Side character

 I always think of myself as a side or minor character, so it unnerves me when I get more attention.

Last week I talked about making a presentation for my oral history class that was supposed to be twenty minutes long, but it was only thirteen. Well, about twenty-four hours after I submitted it, the professor emailed me and said he took a quick look at it. He thanked me for being so thorough. I thought, "Well, will you still think it's thorough when you take a closer look at it?"

On Wednesday, I walked into the building where class is, and I heard someone call my name. It was the professor sitting by the little coffee shop* in the building. I was a bit surprised he recognized me outside of the classroom. He once again thanked me for being so thorough. My presentation is the first one for the semester, and he said it's hard to be the first but I set a good standard. I told him that was good to hear because it was too short. He acknowledged that it was short, but he said it was a good length to keep the undergrads' attention. 

And then in class, he praised my presentation. I feel a little weird when all eyes are on me. But I also feel weird that so many people are watching my presentation. Just like everyone else, I hate hearing recordings of my voice. I think I sound unintelligent and socially awkward. Well, I know I'm socially awkward, but I don't want to sound like it! But I realize most people probably don't think twice about my voice.

*One thing that has surprised me about the University of Utah compared to BYU is that the U has a lot more places on campus to eat. BYU doesn't have coffee shops for obvious reasons, but the coffee shops sell sandwiches and other things. BYU had a lot more vending machines than the U. The U also has a lot of food trucks, but food trucks were a new thing when I was at BYU, so I don't know if BYU has them now.

My oral history presentation wasn't the only thing that brought attention to me this week. For my science and technology class, there are six of us grad students, and each of us had to select a book for us to read. We grad students meet every two weeks to discuss these books outside of regular class time. This week was my book; I had selected Fossil Legends of the First Americans, an academic book with a pulp-fiction cover. It was unnerving to me to lead the discussion, especially since I'm so clumsy with spoken words. 

But that's not the only way it focused on me. One of my classmates is basically the main character of the grad program, and she knew it was my birthday last week. She loves baking, and she asked me what I usually have for my birthday. So she had made a Mexican chocolate cake, and to keep with the theme of the evening, she put dinosaur candles on it! So all my classmates sang to me and I blew out the candles. And I was just trying my best not to be awkward in an awkward situation. It was very generous of her and my classmates.

I guess even minor characters get their own episodes once in a while.

***

This pumpkinundation roundup leads me to random stores to buy lots of random stuff. Trader Joe's has lots of pumpkin stuff, but so does Sprouts. I think the Sprouts items are even weirder. You will hear more about these in the coming weeks. (I have to budget my calories so that things don't get [even more] out of hand!)

There are two ways that I like to eat candy-coated pretzels. One is to let the coating melt away in my mouth, then just have the pretzel. And the other way is just to crunch it normally. These Flipz Pumpkin Spice Covered Pretzels are not as good when I let the coating melt away; it's overly artificial. But when I crunch them, I am pleasantly surprised! The spices blend nicely with the salty pretzels. 8/10.

Special K Pumpkin Spice consists of Special K with little pumpkin spice–coated clusters. It's not very pumpkiny, but it's a really enjoyable cereal! 7/10.

I had these Trader Joe's Fall Leaf Corn Tortilla Chips several weeks back but didn't include them on here, and I liked them enough to get them again. (I accidentally wrote "I liked them enough to be them again." I didn't like them that much!) They're not branded as a pumpkin product, but pumpkin and other vegetables are in the ingredients—maybe for color? They are better than most corn chips, but the shapes are adorable. 8/10.

Trader Joe's Apple Caramel Greek Yogurt is more palatable than most Greek yogurts. There are little bits of apple in it, though it didn't seem very caramely. 7/10.

This Atlas Pumpkin Spice Protein Bar is the first I've had of this brand. It's like a combination of an RXBar and a Quest Bar. It has a nice pumpkin spice flavor. As far as protein bars go, it's not bad. 7/10.

These Serenity Kids Pumpkin & Cinnamon Grain Free Puffs are literally baby food. But they don't really taste like much at all. 6/10.

This Dick's Fresh Market Caramel Apple Donut has apple pie filling and a caramel frosting on a sugar-dusted donut. I think most Associated Food Stores have these donuts of the month. It didn't seem very caramely, and apple pie filling is very different from a fresh apple. But I still loved this donut. 8/10.

I've heard good things about Culver's pumpkin products, so I got a Culver's Salted Caramel Pumpkin Concrete Mixer. I really enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was that different than, say, Dairy Queen pumpkin products. 9/10.

Three Wishes Pumpkin Spice Grain Free Cereal was better than I expected from a cereal with little added sugar and no grains. But it kept reminding me of Indian food! Not sweet Indian food, savory Indian food. 6/10.

Del Taco isn't know for its seasonal offerings, so I was excited to try a Del Taco Caramel Apple Shake, though I'm not sure it's meant as a Halloween/fall treat. It has caramel flavor and artificial apple flavor. But it didn't necessarily taste like a caramel apple. 7/10.

Tootsie Green Apple Caramel Apple Pops have been around since the 90s, and they are fascinating in that the hard part bends like caramel. They are classic. 7/10.

But did you know they make them in different flavors at Halloween? I got a bag of the three flavors back in 2012, and it's because of them that I started brushing my teeth more than twice a day. The Golden Delicious Caramel Apple Pop tastes a little different from the green one, but not significantly so. 7/10.

And the Macintosh Caramel Apple Pop also tastes a little different, maybe a little sweeter than the green one. The cashier said it was her favorite of the three. 7/10.

I have wanted to try a Tonyburgers Pumpkin Shake. It is great as a shake, but it didn't come across as very pumpkiny. 6/10. 

I first had a Jamba Juice Pumpkin Smash at the Jamba Juice on BYU campus, so things came full circle when I had one on the U campus. It was better than I remembered. Nice and pumpkiny and also refreshing. 8/10.

The Happy Apples Cinnamon Caramel Apple is OK. It wasn't very cinnamony. These caramel apples aren't that great. I assume they put peanuts on them to keep them from sticking to the packaging. I like peanuts, but they detract from the caramel apple. 6/10.

The Maverik Bonfire Pumpkin Chocolate Chip is good but not exceptional—it's just what you expect from such a cookie. 7/10.

I like Sunbelt Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars enough to get them every year, even though they're not super pumpkiny, but they do have actual pumpkin in them! 7/10.

When I got Trader Joe's Harvest Blend Herbal Tea, I mistakenly thought it was pumpkin. It's not. It has spices and apple. It's nice for something that has no calories, but it wouldn't be my first drink of choice. I have had two cups so far, and I liked the first one better—probably because the second one cooled down too much because Jimmy needed some affection. (Speaking of Jimmy, he's sitting on my lap while I'm typing, and it's hard to type while dodging his tail.) 6/10.