May trails

 May is the best non-fall month for trails, and after a long winter and other setbacks, I was finally able to get some of my favorite trail moments this week.

On Tuesday, I went on an evening run up Mueller Park, my first time there since October. Because of all the runoff, there was lots of water. There's a small bridge near Elephant Rock, and the water was flowing directly over it. So I had to get my feet wet. I've been going there for eight years, and I've never seen that before.

Cutleaf balsamroot

Then Thursday, I headed to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which is convenient, but it's not my first choice. However, right now is absolutely the best time of year for that trail because of this little field below the radio towers. There's a field of fragrant Palmer's penstemon. It's amazing! I have taken this picture many times. And I saw on the news this week that someone else had taken a picture of it. I saw it and thought, "I know exactly where that is!"

Then yesterday, after my dad's birthday celebration, I went on a seven-mile evening run up my favorite, North Canyon. Even though it's been seven months, it was still easy, and I was able to go on autopilot, since I've been there so much. It really is a perfect trail: shade, relatively easy but still a little bit of a challenge, not too busy, variety of plants. I just adore it.

heartleaf arnica

This is after Rudy's Flat. I didn't plan on going past Rudy's because I assumed it would have snow, and I was right.

Also this week, I have continued to think about images for my Pioneer Day article. In 1947, there was a group that recreated the 1847 pioneer trek, but WWII prevented the logistical planning for a wagon trek. Instead, they used automobiles with fake wagon covers and fiberglass oxen. The Sons of Utah Pioneers published a book about it in 1948, and I bought a copy of the book from the Book Garden a couple of years ago. (Hooray for local bookstores!) It has this fantastic picture of nuns in Nauvoo posing with one of the "oxen" before the "pioneers" left.

But it's a little grainy in this 1948 book, so I didn't know if I would be able to use it in my article. But luckily, I have a cubicle at the Church History Library. The catalog has a collection of photographs from the "centennial caravan," so I called them up to my desk. And I found the original nun picture! So I made a better scan of it, and I submitted the paperwork to see if I can include it in my article. (It's not necessarily the most relevant picture, but I just love it so much.)

Also this week, I encountered this old picture of me from 2006. I can't decide what's most different about me between then and now: the age, the posture, the weight, the glasses, or *shudders* the bottled water. 😬

I can't help but feel sad for that super weird kid, who had convinced himself that everyone hated him and still hoped that one day he would like girls

May I?

 May is such a lovely month, and unfortunately I haven't been able to spend as much time out in nature as I would have liked. Last week, I was taking things easy before my race, and then this week there were various other things going on. 

On Monday I visited Eggett Park in Bountiful for a church activity, and it was my first time being there. It was a lovely park, and the creek from Holbrook Canyon runs through it. It was running high and swift.

And then I spent some time in Springhill Geologic Park, which is short and beautiful.

Longleaf phlox

There is a portion of the trail where people have created their own trail, which causes major erosion. I think they are using it for bikes, even though bikes are forbidden on the trail. I like to put dead trees on the unauthorized trail to discourage people from using it, but then they keep getting moved. I like to think that one day, the jerks will injure themselves on the unauthorized trail for their selfish, reckless behavior.

On Tuesday, I made crepes for myself, and when I was done, I didn't have a lot of daylight left. I was going to go on a very short bike ride, but I was dismayed to find that my tire was flat. It appears that on my race last week, I hit a goathead—my archnemesis. 

(Typing is hard right now, because I have a heavy cat trying to lie on my arm.)

So no bike ride that night.

Wednesday was very windy, and I didn't think it would be good to go running in the dust. So I went to the pool. While I was doing freestyle, I once again had an existential crisis, and I had to stop mid-lap and get a hold of myself. I think I'm physically decent at swimming, but I need to work on the mental aspect of it. I think I try to finish my laps too fast, which kind of makes me panic.

Thursday I did make it to the Wild Rose Trail, which was lovely with all the arrowleaf balsamroot in bloom.

On Friday and Saturday, I would have loved to go up Mueller Park, but there was so much smoke from Canadian wildfires that I wanted to protect my lungs. It's not even summer yet! May only comes once a year, so I'm sad if it's wasted away with smoke! So I went to the pool both those days. The lap lanes are definitely less busy on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons (it was actually my first time there on a Saturday). 

Then I went to Bountiful Bicycles to buy a new tube and some slime. (I could have bought them online, but I like to support local businesses.) Since I am not mechanically inclined, I was pleased with myself for changing my tire all by myself, especially since my new tube has a Presta valve, which I haven't used before. But why do there have to be different kinds of valves!? Schrader valves work just fine!

On Thursday, I got the news that my article on the history of Pioneer Day has been accepted by a journal! I have been working on it for five years, so I'm glad I finally found a home for it. Yesterday I spent some time looking through Pioneer Day pictures to include. So I'm going to sign off with some of the amusing clown pictures I found. Coulrophobes, avert your eyes.

1949

1962

1962

And last but not least: 

1946

WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. HECK.

Tri Again

In 2018 and 2019, I participated in the South Davis Recreation Center's Splash 'n' Sprint Triathlon, which consists of a 350-yard swim, a twelve-mile bike ride, and a three-mile run.

This year, I took swimming lessons in January and February, so I decided to participate in the triathlon again. 

Since this was my third time doing it, I knew what to expect. I showed up at the rec center on Saturday morning, and they wrote my number, 191, on my arm and my leg. When they wrote on my arm, one of the volunteers asked, "Are you Bigfoot?" 

Since I took swimming lessons recently, I was hoping the swimming would go better than it did in past years. Unfortunately, I psyched myself out. My plan was to alternate laps of freestyle and backstroke (which I have been doing in practice). As I've been swimming over the last few months, I've found that I often have an existential crisis when I'm doing freestyle. And a race is no time for an existential crisis. After I finished two laps, I didn't think I could keep doing freestyle. I ended up doing a lot of breaststroke, which is not my best stroke, because it's easier (and slower). And also, my goggles were unusually foggy. So swimming didn't go that well for me, and I think I did worse than I did in previous races. I might have set unrealistic expectations for myself. Oh well, there's always next year.

Next was the biking. I knew this wouldn't go that well. I only have a mountain bike, even though I don't mountain bike, so I got passed a lot. But I did pass a few people, surprisingly. I'm sure I would have done better with a road bike. Sometimes I wonder if I should invest in a road bike. But the problem is I just don't like biking that much. Living on a hill means that biking is hard, either because I have to bike uphill or I have to load the bike into my car. And I think running is better exercise than biking, so if I'm going to spend an hour or two exercising, I would rather burn more calories.

But then the running portion was my best. I passed many people, and I ended up in the top fifteen percent of the running portion. This was one of my fastest 5ks, so at least I have that going for me.

I like to think that I didn't have enough training opportunities, between a late winter, two jobs, therapy sessions, and helping out with Wayfare magazine. But I really am disappointed in my swim time, especially since I literally just had lessons, and my swim instructor told me I could join the recreational swim team. I like to think I'm athletic, but when I'm among actual athletes, I realize I'm not. 

Kites Are Fun!

 It is kind of strange having two jobs, and there has been a lot of frustrating bureaucracy switching from a Church employee (intern) to an independent contractor for the Church. 

Last month, I arrived at the Church History Library, and my badge wouldn't let me through the doors. No one had told me I needed to have a vendor badge instead of an employee badge. I had to swap one piece of plastic for another piece of plastic that did the same thing. I got it switched, but then the next day it didn't work, but then I got it fixed.

On Monday this week, when I returned from vacation, once again my badge wasn't working. Except it kind of worked. I hate using elevators (so boring!), and my badge got me into the stairwell. But it didn't let me out of the stairwell! Luckily someone was coming down the stairs and let me out. I talked to the person in charge of badge access, and she restored my permissions. But she kept asking about May 5. I told her I didn't know what that date was, because my contract goes through December.

Well. I showed up at the office on May 5, and once again my badge didn't work. I managed to make my way to my desk, but the woman in charge of badges was out of the office. At the end of my work shift, I forgot to take the elevator, out of habit. And once again, my badge let me into the stairwell but not out of it. Under what circumstances would it ever make sense to design a badge like that?! There's not even a phone in the stairwell! I had to go to a floor where there were people nearby and knock so someone would let me out. So that's something I'll still have to figure out when I get to the office tomorrow. I'm just so frustrated by all the arbitrary rules that make things less efficient for everyone.

Since I'm not technically a Church employee now, I miss out on a lot of the more interesting perks. But since I am a state employee, at least I get the interesting things there. My state job definitely has more meetings than my Church job.

On Tuesday, we had a field trip where we walked around Sugar House, admiring old signs. There is a woman who has gone around the state, documenting interesting vintage signs, so she gave us a tour. It is kind of fascinating to see the various twentieth-century relics still hanging around.

That black sign used to be a Mexican restaurant. It was a sombrero.

An empty store with a cool sign.

The remains of a bakery sign on the back of a building

Neon signs were an art form

This is a mural of an old photograph of Sugar House

My state job also had a video meeting on Thursday. Reggie was desperate for affection, so I let him on my lap during the meeting. The head of the Utah Historical Society wrote in the chat, "Mark! A cat friend :)" but I was too shy to respond and thereby bring attention to myself.

Now, some of you may know that my all-time favorite song is "Kites Are Fun" by the Free Design. I bought this song six years ago (I still buy music), and it can still bring a tear to my eye because it's so beautiful.

But it had actually been a long time since I flew a kite. Three years ago, during COVID, I tried to fly some kites we had, but one was missing pieces, and the other one just wouldn't work. Last year I got a kite for Easter, but I never used it.

This year I thought it would be fun to attend North Salt Lake's kite festival, which I had never been to before. So Friday night, I took my kite to the park to test it out. And the song was right: kites are fun!

The next morning, I attended the festival, and it was fun to have so many people out flying their kites. One kite was impressively high in the air. It was a perfect day for kites. Like, I really can't imagine more ideal weather. They had a live DJ, but he did not play "Kites Are Fun," at least not while I was theyre. He did play "Let's Go Fly a Kite," which is a fine song, but it doesn't match the pure majesty of the Free Design.

I had invited my friend Chris, and he accidentally got my kite in a tree. I wasn't mad, because it reminded me of Charlie Brown's Kite-Eating Tree.

But with some strategic tugging, Chris got it out, which was impressive, because I thought it was pretty well entangled. Thanks Chris!

It was a lovely event. I'm glad I went.

For my Saturday run, I decided to go to the Woodbriar Trail and run down into City Creek Canyon. The last time I went all the way down there was Thanksgiving 2017, because the trail is steep and difficult. But I decided I wanted to go again anyway. I know Mueller Park and North Canyon would still have a lot of snow, so I opted for this drier trail.

There still is snow in the gully on top of the ridge

I made it down to City Creek, and then I had to come back up. I went so slow because it's so steep. It made me feel like I can't really call myself a trail runner. It climbs more than a thousand feet in a little more than a mile, which means it's three times as steep as Mueller Park and twice as steep as North Canyon. I would run a short distance, then take a break. I did run up the entire thing, but it took more than half an hour to go one mile.

Western waterleaf

You can see how much slower I went on the way up than on the way down.

So many glacier lilies (and a finger!). This is on top of the ridge, where I go frequently.

May is really a wonderful month. It is my favorite month that is not in the fall.

Blog historiography

I started this blog twelve years ago, on May 1, 2011. Ever since that time, I have always enjoyed doing some kind of retrospective post on the blog's anniversary. 

For this year's post, I want to highlight some of the most important posts I have made over the years. These are not necessarily the best posts, but posts that are significant in one way or another.

Here I am! (May 1, 2011)

This is the post that started it all, in which I explained my purposes for blogging. I had been reading my mission emails, and I was glad to have that record of my life. This blog has continued that legacy of keeping a public record. I picked the URL badsettlement (as in, a bad town) because that's what Melville means. If I were making my blog today, I would have picked a different URL. Oh well. (I feel like I really became who I am in 2012, and I'm embarrassed by many things I did prior to that year.)

The Ghost of Independence Days Past (June 12, 2011)

This was the first of a series of posts in which I picked a holiday, then remembered every detail I could about every holiday of my life. I made it through the entire calendar, and then I created another blog devoted entirely to remembering things. I wrote on that blog consistently for almost four years, but I got burned out doing it every week, and I ran out of topics to remember. I published my mission emails for two years for the tenth anniversary of my mission. That blog is dormant now.
 

Ring out the Old, Ring in the New (January 1, 2012)

This was the first New Year's post, in which I went month by month to remember what happened that year, just like many news organizations do. I do this every year, and it's one of my favorite posts to make.

One year of blogging (May 1, 2012)

This was my first anniversary blog. In this case, I did a brief recap of every post from my first year of blogging (similar to this very post, except I did every one). I have taken a different approach every year, but I have blogged every May 1.

Geology 210, week one (August 25, 2013)

One of my most memorable college classes was Geology 201, a field studies class where we spent two weeks camping and learning about geology. This post is the first of two that describe what we did and learned in that "class."

Leaves are falling (September 20, 2015)

The beginning of this post was a mediocre recap of trail running in the fall, but it was really significant because it marked the first installment of Pumpkinundation Roundup, in which I document the pumpkin and other fall flavors that come out every year. This segment has proved surprisingly popular. I have often toyed with the idea of creating another blog or social media account devoted exclusively to seasonal foods all year round, but that would not be healthy for me.

The Failures of the Pioneers (July 24, 2016)

Working for the Church History Department gave me insights about pioneers, so when I saw that Pioneer Day was on a Sunday, I volunteered to speak in sacrament meeting, because I thought I had some profound insights. This post is that talk. I was pleased with how it turned out, and I received many compliments, even from people I didn't know.

Goal accomplished! (September 9, 2018)

When I was twenty-nine, I visited all twenty-nine county seats in Utah. This blog post describes my visit to the last two, Moab (Grand County) and Monticello (San Juan County), as well as a brief recap of the other twenty-seven counties and seats.

The big 3-0 (September 30, 2018)

Visiting all the county seats was part of a larger project of doing fun things before I turned thirty. This blog post recounted forty fun and/or unusual bucket-list items I did while I was twenty-nine.

The end of a decade (December 29, 2019)

This was the usual year-end blog post, except that I also did a recap of every year of the 2010s. But I have always regretted that I forgot an important event from 2017, visiting Wyoming to see the solar eclipse.

Bad dates (February 13, 2022)

In honor of Valentine's Day, I recounted four awkward dates I had been on over the years. At the time I made this post, I was still planning on marrying a woman, and I hoped this post would enable me to continue to pass as straight. 

Coming Out; or, There's Always Been a Rainbow Hanging over Your Head (October 11, 2022)

This post recounts my experiences as a closeted gay boy/man throughout my life. Some people have told me this was my best post ever, and I don't disagree. But I had a lot of time to think about it. Back in the spring of 2012, there was a viral post by Josh Weed about being in a mixed-orientation marriage. I planned on doing that as well. (I was so disappointed when they announced they were divorcing in 2018.) Because of his blog post, I thought that one day I would be writing my own coming-out post. But I figured the post would be once I was married, or at least while I was still planning to marry a woman. Then last spring (2022), I realized that every time I thought about dating or marrying women, it just stressed me out. The thought of coming home from work every day and having to care for the emotional needs of a woman is more than I can bear, and it wouldn't be fair to my wife to be married to someone who couldn't love her authentically. I spent a few months trying to convince myself I was asexual and/or aromantic, but by late July/early August, I finally came to terms with being gay. Once I came to that realization, I knew I was going to come out publicly on National Coming Out Day. So I had two months to mentally draft my post, and I finally wrote it down almost two weeks before I published it. But really, the idea had been germinating in my mind for ten years already.

Four Pillars of Faith (February 26, 2023)

Last year I joined a singles ward again, and in February they asked me to speak, basically letting me choose what I said. I was really pleased with this talk I wrote, and I have received many compliments on it. I really appreciate talks that keep it real, so I tried to do the same.

I have blogged every Sunday since I began, and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. Blogging was already on its way out when I began, and very few people regularly blog anymore. Many people just put their stuff on social media, but I think a blog is a more accessible record of my life. And there are some things that I don't want to put on social media, but I'm happy to put them on a blog, where only the people who care enough to click will see them.