The Hadean Eon

Remember two years ago when my air conditioning went out and I had a hot apartment for six weeks?

Well, my air conditioning has gone out again. It's only been a week this time, but it's still not fixed. Sometimes it's warmer inside than it is outside. That's all fine and dandy during the winter, but not during July.

I would much rather have the heat go out. If the heat goes out, you can have multiple blankets and multiple jackets and cook lots of warm things on the stove and consume lots of soup and hot chocolate. But when the heat goes out, all you can do is put a fan in the window and maybe eat some popsicles. But I don't have any popsicles at the moment, and I don't think they help that much anyway. Now I've had the AC go out twice, but never have I had the heat go out.

When this happened two years ago, I was the only one in the apartment, and someone below me invited me to sleep in their extra bed. But this time, there are two of us, and no one has invited us to their apartments. (My roommate Bryton moved out this week to go to Mexico. New people are moving in at the end of the month.) I have been trying to cope with open windows, fans, and sleeping in as few clothes as possible.

I suppose it could be a lot worse. I could be living in Arizona or Texas or, heaven forbid, Death Valley and have my AC go out. I could be someplace where I can't just go on campus to escape the heat. I guess a broken AC is really a first-world problem.

Plus, I have had some relief. It was rainy on Thursday and Friday. I went running Wednesday and Thursday because I wanted to be outside, where it was cooler. On Friday I spent the night at home, where I spent most of Saturday.

Friday night I drove up to West Jordan. First I went to Target. There is a CD called Frankenweenie Unleashed that consists of songs inspired by the movie, and if I am counting the movie as a Halloween movie, then the CD would therefore be a Halloween CD. I learned that Target had an exclusive version with two extra songs, so if I were to get it, that would be the version to have, since it both is a physical CD and has bonus tracks. (Amazon and iTunes have bonus tracks, but those are only MP3s.) After looking for this Target-exclusive CD at the Targets in Centerville, Salt Lake, American Fork, and Orem, I thought West Jordan would be the last place that could possibly have it--and I was pleasantly surprised to see they did! This was a dumb paragraph. I would delete it, but I spent too much time writing it.

Then I went to my aunt's house because she was giving away rocks. I got a pretty green quartzite and a rock that looks like an intermediate form between phyllite and schist. My cousin's two-year-old "Wallace" was there. When I showed up, he said, "Where Aunt Ann go?" since the only times he has ever seen me have been around my mom. I'm pretty sure he has the cutest voice any kid has ever had--really high, kind of quiet, and maybe even a little breathy. At one point when I was carrying the phyllite, he said to me, "Put it there." So I put it down and he said, "Thank you Mark." Then we went to Macaroni  Grill for the birthday of my cousin-in-law Lisa. I think that a meal that is more than $10 is highway robbery.

Saturday I spent with my nephews. The one who needs most supervising is "Baby." He is so adorable that I want to kidnap him and protect him from his brothers' bullying. I supervised games of Candy Land between my niece Allie and my nephews Franklin, Baby, and Preston. Baby didn't really play--he had more fun climbing a vanity--but that's the nature of Candy Land: It doesn't matter who actually is playing, since there is zero skill involved. I had to do some careful observing. Franklin would sarcastically tease Allie, so she would playfully hit him. She apparently doesn't understand that you can't do that with Franklin. Franklin has a chip on his shoulder, and he believes that anything done to him is done with malicious intent. If I hadn't been there to supervise, I think Franklin would have beat Allie up. Preston loved picking apricots, so much that he picked some green ones. We were swinging in the backyard. Baby walked right in the path of Preston's swing and got knocked over. He was fine, but he didn't think he was at first. I thought he knew better than to walk in front of swings.

It was also a family party. While everyone else ate non-seasonal cookies and pie, I ate Otter Pops. In two months from tomorrow, I can start eating Halloween desserts. But I need to remember that that's still a long way away.

But as long as my apartment feels like the Hadean, all I want is popsicles anyway.

Then today I had my typical church meetings. I had to do some filling in for the executive secretary, who is out of town. I nearly had to count tithing, but then my assistant finance clerk showed up just in time. I really appreciate both of my assistants, so I hope they don't steal them away to other callings (but one's moving out anyway).

And now I am writing this blog, with my back all sweaty.