20, 21

 After one strange year, we are now ending another strange year. In some ways, 2021 was better than 2020. Thanks to vaccines, things went back to normal...ish. But political extremism (including antivax sentiment) in many ways made 2021 even worse. And the extreme drought didn't certainly help things. 

For my own life, it was definitely more interesting than 2020 was. It kind of feels like there were three distinct periods of the year for me: spring semester, when I was still in school online; summer, when I came back into the public and resumed work at This Is the Place; and fall semester, when I attended in-person classes at the University of Utah for the first time.

So, let's dive into the individual months!

January. Because of COVID, my family didn't do our tradition of going out to eat on New Year's Day, so we did a family Zoom instead. Like every other (rational) person, I was dismayed by the January 6 insurrection. But what was especially distressing was that people I knew tried to blame it on Antifa, spreading lies and misinformation, and then they got mad at me when I pushed back against the falsehoods. It's like people think they are allowed to share whatever they want without thinking about it, but then no one is allowed to challenge them. I certainly lost a great deal of respect for people in January. I helped judge a science fair on Zoom, and we had a lamp in the living room commit suicide. In the middle of the month, I started my second semester of grad school at the University of Utah, taking history of Utah, environmental history, and US history since 1877. But all of it was online. I began attending a new dentist, and their staff seems to be better than my last one, so they diagnosed me with periodontal disease. I was also working on my goal to run on every public street in North Salt Lake.

Jimmy is such a sweet kitty.

February. It wasn't a very eventful day. We had a snowy Valentine's Day, some of the very little snow we had that winter. I finished running on every street in NSL.

March. While I was busy working on school things, I also began to be busy with other things. I began doing some freelance editing for a former boss. Additionally, I went to training meetings at This Is the Place, including driving the train, even though I wasn't going to start for a couple of months. 

This Is the Place opened their new Pioneer Center.

For St. Patrick's Day, I cooked lots of food and rented several movies, since I had a brief lull in schoolwork. We took Jimmy to the vet and he was diagnosed with arthritis.

April. For April Fool's Day, we took a pickle pie to my grandparents, since my grandpa loves pie and hates pickles, and he ended up liking it. For Easter/general conference, we met my first-cousin-once-removed's fiancée. I got my first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 shot. My parents bought a truck to pull their trailer, thereby deposing my car as the fanciest one in the family. We also took Jimmy to the vet again, and he was diagnosed with diabetes. 

After an apricotless year in 2020, I was pleased by the abundant blossoms this year...even though I was ultimately disappointed.

May. May was a transitional month. I wrapped up my final papers for school. I got my second dose of the vaccine. The very next day, I resumed working at This Is the Place, driving the train. I was very sore because of the shot. Trail running is stunning during May. 

This is my favorite picture of 2021. I use it as my lock screen on my phone, and sometimes I marvel that it is real.

My niece graduated from high school.

June. Trail running continued, and I did a thirteen-mile one in North Canyon. My brother and nephews came to visit, and we spent some time camping in Fremont Indian State Park, exploring Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks. My family spent a few hours at Jordanelle Reservoir so I could use my inflatable paddleboard for the first time. 

At the end of the month, we also camped at Moosehorn Lake in the Uintas, which is usually covered in snow at that time of year. 

July. We were happy that North Salt Lake's July 3 fireworks resumed. For the Fourth of July, I made apple pies, and I randomly placed the remaining dough on top of the pie. I was amused and amazed to discover it looked exactly like a turkey.

We had a strange day at This Is the Place when fish swam up the gold-panning stream. My parents took my nephews back to California. I was looking forward to a bumper crop of apricots, but the drought killed the tree before the fruit ripened. For Pioneer Day and the days leading up to it, This Is the Place had special events, which meant I "got" to drive different trains with significant problems: the Blackhawk kept overheating and spilling fluid, and the Jupiter didn't stay in park when the engine was off. On July 22, I spent the day visiting the American West Heritage Center near Logan, which was OK, but then I visited Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, which I loved. For Pioneer Day, I had to drive the busy trains at work, but that night we watched Bountiful's fireworks from my sister's driveway. I went on one North Canyon run when I encountered two rattlesnakes.

August. Another transitional month. I joined my parents at Moosehorn again on my day off. We had some crazy rainstorms, including storms that didn't clear out wildfire smoke. One smoky day, I went to Becky Edwards's home to support her in her efforts to unseat Mike Lee. I went to an orientation for new students, since I didn't get to go to my own in person in 2020. I got some new fall treats to review. I began attending classes in person, commuting to the university by bus. I took history of science and technology, oral history, and a research seminar about gender. This meant that I only worked at This Is the Place on Fridays. At the end of the month, my parents were busy painting and getting new floors. I helped with the painting a little bit. 

September. Our floor was finished. I joined my parents at Wasatch Mountain State Park. I celebrated my birthday at the end of the month, when the leaves on the trails were amazing! 

I got a few gifts, but I was most excited for my ice cream maker.

October. I started the month very busily, and I had to be Alice the "dragon" at work. We took Jimmy to the vet again because it is hard for him to walk, but there wasn't much we can do. For Halloween, we carved and lit the pumpkins we grew in our own garden. We had trick-or-treaters on Saturday but not Sunday, even though I put out my jack-o'-lanterns and Halloween music on both nights. 

November. A dry November meant I was able to do lots of trail running still. 

My science and technology class toured a nuclear reactor. I had a busy month finishing a research paper and doing a presentation on the history of paleontology. As I was heading home from my presentation that day, a crazy guy tried to break onto the bus. We resumed our Thanksgiving family gathering, and I made six things for it: ice cream, apple cider, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and fruit salad. 

December. I continued trail running early in the month before the snow, including another thirteen-mile run.

As the semester wrapped up, I began working evenings for Candlelight Christmas at This Is the Place. I had an interview with the Church History Department, and they offered me a position, which will start in January, so I had to shave my beard. My brother arrived with his family for a week for Christmas, though they left in the evening of Christmas Day. Sadly, on Christmas Eve, I dug a grave for Jimmy while the ground is still soft, since the time has come to put him down. 

It was an eventful year! And I am looking forward to 2022. I will be starting a new job, loving a new cat, and graduating from grad school. But my first few months of the year will be busy as I finish my portfolio and work full time. I will be so excited for free evenings once I graduate.

Also, 2012 was a key year in my life. I feel like I really became who I am now in 2012. So it will be a bit strange that 2022 will be my ten-year anniversary of that pivotal year.

So far I have a couple of resolutions for 2022. I hope to get rid of something every day. That can be something big, like old furniture, but it mostly will be small things, like pens that don't write and holey socks. For many years, I collected holiday shows on DVD, and I watched all of them every year. I quit doing that in 2016, partly because I was sick of seeing them over and over. This year, I hope to watch one holiday show every day of each holiday season. There are so many options now, with my DVD collection, broadcast TV, streaming services, and YouTube. So that might not be a wise or edifying resolution, but it should be fun!

(W)inter(n)

 In last week's post, I mentioned that I had applied to an internship, and I felt that the interview went well and that I was well qualified for the position.

Well, apparently the interviewers felt the same way. On Monday morning, I received a call from the Church History Department, offering me an internship as a research assistant. And I accepted! I start January 10. It will last for a year, and it will be forty hours a week.

I am really excited for this. Most of you blog readers know that I worked for the department from 2014 to 2017, and it was basically my favorite job ever. (Previously, my official job was as an editorial assistant rather than a research assistant, but I did research then as well.) I will feel like I'm finally making progress in my life. This means that I probably won't work at This Is the Place again, as fun as that has been. Not only will the actual work of my new job be more stimulating and enjoyable, the pay will be better, and so will the commute. It's a win-win-win. 

What was not a win, however, was that I had to shave my beard, which I have had since January 2018. I think I look better with a beard. In late 2017, they finally allowed women employees to wear pants, so maybe beards' day is coming?

I will be doing this internship for school credit, so I will have some assignments to do when I'm not at work. And I still have to do my portfolio. So it's not like I'm going to have all the free time I had when I worked there before. But it still will be nice to only worry about one class. And I will still continue at the internship once I graduate in May.

And the good thing about being an intern for the Church is that they're not just going to send me out to get coffee. :)

That was the most important news of the week, but other fun things happened this week.

On Monday night, I took the night off of work to accompany my grandparents to CenterPoint Legacy Theatre in Centerville to see the stage production of A Christmas Story. I used to watch that movie when I was a kid, but then I overhauled my media consumption, so I haven't watched it in around twenty years. The musical was pretty true to the movie. But the movie is more about vignettes than it is about plot. They had token songs about, for example, "a major award" and sitting on Santa's lap. They were fine but didn't have any substance. The play was enjoyable but mediocre.

On Tuesday, the evening at This Is the Place was pretty slow because of the rain. When the shift ended at 9:00, it was mostly rain, though I could tell it was starting to change. By the time I got in my car ten minutes later, it had changed entirely to snow and stuck to the roads. I drove 20 mph the entire way home. 

We live on one of the steepest streets in NSL, and when I got to the bottom of our street, I noticed a car had crashed (there's a crash there at least once a year). 

"That's not good," I thought. But the reason (well, one reason) I got my car is because it has all-wheel drive, so I proceeded up the hill. Well, I got stuck. It wouldn't go up. Obviously, I couldn't stay there. So then I put it in reverse to see if I could back down. I certainly wasn't going to press on the gas in reverse in the snow, but just being in reverse didn't work either. So I put it in drive again, then cranked the steering wheel to the left to turn around. Even though it's illegal to park on the street during the snowstorm, that's exactly what I did. I just parked on the flat part. I could have tried to go another way to get home, but I thought that would have just given me more opportunities to crash. I was amazed at how much snow had fallen just in the space of an hour.

My car turned from blue to white!

This week, I finally submitted my paper for my research seminar. So I am officially done with the semester, though I'm going to keep transcribing an interview to submit to the Marriott Library. 

Then yesterday (Saturday), my brother's family arrived in Utah for Christmas. Yay! They didn't come last year because of COVID, but I have loved having them here for the winter holidays in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Unfortunately, they're leaving on Christmas Day. 

It's just so nice to have everyone gathered together and do festive things. 

Christmas Break (almost)

 Phew, I am done with classes!

I am not quite done with assignments. I still have to revise my research paper and its accompanying files, but I'm done going to campus.

Monday was my last class of my research seminar.

On Tuesday, I had class, and then my professor for the research seminar brought her new kittens to her office. You mean I can just go play with kittens? Um, yes please! I went to see the kittens, and I was just my usual awkward self. I was kneeling on the ground to be closer to the kitties while other students were in the office chatting. Kittens are the most adorable, wonderful little creatures in the universe. These kittens were only four or five weeks old. When I got there, they were play-fighting with each other. 😻

This kitten seemed a little more scared.

When I got home, I had to do one last trail run for the season. I only had time to do Mueller Park. I don't do that one very much anymore, since it's busier, less pretty, and easier than North Canyon, but it's still nice to go once in a while. And sometimes people decorate it for Christmas.

On Wednesday, I attended my final oral history class. When I got home, I decided to cook and puree the pumpkins we grew but didn't carve. They're not pie pumpkins, but hopefully I can still use them. I just don't have the time and calories to bake all the pumpkin things.

Then Thursday, I traveled through the very welcome snow to my final class. We discussed the book Merchants of Doubt and broke into small groups to do so. Last month I mentioned an older man who asked about dinosaur DNA from Jupiter during my presentation, and he was in my group. He was dominating the conversation with irrelevant topics. If you're going to dominate a conversation, please keep it on topic!

That was my final class of the semester. But it's also possible it was my final class ever. You see, on Thursday morning I had an interview for an internship. I think it would be premature to tell you what the internship is here on this blog. But I thought it went well, and I think I am well qualified. I would love the internship. If I got it, I would just do it for credit, and I wouldn't be in any classes. If not, I am taking another research seminar, but it would be my only class next semester so I can devote more time to my portfolio.

Then Friday, I resumed work at This Is the Place. But I am working for their evening Candlelight Christmas. The park is all lit up, and I work in the print shop, talking about Christmas cards. I will work there every night until Christmas Eve, except for Sundays and tomorrow. It's my first time working Christmas, and it's been busier than I expected. Last night we were swamped. On Friday, I got a visit from my BYU editing professor, who then also was a missionary in the Church History Library the last few months I worked there. So it was fun to talk to her again.

Besides all that, I have spent the week eating tons of sugar and buying tons of Christmas and New Year music. I keep trying to justify why I buy music instead of just streaming, and I do have reasons for that. But I realized that I really just prefer to buy it, and that alone is a good enough reason.

Not a lot going on

 Hmm, what is there to say this week? It wasn't that exciting. We've just been recovering from Thanksgiving, and I've been working on my final projects, though not as hard as I should have been. I mean, I guess the homework is what I have been focusing on, but that's not very interesting for you to read about.

I went up North Canyon twice this week. I should not be able to still be going there; we desperately need snow! Monday (November 29) was a typical run, though this time my dad also hiked up it while I ran (but of course he didn't get all the way to the top). 

Friday, I decided to do the ~13 miles up North Canyon, down to Elephant Rock, then back down North Canyon. The last time I did that was June 2, and it will certainly be a while before I can do it again (if winter ever comes!). The GPS on my watch wasn't working accurately, so I don't know exactly how far it was, but it's about thirteen miles. 

You could really see the inversion.

The last mile, I was starving (I had only had a gingerbread Clif Bar on the three-hour run). Once in a while, I meet runners who are running up one canyon, then all the way down the other, then back up and down, which would be around nineteen miles. Sometimes I think, "Maybe I'll do that one day." But after this run, I really don't think that anything more than thirteen miles would be very fun, to say nothing of the time commitment. (To be fair, the novelty of North Canyon has kind of worn out, and snowless December is about as ugly as it gets.)

I say I love trail running, but then I meet those people who run 20+ miles and feel like I can't say that, because I don't do that much. But I have to remind myself that I can still love it even if I do less than other people. Just because other people do longer, harder runs doesn't mean I have to. I get a lot of satisfaction after a thirteen-mile run, but that's mostly the feeling of accomplishment.

I did another Taste Off kit this week, this one with Christmas desserts. They are changing their business model for 2022, so I don't know how many more seasonal kits they'll be doing. Sweet Tooth Fairy's gingerbread cake bites won, but they were literally my least favorite. Oh well, I guess that means more Kneaders mint brownies for me (which I eat at both Christmas and St. Patrick's Day). 

Oh, and since I get so much love out of seasonal treats, and I love cats, of course I had to blend those two.

But I have a few things going on this week that should be more interesting for next week!