My family had spring break this week, so they went down to southern Utah. However, my status as contingent employee prevented me from going. If I were still an intern, I probably would have been able to go, but no. Instead, I had to stick around and dogsit. My sister has some kind of overly affectionate Yorkie dog, Buddy, so I went over to their house to check in on him on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Do you ever have times where something is annoying, but you don't realize how annoying it is until it's over? A year ago, I went to Big Lots to get an external mouse, and there was a little girl who was whining the entire time I was in the store, and I didn't realize how annoying it was until I got in my car and could still hear the whining. Last February, my family went to see Mary Poppins at Woods Cross High, and there was a young kid who kept loudly fake laughing and mimicking the reactions of others in the audience. Again, I didn't realize how annoying it was until I kept hearing the fake laugh the next day.
So it is with Buddy. His single most annoying characteristic is that he is always in your face and trying to lick you. He's not content to sit in your lap or next to you. No, he has to be sitting or standing on your chest with his face in your face. I didn't realize how annoying it was until I left and realized how relieved I was. Aside from that one characteristic, he's decent.
On Wednesday, I took him running. Let me tell you, it's quite an experience to put your shoes on when there's a dog in your lap trying to lick your face. Running with him was a hassle, because he had to stop and sniff everything. Eventually, he refused to go any further. He wanted to go back in the direction we came from, but when I tried to get him to keep going, he just sat on the sidewalk. When we were returning home, he ran faster than he had gone the entire time.
On Wednesday, I also bought a new laptop. I got another Toshiba Satellite, but this time I got a touchscreen. It's mostly the same, except my screen's a little smaller, and I can touch the screen, although I'm not sure how much I'll use that feature. It always takes time to adjust to a new computer, so I can't really analyze it quite yet.
On Thursday, I had a bit of an adventure. I've been running on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, and the main trail goes up a hill after a little bit. I have looked down at the flat part below the hill (a Pleistocene beach), and I noticed there's a little trail down there. I'm not sure how official it is, but I see people there. I decided to go see where it went. It definitely isn't a good running trail, as it's narrow and sometimes crosses a ravine. I felt like I was out in the middle of nowhere, even though the city was right below me. I even passed a sign saying "Keep Out: Active Mine Area" (presumably for the gravel pit). I'm a little bit of a scaredy cat, so I got to a point where I felt uncomfortable and turned around without seeing where the trail ultimately ended up. (I looked on Google Earth, and it looks like it kind of ends nowhere special--it ends someplace I can get to an easier way.)
After that trail, I wanted to explore another unofficial trail. This trail just ended up in a ravine, and the trail disappeared. But since I was back there, I thought I would climb up to the top of the hill and come out on the other side, because I seemed to remember seeing a trail there. I found a jawbone of some kind. I was a little perplexed by some manmade ridges on the hill, because I could see no purpose to them. When I got to the top of the hill, there was no trail, so I had to come down on the grass-covered rocks. It wasn't really dangerous, but I was a little uncomfortable, especially since I didn't want to step on any cactuses. I think the "trail" I thought I had seen was actually a rockslide, and it was way too steep to even consider climbing or descending!
On Friday, I decided to go to a mission reunion. When I was freshly home, I would do anything to go to them. Five+ years later, it's not as essential. I had two mission presidents, President Clark and President Palmer, and both of them had reunions that night. I used to go to the Palmer reunions (held on BYU campus) when I was in Provo, because it took me five minutes to walk there as opposed to thirty minutes to drive to the Clark reunion. However, now that I'm no longer in Provo, I didn't want to go to the Palmer reunion. A large part of this is because I only had five months with him, and that entire time I was in one of the outlying areas of the mission. I think he remembers me more from reunions than he does from the mission. And I know hardly anyone else at those reunions. I feel much more comfortable at the Clark reunions, because I know the people at least a little better. Only one of my companions, Elder Wilson, was there. I actually stuck around longer than I wanted to because I heard he was coming.
Then on Saturday, President Palmer was sustained as a new area seventy! I really enjoyed conference this time. I was surprised how different it was. President Monson seemed to be doing well, but I was surprised he only spoke twice. I hope he's doing all right. President Packer isn't long for this world.
My family colored Easter eggs, and I like using crayons on them.
With it being Easter, I've been gorging myself on Easter candy and carrot cake. Carrot cake and clove jelly beans are a means for getting Christmas spices at Easter. I ate way too much, but it's the last time I can eat candy and dessert until I start having patriotic things at Memorial Day weekend--and even then, patriotic candies are unpredictable and inconsistent. You never know what candy will be sold from one year to the next.
But I mustn't get ahead of myself, because time moves too quickly. I just need to enjoy a peaceful spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment