Pioneers and Olympians

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!