Eighteen since eighteen

Today marks eighteen years since I turned eighteen, which is wild to me. I remember my eighteenth birthday—CDs and DVDs were still a thing, so I got the DVD of Munster, Go Home! and the CD of the Corpse Bride soundtrack. I can't help but feel like I was in a world that wasn't made for me: a gay kid in a straight world, a budding cultural historian in an education system that emphasized military and political history, a buried runner in a sedentary body, and a fan of camp and kitsch in a decade that preferred cynicism.

Here's a picture of me with my niece, Allie, shortly after I turned eighteen

Anyway, I had a full week. On Monday, I made more grape juice, but I wanted to can it for Thanksgiving or other occasions, since we don't go through the juice very fast. 

I was able to get out on the trails Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, which is less than I would have liked, but it's better than nothing. The trees are less spectacular than they have been in other years at this time, but they're still lovely. 

I saw a Jerusalem cricket. We used to find them in our house when I was a kid.

For me, the highlight was on Wednesday, when I got to see Tori Kelly in concert. She is a pop singer with elements of R&B and gospel, and despite her immense talent, she is like a wholesome girl next door. Back in the mid-2010s, I was in a church meeting where we were answering a get-to-know-you question of "Who is your celebrity crush?" I was passing as straight, so I said, "I don't really have a celebrity crush. I guess Tori Kelly the singer is pretty cool." She hasn't had a major hit since circa 2015, which I think is a shame. In fairness, her albums since then have been gospel (2018), mediocre (2019), and Christmas (2020). But she did a new album this year, TORI., which is my second favorite of hers, and it is my third-favorite album of 2024 so far. 

Her opener was a British singer named Maisy Kay, who was a prototypical, generic pop star: sparkly leotard, butterfly microphone, songs about love. She had a nice voice.

After a long intermission, it was Tori's turn. As her set began, she had a drummer, a keyboardist, and a backing track, and it was hard to hear her singing, especially as she was moving around and didn't always have the microphone to her mouth. But what I could hear was amazing. I was glad that after a few songs, she sang a few with just her and her guitar. Her voice is just as good live as it is on recordings, and she is a great performer. I was sad that she's relegated to a venue as small as the Depot, instead of a big one like the Delta Center. But that made it feel more intimate. She asked the crowd in front of her if they had any requests. (My sister and I went upstairs to the bar area, even though I don't drink, so we would be away from the crowd and had something to lean against.)

I wasn't going to buy a tour shirt. But she was just so good that I had to after the concert ended. I wore it to a birthday party Friday (not my party), and people didn't know who she was.

On Thursday, I finished proofing the fall 2024 issue of Utah Historical Quarterly. And the same day I started proofing the fall 2024 issue of Wayfare. Since I have to do Wayfare on my own time, that's how I'm spending my birthday weekend. 

So far for my birthday, I've received baking sheets, a spatula, and a Hermey Squishmallow. 

(1964 was an amazingly important year for pop culture: the Rudolph TV special, the Mary Poppins movie, Lucky Charms, the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, Bewitched, The Munsters, The Addams Family [the cartoons of Charles Addams were around before that but they weren't a cohesive family yet], and my favorite, Gilligan's Island.)

And speaking of Squishmallows, I put out my Halloween collection this week.

And now that it's the fall, it's apple season! Yesterday I started picking apples from the tree that hangs into our yard. We also have our own tree that doesn't usually produce as much, so I picked the apples from that one. These apples are generally too wormy for regular use, so I use them for baking. Last year I was baking with apples into January.

And here are this week's AI dream images.

Mark spends hours at Hometown Buffet because they have self-serve caramel apple slushes and show Pixar movies

Mark is frustrated by the stack of old magazines that have fallen over near the bathtub

Rick tells Mark to tell his sister how to administer pills in the airport, even though Mark doesn't know how

a circular parking garage has several businesses, including churches

in Taiwan and Mexico, enormous roller coasters transport people above the city

Mark and others tear down student-made signs in the junior high gym that have been there for twenty years

Mark walks home uphill in the dark in the wind

Mark goes to a queer gathering at a Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum

Mark takes a small amount of cookie dough with dough starter and plays with it until it becomes big and he pretends he's playing with a large cat

Mark walks barefoot down a slushy sidewalk while pushing a narrow shovel

Mark goes into an elementary school that looks like a restaurant, and the Asian women at the front desks tell him he needs to sign in

***

Here's this week's pumpkinundation roundup.

The Nothing Bundt Cakes Caramel Apple Cider Cake has a definite, mildly artificial apple flavor. But something about it just wasn't doing it for me, I don't know what. 6/10.

Beloved Apple & Cinnamon Bark Shower Gel smells like cinnamon more than anything. It's fine. 6/10.

Good & Gather Pumpkin Spice Instant Oatmeal has been in the cupboard since last fall, since I don't go through a lot of oatmeal. It annoys me when they call something "pumpkin spice" when it's just spices and no pumpkin. It's passable oatmeal. 6/10.

The Thirst Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie is softer and gooier than the same cookie from most other bakeries. This kind of cookie is ubiquitous, and this one is not really better or worse than the others. 7/10.

The Pumpkin Pie Larabar is a convenient snack for a long run. It has actual pumpkin and nice spices. But does anyone actually enjoy Larabars as an ordinary snack? 6/10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Body Butter has been in my cupboard for many years because it's stupid. It's made with a small amount of pumpkin seed oil, yet they call it "pumpkin" even though it's mostly coconut. I mean, if body butter is your thing, I suppose it's as fine as anything, but it's grossly misleading to call it pumpkin. 3/10.

Lily's Pumpkin Spice Flavor Baking Chips have no added sugar, which is nice. At this time of year, we often talk about things tasting like a candle. These taste and feel like a candle. I ate them with almonds to make them (and the almonds) more palatable. 4/10.

The time of year I want

Most of the year, I think, "This is nice. But it isn't exactly what I want." (Really, I like every month except January and February.)

But this time of the year, right now, is exactly what I want! 

Sometimes I get frustrated that I don't have time to do everything I want. I want to pick grapes, pick apples, put up decorations, run among the leaves, watch spooky movies, go shopping for seasonal items, bake, etc. But instead of feeling frustrated that I can't do everything, I should tell myself, "Isn't it wonderful that I have so many options?"

On Monday, the Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement, which includes the Utah Historical Society, hosted a lunch for September birthdays, so I went. It was held at the State Library Division, which is apparently the largest collection of braille materials in the United States. They let us see the warehouse where all the braille books are kept. (When I was a young teenager, I wanted to learn braille. But braille is so much more than individual letters; there are special symbols for various combinations of letters, and of course punctuation. I learned the alphabet, but I think everything else overwhelmed me and I lost interest.)

On Tuesday, the Utah Historical Society had us employees give presentations about ourselves. As part of the festivities, my supervisor wanted to commemorate the new release of the eighteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style with cake. So she and another colleague brought themed cakes. (I didn't get a picture before people dug in.) 

On Wednesday, I was able to pick grapes for another batch of juice. I enjoy doing that, but I can't handle as much juice as I used to. 

Thursday evening, I headed up to join my parents at Wasatch Mountain State Park. But on the way, I stopped at Barnes and Noble in Sugar House so I could buy the eighteenth edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, which came out that day. The seventeenth edition came out in September 2017, and on that occasion I also went to Barnes and Noble, but they hadn't even put it on the shelf yet. And once again, they didn't have it on the shelf yet, so I had to ask about it.

CMOS is the guidebook for editors in the humanities, and I couldn't do my jobs without it. It's like the periodic table for chemists or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for psychologists. But I don't always agree with its prescriptive approach, and it's not as entertaining as Merriam-Webster, which is the other standard we use. I'll be interested to see the new updates. I am most excited that I no longer have to provide cities in citations. Cleaning up footnotes is the most time-consuming part of my job (as well as my pro bono Wayfare editing), and I'm relieved that I won't have to track down the cities. So now it will just be like this: "(Signature Books, 2024)" instead of "(Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2024)."

Anyway, I spent Thursday and Friday night with my parents in their trailer at Wasatch Mountain. We've been going there in the fall since 2018 (but skipped 2019 and 2022), and it really is lovely.

Part of my job duties for Utah Historical Quarterly is to write book notices, which are brief descriptions of new books. Various publishers send us books they want reviewed, but not all of them are worth full reviews, so we do notices instead. I have a stack of books for notices, so I arranged to take my books with me. That way I got to work while camping (well, more like glamping). I read outside most of the time, and it was fun to have acorns fall around me and have grasshoppers hop on my notebook (well, only one). I should read outside more often.

In the evening, I ran on a nearby trail. I went six miles, yet somehow I wasn't winded at all. 

On Saturday morning, I went running again on a different nearby trail. There were lots of switchbacks, which meant it wasn't too steep, and there were lots of mountain bikes. Once I had gone 4.75 miles, there was a fork in the trail, and it seemed like a good time to turn around. Unfortunately, once I hit 5.8 miles, my knee started hurting, so I had to walk the rest of the way, almost four miles. It does this periodically, but usually on sidewalks, and usually after more miles. But I was wearing old shoes, and I had also gone six miles the night before. I'm just disappointed that I had the stamina for a longer run, but my knee didn't cooperate. As I was coming down, I learned why there were so many bikers. When bikers pass me, they usually tell me how many bikers in their group are behind them. A woman said to me, "There's like a hundred. There's a fundraising thing going on." If I had known, maybe I would have picked a different trail!

I ended up going farther on the trail than this map sign showed

Then I headed home, and I had been invited with a group to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I watched the original (which is old as I am) last month. (I used to watch it many weekends when I was in seventh grade, but then I became very scrupulous about movies, which lasted for fifteen years.) Like the original, the sequel is totally bonkers and a little unsettling. And like the original, it is fun to watch, despite its plot holes. I like that the sequel is actually set at Halloween, making it unquestionably a Halloween movie, unlike the merely spooky setting of the predecessor. But I don't know when or if I'll watch it again, since there are so many options and I prefer movies you can watch with your kids or your grandma. 

Last night as I was unpacking from camping, Reggie hopped into my bag. I adore him. 

And here are this week's AI dreams. (Actually a week and a half, since I didn't include them last week.)

Scott asks Mark to share his reusable sandwich bag

Mark plays the wizard in an elementary school Christmas play, but he doesn't know the script. He is wearing camo pants, a tan shirt, and a cape. (This is actually one of my recurring dreams: being in a play without knowing the script.)

Mark accompanies an elf in a Christmas store, but they aren't allowed to talk

a group of college researchers waits their turn at a dump where people are looting, and a redneck tells them "it's all yours"

The upstairs of a house is prohibited, and one of the stairs can fall off

At the Utah gift shop where Mark is paying for taffy he ate, people tell him they like his dinosaur shirt and yellow shoes

Mark sees a Vince Guaraldi cover band at the park

Mark is annoyed that two guys stepped in a pink dessert with their shoes on because they were pretending to stomp grapes

a criminal is imprisoned underneath a golf course, and he sends out a large hornet

Mark sends a poor man on his way with $21 in his wallet

Mark sees a shirt and shorts with sunflowers on them

Allie buys Mark a toy covered wagon for tiny Squishmallows for his birthday

people can pay to fight each other in a garage, but Mark thinks it is unsafe

Mark puts three baby hippos in his apartment complex's hot tub

***

This week's pumpkinundation roundup! In the Pumpkin book I'm reading, I found this quote from a  newspaper circa 1897: "The pumpkin pie is the embodiment, so to speak, of peace on earth and good will toward men. No man ever plotted treason or formulated dark damnable designs while filling his system with a genuine New England pumpkin pie."

By taste alone, I can tell that these are Brach's Candy Corn and Brach's Mellocreme Pumpkins, even though I didn't see the wrapper. Brach's is the best brand for candy corn. This week my colleagues were having a candy corn conversation, and one said Brach's is the only acceptable candy corn. But I didn't take a picture of the pumpkin I had that didn't have a green top. 8/10.

Beloved Pumpkin & Tonka Shower & Bath Gel is OK, I guess. Of course I didn't eat it, so it's just a fragrance that smells good, but not really like a dessert. 6/10.

I thought the Dairy Keen Pumpkin Oreo Shake didn't have a strong pumpkin flavor. I still enjoyed it though. (And our cashier was named MaKynlee, which is the most Utah name ever.) 6/10.

The BGR Pumpkin Shake has a pleasant flavor, heavy on nutmeg. It had icy bits throughout, which isn't quite the texture I want. 7/10.

My mom loves to put syrups (usually sugar free) in her water, so we have this Torani Pumpkin Pie Sugar Free Syrup. It does make water more interesting, but I can't say it evokes pumpkin pie at all. 5/10.

I officially reviewed Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Pie M&M's last month. I was disappointed that it had vague spices but didn't taste like pumpkin or pie. 5/10.

After Thanksgiving last year, I put the open bar of Dove Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie Soap in the drawer before bringing it out again this week. Again, I like the scent, but it's not really like pumpkin pie. 6/10.

Pumpkin Spice Cheerios are one of the best Cheerios flavors, but I find I don't love them like I used to. In 2016, I wrote that they had actual pumpkin, but now they don't, which is disappointing. 7/10.

Pumpkin Spice Red Vines are better than I expected. They have a vague spice flavor, and I like them better than the candy corn ones I reviewed in 2021. But Red Vines are not a great candy anyway. 6/10.

The Dove Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie Body Wash is the same scent as the bar soap. Let me tell you, it is difficult to take a picture of body wash on your skin in the shower without getting your phone wet. 6/10.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Frosted Mini Wheats taste kind of artificial. But I like Frosted Mini Wheats in general more than I used to. 7/10.

Taffy Town Pumpkin Simply Taffy is made with actual pumpkin, and they are better than they have any business being! They taste like pumpkin shakes. 8/10.

And Pumpkin Spice Softsoap has a pleasant but vague scent. 5/10.