Tubular

This week for the most part was relatively uneventful, I guess.

But this weekend was Memorial Day, and it's a Melville family tradition to go camping in Fillmore Canyon on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. Since I like geology so much, my parents took me out to see the lava tubes near Flowell. A lava tube is a place where a flow of lava cooled and hardened on the outside but was still molten on the inside, so the lava flowed out and left a hard shell, a lava tube. I believe the Flowell volcanoes were active around 500 years ago--which is really quite recent.

There was basalt all over the place; this picture doesn't show the vast amounts of basalt. It amazes me that such small cinder cones could produce that much lava.

The lava tubes were awesome and much bigger than I expected.

My mom took pictures of me going down into the tubes. I was the only one who went down at this location.

I came out of the lava tubes to this grassy area. My dad said that when he was young, he and his friends set a fire down in here, thinking that it would be okay, since it was down below everything else. My dad may be responsible for the fact that there is no sagebrush down in here.

 After I saw these big long lava tubes, my dad took me to another one where there was one that went in the ground a good distance. It went so far back that we could turn off our flashlights and it was pitch black. The ceiling of the tube was wet. It was like a cave, except that it was basalt instead of limestone.

Then I climbed up Tabernacle Hill, a cinder cone (miniature volcano) that receives its name from the fact that it looks like the Salt Lake Tabernacle. I thought I took a picture, but I guess I didn't. When I got to the top, I discovered that my camera batteries were dead. It was extraordinarily windy; I had to hold on to my glasses because I thought they would blow off--or at least get bent by the wind.

On our way out, my parents went the wrong direction and we saw a bunch of cattle hanging out near a barchan sand dune.

Then we went camping in Fillmore Canyon, where we were shocked to discover it was hardly windy at all, since it was so windy out in Flowell. I felt proudly nerdy that I was able to identify most of the rocks as arkose and limestone or dolomite. We brought red, white, and blue star-shaped marshmallows so that I could roast marshmallows.

I definitely want to see those lava tubes again.

Various and sundry things

I have noticed that my history professor says "various and sundry" a lot. In my editing class we learned to edit out things like that because they are redundant. That is one rule that I don't like and one that I ignore--but I can see how it could be really annoying. I feel like he only says it to sound pedantic (I realize the irony of using the word pedantic). Terms like various and sundry were coined a long time ago for people to show off their knowledge because various is a Latinate word and sundry is a Germanic word. But they mean the same thing. Maybe I object to my professor's use of it because of my general distrust of historians.

At least he's better than my first AP U.S. History teacher in high school, who said "again" all the time. It was so bad that I started counting how many times he said it. His technical numbers-only record was 92 times in a 90-hour period. But there was a time when class was only an hour and he said it 90 times!

On Monday of this week, I did a fair bit of driving around. First I drove to Shopko because I wanted to buy a new CD; I bought Adele's 21 album. (That makes it so that I own five songs that are presently on the Billboard 100: Katy Perry's "Part of Me," Adele's "Rumour Has It" and "Set Fire to the Rain," Lady Antebellum's "Dancing Away with My Heart," and Neon Trees' "Everybody Talks.") Then I bought some new shirts from Kohl's. I came home, and then I drove my roommates to our ward FHE. We were nearly an hour late because we waited for my roommate Bryton, but it was good we did because we would have gotten lost, since we had a wrong address. My roommate Cameron let it slip that I don't like physical contact, so one girl, Suzy, purposely starting touching me.Then on our way back, Bryton suggested we could go see The Lorax at the dollar theater (it was more than a dollar because it was 3D; we missed the 2D one). So we went home and recruited some people and went. Suzy rode in my car and sat behind me; she rubbed my earlobes while I was driving and was quite amused when I pointed out that my earlobes don't match.There were six of us and we had the theater all to ourselves (it started after 10:00). It was a mediocre movie. I feel like in the early 2000s there were some pretty terrible CGI movies that tried too hard, but in recent years it's gotten better. The Lorax was one that I thought tried too hard. There was an unintentionally funny part in which Taylor Swift's character said dramatically, "It's called photosynthesis!" It was laughable. I also found it ironic that the movie was full of songs but Taylor Swift didn't do any singing. (I resent famous people being cast in movies simply because they're famous.)

On Friday night I started my memory blog. So if you don't like my memory posts, you won't have to be bothered by them over here again.

This week I learned that there was an Astrofest on campus where they would be giving out glasses to look at the eclipse. I thought that since I live a five-minute walk away from the Eyring Science Center, h**k yes I was going to go get some glasses! So I picked some up before working on a group project for four hours for my Print Publishing class. 

Then today I went home teaching. I have a very enthusiastic and talkative companion (since there are only three people in my apartment, he's from a different one), and we ended up doing our home teaching over the course of four hours. After that got over, I made dinner and went outside with my glasses to look at the eclipse. Bryton came with me. There was another person in my ward who had glasses and he came out too. Various and sundry people walked by and we invited them to look with us. Some strangers stopped and asked where we got glasses, so we shared our glasses with them. I got to explain solar eclipses to some people. At one point I think I accidentally swallowed a bug. A lot of snarky people drove by yelling "Eclipse!" and even "The sky is falling!" I must say, the eclipse was pretty d**g awesome. I managed to get a half-decent photo of the eclipse, using just my point-and-shoot camera and my solar glasses:

Unfortunately, the malevolent clouds spoiled a lot of the fun. Those bullies covered up the sun at the climax of the eclipse! And they ended it early. But at least they let us look at it for a good portion of the time. After the sun and the moon went behind the clouds (usually I love clouds, as long as they're being considerate), we were looking at the rosebushes outside my apartment. A girl and I each ate a petal from a rose. The petal wasn't too bad. It was kind of like an apple peel but bitterer. But I don't need to eat another one for a while.

I will certainly have to go to north Idaho in December 2017 to see the total solar eclipse. There are not many better excuses to visit a mission!

A question at the end

I'm going to try to keep this relatively brief, since it is late and I'm tired.

The week was relatively uneventful--just the usual schooling and work. The only change to the routine was the weekend. On Friday I used my Christmas-present GPS for the first time to go get fitted for a suit for my cousin's wedding next month. Then I went home for the weekend. On Friday night my mom and I worked on a fleece blanket for which I got the fleece last December. It has most of the characters from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special, including King Moonracer and most (but not all) of the Misfit Toys. We did this while watching Bewitched. I've said that Green Acres is the funniest show ever, but I think Bewitched is the most sophisticated show to come out of the 1960s.

Saturday my mom and I headed up to Clearfield to help another cousin move out of his parents' house. His little boy, Brennon, is a funny kid (maybe three years old?) and tried to put a bug in my pocket to take to his new house; when I told him "Not in my pocket!" he tried to put it on the car. He called it a "poteena" bug, but it looked like a box elder bug to me (assuming I'm correct about what a box elder bug is). My mom bought herself a Mother's Day present of a small outdoor propane fire pit. She bought marshmallows for roasting on it, and Walmart even had red, white, and blue star-shaped marshmallows that I can start eating in two weeks.

Then tonight was a family gathering for Mother's Day; it was a fairly typical family gathering. My cousin Jesse found an Easter egg that we missed at Easter. (Don't worry, it was a candy-filled one, not a real egg.) Then I drove down late to Provo. I had to slam on my brakes and worried I wouldn't stop in time because the car in front of me slowed down because there was a smushed orange construction barrel in the road. (My college years all have I-15 construction in common...) I took the Center Street exit instead of University Parkway--I may or may not like Center Street better.

This week my childhood friend David Christensen sent me a link to an article about people with amazing memories. I don't think my memory's as good as those of the people in the article, but it got me thinking. I've been toying with the idea of starting a second blog, one devoted entirely to remembering things. Some posts would be in the same format as my holiday memory posts on this blog, but some might follow a particular theme or subject. What are your thoughts?

I got a job!

The most exciting and surprising thing that happened this week was that I got a job! I am now an editorial assistant (fancy term for editing intern) with BYU Studies, an organization on campus that publishes scholarly articles relating to LDS history and doctrine. I was quite surprised that I got it.

On the night of Friday, April 27, I didn't want to do anything productive. I just wanted to get on the computer and listen to music and look at old Peanuts strips. I figured that if I was going to waste time like that, I would have to do something to feel at least a little productive. So I looked at jobs.byu.edu to see if there were any good job openings. (It amazes me how much the economy has changed--two years ago, there were at most four pages of jobs, but usually there were only two or three; now five pages would be quite low; when I looked, I think there were seven pages.) I found a listing for an editing intern with BYU Studies. Now that I've taken ELang 350, Basic Editing Skills, I am qualified to apply for a lot of internships, but there's always someone more qualified than I am. I figured I might as well apply, but I kind of hoped I wouldn't get it so that I could have more free time. I sent a half-hearted email and attached my resume to it.

The next day, I got a response that said, "We have several qualified applicants, so I 'd like you to take a writing test." I had to write an abstract for an article. I wanted to get it done that day, but the links she gave me for the article didn't work, so I told her I couldn't access the article pages. She gave me directions to find them, so on Monday I wrote my abstract and sent it off. The instructions said the writing test should take 30 to 45 minutes. I finished at just over 45 minutes; in a different situation I would have spent more time fine tuning the abstract, but I wanted to get it over with. I thought that was that.

I went to class in the basement of the JFSB, where there is no phone reception at all. I came out of class at 5:20 and turned my phone on and found that I got a message from Jennie, the BYU Studies lady. She wanted to see if I could have an interview before 6:00 that day. I called her back and she told me I could come in right then. So I went in totally unprepared for an interview. It was a pretty awkward interview; I felt like I gave a lot of "wrong answers" and generally exhibited my awkwardness and incompetence. They (Jennie and a man) told me they liked my abstract and asked some questions about my resume. Jennie said to the man, "Well, what do you think?" He said it was her decision. They asked me to step outside and they would let me know their decision momentarily. The interview had gone so poorly that I was sure they were going to tell me they were hiring someone else. I would be OK with that; I just knew it would be awkward for them to tell me that in person, mainly because I knew it would be uncomfortable for them. Then they came out and told me they decided to hire me! I didn't know how to respond because I was so surprised and because I'm generally an unenthusiastic person.

It appears I'm going to work ten hours a week, which will be nice. So far I've worked on an article about baptism symbolism in the Book of Mormon. Jennie has told me my edits have been good; I hope I can keep that up. I still feel a little intimidated--I'm just a lowly new intern.

I honestly think that there must not have been very many applicants if I got the job! I'm sure there are lots of other people who got A's in ELang 350, and there are lots of people who have had more editing experience than I have, since I only did one semester on a student journal. Also, I am a male. I would estimate that roughly 75% of editing minors are girls. I feel like I have a fighting chance against other guys, but I lose my edge when compared with girls. And the test was a writing test--I'm more of an editor than I am a writer, so I figured that there would be lots of applicants who are English majors and who prefer to write, so their abstracts would be better than mine.

But they told me they really liked my abstract, so I guess I must be a decent enough writer. One thing they said impressed them about my abstract (I guess I somewhat threw this in there on purpose) was with regards to the former RLDS Church. They seemed impressed I knew it is now called the Community of Christ, but I think that is pretty common knowledge. They were also impressed I noted some differences between the LDS and RLDS church names: In our church, we use Latter-day, with a hyphen and a lowercase d. The RLDS Church used Latter Day, with no hyphen and an uppercase D. I only became aware of this subtlety because of my editing class. (Jennie told me that our church deliberately chose the hyphenation and capitalization in order to distinguish ourselves from the RLDS Church. Now that the RLDS Church is called the Community of Christ, I think we should capitalize our d now. I have often written Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer with a lowercase n because I knew Latter-day used a lowercase d; now I know that the n should in fact be capitalized.)

It's kind of amazed me to be sitting at a computer editing the article and thinking, "I'm actually getting paid to do this!" I've edited stuff before, primarily for my student journal, but I've never been paid. This is actually the lowest paying job I've ever had, even lower than Walmart and my BYU custodial job. But I still feel pretty lucky. Paid internships are very hard to find--and I happened to snatch one up! I recently applied for a non-paid internship and did not get it. And now I have a paid one! I'm excited about getting an internship because it hopefully gets my foot in the door and because it makes me feel like I am hireable. I feel like it will help me get past the ol' Catch 22--You need a job to get experience, but you need experience to get a job.

Editing can be annoying when you find something you need to fix but you don't know how to fix it or else you don't know how to fix it without introducing another problem. But once you find a suitable solution, it's a great feeling.

Especially when you're getting paid for it.

One year of blogging

A year ago today, we found out that Osama bin Laden was killed.

And I started this blog!

In honor of the occasion, here are links to and descriptions of the 66 posts I have made over the past 366 days. Disregard the inconsistent capitalization.

May 1, 2011: Here I am!
I introduced the blog and talked about my classes and my job.

May 8, 2011: Osama, Obama, and My Mama
I spoke about my annoyance with conservatives who expressed irrelevant disdain against Obama following bin Laden's death. I said baseball is weird, and I talked about my mom (since it was Mother's Day).

May 15, 2011: Immune system, put your armor back on!
I talked about my final time cleaning up after baseball and softball and expressed worry that my invincible immune system had died.

May 22, 2011: Enter Sandman
I spoke about five nights in a row of utterly bizarre dreams, including a baby-like Jabba the Hutt and a dachshund/hippo hybrid that turned into Jimmer Fredette.

May 29, 2011: Canterbury Tales
I talked about working on projects for my History of the English Language class. I went on an awkward date with a Mexican and had an embarrassing text conversation with a stranger.

June 5, 2011: In memoriam of the dinosaurs
I talked about a Memorial Day trip to the zoo, where they had a lot of dinosaur models. I talked a lot about my fascination with dinosaurs and speculated I might become a geology minor.

June 12, 2011: The Ghost of Independence Days Past
My first ever memory post! I talked about all the Fourth of Julys of my life, including a memorable lesson in East Wenatchee, WA, from 2008, and pretending to be the Statue of Liberty, from 1995.

June 19, 2011: A week in a paragraph
Just before starting summer term classes, I made a short blog about finishing spring term, going to the zoo, and cleaning up mud debris.

June 26, 2011: The Age of the Earth
I talked about evolution and about surprise that some people think it's opposed to the Gospel. I also officially declared my geology minor.

July 3, 2011: And It's Hotter than the Fourth of July
On the day before the Fourth of July, I blogged about going to a patriotic service in the Marriott Center and going to North Salt Lake's fireworks. My air conditioning was broken, so I blogged in the apartment below me.

July 7, 2011: Thursday Edition, or, the Best Fourth of July Ever
In my very first non-Sunday post, I talked about the Fourth of July, including running my first 5k and going to sundry ward events.

July 10, 2011: UP
I talked about going to a viewing of Up on campus and expressed some disbelief at some of its plot elements.

July 17, 2011: If I weren't a muggle, none of this would have happened.
I talked about watching a few Harry Potter movies, having my AC still not working, being embarrassed when I accidentally played Katy Perry's "Firework" in the middle of the library, and getting a package two months late.

July 24, 2011: Tests, an eight-year-old, and presidents
I had to take a couple of midterms and went home for the weekend. My niece said some hilarious things. I posted a picture of President Obama that was supposed to be a picture of President Monson on the Seen @ BYU Facebook page.

July 31, 2011: Day by Day
I talked about things I did on each day of the week, including feeling out of place after a campus forum and going on a triple date with the apartment where I was staying.

August 7, 2011: River of Tears
I talked about going to a Cherie Call concert and baptizing my niece, Allie.

August 14, 2011: My Christmas vacation lasts four and a half months!
I finished up summer term and got hired again at my Church Distribution job, thus sealing my fate for fall semester (i.e., working and not going to school).

August 17, 2011: Wake me up when September comes
I talked about my first day back at my Distribution job and said how much I hate August.

August 21, 2011: Pokey Guy
I talked about being slow at work, accidentally getting on the freeway twice in a row, and throwing away old school papers.

August 28, 2011: When part-time turns into overtime
The distribution of Daughters in My Kingdom made me work overtime, even though I just had a part-time job.

September 2, 2011: I turn my music up
After I bought Christina Perri's album lovestrong., I blogged about the music contained in my shuffle playlist. (Incidentally, my playlist has changed significantly since the time of that post; I've deleted some music and added a lot more.)

September 4, 2011: What's New?
A new month, new coworkers, a new CD, and new shoes. Not very exciting.

September 11, 2011: Every time we see the 11 in 9/11, we see two towers.
On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I blogged about my seventh grade memories of the event.

September 17, 2011: A Spoonful of...Something
I wrote a review of the stage version of Mary Poppins, which was nowhere as good as the movie.

September 18, 2011: Cinnamon and blue
I had hilarious experience at work when I thought my coworker said "cinnamon" instead of "red"; what she had actually said was "sendin' 'em." I talked about my disdain about the BYU/U of U rivalry.

September 22, 2011: A pillowcase full of trick-or-treat memories
I recounted as many details as possible about all the Halloweens of my life, including flying to Taiwan (2002) and having a turkey jack-o-lantern (1995).

September 25, 2011: A too-warm September week
I talked about downloading a few songs, setting up the Super Nintendo, and going to a mission reunion.

October 2, 2011: 23 years.
I had a birthday and talked about what I have done in my life. The most significant event of my life was my mission.

October 8, 2011: Run for your death!
I ran a disastrous Halloween "5k." (Looking back, I remember having a bad feeling just before I started walking. That feeling was the same feeling I had last week when I passed out--so if I hadn't stopped running at the 5k, I would have passed out in front of a lot of people!)

October 9, 2011: Falling from the heavens
I saw snow in October, my dad got a job, and I had a bizarre work dream.

October 16, 2011: Technically, I didn't get this finished in time
I resolved to listen to music less and to be off of the computer by 9:00.

October 23, 2011: The purple-people-eater basketball coach was centuries too early
I saw a weird old man wearing purple and went to Nine Mile Canyon to see the Fremont Indian art.

October 28, 2011: My third-favorite holiday
I talked about various thoughts and memories of Halloween.

October 30, 2011: Classes, classmates, and classy movies
I registered for classes, found out that a coworker graduated with me, and watched The Nightmare Before Christmas.

November 5, 2011: Remember Every Detail, Volume 3: Thanksgiving
I remembered as many details as possible about all the Thanksgivings of my life, including having a family story printed in the newspaper (1999) and eating purple potatoes (1997 or 1998).

November 6, 2011: The REAL most wonderful time of the year
I talked about what I did on Halloween and expressed my excitement about Thanksgiving.

November 13, 2011: Eight votes is seven too many
I talked about the utterly bizarre campaign of some crazy old lady, Reva E. Wadsworth.

November 20, 2011: A pointless post
I blogged briefly about getting a Thanksgiving dinner at work.

November 27, 2011: A short holiday and looong hours
I had to work a lot around Thanksgiving. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

December 3, 2011: Yuletide by the Fireside, and Joyful Memories There
I remembered as many details as possible about all the Christmases of my life, including flying to Tennessee (2010) and being snowed in near Edwall, WA (2008). (This post was started on December 3 but wasn't published until December 11.)

December 4, 2011: Two whole years
I talked about how I had been home from my mission for two years. I'm grateful for my mission, but I no longer feel like I need to go back.

December 18, 2011: Phonology is my friend
I had to retrain my headset at work so that it would understand me!

December 25, 2011: Merry Christmas!
I talked about the week of Christmas, including my car not starting when I was doing Christmas shopping.

December 26, 2011: Auld Lang Syne
I remembered all the details about the New Years of my life, including a Cherie Call concert (2010-2011) and a crêpe party with the sister missionaries (2007-2008). (I started this post on December 26 but finished on December 30.)

January 1, 2012: Ring out the Old, Ring in the New
I recapped my year and set some New Year resolutions.

January 8, 2012: You say goodbye, I say hello
I talked about my visiting nephews and my winter classes.

January 15, 2012: Remember Every Detail, Volume 6: Valentine's Day
I remembered as many details as possible about all the Valentine's Days of my life, including the Olympics (2002) and the sixth-grade dance (2001).

January 22, 2012: Commas, hyphens, parentheses, semicolons, and geologic periods
I talked about my two minors, editing and geology.

January 29, 2012: The fifth-grade letter
I talked about a letter I had written to myself in fifth-grade. I sure was a weirdo.

February 5, 2012: My class rocks!
I licked minerals for a geology quiz and discovered that I never got paid for three days of work.

February 12, 2012: Valentine's Day: Winter's Halloween
I talked about Josh Powell. I compared Valentine's Day to Halloween and talked about a tri-ward dance.

February 15, 2012: Lemits time is here
I introduced the term lemits and explained what it means.

February 19, 2012: Green Days
I talked about all the St. Patrick's Days of my life, including moving furniture from my late grandparents' house (2007) and playing a mean trick on Hillary Ulmer (1998).

February 26, 2012: Free as my hai-ai-ai-ai-ai-air
I confessed I am a closet Lady Gaga fan and introduced my aversion to talking about hair.

March 4, 2012: March Midterm Madness
I became stressed about midterms and got a new roommate, Cameron.

March 11, 2012: One Weird Dude
I talked about how weird I am, including my weird eating habits and the fact that I think I am invisible.

March 18, 2012: The most overhyped pointless day of the year
I talked about going to the St. Patrick's Day parade, even though St. Patrick's Day is a pointless holiday.

March 22, 2012: Those Easter Morns
I talked about all the Easters of my life, including rescuing worms (2009) and breaking confetti eggs on peoples' heads (2008).

March 25, 2012: Running, reruns, and runny jam
I made my goal of running for an hour straight. I watched a lot of Green Acres, and my mom spilled a lot of jam on herself.

April 1, 2012: Potpourri
I talked about sundry things, including my half birthday, registering for classes, and finding out a former missionary I know of turned into a transvestite.

April 8, 2012: Happy Easter!
I talked about how the events leading up to Easter, such as a geology field trip and finding a late professor, really didn't have anything to do with Easter.

April 13, 2012: Global Warming
I said that global warming is most definitely caused by humans, and saying otherwise is stupid.

April 15, 2012: Finally!
I talked about a troubling geology test and the finals I had left.

April 22, 2012: A year of holiday memories
I talked about all the holidays of the past year, including my 5k on the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve with my nephews. (I was writing this memory post when Blogger made some changes; apparently they now date a post by the time it's published, not by when it's started.)

April 24, 2012: Of bones, blogs, and blackouts
I talked about my trip to Dinosaur National Monument. I passed out from running.

April 29, 2012: Thanksgiving in April
Even though it wasn't November, there was (and is) a lot to be grateful for.

Thanks to all of you who read this blog! I hope I get more followers in the next year.