One year older and wiser too

It was my birthday yesterday! It meant that I was allowed to--and did--eat a lot of unhealthy things over the course of the week.

On Friday I had just come back from running (I unwisely ended up "running" through post-football game pedestrian traffic--my run turned into a walk for a period of time) when I learned that Hanna the Idahoan horse was in town. I changed and then visited her and her equine friends. We caught up and talked about my opinions of tarantulas. At some point in the conversation, Hanna said that she was glad she had made cinnamon rolls back in May because it led to her knowledge about my strange diet. Her friend Kristen then pointed out that I can eat things now because of Halloween, and then I mentioned that I could eat anything that week. Then they found out it was my birthday, and we ended up taking a spontaneous late-night trip to Smith's to buy some ice cream (I later learned it was just a "frozen dairy dessert") and then ate it by the stream on campus. It was after midnight, so it was technically my birthday. I realized that if our spontaneous celebration counted as a birthday party, it was the first birthday party I've had since I was twelve.

Saturday morning I had to get up early because my ward was doing a service project. But my GPS didn't have the location of the project, and I knew I would get lost, and I didn't want to get lost, so I went back to bed. I don't really regret it. Then I went home. My parents presented me with a collection of random gifts. First they gave me a non-present of used speakers for my computer (so that I don't have to use the laptop speakers if I take it out of my room) but I don't know if I can get them to work they way I want. I got a Michael Vey book. I'll read it eventually, but not anytime soon. I got a giant fake spider, an insulated cup with a skull on it, and some fall-colored peanut butter M&Ms. (The M&Ms, not the peanut butter, are fall colored.) I got the first season of Hogan's Heroes (a show I haven't seen enough of to decide whether I like it, although I suspect I will). My mom nearly forgot to give me two CDs, but the conversation led her to remember. She got me a CD by the Lower Lights, who put a folksy twist on traditional hymns. Sometimes I feel like the MoTab tries to suck the life out of any song they sing, so it's nice to have these songs reinvigorated again. But don't think I'm too harsh on the MoTab, because the other CD was their newest Christmas concert album. I doubt it'll be very good (who likes opera singers anymore?), but I like to collect them. Their concert albums with Sissel, the Kings Singers, and Brian Stokes Mitchell were all fantastic.

After going to Chili's for lunch and doing grocery shopping, we had cake and ice creams. I showed my parents Mad Monster Party?. With my parents' opinions in play, I decided to count it as a Halloween movie, due to its monstery theme and its October setting. Then I came back to Provo and had to do some studying for my test tomorrow. It was a satisfying birthday.

Sometimes as I get older, I like to reflect on my life and the ways I've changed--hopefully for the better. My mission was obviously the biggest catalyst for change in my life, and I think I changed more during that period than I would have during a normal two-year span.

But even though I haven't been on a mission, I still think I've had some significant changes over the last two years.
This is a picture of me on September 15, 2010.

And this is a picture of me from this August, with my nephew Baby.

Two years ago at this time, I had never even seen Baby!

Two years ago, I had recently finished my first year of college. I was searching for a job. I later got a job, and then returned to it a year ago.

Now I have a paid internship as an "editorial assistant." I'm getting exposure to the kind of work I plan on doing in life.

Two years ago, I still had a lot of prescriptive grammarian in me, although it was diminishing.

Now, I am more of a descriptive grammarian. Some of you may have taken a survey this week about the use of "This is he" vs. "This is him" when you answer the phone. The "correct" way is to say "This is he"--but that's an incredibly stupid rule. They say you should use the subjective pronoun when the verb is to be. Never mind that you use the objective pronoun in most other predicates! Those foolish seventeenth-century grammarians created this rule because Latin would use the subject pronouns. But English isn't Latin! Furthermore, French would use an objective pronoun in this construction, and French is from Latin and is more close to English than Latin is! I was a bit dismayed by all of my survey respondents who said that grammar rules are important. It was practically a dagger to the heart when one of my ELang colleagues said she teaches people to answer the phone the "right" way! She, of all people, should know better!

Two years ago I was content in my ELang and editing studies, and wouldn't have considered studying more.

Now I am also a geology minor, which allows me to do all sorts of fun things. This week I got to play on the stream table, which is a glorified sandbox (with plastic sand) that illustrates fluvial processes. One of the times I observed it, it started out looking like this:

 After thirty or forty minutes, it looked like this.

(It was depositing sediment so fast that we had to keep moving the sand so that the deltas wouldn't go down the drain. Hence the giant sand pile. But overall the river changed mostly naturally.)

Two years ago I was terribly socially awkward.

Today, I'm, well, terribly socially awkward. But I feel God keeps putting me in situations to force me out of my comfort zone. Like my air conditioning going out for six weeks last summer, or my present calling as a ward clerk.

Two years ago I was concerned about being a Halloween tree. If you put a shiny red ball on a green pine tree, it looks good. But if you put that same shiny red ball on a black, dead, ugly Halloween tree, it doesn't look good. Just as I, I would say, am a Halloween tree, therefore I can't have Christmas ornaments. Now I'm more willing to try things that I would consider to be Christmas ornaments. I listen to regular radio stations and even buy songs that I hear. I have some colored pants. And I do some other Christmas ornament things.

On the other hand, two years ago I was kind of ashamed of my Halloween ornaments.

But now I'm not so ashamed. I openly play my music, both Halloween and Christmas ornaments, for anyone to hear. I have my Halloween DVDs, from Peanuts to Bewitched, out on the living room shelf for anyone to see. I'm more comfortable being a Halloween tree, even though I'm less of one.

Maybe there's nothing wrong with being a Nightmare Before Christmas tree.

A crazy week

I'd say this week was the craziest week of the semester so far. I was really jumping around like a house on fire, trying to get everything done. There were lots of things demanding my attention--and it looks like this coming week is also going to be quite busy, although hopefully it will be less busy.

Monday was a pretty good start to the week. I went on a miniature shopping spree and ended up buying a strange little movie called Mad Monster Party?:



My movie and TV tastes are pretty juvenile, so this is the kind of thing I like. I'm trying to decide whether or not to classify it as a Halloween movie. On the one hand, it was originally released in March of 1967, it makes no references to Halloween, and in the '60s they really liked their monsters, giving us things like The Munsters and "The Monster Mash." On the other hand, it definitely has a Halloweeny theme going on, and early in the movie there's a calendar that says October 9, indicating that the story would take place at Halloween time (I don't think they tell us how long the story lasts, just approximately when it starts). Today it's definitely marketed as a Halloween movie, complete with an orange and black DVD case. It was made by Rankin/Bass, and they really loved their holidays, giving us things like Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July and Rudolph's Shiny New Year. The background music for the Halloween sequence in Here Comes Peter Cottontail is taken directly from Mad Monster Party?, as are the skull chairs and perhaps some other props. And some of the release information makes me wonder if it was intended for Halloween but got pushed away. So I don't know how to count it. If I don't count it as a Halloween movie, I don't know if I'll ever watch it again, but if I do count it, then I'll watch it every year. I can't believe I am so immature that I just wrote an entire paragraph about an obscure kid movie (although I find it a bit surprising it's a kid movie--it's more violent than The Nightmare Before Christmas).

Anyway, having just bought the movie, I wanted to watch it on Monday night. So I took my computer out to the living room so that I could do homework while watching it. I looked at the upcoming assignments, and I discovered that on Wednesday I had an assignment due that involved surveying ten people about their speech. I hadn't even started!

So Tuesday was spent scrambling to find ten people to survey. It was made even harder because I had a stake meeting for all the ward clerks that I had to go to. That cut into my surveying time. But I did eventually get ten people--twelve, actually. (To all of you who participated, I thank you.) I finished my homework at 12:30 or 1:00 a.m., which is pretty late for me.

But that wasn't all this week. I had to conduct an experiment for a different class. I had to find twelve people to participate in the experiment. On Wednesday, the other ward clerk and I went around and tried to get the information of people whose records aren't in the ward. In the process, I invited as many people as I could to participate. (We were supposed to find a fairly random sample, which meant we couldn't simply invite people who were convenient to find or simply ask for volunteers.) I promised cookies for my participants, so Thursday I made some mediocre pumpkin-shaped, orange-flavored cookies. I was scrambling to get them done when my participants started arriving. To get my twelve people, I had to go knocking on random doors to find last-minute volunteers. It reminded me why I hated tracting so much on my mission. These are people who are, like me, young single college students, and it was uncomfortable asking them to do something for me. My social awkwardness was especially obvious. But I got a few people who were willing to participate. (Again, I thank all people who helped me out, although I don't think any of them read this blog.) I had a living room full of people waiting to start the experiment, so eventually I decided ten was good enough and I proceeded with the experiment. (For my survey I needed ten but got twelve; for my experiment I needed twelve but got ten.) With some projects, when I'm done I feel relieved. With this one, I felt stressed even after it was done because I felt bad for the people I had inconvenienced and I was embarrassed by my mediocre cookies and messy kitchen. Oh well. I probably worry too much.

Yesterday I had a field trip for my editing class. We went to the Crandall Printing Museum, which I had often heard about but never been to. It sounds boring, but it's really quite interesting. They have a working replica of Gutenberg's press. It amazes me that not only did Gutenberg invent his press, but he also had to invent ink, ink balls, and other things to make his press work. The museum talked some about Benjamin Franklin and then about the printing of the Book of Mormon. The little museum struggles financially, so I think you should visit them. But I would recommend them even if they weren't struggling.

This morning was the Brigham City Temple dedication; we all went up to watch it broadcast in the Marriott Center. I was amused by some speakers' errors. The first speaker quoted Proverbs 22:6, but he said he was quoting Psalms. Then Elder Perry said his ancestors were buried in the Brigham City Temple. I don't know if he meant near instead of in or if he meant Cemetery instead of Temple. No wonder people think we Mormons are wacky...

Ah, fall.

I had grand plans about blogging today, but it didn't happen. I was at home and then I left and got back in Provo about 5:00. On my drive I was amazed at all the huge patches of red on the mountainside--simply [there does not seem to be an adequate word to describe it]! Then I unloaded my stuff and cut out the letters "G E T  D O W N  G O B L I N" to put on my Jan Terri picture, and then my roommate wanted me to go hometeaching with him since my other roommate (his companion) wasn't home. Then tonight I had a visitor named Carissa while I was putting up Halloween decorations in my apartment. I was glad for her ideas; I hadn't planned on putting any lights outside the door.

It was just another fairly ordinary week. At work (BYU Studies) we finished some final proofs for an issue and then one of the editors told me to start working on book notices. That means I'll actually have to write something instead of just editing it. That makes me nervous. He told me that one of the other editors hired me based on my writing skills--so now I have to deliver. It's a little unnerving that I, a lowly undergraduate intern, will have to write something for a magazine about scholarly religious studies!

(This week I did, however, read a BYU Studies article from 1999 that, although scholarly, was incredibly stupid. My editing professor used to be an editor for BYU Studies, so the bulk of our material for the class comes from past issues. One of the options we had for an assignment this week was an article comparing Joseph Smith and Herman Melville. I thought it sounded interesting, so I read it. Boy, was it stupid. So stupid that my professor said that when it was in the process of being published she refused to edit it--I think it was the only one she ever refused. It seemed fairly obvious to me that this scholar was like, "Hey, I like Herman Melville, and I'm a Mormon, so why don't I compare Herman Melville and Joseph Smith?" You could compare anyone to anyone! You could compare me to ol' Hermy Baby. Moby Dick has a chapter about fossilized whales; I like fossils. Herman made a lot of biblical allusions; I like the Bible. We even share the same last name! I was embarrassed that my job would consider publishing such a ridiculous article, even if it was thirteen years ago. The author had a brief section talking about references Melville made to Mormons--I think that would have been a much better topic for a nineteen-page article.)

On Friday night, I went home.

And then...

It came! One of my favorite days of the year--September 15, my arbitrary date to start the Halloween season. Some people believe it's too early, but I find it reasonable enough. I added my Halloween music to my playlist (consisting of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, a few versions of the "Great Pumpkin Waltz," a little song called "Ghosts," and, of course, "Get Down Goblin"). I started eating Halloween candies. I brought out decorations.

It was a good Saturday for other reasons, as well. My parents took me clothes shopping for my birthday (since they don't know if they'll have time closer to my birthday). I went in the backyard and picked grapes so we could make grape juice. Homemade grape juice is one of my favorite things about September. It's amazing that something that tastes so great is entirely natural. My mom also made a peach pie (if you recall, I can eat desserts made with one's own produce); it was perhaps the best peach pie we've ever had.

The BYU/Utah football game went on, but I have no interest in sports. I support BYU academically because it's my school and I'm proud it's my school. One article I proofread this week compared nine religious universities. While most universities get more secular, BYU gets more religious (although I'd say that's debatable). We have no problem bringing gospel subjects into topics that in other places are seen as anti-religious, such as classes about Dinosaurs! that lived millions--not thousands--of years ago. The article compared tuition at these schools. BYU's tuition for a year is in the $4000 range. The average for the other eight universities is $38,000! Basically I'm saving $34,000 a year, and even more than that with scholarships and grants. I'm so glad to belong to a religion that values education.

I'm glad to be at BYU. And I have nothing against the U. I only have problems with the rivalry itself.

Laborious

 My new calling and a new church schedule has made my Sundays a lot more involved. I have late church, which means I spend more time sleeping. I like sleeping, but it means I have less time. I have had to spend a lot of time getting new membership records into my ward, which also cuts down on my time. I'm presently writing this while watching the CES broadcast. I don't think I'm devoting 100 percent to either.

I'm much better from my sickness, although I have been blowing some peach-colored snot out of my left nostril--the prettiest snot I've ever seen.

Labor Day was rather uneventful. I put a lot of pictures on our online ward directory and then I studied. That was characteristic of my week--studying. I was lazy over the summer, so I'm having a hard time getting back into motivation. But it's especially important for me to study, since it's the most credits I've ever taken, and it's the most I've ever worked while being in school.

I ran three nights this week, plus some running during class. Last night I ran for 51 minutes, which is the longest I've run since April 23, when I ran 59 minutes right before fainting. It somehow seemed easier than usual, which surprised me since I've been on hiatus. Maybe it was the temperature.

Yesterday my parents picked me up and took me to breakfast; they almost became thieves and left the restaurant without paying. I averted their life of crime. Then we went up a mountain and saw Cascade Springs. We saw a bull moose and several females as well.

Elder Holland is giving a really great fireside. I think he's my favorite apostolic speaker. He's distracting me from making this a better/more informative post. Don't check your religion at the door!

School days

It has been six years since I have been in school during the fall--and here it is. It's not really back to school for me, since I did summer classes. But it's back for everyone else--it amazes me how many people there are! I'm used to a summer population, so it's pretty crowded now. I could be wrong, but it seems like there are more people than there were in the winter. I don't remember as many traffic jams.

Unfortunately, I got sick this week. I pride myself on not getting sick, but I did. I woke up on Wednesday with a sore throat, on Thursday it transferred to my nose, and Friday was the worst day--I went to class but I didn't go to work. I think it may have been the sickest I've been since junior high. Since my working career is so much shorter than my school career, this was the first time I've ever missed work because of being sick. But I think I'm on the mend now. I almost ended up going to Idaho this weekend, but I stayed here because of my calling. I'm glad I did; it would have been no fun going while I was sick.

I started my new classes this week; I have six of them.

Empirical Methods in English Linguistics (ELang 273) is basically a class about researching ELang stuff. I don't think it will be too bad.

Varieties of English (ELang 468) is about dialects and even some pidgins and creoles. In a class of twenty-something students, there are only four or five guys. I think all the other guys are Linguistics majors; I'm the only male ELang major in the class. I think most of the girls are ELang majors, and I'd say well over half of them (maybe even more than three fourths) are Editing minors. That makes me glad I decided on the geology minor, so that I'm not like all those girls...

Genre and Substantive Editing (ELang 410) has the same professor and the same TA as my editing class during the winter. It's a lot bigger than that one was. Hopefully it will be easier, because ELang 350 (the one I took in the winter) was way too much work for a three-credit class. I think this one will be better, though; in 350 we had six midterms but in this one we only have one.

Environmental Biology (PWS 150) is a GE class and is the biggest class I've had since Music 101 my first semester. The professor looks and sounds like he could be an apostle. I thought it would be more interesting than Bio 100, but now I'm not so sure. We'll see how it goes.

Jogging (STAC 139) is an activity class I'm just taking for fun. Tuesday was the introductory class; Thursday I was sick so I couldn't participate, even though I attended. I felt pretty dumb. Hopefully I'll be well enough on Tuesday to participate. 

Geomorphology (Geol 411) is the study of landforms. Not only am I the only ELang major in the class, I'm the only major from the College of the Humanities. There are a couple of geography majors and some other science majors, but most of the students are geology majors. I hope it doesn't put me at too much of a disadvantage.

On Monday this week our ward had an opening social at the home of the second counselor in the bishopric, up in Alpine. They had dinner and then that night there was karaoke. Someone called the cops, which I find a little ridiculous. It wasn't even 10:00, and the backyards in that neighborhood are huge, so it's not like everyone's on top of everyone. Furthermore, police have better things to do than to respond to complaints of "I don't like the music that's going on next door." Really, people?

August has traditionally been my least favorite month, although its status is getting higher. We are presently in my second favorite month, although the first half of the month is pretty boring. I'm so excited for September!

(I'm sorry this was so choppy today.)