This is another one of those throw-away posts where I try to make sure I get my weekly post in, but I don't have a lot of time, so it's short and not very meaningful.
Anyway, I've been remembering that when I was six years old, we had little leprechaun cut outs. One of them had a shamrock that said "Erin Go Bragh" on it. Since I was only in kindergarten, I figured that was him telling a boy named Aaron to go brag. Even at six, I think I realized such a thing didn't make sense, especially coming from a leprechaun.
My mom told me it meant "Ireland Forever." I'm not sure how she knew that, because this was before the Internet was a thing.
(I was excited and confused when we went into a fabric store and it had very similar leprechauns in the windows.)
Showing posts with label 1995. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1995. Show all posts
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Friday, June 19, 2015
Latest and earliest snows
We're done with snow for the season (most likely), but it got me thinking about the most unseasonable snows I've seen. I love unseasonable snow.
In 1995, I remember spending a summer vacation day in early June playing cards (probably Crazy 8s) with my mom and siblings while we were amazed that it was snowing in June. It stuck to the grass, but it didn't last long. My memory tells me that it was the first day of summer vacation, but the internet tells me it was Tuesday, June 6, which probably was the second day of summer.
In 2000, my eleven-year-old scout troop went early in the morning to the Bountiful "Bubble" to practice saving yourself from drowning. I believe it was September 23. We all wore long-sleeve shirts (because apparently that's what you wear near water) to do the training for the merit badge. Afterwards in the locker room, an old guy was talking to me. I didn't understand what he was saying, so I just smiled, but our leader, Austin Anderson, answered his question (I think about why we were there). The old man was saying he could warm his hands on Ryan Jones's red hair. We went out to the lobby (we might have gone to the skating rink and/or gotten food), and I looked outside and saw that it was snowing. I got really excited: "Hey guys! It's snowing outside!" Jaydon Bean said it was probably just raining. But then when everyone looked outside, they saw that it really was snowing. Then I went home. I believe my mom was in Iowa at the time, but she had left hidden toys and things in the house. The Olympics were on; David and his friends watched them, and they were saying that they thought the abbreviation for Brazil ("BRA") was simply an identification of the apparel for the women's beach volleyball, and they thought the Brazilian flag was a logo. That night the news did a story about the early snowstorm; one interviewee from New York said, "We get big snow storms in New York, but we don't get snow this early." However, I didn't actually see any snow on the ground; just falling from the sky.
The earliest I've seen snow on the ground was my birthday, September 29, 2007. You can read about that here.
In 1995, I remember spending a summer vacation day in early June playing cards (probably Crazy 8s) with my mom and siblings while we were amazed that it was snowing in June. It stuck to the grass, but it didn't last long. My memory tells me that it was the first day of summer vacation, but the internet tells me it was Tuesday, June 6, which probably was the second day of summer.
In 2000, my eleven-year-old scout troop went early in the morning to the Bountiful "Bubble" to practice saving yourself from drowning. I believe it was September 23. We all wore long-sleeve shirts (because apparently that's what you wear near water) to do the training for the merit badge. Afterwards in the locker room, an old guy was talking to me. I didn't understand what he was saying, so I just smiled, but our leader, Austin Anderson, answered his question (I think about why we were there). The old man was saying he could warm his hands on Ryan Jones's red hair. We went out to the lobby (we might have gone to the skating rink and/or gotten food), and I looked outside and saw that it was snowing. I got really excited: "Hey guys! It's snowing outside!" Jaydon Bean said it was probably just raining. But then when everyone looked outside, they saw that it really was snowing. Then I went home. I believe my mom was in Iowa at the time, but she had left hidden toys and things in the house. The Olympics were on; David and his friends watched them, and they were saying that they thought the abbreviation for Brazil ("BRA") was simply an identification of the apparel for the women's beach volleyball, and they thought the Brazilian flag was a logo. That night the news did a story about the early snowstorm; one interviewee from New York said, "We get big snow storms in New York, but we don't get snow this early." However, I didn't actually see any snow on the ground; just falling from the sky.
The earliest I've seen snow on the ground was my birthday, September 29, 2007. You can read about that here.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
My aunt's maroon van
When I was a kid in the early 1990s, my aunt had a maroon van. I saw and rode in that van many times, so it has a moderate presence in my childhood memories. I always knew when my cousins had arrived at our house because I could hear it moaning up the driveway.
I always thought it was really cool because it had lots of little pockets and things where you could store things. It also had a means to control the radio from the first row of backseats. I remember my cousin Joey annoying his mom by switching the radio to rock 'n' roll instead of whatever she was listening to.
I remember going to a Saver's store when I was four or five (I always thought of Lifesavers when I heard of Saver's), and on that same day I got a watch that came with a stick full of candy. It was very rainy that day.
On another occasion, I remember singing along with Billy Joel on the radio (of course, I had no idea who was singing): "In the middle of the night, I go walking in my street." My cousin Jesse corrected me: "Sleep!" In fact, when I hear early 90s music, I often think of this van.
One time (I was probably about six) my aunt drove me to the zoo, and when we got there, my cousin Peter threw up on the sidewalk in front of the van, so my aunt had to tell the person when we got our tickets that he had thrown up in front of the "maroon van." That was the first time I heard it called that. (It may have been the first time I ever heard the word "maroon.") When we got done for the day, we saw a wet spot in front of the van where Peter had thrown up.
Then I think I was probably seven or so when my mom got a call that they had been in a wreck. I was jealous that my cousins got to be in a car wreck, since I had never been in one.
I always thought it was really cool because it had lots of little pockets and things where you could store things. It also had a means to control the radio from the first row of backseats. I remember my cousin Joey annoying his mom by switching the radio to rock 'n' roll instead of whatever she was listening to.
I remember going to a Saver's store when I was four or five (I always thought of Lifesavers when I heard of Saver's), and on that same day I got a watch that came with a stick full of candy. It was very rainy that day.
On another occasion, I remember singing along with Billy Joel on the radio (of course, I had no idea who was singing): "In the middle of the night, I go walking in my street." My cousin Jesse corrected me: "Sleep!" In fact, when I hear early 90s music, I often think of this van.
One time (I was probably about six) my aunt drove me to the zoo, and when we got there, my cousin Peter threw up on the sidewalk in front of the van, so my aunt had to tell the person when we got our tickets that he had thrown up in front of the "maroon van." That was the first time I heard it called that. (It may have been the first time I ever heard the word "maroon.") When we got done for the day, we saw a wet spot in front of the van where Peter had thrown up.
Then I think I was probably seven or so when my mom got a call that they had been in a wreck. I was jealous that my cousins got to be in a car wreck, since I had never been in one.
Saturday, June 6, 2015
"Good People, Bad People"
This is a short, rather random memory.
When I was six years old (perhaps seven), I was at my cousins' house, and my cousin Joey showed me how he had put water in a bottle that had contained root beer, which turned the water a yellowish color. He thought it was really cool that he had invented a new drink, saying, "I call it 'Berry Juice.'" His brother Jesse was saying it was gross.
Well, that gave me an idea. I took some off-brand Sprite (I don't remember why we had it; I might have asked my parents to buy it for me) and mixed it with water in order to make a new drink. I called it "Good People, Bad People" because I figured it would taste good to some people and bad to others. My siblings weren't too anxious to try it, but my dad did and said, "I only taste the good people." I remember thinking he obviously didn't understand my naming conventions. I remember touting how it tasted good even though it was better for you than straight soda. I even began creating my own label for the drink, drawing stick figures to represent the people. I think that on one occasion I even tried to take Good People, Bad People to a family party, but I don't remember if that ended up happening.
When I was six years old (perhaps seven), I was at my cousins' house, and my cousin Joey showed me how he had put water in a bottle that had contained root beer, which turned the water a yellowish color. He thought it was really cool that he had invented a new drink, saying, "I call it 'Berry Juice.'" His brother Jesse was saying it was gross.
Well, that gave me an idea. I took some off-brand Sprite (I don't remember why we had it; I might have asked my parents to buy it for me) and mixed it with water in order to make a new drink. I called it "Good People, Bad People" because I figured it would taste good to some people and bad to others. My siblings weren't too anxious to try it, but my dad did and said, "I only taste the good people." I remember thinking he obviously didn't understand my naming conventions. I remember touting how it tasted good even though it was better for you than straight soda. I even began creating my own label for the drink, drawing stick figures to represent the people. I think that on one occasion I even tried to take Good People, Bad People to a family party, but I don't remember if that ended up happening.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Baby birds
With it being spring, I thought I would reflect on times I've seen baby birds in the "wild."
When I was about six years old, we had birds that built nests in our roof. On one occasion, we found a baby bird lying on the ground, chirping. That was the first time I had ever seen a baby bird and learned how ugly they are. My mom called a vet, or maybe animal control, to ask what to do. We put it on a stack of toilet paper in the front yard and left it in the sun. But it died soon after that.
On my mission in spring 2009, we visited a less-active member who had a bird nest on her fence, so we looked at the babies. They had bugs on their faces.
During spring term of 2010, I came home from grocery shopping one afternoon and discovered a baby bird lying in a parking spot in our parking lot. It was placed at an exact position where a car's tires would go, and I didn't want it to get run over. I called animal control and asked what they recommended. They said they didn't take birds, and the guy told me just to leave it in case the mother decided she wanted it again. But after I hung up, I realized that I had forgotten one of the reasons I was calling. I couldn't just leave it, because it would get squashed by a car, but I didn't want to call back. So I put on a rubber glove and moved the bird to the grass next to the parking lot. I told my roommate Alex about what I had done, and then he went outside to look at it. I looked out our bedroom window, and he looked up at me and frowned. But then he looked more closely and smiled at me, indicating that it was still alive then. Later, it was gone. I assume it died and the groundskeepers got rid of it.
I think that's all. (I wanted to do a short one this week.)
When I was about six years old, we had birds that built nests in our roof. On one occasion, we found a baby bird lying on the ground, chirping. That was the first time I had ever seen a baby bird and learned how ugly they are. My mom called a vet, or maybe animal control, to ask what to do. We put it on a stack of toilet paper in the front yard and left it in the sun. But it died soon after that.
On my mission in spring 2009, we visited a less-active member who had a bird nest on her fence, so we looked at the babies. They had bugs on their faces.
During spring term of 2010, I came home from grocery shopping one afternoon and discovered a baby bird lying in a parking spot in our parking lot. It was placed at an exact position where a car's tires would go, and I didn't want it to get run over. I called animal control and asked what they recommended. They said they didn't take birds, and the guy told me just to leave it in case the mother decided she wanted it again. But after I hung up, I realized that I had forgotten one of the reasons I was calling. I couldn't just leave it, because it would get squashed by a car, but I didn't want to call back. So I put on a rubber glove and moved the bird to the grass next to the parking lot. I told my roommate Alex about what I had done, and then he went outside to look at it. I looked out our bedroom window, and he looked up at me and frowned. But then he looked more closely and smiled at me, indicating that it was still alive then. Later, it was gone. I assume it died and the groundskeepers got rid of it.
I think that's all. (I wanted to do a short one this week.)
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Movies I've seen in theaters
I don't see movies that often, and I tell people, "If you name a movie, I probably haven't seen it."
Therefore, I'm going to try to remember all the movies I have seen in theaters. I will undoubtedly miss some, especially those from when I was very young. (I probably saw Aladdin in theaters, but I don't remember it.) I'm only counting regular theaters. I'm not going to count documentary-type films seen at the Clark Planetarium, such as Beavers.
The Flintstones. We saw this at a drive-in, but I remember more about the second feature, which was Jurassic Park. My mom thought it would be too scary for me, so she made me go to sleep in the front seat (we had our trunk open and facing the screen). I was peeking over the seat, and I remember seeing the scene with the animated DNA. Every time my mom looked back, I would duck behind the seat. I thought she didn't know what I was doing, but she probably did.
The Lion King. It seems like we saw this movie after a day of back-to-school shopping. I remember going home that day and telling my dad we saw lions.
The Pagemaster. This was a birthday party for Jonathan Martin. We were supposed to see The Swan Princess, but when we got to the theater, we got to take a vote whether to see Swan Princess or Pagemaster. I voted Swan Princess, but I ended up loving The Pagemaster.
The Santa Clause. This was a family outing.
Pocahontas. I think we saw this at a drive-in, and I brought the McDonald's Happy Meal tie-in toy I had. However, I don't remember what the second feature was. I think this is the only time I've ever seen this movie.
Toy Story. My uncle Paul took me and my Thompson cousins to see this a few days after Christmas (I remember "Feliz Navidad" playing on the radio). When we left the theater, it was raining, and Paul said, "It's probably snowing at Strawberry." They asked what our favorite parts were, and Paul said, "Mark's was probably the Christmas part."
Nell. This was definitely not an appropriate movie for a six-year-old. Since I was so much younger than my siblings, I think my family had to take me to a lot of movies they wouldn't otherwise take me to.
The Indian in the Cupboard. We were going to this movie with Uncle Paul and his kids. Susanne left a note for our parents that we went to see the movie; she asked David, "How do you spell cupboard?" and that was the first time I learned to spell "cupboard." David got mad at me because he had to take me to the bathroom during the "best part" of the movie.
Phenomenon. This was at the drive-in with my Thompson cousins, and they had brought small plastic lawn chairs. I'm not sure why this was the first movie.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This was the second feature that night. This is the only time I've ever seen this movie.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park. My mom and my siblings and I went to see this with my grandparents.
Star Trek: Insurrection? I know I saw some Star Trek movie with my family, but I don't remember what one. I didn't know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek. I remember telling my friend David Christensen that I had seen a Star Wars movie with a lady in a black dress, and he laughed and said, "That wasn't a lady!" because he thought I was talking about Darth Vader.
The Parent Trap. I had a broken leg, and we went in our white station wagon to the drive-in. I think my cousin Tammy was with us.
Mulan. This was the second feature that night. When we were leaving, I remember the "True to Your Heart" song playing on the radio. I was also thinking about the creepy music from The Black Cauldron, which we had recently purchased.
The Waterboy. In November 1998, we had gone to Cedar City for my cousin Kim's wedding. That night, the entire extended family went to see this. I'm not sure why they chose this movie (I know it wasn't my own family's decision), because there were lots of kids in the family. My mom told me to close my eyes in one scene, but they didn't show anything.
A Bug's Life. We stopped and saw this movie on our way to Fillmore on New Year's Eve 1998 (almost 1999).
My Favorite Martian. My aunt had some tickets to a pre-screening of the movie, so my cousins and I went, along with my aunt's friend Susan and her kids. When I think about these movies from my childhood, I see that PG-rated movies have really toned it down. I've been watching the original My Favorite Martian series on Hulu, and it's pretty bad.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. When we were watching this, the tape melted. I remember seeing the bubbling on the screen and thought it was just part of the movie. We were all taken in to another theater that was also showing the movie but had started a little later. I remember basically nothing about this movie. I also remember nothing about episode IV, the only other Star Wars movie I've ever seen, so I can basically say I've never seen Star Wars.
The Iron Giant. I saw this for my birthday with my friends David and Brad. There is one scene that I can remember that I'm pretty sure is from this movie, but it was taken out for the home video release--unless it's from a totally different movie. Hogarth makes an ice cream sundae while his mom is on the phone telling him only to eat healthy things, and while he's eating the cherry from the top, he says, "I'm eating something healthy right now!"
Toy Story 2. My family saw this on the day after Thanksgiving in 1999. There was one little kid who kept yelling and cheering with the movie.
Chicken Run. This was another birthday movie; I saw it with my friends David and Cory.
The Grinch. My parents took me to see this movie the day after Christmas in 2000, at the no-longer-existing theater on 2600 South near Woods Cross High. Then I went home and read the book and watched the TV special to compare them all.
Shrek. I actually don't really remember seeing this, but it might have been with my cousin Jesse.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. My sister came with us and had brought her friend's six-year-old son, and he kept wanting her to offer me popcorn and other treats.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I found this movie boring.
Monsters Inc. I saw this with my parents.
Spider-Man (2002). My aunt Sarena was in town and she insisted on taking me to the movie, but I think I still had to pay for my own ticket. This is the only Spiderman movie I've ever seen.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I know I saw this, but I don't remember much about seeing it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I think this was at a dollar theater. I was bored by the first one, so I was reluctant to see this one, but my brother told me it was better. I went with him and Ya-ping, and I still found it boring. I've haven't seen any Lord of the Rings movies since then.
Holes. A 2003 drive-in trip.
Finding Nemo. Part of the same drive-in visit. I actually saw it twice in the theater. The second time was with Paul and my cousins. Tammy thought it might be too scary for her kids because of the shark, but I found it hilarious that two-year-old Anna said "the sark" was her favorite part. There was a grown woman who kept laughing and screaming loudly.
Elf . My family saw this on Ya-ping's birthday in 2003.
Shrek 2. While we were waiting in the theater to go into our theater, we passed one-year-old Allie around. When the movie was over, my mom and sister said they didn't know Julie Andrews was in the movie, but I had seen that on the movie poster.
The Incredibles. This was the day after Thanksgiving, and I think we saw it before some of us went to Target. I was disappointed in the movie's language.
March of the Penguins. I think we saw this movie because I liked polar regions.
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I had reluctantly agreed to go to the drive-in on this October Saturday night.
Corpse Bride. This was the second movie that night, and I loved it. Our radio shut off during the climax scene, but we got it started again.
Cars. We saw this on July 3 in the Fillmore movie theater, which only has one theater. Allie was not quite three and Preston was one and a half. Allie fell asleep during the movie, but Preston didn't, and he said, "Car?" when the movie was over. When we got back to Grandma Judy's house, Preston was laughing at sleeping Allie and was trying to poke her.
Charlotte's Web. I saw this my senior year in high school.
Shrek the Third. Susanne took me and Allie to this movie, and she had smuggled in some frozen Junior Mints. This movie renewed Allie's interest in Shrek.
The Nightmare before Christmas 3D. This was released in 3D in 2006, but I didn't see it until 2007, on the day before Halloween. It was my mom, my sister, Allie, and my cousin Quin, who was thirteen. Susanne was annoyed that we made her sit by him and said that she had to watch him more than she did Allie.
Alice in Wonderland. I think this was the first movie I saw in a theater after my mission. My mom and dad met me to see it in Provo, and my dad wanted to see it in 3D.
Toy Story 3. We saw this in August 2010, just after I moved back home for the fall. My sister was wearing her "Advice from a Bat" shirt.
Tangled. We saw this in December 2010. Allie had already seen it, and when Flynn Ryder was mortally wounded, she assured us, "He's not really dead." She didn't have the concept of Spoiler Alert.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. I don't really watch PG-13 movies, but a special set of circumstances led me to see this one. I think my grandma was in the hospital for some reason at this time.
Puss in Boots. We saw this on October 29, 2011, right after my parents made their very last house payment.
Hugo. We saw this in December or November of 2011. We saw it in 3D, and I didn't think it worked very well in 3D.
Arthur Christmas. I believe it was December 27 when we saw this movie in West Valley, so Christmas was already over.
The Lorax. On May 14, 2012, my roommate Bryton invited several people to go see a late showing at the dollar theater. Our little group had the whole theater to ourselves. It wasn't a great movie.
Frankenweenie. My parents met me in Provo on October 20, 2012, to see this movie. I had to see it. Sadly, this movie was overshadowed by Hotel Transylvania, an inferior flick.
Free Birds. My parents took me to this movie on November 2, 2013. I had to see it, since Thanksgiving movies are so rare.
Frozen. We saw this with my aunt's family on the day after Thanksgiving.
The Lego Movie. Last May, many members of my ward wanted to see this at the dollar theater. I rode with one Jarom Redhair, a very rude individual. It was a hilarious movie, and I understood why it sold out that night.
How to Train Your Dragon 2. We saw this at a drive-in last summer in California with my nephews.
Maleficent. This was the second feature that night, and our car battery died, so it was very hard to hear, but we got the gist of what was going on. My nephew Franklin seemed fine with the movie, but he initially wasn't keen on seeing a princess movie.
Meet the Mormons. I saw this opening weekend last October. I didn't think it was really that great for it to be released in mainstream theaters.
I'm sure I've seen others. And as soon as I post this, I will remember more.
Therefore, I'm going to try to remember all the movies I have seen in theaters. I will undoubtedly miss some, especially those from when I was very young. (I probably saw Aladdin in theaters, but I don't remember it.) I'm only counting regular theaters. I'm not going to count documentary-type films seen at the Clark Planetarium, such as Beavers.
The Flintstones. We saw this at a drive-in, but I remember more about the second feature, which was Jurassic Park. My mom thought it would be too scary for me, so she made me go to sleep in the front seat (we had our trunk open and facing the screen). I was peeking over the seat, and I remember seeing the scene with the animated DNA. Every time my mom looked back, I would duck behind the seat. I thought she didn't know what I was doing, but she probably did.
The Lion King. It seems like we saw this movie after a day of back-to-school shopping. I remember going home that day and telling my dad we saw lions.
The Pagemaster. This was a birthday party for Jonathan Martin. We were supposed to see The Swan Princess, but when we got to the theater, we got to take a vote whether to see Swan Princess or Pagemaster. I voted Swan Princess, but I ended up loving The Pagemaster.
The Santa Clause. This was a family outing.
Pocahontas. I think we saw this at a drive-in, and I brought the McDonald's Happy Meal tie-in toy I had. However, I don't remember what the second feature was. I think this is the only time I've ever seen this movie.
Toy Story. My uncle Paul took me and my Thompson cousins to see this a few days after Christmas (I remember "Feliz Navidad" playing on the radio). When we left the theater, it was raining, and Paul said, "It's probably snowing at Strawberry." They asked what our favorite parts were, and Paul said, "Mark's was probably the Christmas part."
Nell. This was definitely not an appropriate movie for a six-year-old. Since I was so much younger than my siblings, I think my family had to take me to a lot of movies they wouldn't otherwise take me to.
The Indian in the Cupboard. We were going to this movie with Uncle Paul and his kids. Susanne left a note for our parents that we went to see the movie; she asked David, "How do you spell cupboard?" and that was the first time I learned to spell "cupboard." David got mad at me because he had to take me to the bathroom during the "best part" of the movie.
Phenomenon. This was at the drive-in with my Thompson cousins, and they had brought small plastic lawn chairs. I'm not sure why this was the first movie.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This was the second feature that night. This is the only time I've ever seen this movie.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park. My mom and my siblings and I went to see this with my grandparents.
Star Trek: Insurrection? I know I saw some Star Trek movie with my family, but I don't remember what one. I didn't know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek. I remember telling my friend David Christensen that I had seen a Star Wars movie with a lady in a black dress, and he laughed and said, "That wasn't a lady!" because he thought I was talking about Darth Vader.
The Parent Trap. I had a broken leg, and we went in our white station wagon to the drive-in. I think my cousin Tammy was with us.
Mulan. This was the second feature that night. When we were leaving, I remember the "True to Your Heart" song playing on the radio. I was also thinking about the creepy music from The Black Cauldron, which we had recently purchased.
The Waterboy. In November 1998, we had gone to Cedar City for my cousin Kim's wedding. That night, the entire extended family went to see this. I'm not sure why they chose this movie (I know it wasn't my own family's decision), because there were lots of kids in the family. My mom told me to close my eyes in one scene, but they didn't show anything.
A Bug's Life. We stopped and saw this movie on our way to Fillmore on New Year's Eve 1998 (almost 1999).
My Favorite Martian. My aunt had some tickets to a pre-screening of the movie, so my cousins and I went, along with my aunt's friend Susan and her kids. When I think about these movies from my childhood, I see that PG-rated movies have really toned it down. I've been watching the original My Favorite Martian series on Hulu, and it's pretty bad.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. When we were watching this, the tape melted. I remember seeing the bubbling on the screen and thought it was just part of the movie. We were all taken in to another theater that was also showing the movie but had started a little later. I remember basically nothing about this movie. I also remember nothing about episode IV, the only other Star Wars movie I've ever seen, so I can basically say I've never seen Star Wars.
The Iron Giant. I saw this for my birthday with my friends David and Brad. There is one scene that I can remember that I'm pretty sure is from this movie, but it was taken out for the home video release--unless it's from a totally different movie. Hogarth makes an ice cream sundae while his mom is on the phone telling him only to eat healthy things, and while he's eating the cherry from the top, he says, "I'm eating something healthy right now!"
Toy Story 2. My family saw this on the day after Thanksgiving in 1999. There was one little kid who kept yelling and cheering with the movie.
Chicken Run. This was another birthday movie; I saw it with my friends David and Cory.
The Grinch. My parents took me to see this movie the day after Christmas in 2000, at the no-longer-existing theater on 2600 South near Woods Cross High. Then I went home and read the book and watched the TV special to compare them all.
Shrek. I actually don't really remember seeing this, but it might have been with my cousin Jesse.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. My sister came with us and had brought her friend's six-year-old son, and he kept wanting her to offer me popcorn and other treats.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I found this movie boring.
Monsters Inc. I saw this with my parents.
Spider-Man (2002). My aunt Sarena was in town and she insisted on taking me to the movie, but I think I still had to pay for my own ticket. This is the only Spiderman movie I've ever seen.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I know I saw this, but I don't remember much about seeing it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I think this was at a dollar theater. I was bored by the first one, so I was reluctant to see this one, but my brother told me it was better. I went with him and Ya-ping, and I still found it boring. I've haven't seen any Lord of the Rings movies since then.
Holes. A 2003 drive-in trip.
Finding Nemo. Part of the same drive-in visit. I actually saw it twice in the theater. The second time was with Paul and my cousins. Tammy thought it might be too scary for her kids because of the shark, but I found it hilarious that two-year-old Anna said "the sark" was her favorite part. There was a grown woman who kept laughing and screaming loudly.
Elf . My family saw this on Ya-ping's birthday in 2003.
Shrek 2. While we were waiting in the theater to go into our theater, we passed one-year-old Allie around. When the movie was over, my mom and sister said they didn't know Julie Andrews was in the movie, but I had seen that on the movie poster.
The Incredibles. This was the day after Thanksgiving, and I think we saw it before some of us went to Target. I was disappointed in the movie's language.
March of the Penguins. I think we saw this movie because I liked polar regions.
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I had reluctantly agreed to go to the drive-in on this October Saturday night.
Corpse Bride. This was the second movie that night, and I loved it. Our radio shut off during the climax scene, but we got it started again.
Cars. We saw this on July 3 in the Fillmore movie theater, which only has one theater. Allie was not quite three and Preston was one and a half. Allie fell asleep during the movie, but Preston didn't, and he said, "Car?" when the movie was over. When we got back to Grandma Judy's house, Preston was laughing at sleeping Allie and was trying to poke her.
Charlotte's Web. I saw this my senior year in high school.
Shrek the Third. Susanne took me and Allie to this movie, and she had smuggled in some frozen Junior Mints. This movie renewed Allie's interest in Shrek.
The Nightmare before Christmas 3D. This was released in 3D in 2006, but I didn't see it until 2007, on the day before Halloween. It was my mom, my sister, Allie, and my cousin Quin, who was thirteen. Susanne was annoyed that we made her sit by him and said that she had to watch him more than she did Allie.
Alice in Wonderland. I think this was the first movie I saw in a theater after my mission. My mom and dad met me to see it in Provo, and my dad wanted to see it in 3D.
Toy Story 3. We saw this in August 2010, just after I moved back home for the fall. My sister was wearing her "Advice from a Bat" shirt.
Tangled. We saw this in December 2010. Allie had already seen it, and when Flynn Ryder was mortally wounded, she assured us, "He's not really dead." She didn't have the concept of Spoiler Alert.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. I don't really watch PG-13 movies, but a special set of circumstances led me to see this one. I think my grandma was in the hospital for some reason at this time.
Puss in Boots. We saw this on October 29, 2011, right after my parents made their very last house payment.
Hugo. We saw this in December or November of 2011. We saw it in 3D, and I didn't think it worked very well in 3D.
Arthur Christmas. I believe it was December 27 when we saw this movie in West Valley, so Christmas was already over.
The Lorax. On May 14, 2012, my roommate Bryton invited several people to go see a late showing at the dollar theater. Our little group had the whole theater to ourselves. It wasn't a great movie.
Frankenweenie. My parents met me in Provo on October 20, 2012, to see this movie. I had to see it. Sadly, this movie was overshadowed by Hotel Transylvania, an inferior flick.
Free Birds. My parents took me to this movie on November 2, 2013. I had to see it, since Thanksgiving movies are so rare.
Frozen. We saw this with my aunt's family on the day after Thanksgiving.
The Lego Movie. Last May, many members of my ward wanted to see this at the dollar theater. I rode with one Jarom Redhair, a very rude individual. It was a hilarious movie, and I understood why it sold out that night.
How to Train Your Dragon 2. We saw this at a drive-in last summer in California with my nephews.
Maleficent. This was the second feature that night, and our car battery died, so it was very hard to hear, but we got the gist of what was going on. My nephew Franklin seemed fine with the movie, but he initially wasn't keen on seeing a princess movie.
Meet the Mormons. I saw this opening weekend last October. I didn't think it was really that great for it to be released in mainstream theaters.
I'm sure I've seen others. And as soon as I post this, I will remember more.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Melville family cars
My family has had a fair amount of cars, especially since my dad likes having multiple cars. So I'm going to remember the ones we've had.
The gold Subaru. We had a gold Subaru when I was very young. I remember being able to see the road through a hole in the door. I can remember seeing a McDonald's napkin with multicolored M's on it, and there was a certain news sound I would hear on KSL that I always associate with the car. We got rid of this car in 1994 or 1995.
The Eagle. We had a car called an Eagle (apparently a Chrysler), and it was small (only a two-door), so we called it the "Eaglet." I can remember riding in it to our church for a Wednesday evening activity, and there were ginger snaps in the back, since my dad drove it to work. When I was seven or eight, my family wanted to sell it, so I made a "For Sale" sign with a green marker on a yellow piece of construction paper. It said "300$," and I remember my dad saying it wasn't selling because it looked like "3000." One time, we got a call asking about the car, and they asked for directions, so I said, "You're at the bottom of the hill, and then you go up..." and explained the way to our house, only in our neighborhood. The directions weren't helpful, but what could I do, since my mom was in the bathtub? Eventually, we sold it to a guy whose name was Markland, which was also the name of a fictional world I made up. A few weeks later, we got a call, because we hadn't removed the license plates, and Mr. Markland was apparently a homeless man living out of his car.
The Thunderbird. We got a brown Thunderbird, or T-bird, from my dad's parents when I was about five, and I was excited that it had a little ledge in front of the rear window where I could lie down. It only came with four seatbelts, so my dad bought another one for the middle seat in the back. My mom thought it was weird he bought a blue seatbelt when everything else was brown. We didn't have it very long before my dad totaled it by hitting an elk on his way to work in Park City. He was OK, but a little cut up.
The Mercury Marquis. We had a white station wagon with a blue interior. I was told it was a "Marquis," which sounded similar to my nickname, Marky. In 1996 (I think), my newly driving sister totaled it because she turned left in front of a car that didn't stop at a red light. One piece that was salvaged from the car was the little plastic "Marquis," which I kept on my bedroom door for years.
The blue Subaru Legacy. After we got rid of the gold Subaru, when I was six, we got a blue Legacy. I remember going to a special meeting for new car owners with my parents. They had a children's area where kids could play and get hot dogs, but I wanted to stay with my parents. I was content just holding my Valentine bear. My mom didn't like that the rear windows didn't roll down completely. In that vehicle, all five of us drove across the country to Washington, DC, and New York. One spring day in 2000, I think my mom was helping her friend's son Jake, and I was playing outside. My mom had to leave because she got a call that David had rolled the car, which he had dubbed Bertha. He was miraculously safe, but that was the end of that car.
The second station wagon. We got a very similar station wagon in 1995 to the one Susanne totaled, but I don't know if it was the same. It had a red interior instead of blue. I remember going with my mom when she bought it from the previous owners; they were talking about some Hispanic people who had stolen their car. That was the first time in my life I heard the word "Hispanic." I found a Donald Duck pen in the car, and I thought it belonged to the previous owners, but apparently it was ours. In 1999, David was at his girlfriend's house, and the car was parked on the street, and a teenage girl crashed into it and totaled it.
The Jeep Cherokee. In 1995 or 1996, my parents got a red Jeep, since my dad's family always had red Jeeps. The first night we rode in it, we stopped by my mom's friend Jackie's house, and I think we went to Smith's and got donuts. In 2003, when we got our Suburban, we sold the Jeep to my uncle Mike. I think he later wrecked it.
The Mercury Tracer. In 1999, after our second white car was totaled, my parents bought a 1994 Mercury Tracer. (I remember it was a 1994 because my friend Brad Rogers saw the tag on the keys that said "Used 1994" and thought it said "1999" and wondered how that was possible.) I think its official color was "Fiesta Red," but one of the documents called it "Hot Pink." It was definitely not hot pink, but it became known as the pink car. It had squealing brakes, so my dad suggested naming it Pig, since it was pink and squealed. Because of the brakes and the faulty automatic seatbelt, among other problems, my family sold it in 2007, thus ending my chances of learning how to drive a stick shift.
The white Subaru Legacy. After the blue Subaru was totaled in 2000, my parents bought a 1995 Subaru Legacy. My dad suggested naming it Ghost, since it was white and was like a better version of the blue car. It was the first car that we ever had with a CD player, so that was really exciting, and the first car we ever had with a sunroof. We still have that car. It got me through high school and college and now I drive it to work. It's still in pretty good shape, considering how old it is. (It did refuse to start on the day before Halloween, but it fixed itself.)
The Chevy Suburban. Just before Easter in 2003, with my sister pregnant and my brother recently returned from a mission, my parents decided to get a bigger vehicle for our family. I was not happy with the purchase, as I didn't think we had money for it. We still have it, and our family has actually outgrown it. It came in especially handy when all of us lived together. We have taken many trips in it to Tennessee and California.
The Ford Taurus. In 2005, when I was a new driver, my family bought a green Taurus. It came with a Christian fish with a cross for an eye (get it? cross-eyed?) on the back. My dad thought it was part of the car, thinking it was the zodiac symbol for Taurus. But we told him that Taurus was a bull, so after that we sometimes referred to the car as the Pisces. It was a good little car, but the AC didn't work. If we fixed it, it would soon quit working. I took that car to Provo during the winter so that my dad could have the 4-wheel-drive Subaru during the winter, since he had a longer commute. When the car was covered with snow, sometimes water would leak into the passenger-side floor, and there would be puddles (or ice) in the car. Tired of fixing the AC, my parents sold it to my dad's cousin's family in the summer of 2013. I really liked driving it, but the AC was a problem.
The Toyota Rav4. One August night in 2007, I was standing outside Walmart, waiting for my mom to pick me up from work. I was talking with one of the guys who worked in Customer Service, telling him my mom was picking me up. A vehicle drove up and he said, "Is that your mom?" I said no, but then the window rolled down and it was her! I drove it a few times in those last few months before my mission, and I thought the seat didn't go back far enough. But I don't know why I thought that, because it does go far enough. My mom drives that car now.
The red Mazda. In the summer of 2013, my dad got a red Mazda CX5. It had to be red because that's his favorite color and his family always had red Jeeps. I'm not exactly sure why he got it. It's a good car, except that it has a really weird smell on the inside. He usually drives it to work.
The Nissan Pathfinder. In 2009, right after I got home from my mission, my sister traded her Nissan Altima for a Pathfinder. Last summer (2014), she wanted to buy a more gas-efficient car, so she wanted to sell the Pathfinder. The dealer wouldn't buy it for a great price, so my parents decided to buy it so they can go on adventures. I didn't know that they had done that until I had moved back home and my dad mentioned something about owning five cars. We took it on a bumpy road in Capitol Reef, and I think we will use it for more similar adventures. It's not as long as the Suburban but has better clearance than the other cars. We still often keep it at my sister's house, and she still drives it if it's snowy.
We still have the white Legacy, the Suburban, the Rav, the Mazda, and the Pathfinder. My grandparents say that we should get one more car. Then we will have enough for each of us in our house to have two.
The gold Subaru. We had a gold Subaru when I was very young. I remember being able to see the road through a hole in the door. I can remember seeing a McDonald's napkin with multicolored M's on it, and there was a certain news sound I would hear on KSL that I always associate with the car. We got rid of this car in 1994 or 1995.
The Eagle. We had a car called an Eagle (apparently a Chrysler), and it was small (only a two-door), so we called it the "Eaglet." I can remember riding in it to our church for a Wednesday evening activity, and there were ginger snaps in the back, since my dad drove it to work. When I was seven or eight, my family wanted to sell it, so I made a "For Sale" sign with a green marker on a yellow piece of construction paper. It said "300$," and I remember my dad saying it wasn't selling because it looked like "3000." One time, we got a call asking about the car, and they asked for directions, so I said, "You're at the bottom of the hill, and then you go up..." and explained the way to our house, only in our neighborhood. The directions weren't helpful, but what could I do, since my mom was in the bathtub? Eventually, we sold it to a guy whose name was Markland, which was also the name of a fictional world I made up. A few weeks later, we got a call, because we hadn't removed the license plates, and Mr. Markland was apparently a homeless man living out of his car.
The Thunderbird. We got a brown Thunderbird, or T-bird, from my dad's parents when I was about five, and I was excited that it had a little ledge in front of the rear window where I could lie down. It only came with four seatbelts, so my dad bought another one for the middle seat in the back. My mom thought it was weird he bought a blue seatbelt when everything else was brown. We didn't have it very long before my dad totaled it by hitting an elk on his way to work in Park City. He was OK, but a little cut up.
The Mercury Marquis. We had a white station wagon with a blue interior. I was told it was a "Marquis," which sounded similar to my nickname, Marky. In 1996 (I think), my newly driving sister totaled it because she turned left in front of a car that didn't stop at a red light. One piece that was salvaged from the car was the little plastic "Marquis," which I kept on my bedroom door for years.
The blue Subaru Legacy. After we got rid of the gold Subaru, when I was six, we got a blue Legacy. I remember going to a special meeting for new car owners with my parents. They had a children's area where kids could play and get hot dogs, but I wanted to stay with my parents. I was content just holding my Valentine bear. My mom didn't like that the rear windows didn't roll down completely. In that vehicle, all five of us drove across the country to Washington, DC, and New York. One spring day in 2000, I think my mom was helping her friend's son Jake, and I was playing outside. My mom had to leave because she got a call that David had rolled the car, which he had dubbed Bertha. He was miraculously safe, but that was the end of that car.
The second station wagon. We got a very similar station wagon in 1995 to the one Susanne totaled, but I don't know if it was the same. It had a red interior instead of blue. I remember going with my mom when she bought it from the previous owners; they were talking about some Hispanic people who had stolen their car. That was the first time in my life I heard the word "Hispanic." I found a Donald Duck pen in the car, and I thought it belonged to the previous owners, but apparently it was ours. In 1999, David was at his girlfriend's house, and the car was parked on the street, and a teenage girl crashed into it and totaled it.
The Jeep Cherokee. In 1995 or 1996, my parents got a red Jeep, since my dad's family always had red Jeeps. The first night we rode in it, we stopped by my mom's friend Jackie's house, and I think we went to Smith's and got donuts. In 2003, when we got our Suburban, we sold the Jeep to my uncle Mike. I think he later wrecked it.
The Mercury Tracer. In 1999, after our second white car was totaled, my parents bought a 1994 Mercury Tracer. (I remember it was a 1994 because my friend Brad Rogers saw the tag on the keys that said "Used 1994" and thought it said "1999" and wondered how that was possible.) I think its official color was "Fiesta Red," but one of the documents called it "Hot Pink." It was definitely not hot pink, but it became known as the pink car. It had squealing brakes, so my dad suggested naming it Pig, since it was pink and squealed. Because of the brakes and the faulty automatic seatbelt, among other problems, my family sold it in 2007, thus ending my chances of learning how to drive a stick shift.
The white Subaru Legacy. After the blue Subaru was totaled in 2000, my parents bought a 1995 Subaru Legacy. My dad suggested naming it Ghost, since it was white and was like a better version of the blue car. It was the first car that we ever had with a CD player, so that was really exciting, and the first car we ever had with a sunroof. We still have that car. It got me through high school and college and now I drive it to work. It's still in pretty good shape, considering how old it is. (It did refuse to start on the day before Halloween, but it fixed itself.)
The Chevy Suburban. Just before Easter in 2003, with my sister pregnant and my brother recently returned from a mission, my parents decided to get a bigger vehicle for our family. I was not happy with the purchase, as I didn't think we had money for it. We still have it, and our family has actually outgrown it. It came in especially handy when all of us lived together. We have taken many trips in it to Tennessee and California.
The Ford Taurus. In 2005, when I was a new driver, my family bought a green Taurus. It came with a Christian fish with a cross for an eye (get it? cross-eyed?) on the back. My dad thought it was part of the car, thinking it was the zodiac symbol for Taurus. But we told him that Taurus was a bull, so after that we sometimes referred to the car as the Pisces. It was a good little car, but the AC didn't work. If we fixed it, it would soon quit working. I took that car to Provo during the winter so that my dad could have the 4-wheel-drive Subaru during the winter, since he had a longer commute. When the car was covered with snow, sometimes water would leak into the passenger-side floor, and there would be puddles (or ice) in the car. Tired of fixing the AC, my parents sold it to my dad's cousin's family in the summer of 2013. I really liked driving it, but the AC was a problem.
The Toyota Rav4. One August night in 2007, I was standing outside Walmart, waiting for my mom to pick me up from work. I was talking with one of the guys who worked in Customer Service, telling him my mom was picking me up. A vehicle drove up and he said, "Is that your mom?" I said no, but then the window rolled down and it was her! I drove it a few times in those last few months before my mission, and I thought the seat didn't go back far enough. But I don't know why I thought that, because it does go far enough. My mom drives that car now.
The red Mazda. In the summer of 2013, my dad got a red Mazda CX5. It had to be red because that's his favorite color and his family always had red Jeeps. I'm not exactly sure why he got it. It's a good car, except that it has a really weird smell on the inside. He usually drives it to work.
The Nissan Pathfinder. In 2009, right after I got home from my mission, my sister traded her Nissan Altima for a Pathfinder. Last summer (2014), she wanted to buy a more gas-efficient car, so she wanted to sell the Pathfinder. The dealer wouldn't buy it for a great price, so my parents decided to buy it so they can go on adventures. I didn't know that they had done that until I had moved back home and my dad mentioned something about owning five cars. We took it on a bumpy road in Capitol Reef, and I think we will use it for more similar adventures. It's not as long as the Suburban but has better clearance than the other cars. We still often keep it at my sister's house, and she still drives it if it's snowy.
We still have the white Legacy, the Suburban, the Rav, the Mazda, and the Pathfinder. My grandparents say that we should get one more car. Then we will have enough for each of us in our house to have two.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Leprechaun stories
When I was a little kid, I believed that all holidays are created equal, and subsequently I didn't realize that St. Patrick's Day is the most pointless of all popular holidays. Come March, my mind was turned to leprechauns, and I would invent stories.
In kindergarten, I decided to create a play that I would perform for my family. My mom had bought me a plastic leprechaun hat (and my aunt rescued it from blowing away outside the store on a windy day), so I would don it for my plays. My friend Hillary Ulmer had a gold-colored shiny cheerleader pom-pom, and I asked her if I could have it. I put it in a glass jar and that was my pot of gold, the stringy gold parts hanging over the jar. (I actually can't remember if I had that in time for the leprechaun plays, but I know I used that as a decoration for years. Sometimes I put the plastic hat on top of it, and one time our home teacher asked if it was Cousin Itt!)
Anyway, one day after school, I was planning on my leprechaun play, and my brother David, who was thirteen, wanted to help me out, and he wore the hat he got for Christmas. We went around improvising this play, but after a while it was too violent (with shooting) and un-leprechauny that I didn't want his help anymore. In the evening I gathered my family around while I performed my leprechaun play in front of our fireplace. It was kind of a day in the life of a leprechaun, and I would narrate things like "Now I'm asleep. Now I'm eating breakfast." And so on. When I was "sleeping," I would use a yellow crocheted blanket we had. I think I performed the play several times, and I tried to make sure I was wearing green every time, but soon I realized that if I did that, I wouldn't have any green to wear for St. Patrick's Day.
In first grade, we got some leprechaun window clings that really piqued my interest, and I even made a song based on them. One day in class, I raised my hand and mentioned that I had a song about leprechauns, so I sang my hokey little song. I think I mostly made it up as I went along, but I know the first line was, "I'm a little leprechaun a-sitting on a clover." I think I meant "toadstool," but for some reason it came out clover.
We also needed to write a leprechaun story for class. My copy of this story might be floating around the house somewhere. The only thing I remember is that it started out with a leprechaun going around collecting "horseshoes and brimstones." And by "brimstones" I meant "Blarney stones," not realizing there's only one Blarney Stone.
In second grade we were instructed to write a leprechaun story. Fortunately, I know where that is, so here is my transcription (there are some capitalization marks in it, but I don't know whether they were put there by me or someone else. I'm going to incorporate those edits):
My Leprechaun
One day I went outside to get the mail. When I looked down, there was a leprechaun on our door step. His back Was to my feet. I Caught it by the stomach. "Let Me go! Let me go! Me have to go to Ireland in 10 years! let me go! Let me go!"
I brought the leprechaun in. "I'm hungry," said the leprechaun. "So let me go and get food! let me go!"
"Wait a minute," I said. I will get you some food." I made him some Soup. He duck his head in the soup. His hat plopped up.
"Ow," complained the leprechaun. "Me face Is burning!"
"You were'nt supposed to do that," I said. "You were supposed to do that when It cooled. And stop saying me instead of My. It's not proper english."
"But it is proper Irish," said the leprechaun. "Where's your pot of gold? Give me your pot of gold! And stay with me when you give it to me!"
"Okay," said the leprechaun. He didn't eat his soup, he Just went outside. Then there was a knock at the door. I opened it. There Was the leprechaun.
"Hi," he said. "Here's a pot of gold and a pot of silver. Bye." And as quick as a wink, he ran off. "That foolish leprechaun," I said "He's mean too, but I do have gold and silver." The end.
(I must say that I'm impressed that at eight years old, my only misspelling was the placement of the apostrophe in "weren't.")
Then in fourth grade, I didn't really have a story per se, but I took on a leprechaun persona. I was tired of Easter stuff before St. Patrick's Day, so as a leprechaun I said I hated Easter. On St. Patrick's Day, my friend Cody Zesiger and I played some game where I think he was trying to catch me. Before he went home, I gave him some mashed up shiny pipecleaners--gold, silver, and blue and silver (which I said was a mushed-up mushroom).
In kindergarten, I decided to create a play that I would perform for my family. My mom had bought me a plastic leprechaun hat (and my aunt rescued it from blowing away outside the store on a windy day), so I would don it for my plays. My friend Hillary Ulmer had a gold-colored shiny cheerleader pom-pom, and I asked her if I could have it. I put it in a glass jar and that was my pot of gold, the stringy gold parts hanging over the jar. (I actually can't remember if I had that in time for the leprechaun plays, but I know I used that as a decoration for years. Sometimes I put the plastic hat on top of it, and one time our home teacher asked if it was Cousin Itt!)
Anyway, one day after school, I was planning on my leprechaun play, and my brother David, who was thirteen, wanted to help me out, and he wore the hat he got for Christmas. We went around improvising this play, but after a while it was too violent (with shooting) and un-leprechauny that I didn't want his help anymore. In the evening I gathered my family around while I performed my leprechaun play in front of our fireplace. It was kind of a day in the life of a leprechaun, and I would narrate things like "Now I'm asleep. Now I'm eating breakfast." And so on. When I was "sleeping," I would use a yellow crocheted blanket we had. I think I performed the play several times, and I tried to make sure I was wearing green every time, but soon I realized that if I did that, I wouldn't have any green to wear for St. Patrick's Day.
In first grade, we got some leprechaun window clings that really piqued my interest, and I even made a song based on them. One day in class, I raised my hand and mentioned that I had a song about leprechauns, so I sang my hokey little song. I think I mostly made it up as I went along, but I know the first line was, "I'm a little leprechaun a-sitting on a clover." I think I meant "toadstool," but for some reason it came out clover.
We also needed to write a leprechaun story for class. My copy of this story might be floating around the house somewhere. The only thing I remember is that it started out with a leprechaun going around collecting "horseshoes and brimstones." And by "brimstones" I meant "Blarney stones," not realizing there's only one Blarney Stone.
In second grade we were instructed to write a leprechaun story. Fortunately, I know where that is, so here is my transcription (there are some capitalization marks in it, but I don't know whether they were put there by me or someone else. I'm going to incorporate those edits):
My Leprechaun
One day I went outside to get the mail. When I looked down, there was a leprechaun on our door step. His back Was to my feet. I Caught it by the stomach. "Let Me go! Let me go! Me have to go to Ireland in 10 years! let me go! Let me go!"
I brought the leprechaun in. "I'm hungry," said the leprechaun. "So let me go and get food! let me go!"
"Wait a minute," I said. I will get you some food." I made him some Soup. He duck his head in the soup. His hat plopped up.
"Ow," complained the leprechaun. "Me face Is burning!"
"You were'nt supposed to do that," I said. "You were supposed to do that when It cooled. And stop saying me instead of My. It's not proper english."
"But it is proper Irish," said the leprechaun. "Where's your pot of gold? Give me your pot of gold! And stay with me when you give it to me!"
"Okay," said the leprechaun. He didn't eat his soup, he Just went outside. Then there was a knock at the door. I opened it. There Was the leprechaun.
"Hi," he said. "Here's a pot of gold and a pot of silver. Bye." And as quick as a wink, he ran off. "That foolish leprechaun," I said "He's mean too, but I do have gold and silver." The end.
(I must say that I'm impressed that at eight years old, my only misspelling was the placement of the apostrophe in "weren't.")
Then in fourth grade, I didn't really have a story per se, but I took on a leprechaun persona. I was tired of Easter stuff before St. Patrick's Day, so as a leprechaun I said I hated Easter. On St. Patrick's Day, my friend Cody Zesiger and I played some game where I think he was trying to catch me. Before he went home, I gave him some mashed up shiny pipecleaners--gold, silver, and blue and silver (which I said was a mushed-up mushroom).
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Conversation hearts
You know those chalky little hearts we always get in February? Love 'em or hate 'em, they are a ubiquitous part of Valentine's Day. (I'm actually surprised there aren't things flavored like them, like there are lots of candy corn-flavored things.) With it being nearly Valentine's Day, I'm going to remember incidents connected with them.
In preschool, one day we were in the upstairs dance hall, playing around, and when we were done playing, our teacher gave us some with faces on them. (I noticed that was different, so I obviously had had them before that.)
When I was in kindergarten, I decided I wanted to do a Valentine's adaptation of Santa Claus, so when we were at Kmart one night, I wanted to get a bag of the hearts. I made stockings out of paper and drew hearts on them and stapled the front and back pieces together. I was going to wait until Valentine's Day, but I couldn't wait, so I got up really early one morning, when it was still dark and my siblings were getting ready for their school, and I put the hearts in the stockings I had made. I remembered seeing pictures of Santa with his finger over his mouth, so I did that, and then I asked Susanne if she knew why I did that. She said she thought it was because I was telling her to be quiet, but I said that wasn't why. I remember her saying the yellow ones were her favorite.
One January in 1998 or so, I was at Food 4 Less in Bountiful, the one by the no-longer-existing Five Points Mall. I begged my parents to get me a box of them, and they did. There was another girl who got her mom to get a whole bunch of them for a party.
In third grade, my friend David Christensen gave me his valentine at recess, and it had a few "lacy" conversation hearts in it.
Another time, perhaps around 2000, our home teacher's wife, Ivy Petersen, was visiting us and said she loved conversation hearts and got them right after Christmas. But she didn't like the purple ones, saying they "taste like perfume."
On Valentine's Day 2001, I was at mutual, and I remember someone in another ward saying some girls had helped her decorate sugar cookies, and some of them had conversation hearts. I thought that was a horrible topping for a cookie.
In junior high, I remember talking with my friend Houston about how the white ones were our favorites. Around that time, my family bought a bag that was all white, but they were a strong peppermint instead of the mellow wintergreen in the regular mix. My dad loved them.
On Valentine's Day in eighth grade, I awkwardly gave handfuls of the hearts to girls from my ward as they walked past me on the bus.
One year, perhaps in 2005, I was dismayed that I hadn't had any conversation hearts, and my mom had only a few that she got from her class, and they were weird ones.
In 2006, I put a bunch of conversation hearts in a dish downstairs. Months later, they still weren't gone, and my nephew Preston (between 19 and 21 months) knew they were up on the shelf. He had his own language, with some words in English, some in Chinese, and some that he had invented himself. His word for candy was "ba." (My guess is that it was the way he tried to say "pop," as in "Otter Pop.") He would beg for "ba," so I would get one for him.
A few days after Christmas in 2007, on my mission, we had visited our investigator Cindy, and she gave us boxes of conversation hearts. I think they were of the "smoothie" variety. Perhaps that day, or at least very soon after that, we were out shoveling the driveway where we lived, and I slipped a little bit. I didn't fall, but somehow my slip hurt my ankle, and I felt like I had sprained it again. So I went inside and read on my bed while eating the conversation hearts.
I got some in a package from my mom in 2009, but I got transferred right before Valentine's Day, so I didn't eat many of them before I went to my new area. (I didn't want to take them with me.)
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2010, I was at Walmart with my family, and I got a bag. They were different from the ones I was used to, and they even had a blue one. That night I went to my dinner group in Provo, and the host had bought some cookies that were heart-shaped with messages on them. That led to a conversation about the candies, and someone said how bad they were, and I told them they had changed them and they were better.
In 2013, I put some ice cream-flavored ones in a jar in my apartment for a decoration. My roommate Cameron loved them, and one day I discovered one on the stairs outside our apartment, I think because our friend Carissa had taken some with her and dropped one. That heart was on the step for months. After he had eaten some, he bought two new bags--one was the ice cream kind like I had, and one was the large version of the fruit variety. He asked me which I would prefer him to put in (he correctly guessed that the ones I had were the ice cream ones); I can't remember what I said. Once Valentine's Day was over, I transferred them to a bowl, but then I quit eating them, and apparently Cameron quit eating them, because they sat in the bowl for months until I decided they were too dusty to be good for anything. (Come to think of it, it was around that time Cameron decided he was too good for us. So apparently he was too good for the hearts, too.)
In preschool, one day we were in the upstairs dance hall, playing around, and when we were done playing, our teacher gave us some with faces on them. (I noticed that was different, so I obviously had had them before that.)
When I was in kindergarten, I decided I wanted to do a Valentine's adaptation of Santa Claus, so when we were at Kmart one night, I wanted to get a bag of the hearts. I made stockings out of paper and drew hearts on them and stapled the front and back pieces together. I was going to wait until Valentine's Day, but I couldn't wait, so I got up really early one morning, when it was still dark and my siblings were getting ready for their school, and I put the hearts in the stockings I had made. I remembered seeing pictures of Santa with his finger over his mouth, so I did that, and then I asked Susanne if she knew why I did that. She said she thought it was because I was telling her to be quiet, but I said that wasn't why. I remember her saying the yellow ones were her favorite.
One January in 1998 or so, I was at Food 4 Less in Bountiful, the one by the no-longer-existing Five Points Mall. I begged my parents to get me a box of them, and they did. There was another girl who got her mom to get a whole bunch of them for a party.
In third grade, my friend David Christensen gave me his valentine at recess, and it had a few "lacy" conversation hearts in it.
Another time, perhaps around 2000, our home teacher's wife, Ivy Petersen, was visiting us and said she loved conversation hearts and got them right after Christmas. But she didn't like the purple ones, saying they "taste like perfume."
On Valentine's Day 2001, I was at mutual, and I remember someone in another ward saying some girls had helped her decorate sugar cookies, and some of them had conversation hearts. I thought that was a horrible topping for a cookie.
In junior high, I remember talking with my friend Houston about how the white ones were our favorites. Around that time, my family bought a bag that was all white, but they were a strong peppermint instead of the mellow wintergreen in the regular mix. My dad loved them.
On Valentine's Day in eighth grade, I awkwardly gave handfuls of the hearts to girls from my ward as they walked past me on the bus.
One year, perhaps in 2005, I was dismayed that I hadn't had any conversation hearts, and my mom had only a few that she got from her class, and they were weird ones.
In 2006, I put a bunch of conversation hearts in a dish downstairs. Months later, they still weren't gone, and my nephew Preston (between 19 and 21 months) knew they were up on the shelf. He had his own language, with some words in English, some in Chinese, and some that he had invented himself. His word for candy was "ba." (My guess is that it was the way he tried to say "pop," as in "Otter Pop.") He would beg for "ba," so I would get one for him.
A few days after Christmas in 2007, on my mission, we had visited our investigator Cindy, and she gave us boxes of conversation hearts. I think they were of the "smoothie" variety. Perhaps that day, or at least very soon after that, we were out shoveling the driveway where we lived, and I slipped a little bit. I didn't fall, but somehow my slip hurt my ankle, and I felt like I had sprained it again. So I went inside and read on my bed while eating the conversation hearts.
I got some in a package from my mom in 2009, but I got transferred right before Valentine's Day, so I didn't eat many of them before I went to my new area. (I didn't want to take them with me.)
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2010, I was at Walmart with my family, and I got a bag. They were different from the ones I was used to, and they even had a blue one. That night I went to my dinner group in Provo, and the host had bought some cookies that were heart-shaped with messages on them. That led to a conversation about the candies, and someone said how bad they were, and I told them they had changed them and they were better.
In 2013, I put some ice cream-flavored ones in a jar in my apartment for a decoration. My roommate Cameron loved them, and one day I discovered one on the stairs outside our apartment, I think because our friend Carissa had taken some with her and dropped one. That heart was on the step for months. After he had eaten some, he bought two new bags--one was the ice cream kind like I had, and one was the large version of the fruit variety. He asked me which I would prefer him to put in (he correctly guessed that the ones I had were the ice cream ones); I can't remember what I said. Once Valentine's Day was over, I transferred them to a bowl, but then I quit eating them, and apparently Cameron quit eating them, because they sat in the bowl for months until I decided they were too dusty to be good for anything. (Come to think of it, it was around that time Cameron decided he was too good for us. So apparently he was too good for the hearts, too.)
Friday, January 9, 2015
Misused words
I think every kid has moments where they learn new words and want to put these new words into use, but they don't get the nuances of the word quite right. So, I'm going to remember some of the times I got words wrong. Undoubtedly, there were more times than are included here.
Once when I was in kindergarten, I was at my friend David Christensen's house. We were getting out of his van and he was talking to me, but for some reason I wasn't responding. His mom said to me, "Don't ignore him." Well, I had heard the word annoy, and here I heard ignore, so I might have thought that I had simply misheard annoy and it was actually ignore. Not long after that, my brother David was teasing me, as he usually did, and I said, "Quit ignoring me!" To which, of course, he said, "I'm not ignoring you!"
Another time, probably in first grade, I was on the playground, hanging on a bar. Another kid was also hanging and we were approaching each other. I said, "Caution," and he said, "My name's not Austin!"
One night at dinner, my dad asked me if I wanted more soup, and I said, "In fact I do!" That's not entirely misusing that expression, but it made David laugh.
For a time, I confused the words deaf and death. After I broke my arm, it was a rule that there were no more than two people on the trampoline at a time. One time, I remember reading the warning label on the tramp out loud as explanation to a younger cousin why he couldn't be on the tramp. (My gut tells me it was Peter, but he might have been too young.) In addition to things like "broken bones," the last item was "death." Jesse said, "That means you die." I said, "No, it means you can't hear." We had a little argument about what death meant.
On another occasion, when I was six or seven, we were at my paternal grandparents' house. My cousin Krishelle wanted us to draw pictures to give to Grandma Judy. She was drawing a picture of some fruit (one of her older siblings, I think Lacey, said that the bottom of her apple looked like the bottom of a 2-liter bottle). I was using my imagination and drawing some picture with a backstory to it. I was drawing a girl protagonist in her garden, and I also drew the dreary garden of a wicked person and labeled it "Garden of Death." I don't think I fully understood the negative connotations of the word. Well, we gave the pictures to Grandma Judy, and after that, my mom and my cousin Kadee asked me why I drew a garden of death. I began crying, because I hadn't meant anything bad by drawing it, but it seemed I was in trouble.
When I was seven, my dad said something was "gruesome." I asked him what gruesome meant, and he said, "It kind of means, just awful." Well, I don't think that's a very satisfactory definition. Then on Labor Day weekend in 1996, we were camping in Fillmore Canyon, and I was walking in the creek, and I slipped somewhere and landed on my shin, bruising it. It was very painful, and I think I had a bit of an overreaction to it, and I began hating the creek. (I created a jingle, "Chalk Creek, you're a geek," because geek was the only word I could think of that rhymed with creek.) I told my cousin Terrill that the creek was gruesome, remembering my dad's definition: "awful." However, it seems that I understood it better less than two months later. In my second grade class, for Halloween, we created paper candy corns, and we had to put a Halloween word on it, going down, and then each letter in that word would begin another word. My Halloween word was "Gruesome." I think I used ghost for g and I used eerie for one of the e's.
Once when I was in kindergarten, I was at my friend David Christensen's house. We were getting out of his van and he was talking to me, but for some reason I wasn't responding. His mom said to me, "Don't ignore him." Well, I had heard the word annoy, and here I heard ignore, so I might have thought that I had simply misheard annoy and it was actually ignore. Not long after that, my brother David was teasing me, as he usually did, and I said, "Quit ignoring me!" To which, of course, he said, "I'm not ignoring you!"
Another time, probably in first grade, I was on the playground, hanging on a bar. Another kid was also hanging and we were approaching each other. I said, "Caution," and he said, "My name's not Austin!"
One night at dinner, my dad asked me if I wanted more soup, and I said, "In fact I do!" That's not entirely misusing that expression, but it made David laugh.
For a time, I confused the words deaf and death. After I broke my arm, it was a rule that there were no more than two people on the trampoline at a time. One time, I remember reading the warning label on the tramp out loud as explanation to a younger cousin why he couldn't be on the tramp. (My gut tells me it was Peter, but he might have been too young.) In addition to things like "broken bones," the last item was "death." Jesse said, "That means you die." I said, "No, it means you can't hear." We had a little argument about what death meant.
On another occasion, when I was six or seven, we were at my paternal grandparents' house. My cousin Krishelle wanted us to draw pictures to give to Grandma Judy. She was drawing a picture of some fruit (one of her older siblings, I think Lacey, said that the bottom of her apple looked like the bottom of a 2-liter bottle). I was using my imagination and drawing some picture with a backstory to it. I was drawing a girl protagonist in her garden, and I also drew the dreary garden of a wicked person and labeled it "Garden of Death." I don't think I fully understood the negative connotations of the word. Well, we gave the pictures to Grandma Judy, and after that, my mom and my cousin Kadee asked me why I drew a garden of death. I began crying, because I hadn't meant anything bad by drawing it, but it seemed I was in trouble.
When I was seven, my dad said something was "gruesome." I asked him what gruesome meant, and he said, "It kind of means, just awful." Well, I don't think that's a very satisfactory definition. Then on Labor Day weekend in 1996, we were camping in Fillmore Canyon, and I was walking in the creek, and I slipped somewhere and landed on my shin, bruising it. It was very painful, and I think I had a bit of an overreaction to it, and I began hating the creek. (I created a jingle, "Chalk Creek, you're a geek," because geek was the only word I could think of that rhymed with creek.) I told my cousin Terrill that the creek was gruesome, remembering my dad's definition: "awful." However, it seems that I understood it better less than two months later. In my second grade class, for Halloween, we created paper candy corns, and we had to put a Halloween word on it, going down, and then each letter in that word would begin another word. My Halloween word was "Gruesome." I think I used ghost for g and I used eerie for one of the e's.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Halloween costumes
I'm going to remember all the Halloween costumes I've worn through the years. Usually I start from most recent and work back to the oldest, but this time I will do the opposite.
1989. Family pictures indicate that I was a panda bear. But obviously I don't remember that, since I was only one.
1990. Again, family pictures indicate that I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but I don't remember what one. Just today, I was thinking how TMNT was a sizeable part of my childhood, even though I remember hardly anything about it now.
1991. My mom insists that I was a green butterfly, but I don't remember it.
1992 or 1993. One of these years, I was a ladybug. I remember one kid saying, "A little ladybug!" and I was offended because I thought he was making fun of me. My mom told me he wasn't.
1994. I was Santa Claus, but my beard didn't look good. I had pillows to make me fat. I had a purple arm cast, so some kids told me I should say that I fell out of my sleigh and broke my arm. I loved to wear that costume again at Christmas.
1995. I was a mummy, so when we went to Boo at the Zoo, I wanted my face painted with a mummy on it. During my school's costume parade, I held my arms out in front of me the whole time, so when we went outside and no one was watching us, I was relieved to put my arms down.
1996. I was a grim reaper in a felt costume my mom had made. I think my face was painted white; my robe was black with red trim. I carried around a little plastic scythe. I don't know how I managed that in elementary school; they probably wouldn't allow that today.
1997. I was a jack-o-lantern, with leaves on my shoulders and orange and black curly vine things. I put pillows in the orange shirt to round it out. I remember my cousin Peter walking around in it, and the pillows dragged the shirt down and stretched it out.
1998. I was obsessed with the Wallace and Gromit shows, so I was Wallace, with a bald cap, a green sweater vest and red tie, and a stuffed dog that I carried around with me. Seeing the bald and the dog, someone thought I was Charlie Brown, but Ann Palmer, who was standing next to her, recognized me as Wallace. A few people knew who I was.
1999. Oh boy. I've always been a nerd, and in fifth grade I was especially nerdy, having a fascination with chess, even though I was horrible at it. I decided I wanted to be a chess piece, so I decided on a white king--a white robe, white face paint, and a white cross on my head. I doubt anyone knew I was a chess piece. They either thought I was a religious nut or a member of the KKK. I'm glad I didn't get arrested.
2000. Taking the idea from someone mistaking my costume two years earlier, and with my fairly new-found interest in Peanuts, it was only natural that I be Charlie Brown. I wore a baseball cap (because I didn't want a bald cap) and his shirt (which my mom had made), and carried around Snoopy, who had been Gromit two years earlier. (He really looked more like Snoopy than like Gromit.)
2001. Since I no longer went trick-or-treating, and my school had uniforms, there was no point in dressing up.
2002. Since my family was going to be out of the country on Halloween night, I decided not to celebrate Halloween that year, which was probably a bit silly.
2003. I didn't have much opportunity to wear it, but I wore a Charlie Brown ghost costume. You know, with all the holes in it.
2004. During the spring, during South Davis Junior High's spirit week, my mom had constructed a Fred Flintstone costume for decade day, so I wore that for Halloween.
2005. I think I wore the Flintstone costume to the mutual party, but when I took Allie trick-or-treating, I was a traditional ghost (with only two eyeholes).
2006. I was a vampire, with a suit, a medallion, and a beautiful cape.
2007. I was a vampire again, but I think I had some enhancements. I painted my nails black, and I had a red and black bowtie.
2008. Elder Love and I wore identical ties, and I switched our name tags, so we were each other for Halloween. Only at district meeting, though.
2009. Nothing.
2010. I was a vampire yet again--but this time, I had teeth to go with the costume.
2011. A vampire again, but this time I was younger. I first wore my costume to a Halloween 5k, with red athletic shorts and a scary red-and-black skull shirt, with a cheaper red and black cape. I wore red shoes on Halloween.
2012. I only dressed up one day, and I wore the same simple vampire costume, but with red regular shorts instead of athletic shorts.
2013. You guessed it. A vampire, but with no cape. At a Halloween party, I got my face painted rather scarily.
I like my vampire costume, but it's time to move on.
1989. Family pictures indicate that I was a panda bear. But obviously I don't remember that, since I was only one.
1990. Again, family pictures indicate that I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but I don't remember what one. Just today, I was thinking how TMNT was a sizeable part of my childhood, even though I remember hardly anything about it now.
1991. My mom insists that I was a green butterfly, but I don't remember it.
1992 or 1993. One of these years, I was a ladybug. I remember one kid saying, "A little ladybug!" and I was offended because I thought he was making fun of me. My mom told me he wasn't.
1994. I was Santa Claus, but my beard didn't look good. I had pillows to make me fat. I had a purple arm cast, so some kids told me I should say that I fell out of my sleigh and broke my arm. I loved to wear that costume again at Christmas.
1995. I was a mummy, so when we went to Boo at the Zoo, I wanted my face painted with a mummy on it. During my school's costume parade, I held my arms out in front of me the whole time, so when we went outside and no one was watching us, I was relieved to put my arms down.
1996. I was a grim reaper in a felt costume my mom had made. I think my face was painted white; my robe was black with red trim. I carried around a little plastic scythe. I don't know how I managed that in elementary school; they probably wouldn't allow that today.
1997. I was a jack-o-lantern, with leaves on my shoulders and orange and black curly vine things. I put pillows in the orange shirt to round it out. I remember my cousin Peter walking around in it, and the pillows dragged the shirt down and stretched it out.
1998. I was obsessed with the Wallace and Gromit shows, so I was Wallace, with a bald cap, a green sweater vest and red tie, and a stuffed dog that I carried around with me. Seeing the bald and the dog, someone thought I was Charlie Brown, but Ann Palmer, who was standing next to her, recognized me as Wallace. A few people knew who I was.
1999. Oh boy. I've always been a nerd, and in fifth grade I was especially nerdy, having a fascination with chess, even though I was horrible at it. I decided I wanted to be a chess piece, so I decided on a white king--a white robe, white face paint, and a white cross on my head. I doubt anyone knew I was a chess piece. They either thought I was a religious nut or a member of the KKK. I'm glad I didn't get arrested.
2000. Taking the idea from someone mistaking my costume two years earlier, and with my fairly new-found interest in Peanuts, it was only natural that I be Charlie Brown. I wore a baseball cap (because I didn't want a bald cap) and his shirt (which my mom had made), and carried around Snoopy, who had been Gromit two years earlier. (He really looked more like Snoopy than like Gromit.)
2001. Since I no longer went trick-or-treating, and my school had uniforms, there was no point in dressing up.
2002. Since my family was going to be out of the country on Halloween night, I decided not to celebrate Halloween that year, which was probably a bit silly.
2003. I didn't have much opportunity to wear it, but I wore a Charlie Brown ghost costume. You know, with all the holes in it.
2004. During the spring, during South Davis Junior High's spirit week, my mom had constructed a Fred Flintstone costume for decade day, so I wore that for Halloween.
2005. I think I wore the Flintstone costume to the mutual party, but when I took Allie trick-or-treating, I was a traditional ghost (with only two eyeholes).
2006. I was a vampire, with a suit, a medallion, and a beautiful cape.
2007. I was a vampire again, but I think I had some enhancements. I painted my nails black, and I had a red and black bowtie.
2008. Elder Love and I wore identical ties, and I switched our name tags, so we were each other for Halloween. Only at district meeting, though.
2009. Nothing.
2010. I was a vampire yet again--but this time, I had teeth to go with the costume.
2011. A vampire again, but this time I was younger. I first wore my costume to a Halloween 5k, with red athletic shorts and a scary red-and-black skull shirt, with a cheaper red and black cape. I wore red shoes on Halloween.
2012. I only dressed up one day, and I wore the same simple vampire costume, but with red regular shorts instead of athletic shorts.
2013. You guessed it. A vampire, but with no cape. At a Halloween party, I got my face painted rather scarily.
I like my vampire costume, but it's time to move on.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Two days before Memorial Day
Memorial Day is coming up, so I'm going to remember what I did on the Saturday before Memorial Day.
2013. I went to the Deseret Book/Distribution store to buy a new journal. I wanted the Church-made ones, so I looked all over Distribution. I asked someone where they were, and she directed me back to Deseret Book. I looked at their journals, but there were none of the Church-made ones, so I didn't buy one. I remember spending a lot of time in the library, working on an assignment for my editing class. This might have been the time that when I went over to the restroom, I saw two people from my ward, Ben Savio and David Jones. This is what my journal says:
"I went to buy a new journal today, but apparently they don't make these anymore. I've had a really hard time staying focused and motivated today. The only productive thing I did was spend a few hours on an editing assignment, but I should have done more, 'cause it's a doozy. I have a cold or something."
2012. We were camping, and I had some hot chocolate with red, white, and blue star-shaped marshmallows in it. It was cold and wet. Susanne came up, and she had brought Buddy the dog. He was getting all in the mud, and then he would jump up on Allie and Susanne and get his muddy pawprints on the blanket. Nan said she used to make fun of someone who brought her dog camping, and here she was the crazy dog person. We were all thinking the same thing. Eventually we all left, and I was dropped off at my apartment. I offered to Allie to use my bathroom, but she didn't want to. When I told her that my roommates weren't home, she was willing to come in. My dad came in too, and for a brief moment my roommate Cameron came home and he seemed a little freaked out to see a strange man in the apartment. They left, and I got ready to come up. But I left a little later than I expected. I went to Smith's in Bountiful to get salt and vinegar chips and root beer for my dad's birthday, and while I was there my mom called me (or texted me) to see where I was.
2011. I remember going to Walmart with my family, and Allie was saying she wanted a treat. My mom offered to get her the movie Gnomeo and Juliet. But then she was saying again that she wanted a treat, and would rather have it than the movie. I pointed out to her how silly that was, because she could watch a movie over and over, and we still had some of my dad's birthday cake at home. My mom agreed with me, to Allie's chagrin.
2010. My parents came early in the morning to pick me up to go to Fillmore. I gave my dad the DVD I had bought for his birthday when I got in the car, and I even told my parents about the concert I had been to the night before and had brought the CD I got there, but they didn't seem interested. We went to McDonald's for breakfast, which I wasn't happy about, and Allie said, "Maybe we're going here because I'm here." She had a bunch of DVDs to watch in her portable DVD player. She had brought the movie Mamma Mia! which I didn't want to be around, as very few PG-13 movies fit my standards (I wondered why she was allowed to watch it!). My mom asked Allie if she could watch something else for me. Later, Allie was watching a Barbie movie, and she told me that I could watch it because it had boys in it; and she also told me I could watch Mamma Mia! because it had boys in it. I thought it was funny that the six-year-old thought I didn't want to watch a movie because I thought it didn't have boys in it. We went to Fillmore Canyon, and Matt and I were standing on a grassy portion near the creek, where the kids were throwing rocks into the stream. Matt asked me what classes I was taking; I said, "French and New Testament," and he said he had taken French. Allie tried to throw a rock in the stream, and she missed horribly and threw it at us. We went back up to the picnic area, and Sarena was making homemade ice cream. Allie said, "I want to sit on this rock," so we let her and walked away. Then Susanne realized that she was sitting there, waiting for Sarena to share her ice cream. She went and took Allie away. Allie was really mad, and Nan tried to explain why that wasn't polite. But then Sarena came around and offered some of her ice cream to all of us. Allie was happy about that, but I declined. We went back to Provo, and my dad rode up with me. I asked him if he wanted a granola bar, but he didn't.
2009. We were helping the Catmulls next door, and Sister Catmull offered us pizza. She asked me what I liked or didn't like, and I said I liked everything but mushrooms. One of the pizzas ended up being Hawaiian, which Elder LaPratt didn't like. Their grandson Tyson and his girlfriend and our investigator, Kim, were there. They also had a great-grandson, a two-year-old named Jake, there. He pointed to the fancy pizza with tomatoes on it, probably because he thought the tomatoes looked good. But when he tasted it, he got this cringe on his face. It was really funny. This is what my journal says:
"This morning we were going to help Brother Cooper, but he wasn't home. We visited Brother Sabin. At the end of lunch, Tyson Ball asked if we could help his grandpa next door. We did, and that allowed us to have a lesson with Kim after dinner. That went well. After that we helped the Ruddells."
2008. I don't remember much about this day, but I think we met with Denise in the church building after Elder Condie played in the stake softball game. This might have been the day I was amused by the scriptures talking about the fathers eating a sour grape and the children's teeth being set on edge. One of the members said, "Sounds like sour grapes to me." (Our district, including our zone leaders, would play softball with the ward members, which I don't necessarily think is a bad idea, but it was later forbidden. I would sit and read my scriptures, but it probably would have been better if I interacted with members, which was the point of playing.) This is what my journal says:
"There were two softball games today. I was able to read much of Isaiah during it. Then Denise kept her appointment and hopefully she'll come to church. We met with the Curtisses, and then stopped by various people. The Welshes made us dinner.
"Elder Condie wanted me to redo the progress records. It seems like he disapproves of everything I do since interviews."
2002. I was released from the hospital in the morning from having anaphylaxis. My grandparents came over, and my mom was folding laundry. I was mortified that she was folding my underwear in front of them, so I kept throwing water at her in the hopes that she would stop, but it just made her mad. I was talking about how my Spanish teacher had said that any extra credit had to be done before Friday (the day before), no exceptions, that if you were in the ambulance on your way to the hospital, it would still be too late. Although I wasn't doing any extra credit, I was in fact in an ambulance on my way to the hospital that day.
2001. I think we were playing with the little helicopter toys my mom had brought camping. Sometimes they would fly on top of the outhouse, which was brand new and therefore not smelly. My cousin Rayce would climb up and get it. I think I imagined it would be really funny if it landed in the little pipe thing.
1995. I think this was the time that I was riding up in a car with my dad, Susanne, and my cousins Rayce and Krishelle. My dad and sister were remarking about how high the creek was and were saying we couldn't play in it. Krishelle and I were talking about how it freaked us out to drive by the cliffs on the side of the road. When we got up to the campsite, my mom, who had been in another vehicle, got all the kids together and said, "OK, the rule is," and then she explained we couldn't go by the water. We told her we knew that already. She clapped her hands together at some point (I think after "OK"); I don't know if it was to get our attention or for dramatic effect.
2013. I went to the Deseret Book/Distribution store to buy a new journal. I wanted the Church-made ones, so I looked all over Distribution. I asked someone where they were, and she directed me back to Deseret Book. I looked at their journals, but there were none of the Church-made ones, so I didn't buy one. I remember spending a lot of time in the library, working on an assignment for my editing class. This might have been the time that when I went over to the restroom, I saw two people from my ward, Ben Savio and David Jones. This is what my journal says:
"I went to buy a new journal today, but apparently they don't make these anymore. I've had a really hard time staying focused and motivated today. The only productive thing I did was spend a few hours on an editing assignment, but I should have done more, 'cause it's a doozy. I have a cold or something."
2012. We were camping, and I had some hot chocolate with red, white, and blue star-shaped marshmallows in it. It was cold and wet. Susanne came up, and she had brought Buddy the dog. He was getting all in the mud, and then he would jump up on Allie and Susanne and get his muddy pawprints on the blanket. Nan said she used to make fun of someone who brought her dog camping, and here she was the crazy dog person. We were all thinking the same thing. Eventually we all left, and I was dropped off at my apartment. I offered to Allie to use my bathroom, but she didn't want to. When I told her that my roommates weren't home, she was willing to come in. My dad came in too, and for a brief moment my roommate Cameron came home and he seemed a little freaked out to see a strange man in the apartment. They left, and I got ready to come up. But I left a little later than I expected. I went to Smith's in Bountiful to get salt and vinegar chips and root beer for my dad's birthday, and while I was there my mom called me (or texted me) to see where I was.
2011. I remember going to Walmart with my family, and Allie was saying she wanted a treat. My mom offered to get her the movie Gnomeo and Juliet. But then she was saying again that she wanted a treat, and would rather have it than the movie. I pointed out to her how silly that was, because she could watch a movie over and over, and we still had some of my dad's birthday cake at home. My mom agreed with me, to Allie's chagrin.
2010. My parents came early in the morning to pick me up to go to Fillmore. I gave my dad the DVD I had bought for his birthday when I got in the car, and I even told my parents about the concert I had been to the night before and had brought the CD I got there, but they didn't seem interested. We went to McDonald's for breakfast, which I wasn't happy about, and Allie said, "Maybe we're going here because I'm here." She had a bunch of DVDs to watch in her portable DVD player. She had brought the movie Mamma Mia! which I didn't want to be around, as very few PG-13 movies fit my standards (I wondered why she was allowed to watch it!). My mom asked Allie if she could watch something else for me. Later, Allie was watching a Barbie movie, and she told me that I could watch it because it had boys in it; and she also told me I could watch Mamma Mia! because it had boys in it. I thought it was funny that the six-year-old thought I didn't want to watch a movie because I thought it didn't have boys in it. We went to Fillmore Canyon, and Matt and I were standing on a grassy portion near the creek, where the kids were throwing rocks into the stream. Matt asked me what classes I was taking; I said, "French and New Testament," and he said he had taken French. Allie tried to throw a rock in the stream, and she missed horribly and threw it at us. We went back up to the picnic area, and Sarena was making homemade ice cream. Allie said, "I want to sit on this rock," so we let her and walked away. Then Susanne realized that she was sitting there, waiting for Sarena to share her ice cream. She went and took Allie away. Allie was really mad, and Nan tried to explain why that wasn't polite. But then Sarena came around and offered some of her ice cream to all of us. Allie was happy about that, but I declined. We went back to Provo, and my dad rode up with me. I asked him if he wanted a granola bar, but he didn't.
2009. We were helping the Catmulls next door, and Sister Catmull offered us pizza. She asked me what I liked or didn't like, and I said I liked everything but mushrooms. One of the pizzas ended up being Hawaiian, which Elder LaPratt didn't like. Their grandson Tyson and his girlfriend and our investigator, Kim, were there. They also had a great-grandson, a two-year-old named Jake, there. He pointed to the fancy pizza with tomatoes on it, probably because he thought the tomatoes looked good. But when he tasted it, he got this cringe on his face. It was really funny. This is what my journal says:
"This morning we were going to help Brother Cooper, but he wasn't home. We visited Brother Sabin. At the end of lunch, Tyson Ball asked if we could help his grandpa next door. We did, and that allowed us to have a lesson with Kim after dinner. That went well. After that we helped the Ruddells."
2008. I don't remember much about this day, but I think we met with Denise in the church building after Elder Condie played in the stake softball game. This might have been the day I was amused by the scriptures talking about the fathers eating a sour grape and the children's teeth being set on edge. One of the members said, "Sounds like sour grapes to me." (Our district, including our zone leaders, would play softball with the ward members, which I don't necessarily think is a bad idea, but it was later forbidden. I would sit and read my scriptures, but it probably would have been better if I interacted with members, which was the point of playing.) This is what my journal says:
"There were two softball games today. I was able to read much of Isaiah during it. Then Denise kept her appointment and hopefully she'll come to church. We met with the Curtisses, and then stopped by various people. The Welshes made us dinner.
"Elder Condie wanted me to redo the progress records. It seems like he disapproves of everything I do since interviews."
2002. I was released from the hospital in the morning from having anaphylaxis. My grandparents came over, and my mom was folding laundry. I was mortified that she was folding my underwear in front of them, so I kept throwing water at her in the hopes that she would stop, but it just made her mad. I was talking about how my Spanish teacher had said that any extra credit had to be done before Friday (the day before), no exceptions, that if you were in the ambulance on your way to the hospital, it would still be too late. Although I wasn't doing any extra credit, I was in fact in an ambulance on my way to the hospital that day.
2001. I think we were playing with the little helicopter toys my mom had brought camping. Sometimes they would fly on top of the outhouse, which was brand new and therefore not smelly. My cousin Rayce would climb up and get it. I think I imagined it would be really funny if it landed in the little pipe thing.
1995. I think this was the time that I was riding up in a car with my dad, Susanne, and my cousins Rayce and Krishelle. My dad and sister were remarking about how high the creek was and were saying we couldn't play in it. Krishelle and I were talking about how it freaked us out to drive by the cliffs on the side of the road. When we got up to the campsite, my mom, who had been in another vehicle, got all the kids together and said, "OK, the rule is," and then she explained we couldn't go by the water. We told her we knew that already. She clapped her hands together at some point (I think after "OK"); I don't know if it was to get our attention or for dramatic effect.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Good Friday
Easter is this week, so I will remember the things that happened two days before the holiday.
2013. I was taking a girl in my ward whom I home taught, Kayla, to the airport, so I parked over by her place and helped her load her suitcase in my car. We took off, and I was at a stop sign, waiting to turn left. Eventually I turned, and Kayla screamed. Another car was coming and honked--I hadn't seen them. I felt dumb the whole way for having done that. At one point I asked where Kayla got her mission call to--she said she hadn't even finished her papers. I felt dumb because I should have known that; I just got confused because so many girls were going on missions. We talked about the band fun. and I said I didn't like them; Kayla said she didn't like the lyrics of "We Are Young" but it was so catchy. We talked about little kids (since she was an el-ed major) and she told a story of a little kid saying there were bugs in raindrops (because he learned water could condense around bacteria in the atmosphere). My GPS confused me and I got off at the wrong exit, but it got me back where I needed to be and I was able to take off my sunglasses, since it was then dark. I went home and my mom had put a new Easter DVD on my bed. I asked if there was any candy I could have, but there wasn't. I went in her room while she cleaned and watched The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town, and then I went downstairs and watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail. I stayed up late writing a memory post, and my dad came home.
2012. I went to the library, and the computer I was working on on the second floor had all the settings really big. I bought a package of lavender-colored Hostess Sno-Balls. In my editing class, our teacher brought us Irish cheese that she loved and gave us apples. I tried a bit of the cheese, but I hated it, so I stuck to the packaged apples. I remember watching It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown while eating my second purple Sno-Ball. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today it was snowing! But it was gone by the afternoon. I got my semantics collection back and got good comments. In editing today none of the members of my group were there, so I got a bag of apples to myself. I got 88% on my geology test. I had a successful run, and tonight I made dinner, watched "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown," and finished my logical fallacies assignment."
2011. We left Las Vegas and drove home. This might have been the day we were listening to my Owl City and Coldplay CDs. My mom looked in her CD case and said, "This one is for Pops"--it was a CD, "Funny Favorites," that she had bought for me for Valentine's Day in 2006, but I didn't like it so I gave it to her. It was a CD of annoying old songs. When "Purple People Eater" was playing, Matt said his mom always used to play it. During the song "Tiptoe through the Tulips," the CD began skipping a lot, and I was relieved for an excuse to say "Time for a new CD!" We stopped at Burger King in Fillmore, and Taylor Swift's "Mine" was playing over their sound system. That led Susanne to talk about how T-Swift had an apartment in Nashville, and Matt said she was stalking her for knowing that.
2010. I baked Easter M&M cookies to take to my mission reunion. I left some of them in the oven a little too long, so I didn't take the burned ones to the reunion. I listened to Handel's Messiah in the car. I showed up at the stake center by the Draper Temple, where the reunion was being held. My companion Elder Chun was visiting from California; he was surprised to see me, and he came over and picked me up. I was wearing brown corduroy pants and an orange hoodie. I was talking to President Clark, and he was impressed that I had make cookies if I was living in an apartment, which didn't seem unusual to me. He had bought a cake from Costco with a bunny on it, and he was dismayed when he realized it said "Happy Birthday"--he thought it had said "Happy Easter." But it was still Eastery enough for me to eat it. Before I left, someone dumped all the cookies (since lots of people brought cookies) into one bag, so I couldn't take mine home. I left, and it was snowing and really windy. I called my mom to see what the weather was like at our house, but she said it was fine. I got lost trying to get to the freeway, and I couldn't see the lines on the road because it was dark and wet. When I got home, I went downstairs to watch It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, and while I was putting in the DVD, I was singing "All We like Sheep."
2009. We were teaching two boys, ages 8 and 9, and we were often impressed by their profound questions. Michael, the 9-year-old, asked this day why we celebrate Easter with eggs and bunnies. I told him it was a very good question. I can't remember what I told him. This is my journal entry:
"Today we actually were able to teach both the Youngs and the Williamses. The lessons went all right. We're hoping they will all show up for the Easter activity tomorrow so we will have a valid reason to attend. Michael Williams asked good questions, like why do we have Easter for Christ's resurrection with eggs. We've also been running into all sorts of crazy people while tracting, so it's good when we find some normal ones."
2008. We left early in the morning to drive up to our zone conference. It was snowy, and I remember pulling out my camera and narrating our drive. There had been a running gag that our zone leader, Elder Gammon, had cottage cheese skin, so I brought a cottage cheese container for him, but he was distracted looking for something. One of the new missionaries was Elder Wilson (who would later be my companion), and when we left, Elder Condie said bye to him, even though he didn't know him. I think this was the time that the Relief Society ran out of food for us, so President Clark didn't get any. Elder Condie got some packages from someone in a previous area. One of them was a St. Patrick's Day package that had been delivered to the wrong Elder Condie, so it was late. After conference, we went to the church, because Elder Condie was lazy and ruined those three months of my mission. That night we visited the Vaughans, and they had a two-year-old granddaughter visiting, who was saying funny things like "pretty sure" and "keep your hands to yourself."
2007. We went to a park in Nashville, and there was a train in the park. Preston would get mad at us and yell "No!" when we got near to it; apparently he had been trained not to go near trains. But that didn't stop him from touching it himself.
2013. I was taking a girl in my ward whom I home taught, Kayla, to the airport, so I parked over by her place and helped her load her suitcase in my car. We took off, and I was at a stop sign, waiting to turn left. Eventually I turned, and Kayla screamed. Another car was coming and honked--I hadn't seen them. I felt dumb the whole way for having done that. At one point I asked where Kayla got her mission call to--she said she hadn't even finished her papers. I felt dumb because I should have known that; I just got confused because so many girls were going on missions. We talked about the band fun. and I said I didn't like them; Kayla said she didn't like the lyrics of "We Are Young" but it was so catchy. We talked about little kids (since she was an el-ed major) and she told a story of a little kid saying there were bugs in raindrops (because he learned water could condense around bacteria in the atmosphere). My GPS confused me and I got off at the wrong exit, but it got me back where I needed to be and I was able to take off my sunglasses, since it was then dark. I went home and my mom had put a new Easter DVD on my bed. I asked if there was any candy I could have, but there wasn't. I went in her room while she cleaned and watched The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town, and then I went downstairs and watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail. I stayed up late writing a memory post, and my dad came home.
2012. I went to the library, and the computer I was working on on the second floor had all the settings really big. I bought a package of lavender-colored Hostess Sno-Balls. In my editing class, our teacher brought us Irish cheese that she loved and gave us apples. I tried a bit of the cheese, but I hated it, so I stuck to the packaged apples. I remember watching It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown while eating my second purple Sno-Ball. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today it was snowing! But it was gone by the afternoon. I got my semantics collection back and got good comments. In editing today none of the members of my group were there, so I got a bag of apples to myself. I got 88% on my geology test. I had a successful run, and tonight I made dinner, watched "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown," and finished my logical fallacies assignment."
2011. We left Las Vegas and drove home. This might have been the day we were listening to my Owl City and Coldplay CDs. My mom looked in her CD case and said, "This one is for Pops"--it was a CD, "Funny Favorites," that she had bought for me for Valentine's Day in 2006, but I didn't like it so I gave it to her. It was a CD of annoying old songs. When "Purple People Eater" was playing, Matt said his mom always used to play it. During the song "Tiptoe through the Tulips," the CD began skipping a lot, and I was relieved for an excuse to say "Time for a new CD!" We stopped at Burger King in Fillmore, and Taylor Swift's "Mine" was playing over their sound system. That led Susanne to talk about how T-Swift had an apartment in Nashville, and Matt said she was stalking her for knowing that.
2010. I baked Easter M&M cookies to take to my mission reunion. I left some of them in the oven a little too long, so I didn't take the burned ones to the reunion. I listened to Handel's Messiah in the car. I showed up at the stake center by the Draper Temple, where the reunion was being held. My companion Elder Chun was visiting from California; he was surprised to see me, and he came over and picked me up. I was wearing brown corduroy pants and an orange hoodie. I was talking to President Clark, and he was impressed that I had make cookies if I was living in an apartment, which didn't seem unusual to me. He had bought a cake from Costco with a bunny on it, and he was dismayed when he realized it said "Happy Birthday"--he thought it had said "Happy Easter." But it was still Eastery enough for me to eat it. Before I left, someone dumped all the cookies (since lots of people brought cookies) into one bag, so I couldn't take mine home. I left, and it was snowing and really windy. I called my mom to see what the weather was like at our house, but she said it was fine. I got lost trying to get to the freeway, and I couldn't see the lines on the road because it was dark and wet. When I got home, I went downstairs to watch It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, and while I was putting in the DVD, I was singing "All We like Sheep."
2009. We were teaching two boys, ages 8 and 9, and we were often impressed by their profound questions. Michael, the 9-year-old, asked this day why we celebrate Easter with eggs and bunnies. I told him it was a very good question. I can't remember what I told him. This is my journal entry:
"Today we actually were able to teach both the Youngs and the Williamses. The lessons went all right. We're hoping they will all show up for the Easter activity tomorrow so we will have a valid reason to attend. Michael Williams asked good questions, like why do we have Easter for Christ's resurrection with eggs. We've also been running into all sorts of crazy people while tracting, so it's good when we find some normal ones."
2008. We left early in the morning to drive up to our zone conference. It was snowy, and I remember pulling out my camera and narrating our drive. There had been a running gag that our zone leader, Elder Gammon, had cottage cheese skin, so I brought a cottage cheese container for him, but he was distracted looking for something. One of the new missionaries was Elder Wilson (who would later be my companion), and when we left, Elder Condie said bye to him, even though he didn't know him. I think this was the time that the Relief Society ran out of food for us, so President Clark didn't get any. Elder Condie got some packages from someone in a previous area. One of them was a St. Patrick's Day package that had been delivered to the wrong Elder Condie, so it was late. After conference, we went to the church, because Elder Condie was lazy and ruined those three months of my mission. That night we visited the Vaughans, and they had a two-year-old granddaughter visiting, who was saying funny things like "pretty sure" and "keep your hands to yourself."
2007. We went to a park in Nashville, and there was a train in the park. Preston would get mad at us and yell "No!" when we got near to it; apparently he had been trained not to go near trains. But that didn't stop him from touching it himself.
Allie was swinging, and I would give her a few pushes on the swing, then I would run over to swing myself. We saw Nashville's Parthenon. We went back to David's apartment to color eggs; after doing eggs, the kids took baths. It was snowing outside, and we were surprised it was snowing in April in Nashville.
2006. It was our last full day in Moab, and we went to different places in national parks. When we got back to our trailer, we watched It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown on my little DVD player.
2005. I didn't have school, and we got our Easter baskets in the morning. I got the Easter Beagle DVD; my mom said my dad considered getting me Easter Parade but they didn't. I went and took a "nap" and watched It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown on my little DVD player. Allie came in with Preston's new telephone toy. It had a picture of a dog on it, so she pointed to it and said, "Woof!" It was the first time I knew she knew what a dog said. That night we colored eggs (I think Easter Beagle was on TV), and I was eating an egg-shaped Tootsie Roll Pop.
2004. We went down to Fillmore to go to the sand dunes. Ya-ping and I slept in Grandma Judy and Grandpa Boyd's camper.
2003. I probably ate a popsicle.
2001. I got the card game Blurt! in my basket, and my mom said we could take it in the car on the ride to Fillmore the next day, but she said my cousin Joey (who was going with us) might not like playing it.
2000. My mom and I went to Provo to help David move out of his apartment. We loaded up all his stuff in our car, and my mom said he would be sad because he would probably never see his roommates again. We went to Walmart and got jelly beans, and when we got home I put them in a bowl on top of our TV.
1999. My cousin April was visiting, and this might have been the time she joined me in watching The Simpsons in my parents' room--it was an episode that I don't think was appropriate for a ten-year-old. My mom came home from shopping and I wasn't allowed to look in the bags she brought.
1998. We had all the cousins over for an egg hunt (after some of them had spent the night). My mom and aunt hid the eggs all over outside, and they explained how many eggs everyone was allowed. My mom said there were Skittles, and Sue repeated her, but there were no Skittles; I think they meant Starbursts. They told us there were small, medium, and large eggs and told us how many of each we could have. Rick Gildersleeve was helping Rhys find eggs. He found a medium one, and he asked me if it was a small one; I thought, if he thinks that's a little one, how big does he think the big ones must be? After everyone left, my parents brought out our Easter baskets, and I was disappointed to have them given to us in the evening. I got a little Tweety Bird thing that you connected to the water faucet and it acted as a drinking fountain.
1995. I awoke to snow covering all the tulips outside. My cousin Tammy had spent the night at our house, and my Thompson cousins were coming over for an Easter party. Tammy played the "Fluffy Bunny" song from the Picture Book of Songs. Some of the candy we had were Sweetarts ducks and bunnies.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Three days before Easter
Easter is in two weeks, so I'm going to remember what I can about the Thursday before Easter.
2013. I remember a few things, but my journal entry for the day sums it up just as well:
"Today I studied out in the sun and caught up on EME [Early Modern English] readings. I went to the JFSB courtyard and sat at a table, and a jumping spider was on the table. It kept staring back at me. I worked in the library on my source check; I'm almost done.
"Tonight I went to the temple. I called mom, but she couldn't talk because she was introducing Jackie to Jan Terri. Then I went running. My route got changed since there was something going on near the field house and because there was construction on 900 E. Then tonight I watched It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown."
2012. We had an upcoming test, so we went to class for a test review. Normally, when a professor doesn't show up, it's a good excuse to leave, but since it was a test review, we wanted him there. So after waiting a while, I went to go find him. I didn't know how the geology offices worked, so I went up to the secretaries and said, "Is Dr. Nelson in here?" They said, "Is he supposed to be?" They told me where his office was, so I went over and knocked on his door. He opened and I asked if we were having a review. He went "Oh no!" His alarm apparently didn't go off. I grabbed a drink at the drinking fountain before I followed him back downstairs, and he walked into the classroom with a sheepish look on his face. My journal entry basically says what I just said:
"Today I slept in until almost 10:00. I went to class. In Geology Professor Nelson didn't show up. I went to the Geology department and found out his office wasn't in there. They told me where it was, so I went and knocked on the door. Apparently he had turned his alarm off and lost track of time. If it hadn't been a review, we would have left. I made Hawaiian haystacks for dinner."
2011. It was spring break with my family, and we drove to the LaBrea tar pits. We looked at all the stuff in the park, and then we went in the museum. When we were walking in, a hobo was outside, singing some song about Minnie and Mickey (since Allie was wearing a Minnie Mouse hat) and said "hice" as plural of "house" to rhyme with "mice." Then he said, "Do you know that if something has less than four legs, you add s to make it plural, but if there's four or more, you make it -ice? That's why you have lice and mice but spouses and houses. It's the most obscure rule in the English language." (Today I would have said to him, "No, that's not the rule, it has to do with their etymology, because in Old English they had different inflections.") I was disappointed that despite the museum's insistence that there were no dinosaurs in the tar, they had lots of dinosaur things in the gift shop, likely reinforcing misconceptions. I liked looking at all the fossils, and Matt, Nan, and Allie all seemed anxious to leave. I was amused by the warning sign on the door of their courtyard.
We left, and when we got back to our car, someone had put their bumper up directly touching ours, since we had a big car and were slightly sticking out. We laughed that they had a ticket. Matt said we should take it and make them get a bigger fine, but we didn't. While driving through cities, Nan pointed out a rainbow store, and I saw a sign that said "Facebook cigarettes"; Matt said it was probably because Facebook is addicting. We drove out of California and stopped at McDonald's for lunch. Our destination was Las Vegas, for some reason. When we got there, we checked in at our hotel and went out to the strip, for some reason. We had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Our waitress asked where we were from, and when we explained, she asked Allie, "You know that big castle-y building,"--my mom prompted, "the temple"--and the waitress said she was married there. My mom said they were married there too. Then that led to a conversation in which Allie said to Matt "You're not Mormon," and my mom said, "We'll get him one day," to which Matt said, "Ignoring." After dinner, we went to the gift shop, and I wanted a walrus bouncy ball, but then realized that it cost $4, an outlandish price for a small bouncy ball. We went to the Coke and M&M stores. I was disappointed with the lack of holiday stuff at the M&M store. We left, and there was a girl sitting on a corner, playing an accordion and singing with an operatic voice. I think a black guy representing a church did some street performance. I remember crossing the street and hearing M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," a song I had never heard other than on Pandora.
2010. I showed up to my math class, and one girl said to another classmate that they had seen Elder Holland walking past the JFSB. He believed it, but then she told him it was just an April Fools' joke. Our internet was down, so I called to get it fixed, and I had my planner there to write down anything I might need to know. When I told my phone number to the guy who answered, I wrote my own number in my planner. (I only remember this happened this day because I put it on Facebook.)
2009. We tracted the street behind the house where we lived, one that I think only had a dirt road. We stopped at one house where I noticed a JW flyer--their typical "Come celebrate the death of Jesus," the only thing they celebrate--and I always felt a little uncomfortable seeing JW flyers, because it meant people would probably be even less inclined to talk to us, having recently been visited by a religion. There were some frisky horses at this house. Across the street, a 20-something girl answered and we set up a return appointment. We went to one house where the lady answered and said rudely, "Yes?" I said, "We're the..." and she said, "I know who you are. Get off my property, all of you!" So we left, and Elder Kitchen waved back as we left and she yelled again, "Stay away, all of you!" Elder Kitchen said, "That's the rudest person I've ever met!" At the house across the street, the wife was nice but not interested, and she seemed sympathetic toward us when we told her what had happened at the previous house. I remember when Elder Kitchen called our district leader that night, he told him how I wanted the rude lady's house to burn down. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today we walked around which wasn't my favorite. We visited the Nelsons, in addition to some others. After dinner we tracted. Most of the people were nice, except for one lady, who demanded us to get off her property and never to come back. But before her we talked to a young woman who wants to ask us questions so we're going back on Saturday. We also met Dave Smith, a less-active member whose records are not on the list."
2008. What I remember about the details in the journal entry below are that Brother Coats lived in a house next to the Little Spokane River, and I gave an Easter spiritual thought, and that Sister Berger said she had done alterations for missionaries before.
"The first day of spring was a cold one, with snow and hail ruining our car cleaning. We met with Duane and Vickie who are still excited. Then we met with Richard Swinkels, who might come to church, then Brother Smith took us to Subway, then to see Brother Coats, a less-active widower, then the Bergers, but only Sister Berger was there.
2007. We were in Tennessee, and this might have been the day we went to some kind of museum during the day. We had some Reese's Pieces eggs, which Ya-ping wanted to keep hidden from Preston.
2006. We were in southern Utah for spring break, and this may have been the day we were driving around in Canyonlands.
2005. This might have been the day when in my math class, one of my classmates shared some of the chocolate bunny her grandma had given her. Ms. Jordan said, "This is good chocolate!" Although I liked it, I could tell it wasn't really quality chocolate.
2004. It was spring break, and I'm sure I would have read some of Farewell to Manzanar, and it might have been the day I might Easter sugar cookies.
2003. I probably ate a popsicle.
1999. This was probably the day we were supposed to write about our best Easter ever. I explained that the Easters I remembered weren't very good, so I wanted to write a story instead. I wanted to write a story in which I got a basket full of multicolored chicks and bunnies, but that seemed too cheesy, so instead I said I got "just what I wanted--pets," and I knew it was a terrible story.
1998. Our class went to see a play adaptation of James and the Giant Peach at a children's theater. For the peach, they had an orange balloon grow on a tree, and then they had a giant cloth-covered thing that was meant to be the giant peach. I thought it looked really bad. For the cloud men, they had weird jugglers who looked nothing like clouds. Then we got back to school and ate our lunches in the classroom; Mrs. Slagowski had a sandwich with sprouts on it. We watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail and we had promises of Easter candy. Logan Smith kept saying the Easter Bunny was coming, and Mrs. Fisher said there was no such thing. I think Logan knew that, but I was still surprised at her directness. When we got our candy-filled eggs, there were weird candies that were like Fruity Pebbles but they were hard candies. Mrs. Fisher brought some chicks, and I remember watching the chicks after school on the porch in front of the school, a porch that is no longer there. A high-functioning special needs girl, Heidi, was sitting on a bench, eating a hard-boiled egg she had gotten in her class. I think my cousins came over that night for a sleepover, and we slept in my tepee.
1997. This might have been the first day I returned to school after breaking my arm, and Tally Prosence was the first to see me, but maybe that was a different day. Our teacher, Miss Slater, brought her pet bunny to class. It had a name from its previous owner, but she just called it Bunny. We had made little baskets out of strawberry cartons, and during lunch she hid them all over the room. She had a few people search at a time, and I was in the first group (maybe because of my broken arm). I was the first one to find my basket. I took it back to my desk, but I didn't start eating my candy until I saw Nicole Nutter start eating hers.
1995. We got bunny-shaped marshmallows, and we watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail, but we had to stop it at the Christmas scene.
2013. I remember a few things, but my journal entry for the day sums it up just as well:
"Today I studied out in the sun and caught up on EME [Early Modern English] readings. I went to the JFSB courtyard and sat at a table, and a jumping spider was on the table. It kept staring back at me. I worked in the library on my source check; I'm almost done.
"Tonight I went to the temple. I called mom, but she couldn't talk because she was introducing Jackie to Jan Terri. Then I went running. My route got changed since there was something going on near the field house and because there was construction on 900 E. Then tonight I watched It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown."
2012. We had an upcoming test, so we went to class for a test review. Normally, when a professor doesn't show up, it's a good excuse to leave, but since it was a test review, we wanted him there. So after waiting a while, I went to go find him. I didn't know how the geology offices worked, so I went up to the secretaries and said, "Is Dr. Nelson in here?" They said, "Is he supposed to be?" They told me where his office was, so I went over and knocked on his door. He opened and I asked if we were having a review. He went "Oh no!" His alarm apparently didn't go off. I grabbed a drink at the drinking fountain before I followed him back downstairs, and he walked into the classroom with a sheepish look on his face. My journal entry basically says what I just said:
"Today I slept in until almost 10:00. I went to class. In Geology Professor Nelson didn't show up. I went to the Geology department and found out his office wasn't in there. They told me where it was, so I went and knocked on the door. Apparently he had turned his alarm off and lost track of time. If it hadn't been a review, we would have left. I made Hawaiian haystacks for dinner."
2011. It was spring break with my family, and we drove to the LaBrea tar pits. We looked at all the stuff in the park, and then we went in the museum. When we were walking in, a hobo was outside, singing some song about Minnie and Mickey (since Allie was wearing a Minnie Mouse hat) and said "hice" as plural of "house" to rhyme with "mice." Then he said, "Do you know that if something has less than four legs, you add s to make it plural, but if there's four or more, you make it -ice? That's why you have lice and mice but spouses and houses. It's the most obscure rule in the English language." (Today I would have said to him, "No, that's not the rule, it has to do with their etymology, because in Old English they had different inflections.") I was disappointed that despite the museum's insistence that there were no dinosaurs in the tar, they had lots of dinosaur things in the gift shop, likely reinforcing misconceptions. I liked looking at all the fossils, and Matt, Nan, and Allie all seemed anxious to leave. I was amused by the warning sign on the door of their courtyard.
2010. I showed up to my math class, and one girl said to another classmate that they had seen Elder Holland walking past the JFSB. He believed it, but then she told him it was just an April Fools' joke. Our internet was down, so I called to get it fixed, and I had my planner there to write down anything I might need to know. When I told my phone number to the guy who answered, I wrote my own number in my planner. (I only remember this happened this day because I put it on Facebook.)
2009. We tracted the street behind the house where we lived, one that I think only had a dirt road. We stopped at one house where I noticed a JW flyer--their typical "Come celebrate the death of Jesus," the only thing they celebrate--and I always felt a little uncomfortable seeing JW flyers, because it meant people would probably be even less inclined to talk to us, having recently been visited by a religion. There were some frisky horses at this house. Across the street, a 20-something girl answered and we set up a return appointment. We went to one house where the lady answered and said rudely, "Yes?" I said, "We're the..." and she said, "I know who you are. Get off my property, all of you!" So we left, and Elder Kitchen waved back as we left and she yelled again, "Stay away, all of you!" Elder Kitchen said, "That's the rudest person I've ever met!" At the house across the street, the wife was nice but not interested, and she seemed sympathetic toward us when we told her what had happened at the previous house. I remember when Elder Kitchen called our district leader that night, he told him how I wanted the rude lady's house to burn down. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today we walked around which wasn't my favorite. We visited the Nelsons, in addition to some others. After dinner we tracted. Most of the people were nice, except for one lady, who demanded us to get off her property and never to come back. But before her we talked to a young woman who wants to ask us questions so we're going back on Saturday. We also met Dave Smith, a less-active member whose records are not on the list."
2008. What I remember about the details in the journal entry below are that Brother Coats lived in a house next to the Little Spokane River, and I gave an Easter spiritual thought, and that Sister Berger said she had done alterations for missionaries before.
"The first day of spring was a cold one, with snow and hail ruining our car cleaning. We met with Duane and Vickie who are still excited. Then we met with Richard Swinkels, who might come to church, then Brother Smith took us to Subway, then to see Brother Coats, a less-active widower, then the Bergers, but only Sister Berger was there.
2007. We were in Tennessee, and this might have been the day we went to some kind of museum during the day. We had some Reese's Pieces eggs, which Ya-ping wanted to keep hidden from Preston.
2006. We were in southern Utah for spring break, and this may have been the day we were driving around in Canyonlands.
2005. This might have been the day when in my math class, one of my classmates shared some of the chocolate bunny her grandma had given her. Ms. Jordan said, "This is good chocolate!" Although I liked it, I could tell it wasn't really quality chocolate.
2004. It was spring break, and I'm sure I would have read some of Farewell to Manzanar, and it might have been the day I might Easter sugar cookies.
2003. I probably ate a popsicle.
1999. This was probably the day we were supposed to write about our best Easter ever. I explained that the Easters I remembered weren't very good, so I wanted to write a story instead. I wanted to write a story in which I got a basket full of multicolored chicks and bunnies, but that seemed too cheesy, so instead I said I got "just what I wanted--pets," and I knew it was a terrible story.
1998. Our class went to see a play adaptation of James and the Giant Peach at a children's theater. For the peach, they had an orange balloon grow on a tree, and then they had a giant cloth-covered thing that was meant to be the giant peach. I thought it looked really bad. For the cloud men, they had weird jugglers who looked nothing like clouds. Then we got back to school and ate our lunches in the classroom; Mrs. Slagowski had a sandwich with sprouts on it. We watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail and we had promises of Easter candy. Logan Smith kept saying the Easter Bunny was coming, and Mrs. Fisher said there was no such thing. I think Logan knew that, but I was still surprised at her directness. When we got our candy-filled eggs, there were weird candies that were like Fruity Pebbles but they were hard candies. Mrs. Fisher brought some chicks, and I remember watching the chicks after school on the porch in front of the school, a porch that is no longer there. A high-functioning special needs girl, Heidi, was sitting on a bench, eating a hard-boiled egg she had gotten in her class. I think my cousins came over that night for a sleepover, and we slept in my tepee.
1997. This might have been the first day I returned to school after breaking my arm, and Tally Prosence was the first to see me, but maybe that was a different day. Our teacher, Miss Slater, brought her pet bunny to class. It had a name from its previous owner, but she just called it Bunny. We had made little baskets out of strawberry cartons, and during lunch she hid them all over the room. She had a few people search at a time, and I was in the first group (maybe because of my broken arm). I was the first one to find my basket. I took it back to my desk, but I didn't start eating my candy until I saw Nicole Nutter start eating hers.
1995. We got bunny-shaped marshmallows, and we watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail, but we had to stop it at the Christmas scene.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Groundhog Day
Although I think Groundhog Day is the most pointless day printed on the calendar, I'm still going to try to remember what I can about it.
2013. In the day, my wardie Morgan Crockett and I had to go out knocking on people's doors to get them to sign up on our ward website. I didn't have a tablet or a smart phone, so I was less efficient, and several people lied to me about whether they'd sign up. (Remember that question, "Are you honest in your dealings?") While Morgan was talking to people at the Elite complex, I was standing out on the sidewalk, kicking ice around to try to get it to melt. I looked up at the mountains in the east, and I watched a van drive down the road, and I began to think that it was too incredible that our world happened by chance.
2011. That evening, I went to a test review session for my astronomy class in the BNSN. There was a girl there with some vending machine pretzels, and we were talking about the winter solstice. The TA said, "The sun is highest in the sky at the winter solstice." The pretzel girl said, completely serious, "Is that in August?" The TA politely responded to her question, but I couldn't believe a university student was asking such a question! Then I went to the humanities computer lab in the JFSB and posted the story on the Overheard at BYU Facebook page. I think I had to work on a project for my Web publishing class, and then I probably went to institute.
2010. My family came down to Provo because they needed to get our Subaru, since it wasn't working. When I got in the Suburban, Allie looked greedily at my planner, because for some reason she loved to look at my planner. Part of the object in her coming was for me to observe her speech for my introductory ELang class, and I got to observe those things. She said something to me, and said, "Do you renember [sic] that?" They took me to dinner at Brick Oven. I got a meal that came with a cookie, and when I got it, Allie began looking greedily (again) at it, sticking her tongue out. Susanne saw what she was doing, and said, "No!" But I gave her a piece of the cookie anyway, and she said the chocolate chip tasted like Nutella. (I was less strict about eating seasonal desserts then.) They asked Allie what her favorite February holiday was, and she said, "Valentime's [sic] Day and Groundog [sic] Day." Then we got back to my apartment, and they called a tow truck to take the car. I had to take Allie up to my apartment to use the bathroom. Then Allie was sitting on her mom's lap in the car, and Susanne pulled the door shut, and it closed on Allie's fingers. She began crying, so Susanne asked me if I could get some ice for her fingers. My mom also needed to use the bathroom, so she was following me up the stairs. I went really fast to get Allie's ice, and my mom got mad. My going faster than my mom didn't do much good, though, because my mom ended up taking the ice back down anyway. I asked my roommate James if she could use our bathroom, so he left the bedroom. As my mom was leaving, she asked him if he was keeping me in line (or something like that), and I thought it was awkward, because James hated all people. Later James asked me about my dinner and what I got. He didn't know Brick Oven served anything besides pizza.
2009. I remember our dinner at the Johnsons', a recently converted family whose daughter was getting baptized that week. They served us a meal that was tater tots on sour cream. I had tater tot casseroles multiple times in that area (but never before and never after), but I didn't like this one. Neither I nor Elder Wilson liked sour cream, but we pretended to like it. They offered us soda, and I didn't want one, but Elder Wilson wanted a Mountain Dew, and the nine-year-old daughter Danielle had a meltdown because she didn't get a Mountain Dew. Elder Wilson felt bad, but Jason (the dad) told him not to worry. Then we went over to the church to have them try on baptismal suits. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was a rather boring P-day. Elder Colton took almost two hours to email, and then we went to Spokane so they could play basketball. I was not pleased with the topics of conversation today. I think Elder Colton and Elder Wilson bring out the worst in each other. Elder Colton was shocked when I tried to bite him last night, but I warned him to be quiet.
"But the Johnsons had us for dinner--which was just all right--and then we went to the church so they could try on baptismal clothes. They seem really excited."
2008. The zone leaders came to the house where we lived, and we watched President Hinckley's funeral on TV. Then Elder Gammon stayed in the area to work with me. We were walking around, and Elder Gammon said he felt impressed to knock on a house on Peone, but no one was home. When we were walking back to our house, he asked me if I shared the gospel with my friends before my mission. I told him that I didn't have any friends, but he didn't believe me. "Everyone has friends," he said, so I asked how he would define a friend. He said it was someone who you did things with. I told him that by that definition, I didn't have any friends. I told him a few anecdotes of irresponsible gospel sharing that I had done (or hadn't done). Then we drove over to a dinner appointment in the Northpointe Ward, and we tracted that street. The first guy told us not to come back. Another lady was not interested and said she had lived in Ogden. We knocked on one house and they didn't answer, but we heard a teenage boy say something like "I'm not a slut!" The next house was a member house. I was going to skip it, but Elder Gammon suggested talking to them anyway. So we knocked, and they let us in. We told them about our tracting experiences, and I relayed the experience we had had at the previous house, but I didn't realize that it probably wasn't appropriate for me to say that in their house. I asked how long it had been since the street had been tracted, and they said it was about a year. (That was my first area, so I thought that was too recent for comfort, but in later areas, I would have loved to find a street that hadn't been tracted in that time.) After dinner, a member in the Greenbluff Ward called and asked if we could come over. So I drove to their house, and they gave us some cinnamon rolls. We were meeting up with the other elders at Cold Stone, so Elder Gammon and I waited there. The last time we had met there, we had gotten ice cream, so I thought we were going to that time. Elder Gammon asked me, while we were waiting, if we should pray to start our fast. I said I wanted to wait, and he guessed that I wanted to get ice cream. But I said I wanted to wait for Elder Chun. We didn't get any ice cream. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today the zone leaders came here and we watched President Hinckley's funeral and had lunch with the Welshes. Then Elder Gammon stayed with me in our area. We walked to a referral who wasn't home but we stopped by a less-active on our way back. Then we tracted around our dinner appointment and had a member visit after Tina Andersen, the lady to whom we gave a blessing after her car crash, gave us cinnamon rolls."
1997. Our primary chorister, Karen Brunner, had some sort of Groundhog Day activity for us in primary. She loved clipart, so she had a clipart groundhog, and then she had some pieces of paper that had the sun shining on the groundhog (meaning more winter), or a cloud preventing shadows (meaning spring). I don't remember what the point of it was.
1996. I think it was snowing, so when our principal, Mrs. Park, gave morning announcements, she said the groundhog must have seen its shadow.
1995. My mom told me that the groundhog hadn't seen its shadow, and everyone seemed to kind of think it was a big deal. I had never heard of Groundhog Day.
2013. In the day, my wardie Morgan Crockett and I had to go out knocking on people's doors to get them to sign up on our ward website. I didn't have a tablet or a smart phone, so I was less efficient, and several people lied to me about whether they'd sign up. (Remember that question, "Are you honest in your dealings?") While Morgan was talking to people at the Elite complex, I was standing out on the sidewalk, kicking ice around to try to get it to melt. I looked up at the mountains in the east, and I watched a van drive down the road, and I began to think that it was too incredible that our world happened by chance.
2011. That evening, I went to a test review session for my astronomy class in the BNSN. There was a girl there with some vending machine pretzels, and we were talking about the winter solstice. The TA said, "The sun is highest in the sky at the winter solstice." The pretzel girl said, completely serious, "Is that in August?" The TA politely responded to her question, but I couldn't believe a university student was asking such a question! Then I went to the humanities computer lab in the JFSB and posted the story on the Overheard at BYU Facebook page. I think I had to work on a project for my Web publishing class, and then I probably went to institute.
2010. My family came down to Provo because they needed to get our Subaru, since it wasn't working. When I got in the Suburban, Allie looked greedily at my planner, because for some reason she loved to look at my planner. Part of the object in her coming was for me to observe her speech for my introductory ELang class, and I got to observe those things. She said something to me, and said, "Do you renember [sic] that?" They took me to dinner at Brick Oven. I got a meal that came with a cookie, and when I got it, Allie began looking greedily (again) at it, sticking her tongue out. Susanne saw what she was doing, and said, "No!" But I gave her a piece of the cookie anyway, and she said the chocolate chip tasted like Nutella. (I was less strict about eating seasonal desserts then.) They asked Allie what her favorite February holiday was, and she said, "Valentime's [sic] Day and Groundog [sic] Day." Then we got back to my apartment, and they called a tow truck to take the car. I had to take Allie up to my apartment to use the bathroom. Then Allie was sitting on her mom's lap in the car, and Susanne pulled the door shut, and it closed on Allie's fingers. She began crying, so Susanne asked me if I could get some ice for her fingers. My mom also needed to use the bathroom, so she was following me up the stairs. I went really fast to get Allie's ice, and my mom got mad. My going faster than my mom didn't do much good, though, because my mom ended up taking the ice back down anyway. I asked my roommate James if she could use our bathroom, so he left the bedroom. As my mom was leaving, she asked him if he was keeping me in line (or something like that), and I thought it was awkward, because James hated all people. Later James asked me about my dinner and what I got. He didn't know Brick Oven served anything besides pizza.
2009. I remember our dinner at the Johnsons', a recently converted family whose daughter was getting baptized that week. They served us a meal that was tater tots on sour cream. I had tater tot casseroles multiple times in that area (but never before and never after), but I didn't like this one. Neither I nor Elder Wilson liked sour cream, but we pretended to like it. They offered us soda, and I didn't want one, but Elder Wilson wanted a Mountain Dew, and the nine-year-old daughter Danielle had a meltdown because she didn't get a Mountain Dew. Elder Wilson felt bad, but Jason (the dad) told him not to worry. Then we went over to the church to have them try on baptismal suits. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was a rather boring P-day. Elder Colton took almost two hours to email, and then we went to Spokane so they could play basketball. I was not pleased with the topics of conversation today. I think Elder Colton and Elder Wilson bring out the worst in each other. Elder Colton was shocked when I tried to bite him last night, but I warned him to be quiet.
"But the Johnsons had us for dinner--which was just all right--and then we went to the church so they could try on baptismal clothes. They seem really excited."
2008. The zone leaders came to the house where we lived, and we watched President Hinckley's funeral on TV. Then Elder Gammon stayed in the area to work with me. We were walking around, and Elder Gammon said he felt impressed to knock on a house on Peone, but no one was home. When we were walking back to our house, he asked me if I shared the gospel with my friends before my mission. I told him that I didn't have any friends, but he didn't believe me. "Everyone has friends," he said, so I asked how he would define a friend. He said it was someone who you did things with. I told him that by that definition, I didn't have any friends. I told him a few anecdotes of irresponsible gospel sharing that I had done (or hadn't done). Then we drove over to a dinner appointment in the Northpointe Ward, and we tracted that street. The first guy told us not to come back. Another lady was not interested and said she had lived in Ogden. We knocked on one house and they didn't answer, but we heard a teenage boy say something like "I'm not a slut!" The next house was a member house. I was going to skip it, but Elder Gammon suggested talking to them anyway. So we knocked, and they let us in. We told them about our tracting experiences, and I relayed the experience we had had at the previous house, but I didn't realize that it probably wasn't appropriate for me to say that in their house. I asked how long it had been since the street had been tracted, and they said it was about a year. (That was my first area, so I thought that was too recent for comfort, but in later areas, I would have loved to find a street that hadn't been tracted in that time.) After dinner, a member in the Greenbluff Ward called and asked if we could come over. So I drove to their house, and they gave us some cinnamon rolls. We were meeting up with the other elders at Cold Stone, so Elder Gammon and I waited there. The last time we had met there, we had gotten ice cream, so I thought we were going to that time. Elder Gammon asked me, while we were waiting, if we should pray to start our fast. I said I wanted to wait, and he guessed that I wanted to get ice cream. But I said I wanted to wait for Elder Chun. We didn't get any ice cream. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today the zone leaders came here and we watched President Hinckley's funeral and had lunch with the Welshes. Then Elder Gammon stayed with me in our area. We walked to a referral who wasn't home but we stopped by a less-active on our way back. Then we tracted around our dinner appointment and had a member visit after Tina Andersen, the lady to whom we gave a blessing after her car crash, gave us cinnamon rolls."
1997. Our primary chorister, Karen Brunner, had some sort of Groundhog Day activity for us in primary. She loved clipart, so she had a clipart groundhog, and then she had some pieces of paper that had the sun shining on the groundhog (meaning more winter), or a cloud preventing shadows (meaning spring). I don't remember what the point of it was.
1996. I think it was snowing, so when our principal, Mrs. Park, gave morning announcements, she said the groundhog must have seen its shadow.
1995. My mom told me that the groundhog hadn't seen its shadow, and everyone seemed to kind of think it was a big deal. I had never heard of Groundhog Day.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
December 21
As we inch ever closer to Christmas, I'm going to remember what I can about four days before the holiday.
2012. I remember wrapping Christmas presents. That night I watched Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, with the intent of seeing if it could count as a Fourth of July movie. But since they didn't mention the Fourth of July until twenty minutes in, and the last half of the movie takes place July 5 and July 6, I decided not to count it.
2011. We had our work Christmas party in our break room, so all the people from other departments had to go elsewhere for their breaks. They had put strings across the room and hung those plastic candy-filled canes on them. We all got one, and then later we got to get more. I got red and green Sprees and I think one other kind of Christmas candy. They had even brought the radio up into the break room, which annoyed me a little, since radio Christmas music isn't very good. Our supervisor, Nate, thanked us for our work. Then we ate Subways. Then they told a bunch of us we could go home early. So I drove to Shopko in Bountiful to do my shopping, listening to Handel's Messiah on the way. I looked at various stores, and when I went to my car, it wouldn't start! So I called my parents, and while I waited I finished my shopping. My parents came and tried to jumpstart the car, but it wouldn't work. So then they called a tow man, and he tried to jump it, and it still wouldn't work, so he towed it. Then we went to dinner at Burger King, where in the background they played Rachel Platten's "1,000 Ships."
2009. In the morning, my mom and I were going up to Farmington to get me a new driver's license. I put in my He Gives Flowers to Everyone Cherie Call CD. When we got off the freeway in Farmington, I saw a car pull off on the shoulder, and I could tell they were doing a U-turn. I told my mom that, but it was too late and he pulled right in front of us. It was the first time I had been in an accident. The car started spilling liquid all over, and I tried to call 911. My phone was acting weird, but fortunately a police car drove by right then. The guy in the other car was very sorry and admitted it was his fault. I think Susanne came and picked me up to take me to the DMV. That day we discussed how our family home evening would be for the kids to deliver Christmas presents. Allie called it "Hamily Fome Evening." (Maybe that was a different day that month.) But instead of going to our FHE, I went to the singles ward FHE, which was a white elephant party. I grabbed a couple of CDs I no longer wanted, a Monkees compilation and a cheap Halloween CD. I went to the house where the party was being held. I almost went to the wrong house, but then I figured out it was wrong. The Christmas tree was a really fancy designer tree with gaudy candy decorations, and a cover album of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer soundtrack was playing. They had pizza for dinner, and Peter Moosman, a vegetarian, was disgusted when he found out that what he thought was cheese pizza actually had meat on it. "Who puts toppings under the cheese?!" He said he felt sick. I thought it was funny, though now I would be a bit more sympathetic. Then we went downstairs for our white elephants. At one point I got a Cafe Rio giftcard, and later a Star Wars cup and a watch, but eventually I ended up with an IQ book and a CD of songs written by Orrin Hatch. The Down syndrome Matt Chidester ended up with a typewriter, which he was going to give to his mom. The party went late, and then I still had to come home and watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which I did in the kitchen.
2008. It was very snowy in Davenport. We went to church, but a lot of people were snowed in, since they lived in other towns. There were very few of us at church, so we had a short sacrament meeting and went home, even though it was supposed to be the Christmas program. Elder Love and I put our boots on and got shovels and went around shoveling people out. We shoveled Sister Barnett's driveway, and she invited us in and gave us hot chocolate.
(Isn't Google cool? It made a snowy version of my picture without me asking!)
Then we went to shovel the driveway of a woman named Henrietta. We shoveled her car, thinking she could probably make it out the rest of the way. We didn't talk to her; we just did it. (A few weeks later, we went back to her house/trailer, and she asked us if we were the ones who had shoveled her car out. I expected her to thank us, but instead she complained that we had only shoveled one side, as if we had done some terrible, inconsiderate thing! Her entitlement mentality made us never want to help her again.) We did lots of walking and shoveling, but we did that a lot that month, so I can't remember specifics about this particular day.
2007. We went biking around to contact people. We visited a less-active who was the brother of a semi-active family in the ward. Elder Chun talked to him, and he said to me, "I see you're a little green around the ears," and I said, "Completely." Then we tried to see Cindy Neely (whom I had never met), but she wasn't home. We then went home, and I remember being on my bike, thinking, "Don't hit that small pothole on the shoulder," and I did and crashed. I was fine, though. We went home for lunch, and we talked with Sister Welsh, whom we lived with. That evening we went tracting in the Greenbluff Ward, and all the people said we could come back (although none of them were actually serious when we went back). Then we went to an appointment with Ashley Guiler, a less-active teenage girl. Elder Chun missed the road to turn on and ended up in a forested, steep, icy road. It was scary. We simply couldn't make it up the hill. I suggested going to the bottom of the hill to see if there was an outlet to a main road, but Elder Chun wouldn't (because there wasn't one). He told me to pray we would be able to get out. He would have me push, but I would just push myself away from the car on the ice. Eventually he got the idea to go on the side of the road where there were pine needles, and then we were finally able to make it out. Then we visited the Guilers, who gave us Thin Mints and hot chocolate. He told them the story of what had just happened to us, as an illustration of receiving inspiration (the inspiration being to drive on the pine needles). We left late (I was brand new and didn't feel it was my place to say what to do) and as we were driving home, the zone leaders called and asked to talk to Elder Chun. I told them he was driving, and they asked where we were. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was quite an eventful day. This morning we went biking to contact a referral. I had many close calls on my bike. We contacted Sister Cunningham's less-active brother, who has a lot of faith in God but questions much of the deeper doctrine. He agreed to let us come back.
"On our way back home, I completely biffed it, falling directly on the road. Fortunately there were no cars. I am fine, although my knees were scraped through my suit, and I think one of my knees in my pants is a little thinner. A button came off my suit, as did a reflector from my bike. My suit is dusty so I will have to stop at the dry cleaner's on Monday, hopefully. I had debated not wearing my gloves on the way back. Fortunately I did so my hands are fine, not with the scrape that is on my glove.
"Later we went tracting. We went to six or seven houses. Three of those had people answer--all of them agreeing to have us come back next week. The first was interested in our idea of a prophet on the earth.
"After that we drove around looking for houses of referrals. We could not find many of the houses.
"After this unsuccessful drive, we were finished before we had planned. We made an appointment with a less active member. On our way Elder Chun missed the road and we had a scary experience driving on a dark, steep, windy [as in winding], icy road with ditches on either side. Elder Chun tried to turn around but we had a very unsuccessful time driving back up the hill. I suggested driving down to the end of the road but it turned out (according to the sister we taught after) to be a dead end, so I'm glad he didn't listen. After failed attempt after failed attempt, we prayed. Elder Chun had the idea to try driving on the side of the road where it was not icy. Eventually it worked, and we thanked Heavenly Father for the successful serendipity of the situation. The roads here aren't maintained very well--that road was solid ice that when Elder Chung [sic] asked me to push, I was only able to push myself away from the car.
"We taught the family after that and got home after 10. Breaking mission code just a little bit..."
2006. I'm not certain, but this might have been the day that in my Spanish class, we were singing Christmas carols, and some classmates wanted me and a kid named Zach to sing in front of the class. I realized they probably considered us similar, but that bothered me, because I didn't want to be like him.
2005. Again, I'm not sure, but this might have been the night that we bundled the kids up and took them to Temple Square. Then we went inside one museum where there was a play area for kids. I came home and had some pumpkin cheesecake.
2004. We made suckers in my chemistry class, but we had to put the flavoring in before it cooled, and that ruined the flavoring. I got a school newspaper, and I took it home and read it. That night there was a power outage. I read some Edgar Allan Poe by the fireplace. I was going to take a shower and go to bed. Ya-ping and my mom questioned me taking a shower in the dark, but I did that all the time.
2000. We might have had our school Christmas sing-off. We sixth-graders sang "Little St. Nick" and "My Grown-Up Christmas Wish," which I thought was a dumb song. Mr. Williams (my teacher) went around throwing candy to everyone, wearing a poster that said "Sugar Plum Fairy."
1999. I'm not sure, but this might be the day we gave our teacher our gifts in fifth grade, and I gave her a Barnes and Noble gift card. She acted excited when I gave her the envelope, and she said, "Is this what I think it is?" The night before I didn't want to lick the envelope, so I sealed it with water instead, and got the envelope a little wrinkly from water, and I worried Mrs. Call would think I slobbered on the envelope so that it got wrinkly.
1995. This might have been the day that the office ladies called me down so that I could sing to them, and then they gave me a fruit-flavored candy cane. Then I went back to the classroom and got my stuff, since school was over.
1994. This might have been the day that Mrs. Christensen, our kindergarten teacher, gave us little Christmas hard candies. She told us we couldn't talk with candy in our mouth because we might choke. One of my classmates was being silly and put her candy at the front of her nose like Rudolph, and Mrs. Christensen reproved her. I was talking to Ali Snarr, and she took her candy out of her mouth and said to me, "You're not supposed to talk with candy in your mouth."
2012. I remember wrapping Christmas presents. That night I watched Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, with the intent of seeing if it could count as a Fourth of July movie. But since they didn't mention the Fourth of July until twenty minutes in, and the last half of the movie takes place July 5 and July 6, I decided not to count it.
2011. We had our work Christmas party in our break room, so all the people from other departments had to go elsewhere for their breaks. They had put strings across the room and hung those plastic candy-filled canes on them. We all got one, and then later we got to get more. I got red and green Sprees and I think one other kind of Christmas candy. They had even brought the radio up into the break room, which annoyed me a little, since radio Christmas music isn't very good. Our supervisor, Nate, thanked us for our work. Then we ate Subways. Then they told a bunch of us we could go home early. So I drove to Shopko in Bountiful to do my shopping, listening to Handel's Messiah on the way. I looked at various stores, and when I went to my car, it wouldn't start! So I called my parents, and while I waited I finished my shopping. My parents came and tried to jumpstart the car, but it wouldn't work. So then they called a tow man, and he tried to jump it, and it still wouldn't work, so he towed it. Then we went to dinner at Burger King, where in the background they played Rachel Platten's "1,000 Ships."
2009. In the morning, my mom and I were going up to Farmington to get me a new driver's license. I put in my He Gives Flowers to Everyone Cherie Call CD. When we got off the freeway in Farmington, I saw a car pull off on the shoulder, and I could tell they were doing a U-turn. I told my mom that, but it was too late and he pulled right in front of us. It was the first time I had been in an accident. The car started spilling liquid all over, and I tried to call 911. My phone was acting weird, but fortunately a police car drove by right then. The guy in the other car was very sorry and admitted it was his fault. I think Susanne came and picked me up to take me to the DMV. That day we discussed how our family home evening would be for the kids to deliver Christmas presents. Allie called it "Hamily Fome Evening." (Maybe that was a different day that month.) But instead of going to our FHE, I went to the singles ward FHE, which was a white elephant party. I grabbed a couple of CDs I no longer wanted, a Monkees compilation and a cheap Halloween CD. I went to the house where the party was being held. I almost went to the wrong house, but then I figured out it was wrong. The Christmas tree was a really fancy designer tree with gaudy candy decorations, and a cover album of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer soundtrack was playing. They had pizza for dinner, and Peter Moosman, a vegetarian, was disgusted when he found out that what he thought was cheese pizza actually had meat on it. "Who puts toppings under the cheese?!" He said he felt sick. I thought it was funny, though now I would be a bit more sympathetic. Then we went downstairs for our white elephants. At one point I got a Cafe Rio giftcard, and later a Star Wars cup and a watch, but eventually I ended up with an IQ book and a CD of songs written by Orrin Hatch. The Down syndrome Matt Chidester ended up with a typewriter, which he was going to give to his mom. The party went late, and then I still had to come home and watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which I did in the kitchen.
2008. It was very snowy in Davenport. We went to church, but a lot of people were snowed in, since they lived in other towns. There were very few of us at church, so we had a short sacrament meeting and went home, even though it was supposed to be the Christmas program. Elder Love and I put our boots on and got shovels and went around shoveling people out. We shoveled Sister Barnett's driveway, and she invited us in and gave us hot chocolate.
2007. We went biking around to contact people. We visited a less-active who was the brother of a semi-active family in the ward. Elder Chun talked to him, and he said to me, "I see you're a little green around the ears," and I said, "Completely." Then we tried to see Cindy Neely (whom I had never met), but she wasn't home. We then went home, and I remember being on my bike, thinking, "Don't hit that small pothole on the shoulder," and I did and crashed. I was fine, though. We went home for lunch, and we talked with Sister Welsh, whom we lived with. That evening we went tracting in the Greenbluff Ward, and all the people said we could come back (although none of them were actually serious when we went back). Then we went to an appointment with Ashley Guiler, a less-active teenage girl. Elder Chun missed the road to turn on and ended up in a forested, steep, icy road. It was scary. We simply couldn't make it up the hill. I suggested going to the bottom of the hill to see if there was an outlet to a main road, but Elder Chun wouldn't (because there wasn't one). He told me to pray we would be able to get out. He would have me push, but I would just push myself away from the car on the ice. Eventually he got the idea to go on the side of the road where there were pine needles, and then we were finally able to make it out. Then we visited the Guilers, who gave us Thin Mints and hot chocolate. He told them the story of what had just happened to us, as an illustration of receiving inspiration (the inspiration being to drive on the pine needles). We left late (I was brand new and didn't feel it was my place to say what to do) and as we were driving home, the zone leaders called and asked to talk to Elder Chun. I told them he was driving, and they asked where we were. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was quite an eventful day. This morning we went biking to contact a referral. I had many close calls on my bike. We contacted Sister Cunningham's less-active brother, who has a lot of faith in God but questions much of the deeper doctrine. He agreed to let us come back.
"On our way back home, I completely biffed it, falling directly on the road. Fortunately there were no cars. I am fine, although my knees were scraped through my suit, and I think one of my knees in my pants is a little thinner. A button came off my suit, as did a reflector from my bike. My suit is dusty so I will have to stop at the dry cleaner's on Monday, hopefully. I had debated not wearing my gloves on the way back. Fortunately I did so my hands are fine, not with the scrape that is on my glove.
"Later we went tracting. We went to six or seven houses. Three of those had people answer--all of them agreeing to have us come back next week. The first was interested in our idea of a prophet on the earth.
"After that we drove around looking for houses of referrals. We could not find many of the houses.
"After this unsuccessful drive, we were finished before we had planned. We made an appointment with a less active member. On our way Elder Chun missed the road and we had a scary experience driving on a dark, steep, windy [as in winding], icy road with ditches on either side. Elder Chun tried to turn around but we had a very unsuccessful time driving back up the hill. I suggested driving down to the end of the road but it turned out (according to the sister we taught after) to be a dead end, so I'm glad he didn't listen. After failed attempt after failed attempt, we prayed. Elder Chun had the idea to try driving on the side of the road where it was not icy. Eventually it worked, and we thanked Heavenly Father for the successful serendipity of the situation. The roads here aren't maintained very well--that road was solid ice that when Elder Chung [sic] asked me to push, I was only able to push myself away from the car.
"We taught the family after that and got home after 10. Breaking mission code just a little bit..."
2006. I'm not certain, but this might have been the day that in my Spanish class, we were singing Christmas carols, and some classmates wanted me and a kid named Zach to sing in front of the class. I realized they probably considered us similar, but that bothered me, because I didn't want to be like him.
2005. Again, I'm not sure, but this might have been the night that we bundled the kids up and took them to Temple Square. Then we went inside one museum where there was a play area for kids. I came home and had some pumpkin cheesecake.
2004. We made suckers in my chemistry class, but we had to put the flavoring in before it cooled, and that ruined the flavoring. I got a school newspaper, and I took it home and read it. That night there was a power outage. I read some Edgar Allan Poe by the fireplace. I was going to take a shower and go to bed. Ya-ping and my mom questioned me taking a shower in the dark, but I did that all the time.
2000. We might have had our school Christmas sing-off. We sixth-graders sang "Little St. Nick" and "My Grown-Up Christmas Wish," which I thought was a dumb song. Mr. Williams (my teacher) went around throwing candy to everyone, wearing a poster that said "Sugar Plum Fairy."
1999. I'm not sure, but this might be the day we gave our teacher our gifts in fifth grade, and I gave her a Barnes and Noble gift card. She acted excited when I gave her the envelope, and she said, "Is this what I think it is?" The night before I didn't want to lick the envelope, so I sealed it with water instead, and got the envelope a little wrinkly from water, and I worried Mrs. Call would think I slobbered on the envelope so that it got wrinkly.
1995. This might have been the day that the office ladies called me down so that I could sing to them, and then they gave me a fruit-flavored candy cane. Then I went back to the classroom and got my stuff, since school was over.
1994. This might have been the day that Mrs. Christensen, our kindergarten teacher, gave us little Christmas hard candies. She told us we couldn't talk with candy in our mouth because we might choke. One of my classmates was being silly and put her candy at the front of her nose like Rudolph, and Mrs. Christensen reproved her. I was talking to Ali Snarr, and she took her candy out of her mouth and said to me, "You're not supposed to talk with candy in your mouth."
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