This week was Pioneer Day. Since it's a state and Church holiday, it was a day off school and work. Unfortunately, I didn't do anything fun for it. On Monday night for FHE we watched 17 Miracles. Pioneer Day itself was spent doing homework. I finished my paper for my Isaiah class. We were able to pick our own topic, so I asked the professor if I could do one on how the KJV English has changed. He let me do that, so I spent my time looking at the OED and discovering old meanings of words. Some passages of Isaiah sound pretty funny because of the older English--like the daughters of Zion wearing mufflers and round tires like the moon.
Sometimes I wonder why I don't celebrate Pioneer Day more, considering that I'm a Utah Mormon of pioneer descent. There are eight holidays I formally celebrate, and in the past I have added Chinese New Year, Mother's Day, and Father's Day, but those became too cumbersome to celebrate the way I celebrate the other holidays, and I worry that the same thing would happen to Pioneer Day. But there is nothing stopping me from watching fireworks and enjoying a day off--although I didn't purposely see any fireworks. Some people use Fourth of July themes (red, white, and blue and stars and stripes) for Pioneer Day; however, I reject this association. The pioneers fled the United States because they wouldn't do anything for them. It's like putting up British stuff on Independence Day.
On Friday night I watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics with some girls from my ward. I was surprised I wasn't more bored--I suppose it would have been more boring if I had been by myself. One of the girls, Evelyn, is from Uganda, and she cheered for every African nation. Then yesterday I watched some women's volleyball events--both beach and regular. I don't watch sports, but I sometimes make an exception for Olympics. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, I don't know if I watched any of them, and I kind of regret that now. In 2008 I was on my mission. I haven't watched Summer Olympics for eight years!
I'm not an athlete at all, but I'm kind of excited to be getting back into my own manner of athleticism. When I went to the orthopedist two weeks ago, I was kind of skeptical that the exercises he gave me would make my knee better. But this week I started running again and I haven't had knee trouble! The longest I ran this week was only 23 minutes, because I don't want to risk hurting my knee if it's not completely healed and because I haven't been running for three months. Twenty-three minutes is less than half of what I used to do and what my ideal is, but since it's been three months, and considering that five years ago I couldn't even do fifteen, I'm not too disappointed. I'm excited to be able to get rid of the pounds I gained over my three-month hiatus. In a month and a half, the major holiday season will begin, and I will need to do something to counteract all the candy and desserts I'll be eating. Yesterday I was at D.I. and I bought a pie dish designed like a pumpkin--I'll be excited to use it.
I'm not quite feeling the blog muse today. Goodbye!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Tarentule
On Friday I came home to my apartment significantly modified. Someone in my ward is going to be moving into this apartment in the fall, and he and my roommate set to work rearranging and redecorating. I think it's mainly the new guy who's up to it.
It kind of bothers me, because I think he's changing things for the sake of changing it and not necessarily to make it better. It would be one thing if he'd lived here for six months and decided he wanted a change--but he hasn't lived here yet. I know he doesn't mean it this way, but I kind of feel like he thinks "You're all a bunch of lazy slobs, so I'm going to make it better."
It doesn't help that I'm already scared of this guy. He's a Renaissance man, and they kind of intimidate me anyway. Plus, he always looks and sounds mad, even when he's smiling. I know he's a very kind person, but he scares me. He's like a tarantula. I know he's not really dangerous, but it's still a bit unnerving to have him running loose around the house.
Isn't tarantula a great word? The word spider is a rather blah word--but tarantula just sounds like it should describe something big, hairy, and creepy. It's named after a place in Italy where they had giant wolf spiders, and then the name was later applied to other kinds of big spiders. Maybe you've read old books that talk about the dance called the Tarantella. People thought that a tarantula bite made you go crazy and dance--so they named a dance after it. It bugs me when people say tri-antula--where'd that three come from?
What else happened this week?
Well, today is my niece's birthday, so yesterday I drove home just for the day for a family gathering. I told Allie she was lucky because I counted six cars visiting for her birthday. I said, "I don't get six cars visiting for my birthday," and she said, "You don't even get one!" It was funny because it's true.
While I was home, I picked apricots and we made an apricot pie. When I set forth my dessert-eating rules, I forgot to mention that I can have desserts made from fresh fruits from one's own yard. If someone made, say, a peach pie using peaches from the grocery store or a farmer's market, I couldn't have it--but from their own trees, I could. Hence the reason I was able to eat apricot pie but not birthday cake.
I also saw my family's new TV and new set-up. We looked at pictures on it and then later we watched YouTube videos. I showed my family some classic videos--like such as "Trololo," "Worst Choir Ever?" and the Miss Teen South Carolina contestant and like such as.Then my dad wanted to watch some boring touristy videos. It was a gross misuse of YouTube.
Today I showed up to church early (to set up chairs), and the room in the Wilk where we have sacrament meeting was not set up. It didn't have microphones, and they didn't have the wall up separating our room from the other room. There had been some dance thing there; there was still the fake hardwood floor. I've had church on the fake floor before, but I don't understand why they didn't put the wall up. They just had flimsy blue curtains. It can't have been too hard to put up the wall. Instead of them putting up the wall, we had to have sacrament meeting in another room and compete to be heard during Sunday School. Why didn't they put up the wall? Someone deserves a wage decrease for that one.
More than two years ago, I started reading the Peanuts comics online. They have most of them online (you can start at the beginning here), with a few empty spaces. This week I finished. It impresses me that with fifty years of comics, Peanuts never got bland. We have so many dumb comics such as Hi and Lois that were never funny to begin with--most of the comics page is dumb. But Peanuts was great. And even as relatively popular as it is, I think it's still a bit underappreciated. Everyone knows about some of the gags, like Lucy pulling the football away and Charlie Brown not being able to fly a kite. But there are tons of other recurring gags, such as Sally talking to her school building and Linus evangelizing door to door to spread the message of the Great Pumpkin. Also, people know the bigger characters, but there were a lot of recurring characters. Many people don't realize that there were two Pattys, Peppermint Patty (my favorite character) and Patty (one of only four human characters in the early 1950s); they don't know the character Molly Volley, the overweight tennis player; and they are unaware of Eudora, Sally's friend in the 1980s. But I feel bad for the Peanuts kids (well, I would if they existed). Over the course of fifty years, they managed to age only a few years: Charlie Brown from four to eight; Schroeder, Linus, Sally, and Rerun from babies to elementary school; and Lucy from a toddler to almost Charlie Brown's age. I wonder if that's what Hell is like--you are doomed to live as an unfortunate kid forever, getting D-minuses over and over, having your kite eaten by a tree every March, having your Sweet Babboo never give you the time of day.
Since we went to the llama festival last week, some people invited me to watch The Emperor's New Groove with them. I tried to study while watching it, but that didn't work very well. I remember seeing the trailers for that movie when it came out and I thought it looked dumb, but it's a really funny and great movie. Especially if you watch it with other people.
I guess if I'm talking about all this pop culture, I should talk about the song I downloaded this week. For my French class we have to watch things in French. I was watching clips about music on a French news site this week when I was introduced to this song. Apparently Isabelle Boulay sings musique country québecoise--if all country music in Québec is like that, I like it better than our American country music. I figured I'm only in a French class for a few more weeks and I don't know when or if I'll take French again, so I might as well enjoy it. I'm a bit xenophobic, so this song, "Fin Octobre, Début Novembre" became the first non-holiday foreign language song I own.
This has been a really weird post. Sorry about that.
It kind of bothers me, because I think he's changing things for the sake of changing it and not necessarily to make it better. It would be one thing if he'd lived here for six months and decided he wanted a change--but he hasn't lived here yet. I know he doesn't mean it this way, but I kind of feel like he thinks "You're all a bunch of lazy slobs, so I'm going to make it better."
It doesn't help that I'm already scared of this guy. He's a Renaissance man, and they kind of intimidate me anyway. Plus, he always looks and sounds mad, even when he's smiling. I know he's a very kind person, but he scares me. He's like a tarantula. I know he's not really dangerous, but it's still a bit unnerving to have him running loose around the house.
Isn't tarantula a great word? The word spider is a rather blah word--but tarantula just sounds like it should describe something big, hairy, and creepy. It's named after a place in Italy where they had giant wolf spiders, and then the name was later applied to other kinds of big spiders. Maybe you've read old books that talk about the dance called the Tarantella. People thought that a tarantula bite made you go crazy and dance--so they named a dance after it. It bugs me when people say tri-antula--where'd that three come from?
What else happened this week?
Well, today is my niece's birthday, so yesterday I drove home just for the day for a family gathering. I told Allie she was lucky because I counted six cars visiting for her birthday. I said, "I don't get six cars visiting for my birthday," and she said, "You don't even get one!" It was funny because it's true.
While I was home, I picked apricots and we made an apricot pie. When I set forth my dessert-eating rules, I forgot to mention that I can have desserts made from fresh fruits from one's own yard. If someone made, say, a peach pie using peaches from the grocery store or a farmer's market, I couldn't have it--but from their own trees, I could. Hence the reason I was able to eat apricot pie but not birthday cake.
I also saw my family's new TV and new set-up. We looked at pictures on it and then later we watched YouTube videos. I showed my family some classic videos--like such as "Trololo," "Worst Choir Ever?" and the Miss Teen South Carolina contestant and like such as.Then my dad wanted to watch some boring touristy videos. It was a gross misuse of YouTube.
Today I showed up to church early (to set up chairs), and the room in the Wilk where we have sacrament meeting was not set up. It didn't have microphones, and they didn't have the wall up separating our room from the other room. There had been some dance thing there; there was still the fake hardwood floor. I've had church on the fake floor before, but I don't understand why they didn't put the wall up. They just had flimsy blue curtains. It can't have been too hard to put up the wall. Instead of them putting up the wall, we had to have sacrament meeting in another room and compete to be heard during Sunday School. Why didn't they put up the wall? Someone deserves a wage decrease for that one.
More than two years ago, I started reading the Peanuts comics online. They have most of them online (you can start at the beginning here), with a few empty spaces. This week I finished. It impresses me that with fifty years of comics, Peanuts never got bland. We have so many dumb comics such as Hi and Lois that were never funny to begin with--most of the comics page is dumb. But Peanuts was great. And even as relatively popular as it is, I think it's still a bit underappreciated. Everyone knows about some of the gags, like Lucy pulling the football away and Charlie Brown not being able to fly a kite. But there are tons of other recurring gags, such as Sally talking to her school building and Linus evangelizing door to door to spread the message of the Great Pumpkin. Also, people know the bigger characters, but there were a lot of recurring characters. Many people don't realize that there were two Pattys, Peppermint Patty (my favorite character) and Patty (one of only four human characters in the early 1950s); they don't know the character Molly Volley, the overweight tennis player; and they are unaware of Eudora, Sally's friend in the 1980s. But I feel bad for the Peanuts kids (well, I would if they existed). Over the course of fifty years, they managed to age only a few years: Charlie Brown from four to eight; Schroeder, Linus, Sally, and Rerun from babies to elementary school; and Lucy from a toddler to almost Charlie Brown's age. I wonder if that's what Hell is like--you are doomed to live as an unfortunate kid forever, getting D-minuses over and over, having your kite eaten by a tree every March, having your Sweet Babboo never give you the time of day.
Since we went to the llama festival last week, some people invited me to watch The Emperor's New Groove with them. I tried to study while watching it, but that didn't work very well. I remember seeing the trailers for that movie when it came out and I thought it looked dumb, but it's a really funny and great movie. Especially if you watch it with other people.
I guess if I'm talking about all this pop culture, I should talk about the song I downloaded this week. For my French class we have to watch things in French. I was watching clips about music on a French news site this week when I was introduced to this song. Apparently Isabelle Boulay sings musique country québecoise--if all country music in Québec is like that, I like it better than our American country music. I figured I'm only in a French class for a few more weeks and I don't know when or if I'll take French again, so I might as well enjoy it. I'm a bit xenophobic, so this song, "Fin Octobre, Début Novembre" became the first non-holiday foreign language song I own.
This has been a really weird post. Sorry about that.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
A llama? He's supposed to be studying!
It seems that 93 is the lucky number for the week. Recently my roommate Cameron came excitedly into my room to tell me that he had gotten a 93 on a test of which the average was in the low 80s. This week I got my own 93s. I got my French test that I had taken the previous week, and I got 93.5. I think the professor said the average was 85 (I know he said 85 in there somewhere, but I'm not 100% sure it was the average), so considering that there are French-speaking RMs in the class, I'm satisfied with my score. (Remember how my dad and brother wanted me to take physics instead of French? Even if I wanted to, I couldn't, because there aren't any physics classes available in the summer that I could take. But if I did, I don't think I'd do as well on those tests as I did on this one. Take that!) I also got a 93 on my Isaiah test.
On Friday I had an appointment with the orthopedist because of my knee. They took x-rays and manipulated my knee and they could find no problems that would seem to be a result of my April fall. But the x-rays indicated that my knee caps aren't entirely fitting in the groove where they're supposed to be. They think my problem is that the outer muscles of my leg are stronger than the inner ones, so the outer ones are pulling the knee cap out of its groove. (You threw off my groove!) The doctor gave me some exercises to strengthen my quads so that hopefully I can fix it. I hope it does. It's been two and a half months since I've really gone running, and as much as I say I hate it, I do miss it. I don't want to get fat again. If the exercises don't work in a month, I'll have to go back. I'm hoping, however, this will fix it. I'm a little skeptical, mostly because it seems too good to be true. But we'll see what happens. Even if it weren't for my knee, it would be good to do these exercises because all I do anymore is pushups and situps. But since I'm lazy, I'll probably only do what's required for my right knee...
Yesterday I did a lot of studying. I had just gotten done with some studying and was about to make dinner when there was a knock on the door. Some girls invited me to go to Spanish Fork to go to the llama festival. Since studying didn't sound too fun, I said yes. It was at the Hare Krishna temple, where they have the Festival of Colors (which I've never been to). But instead of a Festival of Colors, it was a Festival of Llamas. I'm still trying to figure out what llamas have to do with Hare Krishna. I'm glad I went just so I can say I went, but it's not something I feel a need to go to again. I learned something about myself, namely that I don't really like animals that much. I like looking at them, but I don't really like touching them. We had food to feed the llamas, and I figured if I was at a llama festival, I might as well feed one. I didn't really like the feeling of the llama's hot breath while its lips gobbled up the oats or whatever the food was. It kept trying to come back to me for more. I was flattered that it liked me so much, but I couldn't help thinking, "What am I going to do with a llama?" Then after the llama festival, I hadn't eaten dinner, so I went up to the stake dance, grabbed a plate of food, ate it, and went home again. It would have been a lot more awkward to be a wall weed there than at the February dance.
Thanks for reading!
On Friday I had an appointment with the orthopedist because of my knee. They took x-rays and manipulated my knee and they could find no problems that would seem to be a result of my April fall. But the x-rays indicated that my knee caps aren't entirely fitting in the groove where they're supposed to be. They think my problem is that the outer muscles of my leg are stronger than the inner ones, so the outer ones are pulling the knee cap out of its groove. (You threw off my groove!) The doctor gave me some exercises to strengthen my quads so that hopefully I can fix it. I hope it does. It's been two and a half months since I've really gone running, and as much as I say I hate it, I do miss it. I don't want to get fat again. If the exercises don't work in a month, I'll have to go back. I'm hoping, however, this will fix it. I'm a little skeptical, mostly because it seems too good to be true. But we'll see what happens. Even if it weren't for my knee, it would be good to do these exercises because all I do anymore is pushups and situps. But since I'm lazy, I'll probably only do what's required for my right knee...
Yesterday I did a lot of studying. I had just gotten done with some studying and was about to make dinner when there was a knock on the door. Some girls invited me to go to Spanish Fork to go to the llama festival. Since studying didn't sound too fun, I said yes. It was at the Hare Krishna temple, where they have the Festival of Colors (which I've never been to). But instead of a Festival of Colors, it was a Festival of Llamas. I'm still trying to figure out what llamas have to do with Hare Krishna. I'm glad I went just so I can say I went, but it's not something I feel a need to go to again. I learned something about myself, namely that I don't really like animals that much. I like looking at them, but I don't really like touching them. We had food to feed the llamas, and I figured if I was at a llama festival, I might as well feed one. I didn't really like the feeling of the llama's hot breath while its lips gobbled up the oats or whatever the food was. It kept trying to come back to me for more. I was flattered that it liked me so much, but I couldn't help thinking, "What am I going to do with a llama?" Then after the llama festival, I hadn't eaten dinner, so I went up to the stake dance, grabbed a plate of food, ate it, and went home again. It would have been a lot more awkward to be a wall weed there than at the February dance.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Oh, beautiful for rainy skies
Ah, what an eventful week. It was the Fourth of July, so there was a lot that went on in connection to that. On Tuesday after work, I drove up to NSL to meet my sister and her family to go to NSL's annual fireworks show. I think it was the best show they've ever put on; I think it was also closer (probably because they didn't want to catch the mountain on fire).
Then I had an enjoyable drive back down to Provo--late at night, not a lot of traffic, still wearing my glowsticks, listening to Jan Terri and the radio--and I thought, "My life is pretty awesome right now." I'm attending a great university on scholarship. I have a good job--although it may be the worst-paying job I've had, it's one that I'm lucky to have and one that requires an education. I live in a good location with good roommates, and I'll live here next year too. I don't make friends, but if I did, I would have some. I have a lot of fun down here. I may not be able to run and I may have my bike seat stolen and I may have relatives who pester me about getting married, but my life is going pretty well.
The Fourth of July hasn't been one of my favorite holidays, but in recent years it's gone up in my opinion. I think it's probably now my fourth favorite holiday, after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween. On Wednesday morning I woke up at 7:00 to the sounds of the Freedom Run just down the street from my apartment. Usually I can fall asleep again after waking up, but I couldn't that morning, so I got up and got ready. Then my roommate Bryton and I went to Provo's parade (this year it seemed a lot earlier than last year, but that's because I got up later this year), but Bryton wanted to go home and I'm pretty cynical about parades, so we weren't there for very long. I ate very unhealthily that day, eating a lot of Fourth of July cookies. That afternoon I went swimming (or, rather, sitting in the water, holding on to the edge) in the Regency apartment pool with some girls. Then a bunch of us from my ward went up to the field across from the MTC to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. I didn't know mosquitoes were biting me, but now I know. Then we came home and some people set off fireworks outside our apartment. The whole aerial-fireworks-being-legal thing kind of makes me uncomfortable. But they are fun to watch, if terrifying. This year's Fourth of July wasn't as fun as last year's, but it was still fun.
Then I had the best July 5 I've ever had. Actually I don't remember much about July 5--I know in 2007 I had my pre-mission physical and in 1999 I decorated my room for Halloween--but it was probably the best one I've had. Mostly I was excited about the weather. It was a very nice rainstorm, the first in a long time. It's a good thing it came, because I was almost converted to liking sunlight. Then the rain came and reminded me how awesome it is. I had to work in the library to do source checking for an article about the Church in Italy. Then that evening I went with some non-friend friends to see a performance of Cyrano de Bergerac. It was very short and small and it had a happy ending instead of the real ending. But I guess that's what you get for a free performance.
On Friday I took a French test (I'm not sure how well I did), and yesterday I spent all day studying. That wasn't fun, but I'm glad I did it.On Friday I also went to a surprise party for my future roommate, whom I am scared of.
This week I had a bunch of bizarre dreams. I dreamed about Father's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's. In the Christmas dream, some neighbors had dropped off Christmas gifts on our doorstep. One of the gifts was a stack of used Christmas CDs, one of which was by the girl on the Swiss Miss hot chocolate packaging. One of the songs was called "O Denmark," and I wondered why she was associated with the brand Swiss Miss if she was Danish. Another gift looked like a small Christmas tree, but it was actually a jar of giant pickles, each pickle costing $500, but it was foreign currency, so it was probably more like $30 each. When we microwaved the pickles, it turned out that they were more like pickle-shaped croissants. In the New Year dream, I was watching a movie (while I was adjusting a piano bench) about some cowboys and cowgirls hanging precariously on a rope at the edge of a cliff. The cowgirl at the bottom fell off, so the cowgirl above her went down to rescue her. When they came back up, the cowboy above them cut the rope--but before the last strings could break, the cowgirl cried, "Murderer! I'm going to cut your foot off!" And she did. Then she threw the bloody knife at another cowgirl on another rope. In another dream, I ate part of my niece and started on her friend, as well--but it wasn't cannibalistic, because they would grow back, and they may have actually asked me to eat them.
Here's hoping for a nice, rainy summer.
Then I had an enjoyable drive back down to Provo--late at night, not a lot of traffic, still wearing my glowsticks, listening to Jan Terri and the radio--and I thought, "My life is pretty awesome right now." I'm attending a great university on scholarship. I have a good job--although it may be the worst-paying job I've had, it's one that I'm lucky to have and one that requires an education. I live in a good location with good roommates, and I'll live here next year too. I don't make friends, but if I did, I would have some. I have a lot of fun down here. I may not be able to run and I may have my bike seat stolen and I may have relatives who pester me about getting married, but my life is going pretty well.
The Fourth of July hasn't been one of my favorite holidays, but in recent years it's gone up in my opinion. I think it's probably now my fourth favorite holiday, after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween. On Wednesday morning I woke up at 7:00 to the sounds of the Freedom Run just down the street from my apartment. Usually I can fall asleep again after waking up, but I couldn't that morning, so I got up and got ready. Then my roommate Bryton and I went to Provo's parade (this year it seemed a lot earlier than last year, but that's because I got up later this year), but Bryton wanted to go home and I'm pretty cynical about parades, so we weren't there for very long. I ate very unhealthily that day, eating a lot of Fourth of July cookies. That afternoon I went swimming (or, rather, sitting in the water, holding on to the edge) in the Regency apartment pool with some girls. Then a bunch of us from my ward went up to the field across from the MTC to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. I didn't know mosquitoes were biting me, but now I know. Then we came home and some people set off fireworks outside our apartment. The whole aerial-fireworks-being-legal thing kind of makes me uncomfortable. But they are fun to watch, if terrifying. This year's Fourth of July wasn't as fun as last year's, but it was still fun.
Then I had the best July 5 I've ever had. Actually I don't remember much about July 5--I know in 2007 I had my pre-mission physical and in 1999 I decorated my room for Halloween--but it was probably the best one I've had. Mostly I was excited about the weather. It was a very nice rainstorm, the first in a long time. It's a good thing it came, because I was almost converted to liking sunlight. Then the rain came and reminded me how awesome it is. I had to work in the library to do source checking for an article about the Church in Italy. Then that evening I went with some non-friend friends to see a performance of Cyrano de Bergerac. It was very short and small and it had a happy ending instead of the real ending. But I guess that's what you get for a free performance.
On Friday I took a French test (I'm not sure how well I did), and yesterday I spent all day studying. That wasn't fun, but I'm glad I did it.On Friday I also went to a surprise party for my future roommate, whom I am scared of.
This week I had a bunch of bizarre dreams. I dreamed about Father's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's. In the Christmas dream, some neighbors had dropped off Christmas gifts on our doorstep. One of the gifts was a stack of used Christmas CDs, one of which was by the girl on the Swiss Miss hot chocolate packaging. One of the songs was called "O Denmark," and I wondered why she was associated with the brand Swiss Miss if she was Danish. Another gift looked like a small Christmas tree, but it was actually a jar of giant pickles, each pickle costing $500, but it was foreign currency, so it was probably more like $30 each. When we microwaved the pickles, it turned out that they were more like pickle-shaped croissants. In the New Year dream, I was watching a movie (while I was adjusting a piano bench) about some cowboys and cowgirls hanging precariously on a rope at the edge of a cliff. The cowgirl at the bottom fell off, so the cowgirl above her went down to rescue her. When they came back up, the cowboy above them cut the rope--but before the last strings could break, the cowgirl cried, "Murderer! I'm going to cut your foot off!" And she did. Then she threw the bloody knife at another cowgirl on another rope. In another dream, I ate part of my niece and started on her friend, as well--but it wasn't cannibalistic, because they would grow back, and they may have actually asked me to eat them.
Here's hoping for a nice, rainy summer.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Jumping around like a house on fire, having some fun tonight.
On Tuesday this week, I, with some girls in my ward, had a Jan Terri party. I was the only male who showed up. We wore ridiculous clothes and listened to some Jan Terri. Then we took my framed Jan Terri picture and went to the park, where we took pictures with it/her. It was really random, but fun.
Then on Wednesday night, after classes, I drove home because my brother's family was in town. I was really excited to see my nephews, whom I hadn't seen since January. Preston is 7, Franklin is 4, and Baby (whose real name is Nathaniel) is 2. All of them seemed a little less shy around me this time around. I was able to spend time with them that night and most of the next day at my cousin Jesse's wedding. I think I spent the most time with Baby; he seemed most open to me. Six months ago he would pretend to speak by going "Wehhh" all the time. He doesn't do that now because he actually talks, although he leaves off a lot of consonants. There's something hilariously adorable about a two-year-old who hisses at his mom when he's mad, insists on running on the treadmill, and hand-feeds you the pepperoni from off the top of his pizza (after he's already put it in his mouth). When we were leaving the wedding, Franklin randomly said to me, "Uncle Mark, do you like Dr. Pepper?" His four-year-old speech made it sound like "Doctah Peppah." He had probably had that conversation with my cousins and decided to ask me. He told me he didn't like it. Preston told us he had had beer before. I certainly hope that's not true...
I was the best man at my cousin's wedding, which didn't really mean much except that I stood at the front with the other groomsmen and gave my cousin the rings. We groomsmen also were among the people who had to remain outside in the June heat to take pictures. My cousin Peter got a ministerial license from the internet, so he married them, which was a bit odd. I actually ate wedding foods that I otherwise wouldn't eat, such as chocolate-dipped strawberries, cupcakes, and candy.
There has been an incredible amount of wildfires lately, so much that it's been very smoky here in Provo, and ash has fallen. I don't recall ever seeing so much smoke or hearing of so many wildfires. Even the basement of the JFSB smelled of smoke on Friday morning.
Yesterday was one of the most productive Saturdays I've had in a while. I took a Book of Mormon test in the morning. I got an 88 on the multiple choice part, but I don't know about the essay part--hopefully this professor is more lenient (or more reasonable) than my history class. Then I practiced the piano briefly on campus. On my way home I pulled up my second goat head plant for the week, the other being at my cousin's wedding. Goat heads are an evil invasive species that caused me much grief on my mission. I would like to eradicate them. (You can read about them here; but be warned that there are some adult themes in the article, as the plant can be used as an aphrodisiac--which is just more proof that they are a plant of the devil.) I cleared out some dust from our laundry room and found an electronic hotel room key. I studied French for three hours and then I finished the Book of Mormon for my Book of Mormon class.
I got to bed early and had some weird dream that I can't remember. At 3:00 a book fell off of my roommate Bryton's dresser and woke me up. I looked over at his bed and noticed he wasn't there. Then I checked the time and went out to the living room to see if he had fallen asleep there. He was there, but he hadn't fallen asleep. He is the elders quorum president and he was preparing the lesson for today. He ended up only getting 45 minutes of sleep for the entire night because he spent so much time preparing. He's a better person than I am, because I would have said, "Forget this, I'm going to bed!" I was appreciative that he chose a topic relevant to the Fourth of July. I'm excited for the holiday--but I'm sad for it to be over, because most of July and all of August is the most terrible time of the year.
Then on Wednesday night, after classes, I drove home because my brother's family was in town. I was really excited to see my nephews, whom I hadn't seen since January. Preston is 7, Franklin is 4, and Baby (whose real name is Nathaniel) is 2. All of them seemed a little less shy around me this time around. I was able to spend time with them that night and most of the next day at my cousin Jesse's wedding. I think I spent the most time with Baby; he seemed most open to me. Six months ago he would pretend to speak by going "Wehhh" all the time. He doesn't do that now because he actually talks, although he leaves off a lot of consonants. There's something hilariously adorable about a two-year-old who hisses at his mom when he's mad, insists on running on the treadmill, and hand-feeds you the pepperoni from off the top of his pizza (after he's already put it in his mouth). When we were leaving the wedding, Franklin randomly said to me, "Uncle Mark, do you like Dr. Pepper?" His four-year-old speech made it sound like "Doctah Peppah." He had probably had that conversation with my cousins and decided to ask me. He told me he didn't like it. Preston told us he had had beer before. I certainly hope that's not true...
I was the best man at my cousin's wedding, which didn't really mean much except that I stood at the front with the other groomsmen and gave my cousin the rings. We groomsmen also were among the people who had to remain outside in the June heat to take pictures. My cousin Peter got a ministerial license from the internet, so he married them, which was a bit odd. I actually ate wedding foods that I otherwise wouldn't eat, such as chocolate-dipped strawberries, cupcakes, and candy.
There has been an incredible amount of wildfires lately, so much that it's been very smoky here in Provo, and ash has fallen. I don't recall ever seeing so much smoke or hearing of so many wildfires. Even the basement of the JFSB smelled of smoke on Friday morning.
Yesterday was one of the most productive Saturdays I've had in a while. I took a Book of Mormon test in the morning. I got an 88 on the multiple choice part, but I don't know about the essay part--hopefully this professor is more lenient (or more reasonable) than my history class. Then I practiced the piano briefly on campus. On my way home I pulled up my second goat head plant for the week, the other being at my cousin's wedding. Goat heads are an evil invasive species that caused me much grief on my mission. I would like to eradicate them. (You can read about them here; but be warned that there are some adult themes in the article, as the plant can be used as an aphrodisiac--which is just more proof that they are a plant of the devil.) I cleared out some dust from our laundry room and found an electronic hotel room key. I studied French for three hours and then I finished the Book of Mormon for my Book of Mormon class.
I got to bed early and had some weird dream that I can't remember. At 3:00 a book fell off of my roommate Bryton's dresser and woke me up. I looked over at his bed and noticed he wasn't there. Then I checked the time and went out to the living room to see if he had fallen asleep there. He was there, but he hadn't fallen asleep. He is the elders quorum president and he was preparing the lesson for today. He ended up only getting 45 minutes of sleep for the entire night because he spent so much time preparing. He's a better person than I am, because I would have said, "Forget this, I'm going to bed!" I was appreciative that he chose a topic relevant to the Fourth of July. I'm excited for the holiday--but I'm sad for it to be over, because most of July and all of August is the most terrible time of the year.
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