hadn't made the day before, while I turned on Batman. I needed to go to the store for some reason, and when I got there, Julie Keddington saw me, and she remarked how unusual it was that I could wear shorts in February. After I checked out, I saw my home teachee Bob at the Redbox, but there was a woman waiting to use the Redbox, and I didn't want to hold them up by talking to him. My mom made a blackforest cake that night, and while it was baking, we watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown and the Golden Spike episode of This Is America, Charlie Brown. I turned on my Valentine's Day playlist that night, and when Jan Terri's "Everyday is Valentine Day" came on, Allie said, "This is terrible." That night I wrote in my journal:
"Today I successfully ran for an hour, including on the Wild Rose Trail. Then we picked up Allie and went to Golden Spike National Historic Site. That was all right; I got a little 37-star flag. Then we came home and cooked our heart pizza. Then I went to the store and saw Julie Keddington. I also saw my home teachee Bob, but he was at a Redbox, and I didn't want to interrupt him, especially since someone was waiting for him. Then we watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown and "The Transcontinental Railroad" of This Is America, Charlie Brown. Then we ate cherry chocolate cake."

Sunday, February 15. In the morning I wrote on my blog. We went to my grandparents' house to visit because my uncle was in town. He asked what I was doing, so I told him a little about my job, and there was also a teenager who came with him, whom baby John loved. I was wearing pencil socks, and my cousin Peter asked why I wasn't wearing Valentine socks, but Valentine's Day was over. My aunt had brought some s'more brownies, but she pronounced it with two syllables, "sa-more." I couldn't have them. Sue talked about her horrendous principal. I later remarked to my mom that it was a good visit with Sue, and she said part of that was because she wasn't on her phone the whole time. That night I wrote on my memory blog. I went to bed and watched Get Smart while I was in bed. I wrote in my journal:
"This morning I wrote on my blog before church. I passed the sacrament and set up home teaching. Then I came home, and we went to G'ma and G'pa's because Uncle Paul was there. It was pretty fun, I guess. Then we came home and I wrote on my other blog and tried my hand at a crossword puzzle. 
"Having eaten too much cake last night and having a sore throat, it was a rough night. My voice is deeper than normal, and I might be congested. I hope it's all temporary."

Monday, February 16. It was a very boring day. I spent a lot of it looking at Wikipedia articles, since I was fasting from doing many other things. I felt bad that Allie was spending her day off watching TV, so I asked if she wanted to play games. We played Mancala; we were missing some pieces, so I went outside to find some pebbles that I could wash off and use. We played her Disney Hedbanz game. Then that night I went to a stake dance. I was supposed to turn on 400 N, but I missed it and went on another road, and I just happened to find our stake center. They asked me to give the opening prayer. I was talking with Peter Moosman and Kelton Gubler, and they talked about how we looked alike, and how Kelton had been dating Rachel. I went to the dessert table. There was a girl who knew about my rules, so she asked if I could have the Valentine cookies; I said no, but I could have the mint cookies because of St. Patrick's Day. She said, "So it's St. Patrick's Day because Valentine's Day is over?" I talked with a guy who had a patriotic eagle shirt I own. I said I had the shirt but only wore it around the Fourth of July; he said he always wore patriotic things, including socks. I visited with my sweet-bro home teachee and he told me seriously that I should get a girl's number that night. As soon as they started slow dancing, I left before anyone could ask me to dance. This is a portion of my journal: 
"I also have a bit of a cold, so I couldn't go running. I tried to lift weights, but I was very weak. Since I couldn't run or do [other] things, it was a rather boring Presidents' Day.
"Allie watched TV all day, and since I was bored, I played games with her. We played Mancala and then her Disney Headbanz game. Mom and Dad went to a movie. When they came back and learned we played games, Mom said, "Thanks for being a good Uncle Mark," and I said, "I try." Allie said, 'You try and you succeed.' [My mom then smiled at me.]
"I went to the stake dance party. I gave the opening prayer and talked with a few people--a guy named Spence and Daniel Egan, my home teachee. One girl has known through institute about my dessert habits, so she asked if I could eat the Valentine cookies. I explained that I could have the mint cookies. I left just at the beginning of slow dancing. 
"I put up a few St. Patrick's Day decorations today."